enian,' he cried; 'haste--he is
innocent! Arrest Arbaces the Egyptian--HE is the murderer of Apaecides!'

'Art thou mad, O Sallust!' said the praetor, rising from his seat. 'What
means this raving?'

'Remove the Athenian!--Quick! or his blood be on your head. Praetor,
delay, and you answer with your own life to the emperor! I bring with
me the eye-witness to the death of the priest Apaecides. Room
there!--stand back!--give way! People of Pompeii, fix every eye upon
Arbaces--there he sits! Room there for the priest Calenus!'

Pale, haggard, fresh from the jaws of famine and of death, his face
fallen, his eyes dull as a vulture's, his broad frame gaunt as a
skeleton--Calenus was supported into the very row in which Arbaces sat.
His releasers had given him sparingly of food; but the chief sustenance
that nerved his feeble limbs was revenge!

'The priest Calenus!--Calenus!' cried the mob. 'Is it he? No--it is a
dead man?'

'It is the priest Calenus,' said the praetor, gravely. 'What hast thou
to say?'

'Arbaces of Egypt is the murderer of Apaecides, the priest of Isis;
these eyes saw him deal the blow. It is from the dungeon into which he
plunged me--it is from the darkness and horror of a death by
famine--that the gods have raised me to proclaim his crime! Release the
Athenian--he is innocent!'

'It is for this, then, that the lion spared him. A miracle! a miracle!'
cried Pansa.

'A miracle; a miracle!' shouted the people; 'remove the
Athenian--Arbaces to the lion!'

And that shout echoed from hill to vale--from coast to sea--'Arbaces to
the lion!'

Officers, remove the accused Glaucus--remove, but guard him yet,' said
the praetor. 'The gods lavish their wonders upon this day.'

As the praetor gave the word of release, there was a cry of joy--a
female voice--a child's voice--and it was of joy! It rang through the
heart of the assembly with electric force--it, was touching, it was
holy, that child's voice! And the populace echoed it back with
sympathizing congratulation!

'Silence!' said the grave praetor--'who is there?'

'The blind girl--Nydia,' answered Sallust; 'it is her hand that has
raised Calenus from the grave, and delivered Glaucus from the lion.'

'Of this hereafter,' said the praetor. 'Calenus, priest of Isis, thou
accusest Arbaces of the murder of Apaecides?'

'I do.'

'Thou didst behold the deed?'

'Praetor--with these eyes...'

'Enough at present--the details must be rese