第 8 页

virtues were held in the highest esteem, and the sordid love of wealth

had not as yet enfeebled her strength or sapped her powers. Her citizens

were men, indeed, ready to make any sacrifice for their country; and

such being the case, her final victory over Carthage was a matter of

certainty.

The news which afforded Malchus such delight was not viewed with the

same unmixed satisfaction by the members of his family. Thyra had for

the last year been betrothed to Adherbal, and he, too, was to accompany

Hamilcar to Spain, and none could say how long it might be before they

would return.

While the others were sitting round the festive board, Adherbal and

Thyra strolled away among the groves in the garden.

"I do not think you care for me, Adherbal," she said reproachfully as he

was speaking of the probabilities of the campaign. "You know well

that this war may continue in Spain for years, and you seem perfectly

indifferent to the fact that we must be separated for that time."

"I should not be indifferent to it, Thyra, if I thought for a moment

that this was to be the case. I may remain, it is true, for years in

Spain; but I have not the most remote idea of remaining there alone. At

the end of the first campaign, when our army goes into winter quarters,

I shall return here and fetch you."

"That's all very well," the girl said, pouting; "but how do you know

that I shall be willing to give up all the delights of Carthage to go

among the savage Iberians, where they say the ground is all white in

winter and even the rivers stop in their courses?"

Adherbal laughed lightly. "Then it is not for you to talk about

indifference, Thyra; but it won't be so bad as you fear. At Carthagena

you will have all the luxuries of Carthage. I do not say that your villa

shall be equal to this; but as you will have me it should be a thousand

times dearer to you."

"Your conceit is superb, Adherbal," Thyra laughed. "You get worse

and worse. Had I ever dreamed of it I should never have consented

so submissively when my father ordered me to regard you as my future

husband."

"You ought to think yourself a fortunate girl, Thyra," Adherbal said,

smiling; "for your father might have taken it into his head to have

done as Hamilcar Barca did, and married his daughters to Massilian and

Numidian princes, to become queens of bands of nomad savages."

"Well, they were queens, that was something, even if only of nomads."

"I don't think that it would have suited you, Thyra--a seat on horseback

for a throne, and a rough tent for a palace, would not be in your way at

all. I think a snug villa on the slopes of the bay of Carthagena, will

suit you better, not to mention the fact that I shall make an infinitely

more pleasant and agreeable master than a Numidian chief would do."

"You are intolerable, Adherbal, with your conceit and your mastership.

However, I suppose when the time comes I shall have to obey my father.

What a pity it is we girls cannot choose our husbands for ourselves!

Perhaps the time may come when we shall do so."

"Well, in your case, Thyra," Adherbal said, "it would make no

difference, because you know you would have chosen me anyhow; but most

girls would make a nice business of it. How are they to know what men

really are? They might be gamesters, drunkards, brutal and cruel

by nature, idle and spendthrift. What can maidens know of a man's

disposition? Of course they only see him at his best. Wise parents

can make careful inquiries, and have means of knowing what a man's

disposition and habits really are."

"You don't think, Adherbal," Thyra said earnestly, "that girls are such

fools that they cannot read faces; that we cannot tell the difference

between a good man and a bad one."

"Yes, a girl may know something about every man save the one she loves,

Thyra. She may see other's faults clearly enough; but she is blind to

those of the man she loves. Do you not know that the Greeks depict Cupid

with a bandage over his eyes?"

"I am not blind to your faults," Thyra said indignantly. "I know that

you are a great deal more lazy than becomes you; that you are not

sufficiently earnest in the affairs of life; that you will never rise to

be a great general like my cousin Hannibal."

"That is all quite true," Adherbal laughed; "and yet you see you love

me. You perceive my faults only in theory and not in fact, and you do

not in your heart wish to see me different from what I am. Is it not

so?"

"Yes," the girl said shyly, "I suppose it is. Anyhow, I don't like the

thought of your going away from me to that horrid Iberia."

Although defeated for the moment by the popular vote, the party of Hanno

were not discouraged. They had suffered a similar check when they had

attempted to prevent Hannibal joining Hasdrubal in Spain.

Not a moment was lost in setting to work to recover their lost ground.

Their agents among the lower classes spread calumnies against the

Barcine leaders. Money was lavishly distributed, and the judges, who

were devoted to Hanno's party, set their machinery to work to strike

terror among their opponents. Their modes of procedure were similar to

those which afterwards made Venice execrable in the height of her power.

Arrests were made secretly in the dead of night. Men were missing from

their families, and none knew what had become of them.

Dead bodies bearing signs of strangulation were found floating in the

shallow lakes around Carthage; and yet, so great was the dread inspired

by the terrible power of the judges, that the friends and relations of

those who were missing dared make neither complaint nor inquiry. It was

not against the leaders of the Barcine party that such measures were

taken. Had one of these been missing the whole would have flown to arms.

The dungeons would have been broken open, and not only the captives

liberated, but their arrest might have been made the pretext for an

attack upon the whole system under which such a state of things could

exist.

It was chiefly among the lower classes that the agents of Hanno's

vengeance operated. Among these the disappearance of so many men who

were regarded as leaders among the rest spread a deep and mysterious

fear. Although none dared to complain openly, the news of these

mysterious disappearances was not long in reaching the leaders of the

Barcine party.

These, however, were for the time powerless to act. Certain as they

might be of the source whence these unseen blows descended, they had no

evidence on which to assail so formidable a body as the judges. It

would be a rash act indeed to accuse such important functionaries of the

state, belonging, with scarcely an exception, to powerful families, of

arbitrary and cruel measures against insignificant persons.

The halo of tradition still surrounded the judges, and added to the fear

inspired by their terrible and unlimited power. In such an attack the

Barcine party could not rely upon the population to side with them; for,

while comparatively few were personally affected by the arrests which

had taken place, the fear of future consequences would operate upon all.

Among the younger members of the party, however, the indignation aroused

by these secret blows was deep. Giscon, who was continually brooding

over the tyranny and corruption which were ruining his country, was one

of the leaders of this section of the party; with him were other spirits

as ardent as himself. They met in a house in a quiet street in the lower

town, and there discussed all sorts of desperate projects for freeing

the city of its tyrants.

One day as Giscon was making his way to this rendezvous he met Malchus

riding at full speed from the port.

"What is it, Malchus, whither away in such haste?"

"It is shameful, Giscon, it is outrageous. I have just been down to the

port to tell the old fisherman with whom I often go out that I would

sail with him tomorrow, and find that four days ago he was missing, and

his body was yesterday found by his sons floating in the lagoon. He

had been strangled. His sons are as much overpowered with terror as by

grief, they believe that he has suffered for the part he took in rousing

the fishermen to declare for Hannibal a fortnight since, and they fear

lest the terrible vengeance of Hanno should next fall upon them.

"How it happened they know not. A man arrived late in the evening and

said that one of their father's best customers wanted a supply of fish

for a banquet he was to give next day, and that he wanted to speak

to him at once to arrange about the quantity and quality of fish he

required. Suspecting nothing the old man left at once, and was never

heard of afterwards. Next morning, seeing that he had not returned, one

of his sons went to the house to which he had been fetched, but found

that its owner knew nothing of the affair, and denied that he had sent

any message whatever to him. Fearing that something was wrong they

searched everywhere, but it was not until last night that his body was,

as I have told you, found.

"They are convinced that their father died in no private feud. He had

not, as far as they know, an enemy in the world. You may imagine how l

feel this; not only did I regard him as a friend, but I feel that it was

owing to his acting as I led him that he has come to his death."

"The tyrants!" Giscon exclaimed in a low voice. "But what can you do,

Malchus?"

"I am going to my father," Malchus replied, "to ask him to take the

matter up."

"What can he do?" Giscon said with a bitter laugh. "What can he prove?

Can he accuse our most noble body of judges, without a shadow of proof,

of making away with this unknown old fisherman. No, Malchus, if you are

in earnest to revenge your friend come with me, I will introduce you to

my friends, who are banded together against this tyranny, and who are

sworn to save Carthage. You are young, but you are brave and full of

ardour; you are a son of General Hamilcar, and my friends will gladly

receive you as one of us."

Malchus did not hesitate. That there would be danger in joining such

a body as Giscon spoke of he knew, but the young officer's talk during

their expedition had aroused in him a deep sense of the tyranny and

corruption which were sapping the power or his country, and this blow

which had struck him personally rendered him in a mood to adopt any

dangerous move.

"I will join you, Giscon," he said, "if you will accept me. I am young,

but I am ready to go all lengths, and to give my life if needs be to

free Carthage."

CHAPTER V: THE CONSPIRACY

Giscon led his companion along the narrow lanes until he reached the

back entrance of the house where the meetings were held. Knocking in

a particular way it was opened at once and closed behind them. As they

entered a slave took Malchus' horse without a word and fastened it to a

ring in the wall, where four or five other horses were standing.

"I rather wonder you are not afraid of drawing attention by riding on

horseback to a house in such a quarter," Malchus said.

"We dare not meet secretly, you know. The city is full of spies, and

doubtless the movements of all known to be hostile to Hanno and his

party are watched, therefore we thought it best to meet here. We have

caused it to be whispered as a secret in the neighbourhood, that the

house has been taken as a place where we can gamble free from the

presence of our elders. Therefore the only comments we excite is, `There

go those young fools who are ruining themselves.' It is only because you

are on horseback that I have come round to this gate; had you come on

foot we should have entered by the front. Fortunately there are among us

many who are deemed to be mere pleasure seekers--men who wager fortunes

on their horses, who are given to banquets, or whose lives seem to be

passed in luxury and indolence, but who at heart are as earnest in the

cause of Carthage as I am. The presence of such men among us gives a

probability to the tale that this is a gambling house. Were we all of my

stamp, men known to be utterly hostile to Hanno and his party, suspicion

would fall upon our meetings at once. But here we are."

As he spoke he drew aside some heavy curtains and entered a large room.

Some ten or twelve young men were assembled there. They looked up in

surprise as Giscon entered followed by his companion.

"I have brought a recruit," Giscon said, "one whom all of you know by

repute if not personally; it is Malchus, the son of General Hamilcar. He

is young to be engaged in a business like ours, but I have been with him

in a campaign and can answer for him. He is brave, ready, thoughtful and

trustworthy. He loves his country and hates her tyrants. I can guarantee

that he will do nothing imprudent, but can be trusted as one or

ourselves. Being young he will have the advantage of being less likely

to be watched, and may be doubly useful. He is ready to take the oath of

our society."

As Giscon was the leading spirit of the band his recommendation was

taken as amply sufficient. The young men rose and formed in a circle

round Malchus. All drew their daggers, and one, whom Malchus recognized

with a momentary feeling of surprise as Carthalon, whom Adherbal had

pointed out at the Barcine Club as one who thought only of horse racing,

said:

"Do you swear by Moloch and Astarte to be true to this society, to

devote yourself to the destruction of the oppressors of Carthage, to

carry out all measures which may be determined upon, even at the certain

risk of your life, and to suffer yourself to be torn to pieces by the

torture rather than reveal aught that passes within these walls?"

"That I swear solemnly," Malchus said.

"I need not say," Carthalon said carelessly, "that the punishment of the