ll here it will not be for
to-day, nor to-morrow, but for all long time to come? I to the mines,
and who enters there comes not forth again."

Wardo clenched his fists.

"I know--I know! I'd give a finger if it had not to be!" He stood a
moment, his flaxen head bent, lost in troubled thought. Quite suddenly
he turned upon Nicanor, who, lynx-eyed, watched. "See then; I owe fealty
to my lord, but thou art my friend, and this thing I cannot do. We have
starved together and fought together, thou and I! The gods judge me, but
thou art my friend! I have money--not much, but more than nothing. Take
thou it--I'll leave the way open--and escape. Or, if thou wilt,
overpower me on the road to Gobannium--there'll be but two men with me,
and I'll see to them. Save thyself, and leave the rest to me."

Nicanor laid his left hand on Wardo's shoulder. Their eyes were on a
level; tall men they were, both, one dark, lean, steel-muscled as a
great cat; the other fair, more fully fleshed, massive in bulk as a
tawny bull.

"Leave thee to face double punishment, mine as a runaway slave, and
thine as his abettor?" said Nicanor, and laughed softly. "Nay, thou art
_my_ friend, and the gods judge me if I put thee in this plight. I did
not know I had such a friend in the world. Many things have I learned in
this time of darkness, and this have I also found."

Wardo hung his head, without speech. He thrust out his hand abruptly,
and Nicanor's hand closed over it. They stood a moment, in a silence
which needed no words from either.

"By the soul of my mother, I shall do it!" Wardo said then, huskily.

"By the soul of my mother, thou shalt not!" said Nicanor. "When I
escape, it shall be when thou canst not be brought to task for it. But
if thou wouldst prove true friend, leave the way open for two hours.
More will not help me now."

"So be it," said Wardo. "Here is the key. When we go, let us lock the
door behind us. Return here, then, and await me within. But, Nicanor, if
thou art not here, I shall make no search."

"I shall be here," said Nicanor, briefly.

Wardo took his torch; they left the cell. Nicanor locked the door,
thrust the key into his belt, and without a word started up the passage
into the darkness. Two hours speed swiftly when they hold life and death
and all that lies between.

VI

Nicanor gained the passage behind the storerooms, at the head of which
the cresset flared, and reached the court, meeting no one. The coo