She turned back at once; the Batavia was again lying to in watchful expectation, her gleaming rostrum threatening the foe, and the Charybdis was not far enough off to repeat her attack with any effect. She now took another line of action. She pulled slowly and peacefully to within a speaking distance of the Batavia. The city-prefect's captain came to the bulwarks with the ship’s commander and roared out to them, in the tone of a conqueror, to give up their useless resistance and return to Antium. “And who are you?” asked Cinna contemptuously. “A servant of Caesar’s and a guardian of the insulted majesty of the law.” “Or else a pirate[73]....” “A foolish subterfuge!--You know the sovereign’s guard-ship; aye, as well as I know the face of a rebel. Are not you Cinna, the eloquent advocate of the Nazarenes?” Cinna did not fail to observe that, during this colloquy, the Charybdis, stealthily, worked only by the stern-most oars, was creeping nearer and nearer. This was exactly what he had hoped for. If only they would grapple! If only they would board. A fight on the decks of the Batavia was, of all the chances open to them, by far the most promising; their knowledge of the vessel, and particularly of its trap-doors and ladders would be a precious advantage. Cinna therefore judged it wise to parley a little longer with the enemy, that he might be deluded into believing that his scheme was not perceived or understood. “Aye--that is my name!” he shouted back. “And who in the world has any right to dog my movements and detain me here?” “Caesar and the law,” replied the soldier. “Do not resist, but trust rather to Caesar’s clemency than to the issue of an unequal battle.” “I do not understand your meaning. Cornelius Cinna sails for Liguria.[74]--What spite is this, that dares to hinder his doing so?” The warrior exchanged a few words with the ship’s captain. “Is not Caius Aurelius Menapius on board?” he asked after a short pause. “Not to my knowledge. Now, make an end of this insolent catechising. I owe you no account of my proceedings, and I demand a free passage--or, by Pluto!...” Magus, meanwhile, without speaking a word, had run down to the armory. There he seized a sharp axe, which he tried on the panel of the cabin, and then took the heft firmly between his teeth. While Cornelius Cinna stood disputing with the officer, our friend the Goth glided like a weasel through the port-hole near the rudder, and slid softly into the sea. For a few seconds he lay floating on his back, breathing deeply through the nostrils; then he dived in the clear blue water and came up again close to the rudder of the unsuspecting Charybdis. Again he drew a deep breath; then, swimming with his left hand, he took the axe in his right, and with two or three mighty blows he severed the rope by which the rudder was worked.[75] A broad smile of satisfaction shone on his tanned face; he dropped the axe into the sea and made his way back to the Batavia.