pay the price?"

"Ay, in sore trouble, friend," I answered; "ask me no more."

"Then, being of the age thou art, there's a woman in it--that I
swear--and, perchance, though I am rough and foolish, I might make a
guess. Look thou, lad, what sayest thou? I am weary of this service of
Cleopatra and this hot land of deserts and of luxury, that sap a man's
strength and drain his pocket; and so are others whom I know of. What
sayest thou: let's take one of these unwieldy vessels and away to the
North? I'll lead thee to a better land than Egypt--a land of lake and
mountain, and great forests of sweet-scented pine; ay, and find thee a
girl fit to mate with--my own niece--a girl strong and tall, with wide
blue eyes and long fair hair, and arms that could crack thy ribs were
she of a mind to hug thee! Come, what sayest thou? Put away the past,
and away for the bonny North, and be a son to me."

For a moment I thought, and then sadly shook my head; for though I was
sorely tempted to be gone, I knew that my fate lay in Egypt, and I might
not fly my fate.

"It may not be, Brennus," I answered. "Fain would I that it might be,
but I am bound by a chain of destiny which I cannot break, and in the
land of Egypt I must live and die."

"As thou wilt, lad," said the old warrior. "I should have dearly loved
to marry thee among my people, and make a son of thee. At the least,
remember that while I am here thou hast Brennus for a friend. And one
thing more; beware of that beauteous Queen of thine, for, by Taranis,
perhaps an hour may come when she will hold that thou knowest too much,
and then----" and he drew his hand across his throat. "And now good
night; a cup of wine, then to sleep, for to-morrow the foolery----"

[Here several lengths of the second roll of papyrus are so broken as
to be undecipherable. They seem to have been descriptive of Cleopatra's
voyage up the Cydnus to the city of Tarsus.]

"And--[the writing continues]--to those who could take joy in such
things, the sight must, indeed, have been a gallant one. For the stern
of our galley was covered with sheets of beaten gold, the sails were
of the scarlet of Tyre, and the oars of silver touched the water to a
measure of music. And there, in the centre of the vessel, beneath an
awning ablaze with gold embroidery, lay Cleopatra, attired as the Roman
Venus (and surely Venus was not more fair!), in thin robes of whitest
silk, bound in beneath her breast with a golden girdle