They said that they had come to kill
you by command of the Jew Caleb, he who gave the evidence."
"They! Who?" asked Marcus.
"I know not, four men whose faces were masked. They said also that
though you must die, they were commanded to do me and this woman no
harm, only to bind and silence us. This they did, then, having taken
what money they could find, went out to waylay you. Afterwards I heard
a scuffle in the arch and well-nigh died of sorrow, for I who could
neither warn nor help you, was sure that you were perishing beneath
their knives."
"For this deliverance, thank God," said Cyril, lifting up his hands.
"Presently, presently," answered Marcus. "First follow me," and taking
the lamp in his hand, he ran back to the archway.
Beneath it a man lay upon his face--he across whom Marcus had stumbled,
and about him blood flowed from many wounds. In silence they turned him
over so that the light fell upon his features. Then Marcus staggered
back amazed, for, behold! they were Caleb's, notwithstanding the blood
and wounds that marred them, still dark and handsome in his death sleep.
"Why," he said to Stephanus, "this is that very man whose bloody work,
as they told us, the murderers came to do.
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