THE SWEET-SCENTED NAME
boy Lin, cried out an unexpected word, and his black eyes glowed with sacred rage:
"Murderers!"
And he pointed his little hand at the Centurion, who for his part went past gloomily, not hearing what the child said.
The children, frightened at the words of little Lin, crowded round him and implored him not to say anything more. And they whispered:
"Let's run, else they'll kill us all."
And the girls began to cry. But beautiful Lin got free of the little crowd and fearlessly shook his fist in the faces of the soldiers, and once more cried out:
"Executioners! Torturers of innocent people!"
His black eyes glowed with rage and he repeated his cries:
"Executioners! Executioners!"
The children wailed aloud in order to smother the sound of the boy's words, and several of them took him by the arms and drew him away, but he broke away from them and turned to the horsemen of the emperor and cursed them once more.
The horsemen stopped, and the youngest of them exclaimed:
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