the gods?"

"I am neither a condemner nor a spurner," Malchus said indignantly; "I
say only that I believe you worship them wrongfully, that you do them
injustice. I say it is impossible that the gods who rule the world
can have pleasure in the screams of dying infants or the groans of
slaughtered men."

Giscon placed his hand to his ears as if to shut out such blasphemy,
and hurried away, while Malchus, mounting his horse, rode out slowly and
thoughtfully to his father's villa. He was not at heart sorry that he
was freed from this association into which, without knowing the measures
by which it intended to carry out its aims, he had rashly entered. He
was ready for armed insurrection against the tyrants of Carthage, but he
revolted from the thought of this plan for a midnight massacre--it was
not by such means that he would have achieved the regeneration of his
country. He felt, too, that the reason which he had given Giscon was a
valid one. He had no right, at his age, to involve his family in such a
conspiracy. Did it fail, and were he found to be among the conspirators,
Hanno and his associates would be sure to seize the fact as a pretext
for assailing Hamilcar. They would say that Malchus would never have
joined in such a plot had he not known that it had the approval of his
father, and that he was in fact but the representative of his family in
the design for overthrowing the constitution of the republic.

Fortunately for Malchus, a few days later orders were given for the
instant embarkation of a portion of the reinforcements destined for
Hannibal. Hamilcar was to proceed in command of them, and, busied
with his preparation for the start, Malchus thought little more of the
conspiracy which was brewing. Thirty large merchant ships were hired
to convey the troops, who numbered six thousand. These were principally
Libyan footmen. The main body, with the Numidian horse, were to follow
shortly. At last the day for embarkation arrived, and the troops defiled
through the temple of Moloch, where sacrifices were offered up for the
success of the enterprise.

Malchus, under the pretense that something was not ready, at the last
moment lingered at home, and only joined his comrades, a hundred young
men of the Carthaginian horse, on the quays. This body, all composed
of young men of the best families of Carthage, were to sail in the same
ship which carried Hamilcar. The scene was a busy one--the docks
of Carthage were ex