reached the house, and suddenly three great burly fellows sprang up, and
battered furiously at the door. They were clearly robbers of the most
desperate type, and I drew my sword, and, as they came at me one by one,
I plunged it swiftly into their bodies. Fotis was aroused, and opened
the door, and I entered, utterly worn out by the struggle, and went at
once to bed and to sleep.

Early in the morning I was awakened by a great clamour. A throng of
people burst into my bedroom, and two lictors arrested me, and dragged
me to the forum. But as they took me through the streets and squares,
everybody turned out to see me, and the crowd grew so great that the
forum was not large enough to hold the people, and I was led to the
theatre.

There the lictors pushed me down through the proscenium, as though I
were a victim for sacrifice, and put me in the centre of the orchestra.

"Citizens," said the prefect of the watch, "as I was going on my rounds
late last night, I saw this ferocious young foreigner, sword in hand,
slashing and stabbing three inoffensive creatures. When I arrived they
were lying dead upon the ground. Their murderer, overwhelmed by his
terrible crime, fled into a house, and hid there, hoping, no doubt, to
escape in the morning. Men of Hypata, you do not allow your own
fellow-townsmen to commit murder with impunity. Shall, then, this
savage, brutal alien avoid the consequences of his fearful crime?"

For some time I could not reply. The suddenness of the whole thing
terrified me, and it was with a voice broken with sobs that I at last
managed to make my defence.