The Picts told him to shut up and called for wine. The headman and his companions took advantage of the carousing to slip out the back way and, taking some of the villagers, including Flavia, they hid themselves in a cottage in the forest. Except for the girl, they were shaking with terror. She was triumphant. "Now Caesar will withdraw again," she said. "He no longer moves north--but slowly southward. The next Imperial rampart will be below us, and we shall be free!" "You are mad," her grandfather said. "Under Roman rule, we are safe. What can we expect from these Pictish barbarians?" He looked at her as though she were some new kind of snake. "I should rather be occasionally robbed by my cousins than taxed to death by strangers," she said, her dark face flushed. "But the Romans are civilized!" said her grandfather. "Their civilization stands on slavery," she replied. "I'd rather be a free barbarian. The Romans are doomed." "This is revolt!" the headman said. "In the name of freedom, you deliver us into the hands of the Picts--you are a traitor to your own people!" "The Picts won't stay," she said. "They never do; they hate farming. What does it matter if they burn the village and steal some of the farm animals? It will come to less than what you would have to pay in taxes to Caesar." "Caesar's men will return," said her grandfather, "and we shall have to pay ten times over. And if the Picts kill the captain, the Romans will have my life for it! You are a traitor! Who was with you in this infernal plot?" * * * * * Q. Why didn't you tell them? Why are you always so stubborn? You might have stayed on and found out many useful things. A. There would have been nothing useful to find out. Men who submit to autocracy cease to be a living, growing organism. Look at Egypt--it stayed that way almost uninterruptedly for four thousand years. However, I did find out one very surprising thing. Q. I'm glad to hear it. What was that? A. My grandfather was a Druid! I thought all that was dead and gone with the Roman occupation--but there was a secret sect and he was their high priest! So all the time he was in a conspiracy, too! I couldn't help laughing. Q. How did you learn this? A. They took me to an oak tree, put a wreath of mistletoe on my head, and he executed me with a stone sickle. Also all my friends who didn't have the sense to escape north over the Wall of Severus. But it made no difference in the end. The next emperor withdrew the army to the southeast part of the island and the next--or the one after; I forget which--took them all back to Rome. This was after we invited the Saxons in--they made it hot for Caesar's men, I can tell you! They also made things rather hot for us, but everything calmed down in time. Q. It doesn't sound like much of an improvement.