'I must really emancipate myself from your instructions if you require a similar simplicity in me.

Stay! there wanders a mule without a rider; we may as well press into the service.' He caught the mule, lifted the wounded man into the saddle, and the cavalcade set forth, turning out of the highroad into a by-lane, which the officer, who seemed to know the country thoroughly, assured would lead them to Ostia by an unfrequented route.
'If we arrive there before sundown, we are saved,' said he.
'And in the meantime,' answered Raphael, 'between the dog and this dagger, which, as I take care to inform all comers, is delicately poisoned, we may keep ourselves clear of marauders.

And yet, what a meddling fool I am!' he went on to himself.

'What possible interest can I have in this uncircumcised rebel! The least evil is, that if we are taken, which we most probably shall be, I shall be crucified for helping to escape.

But even if we get safe off--here is a fresh tie between me and those very brother fleas, to be rid of whom I have chosen beggary and starvation.