of the strange disappearance.
Faith is the staff on which the people lean."

The two men remained silent for a while.

"Go," said the Greek, at last: "Speak to Hannibal, and may the gods
incline his heart toward clemency!"

"Why do you not come with me--you who have traveled so much, and who
possess the eloquence of conviction? You can help me."

"Hannibal knows me. I have refused his friendship, and he hates me. Go
and save the city. My fate is sealed. The African will never abate his
anger. He will pardon anyone but me. I will die rather than become his
slave, or suffer myself to be put to death on a cross."

CHAPTER X

THE LAST NIGHT

Fighting on the walls with the defenders of the upper part of the city
late in the afternoon Actaeon saw Rhanto coming down a street near the
ramparts.

He had not seen the shepherdess since his return to Saguntum, and now he
noticed the changes wrought by the sufferings of the siege, and by the
grief which was breaking her reason.

She walked absorbed, with bowed head, unconscious of her surroundings,
and in her tangled hair were little faded flowers which at every step
dropped their withered petals. Her torn and dirty tunic gave glimpses of
her emaciated body, which still preserved the grace and freshness
admired by the Greek. Her breasts had developed somewhat, as if pain had
matured her figure; her eyes dilated by dementia, seemed to fill her
whole face, shedding a mysterious light about her, an aureole of fever.

She advanced slowly, raising her head at times, looking up at the men on
the wall, and finally stopping at the foot of the stone steps she
murmured in a supplicating voice, like the convulsive sobbing of a
child:

"Erotion! Erotion!"

Behind the mantelets of the besiegers the defenders noticed fresh
activity, as if a new attack against the city were being attempted, but
in spite of it the Greek came down from the wall in his eagerness to see
the girl.

"Rhanto, shepherdess, do you know me?"

He addressed her tenderly, taking one of her hands, but she tried to
spring away from him, as if she had been startled from a sleep. Then she
grew faint, and fixing her enormous, frightened eyes on the Greek, she
exclaimed:

"You! Is it you?"

"Do you recognize me?"

"Yes, you are the Athenian; you are my master; the lover of Sonnica the
rich. Tell me, where is Erotion?"

The Greek did not know how to answer, but Rhanto continued speaking
without awai