Even here, however, Marius was not safe. The horsemen succeeded in tracing him to the hut, and Marius could hear their loud voices as they threatened to punish the old man for concealing an enemy of Rome. He must escape, and that without delay! So, hastily stripping off his clothes, Marius plunged deep into the thick and muddy bog, hoping to find a ditch into which he might slip and yet baffle his pursuers. But his hope was vain. The horsemen had dismounted, and were searching everywhere for their prey. At last one of them caught sight of the desperate man, and darting into the bog, pulled Marius out, covered with mire. Thus, naked and begrimed, he was carried to the magistrates at Minturnæ. CHAPTER XCIV THE GAUL DARES NOT KILL GAIUS MARIUS As you know, Marius had been proclaimed a public enemy, and it was the duty of any one who captured him to put him to death. The magistrates of Minturnæ resolved to do their duty. But no citizen was to be found who would undertake to put Marius to death, for his fame made him still terrible in their eyes. At length a Gaul, who had seen him as he fought with the Cimbri, was sent, sword in hand, to kill the prisoner. Marius had been thrust into a dimly-lighted room. As the Gaul opened the door he saw nothing save two eyes which gleamed like fire. As he advanced the eyes seemed to follow his every movement, until he was conscious of nothing save the terror of that burning gaze. The next moment a loud voice cried: ‘Fellow, darest thou kill Gaius Marius?’ and in a flash the Gaul knew that in truth he dared not. Throwing down his sword, he rushed from the room in a frenzy of terror, crying: ‘I cannot kill Gaius Marius.’ So the magistrates and citizens of Minturnæ had the prisoner once more on their hands. It may be that something of the same awe that had overpowered the Gaul took possession of them, for now they determined to help their prisoner to escape. Marius was brought out of his gloomy prison and taken once more to the seashore and placed on board a ship. A favourable wind carried the vessel swiftly to Africa, where Marius landed, to find his son already there and awaiting him. After young Marius had listened to the tale of his father’s adventures, he was sent to Hiempsal, King of Numidia, to beg for protection for his father and himself. Marius, meanwhile, went to Carthage. But scarcely had he reached it when Sextilius, the Roman governor, sent an officer to bid him leave the province. ‘Sextilius forbids you to stay in this province,’ said the officer. ‘If you do, he declares he will put the decree of the Senate in execution, and treat you as an enemy to the Romans.’ After all he had gone through, must he be persecuted still? In grief as well as in anger Marius sat silent and dismayed. At length the officer asked what answer he should take back to Sextilius. ‘Go tell him,’ answered he, ‘that you have seen Gaius Marius sitting in exile among the ruins of Carthage.’