He struggled mightily, till at last he lay exhausted, no nearer free than before.
"I cannot do it!" he despaired.
He must wait for dawn, for recognition, and for death, such death as was thought meet for a Christian.

Timokles shut his eyes, and prayed.
"Be with me, be with me, O Lord!" besought Timokles.
Again within the tent he conjectured there might be a faint stir.
"My enemy cometh!" he thought.
But there was silence.

Timokles waited, yet there came no sound.
Remembrances of what he had heard concerning former martyrs crowded upon him.

He thought of Pothinus, the ninety-years-old bishop of Lyons, who, in answer to the legate's question, "Who is the God of the Christians ?" boldly answered, "If thou art worthy, thou shalt know," and was tortured so severely that he died in prison.

Timokles remembered hearing of Ponticus, the boy who, in the same persecution, bore all the tortures unflinchingly, though he was but fifteen years old.