“And Maurice?”
“He also is asleep, and I’ve no doubt will wake up quite fit for another midnight attack.”
“Egad, and he’ll get it!” said the Demarch grimly. “That villain Alcibiades is getting ready for another assault.”
“Well, in spite of the benefits conferred, it is to be hoped Hephaistos won’t interfere this time with his earthquakes.”
“He has warned us twice,” replied Justinian, as he walked out into the court with the poet; “once by the earthquake, again by the springs. Heaven help us when the third warning comes!”
“Oh, there’s luck in odd numbers,” said Crispin flippantly. “And, in any case, if we come to grief, our enemies will be in the same plight as ourselves.”
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE INVOCATION OF ARTEMIS.
O Moon! thou risest from the western seas,
A virgin Aphrodite fair and chaste,
And by thy votaress on bended knees