"Whither wilt thou that we direct our steps?" inquired Merodac, with mock submission, when the cords were unloosed.
"Lead the way—I care not," said his moody victim, "'tis as well that I follow."
A bitter and scornful laugh accompanied the reply of the dwarf.
"That were a pretty device truly,—to let thee lag behind, and without thy tether. Ah, ah," chuckled the squire as they left the chamber; "Diogenes and his lantern was a wise man's search compared with ours."
How the slave came to be so learned in Grecian lore, we know not. His further displays of erudition were cut short by the soothsayer, who cried out to him as they departed,
"Remember, thy carcase for his, if he return not."
Now, in York, at this day, may be observed, where an angle of the walls abuts on the "Mint Yard," a building named "the Multangular Tower," and supposed to have been one of the principal fortifications of the city. However this might be, its structure has puzzled not a little, even those most conversant with antiquities. The area was not built up all round, but open towards the city. The foundations of a wall have latterly been discovered, dividing it lengthwise through the centre, and continued, for some distance, into the town; so that the whole may not inaptly be represented by a Jew-trump—the tongue being the division, the circular end the present Multangular Tower, continued by walls on each side. This building, we have every reason to conjecture, was the Greek stadium or Roman circus, which authors tell us was a narrow piece of ground shaped like a staple; the round end called the barrier. The wall dividing it lengthwise is the spina, or flat ridge, running through the middle, which was generally a low wall, and sometimes merely a mound of earth. This was usually decorated with statues of gods, columns, votive altars, and the like. As a corroboration of this opinion, there have been found here several small statues, altars, and other figures, betokening a place of public resort or amusement.
The circus was not used merely for horse and chariot-races, but likewise for wrestling—the cæstus, and other athletic games. It was noted as the haunt of fortune-tellers, and thither the poorer people used to resort, and hear their fortunes told.[O]
Near this place stood the barracks, or castra. Long ranges of rooms, divided into several stories, the doors of each chamber opening into one common gallery, ascended by a wooden staircase.
Hither we must conduct our readers, at the close of the day on whose inauspicious morning "Cedric with the ready foot," was placed in such jeopardy.