instrument. "Reassure yourself. I shall not
cut a single one of your hairs--but all."

I could retain my standing position no longer. Swaying on my legs like a
drunken man, I fell back on the straw, and heard the "horse-dealer"
burst out laughing, and, while still pointing at his steel instrument,
say:

"Thanks to this, your forehead will soon be as bald as that of the great
Caesar, whom, you say, you carried on your horse in full armor. And the
magic philter which you drank in that Gallic wine will put you at my
mercy, quiet as a corpse."

The "horse-dealer" spoke true. These words were the last I remember. A
leaden torpor fell upon me, and I lost all knowledge of what was done
with me.

CHAPTER XII.

SOLD INTO BONDAGE.

The experience of that evening was only the prelude for a horrid day, a
day doubly horrid due to the mystery that surrounded it.

Aye, to this hour, when I write this for you, O my son Sylvest, to the
end that from this truthful and detailed account, in which I recite to
you one by one the torments and the indignities heaped upon our country
and our race, you may contract a hate implacable for the Romans, while
awaiting the day of vengeance and deliverance;--aye, to this hour the
mysteries of that horrid day of sale are still impenetrable to me,
unless they be explained by the sorceries of the "horse-dealer," many of
his people being given to magic. But our venerable druids affirm that
magic does not exist.

The day of the auction I was roused from my stupor by my master. I had
slept profoundly. I remembered what had occurred the previous evening.
My first movement was to carry my hands to my head. It was shaved, and
my beard also! A thrill of anguish shot through me at the discovery; but
instead of flying into a rage, as I would have done the evening before,
I only shed a few tears, fearfully regarding the "horse-dealer." Aye, I
cried before that man--aye, I looked at him with fear.

What could have come over me during the night? Was I still under the
influence of the philter poured into the wine? No, my torpor had gone. I
found myself active of body, and in sound mind, but in character and
heart I found myself softened, enervated, timid,--and, why not say the
word?--cowardly! Aye, cowardly! I, Guilhern, son of Joel, the brenn of
the tribe of Karnak. I looked timidly around me. Every minute my heart
seemed to sink, and tears came to my eyes, as formerly the flush of
anger and pride