CHAPTER XI
HIDING
It was fully dark before we dared to leave our hiding-place and attemptthe risky venture of essaying to reach a safer shelter or refuge in theforests without attracting the attention of any dog at any of the severalfarmsteads which we must pass.
Agathemer led and I followed, my teeth chattering and the night insectsbiting me severely. Hugging our precious copper cylinders we waded morethan waistdeep in the water, up the Bran Brook, sometimes all butswimming, as we skirted some of the deeper pools. There was no moon and wecould see but little by the faint starlight. We had to go slowly, as wecould not swim and keep hold of our cylinders; and must not risk losingone if Agathemer went over his head in a deep pool. It seemed to me thatwe had been threading the curves of the brook for at least two hours whenI began to feel as if something were wrong. Even in the dark I had beenaware of a sort of recognition of each pool, shallow, riffle, bend, bankor what not. Now, gradually, it came over me that I was among surroundingsas unfamiliar as if I had not been in Sabinum, or even in Italy.
I caught Agathemer by the arm.
"Where are we?" I whispered.
"Don't talk!" he warned.
But I insisted; for, as we were by now no more than knee-deep in thewater, I knew we must be well up towards the headwaters and it came overme that we had not turned off anywhere as sharply as we should had weturned up either the Chaff or the Flour.
"Are we going up the Bran?" I queried.
"Precisely!" Agathemer breathed.
I almost spoke out loud.
"This," I said, "is the last place on earth I'd expect you to guide meto."
"Precisely," he repeated, "and it's the last place on earth anybody elsewould expect me to lead you to or you to be in, by any chance; thereforeit's the last place in Italy where any one will look for you; therefore itis, just now, the safest place in Italy for you. Come on, I know everystone of this brook."
I followed him. His logic was good, but, on Ducconius Furfur's land I felthopelessly lost and overwhelmed by despair.
We had not gone far from where I had forced Agathemer to reveal his ruse,when he turned round and whispered:
"This is the place. Here we leave the water. Follow me."
I was dimly aware of a blacker blackness before us, as of a big, tallrock. This we skirted and then stepped out of the brook towards the left.There we stepped into deep drifts of dead leaves.
"Here is bedding," said Agathemer, "such as Ulysses was content with afterhis long sea-swim to the island of the Phaeacians. Perhaps we can getalong in such bedding."
Naked as we were we burrowed into the dead leaves, and, after a bit I feltless chilly, though by no means warm.
Agathemer took from me the cylinder I had been carrying; opened one of thetwo, a matter of some difficulty, as the top was so tight; sniffed at it,and took from it some morsels of food: a bit of cold ham, a bit of coldfowl and a bit of bread. These I ate, chewing them slowly. At the sametime he ate, as slowly, an equal share.
After eating we tried to sleep. I was too weary and drowsy to keep awake,and too cold and too much in pain from the scratch on my shoulder and thegouge on my hip to be able to sleep long. I got some sleep before dawn,but not much.
Fortunately for us the night had been clear, warm and windless. Even so wesuffered severely with the cold; since the chilled air, of course, rolleddown the hillsides into the hollow along the bed of the brook, till thevalley was filled with thick mist and every leaf and twig dripped withmoisture. Through the mist the dawn broke pearly gray at first and theniridescent; and, when the first sunrays penetrated the white haze andgilded every leaf-edge, turning the tree-tops to gold and making everywaterdrop a diamond, no lovelier morning could be imagined.
The trees about and above us were mostly beeches, with many chestnuts anda few plane-trees and poplars. We were in a clump of willows with thickalders under them, so that, even with no other protection, we could nothave been seen from any distance. And we were most excellently protected,being on a little island where the brook forked and flowed, three or fouryards wide and nearly a yard deep, round a huge gray rock, fully fifteenyards across and nearly seven yards high, a bulge of worn stone, shapedmuch like half a melon and almost as symmetrical. And, as one might layhalf a melon, curve up, and then split it with one blow of a kitchen-knife, so this great rock, as if cleft by a single sweep of a Titan'ssword, was rent in half and the halves left about four yards apart. Thefracture was clean and smooth, except that a piece about two yards squarehad cracked loose at the ground level from the southern half and laybedded in the mud, its top a foot or so above the earth, leaving in theface of one rock a rectangular niche about a man's length each way, inwhich cavity two men could shelter from the rain.
As soon as it was light enough to see I was for crawling into this littlecavern. But Agathemer restrained me.
"The face of the rock," he said, "would feel cold as ice to your skin. Youhave, even if you do not realize it, somewhat warmed the leaves next you.For the present we are least uncomfortable where we are. The dawn-windcannot get at our hides while we are under these leaves. Keep still."
He kept himself as much as possible under the leaves but wriggled nearerthe altar-shaped bit of rock. Half-sitting, half crouching by it, littlebesides his head out of the heap of leaves in which he was, he opened bothcylinders and laid out on the top of the stone what food was in them. Thishe divided into six equal portions, two he put back in each cylinder. Wemunched interminably, making every morsel last as long as possible.
The food revived me, and even before the dawn-wind had died, the rays ofthe sun began to make themselves felt. I began to be restless; Agathemeragain checked me.
"Keep still," he commanded. "As soon as the sun has dried the dew off theleaves I can make you more comfortable. Just now we are best as we are."
I kept under the leaves, but I peered about. At each end of the cleftbetween the two halves of the rock I could see the brook brawling by amongthe worn stones. The line of the cleft was directly across the bed of thebrook; and, along the cleft, past the detached, almost buried, altar-shaped stone, I descried, barely discernible but unmistakable, such a pathas is made by the bare or sandalled feet of even one human being followingdaily the same track. I conned it. I judged that it was many, many decadesold and had been trodden daily for a lifetime or so, but that it had beentotally disused for at least a year and possibly for more.
I pointed it out to Agathemer and asked him about it.
"That," he said, "is part of what used to be the shorter and more used ofthe two paths from Furfur's villa to Philargyrus's farmstead. Naturally,since the Philargyrus farm has been detached from Furfur's estate and hasbecome part of yours, there must be very little intercommunication betweenthe farm and the villa and I judged that any slave going from one to theother would avoid the more obvious path and sneak round the longer way.Therefore I judged it safer to locate here, as this path is probablytotally unused."
"How did you know of it?" I queried.
Up to his neck in leaves, arms under too, only his head out, Agathemerblushed all over his handsome face.
"Before Andivius won the suit," he said, "while Philargyrus was stillFurfur's tenant, I had an impassioned love-affair with one of Furfur'sslave-girls. We used to meet here, at first on moonlit nights, and, later,when we each knew every inch of our way here and home again, more often onmoonless nights. I always waded up and down the bed of the brook, so as toleave no scent for any dog to follow. I know this nook well and thought ofit the instant I began to plan an escape for you."
I said nothing.
"It is barely possible," he said, "that some one may use this path, evenif no one has passed along it for months. That is just the way luck turnsout. I mean to be invisible if anyone does come. There was no likelihoodof anyone coming by at dawn, and no possibility of doing anything ifanyone did come. Now it is warm enough for me to pick off the outer layerof dew-wet leaves from whatever heaps of de
ad leaves are hereabouts. I cangather the dry leaves into that little grotto. We can lie on a bed ofthem, wrapped up in them we can cower under them, we can even pull ourheads under and be invisible if we hear footsteps approaching. You keepstill."
He then stood up and went off. After a time he returned with a greatarmful of leaves, which he threw into the niche. After many trips he hadthe niche almost full of fairly dry dead leaves. By this time the warmthof the sun was making itself felt and I stood up and stretched myself. Idid not feel weak, but my shoulder and hip, where the drain-pipe had tornme, and the sole of my foot, where Agathemer had bitten me, were decidedlypainful. Agathemer, solicitously, steadied me on my feet and led me to thestreamside. There I seated myself on a convenient rock and he bathed myfoot, hip and shoulder. There was no sign of puffiness or heat in any ofthe three wounds, but all three were raw and sore. We had nothing withwhich to dress them and Agathemer merely dried them as well as he could bypatting them.
Meanwhile, even in my misery and despair, even hungry, weak and cold andin pain as I was, I could not but feel a gleam of pleasure at theenchanting beauty of the woodland scene about our hiding place. I gazed upat the bits of blue sky between the sunlit boughs, at the canopy of green,at the tenderer green of the underwood, at the carpet of grass, ferns,sedges and flowering plants which hid the earth and I almost rejoiced atits loveliness.
Agathemer led me back to our retreat and ensconced me in the nook of rock,on a soft deep bed of dry dead leaves, under a coverlet of more. Into theheaps he burrowed. The warmth of his naked body warmed me a trifle. Therewe lay still till dark. I slept, I think, from about noon till aftersunset.
While we could still see, Agathemer, making me keep flat as I was,wriggled out of the leaves and pushed them aside from my head and face. Wethen ate half our remaining food. As it grew dark Agathemer expounded tome his plans.
"Last night," he said, "there was no sense in doing anything. Hiding andkeeping out of sight was the best thing we could do. But tonight I musttry to steal what we need most. The risk must be taken. If I do not returnyou will know I have done my best. But I feel confident of returningbefore midnight. I know every farmstead on Furfur's estate and all thedogs know me. On your estate I not only know the dogs, but I have justfinished an inspection and I know the location of every dairy, smoke-house, larder and oven, I might almost say of every loaf, cheese, ham,flitch, wine-vat and oil-jar on the estate, not to mention every store-room where I might get us hats, tunics, sandals, quilts and what not.
"If I cannot do it otherwise, as a last resort I'll wake Uturia and tellher of our situation; she will help and will be secret. But I'll notresort to her if I can help it. Her most willing secrecy will not be assafe as her ignorance of our fate. No torture could surmount that."
I wanted to say "Farewell," but restrained myself and uttered a not toogloomy:
"Good luck and a prosperous return!"
After that, I lay and quaked till long past midnight. Then, I seemed tohear sounds which I could but interpret as heralding Agathemer's approach.In fact he soon spoke to me from close by and I heard the unmistakableblurred noise made by a soft and yet heavy pack deposited on the ground bymy bed of leaves.
"I've nearly everything I wanted," said Agathemer. "Keep still while Iuntie the quilt I carried it all in, and find things in the dark."
Presently he said:
"Stand up, and I'll try to dress you."
In the dark his hand found my hand and he guided me so that I extricatedmyself from the heap of leaves without hitting my head on the jutting roofof rock and without slipping on the wet earth or stumbling from weakness.
In the dark he slipped over my head a coarse, patched tunic. (I could feelagainst my skin the rude stitching of the patches.) Then he wrapped aboutme a coarse cloak, also much patched.
"Now," he said, "stand where you are till I make some sort of a bed foryou."
He fumbled about in the dark, grunting and making, I thought, too muchrustling in the leaves. Presently he said:
"I've laid a doubled quilt on the leaves and packed them down. Give meyour hand and I'll arrange you on it. Then I'll cover you with anotherquilt."
He did, deftly and solicitously.
I began to feel warm for the first time since I had sunk into the ooze ofthe drain-trap.
Agathemer fumbled about in the dark for a while and then came near againand felt me, making sure where my head was. He made me sit up.
"Smell that!" he said, "and catch hold of it."
I smelt ewe's-milk cheese and my fingers closed on a generous piece of it.Then, he put into my other hand a big chunk of bread, not yet entirelycold.
I bit the bread. It was Ofatulena's unsurpassable farm bread, half wheatflour and half barley flour and at that more appetizing and flavorsomethan any wheat-bread I ever tasted.
"There is plenty for both of us," Agathemer said, "eat all you want, buteat slow and be careful not to bolt a morsel."
He sat down by me and we munched in silence.
By and by he asked:
"Do you want any more?"
"No," I answered, "you judged my capacity pretty well. I am filled up."
"Don't lie down," he said, "I have a small kid-skin of wine."
We laughed a good deal before he made sure precisely where my mouth wasand put into it the reed which projected from one leg of the kid-skin. Idrank in abundance of a thin, sour wine, such as we kept for the slaves.It gave me new life.
After that draught of wine I composed myself to sleep and went to sleep atonce. I knew nothing of Agathemer's doings after that and did not feel himwhen he lay down by me. I slept till broad daylight.
When I waked Agathemer gave me a moderate draught of wine and all thebread and cheese I chose to eat: also a handful of olives. Then hedisplayed the total of his plunder: hats, with brims neither too broad nortoo narrow, the best pattern if one was to have only one hat, worn andbattered enough to suit us as being inconspicuous, yet nowhere torn,broken or slit; a tunic and cloak apiece, about the oldest and mostpatched in my villa-farm storage-loft, such as Ofatulena would hand out tonewly bought and untried slaves; three quilts, as bad as the cloaks andtunics, yet, like them, fairly serviceable and far from worn out; the kid-skin of wine, a whole loaf of bread and the remains of the one we had beeneating, what was left of a cheese and another whole; a little, tall,narrow jar of olive oil; a small bag of olives; a tiny box full of salt,the box of beechwood and about the size of a man's three fingers; awhetstone, a pair of rusty scissors; two small beechwood cups; a littlecopper dipper; some rags, old and worn, but perfectly clean; and aflageolet!
"In the name of Dionysius!" I cried laughing, "why the flageolet?"
Agathemer laughed also.
"My hand," he said, "came on it in the dark while feeling for thescissors. I could not resist bringing it. It is small, it weighs little,it will not add to our burdens and, once far away from here, I can play onit when we are lonely and so cheer us up."
"You appear," I said, "to have been able to help yourself as you pleased."
"No more trouble," said he, "than if I had walked out of the villa nightbefore last and poked about the out-buildings to see whether everythingwas as when I inspected them by day; only three dogs barked, and theyquieted down almost immediately. I am sure I roused no one and am ready towager that every slave was as sound asleep as if I had not been there."
I lazily readjusted myself on my quilt and leaf mattress, tucking my quiltclose about me. The morning was still, warm and cloudy, not a ray ofsunshine visible, even for a moment, since sunset the night before.
"Time to dress your wounds!" said Agathemer.
He brought from the brook a cupful of water, and, with the smallest of therags, solicitously bathed the gouge on my hip. He pronounced it healinghealthily. He then anointed it with olive oil. The bathing and anointingcomforted me greatly. Then, he similarly treated my shoulder and foot.When I was composed and covered he said:
"Now for the scissors!
" and he sharpened them on his whetstone until hefelt satisfied that he could get them no sharper, then he clipped my hairand beard, as closely as those scissors could. Then I sat up and clippedhim, awkwardly and unevenly, but effectively.
Hardly were we shorn when drops of rain began to patter on the leavesabove us. Agathemer wrapped his bread in the rags, put it between the twohats and tucked it under the leaves in one inner corner of the littlegrotto; bestowed the other things on it, or by it or in the other corner;and then lay down by me and pulled his quilt over him, then managing tocover both of us with leaves so that no trace of our presence would bevisible to any passer-by, yet we could breathe comfortably behind or underour screen of leaves.
It rained all day, a sluggish drizzle, soaking the earth, but notaccumulating enough water on it to produce visible trickles flowing on thesurface. The air was perfectly windless, so that no rain blew in on us aswe lay; we were damp, but not wet.
Before dusk the rain ceased and a brisk, warm wind shook the drops fromthe trees. We ate and Agathemer declared his intention of going on anotherraid about an hour after dark.
"What are you after this time?" I queried.
"More food," he said, "all I dare steal. I must not steal too much fromany one place. I'll wager my pilferings of last night will pass, notmerely unheeded, but entirely unnoticed. Ofatulena herself is so scatter-brained that she will never be sure that two loaves vanished from heroven; I doubt if she will so much as suspect any loss. But I cannot repeatthat depletion of her baking tonight; she might talk. She is not quick-witted enough to conjecture the truth, if she did her utter loyalty wouldkeep her mute; she'd impute the theft to some slave and likely as not havean investigation and advertise her loss. If there happened to be a craftyinspector with the Praetorians and if they have lingered, they mightsuspect the truth, beat the woods for us and capture us. So I must take alittle here and a little there.
"Then I want another quilt for myself, and shoes for both of us. Is thereanything else you can think of?"
"Manifestly!" I said, "we need a slave-scourge, a branding-iron with thelong F for 'runaway', [Footnote: _Fugitivus_. The short F stood for _fur_,"thief."] a brazier big enough to heat the branding iron and enoughcharcoal to fire it once."
"What, in the name of Mercury," he whispered amazedly, "do you want of abranding-iron and a scourge?"
"We are to pass as runaway slaves, if caught, according to your outline ofa plan," I said, "we had best do all we can to be sure of being thoughtordinary runaway slaves. Few slaves travel far from their owners' landwhen they first venture to run away. We should be branded, to seem oldoffenders.
"As for you, thanks to Nemestronia, your back is all it should be to helpplay the part we intend. My back has no scars. You must scourge me till Ihave as many as you."
In the late dusk, inside that grotto, under the dead leaves, I could seethe horror on his face.
"I scourge you!" he cried aloud.
"Hush!" I admonished him. "Scourged I must be, if I am to hope to escapeCaesar's agents as you have cleverly conceived that I might. Steal ascourge and a branding-iron tonight, and let us be ready for the road assoon as may be; we cannot set out northwards till my back is healed andthe brands on both of us, too."
We wrangled and argued till it was past time for him to start on hisexpedition. I finally declared that, unless he fetched a scourge and abranding-iron, I would, at daybreak, walk back to my villa and give myselfup to the authorities. At that he consented.
I went to sleep soon after he was gone and never woke till daylight.
I woke from a troubled sleep, haunted by nightmare dreams, woke aware of ageneral discomfort, misery and horror, and of acute pain in my wounds. Iseemed to have a good appetite and ate with relish; but, hardly had Iceased eating, when I appeared definitely feverish and the pain in my footbecame unbearable.
I told Agathemer how I felt and he examined my wounds. All three werepuffy, red, even purplish, and with pus at the edges. It was then and hasalways been since a puzzle to both of us why wounds, seemingly healingnaturally when unwashed and undressed, should inflame and fester aftercareful washing and dressing.
My fever was not high, but enough to make me fretful and irritable. Theday was very hot and still. I made Agathemer show me what spoil he hadbrought and at once ordered him to light the charcoal brazier, heat theiron and brand me. He demurred.
"If you feel feverish," he said, "the pain of the branding will doubleyour fever and, if you have three inflamed wounds, the brand will festerto a certainty. You'll probably die of it, if I brand you."
"As well die one way as another," I said. "If we stay here we are certainto be discovered sooner or later. Our only hope is to get away as soon asmay be. That cannot be until my back and both brands heal enough for us totramp northward. Your back is healed, so your brand will heal promptly. Ihave to get over these wounds and the branding and scourging too. We mustbe quick."
He argued, but I was half delirious and wholly unreasonable. I againthreatened to go straight to the villa and give myself up unless I had myway.
Agathemer, distraught and aghast, yielded. I argued that in the earlyhaze, the little trifle of smoke from the charcoal could not attractnotice. He complied. He had trouble getting a light from his flint andsteel, but he succeeded, and, when the charcoal caught, set the littlebrazier close to our nook and fanned it with a leafy bough to disperse thesmoke. When no further trace of smoke appeared and the charcoal glowedevenly, he put the iron to heat.
When it was hot enough he suggested, again, that we put off branding metill next day, and that he brand only himself. I insisted on his brandingme and branding me first.
To my amazement, when he had bared my shoulder, set me in position, andsnatched the iron from the brazier, I shrank back with a sort of weakscream.
Agathemer instantly replaced the iron in the brazier and turned, staringat me in silence.
Instantly I had a revulsion of resolution, of obstinacy, of deliriousrage. I reviled him. I commanded, I threatened.
Coolly he bared his left shoulder, knelt by the brazier and made as if tobrand himself.
"You can't do it," I protested, "you'll scar yourself to no purpose andanyone will know the mark is not a brand. Fetch the iron here and hand itto me."
He did, deftly. Without a wince or squeak he, kneeling and leaning, heldhis shoulder to the white-hot iron. I could not have done better if I hadbeen well and standing, instead of delirious and sitting, wrapped in aquilt, in a bed of dried leaves. I set the iron fair on the muscle of hisshoulder, held it there just the brief instant required for brandingwithout injury and snatched it away without any drag sideways.
After witnessing the stoical heroism of my slave I could not but insist onhis branding me and was exalted to the point of nerve-tension at which Ibit in my half-uttered scream as the heat seared my flesh. Agathemerdressed each brand with an oil-soaked rag and we composed ourselves tohide until dark.
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 12