ve any
rumour of my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I
shall cure by riding swiftly into Rome."

'Said Pertinax: "It is finished with Maximus. He writes as a man
without hope. I, a man without hope, can see this. What does he add
at the bottom of the roll? 'Tell Pertinax I have met his late Uncle,
the Duumvir of Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for
all his Mother's monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for
she is the mother of a hero, to Nicaea, where the climate is warm.'

"'That is proof," said Pertinax. "Nicaea is not far by sea from Rome.
A woman there could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes,
Maximus foresees his death, and is fulfilling his promises one by one.
But I am glad my uncle met him."'

"'You think blackly today?" I asked.

"'I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against
them. Theodosius will destroy Maximus. It is finished!"

"'Will you write him that?" I said.

"'See what I shall write," he answered, and he took pen and wrote a
letter cheerful as the light of day, tender as a woman's and full of
jests. Even I, reading over his shoulder, took comfort from it till--I
saw his face!

"'And now," he said, sealing it, "we be two dead men, my brother. Let
us go to the Temple." 'We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many
times prayed before. After that, we lived day by day among evil
rumours till winter came again.

'It happened one morning that we rode to the East shore, and found on
the beach a fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks.
Turning him over, we saw by his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an
Eastern Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried loudly, "He is
dead! The letters were with me, but the Winged Hats sank the ship." So
saying, he died between our hands.

'We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow
to Hunno, thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already
at our stables, and he saw by our faces what we had heard.

"'It was in a tent by the sea," he stammered. "He was beheaded by
Theodosius. He sent a letter to you, written while he waited to be
slain. The Winged Hats met the ship and took it. The news is running
through the heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold back my
young men any more."

"'I would we could say as much for our men," said Pertinax, laughing.
"But, Gods be praised, they cannot run away."

"