the Romans. They used to act and to hold their public
meetings here. This corresponds to the top row of our
gallery, and you can imagine that you are looking down on the
bent backs of hundreds of bald-headed men in white robes,
listening to the speakers strutting about below there."

"I wonder how much they could hear from this height?"
said Mrs. Downs.

"Well, they had that big wall for a sounding-board, and the
air is so soft here that their voices should have carried
easily, and I believe they wore masks with mouth-pieces, that
conveyed the sound like a fireman's trumpet. If you like, I
will run down there and call up to you, and you can hear how
it sounded. I will speak in my natural voice first, and if
that doesn't reach you, wave your parasol, and I will try it a
little louder."

"Oh, do!" said Miss Morris. "It will be very good of you. I
should like to hear a real speech in the theatre of Herodes,"
she said, as she seated herself on the edge of the marble
crater.

"I'll have to speak in English," said Carlton, as he
disappeared; "my Greek isn't good enough to carry that far."

Mrs. Downs seated herself beside her niece, and Carlton began
scrambling down the side of the amphitheatre. The marble
benches were broken in parts, and where they were perfect were
covered with a fine layer of moss as smooth and soft as green