The interlude ...

The more sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that the previous page was numbered 39 and yet this one is numbered 45. Yes, you've guessed it ... I've changed the original picture for something else!

But don't worry - you're not missing much. Originally, the picture which interrupted this story (spread across Pages 40 and 41) was a sailing ship with a figurehead of some kind of leaping animal (possibly the Golden Hind?) to which I'd added the caption: "Come another step closer and I'll jump!"

Ah, that razor-sharp schoolboy wit!

I decided to put this picture here instead because, even if though it forms no part of the story whatsoever, it does at least have something to do with Ancient Rome. And, of course, because the double-page spread of the sailing ship just wouldn't fit into the scanner!