He helped unclasp his antagonist's helmet, and gave his hand as he tottered over the dead bodies which lay in heaps about the spring, and through the mud made by the many feet that all day had trampled the ground soaked with water and blood. "Faugh!" said the man. "I cannot drink this stuff. It is not wise to mix wines, and mixed bloods are worse. Cut my veins, my friend, and let me drink something at least clean and pure. A draught of life--good Greek life--to die by--ha! ha! Help me, ghost of Socrates!" Dion cleared the surface of the fountain on the side where it came trickling up from the earth and mingled its white beads with the red foulness. Using his helmet for a vessel, he dipped a quantity. "I have seen a fairer goblet at a feast," said he, offering it with a courtesy that was real for all its seeming mockery. "Which again proves that you are a Greek," was the stranger's response. "Why repeat that?" said Dion. "Because," said the old man, "it is true. Would you know how I detected it?" The two became interested in each other's faces. "Go on," said Dion. "Why, as I said, I knew you by your sword play. And not only are you a Greek, but I swear you are a Greek of Macedonia. Do I not know it? Never before was my sword tricked out of my hand either in play or fight. No man could have done that, had he the strength of Heracles, but in one way--and that way you learned in the school of Philippi." "The Jews travel far. They learn what pleases them," said Dion, with suppressed amazement. "But no Jew ever learned that guard and thrust in one movement." The stranger imitated the motion with his hand. "It was my own invention." "You!" gasped Dion in amazement. "You! If you take that man's name falsely, you die like a dog! Who are you?" The officer sprang to his feet. He put his hands upon the young man's shoulder. "Gods! Can this be?" A swirl in the battle-tide brought others to the spring. Dion and the stranger moved away. They were closely watched by a party of Jews, some of whom were ordered to keep them under constant surveillance. "It is that Greek," said their officer. "See, he is in communion with the enemy. Take them alive, but if they try to escape kill them both." The two turned from the open glade to a covert among the rocks. Scarcely had they begun to converse when they were seized by overpowering numbers, who could not have more stealthily performed the exploit if they had been leaves of the overhanging trees which turned into men as they fell. The arms of the captives were quickly pinioned behind their backs, and under guard they were marched to the city. XLIV A WIFE?