The morning after this conversation the two prisoners were summoned. The court was held in the open portico of the gymnasium on Ophel. Captain Dion and his companion were brought there, their arms still bound. Judas had been pacing the portico, absorbed with his own thoughts. "The prisoners, sir," said their custodian. Judas sat down upon a fallen statue of Hermes, near it a rusted discus. Slowly he raised his head, as if loath to so much as look upon one taken in such shame as that of Captain Dion. He glanced first into the face of the older prisoner. In spite of his unkempt condition this man was imposing. His erect attitude belied his wrinkles as a token of age. The blood from an undressed wound still clotted his brow, but this could not hide the rare nobility of his features. Judas studied the man a long time in silence. He seemed fascinated by the stranger's appearance. If what the Greek orators had on this very spot declaimed were true, that a goodly physical endowment is the outweaving of goodness of soul, Judas' decision had been an instant discharge of the prisoner. He turned to Dion. Before his eyes rested upon the Captain, Judas forced a look of severity, knitting his features into hardness. As when a soldier puts a chain corselet over his breast, so Judas had evidently determined to guard his sense of strict and merciless justice against any temptation that might come from his former liking for the culprit. The muscles of his face were set like linked steel. Captain Dion returned his judge's gaze with perfect self-possession. There was neither blush nor pallor, nor flicker of fear, nor sign of resentment. "Take off those ropes," commanded Judas. Then, turning to a soldier: "Your report, Captain Jacob!" Captain Jacob related the events attending the capture, as he himself, in charge of the company that made the arrest, had witnessed them. He stated that Dion and his accomplice were caught in apparent hiding, engaged in conversation which betokened familiarity and mutual understanding. Several others confirmed Captain Jacob's evidence, and added details which deepened the color in the picture of the plotters, and, at the same time, brought out the shrewdness and courage of their captors. The clouds massed more heavily on Judas' brow as he listened. There were moments with this strange man when, without uttering a word, his aspect became almost as terrible as when shouting his battle-cry, "Mi-camo-ca-ba!" At such times his friends would turn away, dreading the outburst when the hot lava of his soul should reach his lips. When the testimony against the prisoner was ended, Judas remained for a long time silent. At length he spoke. The words came slowly, as if each were compelled to halt and answer the challenge of a sentinel placed before the door of his lips. "Has Captain Dion any explanation of what is charged against him?"