n church.'

'Yes--in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree
of Gryphons together.' Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for
an instant. 'He had been on the Wall two years, and knew the Picts
well. He taught me first how to take Heather.'

'What's that?' said Dan.

'Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite
safe so long as you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it
can be seen. If you went alone you would surely be killed, if you were
not smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts know their way about
those black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered little
Pict from whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first
we went only to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together
about our homes. Then he showed us how to hunt wolves and those great
red deer with horns like Jewish candlesticks. The Roman-born officers
rather looked down on us for doing this, but we preferred the heather
to their amusements. Believe me,' Parnesius turned again to Dan, 'a boy
is safe from all things that really harm when he is astride a pony or
after a deer. Do you remember, O Faun,'--he turned to Puck--'the
little altar I built to the Sylvan Pan by the pine-forest beyond the
brook?'

'Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?' said Puck, in
quite a new voice.

'No! What do I know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax--after he had shot
his first mountain-hare with an arrow--by chance! Mine I made of round
pebbles, in memory of my first bear. It took me one happy day to
build.' Parnesius faced the children quickly.

'And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years--a little
scuffling with the Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in
the Pict country. He called us his children sometimes, and we were
fond of him and his barbarians, though we never let them paint us
Pict-fashion. The marks endure till you die.'

'How's it done?' said Dan. 'Anything like tattooing?'

'They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices.
Allo was painted blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles.
He said it was part of his religion. He told us about his religion
(Pertinax was always interested in such things), and as we came to know
him well, he told us what was happening in Britain behind the Wall.
Many things took place behind us in those days. And by the Light of
the Sun,' said Parnesius, earnes