EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
“Yes,”
“Then it is not strange that he would protect his master,” said Fastus.
“Arrest them all,” commanded Sublatus.
“You mean Dion Splendidus, Maximus Praeclarus, and the barbarian Tarzan?” asked the official.
“I mean those three and the entire household of Dion Splendidus and Maximus Praeclarus.” replied Sublatus.
“Wait, Caesar,” suggested Fastus; “twice already has the barbarian escaped from the legionaries. If he receives the slightest inkling of this, he will escape again. I have a plan. Listen!”
An hour later a messenger arrived at the home of Dion Splendidus carrying an invitation to the senator and his wife to be the guests of a high court functionary that evening at a banquet. Another messenger went to the home of Maximus Praeclarus with a letter urging the young officer to attend an entertainment being given that same evening by a rich young patrician.
As both invitations had emanated from families high in favor with the Emperor, they were, in effect, almost equivalent to commands, even to as influential a senator as Dion Splendidus, and so there was no question either in the minds of the hosts or in the minds of the guests but that they would be accepted.
Night had fallen upon Castra Sanguinarius. Dion Splendidus and his wife were alighting from their litter before the home of their host and Maximus Praeclarus was already drinking with his fellow guests in the banquet hall of one of Castra Sanguinarius’s wealthiest citizens. Fastus was there, too, and Maximus Praeclarus was surprised and not a little puzzled at the friendly attitude of the prince.
“I always suspect something when Fastus smiles at me,” he said to an intimate.
In the home of Dion Splendidus, Dilecta sat among her female slaves, while one of them told her stories of the wild African village from which she had come.
Tarzan and Festivitas sat in the home of Maximus Praeclarus, the Roman matron listening attentively to the stories
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