"I will have the map corrected,
or, better, I will have a new one made, and given thee. Come for it
in the morning."

So saying, he arose.

"But hear me further, O tribune."

"To-morrow, Gesius, to-morrow."

"That which I have yet to tell will not wait."

The tribune good-naturedly resumed his chair.

"I will hurry," said the keeper, humbly, "only let me ask another
question. Had I not a right to believe Gratus in what he further
told me as to the prisoners in cell number V.?"

"Yes, it was thy duty to believe there were three prisoners in the
cell--prisoners of state--blind and without tongues."

"Well," said the keeper, "that was not true either."

"No!" said the tribune, with returning interest.

"Hear, and judge for yourself, O tribune. As required, I visited all
the cells, beginning with those on the first floor, and ending with
those on the lower. The order that the door of number V. should not
be opened had been respected; through all the eight years food and
drink for three men had been passed through a hole in the wall.
I went to the door yesterday, curious to see the wretches who,
against all expectation, had lived so long. The locks refused
the key. We pulled a little, and the door fell down, rusted from
its hinges. Going in, I found but one man, old, blind, tongueless,
and naked. His hair dropped in stiffened mats below his waist.
His skin was like the parchment there. He held his hands out,
and the finger-nails curled and twisted like the claws of a bird.
I asked him where his companions were. He shook his head in denial.
Thinking to find the others, we searched the cell. The floor was dry;
so were the walls. If three men had been shut in there, and two of them
had died, at least their bones would have endured."

"Wherefore thou thinkest--"

"I think, O tribune, there has been but one prisoner there in the
eight years."

The chief regarded the keeper sharply, and said, "Have a care;
thou art more than saying Valerius lied."

Gesius bowed, but said, "He might have been mistaken."

"No, he was right," said the tribune, warmly. "By thine own statement
he was right. Didst thou not say but now that for eight years food
and drink had been furnished three men?"

The bystanders approved the shrewdness of their chief; yet Gesius
did not seem discomfited.

"You have but half the story, O tribune. When you have it all,
you will agree with me. You know what I did with the man: that I
sent him to