ah!"

Caesar took the reins, smote the mules, and went off at so furious a
pace that the worthy Antiochus was soon busy invoking first one, then
another, member of the pantheon, to avert disaster. Drusus speedily
found that the general's vision was far more keen than his own.
Indeed, although the road, he knew, was rough and crooked, they met
with no mishaps. Presently a light could be seen twinkling in the
distance.

"We must get a guide," remarked the Imperator decisively, and he
struck the mules again.

They at last approached what the owl-like discernment of Caesar
pronounced to be a small farmhouse with a few out-buildings. But it
was no easy matter to arouse the drowsy countrymen, and a still more
difficult task to convince the good man of the house that his
nocturnal visitors were not brigands. At last it was explained that
two gentlemen from Ravenna were bound for Ariminum, on urgent
business, and he must furnish a guide for which he would be amply
paid. As a result, the German driver at last resumed the reins, and
sped away with a fresh lantern, and at his side a stupid peasant boy,
who was almost too shy to make himself useful.

But more misfortune was in store. Barely a mile had they traversed,
before an ominous crack proclaimed the splitting of an axletree. The
cheap hired vehicle could go no farther.

"'Tis a sure sign the gods are against our proceeding this night,"
expostulated Antiochus; "let us walk back to the farmhouse, my lord."

Caesar did not deign to give him an answer. He deliberately descended,
clasped his paenula over his shoulders, and bade the German make the
best of his way back to Ravenna. The peasant boy, he declared, could
lead them on foot until dawn.

The freedman groaned, but he was helpless. The guide, bearing the
lantern, convoyed them out of the highroad, to strike what he assured
them was a less circuitous route; and soon had his travellers, now
plunged in quagmires that in daylight would have seemed impassable,
now clambering over stocks and stones, now leaping broad ditches. At
last, after thoroughly exhausting the patience of his companions, the
wretched fellow confessed that he had missed the by-path, and indeed
did not know the way back.

Antiochus was now too frightened to declare his warnings confirmed.
Drusus liked the prospect of a halt on these swampy, miasmic fields
little enough, But again the proconsul was all resources. With almost
omniscience he led his co