Arrows, stones, and spears were hurled at Cethegus. One of his Isaurians fell; the others took to their heels.
Cethegus was hit by an arrow; it penetrated slightly into his left shoulder. He tore it out.
"A Roman arrow, with my own stamp!" he cried with a terrible laugh.
With difficulty he gained a dark side-street.
Before his House there was a crowd of soldiers, trying in vain to break open the principal door.
Cethegus heard the uproar, and well understood the cries of rage with which the soldiers accompanied their ineffectual exertions.
"The door is strong," he said to himself. "Before they force an entrance, I shall be again out of the house."
He hurried to the back of the house. He pressed a secret spring which opened the door of the court, entered, and, leaving the door open behind him, hurried in.
Hark! a stroke--very different from all which had gone before--thundered against the front door of the house.
"That is a battle-axe!" thought Cethegus. "That is Teja?"