Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman Invasion by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIII: A CHRISTIAN
While Beric thus spent his time between his exercises and the schoolsand one or other of the libraries, varied occasionally by paying avisit with Pollio, Boduoc and his companions were not ill contentedwith their life. Most of them had, during the long journey throughGaul, picked up a few words of Latin from their guards, and as itwas the language of the gymnasium, and was the only medium by whichthe men of the various nationalities could communicate with eachother, they now rapidly increased their knowledge of it, Beric stronglyurging them to become acquainted with it as soon as possible, asit might be most useful and important to them. None of the othersbesides Boduoc were, Scopus thought, ever likely to be a creditto him in the more serious contests in the ring, but all showed anaptitude for wrestling and boxing, and the lanista was well contentwith this, as the games in the arena frequently commenced withthese comparatively harmless sports, and in many of the provincialcities wrestlers and boxers were in great request.
Beric was much pleased when he heard from the master that heintended to confine his teaching to these two exercises only withregard to his companions; for although men were sometimes seriouslyhurt by blows given by the masses of leather and lead, which, woundround the fist, were used to give weight to the blows, a finaltermination to the contests was rare. In the exercises the menpractised with many wrappings of wadding and cotton wound round thecaestus, answering the purpose of the modern boxing glove. Berichimself was very partial to the exercise, and as it strengthenedthe muscles, and gave quickness and activity to the limbs, Scopusencouraged him in it.
"I do not see the use of the caestus," Beric said one day. "Onecould hit and guard much more quickly without it. It is good, nodoubt, for exercise, as it strengthens the muscles, but surely forfighting it would be better to lay it aside. What is the advantageof it? With the bare fist one can knock an opponent down, and witha very few blows strike him senseless. What more can you want thanthat?"
"Yes, for men like you Britons that would do, for a straight blowfrom any one of you would well nigh break in the bones of the faceof an ordinary man, and, as you say, you could strike much morequickly without the weight on your hands, but with smaller men acontest might last for hours without the caestus, and the spectatorswould get tired of it; but I will try the experiment some day, andput up one of the Britons against Asthor the Gaul, hands againstthe caestus, and see what comes of it. At present he is more skilfulthan any of your people, but they are getting on fast, and whenone of them is fairly his match in point of skill I will try it. Ifthe Briton wins, I will, when they first go into the arena, matchthem against the champions of the other schools with bare handsagainst armed ones, and they will get great credit if they winunder those conditions. Both at that and at wrestling you Britonsare likely to carry all before you. I should like to train you allonly for that."
"I wish you would," Beric said earnestly.
"There is less honour in winning at wrestling and boxing than inthe other contests," Scopus said.
"For that I care nothing whatever, Scopus; besides, you wouldget more credit from my winning in those games than from my beingkilled in the others. Strength and height count for much in them,while against an active retiarius strength goes for very little."
"But you are active as well as strong, Beric, and so is Boduoc.Moreover, when Caesar sent you to me to be prepared for the ring,he meant that you should take part in the principal contests, andhe would be furious if, on some great occasion, when he expectedto see you stand up against a famous champion, it turned out thatyou were only a wrestler."
"I am ready and willing to learn all the exercises, Scopus--Ishould like to excel in them all--but you might put me up as awrestler and boxer; then if Nero insisted on my betaking myself toother weapons, I could do so without discredit to you. But my opinionis that every man should do what he can do best. Were we to fightwith clubs, I think that we need have no fear of any antagonists;but our strength is for the most part thrown away at sword play,at which any active man with but half our strength is our match.You have told me that Nero often looks in at your school, anddoubtless he will do so when he comes back from Greece. You couldthen tell him that you had found that all the Britons were likelyto excel rather in wrestling and boxing, where their strength andheight came into play, than in the other exercises, and that youtherefore were instructing them chiefly in them."
"I will see what I can do," Scopus said. "I like you Britons, youare good tempered, and give me no trouble. I will tell you what Iwill do, I will send to Greece for the best instructor in wrestlingI can get hold of, they are better at that than we are, and wrestlinghas always ranked very high in their sports. Most of you alreadyare nearly a match for Decius; but you are all worth taking painsabout, for there are rich prizes to be won in the provincial arenas,as well as at Rome; and in Greece, where they do not care for theserious contests, there is high honour paid to the winners in thewrestling games."
As time went on Beric had little leisure to spend in libraries, forthe exercises increased in severity, and as, instead of confininghimself, as most of the others did, to one particular branch, heworked at them all, the day was almost entirely given up to exercisesof one kind or another. His muscles, and those of his companions,had increased vastly under the training they received. All hadbeen accustomed to active exercise, but under their steady trainingevery ounce of superfluous flesh disappeared, their limbs becamemore firmly knit, and the muscles showed out through the clear skinin massive ridges.
"We should astonish them at home, Beric," Boduoc said one day."It is strange that people like the Romans, who compared to us areweakly by nature, should have so studied the art of training menin exercises requiring strength. I used to wonder that the Romansoldiers could wield such heavy spears and swords. Now I quiteunderstand it. We were just as nature made us, they are men builtup by art. Why, when we began, my arms used to ache in a short timewith those heavy clubs, now I feel them no more than if they werewillow wands."
Pollio had remained but two months in Rome, and had then gone outwith a newly appointed general to Syria. Beric had missed his lighthearted friend much, but he was not sorry to give up the visits withhim to the houses of his friends. He felt that in these houses hewas regarded as a sort of show, and that the captured British chief,who was acquainted with the Latin tongue and with Roman manners,was regarded with something of the same curiosity and interest asa tamed tiger might be. Besides, however much gladiators might bethe fashion in Rome, he felt a degradation in the calling, althoughhe quite appreciated the advantage that the training would be tohim should he ever return to Britain. He was pleased to learn fromPollio, on the day before he started, that he had heard that hisuncle would ere long return to Rome.
"I believe," he said, "that it is entirely my aunt's doing. Youknow how she hates what she calls her exile, and I hear that shehas been quietly using all her family influence to obtain his recalland his appointment as a magistrate here. I learn she is likely tosucceed, and that my uncle will be one of these fine days astoundedat receiving the news that he is appointed a magistrate here.I don't suppose he will ever learn my aunt's share in the matter,and will regard what others would take as a piece of supreme goodluck as a cruel blow of fortune. However, if he did discover it,my aunt would maintain stoutly that she did it for the sake ofthe girls, whom she did not wish to see married to some provincialofficer, and condemned, as she had been, to perpetual exile; andas she would have the support of all her relations, and even ofmy father, who is also convinced that it is the greatest of allearthly happiness for a Roman to reside at Rome, my uncle for oncewill have to give in. Aemilia, too, will be glad to return to Rome,though I know that Ennia is of a different opinion. I believe, fromwhat she let drop one day, that she has a leaning towards the newsect, of which she has heard from the old slave who was her nurse. Itwill be a great misfortune if she has, for it would cause terribletrouble at home, and if any fresh persecution breaks out, she mightbe involved. I am su
But if Norbanus had returned with his family to Rome, Beric hadheard nothing of it. Had Pollio been at Rome he would at once havetaken him to see them on their return, but now that he had gonethere was no one from whom he would hear of their movements, andNorbanus himself would be so much occupied with his new duties,and with the society with which Lesbia would fill the house, thathe would have no time to inquire about the British captive he hadreceived as his guest at Massilia.
One evening, when the rest of the gladiators were engaged in a hotdiscussion as to the merits of some of those who were to appearat the games given in celebration of the funeral obsequies of awealthy senator, Beric asked Boduoc to accompany him for a walk.
"One gets sick of all that talk about fighting," he said as theywent out. "How men can sit indoors in a hot room heavy with thesmoke of the lamps, when they can go out on such a lovely night asthis, I cannot understand. We do not have such nights as this athome, Boduoc."
"No," Boduoc assented reluctantly, for it was seldom that he wouldallow anything Roman to be superior to what he was accustomed toin Britain; "the nights are certainly fine here, and so they needbe when it is so hot all day that one can scarcely breathe outsidethe house. It seems to me that the heat takes all the strength outof my limbs."
Beric laughed. "It did not seem so, Boduoc, when today you threwBorthon, who is as heavy and well nigh as strong as yourself, fullfive yards through the air. Let us turn out from these busy streetsand get among the hills--not those on which the palaces stand,but away from houses and people."
"What a night it would be for wolf hunting!" Boduoc said suddenly,when they had walked along for some distance in silence.
"Yes, that was fine sport, Boduoc; and when we slew we knew we wereridding the land of fierce beasts."
"Well, many of the gladiators are not much better, Beric. Thereis Porus, who may be likened to a panther; there is Chresimus, whois like a savage bull; Gripus, who, when not at work, is for evertrying to stir up strife. Truly, I used to think, Beric, that Icould not slay a man unless he was an enemy, but I scarce feel thatnow. The captives in war are like ourselves, and I would not, ifI could help it, lift sword against them. But many of the men aremalefactors, who have been sentenced to death as gladiators ratherthan to death by the executioner, and who, by the terms of thesentence, must be killed within the course of a year. Well, thereis no objection to killing these; if you do not do it, someoneelse will. Then there are the Romans, these are the roughestand most brutal of all; they are men who have been the bullies oftheir quarters, who fight for money only, and boast that it is adisappointment to them when, by the vote of the spectators, theyhave to spare an antagonist they have conquered. It is at leastas good a work to kill one of these men as to slay a wolf at home.Then there are the patricians, who fight to gain popular applause,and kill as a matter of fashion; for them I have assuredly no pity.
"No, I hope I shall never have to stand up against a captive likemyself but against all others I can draw my sword without any ofthe scruples I used to feel. I hear that if one of us can but holdhis own for three years, in most cases he is given his liberty.I do not mean that he would be allowed to go home, but he is freefrom the arena."
They were now near the summit of one of the hills, where a clearsweep had been made of all the houses standing there in order thata stately temple should be erected on the site. Suddenly they hearda scream in a female voice.
"There is some villainy going on, Boduoc, let us break in upon thegame." They ran at the top of their speed in the direction fromwhich they had heard the cry, and came upon a group of seven oreight men, belonging, as they could see by the light of the moon,to the dregs of the city. A female was lying on the ground, anotherwas clinging to her, and two men with coarse jeers and laughterwere dragging her from her hold when the two Britons ran up.
Beric struck one of the men to the ground with a terrible blow,while Boduoc seizing the other hurled him through the air, andhe fell head foremost among a heap of the masonry of a demolishedbuilding. The other men drew their knives, but as Beric and hiscompanion turned upon them there was a cry, "They are gladiators,"and the whole of them without a moment's hesitation took to theirheels.
Beric then turned towards the females, and as the light of the moonfell full on his face the one with whom the men had been strugglingexclaimed, "Why, it is surely Beric!"
Beric looked at her in surprise. "It is the lady Ennia!" heexclaimed. "Why, what are you doing at this time of night in solonely a place, and without other attendants than this woman?"
"It is my nurse," Ennia said; "I was on my way with her, Beric, toa secret meeting of Christians held in an underground room of oneof the villas that stood here. I have been there several timesbefore and we have not been molested, but, as I gathered from whatthe men said, they noticed the light fall upon my necklace andbracelet as I passed by a lamp, and so followed us. Happily theyovertook us before we reached the place of meeting. Had they followedus farther they might have come upon us there, and then much moreharm would have been done. They came up and roughly demanded whowe were, and bade me hand over my jewels. Lycoris answered them,and they struck her down. I threw myself down on her and clung toher, but they would soon have plundered and perhaps killed me hadnot you arrived."
"Do not you think, Ennia, that it is foolish and wrong of you thusto go out unprotected at night to such a place as this, and, as Isuppose, without the knowledge of your father and mother?"
"They do not know," she said, "but it is my duty to go. It is theonly opportunity I have for hearing the Word preached."
"I cannot think, Ennia, that it is your duty," Beric said gravely."The first duty of a young woman is to obey her parents, and Ithink that you, being as yet scarce a woman, are not able to judgebetween one religion and another. I know nothing of the doctrinesof this sect save what your father told me; but he said that theywere good and pure, and, being so, I am sure that they cannotcountenance disobedience to parents."
"The words are 'Forsake all, and follow Me,'" Ennia said firmly.
"That could not have been said to one of your age, Ennia. I wasreading the Jewish sacred book the other day, and one of the chiefcommandments is to honour your father and mother. Well, I think,at any rate, that it were best not to go there tonight. These menmay return, and at any rate I will not allow you thus to wanderabout at night unprotected. Boduoc and I will escort you to yourhouse. When you get there I trust that you will think this over,and that you will see that such midnight excursions are altogetherwrong, whatever the motive may be; but at any rate, if you must go,I must obtain your promise that you will write to me at the schoolof Scopus the gladiator, to tell me at what hour you start. I shallnot intrude my presence upon you, nor accompany you, for this wouldbe to make myself an accomplice in what I consider your folly; butI shall always be near you, and if you are again disturbed on yourway Boduoc and I will be at hand to punish those who meddle withyou."
The old nurse by this time had regained her feet.
"You are the nurse of this young lady," Beric said to her sternly,"and should know better than to bring her into danger. If Norbanusknew what you have done he would have you cut in pieces."
"It is not the fault of Lycoris. She begged and entreated me not tocome, but I would not listen to her. You are angry with me, Beric,but you would not be angry if you knew what it was to me. Youngerthan I have died for the Faith, and I would die too if it werenecessary."
Beric made no reply, he was indeed deeply vexed at what heconsidered an act of mad folly. The daughters of Norbanus had beenvery friendly and kind to him at Massilia, and he felt a debt ofgratitude to their father; and this escapade on the part of Ennia,who was as yet scarce sixteen, vexed him exceedingly. He was notsure, indeed, but that he ought to go straight to Norbanu
"Will you give me your promise," he asked, "about going out atnight again? I implore you, I beseech you do not again leave thehouse of your father at night unknown to him. You cannot tell thedangers you run by so doing, or the misery you may bring, not onlyon yourself, but on your parents."
"I promise you," Ennia said. "I owe you so great a debt of gratitudethat even your harsh words do not anger me. I will think over whatyou have said, and try to do what may seem to me my duty."
"That is all I ask," Beric said more gently; and then turningwalked away with Boduoc, who had but faintly understood what wasbeing said, but was surprised at the recognition between Beric andthis girl, whom he had not particularly noticed when at Massilia.
"That is Pollio's cousin, the younger daughter of the magistrate Istayed with at Massilia. It was well for her that it was not Polliowho came to her rescue instead of us."
"I should say so," Boduoc said dryly. "Pollio would scarcely be amatch for eight cutthroats."
"I did not mean that, Boduoc. I meant that he would have rated hersoundly."
"It seemed to me that you were rating her somewhat soundly, Beric.I scarce ever heard you speak so harshly before, and I wondered themore as you are neither kith nor kin to her, while by the heartinesswith which you scolded her you might have been her own brother."
"I did not think whether I had a right to scold her or not, Boduoc.I liked both the maiden and her sister, and their father was verykind to me. Moreover, after all Pollio has done for us, the leastI could do was to look after his cousin. But even if I had knownnothing whatever of her or her friends, I should have spoken justas I did. The idea of a young girl like that wandering about atnight with no one but an old slave to protect her in an unfrequentedquarter of Rome! It is unheard of."
"But what were they doing there, Beric?"
"They were going to a meeting place of a new religion there is inRome. The people who belong to it are persecuted and obliged tomeet in secret. The old woman belongs to it, and has, I suppose,taught Ennia. I have heard that the sect is spreading, and thatalthough most of those who adhere to it are slaves, or belong tothe poorer class, there are many of good family who have also joinedit."
"Well, I should have thought," Boduoc said, "that the Romans hadno cause to be dissatisfied with their gods. They have given themvictory, and dominion, and power, and wealth. What more could theywant of them? I could understand that we, whose god did nothingto assist us in our fight against the Romans, should seek othergods who might do more for us. But that a Roman should have beendiscontented with his gods is more than I can understand. But whatis that sudden flash of light?"
"It is a fire, and in these narrow streets, with a brisk windblowing, it may well spread. There, do you hear the watchmen'strumpets giving the alarm? Let us get back quickly, Boduoc. It maybe that we shall be all turned out to fight the fire if it spreads."
They were not far from the school now, and a few minutes' run tookthem there. The house was quiet, but a few oil lamps burning hereand there enabled them to make their way to the broad planks,arranged like a modern guard bed, on which they slept with theirthree comrades.
"Is that you, Beric?" Scopus, who slept in a cubicule leading offthe great room, asked.
"Yes it is; Boduoc and I."
"You are very late," he growled. "Late hours are bad for the health.Are you sober?"
Beric laughed.
"No, I need not ask you," Scopus went on. "If it had been some ofthe others who had been out so late, I should have been sure theywould have come home as drunk as hogs; but that is not your way."
"There is a fire not very far off, Scopus, and the wind is blowingstrongly."
Scopus was at once on his feet and came out into the room. "I don'tlike fires," he said uneasily. "Let us go up on the roof and seewhat it is like."
Short as the time had been since Beric first saw the flash oflight the fire had already spread, and a broad sheet of flame wasshooting up into the air. "It is down there in the most crowdedquarter, and the wind is blowing strongly. It is likely to be abig fire. Listen to the din."
A chorus of shouts, the shrieks of women, and the tramp of manyfeet running, mingled with the sounding of the watchmen's horns.
"The soldiers will soon be there to keep order," Scopus said."As every household is obliged to keep a bucket in readiness, andthere is an abundance of water; they will cope with it. At any ratethe wind is not blowing in this direction. It is half a mile awayfully."
"Can we go down and see if we can be of any assistance?" Beric asked."We might help in removing goods from the houses, and in carryingoff the aged and sick."
"You can if you like, Beric. I would not say as much for those whoare training hard, for the loss of a night's rest is serious; butas it will be some months before you Britons are ready for thearena, it will do you no harm."
Beric went below, aroused his countrymen, and went with them andBoduoc. The streets were alive. Men were running in the directionof the fire carrying buckets; women were standing at the doorsinquiring of the passersby if they knew what street was on fire,and whether it was likely to spread. The sound of military trumpetscalling the soldiers to arms rose in various parts of the city,and mingled with the hoarse sound of the watchmen's horns. As theyapproached the fire the crowd became thicker.
Beric admired the coolness shown and the order that already reigned.The prefect of the 7th Cohort of the Night Guard, always on dutyto guard the streets from thieves or fire, was already on the spot,and under his directions, and those of several inferior officials,the men, as fast as they arrived, were set to pass buckets alongfrom the fountains and conduits.
"Who are you?" the magistrate asked, as the five tall figures cameup the street in the light of the fire.
"We belong to the school of Scopus," Beric said. "We have comedown to see if we can be of assistance. We are strong, and can movegoods from houses threatened, or carry off the sick should therebe any; or we can throw water on the flames."
"The soldiers will do that," the magistrate said, "that is theirbusiness; but, as you say, you may be of use in helping clear thehouses outside their lines. The flames are spreading. Come withme, I will take you to the centurion commanding a company of theNight Guard here, for if he saw you coming out of the house withgoods he might take you for plunderers."
The centurion, who was hard at work with his men, nodded an assent.
"It were well to get some more stout fellows like these," he saidto the magistrate. "In spite of our efforts the fire is makingheadway, and the sooner the houses in its path are stripped thebetter."
A strong body of volunteers for the work was soon organized, andan official placed in charge of it. All night they worked withoutintermission, Beric and his comrades keeping together and astonishingthose who were working with them by the strength and activity theydisplayed. But fast as they worked the flames advanced faster. Theywere half suffocated by smoke, and the sparks fell thickly roundthem. The workers carried the goods out of the houses into thestreet, where other parties conveyed them to open spaces. Lines ofmen down all the streets leading to the scene of the fire passedalong buckets of water. These the soldiers carried up on to theroofs, which they deluged, while others wetted the hangings andfurniture that had not been removed.
Parties of troops strove to pull down the houses in the path of theflames, while others again marched up and down preserving order.The Night Guard entered the houses, compelled all to leave, andsaw that none were left behind; while sentries kept guard over thegoods piled high in the open spaces. When morning broke, Beric gaveup the work to a fresh party and returned with his companions t
"We will have a bath to get rid of the dust and sweat," Beric said."But first we will go up to the roof and have a look at the fire.We had no time when we were working to think much of it; but aswe were always being driven back by it, it must have spread a gooddeal."
An exclamation of surprise broke from them when they gained theroof. Smoke and flames were rising over a large area. A dense canopyoverhung the town, a confused din filled the air, while momentarilydeep heavy sounds told of falling roofs and walls.
"This is terrible, Boduoc."
"Why terrible, Beric? For my part I should like to see Rome utterlydestroyed, as she has destroyed so many other towns."
"The Romans would build it up again more magnificent than before,Boduoc. No, it would be a misfortune to the world if Rome weredestroyed; but there is little chance of that. They have had manyfires before now; this is a large one certainly, but by this timeall the troops in the city must be there, and if the wind dropsthey will soon arrest the progress of the flames."
The other Britons quite agreed with Boduoc, and though ready to worktheir hardest to aid in saving the property of individuals, theylooked on with undisguised satisfaction at the great conflagration.On such a point as this Beric knew that it would be useless toargue with them.
"You had better come down from the roof, Boduoc. There are otherswatching the fire besides ourselves; and if it were reported thatsome of the gladiators from the school were seen making exultinggestures, there would be a popular tumult, and it is likely as notwe should be charged with being the authors of the fire. Let us godown, get some food, and then have a bath and sleep for a while.There is little chance of the fire being checked at present. Atany rate, we have done our share of work."
After a few hours' sleep Beric again went up to the roof. Thefire had made great progress, and, as he could see, was not onlytravelling with the wind, but working up against it. It was alreadymuch nearer to the school than it had been. As to the width of thearea of the conflagration the smoke prevented him from forming anyopinion; but he judged that the length was fully a mile. It wasevident that the progress of the fire was causing great dismay.Groups were gathered on the housetops everywhere, while the streetswere crowded with fugitives laden with household goods, makingtheir way towards the thinly populated portions of the hills. Aftereating some bread and fruit, Beric again sallied out with his fourcompanions. On their way down they met Scopus with several of thegladiators returning.
"What is being done, Scopus?"
"As far as stopping the fire nothing is being done. It has beengiven up. What can be done when the fire is sweeping along a milebroad, and the heat is so great that there is no standing within ahundred yards of it? All the soldiers are there, and the magistratesand the guards, and all the rest of them, but all that can be doneis to prevent the scum of the city from sacking and plundering.Scores of men have been scourged and some beheaded, but it is noeasy matter to keep down the mob. There are parties of guards inevery street. The whole of the Praetorians are under arms, but theterror and confusion is so great and spread over so wide a spacethat it is well nigh impossible to preserve order. Proclamationshave just been issued by the senate calling upon all citizensto gather at their places of assembly in arms, enjoining them topreserve order, and authorizing the slaying of all robbers caughtin the act of plundering. All persons within a certain distanceof the fire are recommended to send their wives and families, withtheir jewels and all portable wealth, to the public gardens, wherestrong guards of the Praetorians will be posted."
"It seems to me that the fire is advancing in this direction, also,Scopus."
"It is spreading everywhere," Scopus said gloomily. "The heatseems to draw the air in from all directions, and the flames surgesometimes one way and sometimes another. You had better not go faraway, Beric; if the flames crawl up much nearer we shall have toprepare for a move. We have no jewels to lose, nor is the furnitureof much value, but the arms and armour, our apparatus, clothes,and other things must be carried off."
The scene as Beric went forward was pitiful in the extreme. Weepingwomen carrying heavy burdens and with their children clinging totheir dress came along. Some searched up and down frantically formembers of the family who had been lost in the crowd. Old men andwomen were being helped along by their relations. The sick werebeing borne past upon doors or the tops of tables.
Among the fugitives were groups of men from the poorest districtsby the river, who were only restrained from snatching at theornaments and caskets of the women by the presence of the soldiers,standing at short intervals along the street and at the doors of theprincipal houses. In spite of the vigilance of the guard, however,such thefts occasionally took place, and the screams that fromtime to time rose in the side streets told of the work of plundergoing on there.
"I should like to turn down here and give a lesson to some of thesevillains," Boduoc said.
"I should like nothing better, Boduoc, but it would not do to getinto a fray at present. It would only bring up the guard, and theywould not be likely to ask many questions as to who was in fault,but would probably assume at once that we, being gladiators, werethere for the purpose of robbery, and that the row had arisen overthe division of spoil. Look, there is a centurion taking a partyof men down the street where we heard those screams. Let us moveback a few paces and see what is going to happen. Yes, there isanother party of soldiers coming in at the other end. The womenare running out of the houses to tell their grievances."
Small parties of soldiers entered the houses. Shouts and yells couldbe heard even above the surrounding din. Men jumped from windowsor ran out into the street only to be cut down by the troops there,and so each body of soldiers continued to advance until they metin the centre of the street, and then, after a few words betweenthe officers, each party returned by the way it had come. They haddone their work, and the street had been completely cleared of theplunderers.
"You see, Boduoc, had we run down there when we heard the cries itwould have gone hard with us. The troops certainly spent no timein questioning; the women might have told them, perhaps, that wehad come to their assistance; still it is just as well that we keepclear of the matter."
Beric's party skirted along the fire for some distance. At somepoints to windward of the flames efforts were still being made toprevent their spread, large numbers of men being employed in pullingdown houses under the supervision of the fire guard. Bodies oftroops guarded the entrances to all the streets, and kept back thecrowd of sightseers, who had assembled from all parts of the city.Fearing that they might be impressed for the work of demolition,the Britons returned to the school. The familia, as the membersof any school of this kind were called, were all assembled. Scopuswas walking moodily up and down the gymnasium, but it was evidentby the countenances of most of the men that they felt a deepsatisfaction at the misfortune that had befallen Rome. From timeto time Scopus ascended to the roof, or sent one of the men outto gather news, but it was always to the same effect, the fire wasstill spreading, and assuming every hour more serious proportions.Towards evening the flames had approached so closely, that Scopusgave orders for the men to take up the bundles that had alreadybeen made up, containing everything of any value in the school.
"You had better not wait any longer," he said; "at any moment theremay be orders for all schools to go down to help the troops, andthen we should lose everything."
Accordingly the heavy packets were lifted by the men on to theirheads or shoulders, and they started for the Palatine, which wasthe nearest hill. Here were many of the houses of the wealthy, andthe owners of most of these had already thrown open their gardensfor the use of the fugitives. In one of these the gladiatorsdeposited their goods. Two of the party having been left to guardthem the rest went out to view the fire.
There was little sleep in Rome that night. It was now evident to allthat this was
"There were great fires when we destroyed Camalodunum, Verulamium,and London," Boduoc said, "but this is already larger than any ofthose, and it is ever spreading; even at this distance we can hearthe roar of the flames, the crash of the falling houses, and theshouts of the workers."
"It is a terrible sight, indeed, Boduoc. It looks like a sea offire. So far the part involved is one of the oldest and poorestin the city, but if it goes on like this the better quarters willsoon be threatened. If we get no special orders tomorrow, we willgo down to the house of Norbanus and give what help we can in theremoval of his goods. His library is a very valuable one, and itsloss would be a terrible blow to him. I remember that at Camalodunumthere was nothing I regretted so much as the destruction of thebooks."
"It is all a matter of taste," Boduoc said. "I would rather have agood suit of armour and arms than all the books in Rome. Why somepeople should worry their brains to make those little black markson paper, and others should trouble to make out what they mean, ismore than I can understand. However, we shall be glad to help youto carry off the goods of Norbanus."