The Scarlet Banner Part 4

"Do you hear, brother?" exclaimed Zazo.

"He betrays--"

"The betrayers," Verus interrupted. "Yes, Gelimer, I have acted while you were hesitating, pondering, and this brave fool was sleeping, or--bl.u.s.tering. You remember, long ago I warned you that the King and his nephews were negotiating with Constantinople."

"Did he do so really, brother?" asked Zazo, eagerly.

"Long ago. And repeatedly."

Zazo shook his brown locks, angry, wondering, incredulous. But he said firmly,--

"Then forgive me, priest,--if I have really done you injustice."

"Pudentius," Verus continued, without replying, "was, I suspected, the go-between. I gained his confidence."

"That is, you deceived him--as you are perhaps deluding us," muttered Zazo.

"Silence, brother!" Gelimer commanded imperiously.

"It was not difficult to convince him. My family, like his, had by your kings--" he interrupted himself abruptly. "I expressed my anguish; I condemned your cruelty."

"With justice! Woe betide us, with justice!" groaned Gelimer, striking his brow with his clenched fist.

"I said that my friendship for you was not so strong as my resentment for all my kindred. He initiated me into the conspiracy. I was startled; for, in truth, unless G.o.d worked a miracle to blind him, the Vandal kingdom was hopelessly lost. I warned him--to gain time until your return--of the cruel vengeance you would take upon all Romans if the insurrection should be suppressed. He hesitated, promised to consider everything again, to discuss the matter once more with the King. There--this note, brought to me by a stranger to-day in the basilica, contains the decision. Act quickly, or it may be too late."

Gelimer gazed silently into vacancy. But Zazo drew his sword and was rushing from the hall.

"Where are you going?" asked the priest, in a low tone, seizing his arm. The grasp was so firm, so powerful, that the Vandal could not shake it off.

"Where? To the King! To cut down the traitor and his allies! Then a.s.semble the army and--Hail to King Gelimer!"

"Silence, madman!" cried the latter, startled, as if his most secret wish were revealed to him, "you will stay here! Would you add to all the sins which already burden the Vandal race--especially our generation--the crime of dethronement, regicide, the murder of a kinsman? Where is the proof of Hilderic's guilt? Was my long-cherished distrust not merely the fruit, but the pretext,--inspired by my own impatient desire for the throne? Pudentius may lie--exaggerate. Where is the proof that treason is planned?"

"Will you wait till it has succeeded?" cried Zazo, defiantly.

"No! But do not punish till it is proved."

"There speaks the Christian," said the priest, approvingly.--"But the proof must be quickly produced: this very day. Listen, I have reason to believe that Pudentius is in the city now."

"We must have him!" cried Zazo. "Where is he? With the King?"

"They do not work so openly. He steals into the palace only by night.

But I know his hiding-place. In the grove of the Holy Virgin--the warm baths."

"Send me, brother! Me! I will fly!"

"Go, then," replied Gelimer, waving his hand.

"But do not kill him," the priest called after the hurrying figure.

"No, by my sword! We must have him alive." He vanished down the corridor.

"Oh, Verus!" Gelimer pa.s.sionately exclaimed, "you faithful friend!

Shall I owe you the rescue of my people, as well as the deliverance of my own poor life from the most horrible death?" He eagerly clasped his hand.

The priest withdrew it.

"Thank G.o.d for your own and your people's destiny, not me. I am only the tool of His will, from the hour I a.s.sumed the garb of this priesthood. But listen: to you alone dare I confide the whole truth; yonder blockhead would ruin everything by his blind impetuosity. Your life is threatened. That does not alarm the hero! Yet you must preserve it for your people. Fall if fall you must, in battle, under the sword of Belisarius" (Gelimer's eyes sparkled, and a n.o.ble enthusiasm transfigured his face), "but do not perish miserably by murder."

"Murder? Who would--?"

"The King. No, do not doubt. Pudentius told me. The nephews overruled his opposition. They know that you will baffle their plans so long as you live. You must never be permitted to become King of the Vandals."

Here the black eyes shot a swift glance, then fell again.

"We shall see!" cried Gelimer, wrathfully. "I _will_ be King, and woe--"

Here he stopped suddenly. His breath came and went quickly. After a pause, repressing his vehemence, he asked humbly,--

"Is this ambition a sin, my brother?"

"You have a right to the crown," the other answered quietly. "If you should die, then, according to Genseric's law of succession, Hoamer, as the oldest male scion of the race, would follow. So they have persuaded the King to invite you on the day of your return to a secret interview in the palace--entirely alone--and there murder you."

"Impossible, my friend. I have already seen the King. He received me ungraciously, ungratefully; but," he smiled, "as you see, I am still alive."

"You went to see the King, surrounded by all the leaders of your troops fully armed. But beware that he does not summon you again alone."

"That would be strange. We discussed every subject of moment."

At that instant steps echoed in the corridor. A negro slave handed Gelimer a letter. "From the King," he said, and left the hall.

The hero tore the cord that fastened the little wax tablet, glanced at the contents, and turned pale.

It is true. Come at the tenth hour in the evening to my sleeping room, with no companion. I have a secret matter to discuss with you.

HILDERIC.

"You see--"

"No, no! I will not believe it. It may be accident. Hilderic is weak; he hates me; but he is no murderer."

"So much the better if Pudentius lied. But it is the duty of the friend to warn. Do not go there!"

"I must! I fear for myself? Does my Verus know me so little?"

"Then do not go alone. Take Zazo with you, or Gibamund."

"Impossible, against the King's command! And no one is permitted to have a private interview with the King except unarmed."