"I know very well, Ascyltos, that you have come here seeking my life.
If not, why the axes?

"Well, fatten your grudge, then! Here's my neck! Pour out that blood
you seek to shed under pretext of a search!" Ascyltos repelled this
suspicion, affirming that he sought nothing except his own fugitive and
desired the death of neither man nor suppliant, and least of all did he
wish to harm one whom, now that their quarrel was over, he regarded as
his dearest friend.




CHAPTER THE NINETY-EIGHTH.

The public servant, however, was not derelict in the performance of his
duty for, snatching a cane from the innkeeper, he poked underneath the
bed, ransacking every corner, even to the cracks in the wall. Twisting
his body out of reach, and cautiously drawing a full breath, Giton
pressed his mouth against the very bugs themselves. (The pair had
scarcely left the room) when Eumolpus burst in in great excitement, for
the doors had been broken and could keep no one out. "The thousand
sesterces are mine," he shouted, "I'll follow that crier out and tell him
Giton is in your power, and it will serve you right, too!" Seeing that
his mind was made up, I embraced his knees and besought him not to kill a
dying man. "You might have some reason for being excited," I said, "if
you could produce the missing boy, but you cannot, as the thing stands
now, for he escaped into the crowd and I have not even a suspicion as to
where he has gone! Get the lad back, Eumolpus, for heaven's sake, even
if you do restore him to Ascyltos!" I had just succeeded in persuading