206 DIPHILUS.

Labr. “ But what have I done?”

Ples. “What have you done? Why, you took a
deposit for Palestra, and then ran off with her.”

Labr. “1 didn’t run off. I wish I had” (aside).
“Didn't I agree to meet you here? and here I
AM erie

Piles. “Hold your tongue, you villain! Here you
go!” °

And in a trice he had a rope round the fellow’s
neck, and dragged him off, in spite of his protests
and appeals, to which, indeed, no one, not even his
friend Charmides, would listen for a moment. As
soon as he was gone the two girls, and the slaves
who had been set to keep guard over them, went
into the cottage.

Meanwhile, one of the fishermen to whom Trachalio
had spoken, Gripus by name, had drawn up some-
thing in his net that promised to be much more:
valuable than fish —a little travelling trunk, which
was’so heavy that he felt sure it must have some-
thing inside it.

“Tt must be gold,” he said to himself, as he
walked along the shore, dragging his new treasure
after him by a rope. “Gripus, you have got your
chance at last, and you must not lose it. First, I
must buy my freedom; I shall have to be careful
how I manage that. Of course the old man must
know nothing about this, or else he will run up
the price. Well, suppose that is done, and I am