"But when you have her," Astarte murmured under her breath to her companion, "you will set me wholly free?"
"I don't know yet," he growled. "It doesn't look as if I should win her."
"Set me free!" Astarte repeated earnestly.
It was meant for an entreaty, but the tone conveyed so sinister a threat that the nobleman gazed wonderingly into her black eyes, in whose depths lurked an expression which made him afraid to say no. He evaded an answer by asking rudely: "What is there in the giant that attracts you as a magnet draws iron?"
"Strength," said Astarte, impressively. "He could wrap you around his left arm with his right hand."
"I was strong enough, too," replied the Vandal, gloomily. "Africa and Astarte would suck the marrow out of a Hercules."
The whispering was interrupted by Thrasabad, who now, the tiger being silent, addressed the audience: "We will have brought out to fight before you six African bears from the Atlas, with six buffaloes from the mountain Valley of Aurasia! a hippopotamus from the Nile, and a rhinoceros; an elephant and three leopards, a powerful tiger--do you hear him? Silence, Hasdrubal, till you are summoned--with a man in full armour, who has been condemned to death."
"Aha! Good! That will be splendid!" ran through the Amphitheatre.
"And lastly,--as I hope Hasdrubal will be the victor,--the tiger will fight all the survivors of the other conflicts, and a pack of twelve British dogs."
Loud shouts of delight rang through the building.