h a movement of his
arm, more like a blow than a farewell, thrust him into the street. Then he
barred again the door upon him, and lay down himself upon the bed which
Agellius had left. His good Angel, we may suppose, had gained a point in
his favour, for he lay quiet, and fell into a heavy sleep.

CHAPTER XXV.

CALLISTA IN DURANCE.

We will hope that the reader, as well as Agellius, is attracted by the
word Callista, and wishes to know something about her fate; nay, perhaps
finds fault with us as having suffered him so long to content himself with
the chance and second-hand information which Jucundus or Juba has
supplied. If we have been wanting in due consideration for him, we now
trust to make up for it.

When Callista, then, had so boldly left the cottage to stop the intruders,
she had in one important point reckoned without her host. She spoke Latin
fluently, herself, and could converse with the townspeople, most of whom
could do the same; but it was otherwise with the inhabitants of the
country, numbers of whom, as we have said, were in Sicca on the day of the
outbreak. The two fellows, whom she went out to withstand, knew neither
her nor the Latin tongue. They were of a race which called itself
Canaanite, and really was so; huge, gigantic men, who looked like the sons
of Enac, described in Holy Writ. They knew nothing of roads or fences, and
had scrambled up the hill as they could, the shortest way, and, being free
from the crowd, with far more expedition than had they followed the beaten
track. She and they could not understand each other's speech; but her
appearance spoke for her, and, in consequence, they seized on her as their
share of the booty, and without more ado, carried her off towards Sicca.
As they came up by a route of their own, so they returned, and entered the
city by a gate more to the south, not the Septimian; a happy circumstance,
as otherwise she would have stood every chance of being destroyed in that
wholesale massacre which the soldiery inflicted on the crowd as it
returned.

These giants, then, got possession of Callista, and she entered Sicca upon
the shoulder of one of them, who danced in with no greater inconvenience
than if he was carrying on it a basket of flowers, or a box of millinery.
Here the party met with the city police, who were stationed at the gate.

"Down with your live luggage, you rascals," they sa