rgius leaned forward and asked in a low
but stern voice to see their officer. Fortunately his own followers
were too far away to hear his words, and drunken Iberians would not be
critical as to a faulty Punic accent.

Still they hesitated, chattered together, and stared, but at last one
who seemed more sober than the rest reeled away to the guard-house,
and, after some delay and evident persuasion, emerged again with a
young officer whose moist, hanging lips and filmy eyes showed that he,
too, had been dragged from the pursuit of pleasure. Helmetless and
with loosened corselet, every detail of his appearance told the story
of relaxed discipline.

"What do you want? at this hour?" he said thickly, ambling forward and
leaning heavily upon the shoulder of his scarcely more steady guide.

Again Sergius held out the ring, and the man, being a native
Carthaginian, recognized it through the mist of his intoxication, and,
throwing himself at full length, touched the earth with his forehead.

"What do you wish?" he said, rising and standing, somewhat sobered by
the presence of such authority.

"Open the gate. I ride under orders of the schalischim," said the
Roman, again speaking low and rapidly.

The officer turned and shouted to his men, and several ran to unbar the
gate with such speed as their condition warranted. The other occupants
of the guard-house were now grouped at the door, five men, half armed,
and two dishevelled women with painted faces and flower-embroidered
pallas.

The gate swung slowly on its hinges.

"The light of the Baals be with you, friend!" exclaimed Sergius, and he
and Marcia rode through, with hearts beating madly. Voices raised in
discussion made them turn in their saddles. In his drunken stupidity,
the Carthaginian officer was trying to detain their escort and
servants. "The master had said nothing about them. How did he know
they belonged to the same party?" Then all began gesticulating and
shouting to Sergius for help and explanation.

Here was an unforeseen incident, and the mind of the young Roman viewed
it rapidly in all its lights. On the one side, he would be relieved of
an awkward following that might at any moment begin to suspect him; on
the other hand to leave these in the lurch would be to invite prompt
suspicion. Still, they were fifty yards or more in advance, their
horses were good, and more space would be gained before the tangle at
the gate could be straightened