by Felix Dahn
CHAPTER XLIII.
Saturninus, no longer occupied with his prisoner, stepped forward intothe centre of the tent, saying: "In the name of the Emperor Gratianus!As General and Commander of this camp I open the investigation. Speak,girl! You, a slave, a captive Barbarian, are making a terrible chargeagainst a Roman leader. Weigh your words! Death is the penalty forfalse accusation of such a deed."
But Bissula did not shrink. She had now recovered her strength andcalmness, and gave no thought to herself; her mind was occupied solelywith the old friend who lay sighing on his cushions, and who had neverbeen so dear to her as in the helplessness of his anguish. Briefly,clearly, and simply she related the conversation between the two men,to which, in the boughs of the pine-tree, she had been an involuntarylistener.
"Miserable lies," shrieked Herculanus, stamping his foot. "The wenchwants to become my uncle's wanton and ruin his nephew, the heir. Thewhole story is an invention,--the entire tale of hiding in the tree!When I came in here she stood watching beside the tent."
"That is a base falsehood," said Rignomer, stepping forward. "I swearthat she has just come down from the tree: I had been followingher--unseen--for half an hour."
"Aha, do you hear, uncle? Another lover!" sneered Herculanus.
"No," said the Tribune, "it was done by my order."
But Rignomer had flushed crimson with rage and shame. Shaking hisclenched fist at Herculanus, he said, laughing grimly: "Just wait--youfellow with your patched mantle. The child came down from the treebefore my eyes. I was standing, hidden by the tent, six paces oppositeto it. Two men came from the right and left, glided under the pine,whispered together, and then separated."
Davus grew even paler than before; he tottered and would have fallenbut for the hands which grasped him. But Herculanus asked defiantly:"Did you recognize the two men in the dark? Or, at six paces distance,understand their whispers?"
"Neither. But the child slid down the tree directly after in the mostfrantic terror, called 'Murder! They will poison Ausonius!' and ranwith me here. The last part of the way I carried her."
"So the two Barbarians conspired against me!" cried Herculanus.
Saturninus went up to the slave, who hung with shaking knees betweenthe two Thracians. "You know what terrible tortures threaten the slavewho tries to murder his own master?"
Davus sank to the ground; the two men could scarcely drag him up again.
"Well then! What matters your miserable body! I will secure your safetyof life and limb--in the Emperor's name--you shall merely go to thelead mines, if you confess at once."
"Thank you, my lord, a thousand thanks," groaned the slave. "Yes, yes.It is all as they say. For a year he has been tempting and urging! Thedemon of gold blinded me. It is all true!"
"Ha," shouted Herculanus, struggling against his guards, "so the slave,too, is in the conspiracy against me?"
"Give the wine in the Emperor's goblet to a dog, and see how long itwill live," said Davus. "It is hemlock! In my tunic--feel there--I havea small vial which contains the rest."
"I don't doubt it: poison in the goblet--the same poison in the vial.Of course," cried Herculanus with an angry laugh, "the slave put itinto both. But Ausonius will not die until he has altered his will anddisinherited his nephew; for the Barbarian girl appeared just at theright moment as a deliverer."
Meanwhile the Tribune had taken from the slave's breast a little ambervial and placed it on the table beside the goblet. Ausonius glanced atit mournfully; he seemed to recognize it.
"And what he put in there," Herculanus went on, "is to convict me?""No," cried Davus, now angered, "you shall convict yourself. Tribune,feel in his tunic too; he has the same poison, in a similar vial,hidden there. Could I force him to do it? Or could I conjure it thereby magic?"
Herculanus turned pale. Defiance, the hope of life, deserted him and,gnashing his teeth, he struggled fiercely in the Illyrians' grasp. Butthe latter held him firmly while their countryman, Saturninus, tookfrom his tunic a similar amber vial and placed it beside the first one.
"Then go to Orcus together! I wish you all had poison in you!" shriekedHerculanus.
But Ausonius tore his gray locks, wailing: "Alas! alas! I know themwell. I gave them myself, both vials, to my dear sister, his mother.Alas, my own sister's son! To murder me! For miserable money! I hadleft it all to him. Only I should have been glad to live a few yearslonger."
Weeping aloud, he covered his face. Bissula, kneeling before him,stroked his hands compassionately.
"No doubt is possible," said Saturninus, "even without the confessionmade by his fury."
"Oh! The son of my dearest sister, my Melania!" moaned the Prefect.
"I had long suspected him," the Tribune said. "But the scoundrel didnot desire to murder you alone; he wanted to kill this child too, towhom all are attached."
"What? What?" cried Ausonius. Bissula also started.
"That is why he hastened in advance of us all, alone, to her dwelling,on her track. He had raised his sword for a deadly blow when I caughthis arm."
"What? Horrible!" cried Ausonius.
"Yes, that is true; but," the girl went on kindly and truthfully, "butthen he had not yet recognized me as his uncle's friend."
"Yes, yes," groaned the Prefect. "He told me himself that a red hairhad put him on your track. How often I had described you to him! And,as soon as he saw you he recognized you instantly. He wanted to bringyou to me; and he--"
"And yesterday night," Rignomer put in wrathfully, "he stole into hertent with an unsheathed dagger. Unfortunately one who should haveguarded it was sleeping, but the she-bear was awake, and"--he swiftlyspread the full mantle open--"she tore out a piece here as he fled."
"_This_ piece," said Saturninus, drawing it from his girdle and layingit on the fresh patch; "you see it fits exactly."
"The Furies' curse on you all!" screamed Herculanus.
"Away with them both!" the Tribune commanded. "Prosper, two of yourslave-blocks! It won't do to leave them guarded in an open tent. Thatis always unsafe and requires the constant presence of trustworthy men,whom we cannot spare. Rignomer, you will lock them in--both feet--apartfrom each other. Your life will answer for it if they escape on theway."
"They shall not," growled the Batavian, who had been inexpressiblyenraged by the fling at his love for Bissula, though he did not knowwhy. "Forward!"
Led by Rignomer, the four guards and Prosper thrust the prisoners outof the tent.
