Varius were
sorrowfully turning to a new employment, that of clearing away the wreck
and disappointment of the bright spring from flower-bed, vineyard, and
field.

It was on the forenoon of the eventful day whose course we have been
tracing in the preceding Chapters, that a sharp-looking boy presented
himself to Agellius, who was directing his labourers in their work. "I am
come from Jucundus," he said; "he has instant need of you. You are to go
with me, and by my way; and this is the proof I tell you truth. He sends
you this note, and wishes you in a bad time the best gifts of Bacchus and
Ceres."

Agellius took the tablets, and went with them across the road to the place
where Caecilius was at work, in appearance a slave. The letter ran
thus:--"Jucundus to Agellius. I trust you are well enough to move; you are
not safe for many days in your cottage; there is a rising this morning
against the Christians, and you may be visited. Unless you are ambitious
of Styx and Tartarus, follow the boy without questioning." Agellius showed
the letter to the priest.

"We are no longer safe here, my father," he said; "whither shall we go?
Let us go together. Can you take me to Carthage?"

"Carthage is quite as dangerous," answered Caecilius, "and Sicca is more
central. We can but leap into the sea at Carthage; here there are many
lines to retreat upon. I am known there, I am not known here. Here, too, I
hear all that goes on through the proconsulate and Numidia."

"But what can we do?" asked Agellius; "here we cannot remain, and you at
least cannot venture into the city. Somewhither we must go, and where is
that?"

The priest thought. "We must separate," he said. The tears came into
Agellius's eyes.

"Though I am a stranger," continued Caecilius, "I know more of the
neighbourhood of Sicca than you who are a native. There is a famous
Christian retreat on the north of the city, and by this time, I doubt not,
or rather I know, it is full of refugees. The fury of the enemy is
extending on all hands, and our brethren, from as far as Cirtha round to
Curubis, are falling back upon it. The only difficulty is how to get round
to it without going through Sicca."

"Let us go together," said Agellius.

Caecilius showed signs of perplexity, and his mind retired into itself. He
seemed for the moment to be simply absent from the scene about him, but
soon his intelligence returned. "No," he said, "we must separate,--for the
time; it will n