he golden by fair-haired criminals, and they had
embarked readily enough; for some of them would escape from the fray with
only a few wounds and some quite unhurt, and each one was resolved to use
his weapons so as to bring the frightful combat to a speedy end.

The woolly-haired blacks did not indeed know that they had been provided
with loosely made swords which would go to pieces at the first shock, and
with shields which could not resist a serious blow; while the fair-haired
representatives of the light were supplied with sharp and strong weapons
of offense and defense. At any cost the spirits of darkness must not be
allowed to triumph over those of light. Of what value was a negro's life,
especially when it was already forfeited?

While Euryale and Melissa sat with eyes averted from the horrible scene
going on above them, and the matron, holding her young companion's hand,
whispered to her:

"O child, child! to think that I should be compelled to bring you here!"
loud applause and uproarious clapping surrounded them on every side.

The gem-cutter Heron, occupying one of the foremost cushioned seats,
radiant with pride and delight in the red-bordered toga of his new
dignity, clapped his big hands with such vehemence that his immediate
neighbors were almost deafened. He, too, had been badly received, on his
arrival, with shrill whistling, but he had been far from troubling
himself about that. But when a troop of "Greens" had met him, just in
front of the imperial dais, shouting brutal abuse in his face, he had
paused, chucked the nearest man under the chin with his powerful fist,
and fired a storm of violent epithets at the rest. Thanks to the lictors,
he had got off without any harm, and as soon as he found himself among
friends and men of rank, on whom he looked in speechless respect, he had
recovered his spirits. He was looking forward with intense satisfaction
to the moment when he might ask Caesar what he now thought of Alexandria.

Like his father, Alexander was intent on the bloody struggle--gazing
upward with breathless interest as the combatants tried to fling each
other into the yawning depth below them. But at the same time he never
for an instant forgot the insults he had endured outside. How deeply he
felt them was legible in his clouded face. Only once did a smile pass
over it--when, toward the end of this first fight, the place was made
lighter, he perceived in the row of seats next above him the da