“Why, two of them came.”
“Two of what?”
“Two wizards, or goblins, or worse.”
“None of that nonsense for me.” The Dacian’s eye flashed drunkenly again. “Well, tell me, Arminius, what sort of people they were, and what they did.”
“Why, one of them was but a stripling, a boy, tall and thin; who went round the pillar, and I suppose must have taken away what you miss, while I was busy with the other.”
“And what of him? What was he like?”
The soldier opened his mouth and eyes, and stared at Corvinus for some moments, then said, with a sort of stupid solemnity, “What was he like? Why, if he was not Thor himself, he wasn’t far from it. I never felt such strength.”
“What did he do to show it?”
“He came up first, and began to chat quite friendly, asked me if it was not very cold, and that sort of thing. At last I remembered that I had to run through any one that came near me——”
“Exactly,” interrupted Corvinus; “and why did you not do it?”