Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/395

Rh six. Give me four, good Arrius—four more—and I will stand firm for you, though old Thor, my namesake, strike me with his hammer. Make it four, and I will kill the lying patrician, if you say so. I have only to cover his mouth with my hand—thus.&quot;

He illustrated the process by clapping his hand over his own mouth.

&quot;I see,&quot; said Ben-Hur; &quot;ten thousand sestertii is a fortune. It will enable you to return to Rome, and open a wine-shop near the Great Circus, and live as becomes the first of the lanistæ.&quot;

The very scars on the giant’s face glowed afresh with the pleasure the picture gave him.

&quot;I will make it four thousand,&quot; Ben-Hur continued; &quot;and in what you shall do for the money there will be no blood on your hands, Thord. Hear me now. Did not your friend here look like me?&quot;

&quot;I would have said he was an apple from the same tree.&quot;

&quot;Well, if I put on his tunic, and dress him in these clothes of mine, and you and I go away together, leaving from here, can you not get your sestertii from Messala all the same? You have only to make him believe it me that is, dead.&quot;

Thord laughed till the tears ran into his mouth.

&quot;Ha, ha, ha! Ten thousand sestertii were never won so easily. And a wine-shop by the Great Circus!—all for a lie without blood in it! Ha, ha, ha! Give me thy hand, O son of Arrius. Get on now, and—ha, ha, ha!—if ever you come to Rome, fail not to ask for the wine-shop of Thord the Northman. By the beard of Irmin, I will give you the best, though I borrow it from Cæsar!&quot;

They shook hands again; after which the exchange of clothes was effected. It was arranged then that a messenger should go at night to Thord’s lodging-place with the four thousand sestertii. When they were done, the giant knocked at the front door; it opened to him; and, passing out of the atrium, he led Ben-Hur into a room adjoining, where the latter completed his attire from the coarse garments of the dead pugilist. They separated directly in the Omphalus.