“The leader of the escaped slaves bids me tell you,” he said, “that had you ten times as many men with you it would be vain for you to attempt to capture them.  You searched, in these four days, but a few square miles of the forest, and, although he was never half a mile away from you, you did not succeed in capturing him.  There are hundreds of square miles, and, did he choose to elude you, twenty thousand men might search in vain.  He bids me say that he could hold out for years and harry all the villages of the plains; but he and his men do not care for living the life of a mountain tribe, and he is ready to discuss terms of surrender with you, and will meet you outside the forest here with two men with him if you on your part will be here with the same number at noon tomorrow.  He took before me a solemn oath that he will keep the truce inviolate, and requires you to do the same.  I have promised to take back your answer.”

The Roman commander was greatly vexed at his non-success, and at the long continued trouble which he saw would arise from the presence of this determined band in the mountains.  They would probably be joined by some of the recently subdued tribes, and would be a thorn in the side of the Roman force holding the island.  He was, therefore, much relieved by this unexpected proposal.

“Return to him who sent you,” he said, “and tell him that I, Publius Manlius, commander of that portion of the 10th Legion here, do hereby swear before the gods that I will hold the truce inviolate, and that I will meet him here with two officers, as he proposes, at noon tomorrow.”

At the appointed hour Malchus, with the two officers, standing just inside the edge of the forest, saw the Roman general advancing with two companions; they at once went forward to meet them.

“I am come,” Malchus said, “to offer to surrender to you on certain terms.  I gave you my reasons in the message I yesterday sent you.  With my band here I could defy your attempts to capture me for years, but I do not care to lead the life of a mountain robber.  Hannibal treats his captives mercifully, and the treatment which was bestowed upon me and my companions, who were not even taken in fair fight, but were blown by a tempest into your port, was a disgrace to Rome.  My demand is this, that we shall be treated with the respect due to brave men, that we be allowed to march without guard or escort down to the port, where we will go straight on board a vessel there prepared for us.  We will then lay down our arms and surrender as prisoners of war, under the solemn agreement taken and signed by you and the governor of the island, and approved and ratified by the senate of Rome, that, in the first place, the garments and armour of which we were deprived when captured, shall be restored to us, and that we shall then be conveyed in the ship to Rome, there to remain as prisoners of war until exchanged, being sent nowhere else, and suffering no pains or penalties whatever for what has taken place on this island.”