“Seize and disarm all the natives,” he said; “the Numidians are here by my orders.”

The instant the soldiers understood the situation they fell to, and the natives, whose retreat was cut off by the Numidians, were speedily disarmed; those nearer to the door had, the instant they saw the torches approaching, taken to flight.

A moment later Hannibal, Hamilcar, and many other officers resident at the palace came running up.

“What means this fray, Malchus?”

“It means an attempt upon your life, Hannibal, which I have been fortunate enough to discover and defeat.”

“Who are these men?” Hamilcar asked.

“So far as I know they are natives,” Malchus replied.  “The chief of the party is that man who lies bleeding there; he is one of your attendants.”

One of the soldiers held a torch close to the man’s face.

“It is Carpadon,” Hannibal said.  “I believed him honest and faithful.”

“He is the tool of others, Hannibal; he has been well paid for this night’s work.”

Hannibal gave orders for the prisoners to be strictly guarded, and then, with Hamilcar and Malchus, returned to his private study.  The lamps were lighted by the attendants, who then withdrew.

“Now, Malchus, tell us your story,” Hannibal said.  “It seems strange to me that you should have said nought to your father or me of what you had learned, and left us to take such measures as might seem fit to us, instead of taking the matter into your own hands.”

“Had I had certainties to go upon I should assuredly have done so, but, as you will see when I tell you all I had learned, I had nothing but suspicions, and those of the vaguest, and for aught I knew I might be altogether in the wrong.”

Malchus then gave the full details of the manner in which his suspicions had been first excited, and in which on the previous night he had taken steps to ascertain whether there were any foundation for them.

“You see,” he concluded, “there was no sort of certainty, nothing to prove that the money was not paid for the purchase of a horse or slave.  It was only the one fact that one of the party was a servant here that rendered what I discovered serious.  Had it not been for the fate of Hasdrubal I should never have given the matter a second thought; but, knowing that he was assassinated by a trusted servant, and seeing two men whose families I knew belonged to Hanno’s faction engaged in secret talk with one of your attendants, the suspicion struck me that a similar deed might again be attempted.  The only words I had to go upon were, `Tomorrow night, then, without fail.’  This was not enough for me to bring an accusation against two men of noble family; and, had I told you the tale without the confirmation it has now received, you would probably have treated it but lightly.  I resolved, therefore, to wait and see, taking such precaution that no harm could come of my secrecy.  I concealed in my room ten of my Numidians, with my lieutenant Trebon —­ an ample force whatever might betide.