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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32220-8.txt b/32220-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1297a72 --- /dev/null +++ b/32220-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9536 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Captive of the Roman Eagles, by Felix Dahn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Captive of the Roman Eagles + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Mary J. Safford + +Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32220] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/acaptiveromanea00dahngoog +2. Footnote is at the end of the book. +3. Diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE + ROMAN EAGLES + + + + + + + A Captive of the + Roman Eagles + + + _By_ FELIX DAHN + + + + Translated from the German by + Mary J. Safford + + TRANSLATOR OF + "Aspasia," "Cleopatra," etc. + + + + + Chicago + A. C. McClurg & Co. + 1902 + + + + + + + COPYRIGHT + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1902 + PUBLISHED Sept. 13, 1902 + + + + + + + TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + +The author of the romance "A Captive of the Roman Eagles"--published in +Germany under the title of "Bissula"--is one of the most distinguished +novelists of the present day in his own country, and will doubtless be +equally appreciated by Americans. + +Like Dr. Georg Ebers, he has based his historical novels upon the solid +foundation of earnest study. The field he has chosen is principally the +period of the conflicts between Germany and Rome, and the struggles for +supremacy of the various peoples in the territory now occupied by +Germany, Switzerland, and France, and he describes with vivid colors +and dramatic power the life of those far-off days. + +Professor Dahn is a native of Hamburg, but spent his childhood in +Munich, always a centre of intellectual life, and, under the stimulus +of its circle of writers, his poetic talent developed early. He studied +law, philosophy, and history in Munich and Berlin. In 1862 he was made +Professor in the University of Wurzburg, in 1872 in Königsberg, and in +1888 he was called to a chair in the University of Breslau, where, in +the intervals of his professional duties, he has devoted himself to his +brilliant literary work. + +The warm welcome accorded to my translations of the novels of Ebers, +whose hold upon the affections of American readers has proved so +enduring, inspires the hope that "A Captive of the Roman Eagles" may +also receive a cordial recognition from our public. + + MARY J. SAFFORD. + +_Washington, D. C., June 10, 1902._ + + + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES + + + + + BOOK ONE + + THE FREE WOMAN + + + + CHAPTER I. + +Whoever has been at Friedrichshafen on beautiful Lake Constance, on a +clear August day, and watched the sun setting in splendor behind the +tops of the beeches of Manzell; whoever has seen the waves of the lake +and the snow-capped peaks of the Alps from Sentis to the Allgau +Mountains glow in the crimson light, while the notes of the Ave Maria +float softly over forest, meadow, and water, will treasure the memory +of the peaceful scene throughout his whole life. To this region the +story of little Bissula leads us. + +But in that period--the year 378--the whole northern shore of the +"Venetus Lacus" (Lake Constance) looked somewhat desolate, and often by +no means peaceful. The lowlands were covered with primeval forests and +fens--only here and there a few scattered settlements appeared on +patches of parched tilled land. + +At that time the lake covered a much more extensive tract of country +than now, and a still larger space was occupied by a marshy territory +between the water and the meadow, which being for the greater portion +of the year a mere swamp afforded at the same time refuge and food to +flocks of wild swans, herons, and countless smaller water-fowl. + +This region had already been a considerable time in the possession of +the Alemanni; but on the southern shore of the lake Rome still +maintained her supremacy. This was with the special object of +controlling the important roads leading from Gaul by way of Augst +(Augusta Rauracorum) to Basle, Windisch (Vindonissa) to Arbon (Arbor +Felix), Bregenz (Brigantium), and thence farther eastward, thus +preserving the connection between the Western and Eastern portions of +the Empire, and facilitating the movements of the troops. The men were +sometimes forced to hasten from the Rhine to the Danube to meet the +Goths in the East, and anon from the Danube to the Rhine to contend +with the Franks on the lower, or the Alemanni on the upper portion of +the stream. + +This year also such assistance seemed necessary--this time in the +eastern provinces, where the Gothic tribes, especially the Visigoths, +fleeing before the Huns, had found refuge on Roman territory, but, +driven to desperation by the ill-treatment of the Roman governor, had +risen in arms. + +True, Valens, the Emperor of the Eastern Empire, hoped to cope +successfully with them alone; he would have been reluctant to share the +fame of victory with his young nephew and fellow-ruler Gratianus, lord +of the Western portion. Yet, nevertheless, he had been compelled to ask +the latter to hold himself in readiness to come to his uncle's +assistance with his Gallic legions in the territory bordering on the +Danube. + +Gratianus, however, thought that he could not leave Gaul and the Rhine +until he had first punished the Alemanni for their recent incursions +across the frontier, and--at least for a while--deterred them from +making new inroads. At the same time he desired, in case the summons +for help should arrive, to have traversed a portion of the long +distance and thus be able to give his uncle aid more speedily. So, +toward the end of July, he left his residence, Trier, with the larger +portion of his troops, and marched by way of Zabern and Strassburg to +the left bank of the Rhine near Augst and Basle. Here and at Windisch +he formed two camps and kept the main body of his troops near him, +busying himself in the reorganization of the province and eagerly +awaiting news from the East. + +The expedition against the Alemanni on the northern shore of the lake +was entrusted to a small band of troops which, being able to move more +swiftly, seemed better suited for the marches through swamp and forest +and, moreover, amply sufficient in number; for the attack was directed +against only the Linzgau, so called from the little river, which at the +present time is still known as the Linz, or more frequently the Ach. +This was the home of the Lentian Alemanni, who lived on the northern +and western shores of the lake and, during that very spring, had +harried the Roman frontier. The command of the expedition had been +entrusted to experienced generals who had chosen their own force of +foot and horse, while a large baggage train conveyed the provisions and +the remainder of the luggage. In all, there were probably more than +three thousand men. + +According to the old victorious Roman strategy--whose success was +proved by the conquest of nearly half the world known at that +day--this small force was to assail the foe from several directions at +once, the same as in great campaigns, as if seized by claws, a favorite +comparison in Roman military literature. Part of the troops--the +cavalry, several squadrons of cataphractarii (mailed riders, who were +completely sheathed in armor), cohorts of the Twenty-Second Legion, +picked German mercenaries, Batavians (they were considered the best of +all the foreign soldiers), and lastly the flower of the Imperial Guard, +foot-soldiers, mainly Illyrians and Thracians, were to march northward +from Windisch, cross the Rhine, move along the old road to the north, +then, suddenly turning eastward, skirt the western shore of the lake to +gain its northern side, thus penetrating the whole Linzgau from the +west to the east, halting at an appointed place in the heart of the +enemy's country and awaiting the second division. Meanwhile this second +body was to march along the great highway bordering the southern shore +from Windisch to Arbon, cross the lake in boats, land on the northern +shore, and pass through the Linzgau from east to west till they reached +the first division. + +Thus the escape of the Barbarians, whose tilled lands would all be laid +waste, would be cut off both eastward and westward. Those who attempted +flight southward in their boats across the lake would be intercepted by +the Roman Bodensee[1] Fleet. Year after year, the last time that very +March, the most brilliant reports of its strength and prowess had been +sent to Gaul. The remnant of the foe remaining after the assault from +two or three directions were to be driven by the united bands as far as +possible into the inhospitable northern forests, or forced into the +Danube. + +The place of meeting appointed for both divisions was the lofty hill, +half a league north of Friedrichshafen, whence at the present day the +church of Berg dominates the lowlands. At that time it was known as the +Idisenhang,--the hill of the wood-goddesses. The Roman ships, in +crossing directly from Arbon, were obliged to run into the bay of what +we know as Friedrichshafen. For the land forces the leaders hoped to +find a passable route along the remains of an old military road, which +formerly--in Rome's better days--had extended also around the northern +shore of the lake. This steep hill, affording an unimpeded view in +every direction and dominating the whole neighborhood, was a model of +the positions where the Roman eagle was fain to alight for a brief rest +during its flights in quest of prey. Here a camp was to be formed, +whence the land of the Barbarians would be ravaged by small bodies of +troops in every direction, while the strong fortified camp should +maintain the connection with the lake, the fleet, and the southern +shore, until the whole enterprise was completed and the Romans could +return to the Emperor at Windisch. + + + + CHAPTER II. + +The experienced commanders had executed their tasks swiftly, skilfully, +and successfully. Arbon, the strongly fortified station of the great +military road, had, it is true, been repeatedly attacked, plundered, +and set on fire by the Alemanni in swift forays from the lake, but +never permanently occupied; they did not like to dwell in cities. + +A few years previously Valentinian, Gratianus's warlike father and +predecessor, had repaired and strengthened the old walls, increased the +garrison, filled the store-houses with provisions, especially grain, +and stationed in the harbor a number of ships. These, though neither so +numerous nor so stately as those of the Venetian Fleet in the prouder +days of Rome, were quite sufficient to prevent the Barbarians from an +attack by water, nay, they constantly threatened them with a landing on +the northern shore. + +The commander of the division intended for this fleet, the Comes of +Britannia, Nannienus, a man skilled in nautical matters and an +excellent officer, had reached the harbor fortification with his troops +very quickly by the excellent road from Windisch. The other column +needed a much longer time for its wearisome march, turning finally +eastward before it again reached the shore of the lake. + +Caution was the first requisite during this advance through the +pathless land of the Barbarians; and no measure of prudence was omitted +by the well-trained, circumspect leaders. Natives of the country who +were perfectly familiar with the region acted as guides; though the +southern shore was inhabited exclusively by Roman colonists, they +guarded carefully against treachery from that quarter. Horsemen, +lightly armed Celtic archers, the Keltae and Petulantes, and Germans +familiar with woodland warfare--the Batavians--formed the van and +rearguards. In the centre were the heavily armed foot-soldiers of the +Imperial Guard, protecting the traders and sutlers, luggage, camp +equipage, and provisions. They moved along the ruinous old road, as +near the shore as the marshy ground permitted, in order to keep in view +of the lake, that they might discover any attempt at an attack by the +Barbarians in their boats, and also not lose sight of the opposite +shore occupied by the Romans. + +The most difficult task was assigned to the left wing which, at the +north of the central division and the old road, was to force a passage +through forest and morass in a line parallel with that of the main +body, and protect it from any flank assault of the foe; for should the +latter suddenly burst from an ambush in the impenetrable woods and fall +upon the column extended in marching order, the whole body, thus taken +by surprise, might be scattered and driven into the marshes and the +lake. + +But the resistance offered by forest and fen to the progress of the +troop seemed destined to remain the sole opposition which the Romans +were to encounter; for the latter had not met a single human being +since they quitted the southern shore of the lake and the stations +along the road there. There were no villages of the Alemanni in this +region: the ground was occupied by farms, and the houses (called +"Schwaigen") were miles apart. The few lonely dwellings which they +passed during a march of several days had been abandoned. A mysterious +silence, boding destruction, seemed to brood over the empty wooden +buildings. + +Everywhere, just before the time of ripening, the grain--oats, barley, +and spelt--had been cut and partly burnt; the latter mode was the +quicker, and the grain of the Alemanni should not serve their foe even +as fodder for his horses. The cattle had been driven away; the kennels +of the faithful farm watch, almost always found at the gates, were also +empty; the hay and straw were removed from the barns, which were +usually connected with the houses and very often formed part of them. + +Slowly, with frequent halts, advancing with difficulty, the Romans +assigned to the care of the provisions in charge of the troops or the +sutlers and their wives struggled forward for several days, each night +carefully establishing a well-fortified camp. From the western end of +the lake, where it ran into a stretch of marshy ground densely +overgrown by rushes, and meadows with sedges waving in the wind, they +marched toward the east. Thus, by a toilsome march, they had reached +the foot of the steep hill now crowned by the stately castle of +Meersburg. + +The long August day, during which frequent showers of rain had fallen, +though the sky had not been always clouded, was drawing to a close. +Again the sun shone brilliantly through a rift, gilding the whole chain +of mountain peaks of the Bernese Alps to the Allgau heights; the Sentis +glowed in crimson splendor, solemnly, like a king of the mountain +giants who had drawn his radiant mantle around his proud shoulders. + +The Roman column halted cautiously at the foot of the steep hill, whose +rocky sides fell abruptly to the lake and the valley on the west, while +the summit, at that time densely covered with trees and bushes, +presented a gloomy, threatening aspect. The oak-leaves and pine-needles +were dripping with rain, and wherever the sun did not shine on them, +looked dark-green, almost black. + +Two officers, whose high rank was betokened by the gold and silver +ornaments on their equipments, now flashing brightly in the rays of the +setting sun, rode slowly toward the hill. Before them, bound by the +right and left arms respectively to the stirrups of two mounted +soldiers, walked a guide. A few pioneers with axes and spades +surrounded the leaders, and a little band of Batavian spearmen +followed. One of the officers, a stately man about thirty-five, now +checked his heavy Spanish barb and bent forward, his clear-cut bronzed +features wearing a keenly watchful expression. + +"If I have ever known and fought with Germans," he said with a strong +Illyrian accent, "they are hiding in the woods on yonder hill-top, +which is a natural fortress. Halt, I beg, Prefect Prætor of Gaul. We'll +go no farther without reconnoitring. Forward, my brave Batavians. +Rignomer, take six men and climb up among the underbrush. But be wary! +And you, Brinno, trumpeter, give the signal of warning the instant you +discover the foe." + +The other officer, a man much his senior, smiled as the order was +executed. "You are over-cautious, Saturninus. Always erring on the side +of prudence!" + +"We cannot be over-cautious against this foe, my noble friend. Had not +the Barbarians occupied this fortress erected by the gods of their +native land, all courage to offer resistance must have deserted them." + +"And it evidently _has_ abandoned them. All taste for war was +thoroughly extirpated by the departed hero, Valentinian, and our bold +young Emperor, his son. My pupil!" he added complacently. "I am quite +sure that all danger to the Empire from the Germans is over." + +His companion silently shook his head. Just at that moment a captain of +the mailed horsemen, a man numbering about five and twenty years, +dashed forward from the centre of the Roman column. Tangled locks hung +from beneath his helmet, and his features were ignoble in form and +disagreeable in expression. + +"Must we cross that accursed cliff. Tribune?" he exclaimed, abruptly +checking his horse. + +"We must," replied the Illyrian quietly. "I have just learned that our +left wing has again found the morass in the forest bottomless, and is +approaching along this, our only road. And the waves of the lake are +dashing at our right." + +The young man cast a doubtful glance at the cliff. "H'm," he muttered, +"it will cost us many men. But that's no misfortune," he added, "we +have more than enough Barbarians in our pay; if they fall fighting +against other Barbarians, there will simply be fewer of the beasts." + +"An abominable remark, nephew Herculanus," replied the Prefect +reprovingly. + +"If the ascent be resisted," said the Tribune, "it will consume much +time, and we have none to lose. We ought to have been on the bank of +the Ister long ago to fight the Goths. I am anxious about the Emperor +Valens. I have a presentiment of evil." + +"You are always boding evil," replied the Prefect, smiling, "but the +evil never comes, the good fortune of eternal Rome always conquers. +Hark, it is the same now. The trumpeter is giving the signal: 'All +safe! Forward!' and the Centurion of the Batavians, who climbed the +height first--what is his name?--Rignomer, is beckoning to us to +follow. Up, friends! Was I not right, my brave Tribune? The Barbarians +will make no defence." + +"You are right as usual, uncle!" said Herculanus with a smile intended +to be pleasant, but which made quite the opposite impression. + +"If you only remain right, Ausonius!" said the Illyrian hesitatingly. +"Yet at the moment it really does appear so. Up, give the signal with +the tubas: Forward! We will pitch our camp for the night on that +height, and the land of the Alemanni will be defenceless before us." + + + + CHAPTER III. + +As we have seen, the Romans were still ignorant whether the Barbarians +were aware of the bands approaching simultaneously from several +directions to menace the inhabitants of the forest with destruction. +Preparations had been made so secretly that the commanders believed it +possible to take the foe completely by surprise. For weeks not a German +had been allowed to pass the guards on the very outermost line of Roman +territory, which, it is true, had been greatly diminished in the course +of the last three or four generations. The right of traffic at the +stations on the southern shore had been withdrawn a still longer time, +on the pretext of alleged violations of the conditions of such +intercourse. Roman traders had not ventured recently within the +precincts occupied by neighbors who were justly irritated by such +severity. + +The sentinels on the frontier reported that nothing unusual could be +seen from the watch towers. The people went about their work in field +and forest as usual, tended their numerous flocks, hunted or fished; +apparently they thought neither of defence nor flight. + +Once, it is true, one of the _speculæ_ reported that, late one night, a +fire had suddenly blazed upon a mountain peak probably several miles +from the lake and, after a short interval, as suddenly vanished. The +Alemanni called the towering height, whose summit was visible for many +a mile, the Sacred Mountain, the Holy Mountain, and Odin's Mountain, +and the name has clung to it tenaciously. True, in later times the +"sacred" related to Christian consecration; but at the present day the +stately castle on that majestic height bears the title of Heiligenberg. +On the spot where Odin's ash-trees then rustled, the breeze now sweeps +across the flower-beds of a beautiful garden. + +The report was unheeded. Forest fires, even at night, were not unusual +among the Germans, who in their labor of clearing the ground often +required, in the place of the axe, the aid of the swifter flame. During +the next few days also everything remained quiet. + +On the morning after that night--it was a few days prior to the Romans' +march across the height of Meersburg, already described--a youth +emerged from the dense woods stretching for miles in a northwesterly +direction toward the Holy Mountain, a youth whose figure was as +straight, tall, and slender as a young pine. The hood of lynx-skin +fluttering from his shoulders like a short cloak did not confine his +long fair locks, which fell in waves upon his shoulders, waves with +which the morning breeze played caressingly, as the youth stopped on +the crest of a low grassy hill that afforded a view of the lake. + +Resting his right arm upon the oak handle of his spear, he leaned +forward, shading his eyes with his left hand from the glare of the +sunbeams on the smooth surface of the water, as he gazed intently +toward the southern shore. It was an eagle glance, proud, bold, and +keen, and the color of the eye was a light golden brown. + +The red-tiled roofs of the Roman watchtowers and citadels opposite in +Arbon and the other stations (Constantia, etc.) shone brightly in the +morning sunlight. The utmost repose pervaded the whole scene. Neither +sail nor row-boat was visible: a huge kite, with an occasional stroke +of its broad pinions, was soaring in wide circles above the shallows +near the shore. + +The young German turned his eyes in the direction of the gently rising +ground before him northwest of Friedrichshafen, now occupied by the +village of Jettenhausen. At that time the land had been cleared and +brought under cultivation. The hill was crowned by a stately wooden +structure, surrounded by a fence built breast-high for purposes of +defence; a pair of superb antlers adorned the ridge-pole. From the main +building itself and a small one adjoining it smoke circled upward +through holes in the roof: the inmates were doubtless preparing the +morning meal. + +The youth made a movement in the direction of the hall, on which his +eyes had rested proudly, yet with an expression of almost sorrowful +earnestness, then he paused suddenly, saying to himself: "No! I will go +first to _her_." He hastened eastward through what was then a tract of +marshy woodland--now bearing the name of Seewald--crossing it in the +direction of the Tettnang forests. Often he was forced to leap from +rock to rock or from one mossy hillock to another, that he might not +sink waist-deep in the morass. But the young German seemed perfectly +familiar with the almost invisible path which, sometimes in the form of +a ford, sometimes as a bridge, led through the bog and the dense +underbrush. Swinging himself with a daring leap, aided by the handle of +his spear, across a tolerably wide stream which flowed through moss and +sedges to the lake--a startled red grouse flew upward with a shrill +cry--he soon saw before him the nearest settlement to his own stately +dwelling: for he was the lord of the manor he had left behind. In this +region neighbors lived more than a league apart; it was not until +succeeding generations that the scattered freeholds along the lake grew +into villages. + +The little house in the forest--it might almost be called a +hut--nestled modestly at the foot of a low hill which sheltered it from +the northeast wind. The old roof was overgrown with dark green moss, +and the small stable forming part of the dwelling afforded room for +only a few head of cattle. Yet everything was neat and well-kept, +especially the little pasture in whose fenced inclosure stood several +fruit-trees, while the eye noted with surprise the presence in this +wilderness of several ornamental plants belonging to Rome or Southern +Gaul: the yew and--carefully tended--some fine roses. Across the top of +the ridge-pole was a four-pointed star, clumsily carved from pine-wood, +but unmistakable. Its beauty, however, had not been increased by its +having been smeared with the red lead used to color the house-mark cut +in it--evidently a recent act. + +The youth's first glance as he came in sight of the little house was +unconsciously directed toward the star on the roof. When he saw the red +paint a smile curled the well-cut mouth, which was not yet wholly +concealed by the downy beard of early manhood. His second look sought +the top of the low hill, where an ancient oak, now steeped in the +golden sunshine, was waving its gnarled branches in the morning breeze; +long garlands of goat's beard, dangling from the boughs, swayed to and +fro. A circular wooden bench surrounded the trunk, and on the southern +side a few large stones had been arranged to form a sort of table. + + + + CHAPTER IV. + +An old woman, wrapped in a dark garment, sat almost motionless upon the +bench in the warm sunshine. Thin locks of beautiful white hair escaped +from beneath the edge of the brown cloak drawn over her head; her hands +alone stirred with a slight, regular motion. When the youth's footsteps +echoed on the sandy slope of the hillock, she paused in her work and +bent forward to listen; then nodding, murmured under her breath: +"That's why she slipped away." + +"Hail to you, Waldrun!" said the youth, pausing before her. "Don't be +frightened--it is I--" + +"Adalo, the young noble," interrupted the old woman. "Only the +evil-doers fear _you_." + +"You recognize me?" + +"When the gods blind the eyes, they give sight to the soul. Though your +light footstep rarely rings near me now, I know it well. I often hear +it as you hurry past our home, avoiding the house by taking a wide +circuit. No one save Bruna, your tame bear, comes to us by daylight +from the manor; for you have doubtless forbidden even your fair-haired +little brother to visit our house. But brutes are more loyal than human +beings: often, very often, Bruna seeks my little maid and Zercho the +bondman. When she brings us a wreath of the child's favorite flowers +wound around her neck and growling, drags it off to her lap, we know +well that the boy Sippilo, not you, sent it. By day you shun us! But--" +She bent forward and lowered her voice to a whisper: the youth glanced +around in surprise; surely they were still alone--"but by night you +often approach stealthily." + +Adalo flushed crimson, and sought to divert her thoughts. "Can you spin +without seeing?" + +"The youngest of the three great Sisters--who was born blind--spins the +future of the whole human race. And what I am spinning is as familiar +to my fingers as to my thoughts." + +"What is it?" + +"My shroud. But I do not think that Adalo, son of Adalger, came hither +to question Waldrun concerning her thoughts of death. Do you seek my +son? Suomar has not yet returned from the Council." + +"I do not seek him--he sends me. The Council--last night on Odin's +Mountain--resolved to destroy all the houses and harvests." The youth's +noble, handsome countenance beamed with the fierce menacing joy of +battle as he added: "_The Romans_ are coming." + +"They will not tarry long," said the old woman, calmly going on with +her spinning. "I have often seen them dash forward in all the pride of +strength, and soon sink feebly back again." + +"You women, those unable to bear arms, the slaves, and the cattle are +to be received in two fortresses far away from the lake--one on Odin's +Mountain in the west, the other among the eastern marshes. We shall +form two divisions: one stationed in the east, the other in the west. +Your son is assigned to the eastern band; he was sent directly from the +council to the swamps. The troop will go through the fords there and +strengthen the breastwork of logs around the meadows to prevent the +entrance of the Italians." + +"Then we must hasten eastward to the morasses. We shall be nearer to +him there." + +Adalo hesitated. His face again crimsoned and he cast a keen glance at +the door of the house ere he began: "That was his first idea--and by +the decree of the people the fugitives were thus divided. But--some one +else--a friend--counselled him not to hide you in the swamps, but--on +the Holy Mountain." + +"You belong to the western band--on the mountain." + +Adalo made no reply. + +"You gave him that counsel, Adalo!" + +"I do not deny it; you know that I mean kindly. You will be better +concealed on the lofty wooded summit of Odin's Mountain than in the +marshes. Life in the fever-breeding swamps is full of discomfort--the +disease often attacks the inhabitants--and it is not so safe. The +eastern band will not remain in your hiding place: Suomar himself +cannot protect you; concealment is your sole defence. But on Odin's +Mountain, far up within the stone fortress, the gods of the land +themselves will shield you. And the life there in the woodland huts and +tents built of green branches will be more comfortable and pleasant. +And--" he spoke slowly and modestly--"I myself will be there to defend +you. Follow me,--to-morrow it may be too late,--follow me at once!" + +Just at that moment two acorns fell rattling on the top of the rude +stone table and rebounded to the earth. Adalo looked up. "A squirrel?" +he asked. + +"Yes. A _red_ one," added the old woman, nodding. "It often plays its +saucy pranks up there. They are sometimes very spiteful." + +"Indeed they are," replied Adalo, laughing. "One which I once caught +nearly bit through my finger. There!" + +Waldrun felt the fore-finger of his outstretched hand, then without +releasing it, said: "There is another scar close by. My naughty +granddaughter bit you years ago--do you remember? How did it happen?" + +"It was at the spring festival. The west wind was blowing furiously, +like the very breath of Odin. She ventured alone in your mouldering +boat--the old one hollowed from a log--to cross the lake. The others +jeered at her--I pleaded. Every effort was vain. Springing into the +skiff, she pushed off: if she passed beyond the rushes into the open +water she was lost. I ran after her, waded, swam, and dragged her from +the boat, just as it upset. I carried her to the shore, while she +writhed and struggled, spitting like an otter, and, by way of thanks, +bit my finger." + +"And then," replied Waldrun reprovingly, "some spiteful tongue uttered +the saying, + + "'Sharp is the squirrel's scratch, + Bissula's bite is sharper.' + +"The saying ran through the district, nay, all the provinces by the +lake. Wherever my granddaughter went, to pick berries in summer, to +comb the flax, to glean, to mow, to thresh--everywhere the jeering +couplet greeted her. That was not kind. Or wise!" she added in a lower +tone. + +"Mother Waldrun, you are right: it was not well done, but no harm was +meant." + +"Yes, yes, Odin placed the song in your reckless lips and gave you the +winged words, the biting jest. You cannot help it! Wherever you see a +tempting mark, the arrow of a mocking speech whizzes from your mouth." + +"But unvenomed, unbarbed. A blunt little shaft like that with which we +strike the pretty red-breast, Donar's favorite, not to harm it, nay, +only to capture it unhurt and bear it home to our hearths that it may +sing sweetly to us year after year." + +"Beware! Everything that has the red hue is passionate, swift to +revenge, and slow to forgive. + +"Yes," replied the youth laughing. "How runs another verse? + + "'Dost vex little Red Hair? + I bid thee beware! + The fair one fear. + She's false and spits her ire + Like the fox and the fire.'" + +Scarcely was the last line uttered when, high among the topmost boughs +of the lofty tree, a strange sound was heard. At the very summit the +noise resembled spitting and rattling, while below it was different, +like something sliding down the trunk. The first sounds undoubtedly +came from a little squirrel, which, startled by some disturbance, +chattering and hissing in fear or anger, sprang in a wide curve yet +with a sure leap from the topmost bough of the tree to a neighboring +oak which stood at a considerable distance. + + + + CHAPTER V. + +Adalo's glance followed the little creature's bound, which really +resembled flying. + +But meanwhile, from amid the dense foliage in the centre of the tree a +figure clad in the dress of a girl slid nimbly down the trunk, and as +soon as she reached the ground, smoothed her garments carefully from +her knees to her ankles. With her dainty, sparkling beauty, her almost +childlike delicacy of form, this apparition looked less like a mortal +maiden than a spirit of light. + +She wore no cloak. Her white linen robe, with its cherry-red border and +girdle of the same hue a hand's breadth wide, left her neck and arms +bare; her complexion, wherever any portion of her almost too slenderly +moulded figure was visible, gleamed with the dazzling whiteness of +ivory; the unusually heavy dark-red eyebrows, which nearly met in the +centre but were beautifully arched, frowned threateningly, and her +clear blue eyes were now flashing with wrath. The vision attracted +rather by the vivacious charm of expression and the perfect symmetry of +her dainty figure than by regular beauty. For it must be confessed, +though the charming inquisitive little nose did not actually turn +up--by no means--it was really a little too short. And, as it sloped +sharply away at the end, the space between it and the upper lip became +too long, thereby giving the oval face when in repose an expression +half of alert surprise, half of mischievous wilfulness. + +Everything about this dainty dragon-fly was so delicate that the young +girl might easily have been taken for a child, had not her rounded bust +revealed her womanhood. Wonderfully charming was the little mouth, +whose lips were so full that they seemed to pout mirthfully, while +their hue rivalled the red border of her robe. A dimple in the chin and +a slight tendency to a double chin lent the face that innocent +sweetness without which woman's beauty fails to attract. + +The most remarkable thing about this elfin vision was her hair--hair +whose bright red hue was the very tint of flame--which rippled around +her brow and temples in a thousand wilful little ringlets as if each +individual one curled separately. They seemed to frame the face +protectingly, as thorns cluster about a rosebud. The rest of her locks, +after the Suabian fashion, were combed upward toward the crown, knotted +there, and then flowed in magnificent tawny waves, somewhat darker in +tint, over her dazzlingly white neck far below her waist. + +The expression of saucy defiance, inquisitive surprise, nay even +superiority, enhanced by this arrangement of the hair, was still +further heightened by the little creature's habit of raising her heavy +eyebrows as if in mingled astonishment and reproof. In the charm of the +contradiction lay a temptation to smile which this fragile elf, with +her pert little nose and sparkling blue eyes, seamed to discover--and +if necessary instantly resent. + +An extremely strong will, a hot, ungovernable temper, and the sweetness +of a half unfolded bud, were contrasts which provoked a smile--nay, +almost irresistibly awakened a desire to try what the impetuous little +thing would do if her swift wrath were aroused. But when she raised her +eyes with a more gentle expression, they were so bewitchingly +beautiful, so pure, so tender, so soulful, that enthusiastic admiration +made the spectator forget the inclination to tease her. + +True, at this moment the elf looked by no means angelic, but thoroughly +evil, as, darting only one swift glance of furious rage at the tall +young noble, she seized the old woman violently by the shoulder and in +a low voice stifled by suppressed fury--cried: "Grandmother!--Away!--To +the marshes! Zercho the bondman must guide us. Away!" + +"Gently, child, gently! Did not you hear? It will be safer on the +mountain." + +"Safer perhaps for us; but not for those whom we--no, whom _I_ should +then be near. Go," she cried furiously to the youth, "save yourself, I +advise you, from the red-hair. 'False and spitting her ire like the fox +and the fire.' Was that the way it ran, you witty fellow? As soon as +the daughter of our neighbor Ero, giggling with spiteful mirth, told me +your last jibe against me, I climbed the hay-ladder to the ridge-pole +of our house and painted our white star up there red: painted it very +thick and bright, so that you could see it from the edge of the forest +and keep far away from the evil color. Very far--do you hear?" + + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Adalo had now recovered from his astonishment. + +"I knew," he said, smiling, "that the elves of light dwell above our +heads; but I was not aware that they had nests among the boughs of the +oaks." + +"And why not? If you reproach me with being an elf of light." + +"It is no reproach, I should think. What says the elf-song? 'Fairest +fair are not the ases, but the elves.'" + +"'Sharp is the bite of the squirrel, but Bissula's is sharper still.' +You yourself classed me with the biting animals, so do not wonder that +I fled to my red, snarling, biting sisters when I heard in the distance +the haughty footfall of the hated Adalo. I detected your approach even +sooner than the long-practised ear of my blind grandmother. Hate is +quick to hear." + +"Do you hate me?" asked the youth. His voice sounded low and sad. + +"Forgive her, Adalo! She is but a child." + +"No, grandmother, I am a child no longer; I shall see my eighteenth +winter when the next snow falls. The child tried to defend herself +against superior strength. She was too weak; but now something within +me struggles against your arrogance--I know not what it is; it glows +here in my breast, and believe me, this thing within is stronger than +my hands once were: you cannot conquer." + +"I do not wish to conquer; I seek to protect you and your grandmother." + +"The head of our clan will protect us--Suomar, her son, my uncle and +guardian." + +"Suomar thought that you would be safer on Odin's Mountain." + +"Because my good uncle did not suspect that you were only trying to win +fresh renown by new couplets. Something like this: + + 'Bitterly bites Bissula! But back + Repentant she ran, in fear of the Romans; + To Adalo, the Adeling!' + +You hear--I too can make verses." + +"Evil words," said Waldrun reprovingly, "which were not given to you by +Odin the Wise, but by Loki! Why do you scorn the protection your +neighbor offers? You grew up together like brother and sister, constant +playfellows on the shore and the lake." + +"Until the neighbor discovered that he was the rich, strong young +noble, skilled in song; the 'handsome' Adalo--as all the silly girls +whisper. He handsome? He is hideous. His name is forever ringing in +one's ears throughout the whole region in every dwelling along the +lake. Who is the boldest hero in the Roman war? The stoutest swimmer, +the most successful hunter? The victor in wrestling, hurling stones, +casting the spear? Who leaps highest in the sword dance? To whom do +even the gray-beards listen in the Council? At whom do the maidens peep +at the sun-festival? Adalo! Adalo! Adalo!--The arrogant fellow! It is +unbearable." + +The angry maiden pressed both little clenched hands over her eyes to +shut out the sight of the foe she so fervently hated. + +"Would arrogance bring me here with this entreaty?" + +"Ay; sheer arrogance! When, during the spinning in the winter and the +hay-making in the autumn, the girls talked about you, I said little; I +only listened. It was rumored that Jetto, the rich lord of the manor, +was beginning--he took the first step--to treat with Adalo concerning a +marriage with his daughter, Jettaberga. Jettaberga is the handsomest +girl in the lake region--" + +"That is not true," said Adalo earnestly. + +"Her kinsmen, next to your own family, have the largest number of +spears and of cattle, are the richest in shields and in lands." + +"That is true," he answered, nodding assent. "But Adalo refused the +offer as soon as it was sufficiently well known in the neighborhood +that Jetto himself had proposed to give him his daughter because both +clans would have profited by the alliance--" + +"Especially Jetto!" interrupted Waldrun. "And because Jettaberga +thought the young nobleman was handsomer than any other man." + +"That is probably _not_ true!" remarked the latter, smiling pleasantly. + +"Yes, it is true!" exclaimed Bissula vehemently. "Don't deny it. She +told me so." + +"I wish to hear nothing about it, Bissula--chatterer!" said the +grandmother reproachfully. + +The girl bit her lips. + +"Pshaw, he knew it; or he believed he knew it, as he believes it of all +girls. And so it must seem to him and his companions that Bissula also +(who, it is true, is neither rich nor beautiful--only Bissula, who is +defiant and tameless), that I, too, instead of going to the marshes +would rather flee to the Holy Mountain--to Adalo! But"--and now her +eyes blazed with an almost menacing light--"you shall never boast of +_that_!" + +"But if I command?" warned the old woman. + +"Then I'll run off to the swamps alone. Forgive me, dear, dear +grandmother; but Suomar is my guardian, not you. Did he command? +Speak!" + +"He only advised," replied Adalo reluctantly. + +"Then I am free! Advice may be followed or not. But know this: If you +had lied--" + +Adalo's face blanched. + +"Insolent girl!" said the grandmother reprovingly. + +"Oh, I know--he never lies; but it is not from truthfulness, but pride. +If you had pretended that my guardian had given a command--I would +rather have leaped into the deepest part of the lake than have gone +with you." + +"What foolish defiance! He speaks only from anxiety." + +"He speaks from arrogance. The vain fellow weaves a wreath composed of +every flower to deck his curly head: Bissula, the red heather-blossom, +must not be wanting." + +"The red heather-blossom alone must adorn my life," said the youth +earnestly. + +Bissula started: every tinge of color faded from her face, and +trembling violently she clasped her grandmother's arm for support. + +The latter, however, with a keenly intent expression, turned her head +toward Adalo. "What words were those you dared to utter?" + +"Earnest ones. I am under no man's authority. I am old enough to lead a +wife to my home, strong enough to protect her. Well then, Bissula, +playmate of my childhood, come with me! I will give whatever Suomar +demands. I love you better than any one else can do. Come with me to +the Holy Mountain, that I may protect you there--my betrothed bride!" + + + + CHAPTER VII. + +The young girl clung still closer to Waldrun, but the latter started up +in alarm and hastily pressed her hand upon Bissula's heart. + +"How it throbs!" she murmured. Then, raising her left hand, as if to +keep the youth back, her right drew the folds of her ample cloak over +the brushing girl's sweet face. "Go," she said warningly. "Suspicion +seizes me also. It is ignoble for you to dare utter the words of wooing +to two defenceless women, confusing the girl, and inspiring vain, idle +thoughts. That is not the honorable custom of our people. If your suit +was serious you ought first to have spoken to Suomar, the guardian: he +gives my granddaughter's hand, not she herself. Whoever means marriage +deals with the guardian; whoever seeks mere amusement and dallying +coaxes the girl. Go! I doubt you!" + +Adalo laid his hand upon his breast with a gesture of protest, but ere +he could speak Bissula glided from beneath the shelter of her +grandmother's cloak. Her cheeks were glowing; her red locks fairly +bristled; it seemed as if one could almost hear them crackle; her angry +eyes blazed, and springing forward, she pushed the youth with both +hands, but had no power to stir the tall figure. + +"Yes, go!" she cried. "I do not doubt. Even Waldrun, who always speaks +in your behalf, distrusts you, and she cannot see your arrogant face, +the victorious smile on your proud lips, the light in your sparkling +eyes! There--see how the feigned expression of good-will vanishes from +your features; how resentfully you rear your head! Ay, that is the +noble, the swift, strong, handsome man, who believes that the god of +wishes must grant every whim, every caprice of his favorite. _You_ mate +with a poor girl! _you_ lead red-haired Bissula to your home! Besides, +I am called Bissula only by my friends; to strangers my name is +Albfledis. Waldrun is right: the blind woman has seen. If you were in +earnest you would have gone to the guardian." + +She drew back and seized her grandmother's arm. "Come! let us return to +the house." + +But Adalo, his tall figure drawn up to its full height, barred their +way. Grief and anger were contending for the mastery in the expression +of his handsome face. + +"I was in earnest, the deepest earnest. Freya knows it. Soon Frigga +will know also. I did not speak to Suomar, because I did not wish, like +most men, to obtain the girl solely by her guardian's command; I +desired not only her hand and her person, but her heart, her love. I +was sure of Suomar." + +"Do you hear his arrogance, grandmother?" + +"It is not arrogance. What can your uncle bring against me? Nothing! +And we have always been friendly neighbors. He would not have refused +me; but I did not want you as a gift from another, you defiant +creature. I wanted the playmate of my childhood to give herself to me. +Yes, I confess I hoped that she retained from those childish days a +little--just a little affection." + +"Presumptuous fellow!" + +"And now the hour and the danger loosed my tongue. The Romans are +approaching. Who knows what they may bring us? But you have repulsed me +with undeserved suspicion, disdained my loyal aid. True,"--here his +brow contracted with mingled grief and anger,--"perhaps the foe will +not injure _you_." + +"What do you mean?" asked Waldrun. Her tone expressed dread of some +fresh cause for contention between the two young people. Bissula, +without speaking, darted a flashing glance at him. + +"For years," Adalo went on with suppressed indignation, "you have had +friends among these hated enemies--at least one friend. Perhaps he will +return hither with the cohorts now threatening us--the wise, eloquent, +and wealthy Senator! Of course a German noble, a 'Barbarian,' cannot +vie with him in gifts of jewels, rare fruit, and foreign flowers. That +I belong to your own people and he to our mortal foes--what care you? +You need, nay perchance you desire, neither marsh nor mountain as a +defence against your--friend!" + +"Silence, Adalo! She was then only thirteen. The noble Roman might be +her father, nay, almost her grandfather." + +"But he was so clever! He understood how to choose his words so +skilfully that usually I could not comprehend them at all. And +Albfledis was so fond of listening to the language of the foe!" + +"At least," the girl hastily retorted, "Ausonius never used the +language of insolent mockery to the child. And since you have provoked +me to it, I tell you: yes, if the noble, kindly Roman should ever come +again and wish, as he did then, to take me with him as his child to his +beautiful country, his splendid pillared mansion,--listen,--I would +rather go with him, his daughter, than listen to you and your +contemptuous suit." + +"Stay, Albfledis," said the youth, drawing himself up proudly, "Enough! +My suit? It is ended forever. Never will I repeat it--I swear by this +spear. You have scorned me--have openly preferred the Roman. Hear my +vow, in the presence of your ancestress and the all-seeing sun: Never +again will Adalo woo you. Though the ardent longing of my heart should +consume me, I will die ere I approach you again with words of +entreaty." + +"Alas!" wailed the blind woman, "alas for my dearest wish! Is it never +to be fulfilled?" + +"If it should be. Mother Waldrun, Albfledis must first come to me in my +hall, and say: 'Adalo, here I am! Take me for your wife!'" + +"Oh, what shameless insolence!" cried Bissula, frantic with grief and +rage. Seizing one of the blocks of stone which formed the rude table +before the oak, she tried to hurl it at the hated man. Her little hands +tore at the jagged rock without avail, till the fingers bled, but the +heavy block remained unmoved, and bursting into tears of helpless rage, +she flung herself upon the ground. + +The old woman bent over her, listening anxiously to her sobs, but Adalo +had neither seen nor heard aught of these things. Even as he uttered +the last words, he turned his back upon the women, his face dark with +pride and anger, and throwing his spear over his shoulder, leaped down +the slope so swiftly that his yellow locks floated wildly around his +handsome head. + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + +Days had passed since the incident related in the last chapter. The +Romans had entered the country without encountering the slightest +resistance. After encamping on the summit of Meersburg and resting +during the following day, they had set forth again and, turning +somewhat inland from the lake and its swampy shores, reached the +Idisenhang. + +Finding this commanding position undefended, they had formed a +permanent camp here at the spot agreed upon with the troops which had +embarked on the fleet. As soon as this seemed sufficiently fortified to +be defended by a small garrison left behind, and their comrades in +Arbon had the fleet ready, the latter were to cross, land, and begin +the pursuit of the invisible Barbarians. + +But scarcely had Nannienus seen from Arbon on the opposite shore that +the column sent by land had reached the spot appointed and established +a camp, when he despatched by a swift fisher-boat tidings which +threatened to defer the progress of the enterprise for an indefinite +time. As soon as the experienced commander reached the Roman post he +discovered that the equipment of the necessary vessels would require +far more time than had been expected. + +The reports of the magistrates and officers to the distant Emperor, +which represented a considerable portion of the old Roman fleet as +still in existence and, moreover, strengthened by newly built ships, +proved false and shamefully exaggerated: these unprincipled men, +corrupt, like nearly all the officials in the Empire, had concealed +their numerous defeats in which the Barbarians had gradually destroyed +these ships; they had then appropriated the money furnished to build +new ones, and reported them completed. + +This was the discovery made by the Comes of Britannia, who announced +with fierce indignation--he had sent the treacherous quaestors and +nauarchs in chains to the Emperor at Vindonissa--that though he had +ordered work to be carried on in the little dockyard night and day, the +intended landing must be deferred to a considerably later period. +Energetic Saturninus was incensed by this enforced idleness: but he +could do nothing save vituperate the corruption of the magistracy, the +Empire, the whole age, and--wait. + +The richly decorated tent intended for the Prefect of Gaul was pitched +upon the very summit of the height which is now occupied by the +cemetery of the village of Berg. Soft rugs, piled one above another, +covered the ground; a couch was placed against the back of the leather +tent, and beside it stood a table adorned with costly drinking-vessels. +An old freedman, a slave, and the cup-bearer were engaged in giving the +last touches. There were places for three on the horseshoe-shaped +couch, and a row of goblets stood on the table; for, though the c[oe]na +had been served in the Tribune's tent, the Prefect had invited him and +his nephew to take some choice wine after the meal in the Praetorian +one. + +While the servants were busied in preparing the table, the loose +leather at the poles in the rear of the tent was repeatedly raised +noiselessly and then dropped again. No one observed it. Two of the men +now went out, but the cupbearer still lingered to wipe again and again +the inside of a magnificent silver goblet, which, supported by three +graceful female figures, bore the inscription: "The graces to their +favorite, Ausonius." + +"Not ready yet, Davus?" the old freedman had asked in a tone of +vexation, as he turned away. + +"No, Prosper. You know our master will drink only from this cup, the +Emperor's gift, and he is so particular about it." + +The slave was scarcely alone when the leather flap of the tent was +again raised, a watchful face was thrust cautiously in. "Alone at +last!" a voice whispered. + +"I was waiting for you, my lord." + +"Well? To-day? At the nocturnal carouse?" + +"No. I dare not attempt it yet. Your uncle is as well as he was at home +in Burdigala. Let him first sicken under this Barbarian sky, the +unwonted fatigues of camp life in the rain and swamps; then it will be +easier. But now--in perfect health? No, no! Have patience. Wait a +little longer." + +"I cannot. My creditors, the usurers, are hounding me to the death; +have followed me here to the camp. And this region, this neighborhood, +as you know, is more perilous to me than any other spot in the whole +world. So hasten!" + +"As soon as he begins to ail a little I'll do it at once. But I must +confess--" + +"What?" + +"The vial of poison you gave me, I--" + +"Lost? You blockhead!" + +"No, it is broken. During the steep ascent of the mountain recently I +slipped, struck my breast against a boulder, and crushed the little +bottle, whose contents all poured out." + +"Alas, then where else--" + +"Have no fear, my lord. I've seen hemlock enough growing in these +marshy meadows to poison our whole army. I have already begun to gather +and dry it. Do you the same, and as soon--" + +Loud voices and the clank of weapons were heard; the face vanished, and +the slave passed through the doorway of the tent into the open air. + + + + CHAPTER IX. + +Directly after, Ausonius and Saturninus entered the Praefectorian tent +from the _Via Principalis_, while Herculanus, coming from the rear, +passed in with them. The host shared his seat on the couch with his two +guests. + +He was a man of fifty-two, but his stately figure showed few signs of +approaching age, and his noble face lacked none of the characteristics +of the patrician Roman in the modelling of the forehead, nose, and +finely arched brows. + +But the mouth had smiled so often--probably far too often in self +complacency--that it had forgotten how to close with firm decision; it +was much too weak for a man. And the light-brown eyes, so pleasant and +kindly, so content with everything and everybody--and not least with +Ausonius--betrayed more plainly than any other feature the approach of +age; their glance had lost the fire of youth. They seemed weary, not of +life but of reading; for Ausonius had been professor, rhetorician, +tutor of princes, and poet. In those days that meant a man who read an +immense amount and, in default of elevating thoughts of his own, +extracted with the industry of a bee the ideas of the writers of four +centuries, tore them asunder, and put them together again in such tiny +fragments that his readers and himself believed them to be new ones of +his own and would have found it very difficult to separate the mosaic +into its borrowed portions. Passions had never furrowed this smooth +face: the lines around the eyes were not graven by pain, but by the +passage of the years. + +This kindly natured man, who himself saw everything on its best side, +thought the whole world most admirably arranged. He believed seriously +that all men who had not committed great crimes, and therefore deserved +punishment, fared just as well as the very, very wealthy, benevolent, +and much praised Decimus Magnus Ausonius of Burdigala (Bordeaux), the +delightful city of villas; that they fared as well as Ausonius, who was +petted by all who surrounded him, and who in the opinion of his +contemporaries--and especially his own--was the greatest poet of his +age. Even had this been true, it certainly would not have meant much. + +This really amiable, kindly man, whose only fault was a little undue +self-satisfaction, was now playing the part which best suited him,--far +better than that of poet or statesman,--the part of the host who, +comfortable himself, desires to make all his guests equally so. His +pleasant, cheery, friendly kindness of heart, which would fain see +everybody happy, though of course without too much self-sacrifice, +found in this _rôle_ its fullest expression. + +"There! now go, slaves." He waved his hand to those who had again +entered. "Look after yourselves--as we are doing. Go, too, my faithful +Prosper: take for yourself--and give to the others--the better wine +from Rhodanus; you know it. I saw how hard it was to drag the skins up +the steep hill. Go: we will serve ourselves." He stretched himself +comfortably on the lectus, thrusting under his head a soft downy pillow +filled with the feathers of German geese. "Give yonder amethyst goblet +to the Tribune, my dear nephew, for our Illyrian Hercules must drink +deeply! No, Saturninus, don't take the mixing vessel! The first +cup--unmixed. To the genius of the Emperor Gratianus!" + +"It's lucky that the Emperor himself doesn't hear you," cried the +Tribune, laughing, as he put down the empty goblet. "I am neither +Christian nor pagan, only a soldier, and nobody asks about my faith. +But you! Gratianus's teacher! The Emperor is zealous in the true +religion. And you drink to his genius, as though we were living in the +reign of Diocletian! Are you a pagan, Prefect of Gaul?" + +Ausonius glanced around to see that no slave was within hearing. Then +he smiled. "If I were a pagan, that is, if I had not been baptized, I +certainly should not be Prefect of Gaul. The dignity is probably worth +a few drops of water. They did not penetrate my skin. How could a poet +forget the old gods?" + +"Yes, yes, if the learned mythological allusions should be effaced from +your verses, the brightest of the borrowed foreign feathers would be +plucked from Ausonius's raven." + +"Tribune!" cried the nephew angrily,--he shouted much louder than was +necessary,--"you are speaking of the greatest Roman writer!" + +"No, no," said the man thus lauded, very seriously, "there are probably +two or three greater ones." + +"Forgive me, Ausonius," said Saturninus. "I understand battles, not +verses. Probably it is my own fault that yours don't suit me." + +"You know too few of them," replied Herculanus reprovingly. + +"I'm not of your opinion!" retorted the Illyrian, laughing. "I've never +had much time for reading. But I sometimes ride beside your uncle +through the olive woods of Aquitania, the vineyards of the Mosella, or +the marshy forests of the Alemanni: he has an inexhaustible memory and +can repeat his verses for miles." + +"Yes," the poet assented complacently, "my memory must supply the place +of imagination." + +"Wouldn't it be better if you had imagination, and your readers took +pleasure in remembering what it created?" asked the soldier. + +"My uncle can repeat the whole of Virgil." + +"Yes, that is evident--in his verses! The reader often doesn't know +where Virgil and Ovid end and Ausonius begins. But Ausonius prefers to +recite his own poetry." + +The latter nodded pleasantly. + +"That's the best thing about you. Prefect; though a little vain, like +all verse-writers, your heart is in the right place: a warm, kind heart +which never takes offence at a friend's jest." + +"I should be both stupid and contemptible if I did that." + +"As a reward I'll tell you now that I owe an exquisite night to one of +your poems--or a portion of it." + +The poet, much pleased, raised himself on the lectus: "What poem?" + +"Your 'Mosella.'" + +"Yes, yes," replied Ausonius smiling, "I like it very much, too." + +"It is divine!" Herculanus protested. + +"I'm no theologian," said Saturninus, laughing, "to understand divine +things. But the most beautiful part of the poem is the description of +the various kinds of fish in the river." + +"Yes, yes," observed the author, smiling as he slowly sipped his wine, +"verses eighty-two to one hundred and forty-nine: they are very pretty, +especially the euphony." + +"Oh, never mind the euphony. I read it in the evening, and fell +asleep." + +"Barbarian!" exclaimed the poet. "But in my dreams I saw before me the +most delicious fish; the salm--" + +"'Thee, too, I praise, O salmon, with thy roseate flesh!'" + +Ausonius quoted. + +"The trout." + + "'Then the trout, its back besprinkled with tiny crimson + stars.' + +"That's what I call a fine line." + +"The grayling." + + "'And the swift grayling, escaping from the eye with + rapid leaps!'" + +"Yes, but not as you describe them, alive in the Mosella--there is +nothing I enjoy eating more than a fine fish! No, I saw them before me +on silver dishes, baked, broiled, and in dainty stews; and in my dream +I tasted them all. When I woke, I licked my lips and blessed Ausonius: +no poet has ever given me so much pleasure." + +He laughed and drained his goblet. + + + + CHAPTER X. + +"I am generous," replied Ausonius. "It pleases me to discover in this +way a favorite dish of my usually Spartan friend. I will avenge myself +by placing before you, if possible, the delicious fish this lake +contains; for in its green depths are balche and trout of the most +delicate flavor. They are even better than those of the Mosella: I +could surely have supplied you with them if the Barbarians had not all +fled from the shore before our troops. When, five years ago, I spent +several months on the opposite side in Arbor Felix, to investigate the +condition of the frontiers, what magnificent fish I had!" Then, as if +lost in reverie, he sighed: "Ah, those were happy days! My dear wife, +my gentle Sabina, was living." + +"Hail to thy memory, Attusia Lucana Sabina!" said the nephew. + +"And my dear children! Then my beautiful, spacious house in the city, +and the charming villa outside the Garumna gate were not empty and +desolate. How gaily the songs of the young girls echoed through the +country during the season when the vine blossoms poured forth their +fragrance! Then I still saw around me the beloved faces of my kindred, +did not stand alone, poor with all my wealth, as now--" + +"Uncle!" interrupted Herculanus, trying to assume a tone of most tender +reproach, in which, however, he was not entirely successful. "Stand +alone? Have you not me, who love you so tenderly?" + +The Tribune gazed coldly at the over-zealous nephew. + +But Ausonius replied kindly: "Certainly, my dear fellow, you are left +to me, but you alone out of the whole circle of my family swept away in +a single year by the pestilence: my Sabina, my three children, my two +sisters and two sweet young nieces. Can you alone fill the places of +all? I often feel so lonely. And you are a man. My gentle wife, my +daughters, my sisters, my nieces, how I miss them! I confess it: I need +the melody of women's voices, their graceful movements around me. I +miss something!" + +The young Roman, excited, hastily seized the goblet. The Tribune looked +him keenly in the face and, without averting his eyes from the nephew, +suddenly said to the uncle in a very loud tone: "You must marry again!" +Then the Illyrian turned away from Herculanus: he seemed to have seen +enough. + +"Yes," said Ausonius slowly, almost solemnly, "I have often thought of +it. It is a serious, a very serious matter--at my age." + +"At any age," said Saturninus. "Years will not stand in your way. You +are perhaps fifty?" + +"Fifty-two," sighed the Prefect. "And my hair is gray!" + +"Not very yet! Besides, mine is too. In my case from the weight of the +helmet. And it is becoming. You are a--" + +"Handsome old man, you are going to say," replied Ausonius smiling. +"That is not exactly what pleases maidens." + +"Well, you need not choose a girl of sixteen." + +"But not one much older!" said the poet quickly. "No, my friend! I want +youth and charm near me." + +"That you may have too," said the Illyrian. "You can select from your +whole province, nay, the whole Empire. You, the highest official in +Gaul, the Emperor's tutor and favorite, the celebrated poet and--" + +"And the richest match in the whole West," interrupted the nephew +sharply. Hitherto he had remained persistently silent, his eyes cast +down and the expression of his mouth covered by his hand. "The richest +gray beard on this side of the Alps!" he added. + +"Yes, that is it," said Ausonius bitterly. "Herculanus only says openly +and frankly what has secretly tortured me so much all these years, nay, +what has alone deterred me. You know, my friend,--or rather, you blunt +Tribune of the camp, you do not know,--for what reasons parents in our +large cities marry their daughters, nay, how these girls themselves, +almost before they have laid aside their dolls, instantly look out for +'a good catch'! In sooth, neither Eros nor Anteros, but Hermes and +Plutus unite couples now." + +"Yes, they marry only for money!" cried Herculanus wrathfully. "I am +poor; the girls all shun me--" + +The Tribune was about to answer, but only laughed and drank his wine. + +"Although I am nearly thirty years younger than my uncle! Fathers, +mothers, guardians, nay, even the forward girls themselves, all cajole +him, till I can scarcely warn and guard enough." + +"That's the way the bee-keeper guards the honey from the mice," growled +the Illyrian under his breath. + +"My nephew is perfectly right. A friend of mine, Erminiscius, a rich +merchant who deals in gems, fifty years old, married a girl of twenty. +A week after, she disappeared with all his antique jewels and--his +youngest freedman. Another, Euronius, a large owner of vineyards, +somewhat older, married a young widow of twenty-five; that is--he was +married by her; for she did not rest until she had him. Even before the +wedding he was obliged to make his will; she dictated it to him word +for word. He died at the next kalends--violent colic. I did not like it +at all; I hate colic! And so many wild cherries grew close by his +garden! You ought to see how much this double widow enjoys life now. +She once paid me a visit--she is very beautiful and was bewitchingly +amiable to me; but I thought of the dead Euronius's colic, and escaped +unwedded. I don't imagine in all cases an elopement or a wild-cherry +cake; every one is neither a Helena nor a Locusta. Suspicion is not +usually one of my faults." + +"Rather the contrary," observed Saturninus. + +"But, I confess it, my gray hairs make me distrustful. I should be so +unhappy--Apollo's richest laurels would not heal the wound--if I were +forced to believe that I had been married only for the sake of my +wealth. I do not deserve it." + +"No indeed, you do not," cried the Tribune, pressing his hand warmly. +"Your heart is tender, kind, and frank. Whoever feigned love for the +sake of your money would be contemptible. And I hope that you may yet +see a band of children playing around your knees in the beautiful villa +gardens on the flowery shores of your beloved Garumna." + +Ausonius smiled. The picture seemed to please him. Then his eye met the +glance of his nephew, who seemed to be gazing into the distance less +complacently. "Don't be uneasy, Herculanus," he said. "Even if it +should be so, my will would not forget you. And your creditors," he +added, smiling compassionately. + +"Will! What an ill-omened word! Far be it," cried the young Roman. + +"Well, people don't die from making wills, or I should have left the +living long ago. A Roman citizen sets his house in order for every +emergency, death included. So, though Herculanus according to the law +would now be my sole heir, I made my will before the magistrate in +Burdigala before joining the army, formally naming him my heir: a few +little legacies and the liberation of some faithful slaves still +remain. To you, Saturninus," he added, laughing, "I shall bequeath +after my return, in a codicil, a valuable memento of this evening." + +"Well?" + +"A copy of the 'Mosella'; but the verses about the fish are to be cut +out by way of punishment." + +He quaffed his wine, pleased with his own jest. + + + + CHAPTER XI. + +"You must and will survive me, my noble friend! The Tribune will soon +lie where he belongs: on his shield. But you still belong to Burdigala, +in your tasteful house filled with rare works of art (what hospitality +I enjoyed there the last time I was wounded!), or to Rome, in the +Senate; not here, in the marshy forests of these Alemanni. Why (you +always liked to accompany the Emperor to Vindonissa)--why did you, a +man of peace and of leisure, join this military campaign? It has no +attraction for you! What have you to obtain on the Barbarian shores of +this lake?" + +"I? I am seeking for something here," replied Ausonius, after some +little hesitation. + +"Laurels of Mars to add to those of Apollo?" + +"Not at all; only--a memory!" + +Herculanus cast a sharp glance full of meaning at his uncle. + +"Or, if you prefer it, a dream, the fulfilment of a dream. I believe in +dreams." + +"Of course," said the Tribune, smiling, "like all poets! I care more +for waking thoughts." + +"When I reached the army over yonder in Vindonissa, a lovely charming +memory of a child rose vividly before me; a child equally bewitching in +mind and person, whom I knew and loved here several years ago." + +"A boy?" + +"No, a girl." + +"Ho, ho, pedagogue of the Emperor!" cried the Tribune, laughing. + +Herculanus did not enter into the jest; he was silently watching +Ausonius's every look. + +"Oh, calm yourself! Bissula is a girl about twelve years old--that +is--she was in those days. She and a Sarmatian boy brought to Arbor +every week the fish her uncle had caught on the northern shore of the +lake. And how delightfully she talked! Even her Barbarian Latin sounded +sweetly from her cherry-red lips. We became the best of friends. I gave +her--she would accept neither money nor costly jewels--trifling +articles, especially seeds of fine Gallic fruit and flowers from +Garumna for her little garden. She told me strange stories of the gods +and fauns in the woods, the nymphs in the lakes and springs here in the +country,--but she gave them different names,--and the mountain giants +opposite, whose white heads glittered in the sunset light. And I--I--" + +"You read the 'Mosella' to her, of course!" laughed Saturninus. + +"Certainly. And the little Barbarian girl showed a better appreciation +of it than the great Roman general. It was not the fish that pleased +_her_ best--" + +"I can easily believe it: she had better ones herself, you said just +now." + +"But the descriptions of the vineyards and villas along the river. And +when I told her that in my home on the Garumna were far, far handsomer +and richer houses, full of marble, gold, bronze, and ivory, adorned +with brightly painted walls and mosaics; that I myself owned the most +beautiful palaces and magnificent gardens full of leaping water, +foreign stags and deer, and birds with sweet songs or brilliant +plumage; when I spoke of the deep blue of the sky and the golden light +of the sun in the glorious land of Aquitania where almost perpetual +summer reigned, she could not hear enough in prose and verse of the +splendor of our country and the magnificence and art of our life. Once +she clapped her little hands in surprise and delight, exclaiming: 'Oh, +father, I should like to see that too. Just one day!' But I had grown +so fond of the gay, sweet child that, with a thrill of joy at the +thought, I answered: 'Come, my little daughter, not for a day--forever. +If your guardian will consent, I will adopt you as my child and take +you to Burdigala. How gladly my wife will welcome you! My daughters +will treat you as a dear sister. You shall become a Roman maiden!' + +"But, like a frightened deer, she sprang from my lap, ran off, leaped +into her boat, rowed swiftly across the lake, and did not return for +many days. I was full of anxiety lest I had driven her away forever. At +last--it was a time of complete peace--I had myself rowed across the +lake to its northern shore and guided to her hut in the forest. But she +had scarcely caught sight of me when, with a loud cry of terror, she +climbed into a huge oak as nimbly as a woodpecker and hid herself among +the branches. She would not come down again until I had solemnly +promised, in the presence of her uncle and her grandmother, not to take +her away and never even to say a word about it: 'For,' she said, with +tears in her eyes, 'in that hot country I should die of homesickness +for my own family, the neighbors, nay, even for the mountain, the +meadow, and lake, like the forest flowers transplanted from the marshy +soil into dry sand.'" + +"A sensible child," remarked the Tribune thoughtfully, stroking his +beautiful brown beard. "So she is pretty?" + +"I think so!" cried Herculanus: the voice sounded almost savage. + +"Why, nephew, you have never seen her." + +"But you have described her to us often enough! I could paint her, with +her bright red locks." + +"And her name is Bissula?" Saturninus added. + +"Yes, 'the little one,'" replied Ausonius, "for she is very slender and +delicate of limb. I then saw her regularly again, but kept my promise +not to ask her to go with me. When I bade her farewell, she wept with a +child's loving tears. 'With you,' she said 'I part from a warm, bright, +beautiful world, into which, as it were, I peeped, standing on tiptoe, +over a curtain.' + +"Recently, on reaching Vindonissa--during my journey through the +country I had thought much of the charming child--I saw her before me +in a dream the first night, encircled by a poisonous serpent. Her eyes +were raised to mine, imploring help, I woke with a cry, and my heart +grew heavy at the thought of what might befall the lovely girl--for she +must have become beautiful--if our cohorts bring all the horrors of war +into the forests along the shore of the lake. And I confess, it was +principally to see that child again--perhaps to protect her until the +war should be over--that I entreated the Emperor to permit me to join +this expedition." + + + + CHAPTER XII. + +"But I suppose you did not think your uncle's life would be +sufficiently safe under my protection, Herculanus, since you were so +eager to join us?" asked the Tribune. + +Before the nephew could answer, Ausonius interrupted: "But--thank the +gods--our campaign will be bloodless: the Barbarians have abandoned the +country. Where can they have gone? What have you learned through your +spies of the movements of the enemy?" + +"Nothing. That is the mysterious part of it. It seems as though the +earth had swallowed them. They are said to have numerous subterranean +passages and cellars, in which they conceal their provisions and +themselves in times of danger. We found it very difficult to obtain +spies among our colonists on the southern shore. They know very well +that we Romans come and go; the Alemanni remain in the country, and +they fear their vengeance. And deserters can no longer be had. In +former wars they were often mentioned. But the fact that there are no +renegades shows that self-reliance is increasing and the dread or hope +of Rome is declining. I could get only two volunteers--for a large sum +of money--to venture upon a reconnoitring expedition; the one who went +to the East returned without having seen a sign of the foe; the one +dispatched to the North has not yet appeared. And unfortunately we have +not taken even one prisoner. Not a sign of a human footprint have we +seen on the whole march along the lake. Once, it is true, I thought I +saw a light column of smoke rising from the dense growth of rushes +which stretches for leagues into the lake, and ordered the troops to +halt; but the tiny cloud instantly vanished." + +"I can understand the strategy of our admirable General only by +crediting him with an almost offensive degree of caution," sneered the +commander of the mailed horsemen. "By Hercules! Wherever they may hide, +the Barbarians cannot be a day's march from us." + +"Yes," Ausonius assented. "Yet I should think we might be strong enough +to seek them and drive them from their hiding places." + +Saturninus frowned slightly. "Your nephew's opinion of my courage gives +me no concern. But you, Prefect, have again forgotten that, by the +Emperor's orders, we are not to disperse the Barbarians, but to +surround them and force them to submission. We are too weak for this +encircling, and must wait for the ships. Unless our fleet should block +the lake, they will again escape, as they have often done, in their +boats. Stick to your hexameters, my Pierian friend, and leave the +Barbarians to me: it will be better for all concerned." + +"Except the Barbarians!" replied Ausonius smiling, extending his hand +to his friend. + +"Who are probably the leaders of the enemy?" + +"The Romans on the southern shore mention two names. The rest of the +Alemanni provinces are mainly ruled by kings." + +"So far do Germans carry royalty," nodded the learned Prefect. "May +they always continue to be divided into numberless provinces under +their hedge kings and village magistrates, whom each man obeys as much +as he chooses." + +"It seems that this state of things has changed. Many provinces are +united in leagues, which hold together in peace as well as in war. The +men of Linzgau have no king now, it appears, only an aged count. But he +must be a man of powerful intellect, since the gray-haired Hariowald +has been chosen commander-in-chief of all the provinces leagued against +us. True, we have not to deal solely with the Lentienses. After +centuries of folly these Barbarians are beginning to discover that +'liberty,' that is, the privilege of doing what each man pleases +without regard to his neighbor, is, though a delightful, a somewhat +dangerous pleasure, and that with such 'liberty' they will be forever +our bondmen, so long as one province looks on with malicious pleasure +while we subjugate another with which it has had a quarrel--till its +own turn comes. Formerly they preferred to place their surplus of young +men at our disposal rather than have them obey the commands of one of +their own people, but for some time there has been a change; even those +splendid soldiers, my Batavians, no longer wish to remain with me, and +will not renew their oath of service. We no longer hear the names of +numberless small peoples: five or six great leagues fill the whole +country from the Ister to the Suabian Sea. It has long made me uneasy. +That old man is now the commander-in-chief of all the Germans allied +against us." + +"Commander-in-chief of the Alemanni!" + +"Don't laugh at them, Ausonius! Ay, this leadership of the woodland war +has cost us much blood and many a dear-bought victory, since the days +of that Quinctilius Varus. As the white-beard is said to be the head, a +young relative of his is called the arm, the sword, the fire-brand of +the conflict." + +"What is his name?" + +"Attalus." + +"Adalo! That was one of Bissula's playmates. She often mentioned him. I +saw him frequently; he looked at me defiantly enough. Could it be he?" + +"The women and men at our stations along the lake cannot say enough in +praise of his beauty and strength." + +"Well, hitherto neither the warlike wisdom of the old man nor the +warlike zeal of the young one has showed itself," sneered Herculanus. + +"Yes," laughed Ausonius. "Their wisdom is the resolve to run away, and +their zeal the energy with which they execute the decision." + +But the Tribune, with frowning brow, cried: "Such speeches drive away +the goddess of victory and summon the avenger of foolhardiness. Jeer +after we have conquered--and even then, it is wiser not to do it. +Nemesis sleeps lightly." + +"If you cannot discover where the Barbarians are hiding, what will you +do?" + +"Seek them until I do find them and bring them to a halt." + +"But then," cried Herculanus, "let there be no treaties, no mercy, +nothing save extermination. How often these faithless people have +broken the peace! Our legions are full of fury against the Barbarians +who, year after year, compel them to march through these horrible +marshy forests. Only the extirpation of the last German will give peace +to the Roman Empire." He clenched his fist threateningly. + +"You have perhaps uttered words of prophecy," said Saturninus +thoughtfully, "but in a different sense from what you intended." + +"He has uttered abominable words!" cried Ausonius, filling his goblet. +"And they are utterly groundless. Ay, more than a century ago it looked +as if the Persians and Germans under Gallienus would flood the Eastern +and the Western Empire. But since that time Eternal Rome has grown +young once more. Your brave countrymen, my Saturninus, the heroic +Illyrian emperors, have curbed the barbarians on the Euphrates, the +Rhine, and the Ister. Diocletian has remodelled the internal affairs of +the Empire; and so I might adapt to Rome's mastery of the world the +proud words of my colleague Horace: 'He did not lack talent, but he +possessed little learning.'" + +"Do they belong to poetry?" asked Saturninus doubtfully. + +But the eager speaker, without hearing his words, continued: "What he +said concerning the permanence and spread of his own renown I will +apply to the glory of Rome: it will increase and grow, so long as the +priest ascends the hill to the Capitol with the silent Virgin. The +Vestal," he added in explanation. + +"H'm," observed the Illyrian, "only it's a pity that the hypothesis is +no longer apt." + +"What? How so?" + +"The pious Constantine, of murderous memory (I hear they want to +canonize the assassin of his mother and his wife) prohibited or +restricted the offering of sacrifices at the Capitol, and your pupil +and patron, Gratianus, recently abolished the Vestals." + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + +"Oh, that must not be taken so literally," Ausonius remarked. + +"I am not superstitious. I rely possibly too much upon my sword and too +little upon heaven; and I care nothing about the Vestal virgins. But I +do not like the second step your pupil took last year in Rome." + +"What do you mean?" + +"He removed from the council-hall of the Senate the altar of the +goddess of victory, where sacrifices were offered before the opening of +debates." + +"Constantine had removed it previously." + +"But Julian, the mighty conqueror of the Alemanni, restored it. And, by +Jupiter!--pardon me, by God!--with good success. The priests called him +'the apostate,' but the goddess of victory was not unfaithful to him. +Now men fight stoutly, with or without the goddess of victory. But--I +am a Roman--I dread the omen." + +"You see the matter in too dark colors." + +"You see it in too rosy a light. Your kind heart wishes good to all." + +"Yes, even to the Barbarians!" Ausonius nodded, raising his goblet. +"They are human beings, too. And as the Stoa, not the Galilean, first +taught, all men are brothers." + +"But there are too many of these yellow-maned brothers." + +"And I believe in a deity--call him by whatever name you choose--that +directs all things well. Therefore I believe that these Barbarians will +listen to reason and soon offer you their submission." + +"Perhaps the little girl--what is her name? Bissula--will also +surrender to Ausonius," said the Tribune in a jesting tone. + +"Oh, the dear child! If I could only see her again." + +"Do not wish it, Prefect." + +"Why?" + +"Perhaps she will conquer you! She would not be the first Barbarian. +Was it Pipa--or Pipara--that the girl of the Marcomanni was called, +with whom even an emperor fell desperately and hopelessly in love?" + +"You forget I wanted her for a daughter, not a wife." + +"At that time. Now she is no longer a child--and you are a widower." + +"Alas! she probably fled with her people long ago. And yet, I am so +ready to believe what I desire!" + +"Yes, that is one of your most amiable weaknesses," + +"Am I to hope for what I fear?" + +"No, but to think what we do not desire more probable than what we +wish--that is my wisdom." + +"No, no! I will not allow myself to be robbed of the hope that I shall +again see the little nymph of these forests." + +"But if I catch her," cried the Tribune, laughing, "she will be mine +according to the laws of war." + +A sudden change of expression--like a flash of lightning--flickered +across Herculanus's hazard visage. The Tribune did not see; his eyes +were fixed upon Ausonius's face, wondering that his features should +pale with fear. + +"Can this feeling be so deep-seated in my worthy friend?" he thought. + +"Uncle, surely you know that the Tribune is jesting," cried Herculanus, +as if to comfort him. + +The Illyrian turned toward him with a threatening bearing, saying in a +stern, grave tone: "Who tells you so?" + +Ausonius cast a hasty, anxious glance at the handsome, stately man; +then he tried to smile, but the attempt was not very successful. "Your +jest brought before me the possibility of a terrible earnest. If the +charming, innocent child should fall into the hands of one of our +pitiless centurions! Horrible!" + +"It has been the fate of thousands--pshaw, what am I saying--of many +hundred thousands, since we Romans bore our eagles over the world. You +poets--even you, my softhearted friend--are fond of singing the praises +of war. I tell you, he who knows and directs it rarely lauds it. War is +necessary. I laugh at the foolish weaklings who, like the worthy +stoics, or the monks, imagine that some day there will be a kingdom of +eternal peace. War is grand; death for one's native land is the most +powerful feeling that rules mankind; but war is horrible! To me it does +not matter," he added, laughing, as he drained his goblet. "I need only +make war, not answer for it, and above all, I need not sing its +praises, I am neither anvil nor lyre; I am hammer, and woe to the +vanquished! For a thousand years we have carried the terrors of our +victories to all nations: an unprecedented loyalty on the part of +Fortuna. But now--I hope I shall not witness it--now her wheel is +gradually rolling backward--toward us--over us!" + +"Never!" cried the poet. "What can these half-naked Barbarians do +against us? So long as we have warriors like you and, for the service +of the Muses, minds--" + +"Like Ausonius's, do you mean? Enviable self-reliance! I tell you, I +consider myself--and far better soldiers than I--incapable of resisting +this ever-advancing ocean which is called 'Germans.' I have gone +through many a campaign against them--against these very Alemanni. I +think they know my name! But there is something mysterious under this +surging multitude--I know not what--a motive power unintelligible to us +all, which can no more be resisted with sword and spear than the sea +itself. I have long sought the clue to the secret, yet cannot find it. +But so far as the service of the Muses is concerned--pardon a rude +soldier--we need peasants, not poets. There are only millionaires, +beggars, and slaves. Give me a hundred thousand free peasants of the +ancient Latin stock, and I'll sacrifice in return for them all the +Latin poets, dead and living, and once more believe in the future of +Rome. As things are--but it is already late," he cried, starting up. +"Let us seek our couches. We shall not be able to end this old +conflict of ours; coming generations will decide it, but not with +words. Good-night! Dream of Bissula--that we may find her: you believe +in dreams. For to-morrow--Nannienus has at least completed a couple of +ships which he will send to cruise along the northern shore--we will +make a little expedition eastward." + +He raised the curtain and strode in his clanking armor out into the +darkness; he could not help thinking constantly of the beautiful +wood-nymph. Herculanus also took his leave, but he was scarcely outside +the tent when he shook his clenched fist threateningly toward the east, +muttering through his set teeth: "Wait, Barbarian witch!" But Ausonius +stretched himself on his camp bed, put out the light, and murmured: +"Sleep peacefully, my Bissula, wherever you may be; to-morrow perhaps I +shall once more see those never-to-be-forgotten eyes." + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + +At daybreak the tuba sounded through the Roman camp, summoning to +departure the bands who were to share the expedition. + +"Where is my nephew?" asked Ausonius, mounting the beautiful gray +Cantabrian stallion, whose stirrup was held by old Prosper. "He is +usually the first at my bedside to greet me." + +"He hastened on with his mailed riders long ago. He started even before +the Tribune." + +"What zeal! I like that," said the uncle, patting the neck of his noble +steed. "At home in Burdigala he devoted his time solely to--" + +"To spending your money, O patron!" growled the old man. + +"Pshaw, never mind, graybeard! My money--it will soon be his money." + +"May the Olympians--forgive me, the saints--forbid!" + +"Put no restraint on yourself on my account. I prefer them too. They +have the advantage of suiting the metre better, at least most of them. +Where is Saturninus?" + +"Gone already. He left word that you might follow: you could not miss +the way. See, there are the helmets of the last men in his rear-guard. +His countryman Decius commands them." + +"I see. Forward! How beautifully the morning light smiles upon us. Help +me, unconquered sun-god!" + +He put spurs to his horse and, followed by a brilliant train of mounted +men, dashed down the hill and through the Porta Principalis Dextra +eastward, toward the sun. A guide had sought the best path at the +earliest dawn, marking it by placing at certain spaces small stones +carried in bags by the pioneers who accompanied and watched him. +The Prefect of Gaul soon reached the path trodden by Adalo a few +days before, which led to Suomar's lonely forest dwelling. With a +throbbing heart he recognized the familiar spot: the little hill, the +broad-branched oak, the neighboring spring: nothing had changed in the +few years, except that another piece of tilled land had been wrested by +fire from the primeval forest. + +At the fence which inclosed the court-yard he sprang from his horse; he +had ordered his escort to halt at the oak-tree. The blood suffused his +face, so intense was his anxiety. The narrow gate in the palisade stood +ajar. Entering the yard, he uttered a cry of joyful astonishment: a +little flower garden had been laid out beside the door of the house; he +recognized with emotion in the gay blossoms, now in the full bloom of +summer, the seeds and slips which he had given the child in Arbor, nay, +even ordered from Gaul. Italian and Gallic flowers and shrubs, +evidently tended by loving hands, splendid roses and evergreen yews +greeted him in thick beds, and also small fruit-trees. Pontine +cherries, Picentinian apples, Aquitanian pears, had grown as high as +the door. + +"Yes, yes," said Ausonius, smiling, "how everything has grown and +blossomed in five years!" Then something whirred over his head; from +openings in the stable-roof a whole flock of dainty little blue-gray +doves flew across the garden to the neighboring field of oats. "See," +cried Ausonius, looking after them. "My Lycian rock-doves from +Burdigala! How that one pair has multiplied!" + +He hesitated to enter the house. Doubtless he told himself that the +hope of finding her he sought was faint, nay futile. But here +everything seemed to bear witness to her presence; there on the bench +before the dwelling lay--he knew them well--the delicate garden shears +which he had sent to her from Vindonissa. He did not wish to cross the +threshold and rob himself of every hope. + +The clank of armor came from the open door: a centurion belonging to +Herculanus's troop approached, bowing respectfully. "Everything is +empty, _vir illuster_, the Tribune sends word. And we are to ask +you--we are burning all the Barbarians' houses--whether this too--" + +"Let it remain uninjured." + +The man nodded with a look of pleasure. "I am glad to obey the order. +It would have been a hard task to destroy this home. Umbrian roses, +Picentinian mallows, like those which grow around my parents' house in +Spoletium, in the midst of the Barbarians' marshes! Who can have +wrought this miracle?" + +"A poet," replied Ausonius, smiling, "and the fourth, the youngest, of +the Graces. So Saturninus was here himself?" + +"Yes, but even before him your nephew, with me. Herculanus searched +everywhere carefully, nay, greedily. He forbade my accompanying him. I +was obliged to wait at the entrance." + +"The good fellow! He wanted to bring her to me himself, to surprise +me--" + +"Directly after Herculanus left, Saturninus dashed up." + +"Where did the troop go from here?" + +"Yonder into the forest, keeping to the left, steadily to the left, +away from the lake. Otherwise horses and men would sink in the morass. +You will find sentinels posted in the woods every three hundred paces. +I, with three men, form the commencement of the chain here." + +"See that the yard and garden are not injured. I'll promise in return a +jug of the best wine." + +With these words he turned away, mounted his horse and, followed by his +escort, rode toward the left across the tilled land and meadows +surrounding the dwelling to the entrance of the neighboring wood, where +the helmets and spears of the next sentinels glittered brightly in the +sunshine. + +But Herculanus had not been content with thoroughly searching the +deserted house. He had also carefully examined the neighborhood for +some trace of the vanished girl. He was soon unable to ride farther +through the tangled underbrush; so, leaping from his horse, he gave his +Mauritanian roan charger into the care of the only man he had permitted +to accompany him, and glided on foot through the thicket. A sort of +path which he had discovered with much difficulty and followed for some +distance suddenly ended. + +While vainly searching for the stones and bits of wood which hitherto, +though at long distances, had marked the direction of the way, he saw +plainly in the marshy ground of the forest the imprint of human +footsteps. And the people who had passed here were not Romans: the +troops had never yet pressed so far eastward. Besides, the prints were +not like those made by the seeker's own heavy Roman marching shoes: he +intentionally trod lightly close beside the marks he had found, but how +different was the track! His deep footprints instantly filled with the +reddish-yellow marsh-water, which oozed from the ground at the least +pressure. But within a short time some one had walked by here +barefooted with a lighter tread. Indeed, not one person, but several. +For besides one mark which seemed to belong to a child, always one step +behind was a somewhat heavier and broader impression, and invariably at +the right of it a narrow but deep little hole filled with water, as if +made by the sharp end of a staff, while partly at the left, partly two +paces in advance, a man's heavier tread seemed unmistakable. + +The Roman followed the footprints with eager zeal; if he did not find +those whom he sought, he would have the credit of being the first to +discover the direction in which the Barbarians had fled. Suddenly the +traces appeared to vanish, in front of a large hawthorn bush which +barred the way. From beneath the hand thrusting the thorns aside a +little brown bird with a red breast flew up startled. Bending forward, +the Roman peered into the bush, then a cry of glad surprise escaped his +lips: "Aha! She passed here! She herself!" + + +Slowly, slowly he drew through his hand a shining red-gold hair which +had caught on a thorn: it was at least an ell long. And beyond the +thorn-bush the footprints were again visible, even more distinctly than +before, on a patch of damp sand. What seemed a child's footprints were +made by her steps. + + + + CHAPTER XV. + +The underbrush grew thinner, evidently removed by human hands; a few +steps more and the pursuer stood in an open space in the forest which +had been cleared by fire. Here stood a little hut, very roughly built +of unhewn logs: instead of doors two low narrow holes were opposite +each other. Such buildings were used by hunters for stations, by +shepherds overtaken in the forest by storms for a shelter, but +especially to keep quantities of hay which could not be dragged to the +distant barns. That was the case here; heaps of the grass piled in +stacks could be seen through the holes. + +Before Herculanus had reached the hut, an indistinct sound reached his +ear from the right, the shore of the lake. He drew his sword and +stopped, listening intently. There it came again! Was it a cry? It +seemed like the shout with which Romans on guard gave warning of the +presence of a foe. Directly afterwards he heard another noise: it was +like the whirring of the string in bending and releasing the wood of +the bow, then came a heavy fall or plunge into the water, and all was +still again. Nothing but the metallic tapping of the woodpecker broke +the silence of the forest. + +Cautiously raising his shield to his eyes and looking watchfully toward +the right, the Roman, with his thin figure drawn to its foil height, +waited several seconds longer: nothing stirred. + +He now sprang in two bounds across the open ground to the hut of hay, +stooped and entered through the northern hole. Something rustled under +the thick grass, which seemed to be alive: something glided beneath +it--was it a weasel?--toward the opposite hole: only the waving motion +of the bundles of hay betrayed the direction. + +Herculanus hastily grasped with his shield arm at the creature making +the rustling and lifted the broad short sword in his right for a +death-stroke. He seized something warm and drew it upward from the hay, +which fell on the right and left as he dragged forward a girl whose +face was covered with tangled red locks and blades of grass, through +which she gazed in mortal terror and fiery wrath at her assailant. + +So strange, so bewitchingly beautiful was the young creature that +Herculanus uttered a fierce cry of pleasure. He had vowed that the +first moment he had the dangerous Barbarian alone within reach of his +sword, should be her last; and even now he did not really waver in the +resolve. Neither pity nor passion could influence a mind fixed solely +on his uncle's wealthy yet so much youthful beauty awakened a fleeting +desire for it: before he stabbed the foe, he would have one kiss from +those red lips. So, reserving his right hand for the death-blow, he +drew her closer to him with the left. The girl struggled with the +strength of despair. Turning her head as far as possible from him, she +uttered a cry of terror, like a dying fawn. It was only a moment's +delay of the assassin's thrust, but it saved her. + +Before Herculanus could press his lips on her averted face a shadow +fell from outside upon the opening toward the lake, where the +struggling figures were now standing. "Murderer!" cried a deep voice; +and Herculanus, receiving a severe blow on the breast, staggered back, +loosing his hold upon his captive. Swiftly as the trout glides away, +the girl tried to slip through the opening; but she felt her arm seized +in the iron grasp of a much stronger hand, and looked up at another +helmeted Roman. + +"Is it you, Tribune?" stammered Herculanus, hastily thrusting his sword +into the sheath. + +The latter did not vouchsafe him a single word. "You are Bissula, +little one, are you not?" he asked, gazing with wondering eyes at the +strange vision. A sweet rapture ran through his veins as he saw the +lovely little face, the delicate, graceful limbs, the bare white feet, +and felt the pulsing of the young life through the round arm his hand +held so firmly. + +The prisoner made no reply, but she looked up trustfully into the +Illyrian's handsome, manly face. Then she cast a strange glance, as if +seeking for some one, back into the hut,--Saturninus had dragged her +from the doorway into the open air,--and seemed to be listening +anxiously. + +"Yes, it is Bissula," said Herculanus, now also coming out. "What made +you imagine that I wanted to kill her? I have been searching for her +since the earliest dawn." + +"So I thought." + +"Not for myself; I was only holding her firmly to prevent her escape." + +"With a quivering sword uplifted to strike?" + +"Only to frighten her." + +But Bissula cast a reproachful glance at him. + +"However that may be," the Illyrian continued, "she is my captive." His +glowing eyes rested on her; the girl lowered her long lashes in +embarrassment. + +"No, no! I discovered her." + +"But before you seized her a second time--for she was free again--I +captured her. Dare to contradict it, you murderer of girls!" and he +advanced threateningly toward him. + +The sound of a tuba rang from the forest. + +"We must return. The tuba gives a sign of warning," said Saturninus. +"The first trace of the foe has been found--not only the child--a man." + +Bissula looked up anxiously. + +"He lay covered with skins," the other added, as they moved forward, +"hidden among the rushes so that he could not be distinguished from a +fallen tree. Before we could seize him--" + +Bissula uttered a sigh of relief. + +"He had vanished in the sedges. A Batavian archer shot an arrow after +him. Hark! the Prefect is giving the signal again. Come without fear, +child." + +He led her by the wrist, carefully trying not to hurt her; but she +often stopped, glancing back at the hut, and once also at the lake. +After a few steps they heard the neighing of a horse and soon entered +an opening in the forest, where Ausonius had halted his mounted escort. + +"Father Ausonius!" cried the captive joyously, struggling to release +herself to rush to him. + +But the Illyrian's grasp on her arm became like iron. Approaching the +Prefect, who held out both arms to Bissula, he made a military salute, +saying sternly: "The first encounter with the enemy! A man has escaped: +a girl--this one--became my prisoner: my slave." + + + + + BOOK TWO + + THE SLAVE + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + +During those days the vicinity of the Holy Mountain, where a large +number of fugitives had taken refuge, was full of busy life, and from +the north, the quarter not threatened by the Romans, reinforcements +were constantly arriving from other provinces. + +The Tribune's efforts to discover the retreat of the fugitives had been +baffled hitherto; neither those in the marshes nor on Odin's Mountain +had been overtaken by the spies and reconnoitring parties of the Roman +General. Marshes and impenetrable primeval forests surrounded the Roman +camp on the Idisenhang on every side except southward toward the lake. + +In the last few days, after a tremendous thunder storm, a southwest +wind had sprung up, bringing on its dripping wings pouring torrents of +rain; then the forests became absolutely impassable for the heavy tread +of the legions: the few fords were buried in marshes or overflowed; the +tiniest rivulet became a raging river. Sulky and shivering, the +intruders, principally natives of the south, remained in the camp under +plank roofs and leather tents, fanning day and night the flames of huge +fires which, however, as all the wood was wet, diffused more smoke than +warmth. + +For long distances from the foot of the mountain the few and narrow +openings which led to the interior of the immense forests were blocked +and barricaded by felled trees. Huge oaks, ashes, and pine-trees had +been felled and piled one above another more than the height of a man, +strengthened by earth and turf, and held together at regular distances +by enormous posts driven into the ground or by trees which had been +left standing. Thus an almost insurmountable breastwork was formed, on +whose summit, and in the tops of the trees towering above it, the best +archers were stationed. Similar lines of defence were repeated, one +behind another, wherever the locality permitted. The legions would have +needed many more days than the brief time still remaining before the +end of August--they always finished their short summer campaigns in +Germany before the commencement of the autumn rains--to storm all these +fortifications; they could scarcely find it possible to make a circuit +of them, on account of the marshes. But even if they succeeded in +penetrating all the barricades to the foot of the mountain, they would +then be forced to begin the inexpressibly toilsome siege of this +natural fortress. + +All the entrances were covered by several tiers of logs; while, on the +mountain itself, rising one behind another, was a whole system of "ring +walls." These extremely powerful and extensive fortifications dated +principally from Celtic times, but had been considerably strengthened +and enlarged in scope by the Alemanni during their occupation of the +country for more than the past century: they had been forced to seek +refuge here from the Roman troops often enough. + +These walls were made of heaped up earth, turf, palisades, and so +called Cyclopean walls: that is, rocks, so closely joined together +without mortar or bricks, by a skilful use of their points, edges, and +fissures that fire, tearing asunder, and the blows of the ram seemed +equally ineffectual. + +Each one of these rings, which rose in stories, like terraces, required +to be stormed as a separate fortress. Each lower one was protected not +only by its own garrison, but by all those above, since they were so +constructed that stones, logs, spears, and arrows from all the upper +walls could strike the enemy without injuring the combatants on the one +beneath. Seven such defences girdled the mountain, the topmost one +surrounding the summit, which concealed Odin's altar in the heart of an +ash forest. + +Those unable to fight, the women, children, old men, and slaves, were +scattered through all the stories of the mountain fortress. The herds +had been driven to the rear on the northern side, where their lowing, +neighing, and bleating would be as far as possible from the enemy. The +fugitives rested at night in huts built of thick green foliage, often +with the skin of some animal fastened among the branches, which the +Alemanni had great skill in constructing. Nor was there any lack of +cellarlike subterranean passages where stores of grain and valuables +were concealed. + +The fighting men garrisoned all the entrances, reconnoitred in small +bands, especially at night, beyond the barricades close to the +neighborhood of the Roman camp. They spent the day in feats of arms or +drilling, impatiently enduring the long delay in giving battle, and +grumbling at the incomprehensible procrastination of their white-haired +Duke. For the latter, Adalo, and other leaders, huts of leaves had been +built on the summit of the mountain with the tents of their followers +scattered around them. + +Before one of these huts (a stag's antlers had been cut on the central +post for a house mark) on the day after Bissula's capture, a bright +fire was burning late in the evening, fed with pine cones which had +been protected from the wet under the stone closing the opening of a +cellar. It was supplied by a man about forty years old, whose cropped +hair showed that he was a slave; while the shape of his short face, his +dark eyes, high cheek bones and snub nose denoted that he was not of +German lineage. Suomar had bought him many years before in Vindonissa; +cheap enough, for Valentinian--or the slave dealer--had brought +countless captives from the Jazyge war. + +In front of the fire, sheltered from the wind and smoke, old Waldrun +lay on a bearskin, her feet covered with another. Adalo was kneeling +beside her. Mirthfulness and wrath had vanished; deep sorrow clouded +his handsome face. He gave the blind woman some wine to drink from a +silver goblet. Both beaker and wine were booty wrested from the Roman. + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + +"Tell me everything once more, Zercho," he said earnestly, "until +Waldrun has recovered and can add what you did not see. I have not yet +clearly understood the one thing upon which all depends." + +The bondman was now crouching beside the fire, trying to keep the smoke +from the white-haired woman with the wolf-skin he wore for a cloak. It +did not annoy her at all, but it helped him to avert his eyes from the +youth's searching gaze. + +"It happened in this way, handsome neighbor. Directly after you leaped +down the slope in anger,--I saw it from the stable,--the little red +sprite ordered me to bury the master's coins (alas, there are very few +of them!) and the brass vessels and broken-handled jug which he +obtained three winters ago at Brigantium. I had already driven the cow, +the sheep, and the goats into the alder thicket. + +"The next day I was to take the young mistress and her grandmother into +the marshes to Suomar, the master. But alas, the hot and cold cat, +which invisibly shakes the body like a mouse, often springs upon the +good old mistress. So it was the next day. The sufferer could hardly +stir her aged limbs from the couch; her strength was as feeble as a +dying torch; I almost had to carry her. But I could do this only +on solid ground: in the forest marshes I should have sunk with my +burden--strong bones weigh heavily. So, in the forest, the blind woman +was obliged to walk by herself, leaning on her staff and guided by the +little elf, while I jumped from stone to stone in advance, seeking the +best path. But just before we reached the hay hut, the grandmother +fell; she could no longer stand or walk. We carried her in. You know +the entrance to the old cave is just beside the left corner post. Down +below there it was safe, warm, and for her no darker than above. We +spent the rest of the day and the night in it. Bissula, in spite of +every warnings would not leave the old woman and go on with me. + +"She had brought some milk in a goat-skin, and rye bread. I watched +outside near the hut. In the gray dawn I stole back westward toward the +edge of the forest to watch for the helmeted Romans. Soon I saw a small +band of mounted men dash straight to Suomar's dwelling. I had hidden +our old log boat and the oars among the thickest rushes and meant to +row it through the marsh as near the hut as possible, carry the sick +woman to it, and then try to take my two mistresses to Suomar by way of +the lake. But when I reached the shore I saw several ships--their lofty +prows and triangular sails marked them as Roman galleys--moving from +Arbor on the opposite side toward our shore. They would soon be very +near. The way by the water was barred; but at the right, from the west, +I already heard the trampling of horses through the marshes and meadows +close beside me. + +"Two men with arrows and long bows in their right hands dashed by, not +a spear's length distant. I crouched among the rushes, nay in the swamp +to my lips; but in doing so I startled the great egret that always +fishes there. As, screaming loudly--silly bird--he soared upward over +the rushes, he attracted the attention of the riders to himself and, +unluckily, to me too. They saw my head. A bow whirred, an arrow whizzed +through my otter cap and grazed my head. The wound wasn't deep; +Zercho's skull is hard, Suomar often says so, and this time, it was a +good thing. I now swam out into the lake, diving like a duck as long as +I could hold my breath. + +"When I was forced to rise, the men had disappeared. Cautiously as the +fox stealing after the mouse, I crept on all fours through the thickest +rushes nearer to the land, in the direction of the hut, but making a +wide circuit. Then I saw two Romans in glittering armor step into the +clearing in the forest: one was leading the young mistress by the +arm--" + +Adalo heard this for the second time, but he again sighed deeply. + +"A horse neighed behind us, and on it sat the clever old man who a few +winters ago read to the little one in Arbor from many, many parchments, +oh, such a long, horribly long time--while I was obliged to wait to row +her back across the lake." + +"Are you perfectly sure," asked Adalo, seizing the bondman by the +shoulder and forcing him to turn his averted face, "that this horseman +was the old Roman?" + +"Well, he isn't so very old," replied the Sarmatian evasively, "though +he has grown somewhat grayer since that summer." + +"Answer," cried Adalo angrily. "Can you swear that the rider was +Ausonius?" + +"Ausonius! Yes, yes, that is what she always called him. Father +Ausonius. And that's what she cried out yesterday when she saw him: +'Father Ausonius!' she shrieked." + +He broke off abruptly and began to rub his head (the wound suddenly +seemed to pain him) muttering meanwhile in his Sarmatian dialect, which +Adalo did not understand. + +"So it was really he," sighed Adalo. "And I must thank the gods for +having led her to him." + +"Freya will reward you for it," said the blind woman suddenly, raising +herself on her left arm and groping with her right hand in the +direction of the voice until she reached the youth's head and stroked +his long locks. "The dwellers in Asgard will repay you for such +thoughts." + +"Must I not cherish them, Mother? Oh, if you could only sit up again!" + +"Your drink, the Romans' drink, cheers the weary soul." + +"Ausonius will protect her from the others. But," Adalo went on +angrily, "who will defend her from Ausonius? She was tenderly attached +to him." + +"As a child to its father." + +"Be it so--at that time. But now the maiden will owe him gratitude for +everything, even the highest boon." + +During this conversation Zercho had repeatedly looked thoughtfully at +both; now he scratched himself behind the ear and was about to make +some remark, but changed his mind and remained silent. + +"Against my warning," said the old woman, continuing the bondman's +story, "the child had glided away from my side out of the cellar into +the hut. She grew tired of waiting in the dark hole for Zercho's +return. Suddenly I heard a man's heavy step above me; then a shriek +from the little one, which made me tremble. But by the time I had +groped my way to the stone slab and lifted it, all was still. I vainly +called her name. Soon Zercho came with the news that he had seen her +led away captive. We sorrowfully waited for the darkness. My fever had +left me; I could walk slowly, but faithful Zercho sought our cow and +found her among the tall reeds in the swamp, lifted me upon her and, by +a wide circuit through the forest, brought me here." + +"For I had seen Italian galleys between the forest hut and Suomar in +the eastern marshes," remarked the Sarmatian. "The enemy was +reconnoitring there, so I tried to reach the mountain, as my mistress +preferred." + +"Yes; for since Suomar, my son, cannot be reached, it is you, Adalo, +of all the men of our people, our kind neighbor, the playfellow of +her childhood, to whom I must lament. The dear one is a captive: +help--rescue--liberate her." + +The youth passed his hand sadly over his beautifully arched eyebrows. +"Yes," he thought, with bitter grief, "a captive through the fault of +her own defiance and obstinacy." But he said nothing, only thinking: +"It will be a difficult task. If it depended upon me--from the moment I +heard it I would have stormed the Idisenhang so constantly and fiercely +that the Italians would have had neither inclination nor leisure to +torment the child. Or to win her," he added bitterly. "But the army is +under the sole command of my cousin Hariowald, the Duke. I cannot--" + +Here a low growl interrupted him: he turned and saw a singular +spectacle. + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + +A handsome boy about fourteen, whose strong resemblance to Adalo marked +him as his brother--only his curling locks were light yellow, almost +white--was dragging by the ear a huge she-bear, which, growling, +struggling, but yielding, allowed herself to be drawn nearer and nearer +to the fire. + +"Down, Bruna!" cried the lad, forcing the huge animal to lie prostrate. +"You dearly loved the merry, dancing girl too. Look, you growling brown +giantess, that's only the grandmother, and Zercho, who always brought +you so much wild-honey from the bee-wood. But _she_ is missing; our +Bissula is gone. Ah, if you had been there, you would have defended her +savagely; for you haven't forgotten that she and Adalo saved you, +dragged you out of the torrent. When you were scarcely bigger than a +kitten the cloud-burst swept you away from your mother, and you cried +piteously as you were drowning. And her busy hands fed you even more +eagerly than ours, with rich milk, rye bread, and dainty wild berries. +Since you first opened your blinking eyes, which now look as though you +knew as much as a human being, you have recognized her as your best +friend. Oh, if you had been with her, no one would have dared to seize +her. O brother, strong brother, you hero and shield of the whole +province, bring her back! Alas, if the little one, with her dainty +hands, should be forced to heat the bath-water for the hated foe and +wash his feet, as I often saw their maid-servants do in Arbor! Why +don't we rush down on the wings of the storm and hew her out of the +high-walled camp citadel?" + +He swung his little wolf spear: the fire blazed up brightly as he stood +in the light of the flames, a handsome boyish figure, in his light-blue +linen robe bordered with white swan's down. + +"Yes, my Sippilo," said the older brother with ill-repressed sorrow, +"you loved her too." + +The boy looked up startled, but Adalo continued: + +"Yes, yes. Perhaps she is dead--to us, to our people. Perhaps we shall +never see her again, never hear her sweet, elfish, mocking laugh." + +"Oh, the smoke! How it stings!" cried the lad, wiping the tears from +his eyes. + +"Perhaps she went with the Italians willingly," said Adalo, torturing +himself savagely--"with the clever Ausonius!" + +"Is he here again?" cried Sippilo. "I'll run him through like a fat +carp that is sunning itself in shallow water. Oh, I used to wish he +might fall under the curse of Odin and the sun. Whenever I went to get +frogs for fishing or to play ball, she had always rowed over to him or +would not leave the long rolls of runes over which she racked her +brains. He had given them to her. If only I could catch him!" + +"If we only had her back again! My heart is consumed with anxiety." + +"Guard yourself from consuming anxiety, my son," said the old woman in +a warning tone. "It will paralyze your thoughts and arm; and you will +need both to liberate the naughty child. I am no prophetess, but I have +had strange dreams since I grew blind--which often come to pass: I saw +you to-night wounded, severely wounded. Guard your life. If she should +be rescued, and no longer find you--" + +"Then her vengeful wish would be fulfilled. She hates me. She shouted +it loudly enough." + +Sippilo laughed. "You? Hate you? She loves you better than a +sister. How I always had to tell her about you, everything you were +doing,--your prizes of honor in the contests; the gifts of neighboring +princes; your last verses; whom they praised! When I met her on the +lake quite lately, she asked if Jettaburga and her father did not often +visit the Stag Hall. When I said that they no longer came there, for +sheer delight she loosed from her own waist the beautiful blue girdle +she always wore, and gave it to me. See, there it is. I always carry it +hidden in my blouse. And, Bruna, didn't she once kiss you between the +eyes, when I told her how you had sprung to Adalo's assistance in the +chase and torn the furious wild bull which was goring his horse? Yes, +Bruna, you are faithful to her too. You have trotted after us for hours +when we were gathering berries and mushrooms, and watched our noonday +nap." + +Just at that moment a long-drawn blast of a horn echoed from the summit +of the mountain. Adalo started up. + +"The Duke is calling. We are to consult about what is to be proposed in +the people's council. Zercho, come with me. He wishes to question you +about the number of the enemy's mounted men. You, Sippilo, take care of +Mother Waldrun; that is all you can do for your Bissula." + +"For the present," said the boy looking after his brother. "But I will +take part in storming the camp fortress where the scoundrels hold +captive the prettiest little bird--little gold-crested wren, no, little +redbreast--in the land of the Alemanni." He raised his clenched fist +threateningly. + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + +Outside of the Duke's tent also a huge fire was blazing, fed by slaves +who were roasting on the ends of poles the haunches and back of a +freshly killed stag. Adalo passed by, motioning to Zercho to wait, +parted the sailcloth stretched over the wooden frame of the tent, and +entered. + +The roof was formed of interwoven pine branches; against the poles of +the light timberwork hung and rested everywhere weapons of all kinds. +Skins covered the turf floor which, opposite to the entrance, was +raised until it formed a high seat; a curtain of heavy linen hung +behind it, dividing from the front of the tent a small space used for a +sleeping room. In the centre stood an iron tripod, running to a point +at the top, into which was screwed a burning pine-torch that diffused a +dim, flickering red light. + +On the fur-covered high seat, with his back resting against the main +column of the tent, sat Duke Hariowald. He greeted his young kinsman +only by a glance and seemed to heed nothing except the eager words of +another guest, a man about forty years old, who, clad in a boarskin and +wearing on his head a "boar helm" with the animal's tusks, sat at his +right. + +The old Duke, a giant in height, towering nearly a head above Adalo's +tall figure, was a man of singular appearance. The immense framework of +his body appeared to belong to a much older race of men. His deep-set +gray eye--the left one had been destroyed by a stone from a Balearican +sling long before, and the empty socket had a sinister expression--was +under a bushy, prominent arched brow; its fire was by no means dimmed, +but curbed by the long habit of self-control. This ever perceptible +rule of passions blazing fiercely in his breast gave the mighty man, +who in spite of his sixty-five winters could not be called old, an air +of mysterious majesty. His people looked up to him with reverence, with +timid expectation, nay, with a slight fear of what he was planning in +rigid secrecy. His eagle eye was inscrutable when he half closed it; +when open, the flash that blazed from it was fairly blinding. The +expression of the mouth was concealed by the magnificent silvery-white +beard, sweeping over the breast-plate to the bronze belt, which framed +the cheeks and mingled with the thick locks of hair of the same hue. + +Like the eye, the strong, deep, resonant voice revealed, no matter how +quietly the mighty man spoke, the sense of power held in check. He +rarely moved his muscular limbs, and all his gestures had a calmness +which was the result of long training. So he sat without a helmet, with +his ample blue cloak floating from his shoulders, his bearing one of +dignified composure. The majestic beauty of his finely formed head was +plainly visible as he rested it against the tent-pole, listening +intently. An immense spear rested in the curve of his right arm, its +brass top rising above his shoulder, as the end touched the floor; he +often stroked with a gentle, almost loving touch of the hand the runes +of victory inscribed on the back of the ash handle. + +"I am usually glad to greet you, son of Adalger," said the Duke's other +guest, with a frowning brow, "but now I am most unwilling. I pleaded +for peace--" The Duke remained silent. "Now you come and you--I know +it--dream of nothing day and night save war with Rome." + +Adalo measured him with a wrathful glance. "The ancient foe of our +people is in the country, and a king of the Alemanni counsels peace? +Ebarbold, son of Ebur, fear was alien to your kinsmen--" + +The other laid his hand on the curved knife in his belt. Adalo did not +see it: he was under the spell of Hariowald's eye. A warning glance +from the old man, and the youth hastily added, "and is unknown to you, +hero of the wild-boar's courage." + +The guest loosened his grip of the dagger and leaned back proudly. + +"But Roman gold does not ensnare you," Adalo continued; "so some magic +blinds you." + +"Or _you_ and all our crazy youths. The red drink of Zio, the war-god, +has intoxicated you. Or," he added in a lower, almost timid tone, "He, +Odin the Val-father, wishes again to people his Valhalla with +slaughtered heroes." + +A change of expression flashed over the Duke's face. He gently raised +his spear and, unheard by the others, murmured, "Mighty Odin, do not +avenge the words." But Ebarbold went on: + +"No matter about the boys! Their only art is war, and they have little +sense; but that you, who have seen sixty winters and almost as many +victories of the men with the high helmets--that you too should desire +war! My friends, I went to Rome; I climbed to the citadel on the +towering rock. It glitters with gold and marble. I served in the great +Valentinian's army. I have seen for years the countless thousands of +Roman warriors with their finest weapons, against which ours are like +children's toys." + +The Duke, unnoticed, pressed his spear closer to his breast. + +"And the military engines, the huge galleys with three banks of oars +one above another, the treasures of coined and uncoined gold and +silver! The whole extent of the land, all Mittelgard, as far as men +live--white, brown, and black--I've seen them painted on a long, long +strip of hide. The rising and the setting of the sun serve Rome. In his +golden house on one of the seven hills of the Tiber the Imperator has +placed a gold ball: all the provinces are copied on it. It is the work +of a magician. If a foe crosses the boundary in the farthest north or +south, the gold ball echoes and trembles in that spot; the Imperator +hears it, looks, and sends the legions. We will not defy him. The Cæsar +is a god on earth." + +"Do not hear it. Mighty One!" the old Duke murmured, stroking the runes +on his spear soothingly. + +Adalo was about to make a vehement reply, but he involuntarily looked +at the silent man, and controlled himself. + +"We have learned that long enough, I think," Ebarbold continued; "from +generation to generation, when each province still fought +independently, long before this name and league of the Alemanni were +heard and invented!" + +"You don't like this league?" the Duke now asked suddenly. + +The King started. The voice, hitherto mute, sounded so loud and +powerful. Glancing up timidly, he shrugged his shoulders: "Whether I +like it or not, I can no longer dissolve it." + +"No, you cannot," said Hariowald very calmly, stroking his long beard; +but his gray eye darted a glance which boded evil. + +"You don't like the _name_ of Alemanni either?" asked Adalo +indignantly. + +"No, Adeling. 'All men together!' Ha, our forefathers prided themselves +on standing alone, province by province; nay, in the old days family by +family, not leaning on others, and also not bound by them, not subject +to the will of the majority." + +"Yes, that's it!" said the old Duke with a fierce smile. "You were in +the citadel of Rome--so was I. But I perceived with my one eye what you +have not seen. You noticed the glittering lustre of their magnificence; +it dazzled you: I saw through the glitter to the decay, the decline +beneath. And one thing more," he added mysteriously, lowering his +voice--"for several generations they have had no more luck with their +own gods--with the new ones, I mean. Ay, the old one whom they formerly +had--" he now spoke with a certain timidity, even reverence--"I mean +the one with the thunderbolts and the eagle--he was a god of battles, +almost like our own. Often his eagle on their shields seemed to me to +flap its wings, and the lightning to glow redly. Often and often have I +seen them conquer under that handsome bearded god and his sons. Mars +and Hercules. But now they have chosen for their god a youth, gentle +and nobly wise, but no warrior. His own priests say he never held a +sword in his hand. He did not descend from a line of gods; he was the +son of a laborer. And this man--a carpenter--belonged to a race long in +bondage to Rome, a people many of whom have wandered to us with packs +on their bent backs, mere traders in spices. Not many of them are seen +in the ranks of the legions. Since the Romans chose for their god that +gentle teacher who would not even defend his own life, victory has +deserted their standards. But what (besides their Jupiter in the +clouds) formerly secured to them for centuries conquest on earth I also +learned; the god whom I most honor showed it to me: one will controlled +them all. They were already united men--all for one, and one for all, +through many hundred winters; while we, according to the wish of your +heart, fought province by province, each for himself, and--succumbed. +This is your freedom--the freedom of discord and consequent +destruction!" + +The glowing wrath of enthusiastic conviction transfigured the old +Duke's noble face. + + + + CHAPTER XX. + +Ebarbold wished to cast a venomous glance at him, but was forced to +lower his eyes in the presence of such lofty dignity. His lips curled +bitterly as he replied: + +"Beware, Hariowald. Your title is Duke, not King; and your reign ends +when this war is over. According to your desire, it seems, one man must +rule the Alemanni. From the earliest days we have had kings and counts +of the provinces; but woe betide us if all the districts ever become +the slaves of one king of the people." + +"Are the gods slaves because _one_ rules them as king?" The old Duke's +voice sounded threatening. + +Ebarbold answered evasively: "But here on earth we Alemanni have equal +rights. And rather than--" + +"Why do you hesitate?" asked Adalo angrily. + +"He hesitates because he shrinks from uttering his thoughts. But the +Lofty One gave me the power to read the minds of men upon their brows +like explained runes." + +Flushing and paling, Ebarbold started up. + +"This son of Ebur thinks," the Duke continued, "that rather than obey a +king of the Alemanni he would serve the Cæsar." + +Now Adalo sprang from his seat. + +"And suppose it were so," cried Ebarbold, "would you prevent it? In a +few weeks, when the leaves fall, your command of the army will end. But +meanwhile--" + +"Meanwhile I counsel you to obey." + +"You?" + +"Not me," the old man answered, with immovable composure, "but the +Council which rules all the provinces--even yours, the Ebergau and its +King. But sit down again, hot-tempered hero! And Adalo, hand him from +the wall of the tent where it hangs, the mead horn. The heron of +forgetfulness will rustle over our heads, bearing away on its wings the +words of wrath and discord." + +The two young men took their seats again. While the wild bull's horn, +tipped at both ends with bronze, was passing around the circle, +Ebarbold said: "Even if we should conquer this time and drive this +band of Romans from the country--we have learned the lesson often +enough--others will come to avenge those who are defeated. So it has +been for many generations." + +"But so it will be no longer," the Duke answered slowly. "That is +provided for. The evil she-wolf is surrounded by too many dogs at once. +She can no longer raise her left paw to aid her right: the Goth is +holding it firmly on the Danube, and she is still scarcely able to +escape the bite of the Franconians on the Rhine." + +"The Goths?" said Ebarbold. "Who knows whether they will be in the +field this year?" + +"I do," replied the Duke quietly. + +"Can you see from here to Thrace?" sneered Ebarbold: "I cannot." + +"But there is One who, from his throne in the clouds, overlooks all +countries: and he revealed it to me." + +"But I see the misery the Romans have wrought around us in our own +land," the King continued. "My people have suffered heavily. The +cohorts in passing through burned all the dwellings. My own hall too." + +"We will rebuild them," cried Adalo, laughing, as he hung the horn on +the wall. "The forest will not refuse trees to its people. My home +below on the hillock beside the lake"--his face now grew grave--"is +dear to me; sacred the hearth beside which I sat in my dear mother's +lap while my father, skilled in the music of the harp, sung of the gods +and the deeds of our own ancestors. The Centurion will probably soon +hurl the torch into the ancient dwelling of my family with the rune of +the stag's antlers. Never more can I hope to mount the high seat where +I was so often allowed to fill my father's drinking horn. But though +through all the future years I should have no other shelter for this +head than the waving boughs of the woods, never will I yield to the +Italians." + +"Yield? The purpose is only to confirm a treaty such as we have often +made." + +"And the Romans as often broken," said Adalo. + +"Or we ourselves. What is asked of us? Young men to fight the Cæsar's +battles. We have more than we can feed. In return they will give us red +gold." + +"May Hel swallow up this gold and these treaties!" cried Hariowald. +"For generations they have sold to our ancient foe our heart's blood +and our young heroes, who were used against ourselves and our +neighbors. If the hundreds of thousands who fell for Rome had banded +together against Rome, we should have watered our long-maned horses +long ago in the Gallic sea. But we will not cast aside your words, +Ebarbold. Perhaps I may even consent to send an envoy to the Roman camp +for peace!" + +"What! Is that your wish?" cried Adalo impetuously. + +"My wish will appear." + +"To offer peace? Let them retire? With their booty?" + +"It will not be hard to carry." Here a smile which lent the old Duke's +lips a wonderful charm hovered around them. "Six pots in Iburninga and +a broken mead vessel in Mariswik; so two old women complained to me." + +"And the prisoners!" Adalo reminded him. + +"They have only one, I hear," Ebarbold remarked, "the child of a small +farmer." + +"No matter, she is a free maiden, a daughter of our race," cried Adalo, +with blazing eyes. "She has a right to the protection of her people." + +"Protection? A captive! What can we--" + +"Release her with the sword--or avenge her." + +"Commence, for the sake of one woman, the conflict which will destroy +the people?" + +"You are right," said the Duke slowly. "Women as well as men must be +sacrificed for the welfare of the nation. Let her stay where she +is--little Bissula." + +"What, Bissula?" asked Ebarbold, startled. "Albfledis, whom they call +Bissula? The beautiful red elf?" + +"You know her?" Adalo asked. + +"Who has not heard of her? She is talked of along the whole shore of +the lake, and in such a way that the listener is anxious to see her. I +too grew curious and tried to get a look at her lately, at the last +sun-festival. It is a pity about her. By Freya's eyes, a great pity! +But peace is worth more." + +"Certainly," said Hariowald, "and victory still more." + +"Victory is certain," exclaimed Adalo. + +"Do you think so?" replied the old man reprovingly. "I do not. Not +yet," he corrected himself. + +"Lead us to the attack on the Roman camp! Our men are pouring here in +dense throngs since you sent the blood-red arrow from house to house." + +"There are not yet enough. The army still lacks many men from distant +provinces situated far away toward the north and the east: Alpgau, +Albwins-Bar, Wisentgau, and Draggau." + +"Do not calculate! Dare!" + +"I am doing so; but I also consider the firmness of the Roman camp." + +"But meanwhile our foes are strengthening themselves too. Their proud +galleys already lie anchored opposite in Arbor; they will soon bring +fresh cohorts over." + +"Let them do so." The old Duke laughed softly; his look expressed a +grim, mysterious joy. "Meanwhile," he added after a pause, "I will send +an envoy to the foe to-morrow." + +"Send me!" exclaimed Ebarbold eagerly. + +"No. Adalo, you will go." + +"He! He will not bring back peace." + +"No, but keen scrutiny, and--" he whispered to the youth--"perhaps +Bissula." + +"Thanks! Thanks!" + +"I," cried Ebarbold wrathfully, "would surely bring home to our +people--" + +"Subjection!" said the Duke. "That is just what you must not do. If the +Italians reject fair proposals, then I will ask the Council of the +people, the whole army, for its decision--" + +"I know in advance," Ebarbold angrily interrupted, "what they will +determine, guided by you, you disciple of Odin, you giver of victims to +Zio! But your decision is one thing; it is another--" + +He checked the word on his tongue and hesitated. + +"That you will do, you wish to say. King of the Ebergau! I warn you, +Ebarbold. Your father was a gallant hero; he fell by my side twenty +winters ago in the murderous battle against Julian. Remembering him, I +once more warn you: beware!" + +"Look to yourself," cried Ebarbold angrily. "You are not my guardian!" + +Springing up, he rushed out of the tent. + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + +Adalo, too, rose hastily. "Will you let him go in this threatening +mood? Shall I follow?" + +But the Duke remained unmoved. "I fear no danger from this man." A +shudder ran through the youth's limbs and he started, as the old chief, +lightly raising the spear, added: "He is dedicated to Odin." + +"You will--?" + +"Not I. He will--must sacrifice himself. Do not wonder. Wait." + +"And the news about the Goths, Duke? Were you in earnest? Or did you +merely wish to encourage the faint-hearted Ebarbold?" + +"Aha, do you credit me with such craft in the good work?" asked the old +man, smiling? + +"You are Odin's favorite." + +"It is as I said. One of the men in our ranks has been serving in the +army of the other Emperor; he came home on leave of absence, and said +that such countless throngs of Goths had crossed the Danube and were +assailing that Emperor so closely that he certainly could not march +here to his young nephew's assistance. Nay, the nephew's whole army +will perhaps be compelled to hasten to the uncle's relief. Because I +knew this I permitted, nay, commanded our young leaders to cross the +frontier early this spring to renew the war. But do you keep silence +about it. And open your eyes wide in the Roman camp to-morrow: do not +think only of the child, much as I hope you may see her, perhaps ransom +her, or save her by stratagem. For, by Frigga's girdle, she is lovely! +and I would fain see the fairest ornament of our land at liberty +again." + +Adalo clasped the Duke's right hand; but the latter withdrew it, adding +sternly: + +"Note carefully the height of the wall, the depth of the ditch, the +position of the gates, the number of the tents, the direction of the +paths between them, so that you can report everything accurately to me. +Now go, and send Zercho the bondman. No, do not ask what I want with +him. Obey!" + +Adalo left the tent. His heart was throbbing violently. "I shall see +her; ransom her! I will give all my property; nay, if necessary, my +estate, the land I have inherited--or sell it. But will she desire to +be ransomed? Will she not prefer to go with the clever-tongued Italian +to his sunny home? And what if he will not release her? Well, then +there will at least be one way to bring her forth, known only to the +Duke and my father's oldest son." + +Fiercely agitated by such thoughts, he sent the bondman, who was +crouching beside the fire, to the tent. The slave stood timidly before +the mighty soldier. + +"How long is it since Suomar bought you?" + +"That's hard for Zercho to say. I can hardly count beyond the fingers +of both hands, and there are more years than fingers. The little elf +was very small then. My master got me cheap, for the Romans had dragged +many, many of us as prisoners from the beautiful pastures of the +Tibiscus. He exchanged a horse and a net full of fish for me with the +dealer over in Vindonissa." + +"Suomar has praised you to me. He has never been obliged to flog you." + +Zercho made a wry face and rubbed his ear. "Yes, my lord--once." + +"And why was that?" + +"When I first saw the little elf--she was then a child about seven +years old--I thought she was the wood maiden, red Vila, threw myself on +the ground and shut my eyes; for whoever sees her is blinded. Then he +shouted a word in your language which I have often heard since,--it +means an animal with horns,--and struck me. But never afterwards." The +slave had uttered all this very rapidly; he was afraid of the Duke, and +kept on talking to deaden his fear. + +"You are faithful to the young girl?" + +"I would be cut to pieces with the ploughshare for her." + +"You plucked me by the cloak when you made your report in the presence +of the Adeling and the old woman. You wished to tell me something that +they ought not to know." + +"That is true, great Father! How did you discover--?" + +"That was not hard to guess. But I suspect more--the girl did not +become the captive of the kindhearted chatterer, Ausonius, but of +another Roman." + +The slave looked up at him in fright. "Did your Odin, your terrible god +who knows all things, reveal this to you?" + +"No, he only gave me the power of reading men's eyes. So she is +another's prisoner; I suspected it. And you did not wish to plunge into +still deeper grief both the old grandmother and the Adeling; for he +loves the child ardently." + +"You know that too?" + +"One doesn't need Odin's assistance for it," replied the Duke, smiling. +"I was young once too. You wished to spare the youth?" + +"Yes, great Father. He would wear himself out with rage and grief. Yet +he can do nothing to save her." + +"He would only destroy himself, and perhaps our best hope of victory, +by some desperate deed. I am pleased with you, slave. Keep silence as +before. But Ausonius was there too?" + +"Yes, the foreigner who stayed so long in Arbor several years ago. But +he didn't seize the child; it was another, younger man." + +"Did you not hear his name? Was it anything like Saturninus?" + +"My lord, his name was not spoken, or I did not hear it. He was a +fine-looking man in glittering armor." + +"But he took his prisoner to Ausonius?" + +"Yes. Yet he did not lift her on Ausonius's white horse, as the latter +seemed to ask, but swung the struggling girl upon another--a black +one--perhaps, yes, probably his own." + +The Duke remained silent and thoughtful. At last he said: "The Adeling +is not to reach the Roman camp until twilight is closing in tomorrow. +Before he rides forth he will receive some directions from me. Tell him +so. And"--here he lowered his voice to a whisper, much to the surprise +of the slave, since there was no one in the tent--"if a faithful and +cunning man should venture to introduce himself or some one else in +disguise into the hostile camp and tell me what he saw there,--for I +fear they will not give Adalo much chance to look about him,--and this +man should be a slave, I would buy his freedom." + +"Great Father!" exclaimed the Sarmatian, throwing himself prostrate +before the Duke and trying to kiss his feet. + +The old man angrily thrust him back with the handle of his spear: "Are +you a dog, that you want to lick my feet?" + +"Zercho is a Jazyge," said the bondman, rising and rubbing his bruised +shins. "Thus my people honor one who is worthy of honor." + +"But we sons of the Ases do not bend the knee even to the mighty King +of Asgard when we call upon him and desire to honor him. Now go. +Perhaps it will be well that Adalo should not know what is to happen." + +"He must not hear of it until after it has succeeded, for he would not +let the others whom I must have go with me." + +"I do not wish to know in advance how the work is to be done. Say +outside that no one is to enter till I strike the shield." + +The slave had scarcely gone when the Duke drew back the linen curtain +whose folds fell to the ground behind him, shutting off the rear of the +tent, used as a sleeping-room. + +A man with long gray hair, scarcely younger than Hariowald, came +forward glancing cautiously around him. + +"We are alone, Ebarvin. Repeat your King's words exactly again. For +consider, you must repeat them to his face, on oath, before the +assembly of the people, if he deny them." + +"He will not deny them," said the graybeard sorrowfully. "He is too +proud to submit to you, but he is also too proud to lie." + +"It is a pity," replied the Duke, curtly. "He was a fearless man." + +"You speak as if he were numbered with the dead!" cried the other, +shuddering. + +"I do not see how he can survive. Or, do you believe he will change his +choice?" + +Ebarvin silently shook his head. + +"How long have you borne his shield?" + +"Ever since he _had_ a shield. I carried his father's, too," sighed the +man. + +"I know it, Ebarvin. And," he asked craftily, as if in reproach, while +his gray eye blazed with a searching light, "and yet you betrayed him?" + +The man gripped his short sword angrily. + +"Betray? I accuse him openly, after I have often warned him loyally, +after threatening that I would tell you all. He laughed at it; he would +not believe me." + +"And why do you do it? You have loved him." + +"Why? And you ask that--you, who taught it to me, to us all? True, it +was not you alone--first necessity! Why? Because only this league of +the Alemanni can save us from ruin, from the shame of bondage. Why? Oh, +Duke, the oaths with which you bound us years ago, before the ash of +Odin, are terrible. Ebarvin will not forswear himself; I will not, a +perjured man, drift through endless nights down the horrible river of +Hel among corpses, serpents, and swords. And I have learned through a +long life that we must stand together, or the Romans will destroy us +province by province. Oh, I would slay my own son if, disobedient to +the Duke and the Council of the people, he tried to burst our league +asunder." + +Up sprang the old chieftain; his eye flashed with delight. Raising the +spear aloft with his left hand, he struck the right one on the +clansman's shoulder: "I thank you for those words, Ebarvin! And I thank +thee, thou Mighty One in the clouds! If such a spirit lives in the +Alemanni, the league will never be sundered." + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + +It was really as Zercho the bondman had believed: Bissula had become +the captive, not of Ausonius, but another; and his captive she +remained. To the extreme surprise, nay, barely repressed indignation of +the Prefect of Gaul, the younger man had asserted his claim according +to the rights of war. Ausonius had no claims whatever to the prisoner; +that was clear. His nephew undoubtedly might have raised them, and at +first he did make the attempt. But he grew strangely silent when the +Tribune--scarcely in absolute harmony with the truth--said in his +uncle's presence: "The girl had escaped again. I was the first to catch +her finally. Shall I call her, that she may tell you the whole story +herself?" + +Herculanus, with a venomous glance, left the tent. + +But Ausonius did not understand the imperious rudeness of the brave +soldier who was usually so devoted to him. When the Tribune curtly +appealed to the right of war, Ausonius, deeply offended, pondered over +all the reasons which, as he thought, must induce his friend not to +yield his legal right in this instance to him. The poet, seeking +motives for the act, of course first grasped the nearest: all the men +in the camp gazed at the peculiar beauty of the child with unconcealed +admiration. It was no wonder then that the Illyrian, in the full vigor +of manhood, should also be seized with ardent love for the beautiful +creature who had fallen into his hands and, without really having any +evil design, wanted to keep her in his power until either from +affection or obedience the captive should yield to her master. + +But this anxiety, which at first had weighed heavily upon him, was soon +relieved. With the keen distrust of jealousy, he watched his rival +sharply at every meeting; but even suspicion could discover nothing +that would have warranted this conjecture. Quiet, unmoved, and +steadfast as ever was the Tribune's bearing in her presence, which he +neither shunned nor sought, but treated with indifference. He looked +into the wonderful eyes no more frequently than occasion required, and +his glance was calm, his voice did not tremble. So Ausonius regarded +his friend's act as a soldier's strange whim, and did not doubt that he +would soon give it up. But this proved an error. + +On returning to the camp Ausonius entreated his friend, without +renouncing his right of possession, to place the young girl in the tent +next to the Prefect's, now occupied by slaves and freedwomen, whom he +would remove. But Saturninus insisted that Bissula should be lodged +among the wives of the freedmen and female slaves who occupied some +tents a long distance from the Prefect's. The young girl herself paid +little heed to the discussion between the two Romans, whose meaning she +scarcely understood. + +Released by the Tribune from the fear of death, and soothed by the +presence of her honored friend, her young cheerful heart soon +accommodated itself to the new condition of affairs,--not through +recklessness, but through childish ignorance of the perils which +possibly threatened her. Her grandmother was not discovered; her +faithful servant had not been captured; she herself was certainly +secure in the presence and under the eyes of her friend, the most +aristocratic man in the Roman camp. He would not let a hair of her head +be harmed, she knew. + +True, the thought weighed heavily upon her heart as soon as she was +captured that she herself was solely to blame for her misfortune. If +she had obeyed the well-meant counsel--she was on the verge of tears; +experience had taught the value of the advice--she would now have been +safe and sheltered with her grandmother, though also with Adalo. And +owing him a debt of gratitude! She crushed the tears on her long +lashes. No, she would not admit that he was right. Now she owed the +haughty Adeling nothing: that was certainly an advantage. "And"--she +shook her waving locks back defiantly--"they won't eat me here! Only +don't be afraid, Bissula," she said to herself; "and don't submit to +anything!" + +She had trembled only a moment after her escape from Herculanus, when +her powerful deliverer measured her whole dainty figure with a look +under which she lowered her eyes in confusion. But when she again +raised those innocent child-eyes, the expression had vanished. And it +never returned. + +Her master allowed her to spend the whole day with her "Father +Ausonius": only when it grew dark he appeared, with inexorable +firmness, to take her away; and he went with her himself to the tent +assigned to her, before which he stationed one of his Illyrian +countrymen as a sentinel all night. + +Bissula never saw her friend's nephew, whom she feared, alone. She +confidently expected the restoration of her liberty when the camp +should be broken up and the Romans should withdraw from the country. +There would be no fighting, Ausonius repeatedly told her. So the +light-hearted girl regarded her captivity, which had lost all its +terrors, as an adventure that afforded her an opportunity for the +conversations with her friend which she had missed so long. + +Many of her young playmates had lived as hostages and probably as +captives in Roman camps and in the fortresses on the southern shore, +and been restored to liberty uninjured when truce or peace was +declared. That she could be detained or carried away against her will +she did not fear: the most powerful man in the camp was her protector. +Yet this peril constantly threatened her more and more closely. + +Ausonius kept a sort of diary, in which before going to sleep he +recorded events, impressions, sketches of poems, and short bits of +verse--a custom whose regular observance he scarcely omitted even in +camp. A touch of pedantry was one of his characteristics. Yet the diary +was not a monologue, rather a sort of dialogue; for he addressed it in +the form of a letter to his oldest and most intimate friend, Arius +Paulus of Bigerri, rhetorician, but also an old soldier. Every three +months he collected what he had written and forwarded it to him to +receive his criticisms and answers on the margin of the manuscript when +returned. + +So, during these days of involuntary leisure he wrote. + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + V. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +Ausonius sends greetings to his Paulus. + +I wrote to you yesterday about the charming Barbarian child. Child? She +is one no longer. The delicate, yet lovely outlines of her form have +developed into exquisite roundness. And Barbarian? If she ever was one +she has ceased to be so, since Ausonius taught her the pomp of the +Latin language. How shall I describe her to you without drawing, no, +painting her? For it is precisely the charm of her coloring that is so +peerless. If only I had brought with me Paralos, my Ionian slave, who +painted the nymphs so exquisitely--you know--in my little dining hall +yonder, in the villa in the Province Noverus! And the expression--the +vivacity--in those ever varying features, now full of mischievous +wrath, now mirth, now jest, and anon of a sorrowful yearning which to +me is full of mystery. + +And the dainty figure! Recently her leather sandals stuck fast in the +mire outside the camp ditch. How white and charming were the little +feet! How can they even support the figure, lightly as it floats along? +The muse which so long has shunned me has again returned in the form of +this Suabian girl: a fairer metamorphosis than ever Ovid dreamed. +Verses well up in my mind ceaselessly. Just listen! + + "Nature had dowered Bissula with charms which the greatest of artists + Vainly to picture would strive. Doubtless to full many another + Justice he might do by use of the pigments of red and of white lead: + Coloring like hers, alas! will forever escape him, unless he + should paint + Her face with a lily's lustre, on which the breath of a rose + hath rested." + +Ah, my friend, with the feelings that come to me, I am often ashamed of +the half century I bear with me. Fain would I sacrifice something to +Anteros--most willingly my gray hairs! + +A short time ago the little maid amazed us all (Saturninus was even +more surprised than I; for I am already beginning to believe her almost +supernatural) by showing strategic insight. It was mentioned that while +making a tour on the southwestern wall I had saved her little hut from +burning, while our cohorts usually flung the torch with eager zeal into +the wooden houses of the Barbarians. Then Saturninus remarked that by +accident another building had been spared, a house with a lofty gable +roof rising on a hill farther toward the southwest. None of our +reconnoitring parties had marched in that direction. My nephew called +one of his men and ordered two of them to ride over the next day and +burn the dwelling down. + +Suddenly the girl, with flashing eyes, cried: "How stupid!" and +laughed. Courtesy is not her favorite virtue, and she and my nephew +waste little love on each other. "How stupid!" she repeated, "The +building is very solid, the fence inclosing it very high; it is almost +a citadel like your camp here; and it is between you and the lake--to +which you must fly if my people come. You could fortify yourselves +there again, if you are forced to leave here as the fox darts from its +burrow." + +Herculanus laughed sneeringly; but Saturninus cast a glance from the +top of the wall to that hill and the lofty building, and said in the +quiet tone which quells contradiction: "I myself had resolved to have +the dwelling burned to-morrow. But the child is right. The solid house +will not be burned, but perhaps, later, occupied--when the ships +arrive." + +If those ships would only come! The eager Tribune is fairly consumed +with impatience for action. Already he has gone across the lake +repeatedly in a wretched rotting boat belonging to the Barbarians, +which we found hidden among the thickest growth of rushes near +Bissula's hut, and urged Nannienus to hasten. But the latter might +truthfully say with Homer: "Why dost thou urge one who is willing?" We +cannot make up in days for the neglect of months. The Emperor's own +miserable officials do him more harm than the Barbarians. And we do not +even know where these strange defenders of the country have vanished. + +Ah, that reminds me of another anecdote of the little maid. How +constantly she steals into my thoughts! Of course--in jest and +earnest--we have tried to obtain information about the hiding--places +of the enemy from the only captive of whose possession hitherto we can +boast; but there we "victors" met with small success, as you may guess. + +"Where are your heroes hiding?" I asked once laughing, toward the end +of a meal in my tent. "Truly, their heroism is as hard to find as +themselves." + +"They will hardly have told this little maid," replied Saturninus. "For +Barbarian women can probably keep secrets no better than Roman ones. +She does not know." + +"Yes, she does!" cried the rogue, pouting defiantly. + +"Indeed? Then we'll question you," I cried, "on the rack." + +"That isn't necessary. I am willing to tell." + +"Well, where are they?" asked the Tribune seriously. + +She glided out of the tent, thrust her head saucily through the +opening, and laughed mischievously: "They dwell with Odin and the nixie +in the lake. Search for them there yourself!" And she vanished. + +Her favorite resting-place is at the foot of a huge pine-tree; it is +sacred, dedicated to a German goddess who, according to the +description, probably corresponds with Isis. I have repeatedly found +her there. Once she was swinging among the branches like a little bird. +She begged me not to betray her hiding-place to the others--the Tribune +and my nephew. She often liked to dream there all alone. Well, I +certainly shall not betray her. If _I_ know where to look for her, the +others shall not find her against her will. + + + IV. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +I regretted the artist's absence a short time since, and cannot get him +to come here. But perhaps Bissula will go later to the artist, to +Burdigala. How I wished it long ago! Oh, Paulus, if only I could show +her to you! The more I write of her and think of her, the more she +pleases me. Or perhaps the contrary is the case. I will write and think +of her no more. + + * * * * * + +You will not believe, my dear friend, how much I enjoy the military +life I have not witnessed for so long. I understand little about it, +but the pomp and pride and power of war stir me very strongly. + +It is a pleasure to see the rule of a man like Saturninus. He cannot +scan a verse of Alcæus, but he knows how to arrange a camp according to +the demands and advantages of the location, better than I can write an +Alcæan strophe. Here, on this steep hillside in the midst of the +Barbarian forests, he had applied Frontinus's rules to the given space +most admirably. It would please an old soldier like you to see our +camp, the strength of wall and moat, the arrangement of the spaces +between the tents, the distribution of horse and foot-soldiers, +luggage, and camp followers. + + + III. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +And why should you not see it? For what purpose has Athene or the +clever Ph[oe]nicians taught us the art of writing? I begged Saturninus +to dictate to his fat slave scribe a sketch of our whole camp, with all +the points important for defence and the distribution of our troops. I +will put it on the papyrus. + +How stately is the entrance! Four squadrons of mailed warriors at the +Porta Decumana, and all the baggage also piled up there. The wall eight +feet high; the ditch five feet deep. The weakest point is the northwest +corner, so the best troops are there: Batavian and spearmen of the +Emperor's Thracian Guard: etc. + +I will not repeat here in detail what the inclosure will contain; but +the paper is not yet finished. He has taken it away to make the drawing +more accurate. + + + II. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +Ah, what avails dissimulation, playing hide and seek with myself? If +you drive her out with a pitchfork, Nature will always return, says the +Bandusian fellow. I am trying to make you--and myself--believe that my +thoughts are on ditch and wall and mailed soldiers. It is not true. I +think only of the little maid. Her image alone hovers before my eyes +day and night. It is already half decided that you shall see her. + +When this expedition is over, I at any rate shall return to Gaul, +perhaps the whole army; for the Emperor Valens seems to be able to deal +with the Goths without needing our aid; he does not ask for us. Then I +can take the little maid as my guest for a short visit to Burdigala. + +True, she is still considered the Tribune's slave. It is an odd +caprice of the valiant soldier. No, no, my Paulus! It is not what you +suppose that influences him. I have watched him suspiciously, almost +jealously, as sharply as a father--or can it be a lover? But I did him +injustice--or too much honor? He has nothing in his head except those +invisible Alemanni and our ships, still delayed at Arbor. + + * * * * * + +Yet why only for a visit? Why should she not remain in my house always +to beautify my advancing years with the roseate dawn of her youth? + +Yes. Eos, Aurora: it is a fitting symbol for her. So young, so full of +the dewy freshness of the morning, with her ruddy curling locks +floating saucily around her. + +Perhaps, now that she has grown more sensible, she will joyfully accept +the offer I made when she was a child: to go with me as my adopted +daughter.--Daughter? That is not the right word; no longer the right +word: she has blossomed into womanhood: I should not think of lifting +her on my knee, as I did years ago. She has become too mature. + +And I am still too young to regard her only as a daughter.--Rather as a +brother, her loving brother who rejoices in her beauty. No, it will not +do. + +A short time ago her round arm brushed me (the German women go with +bare arms); a fiery thrill darted through my veins. I can scarcely +doubt it, I--- + +My feelings for her do not concern other people. I might at any rate +first take her with me--and then adopt her? No matter what the legal +form may be, I am determined to keep her near me always. + +I can no longer do without her charming presence; everything would grow +dark and cold. Already I shiver at the thought of again living alone +with the icy-hearted Herculanus. + +She has become my muse! A barbarian one, do you scoff? Aha, are these +lines so barbaric? + + "Incarnate joy! Caressing bliss! O thou embodiment of + sportive grace! + How the Barbarian maid the fair ones of Latium hath vanquished! + Bissula! Plebeian her name may sound in the ears of aliens: + But to Ausonius it echoes with harmonies sweet and bewitching." + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + +It is useless to conceal it from myself any longer, and what I admit to +myself must also be confessed to you, my Paulus, my second self, at the +same moment. Alas, I fear you read it long ago from these words in +prose and verse. + +I beseech you not to shake your cool, cautious head as usual over your +"too youthful" Ausonius: I hope my heart will throb warmly till it +ceases to beat. + +I know all you will say--of course against it. For you would speak in +favor only if you had seen her. Yet I rejoice that you are not here: I +have no desire to be warned. + +True, it is one thing to toy with the sweet illusion within my own +breast and to the friend who will keep my secret; and quite another to +transfer it to practical reality. + +My thoughts are contradictory. I am fifty--ah no; fifty-two years old! +But what happiness it will be for the young girl to share not only my +wealth but the whole Latin civilization with me! She is a pagan. Pshaw! +The baptismal water will no more wash away her charm than it has driven +the pagan Muses from me. She can believe after baptism precisely what +she believed before. And she shall offer sacrifices to golden Aphrodite +and to Hymen! + +I hesitate. She is very fond of me, but I often find her dreaming, +gazing out with yearning eyes beyond the walls of the camp: strangely +enough, it is not eastward in the direction of her home, but always +toward the northwest. At that point the wall rises almost to the height +of her huge pine tree, whose branches reach the ground: I again found +her hidden among them yesterday. She climbs so far up among the boughs +that she can look over the wall to the distant hills, and hides among +the dense foliage like a martin. + +I discovered her with much difficulty,--twilight was gathering,--and +when at my call she slipped down I thought I saw tears in her eyes. But +the crimson glow of sunset had probably dazzled me; I did not see them +when she stood on the ground by my side, though she looked graver than +usual. + +"What do you want?" I asked. + +"Liberty," was her swift answer. + +Perhaps I looked perplexed or angry, for she went on hastily: "Forgive +me! I was foolish. I know that if you set me free now, before the close +of the war, I might fall into the hands of other Romans before reaching +my people. And I am not ungrateful. How kind you are to me! Yet I often +feel so homesick--for--for--oh, I don't know myself!" + +Then I said in jest,--for never before, and even now not seriously, had +the idea entered my mind,--"For a lover?" + +She started back like a little red serpent. I have never seen her so +angry, though the hot temper of the little creature boils over often +enough. She stamped her tiny foot, the blood crimsoned her cheeks, and +she vehemently exclaimed: + +"A lover? The 'red biting cat'? I have no heart! How should _I_ love?" + +Then turning her back on me defiantly she ran off to her tent and did +not appear again that evening. But I am glad to learn from her own lips +that no bond of affection will hold her fast in this Barbarian land, if +I really decide to take her with me to Burdigala. + +This possible obstacle to my wishes entered my thoughts rather late, +you will tell me. But it was because I considered her a child so long. +Later I daily felt in my own heart the feeling within growing stronger. +No, no, this girl is a child no longer, but a maiden ready for her +bridal. + +The sweet wish--I scarcely repress it--is rapidly maturing. And with +this dear girl I shall be sure of one thing: she will not marry me for +my wealth, which I anxiously fear from our Gallic maidens. As to the +widows, I feel gripes in my stomach whenever I think of them. + +I will be cautious not to startle the timid child; for how can the +Barbarian maiden dream of such an honor as even being invited as my +guest to Burdigala? It is inconceivable that she should refuse: now +that she has grown to womanhood. If she does, then--But no, surely it +will not be necessary. And when she has once tasted the rich, beautiful +life there, she will no longer desire to return to this wilderness. +Then ere long I can read aloud to her these verses which now I dare +entrust only to my friend: + + "Bissula, fair maid born and reared in the cold land beyond + the Rhine, + Bissula, who bloomed so near the source of the Danube: + Captive of war, thou hast, when released from bondage, made captive + Thy conqueror: his heart became the prisoner's booty. + Of a mother's care bereft, ne'er hast thou suffered a mistress: + When thou a captive wast made, a mistress thou didst become, + Though thou by Roman favor, O German, wast thus transformed. + Still hast thou thine eyes' deep azure, still hast thou + thy hair's red gold. + Dual thou seemest now, and with dual charms adorn + Latium's tongue thy mind, and Suabia's grace thy form." + +How do you like them, my dear friend? I hope they are not bad. At least +they please _me_ extremely, and you know I am not vain. + +Now imagine how these melodious lines must gratify her--her who is +their inspiration. + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + +The morning after Ausonius had made this last entry in his diary, +Bissula, as usual, shared the first meal in his tent with the uncle and +nephew. The Prefect of Gaul was in excellent spirits, often jested, +talked a great deal, had his goblet repeatedly filled by the slave who +was his cup-bearer, and remarked again that the campaign would soon be +over. "When the ships come," he added in conclusion, "the Barbarians +will sue for peace." Glancing up merrily his eyes chanced to rest on +the young girl's face. To his surprise a mocking, nay, angry smile was +hovering around lips pouting in defiance; her brow was frowning, and +she made no reply. The conversation flagged. Herculanus watched the +rising cloud sharply, and eagerly fanned the flame. + +"What?" he cried. "Peace? Bondage; extirpation! The Cæsar will soon +drag the last remaining Alemanni before his triumphal chariot to the +Capitol: the leaders will be strangled, the rest sold cheap: a German +for a cabbage." + +Tears of rage filled Bissula's eyes. She could find no words; fury +choked her voice. She searched her thoughts, her memory, for aid and +defence. Adalo was the only name which came to her. "Yes, Adalo, if you +were here, or if I had your swift speech, whispered by Odin! Stay--his +verse--his verse of defiance. How, did it run?" She closed her eyes to +think, resting her elbows on the table, with both little clenched hands +pressed against her throbbing brow. + +"I will offer a toast," Herculanus went on, raising his goblet; "pledge +me. You, the pupil of Ausonius, are surely one of us: Disgrace and +death to the Alemanni!" Bissula sprang up. Her blue eyes were blazing; +her red tresses fluttered around her head; a blow from her clenched +fist sent the silver goblet rattling on the floor; and, in the language +of her people, she cried loudly: + + "Woe to the Latins! + Vengeance on Romans! + Break down their castles, + Shatter their strongholds, + Swing ye the sword + Till the base robbers flee! + All this region + Hath Odin given + To his sons of victory-- + To us, the Alemanni! + +"Oh, I thank you, I thank you, Adalo!" And she rushed out of the tent. + +"How foolish!" Ausonius said reproachfully to his nephew. "How +inhospitable! How could you so incense our guest?" + +"Guest? Our, that is, the Illyrian's, slave-girl. But forgive me, +uncle. It shall not happen again. How little a Barbarian woman suits +the society of Romans! Our thoughts, our wishes--she is implacably +hostile to all. And Adalo? I have already heard the name. Isn't it--?" + +"No matter who it is," thundered the uncle. "But you are my nephew, and +have insulted, roused the lovely girl to furious rage at my table, in +my tent. How would you in Burdigala--" + +A gloomy, significant glance from the young Roman checked his +thoughtless speech. + +"You must appease her. Now leave me; I don't wish to see you again +to-day. Or stay--I will follow her myself. Poor little thing!" + +Ausonius rose excitedly from the couch and hurried out. Herculanus and +the slave who acted as cup-bearer remained alone in the tent. + +"Is it so already?" muttered the former angrily through his set teeth. +"Does the childish infatuated old fool reveal his plans so openly? To +work, Davus! Well or ill--to work! Have you the hemlock? Have you +enough?" + +"I think it will do. If it fail the first time, you still have some in +the other little vial?" Herculanus nodded. The slave went on: + +"He complained yesterday of all sorts of bad feelings. I'll risk it +soon, before he gets well again. But--one thing more--the Barbarian +girl will sleep alone to-night." + +"What? Not in the tent with the teamsters' wives? + +"No; a contagious eruption broke out there last night: I heard +Saturninus give the order to pitch another tent at once on the opposite +side for the prisoner." + +"But he will have her closely guarded." + +"To-night he is going on a reconnoitring expedition with all his +incorruptible Illyrians. Batavians are to be on duty: they are fond of +drinking; perhaps--" + +"Silence! This ring as a reward for the news. We don't yet know whether +the plot against the old man will succeed, so we'll have two strings +ready for our bow. And I hate her. I don't hate him; only I must have +my inheritance quickly. So to-night! Hush, Prosper is coming! About the +poison--in the two little vials--we'll say more later; you know where +and when. First we'll wait to see what this night will bring forth." + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile kind-hearted Ausonius had vainly sought the angry fugitive. +He looked eagerly down the long wide streets of the camp which crossed +in a square at the prætorium--in vain. Now he hoped to find her in her +favorite hiding-place, the secluded spot with the tall fir-tree; but it +was empty. Nor was she perched among the branches: he scanned them +carefully. + +Shaking his head he walked on still farther toward the northwest, to +the wall itself. Here he heard voices raised as if disputing, a +soldier's and Bissula's. Now he saw Rignomer, the Batavian sentry, with +lowered spear forcing back the slowly retreating girl. The man spoke +half in German, half in vulgar Latin; for at that time the Batavians +and Alemanni, though both Germans, found it as hard to understand one +another as the sailors of the Lower Rhine and the peasants of Lake +Constance do at the present day. + +"Back, you red elf, you beautiful Idise, you nymph, and never try it +again! It would be a pity to hurt yourself. The wall is too high and +the ditch too deep--" Then the soldier recognized the Prefect, saluted +him, and went back to the top of the wall. + +Bissula, noticing the respectful salute, had turned and, still +violently agitated, rushed to Ausonius, exclaiming: "Father, set me +free at once! at once!" + +Ausonius shook his head. "Consider--" + +"If you really catch defenceless girls and threaten to kill them by the +sword, you glorious Romans, as your nephew--" + +"When did he do that?" + +"Never mind! Send me with a safe escort, with a letter from you beyond +your outposts." + +"Where shall I send you?" + +Bissula remained silent a short time. Her face was deeply flushed. + +"Where? To the place where you always gaze in your reveries? Out +yonder?" + +"No," she replied, setting her teeth; "eastward, to my home. Then I +will take care of myself." + +"Child, you must stay till the war is over." + +"No, I must go," she answered. "I belong to my people, not to you. It is +not right, it is abominable, for me to sleep safe here in your +protection, drink Roman wine from golden goblets, while my kindred are +suffering want and danger. Let me go!" She raised her hand. The gesture +was meant to be an entreaty, but it resembled a threat. + +"Cease this folly, little one," Ausonius now said, more seriously. "My +nephew's idle, unseemly words offended you; I reproved him for them; he +will beg your pardon,"--Bissula made a contemptuous movement,--"and +everything will be forgotten." + +"Shall I forget my people?" + +"Forget? No; but gradually become alienated from them. You look amazed. +Well, let this trivial incident hasten the important disclosure I have +to make. Are you thinking of leaving me? Give it up, sweet girl!" He +controlled himself and went on more calmly: "My little daughter, you +will never leave me again." + +Bissula opened her eyes in the utmost astonishment, gazing at the Roman +with the expression of a captured deer. The iron tramp of a marching +cohort was heard close at hand, but the tents still concealed it from +their gaze. + +"What do you mean?" she stammered. + +"I will tell you," said Ausonius in a firmer, sterner tone than he had +ever used. The opposition he now suspected irritated him, and he was +determined to execute his will. "I will tell you that I have resolved +to fulfil my former plan. I shall take you as my guest for an +indefinite time. As my little daughter," he added cautiously, "with me +to Burdigala." + +"Never!" cried Bissula, raising both arms in the wildest terror. + +"Yes, most certainly." + +"But I will not go. I--away from the lake--from--from my people? No, +no, no!" + +"Yes, yes, yes! This is not tyrannical nor cruel, as you think now." + +"Who will compel me to go away?" + +"I. We compel children whom we are educating to do what we desire, for +their own good. You do not understand your real welfare: I will force +you to do so." + +"But I am no child; I am--" She advanced toward him defiantly. + +"You are a captive. Do not forget that. You must obey your master, and +he--" + +"Is here," said a deep voice. + +Saturninus stepped between them. With a firm hand he held Bissula, who +had turned, reeled as though giddy, and tried again to scale the wall. +"Do not forget that, Ausonius." + +Angered by the interruption, perplexed, and half ashamed, the other +drew back. "What are you doing?" + +"I am protecting my captive." + +"Against whom?" + +"Against every threat: against wiles as well as compulsion--even though +well meant." + +Both gazed at him in silence, but the girl's gratitude was blended with +a slight thrill of fear--fear of this protector too. + +Ausonius was the first to find words. In tones which revealed wrath, +jealousy, and suspicion, he exclaimed: "And who will protect her +against you?" + +"Nothing and no one, except my own will." + +"Oh, set me free!" cried Bissula, raising her clasped hands +despairingly to the Tribune. + +"That you may tell the Barbarians all you have seen and heard in our +camp? No, little maid. You will stay--perhaps forever. Have no thought +of escape! Here, countryman!" He beckoned to a soldier. "Take her to +the new tent; keep guard there until I leave tonight; then Rignomer the +Batavian will relieve you. And listen: tell my scribe that during the +day he must see that she--" The rest was whispered in the ear of the +Illyrian, who led the wondering, bewildered girl away by the arm. + +Ausonius and Saturninus parted without exchanging a single word: the +latter saluted respectfully; but the angry Prefect did not, or would +not, see the farewell. + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + +Ever since the preceding day the rain clouds, which had so long densely +veiled the mountain peaks and hung in gray curtains to the shore of the +lake, had grown lighter and lighter. Scattered fragments still floated +over the forest; but the mists were dispersing from Sentis and Tödi. +And before the sun of that day sank behind the wooded heights of the +western shore, it burst through the cloud rack for the first time in a +long while, illumining lake and country for a few minutes with a +blood-red glow. The fishes leaped greedily after the flies which were +sunning themselves in the beams and flew feebly, with damp wings, close +to the surface of the water: then the radiant ball disappeared behind +the long cloud curtain. + +The herons flew screaming from the rushes toward the land. The wind +seemed to be rising. The clouds swept across the sky, sometimes in one +direction, sometimes in another. The waves of the lake, obeying the +former course of the wind, rolled in a direction opposite to the clouds +above them. + +The Batavian mercenaries of the Lower Rhine were encamped outside of +the northern gate of the camp, the Porta Prætoria, but a little toward +the west. The centurion, a man about forty years old, long in the +service of Rome, who was adorned with neck-chains and various badges of +honor on his breast-plate bestowed for gallant deeds, was fanning the +smoking fire, which they were loath to have die out in the cold damp +woods. + +"There!" he muttered, "there it goes. I invoked both gods, Vulcan and +Loki, in vain. Vulcan won't help me, because I am a Barbarian; Loki +because I serve the Romans. We mercenaries no longer have any gods to +aid us, because we belong to no nation." + +"Ha, Rignomer," laughed another in the group, a youth whose downy red +beard was just beginning to grow, "I care for only one god among them +all--the god of victory." + +"And he, Odin, is the very one who has deserted us, Brinno. Everywhere +the Germans are conquering; that is, the peoples who are fighting +against Rome, not we German mercenaries, who battle for the Cæsar. And +in every conflict the men who bleed are we mercenaries." + +"Because these cunning Romans always put us in the place which is most +severely threatened," Brinno cried angrily. + +"Because Odin is hostile to us," whispered the centurion. "We must no +longer fight for Rome against the other Germans. He no longer wills +it." + +"What do you mean by Germans? That's a word like Barbarians. The Romans +invented it, not we. What do I care for these Alemanni? I am a +Batavian; a Frank, if you prefer the name." + +"Yes, I do prefer it." + +"It's newer." + +"But stronger, because it is larger." + +"What do I care, I ask again, for these thick-skulled Suabians? I can +hardly understand what they say." + +"But all we blue-eyed, yellow-haired men are sons of the dwellers in +Asgard. We have all come here to the great waters front the East. So +our forefathers teach us; so the harpers sing. And everywhere, on the +Rhine and the Danube, the districts and peoples who formerly had such +bitter feuds are gathering. This is Odin's work. He is summoning the +descendants of Asgard to war against Rome. This is my last campaign +under the dragon standard. In a few days my time of service will +expire; then I shall go home and till my land on the Issala, where my +mother and my brother and sisters live; till it with a better plough, a +Roman one. And if I must fight again, I will fight for my land, against +Rome. We Franks have too little room down there in the swamps of the +Rhine; we must go into beautiful Gaul." + +"Well, this war of the Romans will soon be over. A bloodless victory." + +"Who knows?" Here the centurion threw himself on the ground beside +Brinno and whispered: "A man from my district, who formerly fought +under the Emperor Valentinian by this lake against the Alemanni, told +me why in fear and horror he suddenly gave up the service and lost his +pay: In a battle the Romans were vanquished. _One_ against whom no man +can lift his hand without forfeiting salvation forever dashed forward +on a gray charger at the head of the Alemanni wedge." + +"What?" asked Brinno, half incredulously, half timidly: "_He_--he-- +himself?" + +Rignomer nodded significantly: "In the form of a white-haired Duke; so +runs the legend. When sore peril threatens the dwellers by the lake he +descends from the heavenly heights, warns them, conceals them from the +eyes of the foe with his dark mantle of clouds; teaches them runes of +victory on inaccessible mountains, and bears them suddenly away on the +eagle wings of the tempest. Against him I will not fight. I vowed to +serve the Imperator against men only. But hark! a tuba signal from our +outposts. Whom are our mounted men bringing in?" + +"A messenger from the Alemanni, it seems." + +"Yes, a leader and two attendants. What a youth! Halt, young hero: if +you wish to go into the camp to the General,--only one is permitted to +ride in,--I must first cover your eyes. Dismount! You will not? Well +then, turn back again." + +This was a severe blow to Adalo's hopes. He would so gladly have gazed +keenly about him in the Roman camp, scanned ditches, walls, gates, +and--two persons within that frowning palisade. He sullenly dismounted. +A thick woollen blanket was thrown in loose folds over his head like a +huge sack and fastened under his chin: Rignomer took him by the hand +and guided him to the gate, where a centurion of the Thracians received +the Barbarians' envoy. + +Adalo's two companions also dismounted, tied the three horses to the +nearest trees, and soon lay chatting with the Batavians. The bad Latin +of the frontier, it is true, often had to aid the understanding of the +different dialects around the watchfire. With great exertion it had now +been rekindled, for it was growing very dark. Suddenly, from the forest +path by which the envoys had come, a strange growling was heard which +drew nearer and nearer. The whole group, including the two Alemanni, +started up in surprise. + +"A bear?" + +"So near the fire?" + +"Slipped through our outposts?" + +They seized the spears which stood stacked together. Then a Batavian, +laughing loudly, came around the bend of the narrow path, pointing +behind him. "Look, comrades! A Sarmatian juggler with a tame she-bear! +She dances to his big flute! It's very comical." + +A cry of surprise escaped the lips of one of the Alemanni, whose eyes +and mouth opened in astonishment: "That's surely--" + +But his companion gave him a violent dig in the ribs with his elbow: "A +she-bear! Yes. Didn't you ever see one?" + +A man in the Sarmatian costume--black sheepskin with the wool turned +inside--now stepped into the firelight, leading by a leather thong a +large she-bear. Behind him, also clad in sheepskin, limped his boy, +probably carrying in his bundle provisions for their journey; he was a +poor cripple, who made his way forward slowly with the help of a +crutch, and doubtless found it hard either to stand or to walk; for +when the third Batavian, shoving him with the handle of his spear, +invited him to come nearer to the fire, the poor lad, with a low cry, +fell on the grass. + +The soldiers, with Roman and German taunts, asked what _he_ could do. +He did not stir. + +"You can talk to him a long while," said his master, laughing. "The boy +is deaf, and he is sick with fever. He is afraid of people. Let him lie +there!" + +The lad crept under the thickest underbrush, far away from the flames. +He could scarcely be seen from the watchfire; all that was visible was +his coal-black curly hair. Taking out a little earthen pot, he poured a +few drops of some liquid on his lame foot and rubbed it with his hand. + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + +To Adalo's impatience the time seemed very long--in his wrath he +believed the delay intentional--during which he was led through the +spacious camp till at last his guide stopped and removed the muffler +from his head. He found himself in the Prefect's tent. Ausonius, +Bissula's friend, he instantly recognized, with a thrill of anger. A +number of other army leaders were standing and sitting around him. They +had had plenty of time to assemble while the Barbarian was being guided +in bewildering zigzag lines through the streets of tents. + +He silently saluted Ausonius (it did not escape his eyes that his foe +looked admiringly at him), who motioned to him to sit down on a camp +stool. But the youth, with a defiant bearing, remained standing. In +vain, gazing around the richly decorated space, Adalo endeavored to +discover some trace, not of Bissula herself--that was beyond his +hopes--but of some garment or article that belonged to her. Nothing was +to be seen except arms and papyrus rolls. + +"You understand the language of Rome, since you have come without an +interpreter?" Ausonius began. + +Adalo nodded. + +"Be welcome! We expected such a messenger. You desire peace?" + +The young hero angrily flung back his handsome head so that his long +locks rested on his shoulders, and answered with flashing eyes: "I +offer to let you depart unmolested." + +"Ha, insolent Barbarian!" cried Herculanus. + +But Saturninus wrathfully motioned to him to keep silence, and then +asked very quietly: "Are we surrounded?" + +"Not yet; but only because we did not desire it." + +Saturninus cast a significant glance at the Prefect. + +"Boasting!" replied the latter in Greek. + +"And why haven't you destroyed us yet?" sneered Herculanus. + +"The result, Roman, is in the hands of the gods. We have not attacked +because we, who do not fear battle, but rather--you know well--love it, +this time desire peace; or our wise leaders, who think further than my +comrades, desire it. The great league of the Alemanni wishes to end +forever by a treaty not only this campaign but the whole war with you, +which for generations has been burning or at least smouldering: we wish +not a truce, but peace with Rome." + +"Is this your idea, youth?" asked Saturninus, searchingly. + +"I have already said it is the choice of our wise leaders, among whom I +am not numbered. But I, too, perceive that intercourse with you across +the frontiers, when the spears are leaning in the hall, will bring to +our people many benefits. We have already learned much from watching +you; we must learn still more." + +"But why," interposed Ausonius, "if you perceive this, have you for +centuries broken every armistice, every treaty? You Germans boast of +fidelity as one of the virtues of your race, and we must praise the +loyal service of your mercenaries under our standards. Why, here on the +frontiers, are all your tribes of many names, Alemanni and Franks, +Goths and Quadi and Marcomanni, the same in this unfaithfulness? Why, +year after year, do you continually break peace and compact? Our +cohorts, constantly compelled to wade through your forest marshes, +upbraid you with fierce hatred as the falsest of the peoples. Why do +you continually break over our frontiers, like a forest stream?" + +"Like a forest stream! You have uttered the right words, though +probably without knowing it. I will not answer that often we are not +the breakers of the treaties, but, perhaps against the Emperor's will, +your army leaders, your frontier officials. In defiance of the treaty +they build citadels on our free land, and the supplies which, according +to the treaties, you owe us, are withheld: especially the grain." + +"Why," asked Saturninus eagerly, rising from his seat, "do you not +raise for yourselves the grain you need?" + +"We cannot. There is not land enough for our increasing population. The +gods multiply our numbers wonderfully: it must be their will that we +should grow and overflow our boundaries. Hundreds, nay, thousands of +our young men emigrate every year to serve you as mercenaries and +frontier guards. We often send forth a third of our young people, +chosen by lot, to seek a new home where the flight of the birds and the +will of the gods directs them: but all this does not avail." + +"Then," Saturninus questioned, speaking more to himself than to the +envoy, "it is not mere wantonness?" + +"Do you think that mere wantonness would have driven, from the days of +our earliest ancestors (the legends have treasured it loyally, sadly, +and proudly) our almost naked heroes upon the spears of your mailed +legions? Nay, had it been we youths only, we would always rather win +what we need by blood--the foe's or our own--than by toiling with the +plough. But do you believe that, from mere wantonness, whole nations, +with their women and children, their men and maid-servants, their herds +and wagons, would constantly press across your frontiers southward and +westward; not as a warlike band on a foray in quest of booty, but on a +weary pilgrimage, pressing forward because pressed by others, pushing +because being pushed from the south and the east by other Germans and +by Sarmatians; not quitting the old home, but maintaining it by those +left behind till they too were obliged to yield--do you believe that +mere wantonness has so often lured these hundreds of thousands to and +beyond your frontiers, usually to certain destruction? Oh, no. It is +not wantonness that impels us, but the most powerful of all the +goddesses--Necessity. A man utters her name unwillingly; for the woman +with the iron girdle is the only inexorable deity; she is the mother of +the three Fates, who also revere her, and she often strangles with her +iron girdle the mortals who mention her carelessly. Beware, Romans! +Before our faces stands only your Empire, one mighty in military power, +it is true, but behind us threatens and urges the terrible mother of +the Norns. We have no choice. The country has become too narrow; we +must, come what may, pour out of the old bed in roaring torrents. +Therefore, clever Roman, you speak aptly of a forest stream. Believe +me: we shall continually break over your frontiers, no matter how +strongly they may be guarded with men and walls, until either all we +countless German tribes are destroyed or until we have gained land +enough to live upon. Not until then will there be peace." + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + +The words uttered by Adalo, evidently from sincere belief, and with +warm feeling, produced a deep impression. Herculanus shrugged his +shoulders scornfully. Saturninus, with a grave face, gazed silently +into vacancy--into the future. After a long pause, Ausonius found +words: + +"I have never seen that side of the question. Is this your wisdom?" + +"I say once more, it is the wisdom of our wise men; Duke Hariowald +taught me. But the necessity of our people cries so loudly that even an +inexperienced youth must understand its call: Land or destruction! So, +in the name of our whole league of peoples, I ask (we Alemanni yield in +courage to no race on earth), do you wish to gain us, our spears, +forever against all your enemies, especially the false Franks, our evil +neighbors and yours? Do you desire that?" + +The Romans listened intently; no one interrupted him in his appeal. + +"Well, there is a way, but only one." He paused. + +"Speak," urged Saturninus eagerly. + +"Vacate all the land which you still occupy but can hold only by +constant fighting, the country northward between this lake and the +right bank of the Rhine to where the Main empties into it beneath your +stronghold of Mogontiacum, and all the region south of the lake to the +chain of the Cisalpine region." + +"Insolent fellow!" shouted Herculanus. The other army leaders also did +not spare words of wrath. "Not bad!" said Ausonius, smiling. Saturninus +alone was silent; he was thinking how the great military hero, +Aurelian, had given up, in a manner very similar to the way asked here, +Trajan's proud conquest, Dacia, and thereby, for a long time, pacified +the Goths on the Danube. + +But Adalo continued: "Do it, do it half voluntarily; do it for the most +valuable compensation; for I tell you, it must be done very soon. Then +it will be exacted without compensation in return. Do it willingly; for +there is a proud prediction current among our people: the Alemanni will +some day pasture their horses from the snows of the Alps to the woods +of the Vosges." + +Ausonius rose indignantly. "Not another word! For our sole answer take +to your people the old Roman war-cry, 'Woe to the Barbarians!'" + +"Woe to the Barbarians!" repeated the army leaders, with loud shouts. + +"Before I go," said the youth,--he struggled fiercely to subdue the +agitation, the terrible anxiety which now sent a tremor through every +limb,--"listen to another message. You have captured a daughter of our +people." Six eyes were bent upon him with the keenest attention. "I am +commissioned to ransom her." In spite of every effort to appear calm +and cold his voice trembled. + +"Are you Bissula's relative? She has no brother," said Ausonius +suspiciously. + +"Or her lover?" asked Herculanus. + +The youth's face flamed, his brow knit wrathfully. "Neither her kinsman +nor her betrothed lover. I am commissioned--I have already said so--to +ransom her. Name the price." + +Ausonius was about to utter a refusal, but Saturninus hastily +anticipated him. + +"You would pay any price as ransom?" + +"Any." + +"Is she a princess or a noble's daughter, that your people set so high +a value upon her liberty?" + +"She is a free maiden of our people, and has as much right to our +protection as a queen." + +"Well, your protection has been of little service to her," cried +Herculanus, laughing. + +"I will give her weight in silver, nay, if needful, in gold--her full +weight." + +"Pshaw!" replied Ausonius, smiling, "that isn't saying much. The little +one doesn't weigh heavily. Don't trouble yourself: I will not release +her." + +"Pardon me, Prefect," said Saturninus quietly, yet without averting his +eyes an instant from Adalo, "I must again remind you that the Barbarian +girl is not your slave, but mine." + +"What? O ye gods!" cried Adalo, wild with grief and horror. + +He hastily advanced two paces toward the Roman. "Is it possible? Is it +true? Say no, Ausonius." The voice of the usually defiant youth now +sounded almost pleading. + +"Unfortunately it is true," replied the Prefect sullenly. + +But Saturninus, who now knew what he wished to learn, answered calmly: +"The captive is my property. And she cannot be bought with gold. But I +will release her, if you--" he rose, approached Adalo and whispered +into his ear. + +The youth burst forth angrily: "The location of our fortification and +the strength of our force? Come into the woods, Roman: you will learn +there." + +Saturninus stepped back coldly. "As you choose. Never will the +red-haired maiden see her people." + +"And consider, Barbarian," hissed Herculanus, "we need not use the rack +to torture a maiden." + +Adalo, with a fierce cry, gripped the hilt of the short sword at his +side. But he controlled himself and only cast a look at Herculanus, +who, unable to endure it, blinked and turned his eyes away. + +Adalo, tortured by deep anguish, gazed inquiringly, searching into the +characters and dispositions of the two men; first into Saturninus's +stern, handsome face, then his glance scanned Ausonius's features, +kindly in expression, but wholly lacking the impress of a firm will. He +sighed heavily. But, conscious that the eyes of all were fixed intently +upon him, he summoned his whole strength, and said quietly: "If any +harm should befall her, her people will take terrible vengeance." The +firmly repressed, yet intense fury in the brief words, did not fail to +make an impression. + +Adalo, without any gesture of farewell, turned to leave the tent, and +was already standing under the curtains at the entrance, when +Saturninus cried: "And what name has the envoy of the Alemanni?" + +The youth turned quickly and, comprehending the whole group in a single +glance, exclaimed: "Adalo, son of Adalger. You shall remember it." He +passed outside the tent as he spoke. + +"Uncle," cried Herculanus, "wasn't that the fellow's name? Yes, yes, it +is he: the 'Mars of the Alemanni!' Seize him--and the war is over!" + +Before Ausonius could answer, Saturninus, hurrying out of the tent, +said: "Beware, Ausonius! Nothing in heaven or on earth seems to be +sacred to this nephew of yours. But that Barbarian's eyes must be +quickly bandaged again; their glance is like an eagle's." He hastened +after the envoy. + +Ausonius, vexed by many things, said very irritably, in a tone almost +never heard from the lips of the kind-hearted noble: "I have long been +displeased with you, nephew Herculanus. I am very much displeased. +Very! Extremely!" + +He passed him with a hasty step, harshly thrusting aside the arms which +Herculanus stretched toward him with a soothing gesture. The nephew's +eyes followed him with a glance that boded evil. + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + +Meanwhile the Batavians, Adalo's two companions, and the bear-leader +had lain chattering peaceably together around the campfire. + +There was, in general, so total a lack of any feeling of unity among +the various German tribes that the Alemanni did not think of openly +reproaching the Batavians, or even cherishing any secret resentment +because they were fighting under Roman standards against other Germans: +Alemanni mercenaries also fought against the German, as well as against +the other foes of Rome. + +So the Roman bronze vessel, filled with dark red Rhaetian wine, was +passed to the two Alemanni also, and the Batavians gladly drank the +mead which Adalo's companions had brought in long wooden vessels +fastened on their backs. For in those days the thirst of the Alemanni +was great and frequent, and the brave fellows--hospitality in the +enemy's camp had not been expected--would have been reluctant to do +without liquor during the long hours consumed on the journey there, the +waiting, and the return. + +The Sarmatian, with laudable impartiality, drank wine and mead by +turns. He, too, at a sign from Rignomer, had taken his seat by the +fire. The bear lay stretched at full length at his side, while he began +to throw sharp knives into the air and nimbly catch them again, to the +astonishment of the Batavians, who gave him small copper coins. His +lame companion was lying under the bushes, sleeping so soundly that he +snored. + +"Ah," cried Rignomer, wiping his chin with his bare arm and returning +the little cask to the Alemanni, "may Fro reward you for the drink! +Nothing has tasted so good since I turned my back on the Issala and my +mother's earth-cellar. She brews it even stronger." + +"Wine tastes still better," said his countryman. + +"Better in the mouth, Brinno; but mead and ale taste better in the +heart: it's home drink. And the best part is not the moist wave that +runs down the throat, but the memory of many a happy hour of former +drinks, which hovers over it like the rustling of a heron's wings. +Well, Alemanni, when will it come to fighting? And will you seek us, or +must we hunt for you?" + +"As the Duke chooses," replied the other, draining his cup--"and +all-ruling Odin." + +The Batavian's face changed. + +"Don't name him to me! I fear _him_; you wearers of hair I don't. I've +seized many a man of you with the left hand by his Suabian tail, and +thrust the short Roman sword into his throat with my right. But I fear +the wearer of the mantle! He is hostile to us mercenaries. It seems to +me as though he were hovering in the air opposing us, wherever we +fight. There, Juggler, drink again. And then show (we've seen _your_ +tricks) what your bear has learned. Ought not your boy in the bushes +yonder, the lame fellow, to have something too? But where is he?" + +"Ho, Zizais, dog of a cripple, are you deaf as well as dumb? Where are +you hiding? Look, there he lies over by the spring, nearer to the +ditch: he has a fever, and went for water. Now stir yourself, my brown +dancing maid." + +He whispered in the ear of the animal which, growling, rose on its hind +legs; the juggler put his long staff in its fore-paws, and now the +clumsy creature turned slowly in a circle, keeping time to a monotonous +melancholy tune which he first played on his huge flute and then sang, +beating time on a bronze cup with a knife-blade. The Romans laughed +loudly at the clumsy dancer. + +"What is the dainty damsel's name?" asked Rignomer. + +"Bruna. She can prophesy too. Take heed! Ask what you choose." + +Taking the staff from the bear's paws as he spoke, he laid his hand on +her head. The animal now dropped down on her fore-paws and looked up +intelligently at her master, who thrust some bread into her mouth. + +"Well, you wise Wala," laughed Rignomer, "will the Romans conquer in +the next battle?" + +The Sarmatian lightly stroked the animal's head against the hair: the +bear, growling angrily, shook her head. + +The Batavian started, the laugh died on his lips. "She is Donar's +friend," he said dejectedly. "He speaks through her. I thought so." + +He spoke as if the battle had already been fought and lost. + +"Well," said the juggler consolingly, "I'll question her for you. +Bruna, clever wood spirit, look sharply at this hero: Will he come out +of this war safe and go back to his mother who brews the good mead?" + +He lightly stroked the bear from the forehead down toward the tail: +Bruna nodded assent. + +"I thank thee, Donar," cried Rignomer cheerily. "What do I care for the +Romans' victory? I'm going home soon. Hark ye, fellow, the clever +fortune-teller pleases me. Will you sell her?" + +The Sarmatian looked thoughtful. The question was evidently unexpected. +"Not willingly--not cheaply--" he said hesitatingly, wishing to gain +time for reflection. "I live by her tricks even more than by my own." + +"You are right, Rignomer," Brinno observed. "It's often very dull in +camp when we're not on duty. She would amuse us." + +"And I'd like to startle the Romans, the proud legionaries who look +down scornfully upon us auxiliaries, but always send us to the +bloodiest posts in battle." + +"I suppose the creature came from these forests?" asked Brinno. + +The juggler nodded. + +"Aha," cried Rignomer, laughing, "then we must have her. We'll take her +to little Bissula: the brown German to the red one." + +"Who is Bissula?" drawled the juggler. + +"The most charming girl I ever saw," cried Brinno quickly. + +"Yes! Every one who sees her is fond of her," Rignomer went on. + +"Especially we Germans!" + +"So are the Romans, I think; at any rate, most of them. But she often +sits gazing so sadly toward the woods, as if longing for something. Her +countrywoman will amuse her. I'll buy the animal from you." + +"No, no! I don't want to part with her. But,"---his eyes +sparkled--"I'll tell you. Take me, the bear, and--" (he was going to +say my boy, but as he no longer saw him lying beside the spring, nor in +his former place, he checked himself) "into the camp for a few days, +till you are tired of the toy." + +But both mercenaries shook their heads. + +"That won't do! You jugglers and animal tamers are regarded as +professional spies." + +"The Tribune would have us flogged if we even let you pass through the +gate of the camp." + +"Well," replied the bear-leader, "I won't sell her, but I'll leave the +creature with you a few days; I'll soon come back for her." + +"Without pay? That's suspicious!" said Brinno. + +"Not without pay!" the other interposed quickly. "Not on any account! I +earn my living by her. You must pay me." + +"Very well. But listen: is the beast perfectly tame?" + +"Perfectly. If she gets a little unruly, you need only buckle the broad +collar here--do you see?--a little tighter." + +"I see." + +"Don't neglect to tell everybody who has anything to do with the +animal," warned the Sarmatian. + +"Especially the little one," said Brinno. "It would be a pity to have a +hair of her head harmed." + +"If only people do nothing to injure her, this clever countrywoman +won't bite them." + +Steps echoed from the camp: Adalo was being escorted back. + +"Zizais, where are you? We must go!" called the Sarmatian, turning +toward the bushes to search for the boy, who came limping slowly out of +the thicket. + +The woollen blanket was now removed from the envoy's head; with a +gloomy face he swung himself upon his horse, his two companions did the +same, and all three soon vanished in the darkness of the forest. + +The clank of weapons sounded at the gate; the Thracian spearmen were +coming to relieve the Batavians. At the same moment the bear-leader and +the cripple emerged from the thicket at the left; the former gave the +animal to Rignomer, who tried to drag it with him by the leather collar +toward the camp. But the bear resisted, growling and bracing herself on +her hind paws, as she looked beseechingly with her intelligent eyes at +her master. + +"Come, come, Bruna," urged the latter--"they are good people (he +stooped and whispered in her ear) won't you go yet? Didn't you +understand?" + +He scratched his head in perplexity. Then the cripple limped forward, +took from his moleskin knapsack a narrow long blue kerchief,--it looked +like a girdle,--and handed it to his master. The latter, laughing, gave +it to the Batavian. + +"Yes, yes. That will help. Hold it before the animal. No! Not in front +of her eyes: her nose. There! See how she sniffs? She is getting the +scent. Are you surprised? Yes, the cloth belonged to Bruna's dearest +playfellow. Go on slowly. You see, she is following like a lamb. Well, +greet the Roman camp for me, Bruna: I'll soon come for you." + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + +During the following night Saturninus made a little reconnoitring +expedition northward and, as far as it was possible to venture into the +swamps without trustworthy guides, towards the east. But he was +compelled to return to camp about noon without success. + +"They are evidently hiding in the northwest," he said angrily to his +best officer, Decius, as they rode side by side. "But none of the +guides will go in that direction, and we cannot penetrate into those +forest-clad mountains by force until Nannienus arrives. If we had only +brought his troops with us by land! It is almost useless, it seems to +me, to build galleys to blockade the lake." + +"Yes," Decius assented. "The Barbarians must have burned all their +boats, or carried them inland: not one is to be seen." + +Directly after the General's return a Batavian came to his tent, and +asked to see him alone. + +"What do you desire, brave Rignomer?" + +"To report myself for punishment. I drank too much wine." + +"When?" + +"Last night." + +"How? While on guard outside the camp?" + +"No, after I was relieved." + +"The trader will be scourged. Who sold it to you?" + +"No one. That was just it! I shouldn't have drunk so much if I had +bought it. But given! A present of Massican wine! Who can resist it?" + +"No German, it seems. And you report for punishment? Of your own free +will? Highly improbable. You were probably detected and wish to +anticipate?" + +"No: no one discovered me. When I was relieved, I had been completely +sobered by fright." + +"Why?" + +"My lord,"--he spoke hesitatingly,--"it is about the Idise." + +"Who is that?" + +"Why, the red-haired wood nymph." + +"What of her?" asked the Illyrian eagerly, now keenly intent. + +"My lord, I wish her well! As--as we all do." + +"As we all do?" + +"Yes, yes," replied the German, smiling, "even you. General; I've noticed +it. Well, I report for punishment, and will tell the whole story +because--because I'm afraid the little one's life is in danger." + +"Tell your story," Saturninus commanded, evidently startled. "Who gave +you the wine?" + +"Davus, the Prefect's slave." + +"Ah--and what happened then?" + +"Then it happened that I drank too much, and when I mounted guard outside +of the little one's tent, I soon fell asleep on the soft turf. A terrible +growling roused me. The she-bear owned by a juggler, a Sarmatian, which +I brought into camp yesterday and carried to the captive girl, acted +exactly as though she were a human being, that is, a man; for she followed +the red elf everywhere." + +"Suspicious! Did Bissula know the animal? Did she call it by any name?" + +"No. But she was very much pleased when she saw the she-bear; her face +flushed and paled. So much pleased that I asked, as you did just now: +'Bissula, do you know each other? How does it happen that the beast +will have nothing to do with anybody except you? Hark! how friendly her +growl sounds: why doesn't she treat us the same?' + +"'Oh,' replied Bissula, laughing, 'she comes from our country and she +knows that I am the only one who understands her Alemanni language. +Don't you believe me? Well, then ask her,' she added, still laughing, +shaking back her curling locks, 'maybe she will tell you.' + +"In short, the monster would not leave her side, and followed her into +the tent when she went to bed. So the bear's growling waked me. I +started up and saw by the light of the campfire a man, running at full +speed, vanish around the corner of the nearest tent. + +"I rushed in. The young girl had seen nothing--she had fallen asleep. +She was trying to soothe the furious animal, which, bleeding from a +dagger thrust in its right fore-paw, was angrily crunching in its jaws +a piece of brown cloth. At last Bissula, while washing the wound, +coaxed it away. Here it is." + +He gave it to Saturninus. The Roman General examined it closely. + +"This is certainly--but stay! Do you speak first, Rignomer. What do you +think it is?" + +"A fragment from the hem of a mantle." + +"What kind of a mantle?" + +"A Roman one: a sagum," + +"Who wear brown mantles--the only ones?" + +"The Thracian spearmen and the mailed riders." + +"Right. Say nothing of this matter to any one; and go." + +"And my punishment?" + +"You are pardoned. But drink gift wine cautiously in future." + +"Indeed I will, General." + +"In the inspection I am about to make you will act shrewdly and +prudently, as I order. And listen: one thing more. You owe the young +girl some atonement: do you perceive it?" + +"Unfortunately." + +"Will you make it?" + +"Gladly." + +"Then mark me. She has complained that I have her watched continually, +even during the day. Thrax, my fat scribe, to whom I gave the secret +commission, has acted very awkwardly; she found him out long ago. I +promised to rid her of him. But she must not remain unguarded." + +"Certainly not." + +"After this attack less than ever. You, Rignomer,--I will relieve you +meanwhile from any other duty,--must henceforth follow the young girl: +but unnoticed." + +"I thank you, General. I'll make amends for my fault. She shall neither +escape nor come to any harm. And she shall not discover that she is +constantly watched and guarded." + +Directly afterwards the tubas gave the signal through the streets of +the camp for a general inspection of the troops, in marching +equipments, with mantles. The foot-soldiers were to occupy the wide +space on both sides of the Prætorium in the Forum and the Quæstorium, +and the cross streets intersecting the camp from east to west, the Via +Principalis and the Via Quintana; but the horsemen were to remain +directly in front of their rows of tents, near the southern gate facing +the lake, the Porta Decumana. + +The Tribune mounted his horse and rode along the front. When he had +inspected the Batavians, he ordered a body of them to follow him and +station themselves behind the mailed riders, at the same time making a +sign to Rignomer. The Tribune first rode at a walk down the lines of +the mailed cavalry, then he ordered them to wheel and pass before him. + +"You look pale, O Herculanus!" he called to their commander. "Have you +been up all night? Did you sacrifice to Bacchus after the evening +banquet?" + +"A little." + +Saturninus now closed the inspection. Turning the corner of the Via +Media, which intersected the camp from north to south, he motioned to +Rignomer, dismounted, and gave him his horse. + +"Who had a piece missing from his mantle?" + +"No one. But one had a new piece of cloth sewed into the hem--the color +did not match, it had not yet been faded by the sun exactly the size of +that scrap." + +"An officer?" + +"Yes." + +"It was he: it was Herculanus." + +"But my lord, you saw the horsemen only from the front." + +"Yet I know it. Be watchful. Guard the little one." + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + +Adalo had retraced the road to the Holy Mountain with a heavy heart, +and with deep pain he made his report in the Duke's tent at daybreak. + +"I have gained nothing," were his closing words, "seen nothing of the +camp, and not a sign of--of her. What is to be done?" + +"Wait," replied the Duke, stroking his long beard and half closing his +eye. + +"Wait! it is easy for you to say that." + +"Harder than for you, who still have thrice as many years before you as +I." + +"But Bissula! Surely I have told you that she does not belong to the +old man, her friend. When will you lead us to the assault?" + +"When it is time." + +"When will it at last be time?" + +"Not before the moon has vanished from the sky." + +"Have the wise women read that to you in the runes of destiny?" asked +Adalo wrathfully. + +"I do not consult old women, when I am to fight; but neither will I +risk the victory for young ones. The moon must not shine; the night +must be dark. And another thing: the torrents of rain were a great +help, they kept the Romans in their camp, shut them out of the marshes +and forests. But now everything must get dry again, that it may burn +merrily. The god of wishes has already sent the right wind. Only have +patience a short time. Something else, too, must first be +accomplished." + +"Then at least let me try to inform her by a secret messenger how she +can surely escape." + +"No, by my wrath! Before we storm, I will show you why it is impossible +for her to escape by the way of which you are thinking. It would lead +her into the very midst of the guards outside the camp and betray +everything to them. But, did you not meet Zercho on the way back?" + +"No; but my companions told me. So you sent him?" + +"Sent him? No; he went without my orders. But hark--voices--there he +is, and some one with him." + +Zercho and Sippilo came hurrying into the tent. The young noble was +amazed to see his fair-haired brother in such a disguise. + +"Boy, what have you dared to do? You went with him as a spy?" he cried +wrathfully. "How you look!" + +"Like an elf of darkness; but the soot rubs off easily. See!" Laughing +merrily, he threw his arms around Adalo's neck and pressed his curly +black head against his brother's cheek. + +"Don't scold him until you know all--if you can do it then," pleaded +Zercho. + +"Make your report," the Duke commanded. + +"My lord, much--almost all is well! Yet not everything. Unfortunately I +could not get into the camp. But Bruna did," he added, grinning, as he +turned to Adalo, "and she'll find the little mistress." + +"Can the she-bear fly out again and bring us information about the +camp?" said Hariowald angrily. + +"Not she, but perhaps this paper can," replied Sippilo, laughing, as he +drew a roll of papyrus from his breast. "While Zercho and Bruna were +making the sentries laugh and stare, I succeeded, unnoticed, in +reaching the ditch, slipped down, and climbed part way up the wall on +the opposite side, I dared not risk going to the top, some one would +have seen me there. I'm as slender and supple as an eel. Part of the +earth in the wall had been washed away by the rain between the +palisades in many places; I squeezed into one and got my head and one +arm through, but could go no farther, my shoulders were too broad. +Then for a while I was very uncomfortable; I couldn't move forward +and did not want to go back without having seen something; besides, +the cramping hurt. Suddenly I heard voices, footsteps, and saw +hurrying toward me along the inner path of the camp, close to the +wall--Bissula." + +Adalo uttered a cry of joy, and the Duke, too, looked at the bold lad +with surprise and pleasure. + +"Several paces behind her a fat, very fat man came waddling along. She +didn't see me, for she was looking straight in front of her, and her +face was not merry as usual, but very sorrowful. I risked the chance +that the panting fellow would hear me. But I didn't trust myself to +call with a human voice; I began the warbling notes of the chaffinch. +Often and often we had practised together to try which could imitate it +the more closely; but I did better and lured the little male bird in a +fit of furious jealousy to my hiding-place among the leaves. Bissula +started, looked toward the gap in the palisades where the bird--so late +in the season--was singing, saw and instantly recognized me; she could +probably see only my eyes, not my disfiguring sooty hair. Stooping as +if to look for the finch, she whispered: 'Save me quickly.'" + +An expression of delight flashed over Adalo's handsome face. "She does +not love him; she wants to return!" his heart cried exultingly. Sippilo +noticed it and guessed the cause of his joy. His young face grew very +grave as he went on: "But alas, she added: 'Terrible danger, the +greatest, threatens me!'" + +Adalo groaned and clutched the nearest tent pole to support himself: +his brain was reeling. + +"Go on," said the Duke. + +"She could say no more, for the fat man was now close behind her: I saw +some long yellowish-white thing sticking out of the front of his +mantle. + +"'This is unbearable!' she cried furiously, turning upon him. 'Are you +my shadow, slave? Why do you follow at my heels? Leave me!' + +"'By command of my lord the Tribune.' + +"'Indeed?' she cried, half mischievously, half angrily. 'Then--by +command of your lord, the Tribune, you shall run and sweat well. Can +you catch the roe of the lake forest?' + +"And she darted off as swiftly as the merlin shoots down the mountain +stream. The fat man, panting and swearing, followed. At the end of the +road along the wall she turned, glided nimbly past the breathless +slave, and again ran toward me: she probably wanted to tell me +something, but I understood only the one word, 'hasten!' + +"Then she was gone; for her companion, pursuing her, now approached me. +When directly opposite he raised his cloak, which was hanging around +his legs, and the yellowish-white thing dropped from his breast. He +puffed along, and it rolled close to the two posts in the sides of my +hole. I hastily snatched it. I wanted to wait for Bissula to pass +again, but I saw several splendidly armed Romans stop her, and all went +into the inner camp. Then I drew myself backward from between the posts +(it wasn't easy; a little skin and hair were left sticking there in +remembrance of Sippilo), slid down the wall, climbed the other side of +the ditch, entered the bushes, crept back to my former place, and came +just as Zercho gave the she-bear to the guards and left the camp." + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + +The Duke had already taken the roll of papyrus from the boy's hand and +spread it open on the table. His eye sparkled with the joy of victory. + +"What do I read here? 'Four squadrons of mailed horsemen at the Porta +Decumana, all the baggage also piled at the Porta Decumana. + +"'The wall eight feet high. + +"'The ditch five feet deep. + +"'The weakest point the corner in the northwest'--and so it continues +for a long time! + +"Thanks to thee, god of wishes. Thou hast sent this, no one else, to +thy sons. Look here! A plan of the entire camp! Exact: all the +measurements. And here, marked on the margin, the strength of all the +troops horsemen, foot-soldiers, carters; and their distribution in +the camp. Look here, Adalo! Even the great pine, the tree of the +earth-goddess, is noted. What is this beside the tree? What stands +there above the stones of sacrifice which cover the turf near the tree? +A tent, empty, without soldiers, filled with provisions! + +"In this page I hold victory. Go now, Zercho: your reward shall be +paid. As I promised, I will buy your freedom, whatever sum your master, +Suomar, may ask: he cannot give it to you, his lands are not large, and +you are his most valuable property." + +"O mighty, generous lord, I thank you!" + +"Then you can return, a free man, to your own people, to Sarmatia. That +will be your wish?" + +But Zercho shook his unkempt head. Tears filled his eyes: "No," he +said. "I will stay here, my lord, if Suomar will let me keep the little +patch of ground I have always tilled--I had to give him only the +twelfth sheaf from it--and the hut of woven willow branches by the +lake. I would rather stay." + +"Strange! Do you feel no longing for your home, your own people?" + +"Home! We Sarmatians have none like yours, you patient, plough-guiding +men, which you occupy beside the immovable hearthstone, rooted to the +earth. Our home is the steppe, the broad, free steppe, which can be +measured neither by the eye nor the steed. Ah! it is beautiful." The +man's eyes sparkled, and suddenly Zercho, usually so dull and taciturn, +was overwhelmed by an enthusiasm which, to the listeners' astonishment, +gave his words wings. "Yes, it is more beautiful, more magnificent than +all the Roman and German lands I have ever seen. When, in the spring, +the sun has kissed away the last snow; when the moor laughs; when the +steppe blossoms; when by day hundreds of hawks scream at once in the +blue air, and the wild stallions, which have never borne a rider, neigh +so terribly and dash so furiously past the tents, trampling over +everything in their path as they pursue the trembling mares, till the +heart of the boldest man might quiver with fear and yet also with joy +at sight of such fierce, uncurbed strength! And oh, the nights, when +the thousands and thousands of heavenly spirits look down from above, +far, far more star-gods, shining far more brightly than here with +you; and when, in the darkness, the cranes and wild-swans pass like +thick clouds--for there are so many that they cast shadows in the +moonlight--like resonant, clanging clouds high in the air! + +"Doubtless the steppes of Sarmatia are more beautiful than any other +lands and the lives of the Jazyges on their swift steeds are freer than +other lives. But Zercho--Zercho no longer suits the steppe. I am like +the bird, the wild bird of the moor, which boys keep for years in a +small cage where it cannot spread its wings. If it is set free, nay, +flung into the air, it drops down and lies still; it can no longer fly, +it has forgotten how. So, toiling with the plough for many years and +staying in one place has fettered me. Zercho can no longer ride as the +Jazyges ride, vying with the wind; Zercho can no longer sleep every +night on a different patch of earth and, if there be nothing better to +eat, catch locusts and lizards. I am used to grain and bread, the fruit +of the lands I have ploughed myself. I have no wish to leave them. And +my family? I saw them all--all six--die before my eyes in one night, +the terrible night when the faithless Romans--those slayers of the +people, those murderous wolves!--suddenly attacked our encampment with +the round, straw-thatched huts, by the Tibiscus, during an armistice. +The bright blaze of the hurdles lighted them well in their work of +slaughter. My father killed, my mother hurled into the flames of the +straw tent, my two sisters--oh, horrible!--tortured to death, my two +brothers leaping into the stream which flowed red with blood! And I--I +saw it all, stretched before the hut, my head cleft by a sword stroke, +defenceless, motionless. So I lay the whole starlit night, asking the +thousand gods above there: 'Why? Why? Why?' But, when day dawned, the +slave dealers who, like the ravens of the air and the wolves of the +steppe marshes, follow the Romans on every battle-field, came and trod +on all the Jazyges who lay there, to learn whether they were still +alive. I quivered under their feet, was flung into a cart, and carried +with them many, many days and weeks. At last the kind-hearted Suomar +bought and rescued me. For never, though I was a bondman, did he call +me 'dog,' like the dealers. He treated me like--like a human being. And +when the little mistress grew up, Suomar's farm became my home. And I +will stay down in the willow hut beside the lake as a free man, so long +as I live, if I am allowed to do so. And when Zercho's death hour +comes, the little red sprite (for we must rescue her, Adeling, and we +will) shall close my eyes with her hand, and then they shall bury me in +the open country, in the pastures by the lake. The cranes will pass +over me at night with rustling wings and clanging cries, high in the +air, and I shall hear it under the thin covering of turf and, in my +death sleep, dream that I am lying in the blossoming, fragrant steppe +grass." + +He stopped. His cheeks were flushed; his ugly face was transfigured; +never in his whole life had he uttered so many words at once. + +The Duke held out his hand, saying: "No, Zercho, you are no dog. You +have a heart, almost like the Alemanni's. Different, it is true, but +not evil." + +Adalo said nothing, but he clasped the bondman's other hand and pressed +it warmly. Sippilo turned away: he did not want to let any one see his +eyes. + +"You have a lucky hand, boy," cried the Duke. "I can read your wishes +in your eyes. Yes, you shall share the battle for the victory which +your bold artifice has done so much to win." + +Sippilo rushed to the old Commander-in-chief and clasped both his +hands: "You diviner and fulfiller of wishes! I can imagine Odin like +you! Last autumn Adalo refused me the sword, because"--he hung his +head--"because I could not pierce with my spear the willow-woven +Hermunduri shield in our hall. Pshaw, I was only a child then; but at +the spring festival I pierced the old Roman shield which Suomar gave me +for a target." + +"I had bored six holes in it and stopped them up again," Zercho +whispered to the Duke; "but let him go. I'll protect him." + +Hariowald dismissed the bondman and the lad. + +"Well," urged Adalo vehemently, "in this sheet you hold in your hands +the victory,--you said so yourself,--so let us fight at last." + +But the Duke silently shook his head. + +"Consider. 'Hasten' was her last word! Tonight?" + +"No. What is one girl in comparison to a whole nation?" + +"I beseech you! I implore you! You are my friend--my kinsman." + +"I am Duke of the Alemanni." + +"Well then," cried Adalo, deeply incensed, "delay. I will save her--I +alone! There is a way, known only to myself and to you. I will use it." + +He turned to rush from the tent, but quickly, with a threatening look, +the old noble barred his way. "Stop, boy! Do not stir from this place. +Will you rob your people of certain victory for the sake of a pair of +blue eyes?" + +"I will not rob them of it! I will only appear to-night in the Roman +camp,--I alone,--and bear her out of it in these arms, or leave my life +there." + +"Whether you live or die, the secret will be discovered--the surest way +to victory in our attack." + +"You will conquer, with or without Adalo, in other ways. I will save +the girl I love before it is too late." + +He tried to force himself past the Duke, but the old man seized him by +both shoulders with an iron grasp and forced him to stand. + +"And I will accuse you before the popular assembly, like that +treacherous king; I will have you hung between two wolves to a bough of +the accursed withered yew." + +"Do what you choose after I have saved her or died with her," cried the +frantic youth, wrenching himself free. But, with unexpected strength, +the old Duke flung him, reeling, back into the tent. + +"I will have you bound hand and foot like a madman. You are mad. Freya +has bewitched you. Hear it, Adalger, high in Valhalla: Adalo, your son, +no longer heeds a hero's duty or manly honor. He must be bound with +willow withes, with ropes, that he may not become base and destroy his +people for a woman's sake." + +Agitated, overpowered, crushed, Adalo sank prostrate, his hands +clenched in his long locks, moaning: "Bissula--lost--lost!" + +The Duke, unobserved, cast a keen sympathizing glance at the youth. He +saw that he had convinced and conquered him. + +Adalo went out, grave and thoughtful, to be alone with his grief. + + * * * * * + +In the course of the day a messenger secretly conveyed to the Roman +camp a letter from Adalo, addressed to Saturninus and Ausonius. The +young chieftain, on the pretext of inspecting the farthest outposts, +had gone with his envoy from the top of the Holy Mountain through the +whole seven fortifications encircling it to the last one at the foot, +and then ridden with him into the forest which stretched between it and +the Roman camp. Here he awaited the answer, his noble face pale and +disfigured by the long mental conflict through which he had passed. +When he heard in the distance the hoof-beats of the returning horse +(evening had come, and the mountain peaks oh the opposite side of the +lake were glowing with crimson light), he ran breathless to meet it. + +"Well," he cried, "where is the answer to the letter?" + +"They gave me no answer. Both the Roman generals--for I had them both +called, as you ordered--read your letter before me with great, great +astonishment. They talked together, with loud exclamations, in words I +did not understand, not Roman ones. Then both turned to me, the older +one, who was formerly in the country, speaking first: 'Tell your master +the answer is: Never.' And the younger man added: 'Not even for this +price.'" + +Then Adalo suddenly fell prone like a young pine whose last prop above +the last root has been cut by the axe. He had dropped face forward. The +faithful attendant sprang from his horse, sat down on the grass, and +took the senseless youth's head in his lap. Adalo lay unconscious a +long time, fairly stupefied by grief. The stars were already shining in +the sky, and the bats darting through the trees, when, panting for +breath, he climbed the mountain. + +"That was the last effort," he said to himself. "Nothing is left now +except death--death in battle, not to save her, alas! only her corpse: +for if shame be inflicted on her, she will not survive it." + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + +But, eagerly as Saturninus watched for the galleys expected from +Arbor, another was to learn their anticipated departure long before he +knew of it. This was Duke Hariowald. + +On a wooded hill, the hill of Zio, named the Geerebühl, east of the +Holy Mountain, almost directly opposite to Arbor, a little band of +Alemanni spies watched night and day, one, relieved every hour, gazing +steadily across the lake at the Hill of Mercury, the nearest height +south of Arbor on the southern shore of the lake. + +The region around this harbor fortress, which was wholly under Roman +rule, was inhabited by colonists of various tribes: among them many +Alemanni whom capture, or voluntary surrender and removal, had led to +the better-tilled, more richly cultivated southern shore. + +At noon on the day of Adalo's secret message a slender, almost +invisible column of smoke rose from the Hill of Mercury on the southern +shore: instantly a thick grayish-black cloud of smoke ascended from the +Geerebühl on the north shore. This was clearly seen from the eastern +side of the summit of the Holy Mountain,--the Hill of Mercury was _not_ +visible from it,--and one of the guards who constantly watched the +Geerebühl, instantly rushed into the Duke's tent "Smoke is rising on +Zio's Mountain! A high column of smoke." + +Hariowald came out of his tent in full armor (during the past week he +had scarcely removed it night or day), with his battle helmet on his +noble head. This helmet was a very strange one: whoever unexpectedly +saw it gleam before him might well be startled. + +In those days, as well as now, the great white owl was a rare visitor +to Lake Constance. Scarcely once in a decade did this stranger from the +far north go so far southwest in its migratory flight as the +neighborhood of the Alps. Early in the winter of the previous year +Adalo had brought down with his arrow a magnificent specimen of the +superb bird of prey from a tall fir-tree in the forest by the lake, and +given the huge bird with its gleaming snow-white plumage, marked only +with a few rusty brown feathers in undulating lines on the breast, to +his white-haired cousin as a splendid ornament for his helmet. + +The owl now spread above the bronze head-piece its huge pinions which, +though not stretched to their full width, extended more than three +feet. It was not mounted as eagle and swan wings usually were, with the +tips of the feathers toward the back of the helmet, but in the opposite +way, turned forward, startling and confusing the spectator by the +threatening attitude--a true helmet of terror, such as Odin wears when +he rushes into battle at the head of his troops. + +With this helmet and clad in full armor, the Duke came out of his tent +and motioned to one of the heralds, who always waited his orders here. +The man seized the long crooked horn of the aurochs, which hung ready +on one of the posts of the tent, and sounded it three times. The +summons echoed far and wide. Instantly the other heralds, carrying +white-ash staffs in their hands, and wearing smaller horns hung by +leather thongs over their shoulders, hurried down from the summit in +every direction, through all the lines of the fortifications, bearing +the Duke's summons to the most distant outpost. + +The warriors flocked from all sides, fully armed, swiftly climbing the +mountain; only the guards needed to protect the fords across the +swamps, the barricades, and the narrow entrances to the ring walls +remained behind. All pressed up the mountain and, as soon as they +reached the summit, surged toward a giant ash-tree which, from the top +of the loftiest mountain peak, thrust its branches into the clouds. + +Close to its trunk a sort of judge's tribunal had been built of large +stones; an oblong one rested like a back against the tree; another of +the same height, laid across two blocks sunk in the earth, formed the +seat. + +Several stone steps led up to the high seat, and on them lay various +weapons, among them one very plain shield and spear, with the rune +_fe_, corresponding to the Latin _F_. Then came a costly boar helmet, a +richly ornamented bronze shield, covered with a boar's hide and, like +the helmet, decorated with two boar's tusks outstretched defiantly; a +sword in a costly sheath of polished linden wood, richly mounted with +bronze; a sharp battle axe and a spear, the handles of both adorned and +strengthened by gilded nails: these weapons bore as a house-mark +drawings of two boar tusks. Last of all were a small, very light round +shield, a short spear, and a dainty sword with a white leather belt +painted with red lead: each of the three weapons bore as house-mark a +stag's antlers. + +The Duke had not yet taken his seat. Standing erect on the horizontal +stone, with his spear in his right hand, he scanned the warriors +flocking from every direction. A huge oblong shield, almost the height +of a man, painted red, with black runes inscribed upon it, hung above +his head on a bough of the ash. + +The whole top of the peak around the tree was inclosed and girdled by +"cords and staves"; that is, by hazel wands and spears, which--the +latter with the iron points uppermost--stood thrust into the earth at +distances of seven feet apart, and were bound together by linen bands +almost a hand's breadth wide, knotted around the middle of the staffs, +the red hue of the bands proclaiming that the popular assembly was to +judge matters of life and death. + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + +After the surging to and fro of the men pressing forward into the +circle, the loud voices, and the clank of weapons had somewhat died +away, the Duke raised his spear and struck with it three solemn strokes +on the bronze shield. Instantly deep silence reigned. "The assembly is +opened!" said Hariowald, and slowly took his seat, crossing one foot +over the other. + +Throwing back the long, full, dark-blue mantle, fastened by a clasp on +the left shoulder, he rested his spear like a staff on his right +shoulder, and raising his left hand with the fingers extended, said +slowly: + + "I, the Judge, I ask you for the law! + I ask you, ye free men: + Is this the hour and the place, + To have and to hold + A judgment righteous + Upon noble Alemanni, + The sons of victory-- + House and estate. + Cattle and chattels, + Money and lands, + Peace and liberty, + Body and life? + Point out, ye men of knowledge, + The law to the Judge." + +Two elderly men stepped forward, drew their swords, raised them toward +heaven, and said with long pauses, the words of one always blending +with those of the other: + + "We will point out, as we know it, + To thee, Judge, the law: + This is the hour and the place + For judgment righteous: + On the conquered and inherited + Ancient soil of the Alemanni, + By the all-conquering sun's + Clear, shining, ascending, + Radiant light, + Beneath the ancient + Ash of our fathers, + In Odin's temple, + On cattle and chattels, + Money and lands, + Peace and liberty, + Body and life, + Justly we judge + And find, we free men, + Sentence righteous." + +Both withdrew into the circle. + +"Before we march forth to the battle against the foe," the Duke now +broke the silence, "and we shall set out soon, very soon--" + +Loud shouts of joy and rattling of weapons burst forth, which the old +noble allowed to die away; then he continued: + +"The popular assembly must first pronounce judgment and decide +questions of justice and law. First on Fiskulf, the fisherman, from +Rohr-Mos, the rush marshes. Where is the accuser?" + +Adalo stepped forward hesitatingly. + +"Here: I, Adalo, son of Adalger." + +"Step to the right. Where is the defendant?" + +"Here!" said a man in plain garments; he wore an old fishing net for a +girdle. With head bent sorrowfully he came forward, lowering his eyes. + +"What is your complaint?" asked the judge. + +"Breaking the oath of military duty." + +"That is a matter of life and death. Tell me the law: may Adalo, son of +Adalger, make such a charge here?" + +One of the two old men stepped forward again, and said: + +"The assembly knows Adalo, the Adeling, as a free man of unblemished +reputation: his estate is in the Linzgau: it would cover any charge of +false accusation: he may make complaint in a matter of life and death." + +At a sign from the judge the young noble began: + +"I make the complaint reluctantly,--against my wish and will,--but my +oath requires it. For when I took command of the men of the western +shore of the lake, I was obliged to swear on the Duke's hand to +denounce before the assembly any breach of his orders that might occur +in my troop. So speak I must, for I fear to break the oath. You all +know that the Duke forbade, on pain of death, the lighting of a fire by +day or night in any of the boats where the fugitives from the country +at first lay concealed among the rushes on the western shore: if the +Romans, while passing, discovered by smoke or flame that there were +people living in the wide marshy forests, all who were hidden there +might be lost. When I set out, I repeated the Duke's command to all my +men; Fiskulf was standing on my shield side. And yet, while the foe was +passing along the shore he lighted a fire on the Pike Stone which rises +above the reeds. True, it was daylight, but the smoke was visible. The +nearest cohort had halted and was preparing to look for the fire, which +I with difficulty put out in time to lull their suspicions. I must now +accuse Fiskulf of this breach of orders." + +He paused and drew back a step. A murmur of indignation ran through the +ranks, blended with many a loud cry of anger and reproach. + +"Silence, all! Silence in the circle, until I ask your judgment," +shouted the Duke from his lofty stone seat, raising his spear aloft. "I +forbid reproaches; I command peace. You, Fiskulf, what say you to the +charge? Denial, or confession?" + +"Confession," replied the fisherman sorrowfully. "It is as the Adeling +said." + +"You knew the command?" + +"I knew it." + +"You broke the command?" + +"I broke it. Alas, I am so deeply ashamed. It was from hunger--but not +to satisfy my own. We had lain hidden in the marshland forest for many +nights; the stock of dried fish I had brought in the boat was +exhausted. I repressed my hunger and chewed the tops of the young +reeds. I would not have done it for myself; but my boy, who was with me +(he had just recovered from the fever that lurks in the swamps, and he +is only seven years old), cried so bitterly with hunger, begging and +pleading: 'Father, father, give me something to eat!' It cut me to the +heart! I speared a large pike that was sunning itself near the stone, +cut it in pieces, and meant to give it to the child to eat. But +loathing choked him: he only cried quietly and no longer entreated me. +Then I rubbed two dry sticks together till I kindled a fire, broiled +the fish on the top of the stone, and gave it to the boy to eat. I ate +some myself, too." + +"I was forced to accuse him," said Adalo. "But I entreat the assembly +not to punish the man. No harm came from his act. A father--" + +"Silence, Accuser," the judge interrupted. "You have made the +complaint; he has confessed: you have nothing more to do here except to +listen to the sentence. I ask: what may follow breaking an order given +to the troops when the enemy is in the country? What? You are silent? +The disobedience might destroy the whole nation. What? You refuse to +point out the law," the old man went on indignantly. "Or do you +gray-beards no longer know what the boys learn? Answer! Point out the +law,--" he rose threateningly,--"or I will tear the shield of the +assembly from the ash and complain to the gods: The Alemanni have +forgotten the laws of their people! What is the punishment of treason +and breaking the oath of service?" + +"Death!" now rang forth in many voices. + +"I knew it," said the fisherman quietly. "Farewell, countrymen. I wish +you victory and prosperity." + +But the Duke continued: + +"What death must he die? By the willow-withe? By water? By the red +stroke of the knife? Or by the red flame of burning branches?" + +One of the two old men stepped forward again, saying: "By his deed he +has offended Zio the war-god and Odin the giver of victory. Zio demands +blood upon the stone of sacrifice; Odin's will is that he shall blow in +the wind. Odin is the greater god and the father of Zio: the lesser +yields to the greater; the son to the father. Odin's right is first: +the oath-breaker is consecrated to Odin, He shall be hung by willow +ropes under the chin, with his face toward the north, from the withered +yew, a wolf at his right hand and a wolf at his left--the oldest +symbols of quarrelsome, reckless lawbreakers." + +"He is consecrated to Odin," the judge repeated solemnly--"if Odin +desires him. We will ask the god." + +All gazed in astonishment, the fisherman with a faint thrill of hope, +at the old man, who now continued: + +"It is dishonorable and shameful for the man to swing among the +branches, between the sky and the mountain top. And hitherto he has +been brave--only he could not be strong enough to bear the weeping of +his child. He will die useless to his people, if he hang high aloft on +the tree. Well then, we will ask Odin if, perchance, he will forgive +him. You all, like the accuser himself, at first wished to let the act +pass unpunished. That will not do. To the Lofty One we must offer his +right; but--perhaps--he will not take it. I advise that Fiskulf shall +venture upon a deed in which, for his people's welfare, he will fall, +inevitably fall, unless Odin himself take pity on him and bear him away +in his floating mantle." + +"Speak, speak! What may I do?" cried the fisherman, with sparkling +eyes. "All! All! Gladly will I die by the spear. Only not the rope of +shame!" + +"You shall be the first, in advance of all the others, to leap on the +proudest Roman galley and--you understand how to kindle flames so +well--set fire to its sails." + +"Yes, yes! That he shall! Hail to the Duke!" shouted thousands of +voices. + +Fiskulf sprang forward to the judge's chair, lifted both hands to him, +and cried: "I thank thee, Duke! Ay, thou knowest the will of Odin! The +proudest Roman galley--the General's vessel in Arbor, is it not? Well: +I do not yet know how I am to reach the ship on the other side of the +lake; but I will die, or accomplish it." + +"I will provide for that," said the Duke. "You need not go to the ship: +Odin will bring the galley to you! Then do as I have told you." + +"Gladly! Gladly! Oh, give me back my weapons!" + +At a sign from the judge the heralds restored to him the spear and +shield marked _F_, which lay on the stone steps, and he returned to the +circle of his comrades, many of whom clasped his hand. + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + +"A joyful duty now awaits you," the Duke began again: "a boy of noble +family asks the bestowal of the sword, the first weapon granted. Many +of us know him, and all who do, wish him well. True, the young hero is +not very large; but I take my oath that I saw him yesterday pierce with +his spear, at fifteen paces, a moderately thick linden-wood shield. And +great was his courage, bold his daring when, dauntlessly risking his +life and liberty, he scaled the wall of the Roman camp, brought back +most important information and placed it in the Duke's hand." + +"Who is it? Who is it?" asked many voices. + +Adalo stepped forward, leading his brother by the hand: "Sippilo, my +brave little brother." + +Then the Duke spoke: + +"I ask the assembly: Shall he receive the weapons? Is the young falcon +fledged?" A pleasant smile illumined the face which could look so +wrathful and threatening. + +"Hail to him! Hail to the Adeling! Hail to the boy! Give him the +weapons." + +Sippilo flushed like a young girl, but the blush was very becoming. + +"Will you grant him the favor of bestowing the weapons yourself, O +Duke?" pleaded Adalo. "Then, when he grasps sword or spear, he must +always remember the hero to whom he first owed them, and prove himself +worthy of the giver." + +"I will," said the judge, rising and beckoning to the boy. + +Sippilo ascended the first of the steps leading to the Duke's chair. +Hariowald took the little round shield lying before him and gave it to +the lad, who seized it eagerly, passing his left arm under the upper +bar of the shield and clasping the lower one with his hand. "I, +Hariowald, son of Hariomar, Count of Linzgau, chosen by all the +Alemanni Duke for this summer's Roman war, say to you, Sippilo, son of +Adalger, of age to use weapons and worthy to receive them: + + "With the shield I give, protect, + Better than thine own breast, + Dearer than thine own body and life, + The noble Alemanni + Land and nation. + Shield runes, and runes of defence, + Deep burned thy brother + Its solid framework within; + They will hold and keep + The shield's shelter for thee + So long as thou thyself + Dost hold and stand + Fast by thy people." + +Then he handed him the spear, saying: + + "Runes of victory I, sure of triumph, + Carved for thee myself + On the sharp spear's handle. + To mortal man never + Lower it vanquished, + Nor let its shaft be shattered. + Some day, full lightly, + From thy faithful hand + When, white-bearded, thou dost win + On thy shield the battle death + 'Mid blissful victory-- + Then, from thy faithful hand, + Lightly will take it + On swan-wings downward to thee floating, + Shining in beauty, + Valhalla's fairest Valkyria, + And bear thee, loyal one, + Upward to Odin." + +Lastly, he put on the belt from which the sword hung in its sheath, +saying: + + "As the belt now girdles thee, + So, as its own doth hold thee + The Alemanni army. + As the belt is for thee + Ornament and defence, + So art thou, as one link, + Ornament and defence + To us, the Alemanni." + +Then Sippilo drew the short sword from its sheath, held the hilt toward +the shining sun, and said: + + "This bright sword will I wield + For my free nation, + For its rights, its renown, + And for Sippilo's kinsmen! + Should I e'er do aught else, + May the keen, shining edge, + The sharp blade, the wise blade-- + For this oath it knoweth-- + Deal my faithless heart a death-blow! + Sun, thou dost see it; + The Lofty One heard it, + And Zio is witness, + With the Alemanni's + High-crested army." + +The boy now leaped joyously down the steps and, proud of his new +weapons, took his place beside his brother amid loud shouts of applause +from the multitude, especially his kinsmen and those who had the stag's +antlers inscribed on their shields. + +"Now the next act of justice. One who is absent wishes to free his +bondman in the assembly. Suomar, son of Suobert, who is on guard in the +eastern marshes, liberates his slave Zercho. I have bought his freedom +for the sake of good service rendered to the army; his master, to whom +a messenger was sent, is willing to set him free; and Adalo, the +Adeling, by his wish, will speak and act for him. Bring the bondman." + +Then Zercho, who had been waiting outside the body of freemen, was led +before the stone seat by two heralds. His eyes were sparkling with joy. + +Adalo, holding in his hand a bow and arrow, stepped forward, saying: +"As the representative of Suomar, your master, I announce in the open +assembly that he has received from Hariowald, Count of the Linzgau, a +faultless stallion four years old, two cows of Roman breed, twenty +sheep, a bronze armlet seven times twisted, and a silver solidus; in +exchange for which he frees you, Zercho, the Jazyge whom he bought as a +prisoner of war from a dealer in Vindonissa. By my hand and word he +liberates you: take the last blow which you have to bear as a slave." +He gave him a light stroke on the cheek. "And see, look, all ye +freemen: as I shoot this arrow, so free and far, unrestrained and +unfettered, Suomar, who hitherto has been your master, leaves you. You +may go forth as free as this arrow flies--free and restrained by no +one!" + +As he spoke he sent the arrow, winged with heron feathers, high into +the air. The missile whirred from the long bow, whose string struck +echoing against the beautifully polished wood. Zercho watched the +arrow. High, high up it flew, till it vanished in the blue sky. But he +did not see clearly; his eyes were swimming in tears; it was hard to +force back a loud sob. From long years of custom, he was about to throw +himself prostrate on the ground and, clasping the Adeling's feet, kiss +his hands in token of gratitude. But the latter quickly stopped him, +and the Duke said: + +"You are free now, Zercho! Rejoice, freeman! For, though your master's +hand was gentle, bondage is pitiable and withers strength and courage. +Only the life of the free is life: the slave breathes, but he does not +live." + +Adalo handed him the bow, saying: "Here is this weapon, which proves +your freedom before the whole people. Let it be the first one you carry +in the army and for the people of the Alemanni, which has now become +your nation too." + +With radiant eyes and head erect the freedman now entered the ranks of +the free. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A frown darkened the Duke's brow. "Now for the last judgment of the +assembly! Other gods are drawing near, unlike those which have just +viewlessly hovered above the boy's fair locks--terrible gods! Complaint +is made against one of the district kings of the Alemanni." + +"Ebarbold! Traitor! Rebel! Destroyer of the army! Oath-breaker!" So +threatening voices rose from the throng. + +"Peace! Silence in the assembly!" the judge commanded. "Where is the +accuser?" + +The King's weapon-bearer stepped forward, drew his sword, and said: + +"I, Ebarvin, son of Erlafrid. For, like all the men of our league of +peoples, I have sworn a terrible oath by all the gods and by the +terrors of Hel to resist, denounce, and avenge rebellion and treachery +against the league and the Duke of the Alemanni, wherever, however, and +whenever I can. Well! For twenty winters I bore the shield of King +Ebarbold's father, and for as many more the shield of this Ebarbold +himself. Every word I utter against him falls heavily upon my heart; +but still more heavily weighs the oath I swore to the Duke for +the league of the Alemanni. Well then, I accuse King Ebarbold of +oath-breaking, rebellion, and treason. Thrice have I warned him, thrice +have I openly threatened to reveal his conduct to the Duke and to the +whole people. He laughed at the threat; he would not believe it. He +said: 'The skin lies nearer to your heart than the cloak; the Ebergau +is dearer to you than the nation; your own lord is more to you than the +Duke.' He was mistaken. So it was in former days, so it was for a long, +long time; but this wrought woe to us all. + +"We have learned the lesson at last: the Romans taught us with iron +rods. We have learned it in bloody straits: the people, the league of +the people, is the highest thing, for it alone protects all: the hand +is more precious than the finger. But he wanted to persuade me and all +his followers, nay, all the fighting men in our district; and when we +refused, he tried to command us by virtue of his authority as King. He +said that, if the popular assembly decided to wage war and the Duke set +out on the march, we must not obey, but withdraw from the Holy +Mountain, force our way if necessary, and induce the Romans to spare +our district by giving hostages and submission." + +A terrible roar rose from the ranks; weapons clashed; the wrath of the +people burst forth furiously; several young men, brandishing their +swords threateningly, sprang toward the accused, who stood, silent but +defiant, directly before the judge's seat. + +"Hold," cried the Duke, "down with your arms! Whoever wields them again +in the place of the assembly, the place of the army, shall be punished +at once." + +He had started up, and now, from the upper step, he held his long dark +mantle protectingly over the head of the threatened man. The tumult +instantly subsided: the most hot-headed retreated into the circle in +confusion. + +"I ask you," the judge now began, "King Ebarbold, son--" + +"Spare your words. Count of the Linzgau," interrupted the other, with a +gloomy, but fearless glance. "It is all true. Kill me: you have the +power to do so, therefore you have the right. I do not wish to live! +Had that been my desire, believe me, I might have fled into my own +district or to the Roman camp long before you deprived me, by your men, +of the royal insignia of my race or watched my every step, while you +merely disarmed the insignificant fisherman. True, according to the new +law of the league, you might have had me bound--me, the son of many +kings, the descendant of a god! Since I have learned the disloyalty of +my most faithful follower, my own old shield-bearer, I feel a loathing +for the times. I no longer wish to live among a people, according to a +law, which permits the horrible thing to happen that the native of a +district values its King, the follower his lord, less than the empty +sound of the word 'league,' the brief authority of a Duke from another +district. I am too old and too proud to learn this new law. You, old +man, with your greed for power, long ago, in your bloody thoughts, +dedicated me to your savage Odin." + +"Not I, you yourself, son of Ebor." + +"Well then--slay me." + +"Not I. You yourself have separated yourself from your people by such +doctrines. Yes, it is better for such men as you to die than to live: +the district kings, if they offer defiance, must be sacrificed to Odin, +who, as King of the people, is above all our gods and all our peoples." + +"My family," said the King proudly, "runs back through a hundred +ancestors to the gods: not to that crafty one, whose secret wiles you +are imitating, who scatters runes of discord among peoples and princes. +We descend from the god of peace. Fro, who bestows fertility. He has +set his golden-bristled boar for a sign upon the shields and helmets of +us, his sons. I have ever honored him and peace above all." + +"Aha, the god Fro," replied the old Duke, now incensed, for he could +ill brook hearing his Odin upbraided, "the god Fro will have little +cause to rejoice, when he looks down on his descendant dangling from +the withered yew, like the long-billed snipe that is caught in a snare. +For I ask the assembly,--his own words are the most open expression of +guilt,--with what does the law threaten him?" + +"The rope--the willow rope!" rang from a thousand voices. "The tree of +shame! Hang him! Hang him up at once!" + +"But between two dogs: wolves are too good for him." + +A look of keen anguish flitted over the King's proud, bold face. He did +not fear death, but disgrace. He shuddered slightly. The Duke had +watched him intently. + +"I, the judge," he now began slowly, "ought not to oppose this +sentence, and the guilty man cannot. But consider, spearmen! It will +bring little renown to our name among the other peoples, when the rumor +spreads among them: a King of the Alemanni is swinging between the +clouds and water for treason to the army. You have offered the humble +fisherman the straw of hope that the Lofty One might save him from the +death of shame, bear him to himself in Valhalla, or even--almost +against possibility--after the fulfillment of the deed which you have +assigned to him, spare his life. + +"Well then, this King's guilt, it is true, is far greater than that +caused by the father's love for his child; but honor in him the +descendant of the god of harvests! Do not rouse Fro to vengeance, lest +for many years he should blast our crops. The god of the boar with +golden bristles is easily angered! And remember, too, with gratitude +this man's father." + +"A brave hero!" ran from lip to lip. + +"He fell in the bloody battle of Strataburg, at the head of the wedge +of his district. Fighting gallantly in the van of his people, he at +last sank--fell backward on his shield, with many wounds in his breast; +for he, the man who had the wild-boar's courage, would not turn his +back to the foe. This hero is now looking down from Valhalla upon us; +his heart is throbbing anxiously at this impending sentence of +disgrace. Alemanni, do not let him behold his son hanging between dogs. +Grant the King, as well as the fisherman, a deed of ransom!" + +Ebarbold looked up with a grateful glance to the man whom he had so +bitterly hated. The people were still silent: their wrath was fierce. + +Then: "Suppose he should run away?" + +"Suppose he should desert to the Romans in the midst of the battle?" + +Two men uttered the questions at the same moment. A deep groan escaped +the lips of the defiant King: "No one feared that from the fisherman! +They ought not to deem me so base." He struck his brow with his +clenched hand. + +Then Ebarvin, his accuser, stepped forward, saying: + +"These questions were hard and undeserved. Few among our people will +suspect that from the King of the Ebergau. He spoke truly: he might +have fled long ago, but he would not escape. I believe him. I have +known him ever since he learned to speak: he has never lied. He wants +to die, from resentment against the people's league, and perhaps also +from remorse and shame." + +The King, deeply moved, hastily turned away from the speaker and closed +his eyes, but instantly opened them again with a defiant look. + +"Well then, I, a free man of unblemished reputation, with broad lands +in the Ebergau--I answer for him with life and limb, property and +honor. I will swear for him that any deed of arms imposed by the people +to ransom him from the rope King Ebarbold will perform, or he will fall +upon his shield in doing it." + +"I thank you, Ebarvin," said the tortured man, drawing himself up to +his full height: this confidence was balm to his inmost soul. + +"So be it! So be it!" shouted the multitude before the judge could put +the question. "The Duke shall choose the deed!" + +"Well then," said the latter without hesitation, "it _is_ chosen! In +the Roman camp is a hero who is its head and its whole strength; if he +fall, all their military power will be broken. Name the man!" + +"Saturninus!" echoed from many voices. For the Tribune had repeatedly +commanded the Roman troops in Germany, and many of the men now +assembled on the Holy Mountain had formerly served beneath the Roman +eagles. + +"Ebarbold, bring us from the battle the head of Saturninus--and your +guilt is pardoned. Will you do this, hero of the boar?" + +"I will," replied the latter, with a deep sigh of relief. "Give me my +sword; give me my weapons again." The shield-bearer handed him the +sheathed sword. Tearing the blade from the scabbard, he held its point +toward the sun, saying: "I swear by this blade, the sacred symbol of +the one-armed god of war, that, in the next battle, I will slay the +Tribune, or fall by his sword." + +Loud shouts of applause now burst forth. All, even those whose +resentment at first had been most bitter, were heartily glad that, +instead of a disgraceful punishment, an honorable deed of ransom had +been found for the proud King. + +The Duke gazed down at the surging throng with satisfaction. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + +After allowing the excitement of the multitude time to find vent, the +old Duke gave the twelve heralds a sign, and they hurried into the +thick grove of oaks rustling behind the ash-tree. Then he struck the +shield, saying: "Justice has now been done according to righteous law +and the noble will of the people. + +"The judge has done his work: now listen to your Duke, army of the +Alemanni!" + +Deep silence instantly followed: all eyes rested intently upon +Hariowald, who sprang up, took the shield from the tree, slipped it on +his left arm, and grasping the spear with his right hand, said from the +high stone step, his voice, now in a totally different tone, ringing +out with mighty resonance over the people: + +"Many of you, I know,--and not the worst spearmen,--have silently +dissented or openly grumbled because I have so long delayed leading you +to battle. The foe was in the land, and we shrank into the forests; he +was burning halls and huts, and we were watching the smoke and flames +rise at a distance and remaining inactive. Gradually, even from the +farthest districts, the men faithful to the league and obedient to the +oath joined us: still the Duke delayed. And meanwhile the enemy was +fortifying his camp. Yes, we knew it--any morning from the fortress on +the opposite side of the lake the proud galleys might bring almost as +many warriors as the camp already contained. Why did the old man still +delay? When would he fight?" + +"Yes, yes, why delay? When shall we go to battle?" Many voices +impatiently repeated. + +"He delayed," the Duke went on, his voice rising in tones of thunder, +"because he did not wish to strike part, not even half, but all, all, +as many as could be reached,--all the murderers, the burners of homes, +whom the boy in the imperial purple has again sent from across the lake +to attack our free people! + +"To-morrow (faithful men reported it to me before the news reached the +Roman General), early to-morrow morning the proud galleys will sail +across the lake and anchor off the shore close to the camp; and +to-morrow, after midnight, old Hariowald will lead you to storm the +camp and the ships at the same time!" + +Then the long-repressed battle fury broke out in a terrible tumult; +frantic shouts and wild clanking of weapons echoed through the air. + +"Look," Hariowald continued, "the heralds are already bearing from the +sacred grove of the gods of our country, from the mysterious gloom of +the forest darkness, never illumined by a sunbeam, the victorious +badges of our tribes and districts which they have taken from the +ancient oaks." + +A shout of joy, somewhat subdued by reverence, greeted the procession +of twelve heralds, who now, in pairs, with measured tread, came from +beyond the ash-tree and gave the badges to the representatives of the +various districts and clans, who stepped forward from the circle to +receive them. + +Ebarvin seized the symbol of the Ebergau: the boar's head with +threatening tusks fastened to a cross-pole on a lofty spear. Adalo +grasped a similar shaft, which supported a pair of huge stag's antlers. +Almost all the monsters of the primeval forest and the animals sacred +to the gods were used in a similar way. Beside the huge horns of the +aurochs and the bison rose the broad antlers of the elk. Odin's wolf, +Donar's bear, and Löki's fox opened their jaws threateningly. Zio's +sword, pointing straight upward, surmounted a shaft painted blood-red; +another had Donar's hammer between two zigzag red lightnings forged +from iron; three lances bore each a horse's head and neck, and from the +necks the manes--respectively black, red, and brown--still fluttered. +On other poles the bald eagle, the golden eagle, and the Alpine vulture +spread their wings and extended their talons in attitudes of menace. A +winged dragon carved from wood had been covered with the skins of the +ring adder and the copper adder, which rustled in the wind. And as, +like the manes of the horses, the hair of the wild beasts had been left +hanging in a strip from the head to the tail, and long red, yellow, and +blue streamers fluttered from the cross-poles, there was no lack of the +rustling, waving motion, to which we moderns are accustomed in banners. + +Under these streamers was also many a trophy,--a fragment cut from a +captured dragon standard, or a scrap of a purple pennon which the Roman +squadrons and cohorts had long carried under the _labarum_ or standard +of the cross, for they had abjured the pagan eagles. + +When the representatives of the districts and families had received +their beloved and honored emblems and returned to the ranks, the Duke +went on: + +"Hail to you, ancient symbols of conflict and witnesses of victory! +Hail and greeting, ye emblems consecrated to the gods! In your +presence, looking into the future, seized by the power of the gods +invisibly hovering around you, I will venture to utter a prophecy: + +"Comrades in arms, Alemanni! do not doubt this time that victory will +be ours. You know that it is not the custom of old Hariowald to boast +before acting: but this time I predict to you certain, complete, +glorious, joyous victory. + +"All our gods will unite to aid us to-morrow. Not least of them Löki, +the flame-creator. Tents and ships will vanish in fire. The lake nymph +will drag many hundreds down in her net. The terrible earth-goddess +will open her mysterious bosom, on which the insolent aliens have +trodden with iron feet: she will pour forth the avengers, the sons of +her country, into the midst of the enemy's strongest fortress! For the +Lofty One blinded the hated foe, so that they chose in our whole +district the spot for their camp most fatal to them. And when they fly +from the tents to the galleys, amid the terrors of the night, by the +flickering glare of their burning fortifications--they will find on the +lake the same destruction in fire and blood. + +"If the last of the flying ships, with masts and prows half burned, +pursued and harried by our swift boats, should really succeed in +reaching the southern shore and the harbor fortress from which they +sailed forth so victoriously, who knows--I will not say more--who knows +whether they may not find there an unexpected doom? + +"No! Silence still! Hear me to the end. + +"Before I dissolve the assembly and send you all to prepare your +weapons in the best way, to polish the points and blades, and to eat +and drink enough,--not over much, then afterwards--do you hear--to +seek sleep soon, very soon, for you will have no slumber to-morrow +night--hear one thing more: you must make one resolve before this +battle! + +"Remember, men, how from generation to generation these Romans have +sinned against our people; how again and again they have broken faith +and treaty; how they will not even grant us the poor land we have +wrested from the marsh and the primeval forest; how, in violation of +treaties, they have pushed their fortresses farther and farther into +our boundaries; how they forced thousands of our ancestors to fight +naked and unarmed with wild beasts on the blood-stained sand of their +arenas in the city by the Tiber, gloating, safe in their high seats, +over the death-agonies of our kinsmen under the paws and rent by the +teeth of roaring monsters; how they forced thousands of our young men +into their cohorts and made them shed their blood, often far beyond the +salt sea! + +"Ha, Alemanni of the Black Forest, do you still know how they invited +your King Widigab to a banquet and murdered him over the wine-cup? Have +you forgotten, Alemanni of the Ebergau, who submitted to them on +condition that you should live according to your own laws, how on the +smallest pretext, they had your free men scourged by their lictors? Do +you still recollect, Alemanni from the Breisgau, how they asked a +peaceful passage through your country, and then encamped near the +sacred grove of the goddess Ostara, asked permission to visit the aged +priest of eighty and his great-granddaughter, the girl of sixteen, in +the grove (it was a General and one of their shaven priests, with a +hundred warriors), and inquired what was your most sacred thing? And +when the maiden unsuspiciously showed the sacred bronze vessels which +the gracious goddess had once sent down to you on the rainbow, how they +suddenly seized both, and the Christian priest, before the eyes of the +unarmed people, shamefully profaned the sacred vessel; how the General +slew the venerable priest and dragged the young priestess away to +captivity and disgrace, and how their warriors set fire to the sacred +grove? + +"Do you still remember, men of the Alpgau, how, in the midst of peace, +a centurion dishonored your Count's young wife by her own hearthstone, +so that she hanged herself by her girdle? + +"Have you forgotten how often they have bound our girls together, yes +and our boys, too, like beasts of burden, by their long locks, and +driven them forth to a life of disgrace from which the pure gods of +Asgard turn their faces, crimson with shame and wrath? + +"You have _not_ forgotten these things! I hear it! I see it! Well then, +do as I advise: _Take no prisoners!_ Kill them all! Do not spare one; +disdain all ransom. Let the whole army,--leaders, horse and foot,--be +dedicated to Odin and to Zio. You will: I see it! Then repeat the words +after me and swear: + + "To thee, Odin, doomed, + And to wrathful Zio, + Be all who live within the camp + And on the rocking galleys. + Soon will ye bathe in blood, + O gods so mighty, + From ankle to knee!" + +Swinging their weapons in frantic excitement the gathered thousands +repeated the terrible oath. + +"I will dismiss the army at once; only hear one thing more--your Duke's +vow. The many thousand mailed men who broke into the peaceful districts +captured one single prisoner, a defenceless woman, a merry little +maiden. Many of you, I think, know her." + +"Bissula! The little one! The fair one! The red-elf, Suobert's child!" +So shouted hundreds of voices. + +"Yes, Bissula, Suobert's daughter. Well then: whoever releases her, +whoever brings her to me from the Roman camp after the battle, shall +receive the Duke's whole share of the booty." + +A grateful but sorrowful glance from Adalo rested upon him: the young +noble no longer dared to hope. + +"The circle is dissolved, the assembly is over," the old commander +continued; he then turned the upright stone resting against the trunk +of the tree and descended the steps. + +The bands, with loud acclamations for the Duke, instantly scattered in +all directions down the sides of the mountain, each division following +the symbols borne in front of its own district and tribe. + +Adalo was going too; but the Duke motioned to him to remain, took from +his hand the stag standard and gave it to Sippilo, who bore it proudly +down the Holy Mountain. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +"Stay," said Hariowald, when the heralds, last of all, had left the +place of assembly, "you must know how this battle is to be fought, +according to my plan and wish. For, if the Lofty One should call me up +to him before the victory is won, you must complete it. Therefore you +must now learn all (far more than the men in the army) that for weeks I +have been preparing during sleepless nights, and have secretly +accomplished in the past few days. + +"Come, sit down by me; we will spread out on this stone the plan of the +Roman camp, which we owe to your brave little brother. + +"It has been of the greatest service to me. I told you yesterday how +the men of the districts were to attack the four sides and gates of the +camp at the same time." + +"Yes: but you did not say where you would fight with your bands, and +where I was to go." + +"I? I shall take the shortest way--from beneath." + +"No! No! Leave it to me. It is the--most dangerous one." + +"Yes, yes," cried the old man, laughing. "And you have no suspicion how +dangerous it is. Know then: the ascent cannot be made, as we hoped, +first of all and unexpectedly, taking them by surprise; it cannot be +made until after the foe, alarmed by the assault on the northern wall, +stands ready in full armor." + +"Then it will be impossible! But why?" + +"Because, as I first learned night before last, the Romans, in digging +out the northern ditch, filled up the extreme northern end of the +subterranean passage; or else the earth has fallen in, from the +jarring. When I entered this passage from the forest outside of the +camp--" + +"What? you yourself?" + +"Yes, I myself; night before last. I advanced only a few steps before I +found a heap of earth which had fallen from above, and I was obliged to +return. But I stole, on the surface of the earth, so near the ditch +that I could look into it from a tree. The whole ditch--it is now dry +again--was brightly lighted by their camp fires. Then I saw that the +earth-goddess of our land had blinded the strangers' eyes. They +perceived nothing suspicious in the large boulder that bars the +continuation of the passage from the ditch into their camp, and they +did not roll it away. True, it has not been moved from the spot for +decades; for the secret, bequeathed from generation to generation, is +known to but two men of the race who bear the emblem of the stag's +antlers, and there is rarely an occasion which demands its use. So they +did not perceive that the rock had been rolled there by human hands, +and they planted one of their banners on the turf which covers it. They +have no suspicion of the passage. For look! The plan of the camp shows +it; close beside the Nerthus pine, above the altar stones of the Idise, +they have pitched a tent filled with provisions and weapons. You see, +here!" + +"Yes, indeed. The tent is placed exactly over the mouth of the passage. +But outside there, in the northern ditch, numerous sentinels are +posted--Thracian spearmen alternating with Batavians." + +"Yes, that's just it. They must be driven away before I can roll the +rock aside and make my way up." + +"That will cost blood; it will also require time. The Thracians, and +especially the Batavians, are their very best troops. Alas, if it +happen to be the turn of the Batavians. They are not inferior to us in +heroic courage." + +"No matter! They must fall before the badger can enter the old burrow." + +"And then--after the battle has summoned all our foes to arms--then you +will? Let me go in your place!" + +"Obey! You will find work enough at the southern gate, the lake gate. +When we have stormed the camp, the whole flood of those who still +remain alive will pour to the ships through the southern gate. They +must not be allowed to reach the lake in close order, to turn the tide +of battle against us there at the last. You will meet them as they +burst through the southern gate, and drive them back into the burning +camp, or scatter them. They must not be allowed to reach the lake from +the camp as reinforcements to the defenders of the galleys, but to +increase their alarm. This is your task: Saturninus, if he live, will +make it hard enough for you." + +"So my post will be at the southern gate?" + +"Yes; and to it I have sent, if by any means she can reach +it--Bissula!" + +"Thanks!" + +"Do not thank me! For I forbid you to fight for the girl; you must +fight solely for victory. Yet have no anxiety. If she is still alive, +she will be rescued. I have relieved Zercho and Sippilo from every +other duty, and given them only one charge--to find and protect the +young girl. But you I need for higher work. I fear one man only in the +whole army," he added in a lower tone--"Saturninus. He is like the old +leaders they had in their better days, the days of which my grandfather +and father told me with horror, when it was almost impossible for the +most heroic courage to defeat a Roman army. Who knows whether Ebarbold +will strike him down? We must let the King have the first chance; he +has the prior claim: but if the Roman should be the one who survives +and I do not reach and kill him after the King's fall, before you (I +shall make every effort to do it), do you, son of Adalger, provide that +Saturninus shall not lead his army in closed ranks down to the lake: +detain him as long as you can stand." + +"As long as I can! But I wondered when you set the fisherman his task. +If the Roman galleys cross the lake here, how can you know whether he +will be able to reach them from the shore? They will anchor, not come +to the land. How is Fiskulf to get from the storming of the Roman camp +here?" + +"He will not share the assault," replied Hariowald, laughing, as he +stroked his beard complacently. "And he will not go by land to the +galley, but by the lake." + +"Swimming?" + +"No, rowing. Know what no one has yet learned; for crowds are +garrulous. Besides the most distant Alemanni districts, I have secretly +won as allies the Hermunduri, who drink the water of the Main, and +induced them to send us reinforcements for this war. You supposed that +the boats in the two forest-covered swamps on the east and west of the +Idisenhang were filled solely with people unable to bear arms, after I +had brought most of the men here? No, my friend! The boats, almost +three hundred, in the two marshes are not empty of men. The women and +children are to be put ashore to-night; more than two thousand Alemanni +and Hermunduri will leap into the boats. From left and right, from east +and west, they will float in the stillness and darkness of the night +against the high-decked galleys, and as soon as the first torch is +hurled into the Roman camp on the Idisenhang, our boats will attack the +Roman ships from the open lake and from left and right. Aha, do you +think our fishing boats will be like nutshells against those giants? +Probably: but have you never seen a flock of brave little swallows +put a sparrow hawk to flight? Our skiffs are small, it is true; but +more than two hundred against sixty. And the pitch and resin of the +pine-trees in the forests by the lake, blazing in a thousand faggots of +dry twigs, will burn merrily in the linen sails and the rigging of the +triremes." + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + +"You have planned all this alone?" asked the young noble. + +"Ha, more, far more than this! Like the wolf of hell, this Rome opens +her jaws to swallow all Mittelgard. What? They are not willing to grant +us land enough on the northern shore of the lake to feed our growing +population? Well, let us see whether, in punishment to the insatiable +robbers for new and old crimes, the gods will not deprive them even of +the districts they have hitherto held by force,--the northern shore!" + +Adalo's astonishment was increasing. + +"Their proud giant ships will float against us from Arbor to-morrow; +those which escape the midnight conflagration will not, I hope, be +received again, when they fly homeward, in the eyrie whence these birds +of prey went forth." + +"What! Arbor?" + +"I have long tried to persuade our eastern districts also to make +common cause with us; they did not refuse reinforcements to the league, +as people here suppose because they did not see the men of the eastern +provinces. Besides,"--he smiled craftily,--"most of the eastern +districts have kings. It was not necessary to have all these kings +here, when Ebarbold's fate was to be decided. Meanwhile, they will help +where I sent them: on the southern shore. But not they alone. + +"We wished to free the brothers of our race still enslaved by Rome. For +a long time the Alemanni and the other colonists--more slaves than free +men--have borne, grinding their teeth, the yoke which every year +pressed heavier. But they were held in check by the fortresses on the +other side, from the Linden Island behind Brigantium, beyond Arbor and +Constantia. They had long been ready to fight, but the lake fortresses +seemed to be too strongly garrisoned. They dread these fortifications +from long experience. They required to have aid from us. + +"Well: least of all now, with the Emperor so near and a Roman army on +the northern shore, least of all now, do the tyrants fear an attack +upon their fortresses in the south. To-morrow nearly all the soldiers +who usually guard Arbor will come across on the ships to share the gay +expedition for booty; only a small guard will be left behind. But as +soon as the camp on the Idisenhang is burning,--a magnificent torch, +kindled by Zio himself,--the infuriated colonists will attack Arbor +from the land side. Thousands of free Alemanni from the eastern +districts will aid; they have stolen in small parties through the +mountain passes from far, far beyond Brigantium, and remained hidden in +the forests and farm-houses of the colonists for the last two days. At +the same time our men from the eastern marshes (Suomar commands them) +in thirty boats, under cover of the darkness (this is why I could not +move while the moon-goddess was in the sky), will go to Arbor, burst +the chains of the harbor, and unless the Christian God should descend +from the clouds to save the fortress, the morning sun will see the free +and the enslaved Alemanni on the walls of Arbor. + +"Many times already we have won it, plundered it, half burned it, and +then left it, so that the Romans could establish themselves there +again: we will be so foolish no longer. If we conquer this time, we +will remain there forever! Then one link of the iron chain will be +broken, and we shall find it easier to subdue the other fortresses at +the left and the right, from Brigantium to Constantia. + +"I shall not live to see the day, but you will, young warrior, the day +when the southern shore of the lake and the country far, far into the +lofty mountains whose peaks are crowned with eternal snows, will be the +possession of the free Alemanni: then think of this hour and old +Hariowald." + +He started up, intensely moved, his white hair and silver beard waving +proudly in the breeze. + +"My Duke," cried Adalo enthusiastically, "this is magnificent! Speak, +when to-morrow we have won this great victory according to your plans, +will you not then, instead of Count, bear the name of _King_ of the +Linzgau and the Ebergau, if Ebarbold fall?" + +"No," replied the old man quietly, "that would not be wise. I have +reflected upon it a long time. Odin's will, I think, is different for +our people. Ebarbold has no descendants: after his death I will propose +that they shall not elect another king. + +"That will be well; for the time is close at hand, though, it is true, +not yet fully here, when one king, a single one, will gather all the +districts of the Alemanni under his rule. The path will be more open, +easier for this universal king to traverse, the fewer kings and the +more counts rule the districts. We two will smooth, not block, the path +for the future king of the people. No, no! And, besides, the men of the +Ebergau must not say: 'Ebarbold was forced to fall because Hariowald +wished to be called King.' + +"That king of the people is coming! Then, it is true, the nation will +scarcely remember me or you. Only perhaps some harper, in the hall of +the One King, will sing how Hariowald, the old chief and Adalo, the +young one, defeated the Romans three times in a single night. But we, +Adalo, shall then look down upon the free land of the Alemanni, +stretching from the Alps to the Vosges. We shall look down from Odin's +table. And I may probably expect that, when I cross the threshold of +Valhalla, the Lofty One will rise from his throne and come to meet me, +with the drinking-horn in his hand. For many men--far more through my +counsel, which always advised war, than by my spear--have I sent up to +him by the red death in the last fifty years, to fill his hall and +increase his army. Yes, my Adalo, we shall then look down upon the +glory of our people and say, laughing joyously: 'We two also helped to +build it that night on the Idisenhang.' + +"So, Adalo, so I praise you: your cheek is glowing, your eye is +flashing! That is the right spirit, Odin's spirit, which is now taking +possession of you. And that alone, that ardor for battle, will also +give you the most ardent desire of your heart; not the dull despair of +the last few days, in which, unhappy youth, you sent that secret +message to the two Roman Generals! + +"Hush! Of course I knew it. It was not difficult to guess the contents +of the letter you forwarded after they had disdained everything else +you had to give. But I also knew positively that they would refuse you +too. That is the sole reason I allowed your messenger to pass through +the barricades, as you thought, undetected. I too would gladly see her +at liberty, the wild red rosebud of the hillside by the lake, the red +flower in our people's garland of oak-leaves. But your Bissula is +yonder, with victory, in the Roman camp. If you want her, hew her out +at the same hour with conquest and the salvation of your people. + +"No, do not thank me; do not talk! Go now! I must be alone." + + + + CHAPTER XL. + +Meanwhile, incidents of grave moment had occurred in the Roman camp. + +The friendly feeling between the two Roman Generals had become +strained, and Bissula's ingenuousness toward both was transformed into +fear and distrust. The two friends, once so intimately associated, +avoided each other and confined their intercourse and conversation +solely to matters absolutely required by the service. At the same time +the prisoner, now suspiciously watchful, perceived in Ausonius a +resentful bitterness toward the Tribune, very alien to his usual +good-nature. The latter, on the other hand, evidently was not angry; +even in his cool reserve he seemed to spare his older friend, nay, to +treat him with a sort of compassion. + +The little maid herself was very unhappy. Her careless unconsciousness +was completely destroyed, and she did not know which of the two men +whose friendship seemed to be broken, if not by her, on her account, +she ought to avoid with the greater fear. This feeling grieved the +kind-hearted girl. She was also burdened by anxiety about the future, +by dread of the unknown, by rebelliousness--when she was powerless and +fully aware of it--against the restraint imposed by the will of +strangers upon her obstinacy, all threatening her immediately. For, +however the two Romans differed in everything else concerning the +prisoner, they seemed to unite in one thing: Bissula should never again +be free, never return to the forest hut by the lake, to the familiar +scenes of the neighborhood. + +At these thoughts tears filled the eyes once so saucy or so proud. How +sadly she admitted to herself that her own folly and defiance were the +sole causes which had brought all this misfortune upon her! How kind, +how prudent, how loyal Adalo's advice had been! Yet these tears, +burning, bitter tears of remorse, nay, yearning, were a relief. Even +now, in the trouble for which she alone was to blame, he had not +abandoned her! The first greeting that reached her from her people had +come from him; he had sent the young brother whom he loved so fondly, +and whom therefore she loved for his sake, and Bruna too, her old +playfellow. + +She had dissembled craftily before the soldiers, and wondered loudly at +the animal's "friendliness." But, as soon as she was alone in her tent +with the faithful beast, she clasped the huge head tenderly with both +white arms, kissed the broad forehead and lovingly patted the neck of +the bear, who growled affectionately in reply. Then she slipped her +hand through the collar, felt a depression in it, drew it up from the +shaggy skin to the light of the Roman lamp, perceived characters +scrawled on it, and read: "Through the gate to the lake." + +Her heart throbbed warmly. So her friends had already consulted about +her escape! They were giving her the safest direction, the part of the +camp where her companions would wait for her. But they could not +possibly mean that she should try to make her way now, without further +delay, through the lake gate, that is, through the "Porta Decumana," so +closely guarded day and night. Not now! But when? + +Evidently as soon as something happened which would render escape +possible; then she was to choose that direction. But what was to +happen? An attack of the Alemanni? Ausonius laughed at it. Even +cautious Saturninus had said: "Unless they fly over it like the +swallows that are now preparing for departure, they will not come into +this solid camp." + +So she racked her little brains, pondering over all sorts of +possibilities which might bring her liberty against or with the will of +the Romans. Should she appeal to Ausonius again? No! + +A strange timidity had taken possession of her ever since her last +interview with him. She had never cherished any affection for the +clever, eloquent man except the feeling a daughter has for a father; +but recently, in making the proposal to take her with him, his eyes had +rested on her so strangely. Never had he looked at her so before. It +was like the gaze Saturninus fixed upon her when he seized her outside +of the forest hut--but never again, not even when he told her that she +belonged to him and he would not release her. + +So it happened that the sensitive girl, alarmed by the suddenly +discovered ardor of the older man, felt safer and more at ease with the +younger but undemonstrative one. She avoided Ausonius; she almost +sought Saturninus, to whom, at the beginning and during the whole +course of her captivity, she had learned to be grateful as to a +watchful guardian. + +Often and often, since reading Bruna's message, she walked toward +the lake gate, without hoping to find it unwatched or carelessly +guarded,--the Tribune kept too strict a rule, too sharp an oversight +for that,--but to impress upon her mind the exact locality of the +streets and tents which might afford a hiding-place near the gate where +she might await, close at hand, the most favorable moment. + +She had soon chosen for this purpose a towering heap of beams, gabions, +and boards piled one above another, which had not been used in building +the camp and had been left here: it rose high above her head, and when +behind it, she was concealed from the view of those at the gate or in +the street between the tents. But she never lingered long at the spot, +lest she might arouse suspicion. + +Bissula sought from preference the opposite side of the camp, facing +the north, where the lofty pine-tree of the earth-goddess rose beside +the broad sacrificial stones of the altar, spreading out its mighty +branches, and from above the wall the eye could rove freely over the +forests to the distant peaks where, veiled by mists, the Holy Mountain +towered. Her thoughts always flew thither, not to the eastern marshes, +not to Suomar. She was often anxious about her grandmother, but Zercho +had certainly concealed her; and now that "the obstinate redhead" could +no longer say no, probably on the Holy Mountain. + +"Therefore"--this was the excuse she willingly made to +herself--"_therefore_ I cannot help thinking constantly of the Holy +Mountain, Oh no! That isn't true. It is not for my grandmother's sake. +Adalo, Adalo, help!" + +So she had called aloud the evening after the refusal to set her at +liberty, perched high among the branches of the pine-tree into which +she liked to climb to dream alone, and at the same moment stretched her +beautiful arms, with a gesture of longing entreaty, toward the +northwest, where lightning was flashing over the mountain peaks. + +On the evening after the inspection (it was the day of the assembly on +the Holy Mountain) she walked through the streets of the camp, thinking +and dreaming of her liberation, also of her liberator. She had tied +faithful Bruna firmly to the poles of her tent; for there had +repeatedly been serious trouble when she took the animal with her: boys +belonging to the camp followers pelted her with stones, from safe +hiding-places, till she was greatly infuriated. + +To Ausonius's nephew, especially, the bear showed intense antipathy, +rising on her hind legs and growling furiously whenever she saw him, +though he anxiously kept out of her way and never teased her. Only with +the utmost difficulty, by clasping her arms around the animal, had she +prevented Bruna from attacking him. + +"Your she-bear understands Latin," said Saturninus, who had sprung to +help her, smiling. "She knew what Herculanus said when he swore that +some day she should pay in the amphitheatre at Rome, under the teeth of +his Thessalian dogs, for the mischief she meant to do him here." + +"Bruna in Rome?" the girl cried defiantly. "No more--than Bissula in +Burdigala!" But as she spoke she almost wept from rage, hate, and fear. + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + +Oppressed by sad yearning and anxiety, the usually light-hearted child +had again walked this evening from her tent to the lake gate, and +thence, driven back by the shouts of the Thracian sentries, wandered +through the whole camp to her beloved pine-tree, which had begun to +supply the place of the oak beside her forest home: for the tree of the +earth-goddess also afforded a convenient ascent like a stairway on its +broad branches drooping to the sacrificial stones, while on the central +trunk was a hiding-place invisible from below, with a comfortable back, +and the beloved view over the Roman fortifications to the mountain +peaks rising in the distance. + +The sun had set long before, and darkness gathered quickly in that +region as soon as the glowing ball had vanished behind the wooded +western shores of the lake. There was no moon; only a few stars were in +the sky. + +The wind bore to her ears from the distance scattered sounds: the +neighing of a horse, the rattle of a weapon, the shout of a sentinel at +the gate. Oh, those guards, who also watched her here in her spacious +prison, prevented her escape, her return to her people--for how much +longer? Sorrow overpowered her, and she felt that tears were about to +flow. But her tyrants should not see them; she would weep her fill, up +above there! + +Bissula glided lightly up and sat so still in her hiding-place among +the boughs that a belated bird--a blackbird--perched for the night, +without seeing her, a few branches above her head. + +Then the girl saw two men step cautiously from behind corner tents, +each at the end of a street running in opposite directions across the +camp; they made signs to each other, gazed carefully behind and +sideways, then hurried forward and met directly under the pine-tree on +its northern side, so that the huge trunk completely concealed them +from the camp. + +Bissula bent softly, softly downward: it was a man with a helmet and +one unarmed; she could not distinguish their features. They began to +talk, in whispers, it is true, but the listener understood many words, +and she now recognized the speakers by their voices. + +"But I tell you, it must be this very day! He has ordered the scribe to +come early tomorrow morning, with the seal. He means to change his +will--to add a codicil. What good will his death do me, if he first +throws the best part of his riches into that wench's lap?" + +The other made some reply which the girl did not hear. + +"Ha!--she--she can't be reached!" answered the first speaker. "That +red-haired witch is under the protection of the fiends of hell." + +"How so?" + +"Why, one night lately--a deadly terror has seized me ever since when I +see the brown beast--the monster's hot, loathsome breath was steaming +from her open jaws into my face! She was within a hair's breadth of +clutching and squeezing me to death! This very evening--just now--at +supper--" + +"Hark, what was that," asked the other startled, "up above in the +pine-tree? Didn't you hear anything?" + +"Pshaw! The night-breeze in the branches!" + +"No, no! It was--" + +"Well, it was that bird! There it flies!" + +The startled blackbird, loudly uttering its cry of fear and warning, +flew upward; the listener, in her horror, had pressed her hand upon her +throbbing heart and, by the slight movement, frightened the bird +perched so near her. + +"Well then, by Tartarus, I will risk it! He complained again to-day, +before many witnesses, of fever and all sorts of pains. Have you +hemlock enough? Shall I give you my vial? I brought it with me. Here, I +always carry it in my breast." + +"Enough for six uncles!" + +"But the stuff must have a suspicious taste: sharp, bitter. Suppose he +should notice it too soon?" + +"That's why I mixed the other half with honey. But take good care of +your store. Perhaps Prosper, in case he has any suspicion, must also--" + +"Or the Barbarian girl, if the will has already--" + +"Let us go," the other interrupted. + +"Put it in the Emperor's goblet! He drinks from no other.--Quick: I go +to the left." + +"And I go to the right." + +The voices died away, and the footsteps echoed from two directions. + +Horrified, almost paralyzed with terror, Bissula slipped down from the +tree. On reaching the ground she staggered, clinging to the trunk for +support, and for a moment wondered whether she had not fallen asleep +and dreamed. She could not realize, could not believe that such a deed +was possible. His own nephew--that kind-hearted man! + +And yet it was true. Haste was necessary. The hour for the meal had +already come, and Ausonius always began by drinking from the Emperor's +goblet, with the three beautiful female figures, to the health of the +Emperor Gratianus. + +Those two men had the start, too, and it was a considerable distance +from this extreme northwestern corner of the camp to the Prætorium in +the south. Turning, she ran as swiftly as she could, but had only +reached the corner of the nearest street of tents when she shrieked +aloud in terror. An iron hand grasped her arm. + +"Help!" she screamed despairingly. "Help! Help for Ausonius!" + +"Why are you shrieking like a dying leveret, little one?" replied a +deep voice. "Where are you going so fast?" + +"Let me go, whoever you may be! The Prefect's life is in danger! Who +are you?" + +"I am Rignomer. I followed you unnoticed till you climbed the tree. You +wouldn't have seen me now, if you hadn't dashed away as though you were +driven by the elves. Where are you going?" + +"To the Prefect! They want to murder him!" + +"Oh, nonsense, what are you talking about? Who?" + +"Don't ask! Come with me! Hurry! Alas, perhaps even now it is too +late." + +The Batavian yielded to this unmistakable despair. Without removing his +hand from her arm, he ran beside her. + +"Where is the Tribune?" asked Bissula. + +"With the Prefect: some news has come from Arbor." + +"The gods be thanked. He is the only one who can help!" + +On they ran through the streets of the camp, now perfectly dark except +where fires were glimmering at the corners. Suddenly Bissula fell. The +German dragged her up. + +"A tent rope! You must keep more in the middle. But you are limping! +Did you hurt yourself?" + +"A little. Keep on." + +But she reeled; her feet refused to carry her. + +"Now it's lucky that I caught you," said the soldier, swinging her on +his arm like a child. And Bissula, who usually so fiercely resisted +every touch, willingly permitted it. + +"Throw your arms around my neck, little one! There. Now hold fast! It +won't be long" ("unfortunately" he thought, but took good care not to +say it), "we shall reach there directly." And he pressed on swiftly and +sturdily with his light, beautiful burden. + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + +A slender bluish flame, burning in a marble vessel supported by a +bronze pedestal of exquisite Corinthian workmanship, diffused both +light and perfume through the Prefect's sumptuously furnished and +richly decorated tent. Ausonius was lying on the low couch: before him +stood the Tribune. Prosper, the old freedman, was pushing forward the +citrus wood dining-table, which ran on rollers. + +Herculanus entered, greeted all present pleasantly and took his place +on the second couch, opposite to Ausonius. "Where is Davus?" he asked +the freedman impatiently. "I am thirsty!" + +"He ought to have been here long ago," replied Prosper. "He often +wanders about needlessly, nobody knows where. You must have him put in +the block again, patronus." + +"What," cried Ausonius laughing, "have you actually dragged the block +here, you rigid slave-overseer, all the way from Vindonissa?" + +"Three fine ones, patronus. If you take bad slaves with you, I must +take good blocks." + +Saturninus was about to go: "The business of the service is over for +to-day, Prefect. Perhaps Nannienus may arrive with the galleys +to-morrow. He sent a swift galley across the lake to-day: he will +arrive very soon. Then, at last, we can begin our work without delay. +But," he added in a kindly tone, advancing a step nearer to the lectus, +"Will you permit me to utter a word of warning. Prefect Prætor of Gaul? +Yesterday, and to-day still more, you complained of illness; chills +followed by short attacks of fever: will you not remain here in the +camp to-morrow (Bissula shall nurse you), instead of marching with us +into the swampy forests? I fear you already have the marsh fever." + +Just at that moment Davus entered, bringing the beautiful +mixing-vessel, filled, and several empty goblets. + +"Davus, you lazy hound!" shouted Herculanus. "Quick! I am thirsty! +Wine!" + +But Saturninus, bending anxiously over the reclining figure, went on: +"Acid old Cæcubian is said to be a good remedy for this fever. May I +send you some from my store, Prefect?" + +But Ausonius still remained silent. Contradictory feelings had been +struggling for mastery in his soul since the Illyrian's last words. On +the one hand his resentment was very vehement against the obstinate +soldier who, for some incomprehensible whim, opposed the dearest wish +of his heart. But even during these days of constraint Saturninus had +treated him so respectfully, while he himself had been very harsh to +his old friend. And he loved the gallant General so warmly! And now +this touching, unfeigned solicitude for his health conquered the kind +heart of Ausonius. + +"Saturninus! Your affection does me good. My nephew thinks only of one +disease--his own thirst! The business of the service, Tribune, is +probably over; but I entreat you to stay as my guest. Let us forget +what briefly estranged us, and remember our beautiful old friendship." + +Saturninus quickly grasped the outstretched hand and pressed it warmly: +"There your heart spoke, Ausonius! I thank you. I will stay gladly." He +took his place on the third lectus, which was at the rear of the tent +opposite to the entrance and at the right of the two others. "You ought +to have known long ago that my sole wish is your welfare, your real +happiness." + +Just at that moment Davus came from the table beside the entrance, +where the wine was poured, toward his master. He walked very slowly, +for he carried three goblets, all filled: two small ones on a silver +salver in his right hand, and the large imperial beaker in his left. +With his face turned to the entrance and his back to Saturninus, he had +poured the wine from the small amphora at the table and then added +spring water from the mixing-vessel. + +Herculanus hastily started up, snatched one of the goblets from the +salver and emptied it at one draught. His uncle cast a look of +disapproval at him, saying, "Could you not wait for my toast?" Then he +took the Emperor's goblet with the three graces. Davus carried the last +cup to the Illyrian and set the silver salver on the table. + +"The first draught," said Ausonius, "is usually to the noble Emperor, +to whom I owe this beautiful gift. But to-day Gratianus may wait; +to-day I drink first to our friendship, my Saturninus!" + +"And all that your heart most ardently desires," added the latter +smiling. + +Ausonius raised the goblet. + +Just at that moment the curtain at the door of the tent was dragged +violently back from the outside: Bissula, her face corpselike in its +pallor, her hair fluttering wildly around her, and blood streaming from +her bare right arm, rushed in, shrieking: + +"Poison! Do not drink, Ausonius!" She fell forward headlong on the +Prefect's couch. + +Herculanus sprang up with the speed of lightning, to snatch the cup +from his uncle's hand and pour its contents on the ground. But, before +he reached him, the Tribune, who had dropped his own goblet, clutched +him with a grasp of iron. In spite of his violent struggles, Herculanus +could not move forward an inch. Davus, the old freedman running at his +heels, darted toward the entrance. Prosper shouted loudly, but Davus +went no farther than the door; for here he encountered the Batavian, +Rignomer, who seized him by the throat and held him fast. + +Ausonius, horrified and bewildered, had set the goblet on the table +before him, and now raised Bissula's head. "Poison?" he asked +sorrowfully. "Poison me? Who?" + +"The dog of a slave, of course!" cried Herculanus, struggling furiously +in the Illyrian's hold. "Are you in league with Davus, Tribune? Why do +you prevent me from punishing the scoundrel?" And now he actually +succeeded in releasing his right hand and gripping the dagger in his +belt. + +"Don't let him go," shrieked Bissula, who had now recovered her senses. +"He is the instigator!" + +Just at that moment, summoned by Prosper, who had rushed out screaming +for help, two Thracians on guard before the Prefect's tent, and two +Illyrians who chanced to be passing, came in and, by the Tribune's +orders, seized Herculanus and the slave, who, pale and trembling, could +scarcely stand. + +Ausonius, groaning aloud, sank back on his pillows. + + + + CHAPTER XLIII. + +Saturninus, no longer occupied with his prisoner, stepped forward into +the centre of the tent, saying: "In the name of the Emperor Gratianus! +As General and Commander of this camp I open the investigation. Speak, +girl! You, a slave, a captive Barbarian, are making a terrible charge +against a Roman leader. Weigh your words! Death is the penalty for +false accusation of such a deed." + +But Bissula did not shrink. She had now recovered her strength and +calmness, and gave no thought to herself; her mind was occupied solely +with the old friend who lay sighing on his cushions, and who had never +been so dear to her as in the helplessness of his anguish. Briefly, +clearly, and simply she related the conversation between the two men, +to which, in the boughs of the pine-tree, she had been an involuntary +listener. + +"Miserable lies," shrieked Herculanus, stamping his foot. "The wench +wants to become my uncle's wanton and ruin his nephew, the heir. The +whole story is an invention,--the entire tale of hiding in the tree! +When I came in here she stood watching beside the tent." + +"That is a base falsehood," said Rignomer, stepping forward. "I swear +that she has just come down from the tree: I had been following +her--unseen--for half an hour." + +"Aha, do you hear, uncle? Another lover!" sneered Herculanus. + +"No," said the Tribune, "it was done by my order." + +But Rignomer had flushed crimson with rage and shame. Shaking his +clenched fist at Herculanus, he said, laughing grimly: "Just wait--you +fellow with your patched mantle. The child came down from the tree +before my eyes. I was standing, hidden by the tent, six paces opposite +to it. Two men came from the right and left, glided under the pine, +whispered together, and then separated." + +Davus grew even paler than before; he tottered and would have fallen +but for the hands which grasped him. But Herculanus asked defiantly: +"Did you recognize the two men in the dark? Or, at six paces distance, +understand their whispers?" + +"Neither. But the child slid down the tree directly after in the most +frantic terror, called 'Murder! They will poison Ausonius!' and ran +with me here. The last part of the way I carried her." + +"So the two Barbarians conspired against me!" cried Herculanus. + +Saturninus went up to the slave, who hung with shaking knees between +the two Thracians. "You know what terrible tortures threaten the slave +who tries to murder his own master?" + +Davus sank to the ground; the two men could scarcely drag him up again. + +"Well then! What matters your miserable body! I will secure your safety +of life and limb--in the Emperor's name--you shall merely go to the +lead mines, if you confess at once." + +"Thank you, my lord, a thousand thanks," groaned the slave. "Yes, yes. +It is all as they say. For a year he has been tempting and urging! The +demon of gold blinded me. It is all true!" + +"Ha," shouted Herculanus, struggling against his guards, "so the slave, +too, is in the conspiracy against me?" + +"Give the wine in the Emperor's goblet to a dog, and see how long it +will live," said Davus. "It is hemlock! In my tunic--feel there--I have +a small vial which contains the rest." + +"I don't doubt it: poison in the goblet--the same poison in the vial. +Of course," cried Herculanus with an angry laugh, "the slave put it +into both. But Ausonius will not die until he has altered his will and +disinherited his nephew; for the Barbarian girl appeared just at the +right moment as a deliverer." + +Meanwhile the Tribune had taken from the slave's breast a little amber +vial and placed it on the table beside the goblet. Ausonius glanced at +it mournfully; he seemed to recognize it. + +"And what he put in there," Herculanus went on, "is to convict me?" +"No," cried Davus, now angered, "you shall convict yourself. Tribune, +feel in his tunic too; he has the same poison, in a similar vial, +hidden there. Could I force him to do it? Or could I conjure it there +by magic?" + +Herculanus turned pale. Defiance, the hope of life, deserted him and, +gnashing his teeth, he struggled fiercely in the Illyrians' grasp. But +the latter held him firmly while their countryman, Saturninus, took +from his tunic a similar amber vial and placed it beside the first one. + +"Then go to Orcus together! I wish you all had poison in you!" shrieked +Herculanus. + +But Ausonius tore his gray locks, wailing: "Alas! alas! I know them +well. I gave them myself, both vials, to my dear sister, his mother. +Alas, my own sister's son! To murder me! For miserable money! I had +left it all to him. Only I should have been glad to live a few years +longer." + +Weeping aloud, he covered his face. Bissula, kneeling before him, +stroked his hands compassionately. + +"No doubt is possible," said Saturninus, "even without the confession +made by his fury." + +"Oh! The son of my dearest sister, my Melania!" moaned the Prefect. + +"I had long suspected him," the Tribune said. "But the scoundrel did +not desire to murder you alone; he wanted to kill this child too, to +whom all are attached." + +"What? What?" cried Ausonius. Bissula also started. + +"That is why he hastened in advance of us all, alone, to her dwelling, +on her track. He had raised his sword for a deadly blow when I caught +his arm." + +"What? Horrible!" cried Ausonius. + +"Yes, that is true; but," the girl went on kindly and truthfully, "but +then he had not yet recognized me as his uncle's friend." + +"Yes, yes," groaned the Prefect. "He told me himself that a red hair +had put him on your track. How often I had described you to him! And, +as soon as he saw you he recognized you instantly. He wanted to bring +you to me; and he--" + +"And yesterday night," Rignomer put in wrathfully, "he stole into her +tent with an unsheathed dagger. Unfortunately one who should have +guarded it was sleeping, but the she-bear was awake, and"--he swiftly +spread the full mantle open--"she tore out a piece here as he fled." + +"_This_ piece," said Saturninus, drawing it from his girdle and laying +it on the fresh patch; "you see it fits exactly." + +"The Furies' curse on you all!" screamed Herculanus. + +"Away with them both!" the Tribune commanded. "Prosper, two of your +slave-blocks! It won't do to leave them guarded in an open tent. That +is always unsafe and requires the constant presence of trustworthy men, +whom we cannot spare. Rignomer, you will lock them in--both feet--apart +from each other. Your life will answer for it if they escape on the +way." + +"They shall not," growled the Batavian, who had been inexpressibly +enraged by the fling at his love for Bissula, though he did not know +why. "Forward!" + +Led by Rignomer, the four guards and Prosper thrust the prisoners out +of the tent. + + + + CHAPTER XLIV. + +The curtains had scarcely dropped behind them when Ausonius exclaimed: +"He must not die! My Melania's son! He must fly into exile!" + +"The Emperor will decide. But you, friend Ausonius, praise Heaven, +which sent you this child. You owe your life solely to her." + +The Prefect drew the young girl to the couch by his side and kissed her +hands and brow. She submitted, for she was weeping. He would fain have +kissed her lips too, but he forebore. The usually defiant creature was +so childlike, so helpless from sheer emotion over his escape. So he +only stroked her beautiful head with his hand and said, deeply moved +himself: "The Christians have a superstition which I have often +derided, of a guardian angel which God gives to mortals. I shall never +do so again. You, Bissula, are my guardian angel!" + +"But angels ought not to be slaves," remarked the Illyrian with a smile +which well became his manly face. "I give you this child, Ausonius; she +is your slave now. Do with her as you choose." + +"I set her free, this moment. Bissula, you are free!" + +"Oh, thanks, thanks, thanks!" cried the young girl exultantly, +springing from the couch. "Now away,--away at once to my people,--to my +grandmother,--to--" + +"Not so fast, little one," interposed Saturninus. "Even the faithful, +grateful freedwoman (the legal form of the act is still lacking) must +obey the will of the patronus. I doubt whether he will let you fly +away, you lovely little wild bird." + +Bissula fixed her wonderful eyes beseechingly, imploringly, upon +Ausonius, but the latter did not see it; he was gazing, rigid with +amazement, at the Tribune. + +"My friend--I don't understand you. Why do you so suddenly--I almost +thought that you yourself--" + +"Let us spare the child. I will say only this much; she can hear it +without flushing too deeply, and sudden blushes are so becoming to +her! A man need not be a poet, my Ausonius, to find our--pardon me, +your--little maid very, very charming. I don't deny it; the first time +I saw her--well, she certainly would displease no one! But I soon told +myself what the duty of friendship commanded, and remembered that my +life belongs wholly to the god of war. I ordered my heart to calm my +blood. They belong to a soldier, and instantly obeyed." + +At these words Bissula, in spite of the warning, or perhaps on account +of it, had flushed crimson and glided away from the two men. She was +just slipping out of the tent; but Saturninus gently caught her by the +hair, held her firmly, laughing merrily, and said: "Stay, little one. +The worst is over now, at any rate from me." + +"But why," Ausonius went on, "have you all this time--Even yesterday--" + +"Because I suspected your nephew's murderous designs, though only +against her. I could protect her solely as her master. If she had +remained, as you desired, in your tent, he could have killed the +unguarded girl at any hour of the day or night. I watched her for you! +Now it is no longer necessary. Obey your heart. I will leave you +alone." + +"Yes, but what more is to be done?" asked Bissula plaintively, holding +the Tribune--she did not know why--firmly by the arm. "I am so tired!" +she added. "Let me go to sleep now. And to-morrow, away! Back to my +people!" + +"Yes, my noble friend," said Ausonius, with a certain solemnity, slowly +rising from his couch, "stay! I myself desire it. You shall be the +first witness: my resolution is formed, unalterable! Bissula, I owe my +life to you: in return there is but one reward--this life, my life +itself." + +The girl drew back in terror. She did not understand him. + +"A slave was of course impossible. To wed even his own freedwoman is +against the law for a Senator; but I shall undoubtedly receive a +dispensation from the Emperor, and I care nothing for the jests of my +colleagues." + +"What do you want to do with me?" asked the young girl anxiously. + +"Except the Cæsar," Ausonius went on thoughtfully, "no man in the +Western Empire stands above me; only two are of equal rank. I am +Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul. Nay, more,--no one knows it yet, not even +you,--my Saturninus,--the Emperor has promised me next year the highest +honor in the Roman State. This coming year will take its name from me." + +"You are to be Consul?" cried the Tribune, reverently. + +"What is it? What does it mean?" asked the poor girl, now thoroughly +frightened. The solemnity, and the numerous Roman names of dignities +were becoming more and more mysterious. + +But Ausonius, nodding complacently, continued: "And no living poet is +my peer. Bissula, you shall share all this with me. Tomorrow you shall +go with me to Vindonissa to the Emperor. Yes, yes, don't shake your +defiant little head, you shall be with me all my life, for I, Ausonius, +Ausonius of Burdigala, will make you my wife!" + +He now drew himself up to his full height, stretching both arms to her. +With glowing cheeks, throbbing heart, and eyes flashing with shame and +fear and wrath, Bissula, crimsoning more and more deeply, had listened +to the last words and gazed in horror at the approaching Roman. Now she +uttered a loud shriek: "No! No! Never!" + +Wrenching herself from Saturninus, who tried to hold her, she sprang +out of the tent. Outside, panting for breath, she ran as fast as her +little feet would carry her, through the dark silent camp, reached her +tent, unfastened Bruna, led her in, pressed her down on the ground, +flung herself beside her and, bursting into a torrent of tears, buried +her face in the soft thick fur. + +The faithful, intelligent animal doubtless knew that something was +wrong. Licking the girl's fingers, the bear growled, a low, soft, +tender growl, like a mother soothing her sick child. The monotonous, +droning tone produced a drowsy influence like a lullaby. So, under the +protection of the bear, though often sobbing vehemently, Bissula at +last fell asleep. + + + + + BOOK THREE + + THE FREEDWOMAN + + + + CHAPTER XLV. + +Ausonius was deeply grateful to his preserver, certainly; and he had +wished to bestow a transcendent reward. Yet he was very keenly +exasperated by this rude, fierce, foolish, nay, ungrateful disdain. And +before the Tribune, too--the younger man. + +This exasperation took full possession of him even amidst his deep +grief for his nephew's crime. From the day of his birth neither the +fates nor men had often denied any wish of this spoiled favorite of +Fortune. Even the desire for poetic talent had been granted by the +Muses, and, as he believed, in lavish abundance; while his +contemporaries denied him no recognition, but lavished on him every +honor for which he longed in any department. His imperial pupil loaded +him with the highest dignities and honors in the gift of the State; he +was one of the richest, most highly educated men in the Western Empire; +he was agreeable, vivacious, well-bred, almost handsome in feature, and +not yet very old. Thousands of the most aristocratic Roman women would +have considered themselves fortunate if-- + +And this Barbarian girl refused him! It was incomprehensible, and he +determined not to tolerate this "folly." + +As she did not appear at breakfast at the usual hour, he sent Prosper +for her. The old man returned without having accomplished his errand. +Bissula was not in her tent, and could not be found anywhere in the +camp. + +Ausonius was startled. Then he said to himself: "Oh, nonsense. She +cannot possibly escape from a walled Roman camp which is guarded by a +Saturninus." Yet he finished his early meal hurriedly and anxiously, +and went out to look for her, alone. He wished to spare his future +wife, which Bissula certainly was, the mortification of being dragged +by freedmen or slaves from some hiding-place into which her silly, +childish obstinacy might have led her. First he hastened to the +pine-tree: in vain. She was not concealed there; now, in broad +daylight, one could see through the branches distinctly. He went to her +tent and entered: it was empty. But as he was leaving it again he saw +the broad foot-prints of the bear, and followed the trail: it led +southward, to the lake gate, the Porta Decumana. He had nearly reached +it, when he met Saturninus. + +"Turn back, I beg of you," said the latter kindly. + +"Isn't she there?" + +"Yes! I discovered her by accident, looking down from the wall. She has +hidden herself behind beams and rubbish near the Porta Decumana, like a +sick birdling which creeps into some corner to die alone with its head +under its wing. Give her time! Perhaps she will submit to it." + +Ausonius yielded reluctantly as the Tribune, with gentle force, took +his arm, turned him in the opposite direction, and led him back. He was +thoroughly angry, and besides, felt ashamed in Saturninus's presence. + +"Soon, I hope," he said angrily. + +"Yes," replied the Tribune slowly. "Unless--unless some one else has +won her heart." + +"That she positively denied. She was enraged at the mere question; and +falsehood is the perverse little thing's smallest fault. She is still +scarcely more than a child. You see how she behaves. Only a child, an +untutored child, could be led into such conduct." + +But the Roman General shrugged his shoulders. "Let us wait. I would far +rather see her yours than a Barbarian's. But think of the offer made by +that Adalus! That can only--" + +"Certainly. But it doesn't prove that she loves him." + +He opposed with angry obstinacy a conjecture which might forever +frustrate his wishes, and rejected the suggestion of his friend the +more vehemently, the more persistently this fear, though repressed, +constantly returned to his mind. + +"By the way," he asked the Tribune, to change the conversation, "what +do you mean to do with the prisoners? Let them both escape?" + +"Impossible! My duty--" + +"But my nephew must not die." + +"It would be the best thing that could happen," growled the Illyrian, +"for himself and his opposite men (for this selfish fellow has no +fellow mortals). But I feared that it would be the result of your +indulgence. Well, comfort yourself. As I promised life to the slave, +the mere tool, the Cæsar can send the instigator to the mines too. But +you are paying no heed to my words. Where are your thoughts?" + +Ausonius had suddenly stopped. Thrusting the staff he carried violently +into the earth he exclaimed: "Listen! Suppose I should go to her +now--at once? Explain everything, persuade her? Last evening, in her +excitement, she probably did not hear or understand. Just think of +it--Consul!" + +But his companion smiled and drew his reluctant friend forward: "Let +her alone, Ausonius. You will only frighten her more. Perhaps a German +fisher-lad is dearer to her heart than a Roman Consul." + +"Inconceivable!" + +"Yes, yes! Very intelligible. I will confess to you that she vehemently +entreated me--" + +"What, what!--when?" + +"Just now, when I climbed down the wall to her and tried to speak for +you. She besought me to protect her--from your wooing." + +"Ungrateful girl!" exclaimed Ausonius wrathfully. This appeal to the +Tribune against him wounded him most bitterly; he had the feeling: +Youth naturally combines against age. + +"Beware," replied the Tribune earnestly, "lest you should yourself be +very ungrateful." But this did not suit the Roman's deeply offended +vanity. + +"Since you have now suddenly become--what shall I call it?--her +guardian or defender against me--" + +"I did not seek the position." + +"Nor did you decline it. Then tell your ward my firm, resolute will: +She must go with me to-morrow in one of Nannienus's galleys to the +Emperor at Vindonissa, then to Burdigala. I will follow your advice: I +will not go into the forests with you; grief, anger, too much +excitement of many kinds, are making me ill--I feel it. First of all, I +must obtain the dispensation from the Emperor to permit me, a Senator, +to marry my freedwoman. That is now the thing nearest to my heart. And +please see that it is clear to her, perfectly clear, that she has +obtained no legal right whatever from my words spoken yesterday about +liberation. You remarked at the time, very justly, that my words did +not make her free: the form required by law was lacking. The words were +merely a promise. If I choose, she is still my slave, but no longer +yours, tell her that. In Burdigala, after she has tasted Roman life, +let her choose which she would prefer: to become the Consul's wife, or +be his slave and a she-bear's playmate. I cannot force her to wed me, +but tell her that I will never permit her to return to her Barbarian +land." + +Saturninus would have tried to soothe the excited man, but a loud +signal from the tubas summoned both leaders to the wall. + +The Roman trumpets were joyously greeting the galleys under the command +of Nannienus which, with all their canvas spread to catch the southeast +wind, came swiftly nearer and nearer. It was a proud and imposing +spectacle. + +After the gallant Comes of Britannia, himself a Breton skilled in +sailing, had discovered the culpable neglect of the ships and the fraud +of the guilty magistrates in Arbor, he had toiled night and day, +ceaselessly and untiringly, that he might take to his friend and +comrade, Saturninus, the ships and reënforcements on which his whole +plan for the encircling and destruction or unconditional surrender of +the Alemanni was based. So, in the course of these few days and nights, +he had actually succeeded in putting the dilapidated ships into +seaworthy condition; and, besides old trading vessels and fisher boats +of the largest size, he had a number of new galleys built which, though +by no means to be compared with the proud fleet of the Venetian or +Brigantinian lake which, a century and a half before, had ruled these +shores and waters, could yet render sufficient service in seeking out +the hiding-places of the Barbarians along all three sides of the land, +and intercepting any flight they might attempt across the lake from the +Tribune. + +Nannienus's twenty high-decked ships of war, when not lying at anchor +but fighting at full speed, would sink, by the mere weight of their +shock, when driven by oars and sails, whole swarms of the little +Barbarian boats, if they had the temerity to attack them. And to each +of these large ships he had assigned two or three smaller flat-decked, +shallow boats, to land provisions and troops and facilitate intercourse +between the biremes (which required considerable depth of water when +they lay at anchor) and the shore, often bordered for a considerable +distance by marshes. + +Probably more than sixty sail now appeared, in the full radiance of the +most brilliant September sunshine, opposite to the Idisenhang, some at +anchor, some in an unbroken chain forming a sort of bridge of boats +from the place of anchorage to the shore. + +The various forms of the sails (for in the pressure of haste all sorts +of Barbarian ones had been added to the triangular Latin form of the +Romans--ancient Celtic used on the lake from primeval days, and +Alemannic) and their motley colors, principally dazzlingly white, but +many deep yellow, gleaming in the sunlight, swelled by the fresh +breeze; the surging, swarming life of the soldiers thronging from the +ships to the shore, and from the shore to the ships; the greetings of +old comrades; the joyful recognition of what had been accomplished in +Arbor; the threatening outcries against the Barbarians, who must now be +thoroughly extirpated--the whole presented a scene full of splendor, +life, movement, and warlike uproar. + + + + CHAPTER XLVI. + +The largest galley, an old war ship which still bore the figure of +Amphitrite on its prow, displayed a purple streamer, and the smallest +foresail was of the same color; for she carried the Commander of the +squadron. + +"At last!" the able officer exclaimed as, the first man in the whole +armada, he leaped from his galley into the boat which lay rocking at +its bowsprit. He ran across the whole line of small vessels to the +shore, and sprang with one impatient leap from the last boat across the +marshy ground to the solid land to meet the Illyrian, who received him +with outstretched arms. + +"At last, my friend, I bring ships and men. It has been a long delay." + +"I know it was no fault of yours." + +"The Cæsar has already sent the guilty men to the mines. Where is the +Prefect?" + +"Up above, in the camp. He is not well." + +"I have letters for him from the Emperor." + +"Has no news come from the Emperor Valens yet?" asked Saturninus +anxiously. + +"Yes, very late news." + +"How do matters stand between him and the Goths?" + +"Well for him and badly for the Barbarians. They are suffering terribly +from hunger. His last letter declines, and right arrogantly, any +assistance from Gratianus and our army." + +"He doesn't wish to share the fame of the victory with his nephew," +said the Tribune, mounting his horse and inviting his friend to ride up +the mountain on the beautiful charger brought for his use. Nannienus +swung himself into the saddle, and continued: + +"A decisive battle is impending, Valens writes. He is marching upon +Adrianople, where the Goths are encamped. Why, the horse is sinking +here! Are there marshes so far up?" + +"Yes, it is the ancient bottom of the lake. So, the die has probably +already fallen yonder on the Ister! Well, our little campaign will +probably soon be over too. How many helmets do you bring?" + +"Thirteen hundred." + +"More than enough. Early to-morrow morning we will divide our forces. +Five hundred men will remain in the camp: You will march with the rest +toward the northeast, I to the northwest, until we at last find and +scatter these incomprehensible foes. Did you see nothing suspicious on +your voyage across the lake?" + +"Nothing at all. Not a sail, far or near." + +"Now that we have ships, we can also search the two tracts of marshland +overgrown with rushes, which stretch for leagues on the right and left. +We once thought we saw a column of smoke rising in the western marsh." + +"That shall be done to-morrow, before we march. A naval battle on Lake +Venetia! It has scarcely happened since the days of Tiberius." + +"But I am glad to know that you are here on land with your men: Welcome +once more to the Barbarian country and to my camp." + +With these words the two commanders, followed by a glittering train of +Nannienus's officers and the Tribune's mailed riders, passed through +the Porta Decumana, which now stood wide open; for the Tribune's men +were pouring out, down the mountain side and through the damp meadows +and bogs of the half league of country to the shore, to greet their +comrades on the fleet. + +Bissula had crouched and made herself as small as possible, that she +might slip out unseen like a little mouse from her hiding-place east of +the lake gate. But the Illyrian guards were rigidly trained: two +gigantic Thracians--one on each side of the threshold--held their +spears crossed before the opening, and scanned sharply every one who +went in or out. The young girl had crept successfully between the +outstretched legs of one, when she struck her head against the shaft of +the other's spear. The man's attention was attracted; he recognized her +and pushed her gently but irresistibly back. + +"No, no!" he said, laughing. "You mustn't go out, you little red +serpent! I should get a double drubbing--from the Tribune on the right +and the Prefect on the left. Stay inside." + +Bissula, her eyes brimming with tears of impotent rage, was obliged to +go back: and there, outside the gate, liberty was beckoning; there +laughed (she saw it again, for the first time through the open gate) in +its azure splendor her beloved lake; there on the right rustled the +trees which surrounded Adalo's hall, and there flew a gull, screaming +loudly with delight in life and joy in its free movement, across the +rushes of the marshy shore. Alas! and she must go back into the camp, +to an uncertain fate. To-morrow she was to leave the country, to +go--whither? + +"Oh, Adalo, help soon!" + +Since the night before she had constantly whispered his name, again and +again, as though it were a protecting spell. + +On reaching her tent, she untied the bear, which was becoming wildly +excited by the noise of the soldiers, and dragged it by the collar +inside of the inclosure, where she remained all day. She was not +disturbed. Prosper brought wine and food, and told her that his +master's whole time was claimed by Nannienus and the other guests; but +early the next morning she must be ready to take ship for Constantia, +then to go to the Emperor at Vindonissa, and lastly, to his beautiful +home. Bissula made no answer. + +Leaving the viands untouched, she crouched like some captured wild +beast in the corner of her tent farthest from the entrance, with her +eyes fixed intently upon it, listening with anxiety and dread to every +sound which drew nearer to her tent from the streets of the camp. +Faithful Bruna lay across the threshold; she was the girl's only +comfort. + + + + CHAPTER XLVII. + +So the hours of the day had passed. The sun had sunk majestically into +the lake; darkness had gathered quickly; there was no moon. The Comes +of Britannia had left Ausonius's table early, the hospitable host had +vainly tried to induce him to empty one more goblet. + +"As many as you please, after the victory, Ausonius. But a sailor must +keep sober. Besides, his place is on the water, not on forest-clad +heights. I feel here, away from my ships, like a whale left stranded by +the tide and lying gasping on the shore. Truly, the only right kind of +water is salt water--" + +"Because we can't drink it," remarked Ausonius, filling his goblet +again. + +"But, when one can't have the sea, this long stretch of lake isn't bad. +Remember me to your nephew, Herculanus; perhaps by to-morrow he will +have recovered from his illness enough for me to seek him in his tent. +And at the earliest dawn of morning, Saturninus, I will search the two +reedy lakes for you. If there are no Alemanni, there will be plenty of +rare waterfowl to hunt." + +He went out with his officers and rode with them, guided by +torch-bearers, down the mountain back to the ship-camp: for one-half of +the newcomers slept on shore in the tents they had brought with them; +the other half on the vessels. + +As soon as Nannienus went on board he asked the watch at the helm, a +trustworthy Breton countryman, whether he had anything to report. + +"Nothing from here, my lord. Only behind Arbor a fire seems to be +burning on the Hill of Mercury; or they are celebrating one of their +Easter festivals. Look yonder!" + +"Yes, that is in one of the farms of the Alemannic settlers. Hark! What +was that?" + +"Wild swans, my lord. They must have hundreds of nests in the reedy +forests. They call and answer one another very often." + +"Then surely no men can be hidden there; the noble birds are very shy +and wary. Who is coming to relieve you?" + +"I, Albinus, the veteran from Arbor." + +"Good: you will watch the first and second hours after midnight. Wake +me before the gray of dawn." + + * * * * * + +The sentries in the camp above on the Idisenhang, and below in the +tents brought from the ships, had shouted the hour of midnight without +the occurrence of anything to disturb the sleepers, who were lying in +the deepest repose, except that for a long time the noble dogs which +the Tribune, a keen sportsman, had brought from Vindonissa and kept in +an empty tent near the northern gate, had barked violently. They were +costly animals of the purest British breed, which, trained in the arena +at Rome to fight the aurochs, were now to test their skill and courage +in the primeval forests. They could not be quieted, whether the guards +patted or flogged them, and their loud, angry baying was heard in the +ditch before the north gate, where the whole Batavian cohort was +on duty. The bright flames and thick columns of smoke from their +watch-fire rose from the ditch, now dry once more. + +Beyond it, on the north, about a hundred paces from the wall, Rignomer, +with Brinno and two more of his countrymen, had been stationed as an +outpost. + +"Do you hear the dogs?" asked Rignomer. + +"I'm not deaf," growled Brinno, + +"When they keep on incessantly, it means something!" the other +continued mysteriously. + +"Of course it does. They are hungry. Or they have the little one's +she-bear at bay." + +"She-bear? Nonsense! She's sleeping where others would like to sleep. +No, no! Dogs don't you know that?--can see spirits and hear gods. There +is something abroad. Between midnight and dawn the night huntsman rides +over the tree-tops. I thought just now that I heard a horse neigh above +me, beyond that distant hill--in the air." + +"Oh, pshaw! I never saw a horse fly yet!" + +"But _He_ flies on his eight-hoofed gray steed through the clouds and +over the wind-swept forests, when he drives the woman of the woods +before him. Hark, what was that? At the right!" + +"The hoot of an owl! Very near us!" + +"And there--one at the left." + +"Hark," cried a third soldier, "didn't that sound like metal on +metal--the clanking of arms--close in front of us?" + +"No," said the fourth, "but I hear the faint trampling of a horse's +hoofs. Hark! There are several. Now it comes again, nearer still! The +foe!" + +"Yes, it is the foe!" said Rignomer, seizing the signal horn to raise +it to his lips--but he had no power to do so. Horror, paralyzing +terror, awe which shook every limb, seized upon the brave man. His hair +bristled; voice and hand refused their service. Rigid with fear, he +stared at the wooded height before and above him, which suddenly seemed +alive. + +A warrior sprang from behind every tree; every bush; yet it was not +these hundreds of Alemanni that terrified the battle-tried Batavian, +but another spectacle. Sometimes in a full glare of light, sometimes +dimly seen by the flame of two blazing torches, swung in circles by two +horsemen riding at his right and left, a powerful figure of superhuman +stature on a grayish-white horse came dashing down from the height +toward him. White hair and a floating beard waved around a fierce but +majestic countenance, above which a bird-monster, whose like Rignomer +had never seen, seemed to flap its white wings threateningly against +the mercenary as the vision rushed onward in silence, a huge spear +thrust before him, a long dark cloak flowing back from his shoulders +like a cloud; then, when close at hand, the horseman shouted: "Odin! +Odin has you all!" + +The German flung down spear and shield and, with the cry: "Odin is upon +us! Odin is leading them! All is lost," ran back to the ditch at full +speed. Two of his comrades followed his example, and all three leaped +into the ditch shouting: "All is lost! Odin is upon us! Fly!" + +Rignomer was considered the bravest of his race, so even the Batavians, +who were too far off to understand his words, were infected by his +example; for they saw their leader unarmed, running with every sign of +the utmost terror from the ditch toward the northern gate to tear it +open and vanish in the camp. + +"Fly! Fly! All is lost!" + +Most of the men had understood this and, with the same shouts, they now +climbed up the wall or poured through the open gate. + +Brinno alone had not fled from the post: at Rignomer's cry, also +greatly alarmed, he had leaped behind the nearest tree, but here, +looking sharply at the terrible horseman, he recovered his composure: +"Nonsense!" he called after his flying comrades. "His horse has only +four feet, not eight. That is not _he_!" He stepped forward bravely +with levelled spear, but the next instant was thrown down by the Duke's +charger and, directly after, about thirty mounted men leaped into the +ditch, which was now no longer defended, and dashed to the right and +left in pursuit of the fugitives who were running along the bottom. The +space around the gate was almost empty, swept clean in an instant. + +Hariowald himself had ridden straight toward the gate, but just before +he reached it, it was flung back from within, shutting out several +fugitives who were trying to enter. The Duke sprang from his horse; the +intelligent animal instantly stood motionless. He beckoned to his +mounted men and to a small band who, meanwhile, had reached the ditch +on foot, to follow him to the left of the gate, where rose a huge +stone. A large number of other foot-soldiers now also reached the gate +and, mounting ladders they had brought with them (which, strangely +enough, were exactly the length required to reach from the bottom of +the ditch to the wall), or even climbing on one another's backs, +endeavored to scale the wall or to break down the gate with axes. + +But here they now encountered vigorous resistance. Arrows, spears, +beams, stones flew down upon them: a battle was impending; the attempt +to enter the gate with the fugitives had failed. Saturninus had closed +it and shot the huge iron bolt with his own strong hand. Awakened by +the furious baying of his dogs, he had made the round of the camp to +test the watchfulness of the sentries, and was now directing the +defence from the walls. His own hand flung down the first ladder +raised. + +But the battle was already raging at the same time on the other three +sides of the camp. + + + + CHAPTER XLVIII. + +Bissula, too, on whose burning eyes sleep had not descended, had soon +perceived what was happening. She heard with joyous terror the battle +cry of the Alemanni, the war horns of her people. + +"There they are! They are coming!" she exclaimed exultingly. "Now to +meet them!" With the words she ran out of her tent, leading her +faithful companion by the collar. She was determined to seize the first +opportunity, no matter how dangerous it might be, to escape from the +precincts of the camp. + +But this was far more difficult than Bissula had expected. She +experienced the utmost trouble even in gaining the vicinity of the lake +gate to which she was summoned. The regular squares of the Roman camp, +intersected at right angles by the streets of tents, rendered the task +still more arduous; for at all the streets and squares stood, in dense +masses, the reserve troops not engaged in fighting on the walk. No +matter whether their faces or their backs were turned toward her, those +ranks could not be penetrated. + +Her friend Bruna impeded instead of aiding her. The animal was so +wildly excited by the noise of thousands of men shouting, weapons +clashing, horses dashing by, and flames blazing on all sides, that the +young girl had great difficulty in restraining the daughter of the +Alemannic forests from mingling in the battle and furiously attacking +the legionaries. So for a long time she could make little progress +toward the gate she desired to reach. + +But now a gap was suddenly made in the ranks of the soldiers standing +before her. A troop of mailed riders came dashing down the street of +the camp from the north toward the gate, and the Illyrians before her +opened their ranks to let the cavalry pass. Bissula fearlessly seized +the tail of one of the horses and, without loosing her hold of Bruna, +let herself be dragged along. In this way she successfully reached the +Via Principalis, but here, feeling her arm seized, she released the +horse, which now kicked violently. The girl looked around angrily. It +was old Prosper. + +"Halt," he commanded, "you must stay with me, Bissula. That is the +order of the patronus; he sent me to you, supposing that you would be +in the midst of the uproar. I am to keep strict watch of you, till the +attack is repulsed." + +"Let me go," she cried angrily, trying to release herself. + +"No, you shall not. I must answer for you. Follow me." + +They now began to struggle violently; but the man was stronger than the +girl. She could not escape his hold. Then Bruna, growling furiously, +rose on her hind legs and struck with her huge paws at her mistress's +foe. With a cry of terror the freedman, releasing the girl, sprang +back, and the next instant Bissula, by creeping between the horses' +legs, slipped through the ranks of the mailed riders, who, facing +south, were now the only obstacle between her and the lake gate. + +She fairly flew down the long, narrow central street, the Via Media, in +whose tents the luggage was sheltered. There she saw Herculanus and, +somewhat farther down, Davus, each in a heavy oak-block, sunk into the +earth, with both feet thrust through holes and fettered to the blocks +with heavy cross chains. Bissula ran farther in terror. Now, for the +first time, she looked around for Bruna, The bear had not followed her; +her growling came from beyond the ranks of the horsemen, and at the +same time Bissula saw a pack of huge dogs, barking furiously, leaping +on the angry beast. One of the animals was hurled aside by the terrible +paw, yelping with agony. But the girl could wait no longer, far less +turn back. She hurried on; already she saw before her the goal of her +longing, the Decumanian Gate. + +Already the blows of axes were thundering ceaselessly outside upon the +groaning oak planks and iron bars. Those were her own people, her +deliverers, her liberators! But the solid gate held out firmly, and +missiles rained from the top of the wall upon the unprotected +assailants. She pressed forward as near the gate as she could. Only a +single rank of soldiers separated her from it. Then Bissula heard +outside a ringing voice which sent a thrill of rapture through every +vein. She knew those tones. + +"Set fire to the gate! Bring all the torches!" + +Forgetting all caution, she sprang through the rank of soldiers, +pushing two of them aside, put her face to the gate and called with her +utmost strength, "Adalo! Help! Adalo!" + +"Bissula!" rose a voice without, and a terrible blow--the first which +had penetrated cleft a yawning gash in the right wing of the double +gate, so that the splinters flew inside. + +At the same time Bissula heard two voices call her name from the wall +above. Looking up she saw Zercho and Sippilo who, in advance of all the +others, had scaled the wall at the right of the gate. + +"Here, little one!" shouted the Sarmatian, letting a rope slide down +the inside, while he wound the other end around the ladder rising above +the wall. + +"Where are you, Bissula?" called Sippilo, leaning far over and holding +a torch down. "Alas! I can't see her anywhere!" + +The girl, standing at the left of the gate, could not make her way +through the soldiers to the right; she was obliged to see a strong +Thracian on the top of the wall seize a heavy pole, which he held +crosswise with both hands, and springing forward hurl both the +over-bold assailants (they were still standing alone) backward at a +single thrust. + +"Oho, Sippilo," shouted Adalo outside, "what was that?" + +"A somersault!" replied the boy laughing, and jumping up again. "But +you, Zercho! Alas! you cannot stand?" + +"Unfortunately! My foot--I think it is broken!" + +"Take him, men, two of you, and carry him out of the fight," Adalo +ordered. + +"Where?" + +"To my own hall; it is still standing." + +Bissula uttered a cry when she saw her two friends fall backward; but +the next instant her senses failed. A soldier whom she had repeatedly +tried to thrust aside turned angrily: he meant to strike his +troublesome comrade, as he supposed the person to be. Then he +recognized the young girl, and his wrath instantly vanished. + +"Go back, little one!" he exclaimed. "You'll get killed here!" + +And, with kindly intent, he flung her toward the left; but the clumsy +fellow exerted too much strength, or the weight of the dainty figure +was too light; she struck her head so violently against one of the +beams of her old hiding-place that she lay stunned and senseless where +she had fallen. + +"Bissula!" Adalo called again through the gaping cleft in the door. But +he received no answer. + + + + CHAPTER XLIX. + +The Adeling and his followers would probably soon have forced their way +through this gate, one of whose wings had already caught fire and was +beginning to glow and smoke more and more, while the other was +splitting wider and wider under the heavy blows of the axe, had not the +battle on the opposite side of the camp taken a turn which was also to +prove decisive for the conflict around the Porta Decumana. Scarcely had +Bissula fallen unconscious, when down every street in the camp that led +from the north toward this southern gate, riders, riderless horses, +foot-soldiers, and slaves came rushing in a wild flight with frantic +cries. + +"Fly," cried a warrior in scale armor, dashing past Herculanus and +Davus. "The Barbarians are upon us!" + +"The camp is taken!" shouted a Celt, hurrying out of a side street. + +"They have climbed over the wall at the Prætorian Gate." + +"No, the earth opened. Orcus spewed the Barbarians into the middle of +the camp!" + +"Fly!" shrieked a camp-follower's wife, "I saw Saturninus run down by +his own men! All is lost!" And in truth it seemed so. + +Ausonius had been waked by Prosper, and while he was arming, Decius, a +gallant officer, appeared and in the Tribune's name invited him to +undertake the defence of the Porta Principalis Dextra with a cohort of +the Twenty second Legion, which had already been ordered there. + +"I will accompany you," said he. + +"What is the matter? The Barbarians? Are they attacking?" + +"Don't you hear them?" + +"Yes, of course I do! On which side?" + +"On all sides!" + +"I will hasten." With these words Ausonius, putting on his helmet, left +the tent. + +"What is the Tribune's decision?" he asked as they turned to the right +into the nearest street. "To make a sally?" + +"No! To remain in the camp. It will be defended to the last. There is +too great a superiority in the force outside." With these words the two +officers reached the legionaries and, followed by them, soon gained the +eastern gate of the camp. From here Ausonius sent Prosper to protect +Bissula, but also to watch that she did not escape. + +Meanwhile Saturninus had convinced himself that, for the moment, no +pressing danger threatened the northern or Prætorian Gate, and hurrying +down the steps inside the wall, he exchanged, his part of warrior for +that of Commander. Gathering his officers about him in the open space +at the foot of the wall, about a hundred paces north of the pine-tree +of the earth-goddess, he curtly issued swift commands. "Let all the +horsemen dismount and fight on the walls, except the first squadron of +mailed riders; but these are not to dismount--do you hear?--on pain of +death, under any pretext. All the riderless horses must be led to the +Porta Decumana; for if a sally should be made, or"--he added in a lower +tone so that only his officers could hear--"if it should be necessary +to leave the camp, we shall go to the south to aid Nannienus. If he be +not attacked himself, he will instantly assail the Barbarians in the +rear at that gate." + +"Help at the Porta Principalis Sinistra!" entreated a horseman dashing +from the west. + +Saturninus turned to speak to the messenger and, in doing so, turned +his back to the pine-tree; but he had scarcely addressed a few words to +the man, when a centurion standing behind the General uttered a cry of +terror and seized him by the arm: "Look around you, Tribune! There! By +the pine-tree! The earth is trembling; the abyss is opening; the altar +stones have sprung apart!" + +Just at that moment the Barbarians' war-cry: "Odin! Odin! Alemanni!" +rang out in the midst of the camp, and Saturninus's face blanched as he +saw a gigantic figure in a white helmet, near the pine-tree, strike +down with his long spear a Celtic archer, who, shrieking, tried to +escape. Three, six, eight, twelve Barbarians had risen from the earth. +With a cry of savage fury the brave Roman rushed toward the giant. But +he could not reach him, his own soldiers threw him down. + +It was a body of the Celts, hot-blooded, brave in assault, but easily +disheartened after an unfavorable turn. They saw the foe in the midst +of the camp; only a few had noticed whence they came or how small at +first was their number. Seized with panic, many throwing away their +weapons, they fled in frantic terror. + +"Treason! Treason! The enemy is in the camp!" With these shouts a whole +troop of fugitives had flung themselves between the Duke and the Roman +General. The latter instantly sprang to his feet again. + +"Halt, you cowards," shouted the fearless Tribune, again trying to +check with flashing sword, the mad rush of the fugitives. "Look around +you. There is only a handful of the enemy. And where will you fly? +Outside of the camp? Among the greatly superior number of the foe? Only +these walls can save you!" + +"To the ships! To Nannienus! Across the lake! To Arbor!" + +"Then die, you coward!" he cried fiercely, striking down the nearest +shouter, a standard bearer of the Celts; and tearing from the falling +man the dragon standard, with its fluttering purple streamers, he swung +it aloft, crying, "Roma! Roma!" and pressed forward. + +For a moment he really succeeded in checking the fugitives. And now the +bold little band of intruders was in the utmost peril; then +Saturninus's attention was suddenly diverted to the top of the wall. + +Many, many of its defenders had turned at the noise behind them, seen +German helmets in the midst of the camp, heard the cries of terror from +the Celts, and noticed their General himself rush into the midst of the +fugitives. They believed that the camp had been taken from the opposite +direction, and feared every moment that they would be attacked from the +rear. So they leaped from the top of the wall in large numbers or came +rushing down the stairs. The besiegers outside, hitherto held in check +by a heavy shower of missies, suddenly saw whole ranks of the defenders +vanish, whole stretches of the wall left empty and, with wild shouts, +they climbed boldly and confidently up the ladders. When the Tribune +looked up, the assailants were already springing from the wall in dense +masses, hewing down the few Romans who had gathered around him, while +the fierce giant's terrible spear struck down one after another. + +Saturninus cast one more glance at the top of the wall: countless bands +of Barbarians were appearing on it. Then, in a voice whose tones rang +above the din of battle, he shouted the order: "Leave the camp! Follow +this standard! To the Porta Decumana! Close ranks! If you open them, +you will be lost!" + +These words had their effect. Often had these soldiers proved that this +solid closing of their ranks was the best, nay, the only means of +repelling the assault of the Germans. The hope of reaching their +comrades on the ships revived their courage; retreating toward the +south, fighting as they marched, they followed their trusted leader. + +The pursuers from the north and east pressed hotly upon them; but the +Romans moving southward received considerable reënforcements from the +east and the west, where the cross streets from both sides ran into the +one extending from north to south--the Via Media. Meanwhile the troops +defending the eastern and western gates had heard the war-cry of the +Alemanni within the camp and the shouts of their own fugitives, and +giving up the hopeless resistance, they thronged, according to a +standing rule in the camp, into the long central street which led to +the Porta Decumana, the gate assigned for the Roman line of retreat. + +True, the troops from the western gate, where the assailants had +already made considerable progress, poured down in great confusion; but +Dedus and Ausonius led the legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort from +the eastern gate in good order. Saturninus saw the two leaders from the +distance, but separated by the whole flood of marching men, they could +not meet. So the columns, overtaken and pressed by the Barbarians only +in the rear, gradually reached in better order the spot where the Via +Principalis, near the Decumanian Gate, intersected the long central +street leading to it. Here all the baggage, with many hundred carts and +wagons, was piled together. Such a barricade, a valuable defence to +German bands on the migrations, was the most dangerous obstacle and +interruption to the Roman order of marching and fighting; for no matter +whether the attempt to pass was made by going around or climbing over +it, in either case the firmly closed ranks were broken into little +groups, nay sometimes even separated into individual warriors, who were +forced to press forward or climb over the wagons one behind another. + +But the old Duke had not studied the plan of the camp in vain: he had +noted accurately where the baggage, the carts and wagons were placed, +and eagerly distributed all the bands of his men who poured toward him. +They came from the three gates north, west, and east, which they had +long since forced open, and they passed through the streets of the camp +in such a manner, as they pressed forward in pursuit, that they pushed +from all sides down the long and the cross streets upon the fugitives, +just at this exact point. + + + + CHAPTER L. + +In the midst of the intoxication of victory another joy filled the old +leader's heart: delight in the progress which, within a single +generation, the training in obedience had made in the subjection of his +Alemanni to the military authority of their Duke. + +The traditions of their forefathers and his own youthful experience +contained many an instance in which Germans had lost a victory already +won, because the conquerors, against their leader's commands, began, in +unbridled lust for booty, to plunder the captured camp. They would +scatter themselves through tents and baggage wagons, each vying with +his comrades, so that the Romans, little disturbed by pursuit, found +the opportunity to assemble again and, with closed ranks, could wrest +from the dispersed pillagers both camp and victory. So the old +Commander could say to himself with proud delight: "They have learned +something, through me--under me--ay, for love of me!" + +Before the commencement of the assault he had proposed, for he could +not command: "The camp and all its contents shall belong to the whole +army, after the victory is won. When the morning sun shines down upon +it, a division shall be made according to districts, families, and +individuals. Whoever takes, in advance, even a vessel or a weapon shall +be regarded as a thief who has robbed his people, and shall be hanged." + +The bands had assented, and they loyally kept their word: not a man +turned from the battle, or left the ranks to plunder, or even stooped +to pick up the costly gold and silver articles which the slaves, flying +from Ausonius's tent, had tried to hide, or perhaps steal. The slaves +had soon thrown down these articles that they might not be hampered in +their flight. + +Obedient to Hariowald's orders, the Alemanni drove the fugitives from +all directions toward the central street of the camp; so the confused +torrent which, hitherto, had poured through many separate channels +southward, was dammed by this obstacle and checked. + +The first men, still running at full speed down the narrow side paths +at the right and left, squeezed past the wide rows of carts, or, if not +too much crowded by their neighbors, climbed over them; but both plans +soon became possible only by the most violent struggles for precedence +on the part of the fugitives, as the hundreds driven here and there by +the Duke's followers rushed upon the closed ranks of the two leaders' +orderly columns. These fugitives pressed forward with the strength of +despair, especially after they perceived, with horror, that throwing +down their weapons and surrendering did not save them from death. + +"Woe, they are killing every one! Make way! Let us pass! They are +murdering the prisoners!" + +"No!" shouted the Duke to the nearest shrieker, "they are not murdering +the prisoners, for they have none!" and struck him down. + +Then the ranks which had remained closed began to waver. Saturninus +succeeded in crowding past the wagons on the right and hastened onward +toward the gate. The scene was brightly lighted by many blazing tents, +into which the victors had flung faggots smeared with pitch and resin. +At the corner of one of the cross streets Saturninus saw two of his +beautiful large dogs, with torn bodies, lying one above the other, +while he heard the others barking furiously, and at intervals the sound +of fierce growling. The next instant he was pushed far forward by the +men crowding behind him. He looked around for Ausonius, who had been +mounted, and saw him on foot trying to climb over the barricade of +wagons. He was making slow progress, and already, close upon this band +of fugitives, the war-cry of the pursuers sounded nearer and nearer. + +The Tribune ordered several pioneers whom he met to break a passage +with their axes through the carts for Ausonius and the left column. The +men did not obey willingly; they were reluctant to turn back, with the +Decumanian Gate in sight, to meet the furious attack of the foe; but +Roman military discipline and the habit of obedience to their honored +General again conquered, so they went to meet Ausonius, while the +Tribune hastened onward. + +The rising flames, the echoing blows of the axes, accompanied by the +ominous crash of splintering wood, urged the Tribune to still greater +speed; this gate must not be opened from the outside if his last +attempt to escape was not to fail. But scarcely had he reached the open +space before it, when fresh cries of despair rose from the column at +the left commanded by Ausonius. Before the pioneers had broken a +passage to the Prefect, his men had been reached by the arrows and +spears of the pursuers, and he himself, falling between two wagons, +suddenly vanished from their eyes. Loud lamentations from his followers +burst forth. + +Then the pioneers turned and fled in the opposite direction; the +Barbarians were threatening on the left, so they ran down one of the +cross streets at the right which intersected the central one. + +"Fly," called the foremost one, running directly past Herculanus, who +was making desperate but fruitless efforts to tear with his unchained +hands the solid oak-block from the earth or to release his feet from +the small holes and iron clamps. "Fly! Ausonius has fallen!" + +"Ausonius is dead!" shouted the second; throwing away his heavy axe, +which impeded his flight. It fell near the prisoner, who, without +heeding the violent pain which the movement caused to his strained feet +and bruised ankles, stretched both arms toward it. Triumph! He could +reach it. At least he could touch the handle with the tips of his +fingers, draw it slowly nearer, then at last seize and drag it to his +side. + +One of Ausonius's slaves, who had been wounded by an arrow, limped +along more slowly. "Oh, my kind master, Ausonius! He has fallen. He is +dead." + +"Dead?" cried Herculanus, "are you sure he is dead?" + +But the fugitive had not heard, or did not wish to hear him--he had +already moved on to Davus. + +"Help me!" wailed the latter. "Don't leave me here to burn--or to fall +into the hands of the Barbarians!" + +"Miserable murderer!" was the only answer. The fugitive had already +disappeared around the corner. + +Meanwhile Herculanus, seizing the sharp axe with both hands and bending +downward, dealt blows with all his strength upon the oak-block which +held his feet, just between the two holes pierced from the top to the +bottom. At last the solid wood parted, breaking open the holes; two +more blows severed the shackles which bound his feet to the two halves. +The prisoner was free. Yet it was only with difficulty and severe pain +that he could use his legs, stiffened by sitting still so many hours +and swollen by the pressure on the bones. But the desire to live, the +hope of escape, conquered the pain: he walked, at first very slowly, +toward Davus, who had watched him enviously. + +"Help me out too. You, you alone, have brought me to this." + +"Yes, traitor, I'll help you out," cried the other, with an angry +laugh. Cleaving the slave's skull with the axe, he ran on more quickly, +his limbs becoming more supple at every step, toward the western end of +the cross street; for the noise from the east grew louder and louder. + +The conflagration did not extend to this part of the camp. He glided +into a tent and hid himself, for he still had cause to fear his own +countrymen almost as much as the Barbarians. Here he found a short +dagger, like those worn by the Thracians, which he thrust into his +belt; he then put down the long-handled heavy axe, which had burdened +him while running. + +Ausonius dead! Perhaps all who knew of that incident were dead too! He +could not shake off the thought while peering cautiously between two +folds of the tent, watching for a way of escape between Romans and +Barbarians. + + + + CHAPTER LI. + +Herculanus was mistaken: Ausonius was not slain. In the attempt to leap +from one cart to another he had fallen between them and slightly hurt +his foot. But Decius and some legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort +had helped him up again and taken him at once to the Decumanian Gate. +Here, meanwhile, the Tribune had quickly made his arrangements, +gathering the fugitives arriving singly around a body of his Illyrians, +to whom he also entrusted the standard. + +"Where is the ala of mailed riders whom I ordered here, forbidding them +to dismount? We need them now at the head of the sortie." + +"Alas, Tribune, in the turmoil, in the pressure on the gate and the +walls, we all dismounted and fought on foot. Our horses are gone; they +dashed down the side streets." + +"This is Herculanus's discipline of his men! So--we have no horsemen. +Well then, the spears to the front! The wounded in the centre! Here, +Ausonius, behind my troop! There. Draw back the bolts; throw the gate +open. We will fight our way through to the ships. Forward! On!" + +Then the gate, hitherto so firmly defended, its right wing half +shattered, the left half burned, opened from within, and the Romans, +summoning their last strength, led by their able General in person, and +stimulated to a final supreme effort by his example and the prospect of +safety, burst out of the camp. The shock was terrible, and the effect +of the unexpected attack upon the Barbarians was very great. All who +had been standing on the narrow strip of ground between the gate and +the ditch were hurled into it. Adalo was not among the number; he had +gone back for a moment to direct the preparation of a bridge of logs +which was to lead directly to the gate; then he intended to have his +men run across with beams to batter the already weakened timbers and +break it down completely. So he escaped the fall into the ditch, which +Sippilo shared, but as in the plunge from the wall, uninjured. The boy +climbed nimbly up the southern side. He had lost the helmet in his +first tumble, but held fast to his spear and shield this time too. + +For a moment, it is true, it seemed as if the Romans, as soon as they +had passed through the gate and obtained a view of the lake, would +disperse again in fresh terror; for meanwhile the attack on the ships +and the camp below had apparently succeeded. + +Hitherto the defenders on the walls had waited longingly for Nannienus, +and looked in vain over the Barbarians and their flaring pitch torches +toward the lake. But now that they had reached the open country outside +the camp, they saw a vast conflagration on the shore. Surrounded by the +tumult of the battle raging immediately about them, they had been +unable to hear the noise of the conflict which had commenced below half +an hour before; but they now perceived all that Saturninus had long +since concluded by the absence of his brave friend: the fleet itself +was being most hotly assailed. + +"The ships are burning! The camp is in flames! Our last refuge is +gone!" With these shouts, many sprang from the closed ranks, fled, and +were instantly overtaken by the Germans and struck down before their +comrades' eyes. + +"You see how fugitives fare!" cried Saturninus. "Keep your ranks closed +if you want to save your lives. March in close order to the lake, and +we shall save ourselves and our friends." + +This was a ray of encouragement, and the whole body followed their +brave leader, who was the first man to climb up the southern side of +the ditch. As soon as he reached the top his own name, shouted loudly +from the ranks of the Barbarians, fell upon his ear. + +"Where is Saturninus, the General of the Romans?" called a voice in +Latin. + +Brightly illumined by the flames of the burning camp, a leader of the +Germans, in the richest armor, pressed forward before his men. A +boar-helmet covered his head; a gray-bearded attendant held before him +a long shield on which he caught two well-aimed Roman spears at once. + +"Where is Saturninus? I must find him!" repeated the German, springing +forward again and felling the nearest Thracian with his battle axe. + +"Here," answered the Tribune. "But this is no time to negotiate." + +"No, but to die!" shouted Ebarbold, his battle axe crashing upon the +huge curved shield of the Roman. It entered it without injury to the +bearer. + +The King vainly struggled to draw out the weapon, it remained +motionless, and already the Roman's short, murderous broad sword was +quivering for the fatal stroke, when the gray-haired shield-bearer +sprang between them and threw the shield before his master. + +But the Norian iron penetrated the boar hide and the wooden frame of +the shield to the old man's left breast. He fell on his back, borne +down by the weight of the blow. + +Meanwhile Ebarbold had dropped the handle of the battle axe, drawn the +long unwieldy sword at his side, and swung it above the proud crest of +the Roman General's helmet; but before it fell, the short Roman sword, +red with the blood of the shield-bearer, pierced his throat and he sank +dying by the old man's side. "You--with me--for me!" he could say no +more. + +"Did you think I would desert you? The King of the Ebergau must not +enter Odin's hall unattended. You shall not enter the door of Valhalla +unattended like some man of low degree. We--have--both--kept our +word--and together--with the honor of heroes we will go to Valhalla." + +Ebarvin's head sank on the shoulder of his King. Both were silent in +death. + +The Illyrian had sprung forward over the bodies of the two +Germans--first hewing off with his sword the handle of the battle axe +still sticking in his shield--amid the wild, exulting shouts of his +countrymen who had witnessed the struggle. But the men of the Ebergau +were dismayed by their leader's fall; they hesitated--stopped--yielded. + +"Forward, down to the lake!" shouted the Tribune. "You see they are +giving way." It was a dangerous moment; for, confused by the retreat of +the Ebergau men, the band next behind them was wavering. + + + + CHAPTER LII. + +"Stand, men of the Linzgau!" shouted a clear, resonant voice, and a +youth with golden-brown locks fluttering around his handsome head +forced a passage through the Alemanni and Romans toward the Tribune. + +But the Romans had neither the inclination nor the habit of letting +their General fight single combats with the Barbarian princes. A +gigantic Illyrian stepped from the left of the ranks in front of his +leader and aimed his spear at the youth's face. But the weapon did not +fly; before he could hurl it a German boy leaped from below against the +warrior, and thrust his little spear into the arm-pit, now unprotected +by his suit of mail. He fell with a loud cry. + +"I thank you, little brother!" exclaimed Adalo and now, pressing close +upon Saturninus, he called to him in Latin: "Where is Bissula?" + +But the Roman General had no thought to give to a Barbarian girl; the +recollection of the captive had darted only once through his brain with +the speed of lightning, when he heard her she-bear growling in the +camp. He made no reply, except to wave the sword still dripping with +Ebarbold's blood. + +The Adeling's spear flew; Saturninus caught it on his shield; but being +burdened by the long lance, this was now so difficult to manage that he +let it fall, and sprang with a well-aimed sword thrust toward the +youth, who had instantly drawn his short battle-axe from his girdle. +Each was so furiously resolved to fell the other, that neither thought +of his own defence. So both struck, and both fell. + +With his utmost strength--and it was great--the German had aimed at his +adversary's forehead: the latter involuntarily bowed his head, putting +the helmet forward, but the terrible stroke cleft this best work of the +Roman armorers at Trier, and pierced through the bronze and the double +leather of the lining to the skull. The helmet was found afterwards; +and this "Suabian stroke" was long celebrated in the hall of the stag's +antlers. But the lord of the hall seemed destined never to return to +it, but to follow Ebarbold and Ebarvin; for, at the same time, the +Roman's sword had penetrated the wooden shield of the German and cut +deep into his left shoulder. + +Sippilo caught his brother's drooping head; several attendants grasped +his feet, and thus they bore him swiftly out of the battle. + +Decius, springing from Ausonius's side, now took command of the Romans. +But he could no longer maintain order in the ranks. At their leader's +fall under Adalo's terrible blow the column scattered in a wild flight +down the hillside. The foremost ones, who had witnessed the duel, +dispersed to the right and left. The rear ranks still held firm, but +now they received an attack from behind, from the camp, and all was +over. This attack was led by Duke Hariowald. At last--far too late for +his battle fury--he, too, had crossed the camp and reached the Porta +Decumana. + +The greatest obstacle to the pursuit was now what had formerly been the +principal cause of the hesitation, confusion, and dispersion of the +retreating Roman troops: namely, the luggage, the barricade of wagons. +Behind it, that is, between it and the lake gate, numerous Romans, +especially the German mercenaries, the Batavians, who were accustomed +to such methods of fighting, had again made a stand; and much time was +consumed before the Duke, by means of fire, axe-blows, and bloodshed, +forced a passage through it. He had at once sent bodies of his men +through the cross streets leading to the right and left; to go round +the obstacle and attack the defenders on both flanks. Herculanus had +watched, in mortal terror, from his hiding-place in the tent, the +Alemanni dashing down these cross streets. Many rows of tents were +already blazing; others were blocked with piles of luggage and tent +equipage left behind. It was long before the Duke and his men, breaking +their way through the citadel of wagons and driving its last defenders +before them, reached the Decumanian Gate; but then with his whole body +of troops, intoxicated by their victory, he fell upon the rear of the +Romans commanded by Decius. + +All was lost. Decius succeeded in holding together only one very small +band of Illyrians, scarcely twenty men. These, with their wounded +General and Ausonius in their midst, burst through the ranks of the +Linzgau men, who for some time were occupied with the care of Adalo, +and fled directly south toward the lake. It was evident that the only +hope of escape was by the ships, for swift destruction was overtaking +all the fugitives, who scattered and fled to the right and left, the +east and west. Without leadership or direction, only keeping in general +toward the lake, they ran singly, in pairs, and in groups. Most of +them, in the darkness of the night, floundered into the marshes, where, +ignorant of the fords or the few higher portions, they sank, and were +either drowned or cut down by their pursuers. + +As soon as Hariowald reached the open ground he heard of the King's +fall, to which he listened with a silent nod, and--from Sippilo's +lips--of the Adeling's wound. + +"Severe?" + +"Yes." + +"Where?" + +"In the shoulder; cut completely through." + +"H'm!--Was he carried to his hall?" + +"Yes." + +"Take the blind old dame Waldrun to him at once from the Holy Mountain. +She knows the strongest herbs, and she also knows when and how they +must be gathered, without impatience or rough handling." + +"She is already waiting at his hall." + +"How did that happen?" + +"She dreamed last night that this battle would end in victory, but that +she nursed my brother, who lay in her lap, sorely wounded. She insisted +that the Sarmatian should lead her to our hall before the battle began. +'I will wait there for the wounded man,' she said." + +"But you are bleeding, too, my lad; there, in the arm." + +"A spear grazed me. It isn't much." + +"Enough for the first time! You are surely tottering." + +"An arrow--in the calf of my leg--but it didn't go deep." + +"You can scarcely stand. Go home at once, do you hear? I, command it by +the oath of loyalty to the Duke. Waldrun will have a healing herb for +you, too. Go!" + +Assuming the direct leadership of the bands formerly commanded by +Ebarbold and Adalo, the Duke spread his whole force into the widest +possible front, to inclose the fugitives, and gave only one order: +"Drive them into the lake!" The command was received with shouts of +exultation, and faithfully obeyed. Hariowald had swung himself upon one +of the numerous riderless horses dashing through and around the camp; +his men eagerly followed his example, and thus the pursuit became a +wild chase on horseback and on foot down the descent from the heights +to the lake. + +The blazing camp behind, and the blazing ships before them, cast a +terribly beautiful, flickering light over the savage, warlike scene. +But already, though still very dim, another light was stealing where +the red glare of the torches and the burning tents did not penetrate. +The night was no longer perfectly dark. Far away, in the extreme east, +dawn was glimmering; for more than two, almost three hours of the +September night had passed in the battle around the camp since the +criers had announced the second hour after twelve. + + + + CHAPTER LIII. + +Meanwhile Bissula had recovered consciousness. The loud summons of the +tubas, giving the signal for the sally of the Romans, had roused her. +Raising herself in her hiding-place behind the beams and planks which, +piled one above another to the height of a man, completely concealed +her, she peered through the openings between them. Her heart throbbed +with joy as she saw the lake gate, hitherto so impenetrably and +inexorably closed against her, now standing wide open. Cautiously, +crouching like a kitten that tries to escape the hand outstretched to +seize it, she glided to the western corner of her hiding-place and +looked out at the gate. + +Yet, ardently as she longed for liberty, and familiar as was the +fearless daughter of the forest by the lake with all the perils and +horrors of the primeval woods and the waves, she was but a girl, and +had never before witnessed the terrors of murderous battles. But now +Bissula saw the bloody scenes, of which, hitherto, she had only heard +from her uncle or some bard at a feast celebrating a victory: she saw, +and trembled. + +By the light of the two wings of the gate, now blazing furiously, the +torches of the Romans, and the bundles of faggots hurled among the +tents by the Alemanni, she saw close at hand, beyond the ditch, the +bloody, murderous conflict. She saw the meeting between the Romans, as +they burst from the camp, and the assailing bands of her own people; +saw things which sent a thrill of horror through every vein. + +Trembling in every limb she sank down, as though paralyzed, on a pile +of lumber behind her, and gazed with dilated eyes, through the gate at +the terrible spectacle, from which, with all its horrors, she could not +avert her gaze, or even lower her eyelids. Suddenly she saw Saturninus, +then he vanished, hidden by his Illyrians, then reappeared, far in the +van. She recognized the King of the Ebergau,--he had given her a clasp +at the last spring festival,--then she saw him fall backward without +rising again. The little figure at his side, with fair curls floating +around his uncovered head, was Sippilo. So the plunge from the wall had +not injured him. + +Then a gigantic Illyrian, swinging a blazing torch,--a terrible +weapon,--approached him from the side. The boy did not see the brand +uplifted above him; Bissula, forgetting all danger to herself, shrieked +loudly. Then the soldier sank. For an instant she saw, by the glare of +the torch, Adalo, who had rescued his brother, and she rejoiced at the +spectacle, but the torch went out as its bearer fell. The brothers +vanished from her sight. Directly afterwards she heard in loud, wailing +tones the cry of many voices: "Adalo! alas for Adalo! alas for the +Adeling!" + +Horror and anxiety for her friend made her heart sink: she could get no +further glimpse of him. And, from the camp behind her, a fresh uproar +arose, which swiftly drew nearer. It was Hariowald, now with his men +driving the last Batavians (Bissula recognized Rignomer) from the +fortress of wagons, and the scattered Romans flying down all the +streets through the Decumanian Gate. She attempted to join the pursuing +Alemanni, but their arrows and spears flew close about her; a stone +from a sling fell crashing against a beam above her head and, +terrified, she threw herself face downward on the ground and let the +dangerous stream of foe and friend roar past her into the distance. + +The camp soon became still, absolutely still. Outside the gate, too, +the din of battle swept very swiftly down the hill toward the lake. +Bissula rose again and looked through the gate. In the distance she +saw, though indistinctly, the surging ranks pour down the slope; she +could scarcely distinguish the figures, but her people's shouts of +victory rang loudly in her ears. A rush of joy filled her heart and she +cried exultingly: "Victory! Liberty! Hurrah!" But the next instant she +said to herself reproachfully: "And Ausonius! And brave Saturninus! +Alas! and Adalo!" + +Her grief, her terrible anxiety for her lover drove her from her +hiding-place even more powerfully than the longing for her liberation, +and she resolved to venture across the dreaded battlefield, lately so +full of uproar, now so horribly silent. The camp was deserted. At least +it seemed so, as Bissula, stealing cautiously around the corner of the +barricade, looked in every direction. She thought, too, of the faithful +bear: "Bruna! Here, Bruna!" she called up the streets of the camp as +loudly as she could; but no Bruna came. Though the burning tents still +gave light enough, she saw no upright figure near, either of friend or +foe. Only on the ground, here and there, some movement still remained. + +A dead Celt lay directly across one of the streets, his helmet on his +head and the spear still in his rigid hand. With horror--she had never +before witnessed death, being only a few years old when she lost her +parents--she cautiously stepped over the broad mailed breast, holding +up her garments that they might not brush against the corpse. "Three +bounds," she thought, "and I shall reach the gate." She had already +raised her foot for a swift run, when a groan behind her reached her +ear. Involuntarily, though shaken by fresh fear, she looked around. +Terrible things exert a strange compulsion which at the same time +attracts and repels. A Roman severely wounded lay a few steps behind +her, his head resting on a tent-pole, his right arm propped on the +ground, and his left pressed against the gaping wound in his breast. He +must have seen the girl, for, instead of moaning, he now called, in +Latin, "Water, oh, pray give me some water!" + +Bissula shrank in fear; besides, she dreaded to turn from the liberty +beckoning outside the gate to go back into the camp. But her woman's +heart conquered the terror, and she glanced around her to see if she +could find means to quench the sufferer's thirst. Then her eyes fell on +one of the huge tuns which, according to Roman camp regulations, always +stood filled with water beside each gate. It was so high that she could +scarcely look into it, but she pulled herself to the top with both +hands and saw that there was plenty of water inside. But where was she +to find a cup? All sorts of utensils lay scattered around, but neither +goblet nor vessel. + +Then a thought flashed through her mind which at first made her +shudder. But she bravely conquered the girlish fright, went to the dead +Celt, loosed, with trembling fingers, the iron band which fastened the +helmet under his chin, drew it carefully, tenderly, as if the dead +could feel, from his head, then hastened to the cask, half filled it, +and carried it with both hands, the long horse-hair of the crest +trailing on the ground. She walked slowly, that she might not spill too +much, to the groaning man, who watched her movements with glassy eyes +and opened his mouth eagerly. Kneeling by his side, she held the helmet +sideways to his bearded lips. He drained it to the last drop, and with +a long sigh of relief, laid his head back on the pole and said, with an +effort: + +"Are you a Christian?" + +The girl shook back her red locks defiantly: "Freya and Frigga protect +me." + +"No matter," replied the dying man, "Christ, the Saviour, girl, will +reward you for this drink!" + +Bissula rose slowly, her glance rested upon the nearest street of tents +to the left and, with a sharp cry of terror, she dropped the helmet and +ran as swiftly as she could, toward the gate. For, down that street, +brightly illumined by the blaze of the burning tents, she saw, stealing +toward her, crouching like a beast of prey, with a dagger in his +hand,--Herculanus. + + + + CHAPTER LIV. + +Hitherto Herculanus had remained concealed from both Romans and Germans +in the tent on the cross street where he had sought refuge. Now +everything around had become so still that he might have supposed the +camp to be deserted, but the cautious fugitive probably would not have +left the tent yet if the fire, and still more the smoke, of the +consuming leather had not driven him away. Peering timidly between the +folds, he glided out, and his first glance fell upon the hated girl to +whom he believed he owed his downfall. With a short, half stifled cry +of savage delight in vengeance, he sprang toward her, the quivering +dagger uplifted, when he saw that he was discovered. But Bissula had a +good start; he was obliged to pass the fifty paces of the cross street +before reaching the corner tent where she had just been kneeling, and +his aching feet would not permit him to follow as fast as his hate +desired. + +Meanwhile Bissula fled like a hunted deer down the central street to +the gate; there she glanced back. Alas, he must have guessed the +direction of her flight, for he also ran toward the gate and saw her +pass out into the open country. He followed. + +At first hate and revenge urged him recklessly on. But now, after +obeying these impulses, he said to himself while running: + +"Ausonius is dead; I am his heir. And perhaps the few others who knew +of the incident died, too, in this hour, like Davus; only the Barbarian +girl lives. Has he, meantime, made her his heiress? Hardly! And even if +it were so, the will has probably burned with the other things in the +camp; and even if it should be saved, what harm can it do, if the +person named as heiress also perishes during this night of universal +slaughter? However that may be, she shall not--must not live." + +He too had reached the gate. The gray dawn of day was already diffusing +sufficient pale light for him speedily to discover the flying figure on +the opposite side of the ditch; her white garments and fluttering red +locks betrayed her when the wind bore the glare from the burning camp +in her direction. + +Herculanus leaped into the ditch, but uttered a cry of pain, and fell: +his feet were too lame. Climbing and dragging himself up with his +hands, with great difficulty and keen suffering he succeeded in +reaching the southern side of the trench. The fugitive had gained a +longer distance in advance. The Roman perceived this with furious rage +and, battling with the pain, forcing his reluctant feet to bear him +onward, he redoubled his efforts to overtake her. + +Bissula was doubtless greatly terrified when, after passing through the +gate into the open country, she again saw flames rising before, as well +as behind her, and heard the din of the raging battle. She had learned +from Prosper the arrival of the ships and the camp made by the lake, so +she understood that the conflict was probably now roaring around the +galleys. Yet she unhesitatingly obeyed the impulse which led her away +from Herculanus straight down to the lake; there, though she would once +more encounter the horrors of war, she would surely find her own +people. + +So she ran directly down the hill, always watching sharply to see if +she could not distinguish one of the Alemanni on her way. But the men +whom she met were not Alemanni; they were Romans, and lay dead or dying +on the earth. Once she was startled by a horse that dashed across her +path; trembling, she hid herself behind a clump of bushes; but the +steed bore no rider. Two, four, six masterless animals followed the +first, but neither Romans nor Alemanni, who might have threatened or +protected her, were visible far or near: flight and pursuit had long +since swept down to the lake. A furious struggle was still raging +below. + +She was forced to stop a moment, her heart was beating so violently. +Looking back from the bushes, she saw a dark figure, now plainly +visible in the light of morning, still swiftly chasing her; nay, it +seemed as though, behind the first, a second pursuer had rushed from +the camp or risen from the ground. + +Again she ran forward, confidently hoping to reach her people by the +lake before she was overtaken; for the child of the forest was skilled +in running and had a considerable start. But, after a few steps, fresh +terror seized her: she again heard, this time directly behind her, the +hoofbeats of a horse. At first she hoped it was another riderless +charger, but it followed directly upon her track, and she now heard, in +the language of the foe, all sorts of cries urging the animal on. A +frightful thought darted through her brain. At any cost, she must turn +to see whether-- + +Yes, her fears were verified. Herculanus had caught one of the horses +that crossed his path, thrown himself upon it, and was now pursuing the +girl, who was using the last remnant of her strength to fly. She +distinctly heard the heavy feet splash through the marshy pools of the +meadow land; heard, alas! louder and louder, therefore nearer and +nearer, the fierce shouts of the rider and the trampling of hoofs +winged by his excitement. The space which separated them grew shorter +and shorter very rapidly. Mortal terror overwhelmed Bissula; she +remembered how the cruel Roman had tried to kill her in the forest hut +like an animal slain for sacrifice. + +In this approach of death one name, one only sprang to her lips. +"Adalo!" she shrieked, "Adalo! Help, save me, save Bissula!" + +Vain appeal! No human being was visible far or near. No answer came. + +There was no fighting on the strip of shore toward which she was +running, only far out on the lake blazing Roman galleys were floating, +pursued by the little boats of the Alemanni. + +The terrible horse was already very near. She could hear the snorting +of the animal as it was urged forward with blows of the heels, shaking +of the bridle, and shouts, to more and more frantic speed. Then--oh, +rescue!--she saw in the gray light of morning, close to the shore, +hidden among the rushes, two boats of the Alemanni side by side. Those +were certainly no Roman vessels: there was neither triangular sail nor +lofty prow. Bissula even fancied that she distinguished on one the +sixteen-branched antlers, Adalo's house-mark. Yes, yes, there it was; +it was his fishing boat, and several men were bending to the oars. She +called loudly several times: "Help, Alemanni, help for Bissula!" + +Oh, joy! They had heard her voice. The men were rowing with all their +might; both boats were flying toward the shore to meet her. And then, +more joy: she heard behind her a loud cry and a dull, heavy fall with a +splashing noise. She could not help looking back. + +Yes, the horse, urged beyond its strength by the pitiless rider, had +fallen; it lay on its side, lashing out savagely with its hoofs. But +alas! Bissula had rejoiced too soon. The rider had sprung up unhurt and +was now running toward her--only a few steps away, brandishing his +dagger. The second pursuer appeared from behind the horse. And the boat +was still several ship's lengths out upon the lake. Without hesitation +the girl leaped into the water, waded as long as she could touch the +bottom, then with a strong push from the ground, spread out her +powerful white arms, well practised in the art, and swam toward the +nearest boat. + +No girl on the northern shore excelled Bissula in swimming; but the +long flowing folds of her robe hampered her, winding about her feet as +soon as they were wet and preventing her from aiding the strokes of her +arms with those of the lower limbs. And, horror! splashes behind her +announced that her pursuer, or two of them, had followed her into the +lake, for she thought she twice heard a plunge or a heavy fall. This +fear paralyzed the last remnant of her strength; her arms also refused +to obey her will; she sank with her face low in the water. + +Once more she raised herself from it; then she felt her pursuer seize +her long robe and drag her toward the land; but at the same instant his +grasp relaxed; a shrill death-cry fell upon her ear, followed by a low, +angry growl. Turning her head, she saw Herculanus sinking in the arms +of a huge blackish-brown beast. + +"Bruna!" she called again; then her senses seemed to fail. There was a +strange roaring in her ears; the water filled her nose, mouth, and +ears, and she sank. + +Just at that moment four strong arms seized her by the shoulders, and +the white hands flung high out of the waves for the last time. With +great, but tender strength she was lifted into the boat. Then she +opened her eyes: Ausonius and Saturninus stood before her. She shrieked +aloud in the anguish of the keenest disappointment; her eyelids closed, +her senses failed, and faintness overwhelmed her. + + + + CHAPTER LV. + +Even the reënforcements of Saturninus's troops could not have changed +the result of the battle around the ships and the camp on the +lake-shore: the die had fallen long before, nay, almost at the moment +the conflict began; for the surprise here had been almost more complete +than in the assault upon the Idisenhang. + +In spite of the chill of the September night, the brave Commander, +Nannienus, had had his couch prepared on the high quarter-deck, above +the second bank of oars of his bireme; a very simple bed, consisting of +a woolen blanket spread over the planks, a coil of rope under his neck +and his Breton cloak for a coverlet. In reply to the warning of the +colonist from Arbor, who now relieved the helmsman, against the +nocturnal coolness of the lake, he had said, smiling: + +"Oh, how often I have crossed at night, no more warmly wrapped, between +Britain and Gaul! Is the German ocean to be shamed by this fresh water +pond? There is no better sleeping potion than the rocking ship beneath +me and the stars above! Unfortunately, tonight there is no moon and +there are few stars. Strange, this constant calling of the swans. I +never supposed there could be so many!" + +While thinking of the swan notes, he fell asleep, but they haunted his +dreams. He saw countless white, brown, and black swans coming from both +sides of the marshy forest against his squadron, raising their wings +threateningly as if to strike. + +After a long sleep he awoke: gradually, as is natural after healthy +slumber, not all at once, his thoughts began to clear. Was he still +dreaming? It seemed as if the calling and singing of the swans on both +sides actually came nearer, accompanied by a peculiar low whistling, +humming, rippling, with now and then a louder splash in the water. +Still half asleep he asked the man at the helm: "What is that humming +among the rushes?" + +"The swans, my lord, the wild swans," replied the helmsman, the old +Roman colonist from Arbor. He was a retired member of the Twenty-second +Legion, faithful to the Cæsar. "I know it well! I have often seen them +at sunset going by thousands to the marshy forests of this lake. They +are preparing to migrate." + +"No," cried the Breton starting up. "Those are no water birds, the +splashing is too loud." Lifting the helmet from his head, he gazed out +keenly. + +"The night is black as pitch, but look, something is swimming out +from the rushes yonder: Swans? No, no!" He tore his sword from its +sheath.--"Those are boats! To arms! Raise the anchor! The foe!" + +At the same moment a bright light flamed on the Idisenhang, red torches +blazed in the camp on the shore; a bundle of burning straw flew over +Nannienus's helmet into the half-reefed sail, remained there caught by +the folds, while tongues of fire, fanned by the north wind, crept up +the sail, the rigging, the mast. Already dark forms were climbing up +the sides of the galley from all directions, and wild cries from men, +attacked and mortally wounded while sleeping, rang from all the ships +and the camp on the lake shore. + +Nannienus sprang with flashing sword toward the first man who boarded +the galley. But the desperate fellow did not seem to care for his own +life. Without heeding or attempting to parry the blow, which came +within a hair's breadth of his unprotected head, he thrust a sort of +harpoon (that is, a spear eight feet long with a sharp point and a hook +curving backward, such as the men threw through holes in the ice on the +lake in winter to catch the largest sheatfish) into the Roman's bronze +belt, jerked him forward with tremendous force and hurled him +overboard. + +Nannienus fell into one of the boats of the Alemanni, at the starboard +side of his bireme, and striking his head against a thwart, lay stunned +for a considerable time. The skiff was empty, all its occupants had +boarded the galley. When he regained consciousness, he saw his own ship +and most of the other vessels in flames; while his camp on the shore, +and even that of Saturninus, high up on the Idisenhang, were burning. +Then he perceived that all was lost. Everywhere the remnant of his +armada which had escaped the flames was in full flight, pursued by the +Barbarians. + +He resolved to make his escape to Arbor, and hastily unbuckled the +Roman armor that would have betrayed him; his helmet he had lost in his +fall. Then, seeing a German mantle lying among the rubbish in the boat, +he threw it on, placed himself at the helm (these boats were rowed and +steered standing), trimmed the coarse square sail to catch the wind, +and was soon flying, unnoticed by the Germans, who recognized the boat +as one of their own, across the lake toward Arbor. + +Once only, the utmost peril threatened him. He had overtaken a lofty +Roman ship whose sails were partly burned, but the fire was evidently +being extinguished by the crew. He was on the point of hailing it and +ordering the men to take him on board when, to his horror, he perceived +that the galley was filled with Alemanni. As he had taken possession of +the German boat, they were pursuing on the captured bireme other Roman +ships that were flying to Arbor. + +He hastily rowed the skiff away from the great vessel, and now +perceived that in Arbor, too, a terrible conflagration was rising +toward heaven. It was the funeral pyre of Roman rule in the fortress on +the lake. Nannienus saw it with terror, turned his boat west southwest, +and tried to gain, instead of the lost Arbor, the distant but safe +harbor citadel of Constantia. + + + + CHAPTER LVI. + +The camp on the lake shore had been taken, with great loss of life to +the Romans. + +A camp wall and ditch had been hurriedly made in the few hours after +their arrival, merely for form's sake, because the good old Roman +custom prescribed it, and Nannienus insisted upon its observance. But +the Commander himself closed his eyes to the carelessness of the work. +This camp was to be abandoned at dawn on the following morning and its +men sent to garrison the one on the Idisenhang and to march in pursuit +of the Barbarians. So the ditch was dug only a few feet deep, the wall +erected only a few feet high, and other fortifications were omitted. +The Alemanni instantly poured from all directions into the fortress, +whose inmates were overcome by sleep and wine. + +The old Duke had given them counsel taken from the songs of a wandering +bard, who had sung in his own hall, to the music of his harp, ancient +tales of his race. The man was a Batavian and bore the names, an odd +medley, Julius Claudius Civilis Chlodomer. He went from tribe to tribe +as far as they understood his language, singing and telling the old +songs and legends. So he related how, three centuries before, his +people, skilled in the use of arms, and led by his ancestor who, though +a German, had the same Roman names as his distant descendant, fought +furiously against the Roman yoke and won many a victory, inspired by +Veleda, a maiden prophetess of the Bructeri. + +And he sang how once, one moonless, starless night, they attacked a +Roman ship camp on the Rhine: the galleys were anchored in the river; +on the shore were many tents. The Batavians first cut the main ropes, +which wound around the poles stretching the tents; and the sleepers, +buried, entangled, and held beneath them, were easily overpowered while +thus defenceless: + + "Like plump fish captured + In nets by night, + They struggled, shouting + Their tents beneath." + +The old Duke had firmly impressed upon his mind these lines of the +Batavians; they had seemed to him the best of all, and he now used what +he had learned. + +The Romans were wakened first by the tents falling in upon them, by the +glare of flames on all sides, and then by the Germans' shouts of +victory. They scattered without offering the least resistance; saw the +ships, their nearest refuge, also burning; tried to climb to the camp +on the height, but beheld fire blazing there also, and fled, without +aim or plan, to the right and left along the shore of the lake. They +were pursued by few of the victors, who preferred, first of all, to +seize the small Roman vessels and in these aid their comrades to board +the proud biremes. These vessels would contain more men, and their +higher decks were far better suited to climb the sides of the large war +galleys than the low fishing boats of the Alemanni. So it happened that +many German boats drifted to the shore empty, their crews having +abandoned them to pursue in the smaller Roman vessels, the Roman +galleys, or having already boarded them. + +When Decius, with the little band of Illyrians, whom he had held +together around the wounded General and Ausonius, reached the burning +camp, even Saturninus, with the biremes blazing before his eyes, +recognized reluctantly that here, too, all was lost, and any +continuation of the battle impossible. He consented, hesitatingly, to +think only of flight. Rignomer, who had joined the General at the lake +gate, was the first to discover, as he gazed watchfully to and fro, +several deserted boats of the Alemanni drifting near them. + +Leaping into the water, sometimes wading, sometimes swimming, he +reached the first, climbed in, found the oars, rowed to the three +skiffs nearest, tied them together with the ropes tangled near the +steering oar, and soon brought his little fleet so close to the shore +that the wounded Commander could be placed in the largest one, while +the whole band of fugitives--five or six in each--entered the others. +By his advice they all removed the high Roman helmets, which could be +recognized at a long distance, and the glittering Roman armor. At his +suggestion, too, they separated. Even Decius willingly followed the +counsel of the Batavian, an expert in sailing, in order not to attract +the enemy's attention so easily: thus they hoped to reach Arbor, on the +southern shore, singly and undetected. + +When Hariowald and his followers arrived, they found nothing to do +except to take possession of all the Roman and German vessels which +still lay unused near the land, and continue the pursuit of the war +galleys on the lake. Springing into a Roman transport boat, he ordered +his men to row him to Nannienus's galley, where the boarders, after +overpowering the crew, had extinguished the flames. A man standing on +the lofty deck flung a rope ladder into the boat and gave Hariowald his +hand to help him on board. It was now dawn; the Duke recognized +Fiskulf, the fisherman. + +"What!" cried the old Commander in astonishment. "Did Odin really save +you? Then he is even more powerful and more gracious than I expected." + +"It must be so," replied the man, with a happy laugh. "I was the first +on deck, flung, the first brand into the main sail, and swung the +Italian lord overboard like a lake salmon out of an ice-hole. But then +I saved the beautiful ship by putting out the flames. I thought: 'It is +better to capture than to burn.' Did I keep my word?" + +"You have surpassed it. And are you uninjured?" + +"Not entirely: henceforth I shall have one ear less. It must be owned +that the short swords of these Italians slice sharply, and they deal +powerful blows. Look, not even the mother who bore me with two ears +would believe that one ever peered out under my hair here--he shaved it +off so smoothly." + +The Duke held out his hand: "You shall be one of my followers, Fiskulf! +You have learned to hear and to obey me." + +"Yes, my lord, even with one ear! When I miss the second, I shall +always tell myself why I lost it." + +"And how the Lofty One gave you back the life forfeited to him: never +forget that. But now we will pursue the Italians across the lake to +Arbor on their own splendid galley. Spread every sail!" + +"Where shall we get them, my lord? They are all burned." + +"Then stretch your mantles for sails. The north wind will help to fill +them; a fresh west northwest breeze will spring up at sunrise. See how +the waves are rippling already. The first red ray of morning is +breaking through yonder clouds. Quick, men, seize the Roman oars; the +morning sun must greet us on the southern shore. Ha, do you behold it +over yonder? Smoke and flames are rising in Arbor. Our eastern men, the +Hermunduri, and our kinsmen, now free, though hitherto under the +foreign yoke, have kept their promise. Up! On to Arbor to celebrate the +third victory of one night!" + +He seized the helm himself. The proud galley of the Romans turned her +prow away from the northern shore, and being now rowed by the +conquerors, moved majestically across the lake. The mantles of the +Alemanni, brown, blue, yellow, and red, filled in the fresh +northwestern breeze, and the well-built ship darted swiftly through the +water, which reflected the clear sky in the increasing brightness of +the morning and shone with a wonderful azure hue. The waves broke in +foam before the bow, tossing their white spray high into the air; +little rosy clouds were floating in the eastern sky and were mirrored +in the lake. + +With the folds of his dark mantle around him, his white locks +fluttering, his head crowned with a shining white helmet, Hariowald's +tall figure stood forth in strong relief against the sky, as he +remained at the helm erect and motionless, his spear flung over his +shoulder. So the ship and her helmsman gradually vanished beyond the +sight of the eyes watching them intently from the northern shore. + +Rignomer, peering from behind his sail, also saw and recognized him. +"They can upbraid me as much as they please," he muttered. "Where is +Brinno, who tried to oppose him? They can say what they choose. Even +though in human form, it is still _he_!" + + + + CHAPTER LVII. + +But the Batavian was suddenly startled from his mythological studies. +He heard from the east a shout in German: "Romans! Romans! On them!" +and saw a boat filled with Alemanni steer toward them. + +"Quick! Disperse in every direction!" he called, and the boats +containing the fugitives scattered. He soon lost sight of two, which +attracted the attention of the pursuers and were driven by the Germans +out upon the lake toward the south. He himself steered and rowed at the +same time, assisted by several soldiers, close in to the shore +westward, where by good fortune he reached a small patch of rushes, +among which he hid the boat; the second one, containing Decius, soon +joined him. + +From this place Ausonius, who by Saturninus's order was watching the +shore to see if they could rescue any fugitive Romans, perceived by the +dim light of morning the figure of a girl in a gleaming white robe, who +was running at her utmost speed straight toward the boats. He already +thought he recognized Bissula when her cry fell upon his ear: "Adalo, +Alemanni, help Bissula!" He also saw a horseman dashing in furious +pursuit down the hill. He ordered the men to row quickly shoreward. +Prosper, even Rignomer, hesitated. "My lord," the latter warned him, +"they will murder us all!" + +"No matter! Bissula! It is for Bissula!" + +Then Rignomer instantly obeyed. Hidden behind his sail he had not seen +the young girl, and could not hear her; but now he turned the helm, and +sent the boat with the speed of lightning toward the shore, at the same +time urging the soldiers to row with all their might. The rest of the +men now recognized the fugitive, and so the rescuers came just in time +to save her from sinking. + +Bissula, whose strength was completely exhausted, lay unconscious in +the bottom of the boat for a long, long time. Rignomer had rolled into +a bundle a fishing net which he found in the bow and put it under her +head for a pillow. Ausonius, sitting on a thwart, supported her lovely +little head and gazed anxiously down into her face, while the Batavian +rubbed her cold hands. + +Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the rushes, rowed +first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide +circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did +not go far. + +"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling from the +second boat as they rowed side by side. + +"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance for this +unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the +Cæsar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me +three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night." + +"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley coming toward +us." + +"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains Barbarians." + +"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from +Constantia!" + +"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; I +recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is +on board." + +"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Cæsar," remarked Saturninus. + +The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept forward. It +must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with +Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and +now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer, +stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head, +"that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you +bring? I hope help, reënforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are +lost." He groaned aloud. + +"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. "Nannienus, +whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has +told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you. +Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand +men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?" + +"What has happened?" asked the Roman leader, startled. + +"A second Cannæ, Gratianus says." + +"Oh, what a dreadful word is that!" + +"The Emperor Valens and his whole army are defeated, put to rout by the +Goths at Adrianople. Forty thousand Romans lie dead upon their shields, +thirty thousand are prisoners. The Emperor Valens while wounded was +burned during his flight, in a peasant's house. All the Eastern +Provinces are overrun by the Goths; even Constantinople is threatened. +Gratianus has appointed you, Saturninus, commander-in-chief of the +whole trembling, orphaned Eastern Empire. He commands you to hasten at +once to Vindonissa, to lead his whole army thence against the Goths on +the Danube. You are his last hope, and the Empire's. 'Saturninus alone +can still save us,' he ordered me to tell you." + +"And this Saturninus is a bungler," groaned the Illyrian, "and a +wounded man, too. Attacked and disgracefully defeated by Suabian +robbers--beaten in every sense!" He laughed grimly. + +"Ha!" replied Nannienus mournfully, "that is nothing compared to my +fate. An imperial fleet, under my command, captured and burned by +miserable fishing boats." + +"Alas," Saturninus continued, "and now I cannot even avenge myself and +my honor as a General on these miscreants. But the Empire--the +Emperor's command overrules everything else. I obey. Turn the helm. We +will go to Constantia, thence to Vindonissa. Come with me at once, +Ausonius. Do you not hear?" + +"Directly," replied the latter. "She is opening her eyes." + + + + CHAPTER LVIII. + +The imperial galley was preparing to tow Saturninus's boat. This plan +seemed best for the wounded General, who could not easily be lifted +upon the lofty deck of the ship. Engaged in this task, the other Romans +did not notice the young girl, who now sat up. Her first glance rested +on the Prefect. "Ausonius!" she said feebly. "Again captured by you." + +"Saved by me--by us Romans," he answered, more sternly than he was +accustomed to speak, especially to her. + +Strange changes had taken place in the character of the variable man. +He was not yet absolutely sure of his own feelings--how everything +ought to end between him and Bissula. + +"True, you did not call my name or appeal to us for aid. You had +another deliverer in your mind. Yet you were not saved by the Alemanni, +but by us Romans." + +"From your own nephew, he alone pursued me!" she answered vehemently. + +"Punishment has overtaken him," replied the Prefect, shuddering. "Let +these thoughts pass. I saved you; I first recognized you and ordered +the boat to turn back, merely to rescue you. Thus I risked life and +liberty, for your wolfish people are certainly wild beasts and +murderers. So: life for life. There we are equal. But," he went on +gravely, earnestly, and kindly, yet with a stern, strange tone, as if +testing her, "but we have not yet done with each other, little maid. +You wounded me deeply, very deeply by your fierce, rude, childish +refusal. Almost as deeply as the poisoning plan of--the dead man. The +terrible events of the past night first taught me how I love you: I +thought constantly of you, your fate, your safety. Duty called me, but +I sent you my most faithful----" + +"To prevent my escape!" + +"To protect you, ungrateful girl. When I fell from the wagon under the +missiles of the Barbarians and thought death would come the next +moment, even then I thought only of you. I have proved it by the most +terrible test; my love for you is genuine, no mere caprice; it will end +only with my life. And so once more, not as a reward for your act of +rescue (I have repaid that), not as a favor or a gift--if the word +offended you--once more, for the last time in life (and consider well, +I will never set you free again) I ask you: will you be my servant, or +my wife? I beseech you--do you hear? I, Ausonius, beseech you: become +my wife!" + +"Never! Never!" cried the girl starting up. + +"Insolent!" replied the rejected lover, offended and deeply incensed: +"You forget you are again my captive--again in my power." + +A glance from Bissula into the waves of the lake, here very deep, was +her only reply. Ausonius continued, without understanding the meaning +of the look, "Now I know the cause of this defiant, senseless refusal. +You deceived me when you said you had no lover." + +"I have no one who loves me," she answered with the deepest sadness; +tears filled her eyes as she gazed fixedly into vacancy. + +"You lie!" cried Ausonius. "That Adalo!" Bissula started. "He must love +you madly." + +Bissula listened intently, gazing at him in astonishment; glowing shame +and happy terror filled her heart. + +But the Roman went on: "Or would he, a free Prince of the Alemanni, +have solemnly made the proposal to Saturninus and me: 'Let the maiden +go unhurt. Adalo will take her place as captive.' Do you know what that +means? A slave for life?" + +"He--he did that? For me?" Passionate delight flashed from her eyes, +her soul. + +Ausonius gazed silently into her face. Then he said: "How he loves you, +this offer shows: how you love him, your radiant eyes betray. But," he +added, slowly and searchingly, "know this. He will no longer separate +us. You can become mine without breaking faith with him, for--" he +clasped her hand. + +"What is it? What has happened to him? Speak!" + +"He is dead." + +"Oh!" shrieked Bissula, and, before Ausonius could stop her, she had +wrenched herself from his hold, sprung on the thwart of the boat and, +clasping her hands above her head with a gesture of silent anguish, +flung herself forward toward the water. + +A strong arm caught her; it was Rignomer's. + +"Stay, hot-hearted child!" he exclaimed kindly. But the girl struggled +furiously in his grasp, she was resolved to plunge into the deep lake; +the light boat rocked dangerously. + +"Calm yourself," said Ausonius gravely and sorrowfully. "He lives." + +"Oh, how cruelly you have played with me," cried the girl. The Batavian +now drew her gently down upon the thwart, and she burst into a flood of +tears; but they were tears of joy. + +"It was no play, only a test. I see with grief that you really love the +fair-haired boy so fondly. If he had fallen, you would rather have +followed him to death than lived as my wife in splendor and happiness? +O Bissula, this is hard!" + +"Father! Dear Father! Don't be angry. I cannot help it. But is it +certain? Does he live?" + +"Yes. You cannot help it! That is true; I see it now. Be comforted. He +is alive. I saw him carried off the field by his followers. Saturninus +and he exchanged blows." + +"Yes. Be calm, little one," the Tribune interposed good humoredly. "His +stroke was really no harder than mine. I am still alive, so he will +doubtless live too." + +"Oh, Ausonius!" pleaded Bissula, raising both hands beseechingly. But +he did not let her finish the sentence. Passing his hand across his +eyes he murmured unheard by the others: "It is over. This hour has made +me an old man." Then he asked: "Where do you wish to be put on shore? +Opposite to Suomar's forest hut?" + +"Thank you, my warmest thanks! But not there, farther to the left from +here; yonder under the willows, where a nobleman's hall stands on the +height." + +"His!" exclaimed Ausonius. + +"Which you saved for him," added Saturninus. "All very beautiful and +noble--almost touching!" the Tribune continued, trying to seem unmoved, +yet at the same time kindly stroking the hand of the young girl, in +whose eyes the dancing light of joy mingled with tears like May rain. +"Only I will not permit the Prefect Prætor of Gaul to return to that +shore full of murderous wolves. No, indeed I will not. Neither will I +risk the life of any Roman soldier. Who is to take her to the land?" + +"I will go myself alone!" cried the eager girl. + +"That some Roman murderous wolf may follow you again on your way to the +hall; they are still worse!" cried the voice of some one, in German. +"No, illustrious Tribune," it continued in Latin, "I will take the +child to her friends." + +Rignomer now stepped from behind the sail which had concealed him. His +appearance was totally transformed: he had removed the Roman helmet +long before; now he had unbuckled the coat of mail and thrown around +him a brown Alemannic mantle which he had found in the boat. Instead of +the Roman weapons he carried over his shoulder a long iron-shod pole, +used for pushing and guiding boats while it could touch the bottom. + +"You?" asked Saturninus. "You too will be a dead man if they catch +you--a warrior in the Roman service." + +"Pardon me; I am one no longer. My time of service expired at +midnight--the last of the long seven years: what I did since--" + +"It was----" replied Saturninus. + +"Was done voluntarily. I shall not renew my oath of service. No, no! I +have had enough--more than enough of it. The Emperor still owes my pay +for the last month. I will let it go. I shall return to my mother, on +the Issala. But first I will take this runaway child to her people." + +As he spoke he grasped her hand. "Jump over, little one. See, the other +boat is empty: they have all climbed up into the galley. Jump over! +Happily, we are going home!" + +"So be it!" said Ausonius, without resentment but gravely: "Farewell, +Bissula! We part never to meet again." + +He turned away. Bissula threw herself on his breast and, amid flowing +tears, kissed his noble brow. His face had never been so handsome. +"Ausonius, farewell!" + +She sprang into the second boat, where Rignomer was already standing; +then she turned again toward the other one. This had been fastened by a +rope to the galley and now began to follow it as, propelled by many +oars, it swept toward the southwest. + +"Father Ausonius, I thank you!" she called. But he did not hear. With +his face averted from his young friend, and his gray head pressed +against the mast, he was weeping bitterly. + +The ship, dragging the boat in its wake, flew swiftly away. + + * * * * * + +The Batavian wielded the oars sturdily, and the light boat rapidly +approached the shore. + +Bissula no longer watched the disappearing Roman galley, but with a +throbbing heart sprang into the bow of the boat, where Adalo's +house-mark, the sixteen-branched antlers, rose proudly; she could not +help stroking it tenderly. The next instant she turned, laughing and +clapping her hands joyously, and exclaimed: "Now, Rignomer, you shall +see for once what rowing means. We are moving far too slowly for me!" + +Lifting two oars from the bottom of the light boat she put them +skilfully into the willow holders, seized them with both hands and, +standing erect, her face turned toward the shore, rowed with such +strength and skill that Rignomer exclaimed in wonder: "By Freya's eyes, +girl, you might become a boatman on the Issala any day! You can do this +too? A pity that you are not going with me to my mother!" The boat shot +to the land among the marshes. Bissula reached the ground with a long +leap before the Batavian could help her. The steersman had kept a +straight course for the nobleman's hall: they saw the stately wooden +mansion towering directly above them on the hill. + +"Oh, Donar be thanked," cried the girl joyously. "He has saved his +favorite beast, as the she-bear saved me." + +"What? What are you looking at in the mire?" + +"See! Bear tracks; very fresh ones! She was not drowned; she ran yonder +to the right along the shore on the old path where Sippilo and I always +went to fish." + +"Who is Sippilo?" asked the Batavian. "Another Adalo?" + +"Oh, nonsense! A child. And just see; from here the tracks go directly +to the hall. Come! Don't walk! Leap! Spring up the hill!" + +"No, little one," said the Batavian gravely. "You can run; I will not go +with you. You seem to know the way, to know it very well. There is no +human being in sight far or near. You can reach the hall safe without +me. Aha, there too, a huge stag's antlers tower from the roof. That is +the reason you were so pleased with the one on the boat's prow. +Farewell, little one! I won't go to the meeting--I mean yours with +Adalo and all the rest who belong to his clan." + +"They would thank you for having done so much for me." + +"Never mind the thanks. I did not do it for them." + +"Where are you going?" + +"Home. To the north and west. No, have no fear for me; I shall make my +way through. Here in my breast, little one, I carry the pay and the +price of the booty won in seven years; and on my shoulder is this pole. +One can go far with these two assistants. Farewell! And,"--he whispered +in her ear--"heed my words: never defy the man you call your Duke; for +he is--_he_!" + +He patted her hair and her pretty round head with rough tenderness as +he spoke, and then sprang toward the west along the lake shore. Once he +stopped to look after her--he wanted to wave another farewell. But +Bissula did not see him. She was running, with glowing cheeks, up the +hill. + + + + CHAPTER LIX. + +It was now broad daylight. The sun was shining radiantly on the +mountain and the lake. Light clouds which hitherto had hung like a veil +thrown over a long spear about the peak of Sentis floated swiftly down +into the valley. During the night a light snow had fallen upon Sentis +and Tödi and the other topmost peaks in the chain, and lay there +glittering like sparkling crystal. It was very peaceful. The +war--thanks to Bissula--had not brought its destruction here. Hoar +frost flashed on every blade of grass. + +The child of the forest, so long shut out from lake, meadow, and field, +rejoiced in the freedom of nature. She inhaled long draughts of the +pure air; nay, in spite of her impatience, she even turned once and, +standing still, gazed out over the shining azure lake and the peaks of +the mountains radiant in white and gold. + +"I do not know how to call you all by name, ye beloved gods, who have +guided everything so happily for me, aided me upon land and water, and +are now shining in the sunlight and the glory of the mountains! And +Adalo lives: that is the best, the very best of all that ye have done. +Ye gods, I do not know you all, but I thank every one of you!" + +She stretched her arms toward the sun. Then, that the goddess of the +lake and Donar, the King of the mountains, whose throne was on Sentis, +might not be angry, she saluted the water and the mountains, with both +hands, raising and lowering them as one waves a greeting to a friend +recognized at a distance. Again she ran impatiently up the hill side. +Most of the singing birds had left the lake long before; but one little +robin which always remained there all winter recognized the friendly +being who often scattered food for it on the snow, and, greeting her +with a light chirping, flew a few paces in front of her until she +reached the door of the hall. + + * * * * * + +Within the great central room Adalo lay on the floor upon a pile of +soft skins, his head toward the steps of the master's lofty seat, his +feet toward the entrance. His head rested in the lap of gray-haired +Waldrun; his eyes were closed. At his left lay Zercho, but placed in +the opposite direction, with his head toward the door and a huge goblet +of mead beside him. At his right stood Sippilo, gazing down anxiously +at his brother's face. Beside the wounded man was Bruna, the she-bear, +growling softly as she licked his hand. She was the first to move, +raising her head as light footsteps were heard on the sand outside the +door. + +The blind woman said, in a low tone that the wounded man might not +hear: "That is Bissula's tread." + +The girl appeared in the doorway. Sippilo started, Zercho raised his +head, but she motioned to them all to keep silence, and noiselessly +advancing with bare feet to Adalo's couch, she laid her little hand on +his head. + +"Bissula?" asked the Adeling. + +She bent over him, her red locks falling on his pale face. + +"Is it you, little one? No, no! The fairest of the Valkyrias has come +to bear me upward--do you see her swan wings?--up to Valhalla's shining +heights." Bissula's white robe was floating around her shoulders. + +The girl cast a glance of agonized terror at Waldrun. + +"Be comforted," said the old dame firmly, "he will live. And everything +will be as I have said." + +"You must stay with us always now," cried Sippilo, seizing her garments +as if to hold her by force. + +Bruna, growling joyfully, had risen and put one paw on her knee, +looking up at her with intelligent eyes. Bissula gratefully patted the +animal's head and held out her hand to Zercho, who kissed it humbly. +Laughing, yet with tears in his eyes, he cried: "O little sprite, +little red sprite!" + +But now the girl bent down again, exclaiming: + +"No, Adalo, it is no Valkyria, it is Bissula, little red Bissula, who +is so wicked, so wicked! Adalo,--hush, don't speak,--I know all. I +know, too, what you wanted to do for me, what you offered. That was +wrong in you. Hush, hush! It was certainly what you--you only are of +all the people in the world. Hush, dearest--don't move. Yes, yes, I +will stay here, your nurse, your maid-servant, as long as you need me. +Ah! I beg you so earnestly--I entreat you--take me! No, no! Do not move +your arm! Not yet to your breast! But I will do everything all my +life--will be as blindly obedient as you desire: only let me stay with +you--your own!" + +Her little head sank on his breast. The wounded man raised himself, +kissed her flowing red hair, the red lips, now smiling again, and the +eyes still wet with tears, exclaiming rapturously: + +"O Bissula--you dear one--you wicked elf--my beloved bride!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + [Footnote 1: The German name for Lake Constance.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Captive of the Roman Eagles, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + +***** This file should be named 32220-8.txt or 32220-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/2/32220/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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C. McClurg & Co."> +<meta name="Date" content="1902"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +p.center {text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + + +p.section {letter-spacing:1em; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt;} +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:15%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} + +.quote {font-size:90%} + + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps;} +.space {letter-spacing: 1em; text-align:center; margin-bottom:24pt; margin-top:24pt;} + + +hr.W10 {width:10%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} + + +p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em; margin-bottom:24pt; font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt} + +.poem { + margin-top : 24pt; + margin-left : 5%; + margin-right : 10%; + text-align : left; + margin-bottom : 24pt + } + .poem .stanza { + margin : 1em 0; + margin-top:24pt; + } + .poem p { + margin : 0; + padding-left : 3em; + text-indent : -3em; + } + .poem p.i0 { + margin-left : 0em; + } + .poem p.i4 { + margin-left : 2em; + } + .poem p.i6 { + margin-left : 3em; + } + .poem p.i8 { + margin-left : 4em; + } + .poem p.i10 { + margin-left : 5em; +} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Captive of the Roman Eagles, by Felix Dahn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Captive of the Roman Eagles + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Mary J. Safford + +Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32220] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p class="hang1">1. Page scan source:<br> +http://www.archive.org/details/acaptiveromanea00dahngoog</p> +<p class="hang1">2. Footnote is at the end of the book.</p> + + +<br> + +<br> + +<h1>A CAPTIVE OF THE +ROMAN EAGLES</h1> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>A Captive of the +Roman Eagles</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h2><i> By</i> FELIX DAHN</h2> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3>Translated from the German by</h3> +<h2>Mary J. Safford</h2> + +<h3>TRANSLATOR OF<br> +"Aspasia," "Cleopatra," etc.</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h3>Chicago</h3> +<h2>A. C. McClurg & Co.</h2> +<h3>1902</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>COPYRIGHT<br> +A. C. McCLURG & CO.</h3> +<h4>1902<br> +PUBLISHED Sept. 13, 1902</h4> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The author of the romance "A Captive of the Roman +Eagles"--published in +Germany under the title of "Bissula"--is one of the most distinguished +novelists of the present day in his own country, and will doubtless be +equally appreciated by Americans.</p> + +<p class="normal">Like Dr. Georg Ebers, he has based his historical novels upon +the solid +foundation of earnest study. The field he has chosen is principally the +period of the conflicts between Germany and Rome, and the struggles for +supremacy of the various peoples in the territory now occupied by +Germany, Switzerland, and France, and he describes with vivid colors +and dramatic power the life of those far-off days.</p> + +<p class="normal">Professor Dahn is a native of Hamburg, but spent his childhood +in +Munich, always a centre of intellectual life, and, under the stimulus +of its circle of writers, his poetic talent developed early. He studied +law, philosophy, and history in Munich and Berlin. In 1862 he was made +Professor in the University of Wurzburg, in 1872 in Königsberg, and in +1888 he was called to a chair in the University of Breslau, where, in +the intervals of his professional duties, he has devoted himself to his +brilliant literary work.</p> + +<p class="normal">The warm welcome accorded to my translations of the novels of +Ebers, +whose hold upon the affections of American readers has proved so +enduring, inspires the hope that "A Captive of the Roman Eagles" may +also receive a cordial recognition from our public.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Mary J. Safford</span>.</p> + +<p class="normal"><i> Washington, D. C., June 10, 1902.</i></p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES</h1> + +<br> + +<h3>BOOK ONE</h3> + +<h2>THE FREE WOMAN</h2> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Whoever has been at Friedrichshafen on beautiful Lake +Constance, on a +clear August day, and watched the sun setting in splendor behind the +tops of the beeches of Manzell; whoever has seen the waves of the lake +and the snow-capped peaks of the Alps from Sentis to the Allgau +Mountains glow in the crimson light, while the notes of the Ave Maria +float softly over forest, meadow, and water, will treasure the memory +of the peaceful scene throughout his whole life. To this region the +story of little Bissula leads us.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in that period--the year 378--the whole northern shore of +the +"Venetus Lacus" (Lake Constance) looked somewhat desolate, and often by +no means peaceful. The lowlands were covered with primeval forests and +fens--only here and there a few scattered settlements appeared on +patches of parched tilled land.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that time the lake covered a much more extensive tract of +country +than now, and a still larger space was occupied by a marshy territory +between the water and the meadow, which being for the greater portion +of the year a mere swamp afforded at the same time refuge and food to +flocks of wild swans, herons, and countless smaller water-fowl.</p> + +<p class="normal">This region had already been a considerable time in the +possession of +the Alemanni; but on the southern shore of the lake Rome still +maintained her supremacy. This was with the special object of +controlling the important roads leading from Gaul by way of Augst +(Augusta Rauracorum) to Basle, Windisch (Vindonissa) to Arbon (Arbor +Felix), Bregenz (Brigantium), and thence farther eastward, thus +preserving the connection between the Western and Eastern portions of +the Empire, and facilitating the movements of the troops. The men were +sometimes forced to hasten from the Rhine to the Danube to meet the +Goths in the East, and anon from the Danube to the Rhine to contend +with the Franks on the lower, or the Alemanni on the upper portion of +the stream.</p> + +<p class="normal">This year also such assistance seemed necessary--this time in +the +eastern provinces, where the Gothic tribes, especially the Visigoths, +fleeing before the Huns, had found refuge on Roman territory, but, +driven to desperation by the ill-treatment of the Roman governor, had +risen in arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, Valens, the Emperor of the Eastern Empire, hoped to cope +successfully with them alone; he would have been reluctant to share the +fame of victory with his young nephew and fellow-ruler Gratianus, lord +of the Western portion. Yet, nevertheless, he had been compelled to ask +the latter to hold himself in readiness to come to his uncle's +assistance with his Gallic legions in the territory bordering on the +Danube.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gratianus, however, thought that he could not leave Gaul and +the Rhine +until he had first punished the Alemanni for their recent incursions +across the frontier, and--at least for a while--deterred them from +making new inroads. At the same time he desired, in case the summons +for help should arrive, to have traversed a portion of the long +distance and thus be able to give his uncle aid more speedily. So, +toward the end of July, he left his residence, Trier, with the larger +portion of his troops, and marched by way of Zabern and Strassburg to +the left bank of the Rhine near Augst and Basle. Here and at Windisch +he formed two camps and kept the main body of his troops near him, +busying himself in the reorganization of the province and eagerly +awaiting news from the East.</p> + +<p class="normal">The expedition against the Alemanni on the northern shore of +the lake +was entrusted to a small band of troops which, being able to move more +swiftly, seemed better suited for the marches through swamp and forest +and, moreover, amply sufficient in number; for the attack was directed +against only the Linzgau, so called from the little river, which at the +present time is still known as the Linz, or more frequently the Ach. +This was the home of the Lentian Alemanni, who lived on the northern +and western shores of the lake and, during that very spring, had +harried the Roman frontier. The command of the expedition had been +entrusted to experienced generals who had chosen their own force of +foot and horse, while a large baggage train conveyed the provisions and +the remainder of the luggage. In all, there were probably more than +three thousand men.</p> + +<p class="normal">According to the old victorious Roman strategy--whose success +was +proved by the conquest of nearly half the world known at that +day--this small force was to assail the foe from several directions at +once, the same as in great campaigns, as if seized by claws, a favorite +comparison in Roman military literature. Part of the troops--the +cavalry, several squadrons of cataphractarii (mailed riders, who were +completely sheathed in armor), cohorts of the Twenty-Second Legion, +picked German mercenaries, Batavians (they were considered the best of +all the foreign soldiers), and lastly the flower of the Imperial Guard, +foot-soldiers, mainly Illyrians and Thracians, were to march northward +from Windisch, cross the Rhine, move along the old road to the north, +then, suddenly turning eastward, skirt the western shore of the lake to +gain its northern side, thus penetrating the whole Linzgau from the +west to the east, halting at an appointed place in the heart of the +enemy's country and awaiting the second division. Meanwhile this second +body was to march along the great highway bordering the southern shore +from Windisch to Arbon, cross the lake in boats, land on the northern +shore, and pass through the Linzgau from east to west till they reached +the first division.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the escape of the Barbarians, whose tilled lands would +all be laid +waste, would be cut off both eastward and westward. Those who attempted +flight southward in their boats across the lake would be intercepted by +the Roman Bodensee<a name="div2Ref_note01" href="#div2_note01"><sup>1</sup></a> Fleet. Year after year, the last time that very +March, the most brilliant reports of its strength and prowess had been +sent to Gaul. The remnant of the foe remaining after the assault from +two or three directions were to be driven by the united bands as far as +possible into the inhospitable northern forests, or forced into the +Danube.</p> + +<p class="normal">The place of meeting appointed for both divisions was the +lofty hill, +half a league north of Friedrichshafen, whence at the present day the +church of Berg dominates the lowlands. At that time it was known as the +Idisenhang,--the hill of the wood-goddesses. The Roman ships, in +crossing directly from Arbon, were obliged to run into the bay of what +we know as Friedrichshafen. For the land forces the leaders hoped to +find a passable route along the remains of an old military road, which +formerly--in Rome's better days--had extended also around the northern +shore of the lake. This steep hill, affording an unimpeded view in +every direction and dominating the whole neighborhood, was a model of +the positions where the Roman eagle was fain to alight for a brief rest +during its flights in quest of prey. Here a camp was to be formed, +whence the land of the Barbarians would be ravaged by small bodies of +troops in every direction, while the strong fortified camp should +maintain the connection with the lake, the fleet, and the southern +shore, until the whole enterprise was completed and the Romans could +return to the Emperor at Windisch.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The experienced commanders had executed their tasks swiftly, +skilfully, +and successfully. Arbon, the strongly fortified station of the great +military road, had, it is true, been repeatedly attacked, plundered, +and set on fire by the Alemanni in swift forays from the lake, but +never permanently occupied; they did not like to dwell in cities.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few years previously Valentinian, Gratianus's warlike father +and +predecessor, had repaired and strengthened the old walls, increased the +garrison, filled the store-houses with provisions, especially grain, +and stationed in the harbor a number of ships. These, though neither so +numerous nor so stately as those of the Venetian Fleet in the prouder +days of Rome, were quite sufficient to prevent the Barbarians from an +attack by water, nay, they constantly threatened them with a landing on +the northern shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">The commander of the division intended for this fleet, the +Comes of +Britannia, Nannienus, a man skilled in nautical matters and an +excellent officer, had reached the harbor fortification with his troops +very quickly by the excellent road from Windisch. The other column +needed a much longer time for its wearisome march, turning finally +eastward before it again reached the shore of the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">Caution was the first requisite during this advance through +the +pathless land of the Barbarians; and no measure of prudence was omitted +by the well-trained, circumspect leaders. Natives of the country who +were perfectly familiar with the region acted as guides; though the +southern shore was inhabited exclusively by Roman colonists, they +guarded carefully against treachery from that quarter. Horsemen, +lightly armed Celtic archers, the Keltae and Petulantes, and Germans +familiar with woodland warfare--the Batavians--formed the van and +rearguards. In the centre were the heavily armed foot-soldiers of the +Imperial Guard, protecting the traders and sutlers, luggage, camp +equipage, and provisions. They moved along the ruinous old road, as +near the shore as the marshy ground permitted, in order to keep in view +of the lake, that they might discover any attempt at an attack by the +Barbarians in their boats, and also not lose sight of the opposite +shore occupied by the Romans.</p> + +<p class="normal">The most difficult task was assigned to the left wing which, +at the +north of the central division and the old road, was to force a passage +through forest and morass in a line parallel with that of the main +body, and protect it from any flank assault of the foe; for should the +latter suddenly burst from an ambush in the impenetrable woods and fall +upon the column extended in marching order, the whole body, thus taken +by surprise, might be scattered and driven into the marshes and the +lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the resistance offered by forest and fen to the progress +of the +troop seemed destined to remain the sole opposition which the Romans +were to encounter; for the latter had not met a single human being +since they quitted the southern shore of the lake and the stations +along the road there. There were no villages of the Alemanni in this +region: the ground was occupied by farms, and the houses (called +"Schwaigen") were miles apart. The few lonely dwellings which they +passed during a march of several days had been abandoned. A mysterious +silence, boding destruction, seemed to brood over the empty wooden +buildings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everywhere, just before the time of ripening, the grain--oats, +barley, +and spelt--had been cut and partly burnt; the latter mode was the +quicker, and the grain of the Alemanni should not serve their foe even +as fodder for his horses. The cattle had been driven away; the kennels +of the faithful farm watch, almost always found at the gates, were also +empty; the hay and straw were removed from the barns, which were +usually connected with the houses and very often formed part of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Slowly, with frequent halts, advancing with difficulty, the +Romans +assigned to the care of the provisions in charge of the troops or the +sutlers and their wives struggled forward for several days, each night +carefully establishing a well-fortified camp. From the western end of +the lake, where it ran into a stretch of marshy ground densely +overgrown by rushes, and meadows with sedges waving in the wind, they +marched toward the east. Thus, by a toilsome march, they had reached +the foot of the steep hill now crowned by the stately castle of +Meersburg.</p> + +<p class="normal">The long August day, during which frequent showers of rain had +fallen, +though the sky had not been always clouded, was drawing to a close. +Again the sun shone brilliantly through a rift, gilding the whole chain +of mountain peaks of the Bernese Alps to the Allgau heights; the Sentis +glowed in crimson splendor, solemnly, like a king of the mountain +giants who had drawn his radiant mantle around his proud shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Roman column halted cautiously at the foot of the steep +hill, whose +rocky sides fell abruptly to the lake and the valley on the west, while +the summit, at that time densely covered with trees and bushes, +presented a gloomy, threatening aspect. The oak-leaves and pine-needles +were dripping with rain, and wherever the sun did not shine on them, +looked dark-green, almost black.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two officers, whose high rank was betokened by the gold and +silver +ornaments on their equipments, now flashing brightly in the rays of the +setting sun, rode slowly toward the hill. Before them, bound by the +right and left arms respectively to the stirrups of two mounted +soldiers, walked a guide. A few pioneers with axes and spades +surrounded the leaders, and a little band of Batavian spearmen +followed. One of the officers, a stately man about thirty-five, now +checked his heavy Spanish barb and bent forward, his clear-cut bronzed +features wearing a keenly watchful expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I have ever known and fought with Germans," he said with a +strong +Illyrian accent, "they are hiding in the woods on yonder hill-top, +which is a natural fortress. Halt, I beg, Prefect Prætor of Gaul. We'll +go no farther without reconnoitring. Forward, my brave Batavians. +Rignomer, take six men and climb up among the underbrush. But be wary! +And you, Brinno, trumpeter, give the signal of warning the instant you +discover the foe."</p> + +<p class="normal">The other officer, a man much his senior, smiled as the order +was +executed. "You are over-cautious, Saturninus. Always erring on the side +of prudence!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We cannot be over-cautious against this foe, my noble friend. +Had not +the Barbarians occupied this fortress erected by the gods of their +native land, all courage to offer resistance must have deserted them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And it evidently <i>has</i> abandoned them. All taste for war was +thoroughly extirpated by the departed hero, Valentinian, and our bold +young Emperor, his son. My pupil!" he added complacently. "I am quite +sure that all danger to the Empire from the Germans is over."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion silently shook his head. Just at that moment a +captain of +the mailed horsemen, a man numbering about five and twenty years, +dashed forward from the centre of the Roman column. Tangled locks hung +from beneath his helmet, and his features were ignoble in form and +disagreeable in expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must we cross that accursed cliff. Tribune?" he exclaimed, +abruptly +checking his horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must," replied the Illyrian quietly. "I have just learned +that our +left wing has again found the morass in the forest bottomless, and is +approaching along this, our only road. And the waves of the lake are +dashing at our right."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man cast a doubtful glance at the cliff. "H'm," he +muttered, +"it will cost us many men. But that's no misfortune," he added, "we +have more than enough Barbarians in our pay; if they fall fighting +against other Barbarians, there will simply be fewer of the beasts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An abominable remark, nephew Herculanus," replied the Prefect +reprovingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the ascent be resisted," said the Tribune, "it will +consume much +time, and we have none to lose. We ought to have been on the bank of +the Ister long ago to fight the Goths. I am anxious about the Emperor +Valens. I have a presentiment of evil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are always boding evil," replied the Prefect, smiling, +"but the +evil never comes, the good fortune of eternal Rome always conquers. +Hark, it is the same now. The trumpeter is giving the signal: 'All +safe! Forward!' and the Centurion of the Batavians, who climbed the +height first--what is his name?--Rignomer, is beckoning to us to +follow. Up, friends! Was I not right, my brave Tribune? The Barbarians +will make no defence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right as usual, uncle!" said Herculanus with a smile +intended +to be pleasant, but which made quite the opposite impression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you only remain right, Ausonius!" said the Illyrian +hesitatingly. +"Yet at the moment it really does appear so. Up, give the signal with +the tubas: Forward! We will pitch our camp for the night on that +height, and the land of the Alemanni will be defenceless before us."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="normal">As we have seen, the Romans were still ignorant whether the +Barbarians +were aware of the bands approaching simultaneously from several +directions to menace the inhabitants of the forest with destruction. +Preparations had been made so secretly that the commanders believed it +possible to take the foe completely by surprise. For weeks not a German +had been allowed to pass the guards on the very outermost line of Roman +territory, which, it is true, had been greatly diminished in the course +of the last three or four generations. The right of traffic at the +stations on the southern shore had been withdrawn a still longer time, +on the pretext of alleged violations of the conditions of such +intercourse. Roman traders had not ventured recently within the +precincts occupied by neighbors who were justly irritated by such +severity.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sentinels on the frontier reported that nothing unusual +could be +seen from the watch towers. The people went about their work in field +and forest as usual, tended their numerous flocks, hunted or fished; +apparently they thought neither of defence nor flight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once, it is true, one of the <i>speculæ</i> reported that, late one +night, a +fire had suddenly blazed upon a mountain peak probably several miles +from the lake and, after a short interval, as suddenly vanished. The +Alemanni called the towering height, whose summit was visible for many +a mile, the Sacred Mountain, the Holy Mountain, and Odin's Mountain, +and the name has clung to it tenaciously. True, in later times the +"sacred" related to Christian consecration; but at the present day the +stately castle on that majestic height bears the title of Heiligenberg. +On the spot where Odin's ash-trees then rustled, the breeze now sweeps +across the flower-beds of a beautiful garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">The report was unheeded. Forest fires, even at night, were not +unusual +among the Germans, who in their labor of clearing the ground often +required, in the place of the axe, the aid of the swifter flame. During +the next few days also everything remained quiet.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the morning after that night--it was a few days prior to +the Romans' +march across the height of Meersburg, already described--a youth +emerged from the dense woods stretching for miles in a northwesterly +direction toward the Holy Mountain, a youth whose figure was as +straight, tall, and slender as a young pine. The hood of lynx-skin +fluttering from his shoulders like a short cloak did not confine his +long fair locks, which fell in waves upon his shoulders, waves with +which the morning breeze played caressingly, as the youth stopped on +the crest of a low grassy hill that afforded a view of the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">Resting his right arm upon the oak handle of his spear, he +leaned +forward, shading his eyes with his left hand from the glare of the +sunbeams on the smooth surface of the water, as he gazed intently +toward the southern shore. It was an eagle glance, proud, bold, and +keen, and the color of the eye was a light golden brown.</p> + +<p class="normal">The red-tiled roofs of the Roman watchtowers and citadels +opposite in +Arbon and the other stations (Constantia, etc.) shone brightly in the +morning sunlight. The utmost repose pervaded the whole scene. Neither +sail nor row-boat was visible: a huge kite, with an occasional stroke +of its broad pinions, was soaring in wide circles above the shallows +near the shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young German turned his eyes in the direction of the +gently rising +ground before him northwest of Friedrichshafen, now occupied by the +village of Jettenhausen. At that time the land had been cleared and +brought under cultivation. The hill was crowned by a stately wooden +structure, surrounded by a fence built breast-high for purposes of +defence; a pair of superb antlers adorned the ridge-pole. From the main +building itself and a small one adjoining it smoke circled upward +through holes in the roof: the inmates were doubtless preparing the +morning meal.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth made a movement in the direction of the hall, on +which his +eyes had rested proudly, yet with an expression of almost sorrowful +earnestness, then he paused suddenly, saying to himself: "No! I will go +first to <i>her</i>." He hastened eastward through what was then a tract of +marshy woodland--now bearing the name of Seewald--crossing it in the +direction of the Tettnang forests. Often he was forced to leap from +rock to rock or from one mossy hillock to another, that he might not +sink waist-deep in the morass. But the young German seemed perfectly +familiar with the almost invisible path which, sometimes in the form of +a ford, sometimes as a bridge, led through the bog and the dense +underbrush. Swinging himself with a daring leap, aided by the handle of +his spear, across a tolerably wide stream which flowed through moss and +sedges to the lake--a startled red grouse flew upward with a shrill +cry--he soon saw before him the nearest settlement to his own stately +dwelling: for he was the lord of the manor he had left behind. In this +region neighbors lived more than a league apart; it was not until +succeeding generations that the scattered freeholds along the lake grew +into villages.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little house in the forest--it might almost be called a +hut--nestled modestly at the foot of a low hill which sheltered it from +the northeast wind. The old roof was overgrown with dark green moss, +and the small stable forming part of the dwelling afforded room for +only a few head of cattle. Yet everything was neat and well-kept, +especially the little pasture in whose fenced inclosure stood several +fruit-trees, while the eye noted with surprise the presence in this +wilderness of several ornamental plants belonging to Rome or Southern +Gaul: the yew and--carefully tended--some fine roses. Across the top of +the ridge-pole was a four-pointed star, clumsily carved from pine-wood, +but unmistakable. Its beauty, however, had not been increased by its +having been smeared with the red lead used to color the house-mark cut +in it--evidently a recent act.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth's first glance as he came in sight of the little +house was +unconsciously directed toward the star on the roof. When he saw the red +paint a smile curled the well-cut mouth, which was not yet wholly +concealed by the downy beard of early manhood. His second look sought +the top of the low hill, where an ancient oak, now steeped in the +golden sunshine, was waving its gnarled branches in the morning breeze; +long garlands of goat's beard, dangling from the boughs, swayed to and +fro. A circular wooden bench surrounded the trunk, and on the southern +side a few large stones had been arranged to form a sort of table.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">An old woman, wrapped in a dark garment, sat almost motionless +upon the +bench in the warm sunshine. Thin locks of beautiful white hair escaped +from beneath the edge of the brown cloak drawn over her head; her hands +alone stirred with a slight, regular motion. When the youth's footsteps +echoed on the sandy slope of the hillock, she paused in her work and +bent forward to listen; then nodding, murmured under her breath: +"That's why she slipped away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to you, Waldrun!" said the youth, pausing before her. +"Don't be +frightened--it is I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalo, the young noble," interrupted the old woman. "Only the +evil-doers fear <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You recognize me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When the gods blind the eyes, they give sight to the soul. +Though your +light footstep rarely rings near me now, I know it well. I often hear +it as you hurry past our home, avoiding the house by taking a wide +circuit. No one save Bruna, your tame bear, comes to us by daylight +from the manor; for you have doubtless forbidden even your fair-haired +little brother to visit our house. But brutes are more loyal than human +beings: often, very often, Bruna seeks my little maid and Zercho the +bondman. When she brings us a wreath of the child's favorite flowers +wound around her neck and growling, drags it off to her lap, we know +well that the boy Sippilo, not you, sent it. By day you shun us! But--" +She bent forward and lowered her voice to a whisper: the youth glanced +around in surprise; surely they were still alone--"but by night you +often approach stealthily."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo flushed crimson, and sought to divert her thoughts. "Can +you spin +without seeing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The youngest of the three great Sisters--who was born +blind--spins the +future of the whole human race. And what I am spinning is as familiar +to my fingers as to my thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My shroud. But I do not think that Adalo, son of Adalger, +came hither +to question Waldrun concerning her thoughts of death. Do you seek my +son? Suomar has not yet returned from the Council."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not seek him--he sends me. The Council--last night on +Odin's +Mountain--resolved to destroy all the houses and harvests." The youth's +noble, handsome countenance beamed with the fierce menacing joy of +battle as he added: "<i>The Romans</i> are coming."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will not tarry long," said the old woman, calmly going +on with +her spinning. "I have often seen them dash forward in all the pride of +strength, and soon sink feebly back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You women, those unable to bear arms, the slaves, and the +cattle are +to be received in two fortresses far away from the lake--one on Odin's +Mountain in the west, the other among the eastern marshes. We shall +form two divisions: one stationed in the east, the other in the west. +Your son is assigned to the eastern band; he was sent directly from the +council to the swamps. The troop will go through the fords there and +strengthen the breastwork of logs around the meadows to prevent the +entrance of the Italians."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we must hasten eastward to the morasses. We shall be +nearer to +him there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo hesitated. His face again crimsoned and he cast a keen +glance at +the door of the house ere he began: "That was his first idea--and by +the decree of the people the fugitives were thus divided. But--some one +else--a friend--counselled him not to hide you in the swamps, but--on +the Holy Mountain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You belong to the western band--on the mountain."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo made no reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You gave him that counsel, Adalo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not deny it; you know that I mean kindly. You will be +better +concealed on the lofty wooded summit of Odin's Mountain than in the +marshes. Life in the fever-breeding swamps is full of discomfort--the +disease often attacks the inhabitants--and it is not so safe. The +eastern band will not remain in your hiding place: Suomar himself +cannot protect you; concealment is your sole defence. But on Odin's +Mountain, far up within the stone fortress, the gods of the land +themselves will shield you. And the life there in the woodland huts and +tents built of green branches will be more comfortable and pleasant. +And--" he spoke slowly and modestly--"I myself will be there to defend +you. Follow me,--to-morrow it may be too late,--follow me at once!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment two acorns fell rattling on the top of the +rude +stone table and rebounded to the earth. Adalo looked up. "A squirrel?" +he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. A <i>red</i> one," added the old woman, nodding. "It often +plays its +saucy pranks up there. They are sometimes very spiteful."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed they are," replied Adalo, laughing. "One which I once +caught +nearly bit through my finger. There!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Waldrun felt the fore-finger of his outstretched hand, then +without +releasing it, said: "There is another scar close by. My naughty +granddaughter bit you years ago--do you remember? How did it happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was at the spring festival. The west wind was blowing +furiously, +like the very breath of Odin. She ventured alone in your mouldering +boat--the old one hollowed from a log--to cross the lake. The others +jeered at her--I pleaded. Every effort was vain. Springing into the +skiff, she pushed off: if she passed beyond the rushes into the open +water she was lost. I ran after her, waded, swam, and dragged her from +the boat, just as it upset. I carried her to the shore, while she +writhed and struggled, spitting like an otter, and, by way of thanks, +bit my finger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then," replied Waldrun reprovingly, "some spiteful tongue +uttered +the saying,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"'Sharp is the squirrel's scratch,</p> +<p class="i6">Bissula's bite is sharper.'</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"The saying ran through the district, nay, all the provinces +by the +lake. Wherever my granddaughter went, to pick berries in summer, to +comb the flax, to glean, to mow, to thresh--everywhere the jeering +couplet greeted her. That was not kind. Or wise!" she added in a lower +tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother Waldrun, you are right: it was not well done, but no +harm was +meant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, Odin placed the song in your reckless lips and gave +you the +winged words, the biting jest. You cannot help it! Wherever you see a +tempting mark, the arrow of a mocking speech whizzes from your mouth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But unvenomed, unbarbed. A blunt little shaft like that with +which we +strike the pretty red-breast, Donar's favorite, not to harm it, nay, +only to capture it unhurt and bear it home to our hearths that it may +sing sweetly to us year after year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beware! Everything that has the red hue is passionate, swift +to +revenge, and slow to forgive.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," replied the youth laughing. "How runs another verse?</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"'Dost vex little Red Hair?</p> +<p class="i6">I bid thee beware!</p> +<p class="i6">The fair one fear.</p> +<p class="i6">She's false and spits her ire</p> +<p class="i6">Like the fox and the fire.'"</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Scarcely was the last line uttered when, high among the +topmost boughs +of the lofty tree, a strange sound was heard. At the very summit the +noise resembled spitting and rattling, while below it was different, +like something sliding down the trunk. The first sounds undoubtedly +came from a little squirrel, which, startled by some disturbance, +chattering and hissing in fear or anger, sprang in a wide curve yet +with a sure leap from the topmost bough of the tree to a neighboring +oak which stood at a considerable distance.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Adalo's glance followed the little creature's bound, which +really +resembled flying.</p> + +<p class="normal">But meanwhile, from amid the dense foliage in the centre of +the tree a +figure clad in the dress of a girl slid nimbly down the trunk, and as +soon as she reached the ground, smoothed her garments carefully from +her knees to her ankles. With her dainty, sparkling beauty, her almost +childlike delicacy of form, this apparition looked less like a mortal +maiden than a spirit of light.</p> + +<p class="normal">She wore no cloak. Her white linen robe, with its cherry-red +border and +girdle of the same hue a hand's breadth wide, left her neck and arms +bare; her complexion, wherever any portion of her almost too slenderly +moulded figure was visible, gleamed with the dazzling whiteness of +ivory; the unusually heavy dark-red eyebrows, which nearly met in the +centre but were beautifully arched, frowned threateningly, and her +clear blue eyes were now flashing with wrath. The vision attracted +rather by the vivacious charm of expression and the perfect symmetry of +her dainty figure than by regular beauty. For it must be confessed, +though the charming inquisitive little nose did not actually turn +up--by no means--it was really a little too short. And, as it sloped +sharply away at the end, the space between it and the upper lip became +too long, thereby giving the oval face when in repose an expression +half of alert surprise, half of mischievous wilfulness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everything about this dainty dragon-fly was so delicate that +the young +girl might easily have been taken for a child, had not her rounded bust +revealed her womanhood. Wonderfully charming was the little mouth, +whose lips were so full that they seemed to pout mirthfully, while +their hue rivalled the red border of her robe. A dimple in the chin and +a slight tendency to a double chin lent the face that innocent +sweetness without which woman's beauty fails to attract.</p> + +<p class="normal">The most remarkable thing about this elfin vision was her +hair--hair +whose bright red hue was the very tint of flame--which rippled around +her brow and temples in a thousand wilful little ringlets as if each +individual one curled separately. They seemed to frame the face +protectingly, as thorns cluster about a rosebud. The rest of her locks, +after the Suabian fashion, were combed upward toward the crown, knotted +there, and then flowed in magnificent tawny waves, somewhat darker in +tint, over her dazzlingly white neck far below her waist.</p> + +<p class="normal">The expression of saucy defiance, inquisitive surprise, nay +even +superiority, enhanced by this arrangement of the hair, was still +further heightened by the little creature's habit of raising her heavy +eyebrows as if in mingled astonishment and reproof. In the charm of the +contradiction lay a temptation to smile which this fragile elf, with +her pert little nose and sparkling blue eyes, seamed to discover--and +if necessary instantly resent.</p> + +<p class="normal">An extremely strong will, a hot, ungovernable temper, and the +sweetness +of a half unfolded bud, were contrasts which provoked a smile--nay, +almost irresistibly awakened a desire to try what the impetuous little +thing would do if her swift wrath were aroused. But when she raised her +eyes with a more gentle expression, they were so bewitchingly +beautiful, so pure, so tender, so soulful, that enthusiastic admiration +made the spectator forget the inclination to tease her.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, at this moment the elf looked by no means angelic, but +thoroughly +evil, as, darting only one swift glance of furious rage at the tall +young noble, she seized the old woman violently by the shoulder and in +a low voice stifled by suppressed fury--cried: "Grandmother!--Away!--To +the marshes! Zercho the bondman must guide us. Away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gently, child, gently! Did not you hear? It will be safer on +the +mountain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Safer perhaps for us; but not for those whom we--no, whom <i>I</i> +should +then be near. Go," she cried furiously to the youth, "save yourself, I +advise you, from the red-hair. 'False and spitting her ire like the fox +and the fire.' Was that the way it ran, you witty fellow? As soon as +the daughter of our neighbor Ero, giggling with spiteful mirth, told me +your last jibe against me, I climbed the hay-ladder to the ridge-pole +of our house and painted our white star up there red: painted it very +thick and bright, so that you could see it from the edge of the forest +and keep far away from the evil color. Very far--do you hear?"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Adalo had now recovered from his astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew," he said, smiling, "that the elves of light dwell +above our +heads; but I was not aware that they had nests among the boughs of the +oaks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not? If you reproach me with being an elf of light."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is no reproach, I should think. What says the elf-song? +'Fairest +fair are not the ases, but the elves.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Sharp is the bite of the squirrel, but Bissula's is sharper +still.' +You yourself classed me with the biting animals, so do not wonder that +I fled to my red, snarling, biting sisters when I heard in the distance +the haughty footfall of the hated Adalo. I detected your approach even +sooner than the long-practised ear of my blind grandmother. Hate is +quick to hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hate me?" asked the youth. His voice sounded low and +sad.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive her, Adalo! She is but a child."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, grandmother, I am a child no longer; I shall see my +eighteenth +winter when the next snow falls. The child tried to defend herself +against superior strength. She was too weak; but now something within +me struggles against your arrogance--I know not what it is; it glows +here in my breast, and believe me, this thing within is stronger than +my hands once were: you cannot conquer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not wish to conquer; I seek to protect you and your +grandmother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The head of our clan will protect us--Suomar, her son, my +uncle and +guardian."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suomar thought that you would be safer on Odin's Mountain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because my good uncle did not suspect that you were only +trying to win +fresh renown by new couplets. Something like this:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">'Bitterly bites Bissula! But back</p> +<p class="i6">Repentant she ran, in fear of the Romans;</p> +<p class="i6">To Adalo, the Adeling!'</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">You hear--I too can make verses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Evil words," said Waldrun reprovingly, "which were not given +to you by +Odin the Wise, but by Loki! Why do you scorn the protection your +neighbor offers? You grew up together like brother and sister, constant +playfellows on the shore and the lake."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Until the neighbor discovered that he was the rich, strong +young +noble, skilled in song; the 'handsome' Adalo--as all the silly girls +whisper. He handsome? He is hideous. His name is forever ringing in +one's ears throughout the whole region in every dwelling along the +lake. Who is the boldest hero in the Roman war? The stoutest swimmer, +the most successful hunter? The victor in wrestling, hurling stones, +casting the spear? Who leaps highest in the sword dance? To whom do +even the gray-beards listen in the Council? At whom do the maidens peep +at the sun-festival? Adalo! Adalo! Adalo!--The arrogant fellow! It is +unbearable."</p> + +<p class="normal">The angry maiden pressed both little clenched hands over her +eyes to +shut out the sight of the foe she so fervently hated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would arrogance bring me here with this entreaty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay; sheer arrogance! When, during the spinning in the winter +and the +hay-making in the autumn, the girls talked about you, I said little; I +only listened. It was rumored that Jetto, the rich lord of the manor, +was beginning--he took the first step--to treat with Adalo concerning a +marriage with his daughter, Jettaberga. Jettaberga is the handsomest +girl in the lake region--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not true," said Adalo earnestly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her kinsmen, next to your own family, have the largest number +of +spears and of cattle, are the richest in shields and in lands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," he answered, nodding assent. "But Adalo +refused the +offer as soon as it was sufficiently well known in the neighborhood +that Jetto himself had proposed to give him his daughter because both +clans would have profited by the alliance--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Especially Jetto!" interrupted Waldrun. "And because +Jettaberga +thought the young nobleman was handsomer than any other man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is probably <i>not</i> true!" remarked the latter, smiling +pleasantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is true!" exclaimed Bissula vehemently. "Don't deny +it. She +told me so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish to hear nothing about it, Bissula--chatterer!" said +the +grandmother reproachfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl bit her lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw, he knew it; or he believed he knew it, as he believes +it of all +girls. And so it must seem to him and his companions that Bissula also +(who, it is true, is neither rich nor beautiful--only Bissula, who is +defiant and tameless), that I, too, instead of going to the marshes +would rather flee to the Holy Mountain--to Adalo! But"--and now her +eyes blazed with an almost menacing light--"you shall never boast of +<i>that</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if I command?" warned the old woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I'll run off to the swamps alone. Forgive me, dear, dear +grandmother; but Suomar is my guardian, not you. Did he command? +Speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He only advised," replied Adalo reluctantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I am free! Advice may be followed or not. But know this: +If you +had lied--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo's face blanched.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Insolent girl!" said the grandmother reprovingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know--he never lies; but it is not from truthfulness, +but pride. +If you had pretended that my guardian had given a command--I would +rather have leaped into the deepest part of the lake than have gone +with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What foolish defiance! He speaks only from anxiety."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He speaks from arrogance. The vain fellow weaves a wreath +composed of +every flower to deck his curly head: Bissula, the red heather-blossom, +must not be wanting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The red heather-blossom alone must adorn my life," said the +youth +earnestly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula started: every tinge of color faded from her face, and +trembling violently she clasped her grandmother's arm for support.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter, however, with a keenly intent expression, turned +her head +toward Adalo. "What words were those you dared to utter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Earnest ones. I am under no man's authority. I am old enough +to lead a +wife to my home, strong enough to protect her. Well then, Bissula, +playmate of my childhood, come with me! I will give whatever Suomar +demands. I love you better than any one else can do. Come with me to +the Holy Mountain, that I may protect you there--my betrothed bride!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The young girl clung still closer to Waldrun, but the latter +started up +in alarm and hastily pressed her hand upon Bissula's heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How it throbs!" she murmured. Then, raising her left hand, as +if to +keep the youth back, her right drew the folds of her ample cloak over +the brushing girl's sweet face. "Go," she said warningly. "Suspicion +seizes me also. It is ignoble for you to dare utter the words of wooing +to two defenceless women, confusing the girl, and inspiring vain, idle +thoughts. That is not the honorable custom of our people. If your suit +was serious you ought first to have spoken to Suomar, the guardian: he +gives my granddaughter's hand, not she herself. Whoever means marriage +deals with the guardian; whoever seeks mere amusement and dallying +coaxes the girl. Go! I doubt you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo laid his hand upon his breast with a gesture of protest, +but ere +he could speak Bissula glided from beneath the shelter of her +grandmother's cloak. Her cheeks were glowing; her red locks fairly +bristled; it seemed as if one could almost hear them crackle; her angry +eyes blazed, and springing forward, she pushed the youth with both +hands, but had no power to stir the tall figure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, go!" she cried. "I do not doubt. Even Waldrun, who +always speaks +in your behalf, distrusts you, and she cannot see your arrogant face, +the victorious smile on your proud lips, the light in your sparkling +eyes! There--see how the feigned expression of good-will vanishes from +your features; how resentfully you rear your head! Ay, that is the +noble, the swift, strong, handsome man, who believes that the god of +wishes must grant every whim, every caprice of his favorite. <i>You</i> mate +with a poor girl! <i>you</i> lead red-haired Bissula to your home! Besides, +I am called Bissula only by my friends; to strangers my name is +Albfledis. Waldrun is right: the blind woman has seen. If you were in +earnest you would have gone to the guardian."</p> + +<p class="normal">She drew back and seized her grandmother's arm. "Come! let us +return to +the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Adalo, his tall figure drawn up to its full height, barred +their +way. Grief and anger were contending for the mastery in the expression +of his handsome face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was in earnest, the deepest earnest. Freya knows it. Soon +Frigga +will know also. I did not speak to Suomar, because I did not wish, like +most men, to obtain the girl solely by her guardian's command; I +desired not only her hand and her person, but her heart, her love. I +was sure of Suomar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hear his arrogance, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not arrogance. What can your uncle bring against me? +Nothing! +And we have always been friendly neighbors. He would not have refused +me; but I did not want you as a gift from another, you defiant +creature. I wanted the playmate of my childhood to give herself to me. +Yes, I confess I hoped that she retained from those childish days a +little--just a little affection."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Presumptuous fellow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now the hour and the danger loosed my tongue. The Romans +are +approaching. Who knows what they may bring us? But you have repulsed me +with undeserved suspicion, disdained my loyal aid. True,"--here his +brow contracted with mingled grief and anger,--"perhaps the foe will +not injure <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" asked Waldrun. Her tone expressed dread of +some +fresh cause for contention between the two young people. Bissula, +without speaking, darted a flashing glance at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For years," Adalo went on with suppressed indignation, "you +have had +friends among these hated enemies--at least one friend. Perhaps he will +return hither with the cohorts now threatening us--the wise, eloquent, +and wealthy Senator! Of course a German noble, a 'Barbarian,' cannot +vie with him in gifts of jewels, rare fruit, and foreign flowers. That +I belong to your own people and he to our mortal foes--what care you? +You need, nay perchance you desire, neither marsh nor mountain as a +defence against your--friend!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence, Adalo! She was then only thirteen. The noble Roman +might be +her father, nay, almost her grandfather."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he was so clever! He understood how to choose his words +so +skilfully that usually I could not comprehend them at all. And +Albfledis was so fond of listening to the language of the foe!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At least," the girl hastily retorted, "Ausonius never used +the +language of insolent mockery to the child. And since you have provoked +me to it, I tell you: yes, if the noble, kindly Roman should ever come +again and wish, as he did then, to take me with him as his child to his +beautiful country, his splendid pillared mansion,--listen,--I would +rather go with him, his daughter, than listen to you and your +contemptuous suit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, Albfledis," said the youth, drawing himself up proudly, +"Enough! +My suit? It is ended forever. Never will I repeat it--I swear by this +spear. You have scorned me--have openly preferred the Roman. Hear my +vow, in the presence of your ancestress and the all-seeing sun: Never +again will Adalo woo you. Though the ardent longing of my heart should +consume me, I will die ere I approach you again with words of +entreaty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas!" wailed the blind woman, "alas for my dearest wish! Is +it never +to be fulfilled?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it should be. Mother Waldrun, Albfledis must first come to +me in my +hall, and say: 'Adalo, here I am! Take me for your wife!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what shameless insolence!" cried Bissula, frantic with +grief and +rage. Seizing one of the blocks of stone which formed the rude table +before the oak, she tried to hurl it at the hated man. Her little hands +tore at the jagged rock without avail, till the fingers bled, but the +heavy block remained unmoved, and bursting into tears of helpless rage, +she flung herself upon the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman bent over her, listening anxiously to her sobs, +but Adalo +had neither seen nor heard aught of these things. Even as he uttered +the last words, he turned his back upon the women, his face dark with +pride and anger, and throwing his spear over his shoulder, leaped down +the slope so swiftly that his yellow locks floated wildly around his +handsome head.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Days had passed since the incident related in the last +chapter. The +Romans had entered the country without encountering the slightest +resistance. After encamping on the summit of Meersburg and resting +during the following day, they had set forth again and, turning +somewhat inland from the lake and its swampy shores, reached the +Idisenhang.</p> + +<p class="normal">Finding this commanding position undefended, they had formed a +permanent camp here at the spot agreed upon with the troops which had +embarked on the fleet. As soon as this seemed sufficiently fortified to +be defended by a small garrison left behind, and their comrades in +Arbon had the fleet ready, the latter were to cross, land, and begin +the pursuit of the invisible Barbarians.</p> + +<p class="normal">But scarcely had Nannienus seen from Arbon on the opposite +shore that +the column sent by land had reached the spot appointed and established +a camp, when he despatched by a swift fisher-boat tidings which +threatened to defer the progress of the enterprise for an indefinite +time. As soon as the experienced commander reached the Roman post he +discovered that the equipment of the necessary vessels would require +far more time than had been expected.</p> + +<p class="normal">The reports of the magistrates and officers to the distant +Emperor, +which represented a considerable portion of the old Roman fleet as +still in existence and, moreover, strengthened by newly built ships, +proved false and shamefully exaggerated: these unprincipled men, +corrupt, like nearly all the officials in the Empire, had concealed +their numerous defeats in which the Barbarians had gradually destroyed +these ships; they had then appropriated the money furnished to build +new ones, and reported them completed.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the discovery made by the Comes of Britannia, who +announced +with fierce indignation--he had sent the treacherous quaestors and +nauarchs in chains to the Emperor at Vindonissa--that though he had +ordered work to be carried on in the little dockyard night and day, the +intended landing must be deferred to a considerably later period. +Energetic Saturninus was incensed by this enforced idleness: but he +could do nothing save vituperate the corruption of the magistracy, the +Empire, the whole age, and--wait.</p> + +<p class="normal">The richly decorated tent intended for the Prefect of Gaul was +pitched +upon the very summit of the height which is now occupied by the +cemetery of the village of Berg. Soft rugs, piled one above another, +covered the ground; a couch was placed against the back of the leather +tent, and beside it stood a table adorned with costly drinking-vessels. +An old freedman, a slave, and the cup-bearer were engaged in giving the +last touches. There were places for three on the horseshoe-shaped +couch, and a row of goblets stood on the table; for, though the cœna +had been served in the Tribune's tent, the Prefect had invited him and +his nephew to take some choice wine after the meal in the Praetorian +one.</p> + +<p class="normal">While the servants were busied in preparing the table, the +loose +leather at the poles in the rear of the tent was repeatedly raised +noiselessly and then dropped again. No one observed it. Two of the men +now went out, but the cupbearer still lingered to wipe again and again +the inside of a magnificent silver goblet, which, supported by three +graceful female figures, bore the inscription: "The graces to their +favorite, Ausonius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not ready yet, Davus?" the old freedman had asked in a tone +of +vexation, as he turned away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Prosper. You know our master will drink only from this +cup, the +Emperor's gift, and he is so particular about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The slave was scarcely alone when the leather flap of the tent +was +again raised, a watchful face was thrust cautiously in. "Alone at +last!" a voice whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was waiting for you, my lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well? To-day? At the nocturnal carouse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. I dare not attempt it yet. Your uncle is as well as he +was at home +in Burdigala. Let him first sicken under this Barbarian sky, the +unwonted fatigues of camp life in the rain and swamps; then it will be +easier. But now--in perfect health? No, no! Have patience. Wait a +little longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot. My creditors, the usurers, are hounding me to the +death; +have followed me here to the camp. And this region, this neighborhood, +as you know, is more perilous to me than any other spot in the whole +world. So hasten!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As soon as he begins to ail a little I'll do it at once. But +I must +confess--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The vial of poison you gave me, I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lost? You blockhead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, it is broken. During the steep ascent of the mountain +recently I +slipped, struck my breast against a boulder, and crushed the little +bottle, whose contents all poured out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas, then where else--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have no fear, my lord. I've seen hemlock enough growing in +these +marshy meadows to poison our whole army. I have already begun to gather +and dry it. Do you the same, and as soon--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Loud voices and the clank of weapons were heard; the face +vanished, and +the slave passed through the doorway of the tent into the open air.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Directly after, Ausonius and Saturninus entered the +Praefectorian tent +from the <i>Via Principalis</i>, while Herculanus, coming from the rear, +passed in with them. The host shared his seat on the couch with his two +guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was a man of fifty-two, but his stately figure showed few +signs of +approaching age, and his noble face lacked none of the characteristics +of the patrician Roman in the modelling of the forehead, nose, and +finely arched brows.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the mouth had smiled so often--probably far too often in +self +complacency--that it had forgotten how to close with firm decision; it +was much too weak for a man. And the light-brown eyes, so pleasant and +kindly, so content with everything and everybody--and not least with +Ausonius--betrayed more plainly than any other feature the approach of +age; their glance had lost the fire of youth. They seemed weary, not of +life but of reading; for Ausonius had been professor, rhetorician, +tutor of princes, and poet. In those days that meant a man who read an +immense amount and, in default of elevating thoughts of his own, +extracted with the industry of a bee the ideas of the writers of four +centuries, tore them asunder, and put them together again in such tiny +fragments that his readers and himself believed them to be new ones of +his own and would have found it very difficult to separate the mosaic +into its borrowed portions. Passions had never furrowed this smooth +face: the lines around the eyes were not graven by pain, but by the +passage of the years.</p> + +<p class="normal">This kindly natured man, who himself saw everything on its +best side, +thought the whole world most admirably arranged. He believed seriously +that all men who had not committed great crimes, and therefore deserved +punishment, fared just as well as the very, very wealthy, benevolent, +and much praised Decimus Magnus Ausonius of Burdigala (Bordeaux), the +delightful city of villas; that they fared as well as Ausonius, who was +petted by all who surrounded him, and who in the opinion of his +contemporaries--and especially his own--was the greatest poet of his +age. Even had this been true, it certainly would not have meant much.</p> + +<p class="normal">This really amiable, kindly man, whose only fault was a little +undue +self-satisfaction, was now playing the part which best suited him,--far +better than that of poet or statesman,--the part of the host who, +comfortable himself, desires to make all his guests equally so. His +pleasant, cheery, friendly kindness of heart, which would fain see +everybody happy, though of course without too much self-sacrifice, +found in this <i>rôle</i> its fullest expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There! now go, slaves." He waved his hand to those who had +again +entered. "Look after yourselves--as we are doing. Go, too, my faithful +Prosper: take for yourself--and give to the others--the better wine +from Rhodanus; you know it. I saw how hard it was to drag the skins up +the steep hill. Go: we will serve ourselves." He stretched himself +comfortably on the lectus, thrusting under his head a soft downy pillow +filled with the feathers of German geese. "Give yonder amethyst goblet +to the Tribune, my dear nephew, for our Illyrian Hercules must drink +deeply! No, Saturninus, don't take the mixing vessel! The first +cup--unmixed. To the genius of the Emperor Gratianus!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's lucky that the Emperor himself doesn't hear you," cried +the +Tribune, laughing, as he put down the empty goblet. "I am neither +Christian nor pagan, only a soldier, and nobody asks about my faith. +But you! Gratianus's teacher! The Emperor is zealous in the true +religion. And you drink to his genius, as though we were living in the +reign of Diocletian! Are you a pagan, Prefect of Gaul?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius glanced around to see that no slave was within +hearing. Then +he smiled. "If I were a pagan, that is, if I had not been baptized, I +certainly should not be Prefect of Gaul. The dignity is probably worth +a few drops of water. They did not penetrate my skin. How could a poet +forget the old gods?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, if the learned mythological allusions should be +effaced from +your verses, the brightest of the borrowed foreign feathers would be +plucked from Ausonius's raven."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tribune!" cried the nephew angrily,--he shouted much louder +than was +necessary,--"you are speaking of the greatest Roman writer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," said the man thus lauded, very seriously, "there are +probably +two or three greater ones."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive me, Ausonius," said Saturninus. "I understand +battles, not +verses. Probably it is my own fault that yours don't suit me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know too few of them," replied Herculanus reprovingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not of your opinion!" retorted the Illyrian, laughing. +"I've never +had much time for reading. But I sometimes ride beside your uncle +through the olive woods of Aquitania, the vineyards of the Mosella, or +the marshy forests of the Alemanni: he has an inexhaustible memory and +can repeat his verses for miles."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," the poet assented complacently, "my memory must supply +the place +of imagination."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wouldn't it be better if you had imagination, and your +readers took +pleasure in remembering what it created?" asked the soldier.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My uncle can repeat the whole of Virgil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is evident--in his verses! The reader often doesn't +know +where Virgil and Ovid end and Ausonius begins. But Ausonius prefers to +recite his own poetry."</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter nodded pleasantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the best thing about you. Prefect; though a little +vain, like +all verse-writers, your heart is in the right place: a warm, kind heart +which never takes offence at a friend's jest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be both stupid and contemptible if I did that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As a reward I'll tell you now that I owe an exquisite night +to one of +your poems--or a portion of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The poet, much pleased, raised himself on the lectus: "What +poem?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your 'Mosella.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," replied Ausonius smiling, "I like it very much, +too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is divine!" Herculanus protested.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm no theologian," said Saturninus, laughing, "to understand +divine +things. But the most beautiful part of the poem is the description of +the various kinds of fish in the river."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," observed the author, smiling as he slowly sipped +his wine, +"verses eighty-two to one hundred and forty-nine: they are very pretty, +especially the euphony."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, never mind the euphony. I read it in the evening, and +fell +asleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Barbarian!" exclaimed the poet. "But in my dreams I saw +before me the +most delicious fish; the salm--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Thee, too, I praise, O salmon, with thy roseate flesh!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius quoted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The trout."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Then the trout, its back besprinkled with tiny crimson +stars.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's what I call a fine line."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The grayling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'And the swift grayling, escaping from the eye with +rapid leaps!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but not as you describe them, alive in the +Mosella--there is +nothing I enjoy eating more than a fine fish! No, I saw them before me +on silver dishes, baked, broiled, and in dainty stews; and in my dream +I tasted them all. When I woke, I licked my lips and blessed Ausonius: +no poet has ever given me so much pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed and drained his goblet.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"I am generous," replied Ausonius. "It pleases me to discover +in this +way a favorite dish of my usually Spartan friend. I will avenge myself +by placing before you, if possible, the delicious fish this lake +contains; for in its green depths are balche and trout of the most +delicate flavor. They are even better than those of the Mosella: I +could surely have supplied you with them if the Barbarians had not all +fled from the shore before our troops. When, five years ago, I spent +several months on the opposite side in Arbor Felix, to investigate the +condition of the frontiers, what magnificent fish I had!" Then, as if +lost in reverie, he sighed: "Ah, those were happy days! My dear wife, +my gentle Sabina, was living."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to thy memory, Attusia Lucana Sabina!" said the nephew.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my dear children! Then my beautiful, spacious house in +the city, +and the charming villa outside the Garumna gate were not empty and +desolate. How gaily the songs of the young girls echoed through the +country during the season when the vine blossoms poured forth their +fragrance! Then I still saw around me the beloved faces of my kindred, +did not stand alone, poor with all my wealth, as now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle!" interrupted Herculanus, trying to assume a tone of +most tender +reproach, in which, however, he was not entirely successful. "Stand +alone? Have you not me, who love you so tenderly?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tribune gazed coldly at the over-zealous nephew.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Ausonius replied kindly: "Certainly, my dear fellow, you +are left +to me, but you alone out of the whole circle of my family swept away in +a single year by the pestilence: my Sabina, my three children, my two +sisters and two sweet young nieces. Can you alone fill the places of +all? I often feel so lonely. And you are a man. My gentle wife, my +daughters, my sisters, my nieces, how I miss them! I confess it: I need +the melody of women's voices, their graceful movements around me. I +miss something!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Roman, excited, hastily seized the goblet. The +Tribune looked +him keenly in the face and, without averting his eyes from the nephew, +suddenly said to the uncle in a very loud tone: "You must marry again!" +Then the Illyrian turned away from Herculanus: he seemed to have seen +enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Ausonius slowly, almost solemnly, "I have often +thought of +it. It is a serious, a very serious matter--at my age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At any age," said Saturninus. "Years will not stand in your +way. You +are perhaps fifty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fifty-two," sighed the Prefect. "And my hair is gray!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not very yet! Besides, mine is too. In my case from the +weight of the +helmet. And it is becoming. You are a--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Handsome old man, you are going to say," replied Ausonius +smiling. +"That is not exactly what pleases maidens."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you need not choose a girl of sixteen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But not one much older!" said the poet quickly. "No, my +friend! I want +youth and charm near me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you may have too," said the Illyrian. "You can select +from your +whole province, nay, the whole Empire. You, the highest official in +Gaul, the Emperor's tutor and favorite, the celebrated poet and--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the richest match in the whole West," interrupted the +nephew +sharply. Hitherto he had remained persistently silent, his eyes cast +down and the expression of his mouth covered by his hand. "The richest +gray beard on this side of the Alps!" he added.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is it," said Ausonius bitterly. "Herculanus only +says openly +and frankly what has secretly tortured me so much all these years, nay, +what has alone deterred me. You know, my friend,--or rather, you blunt +Tribune of the camp, you do not know,--for what reasons parents in our +large cities marry their daughters, nay, how these girls themselves, +almost before they have laid aside their dolls, instantly look out for +'a good catch'! In sooth, neither Eros nor Anteros, but Hermes and +Plutus unite couples now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, they marry only for money!" cried Herculanus wrathfully. +"I am +poor; the girls all shun me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tribune was about to answer, but only laughed and drank +his wine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Although I am nearly thirty years younger than my uncle! +Fathers, +mothers, guardians, nay, even the forward girls themselves, all cajole +him, till I can scarcely warn and guard enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the way the bee-keeper guards the honey from the +mice," growled +the Illyrian under his breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My nephew is perfectly right. A friend of mine, Erminiscius, +a rich +merchant who deals in gems, fifty years old, married a girl of twenty. +A week after, she disappeared with all his antique jewels and--his +youngest freedman. Another, Euronius, a large owner of vineyards, +somewhat older, married a young widow of twenty-five; that is--he was +married by her; for she did not rest until she had him. Even before the +wedding he was obliged to make his will; she dictated it to him word +for word. He died at the next kalends--violent colic. I did not like it +at all; I hate colic! And so many wild cherries grew close by his +garden! You ought to see how much this double widow enjoys life now. +She once paid me a visit--she is very beautiful and was bewitchingly +amiable to me; but I thought of the dead Euronius's colic, and escaped +unwedded. I don't imagine in all cases an elopement or a wild-cherry +cake; every one is neither a Helena nor a Locusta. Suspicion is not +usually one of my faults."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rather the contrary," observed Saturninus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, I confess it, my gray hairs make me distrustful. I +should be so +unhappy--Apollo's richest laurels would not heal the wound--if I were +forced to believe that I had been married only for the sake of my +wealth. I do not deserve it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No indeed, you do not," cried the Tribune, pressing his hand +warmly. +"Your heart is tender, kind, and frank. Whoever feigned love for the +sake of your money would be contemptible. And I hope that you may yet +see a band of children playing around your knees in the beautiful villa +gardens on the flowery shores of your beloved Garumna."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius smiled. The picture seemed to please him. Then his +eye met the +glance of his nephew, who seemed to be gazing into the distance less +complacently. "Don't be uneasy, Herculanus," he said. "Even if it +should be so, my will would not forget you. And your creditors," he +added, smiling compassionately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will! What an ill-omened word! Far be it," cried the young +Roman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, people don't die from making wills, or I should have +left the +living long ago. A Roman citizen sets his house in order for every +emergency, death included. So, though Herculanus according to the law +would now be my sole heir, I made my will before the magistrate in +Burdigala before joining the army, formally naming him my heir: a few +little legacies and the liberation of some faithful slaves still +remain. To you, Saturninus," he added, laughing, "I shall bequeath +after my return, in a codicil, a valuable memento of this evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A copy of the 'Mosella'; but the verses about the fish are to +be cut +out by way of punishment."</p> + +<p class="normal">He quaffed his wine, pleased with his own jest.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"You must and will survive me, my noble friend! The Tribune +will soon +lie where he belongs: on his shield. But you still belong to Burdigala, +in your tasteful house filled with rare works of art (what hospitality +I enjoyed there the last time I was wounded!), or to Rome, in the +Senate; not here, in the marshy forests of these Alemanni. Why (you +always liked to accompany the Emperor to Vindonissa)--why did you, a +man of peace and of leisure, join this military campaign? It has no +attraction for you! What have you to obtain on the Barbarian shores of +this lake?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? I am seeking for something here," replied Ausonius, after +some +little hesitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Laurels of Mars to add to those of Apollo?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all; only--a memory!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus cast a sharp glance full of meaning at his uncle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or, if you prefer it, a dream, the fulfilment of a dream. I +believe in +dreams."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," said the Tribune, smiling, "like all poets! I +care more +for waking thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I reached the army over yonder in Vindonissa, a lovely +charming +memory of a child rose vividly before me; a child equally bewitching in +mind and person, whom I knew and loved here several years ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, a girl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho, pedagogue of the Emperor!" cried the Tribune, +laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus did not enter into the jest; he was silently +watching +Ausonius's every look.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, calm yourself! Bissula is a girl about twelve years +old--that +is--she was in those days. She and a Sarmatian boy brought to Arbor +every week the fish her uncle had caught on the northern shore of the +lake. And how delightfully she talked! Even her Barbarian Latin sounded +sweetly from her cherry-red lips. We became the best of friends. I gave +her--she would accept neither money nor costly jewels--trifling +articles, especially seeds of fine Gallic fruit and flowers from +Garumna for her little garden. She told me strange stories of the gods +and fauns in the woods, the nymphs in the lakes and springs here in the +country,--but she gave them different names,--and the mountain giants +opposite, whose white heads glittered in the sunset light. And I--I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You read the 'Mosella' to her, of course!" laughed +Saturninus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. And the little Barbarian girl showed a better +appreciation +of it than the great Roman general. It was not the fish that pleased +<i>her</i> best--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can easily believe it: she had better ones herself, you +said just +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the descriptions of the vineyards and villas along the +river. And +when I told her that in my home on the Garumna were far, far handsomer +and richer houses, full of marble, gold, bronze, and ivory, adorned +with brightly painted walls and mosaics; that I myself owned the most +beautiful palaces and magnificent gardens full of leaping water, +foreign stags and deer, and birds with sweet songs or brilliant +plumage; when I spoke of the deep blue of the sky and the golden light +of the sun in the glorious land of Aquitania where almost perpetual +summer reigned, she could not hear enough in prose and verse of the +splendor of our country and the magnificence and art of our life. Once +she clapped her little hands in surprise and delight, exclaiming: 'Oh, +father, I should like to see that too. Just one day!' But I had grown +so fond of the gay, sweet child that, with a thrill of joy at the +thought, I answered: 'Come, my little daughter, not for a day--forever. +If your guardian will consent, I will adopt you as my child and take +you to Burdigala. How gladly my wife will welcome you! My daughters +will treat you as a dear sister. You shall become a Roman maiden!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, like a frightened deer, she sprang from my lap, ran off, +leaped +into her boat, rowed swiftly across the lake, and did not return for +many days. I was full of anxiety lest I had driven her away forever. At +last--it was a time of complete peace--I had myself rowed across the +lake to its northern shore and guided to her hut in the forest. But she +had scarcely caught sight of me when, with a loud cry of terror, she +climbed into a huge oak as nimbly as a woodpecker and hid herself among +the branches. She would not come down again until I had solemnly +promised, in the presence of her uncle and her grandmother, not to take +her away and never even to say a word about it: 'For,' she said, with +tears in her eyes, 'in that hot country I should die of homesickness +for my own family, the neighbors, nay, even for the mountain, the +meadow, and lake, like the forest flowers transplanted from the marshy +soil into dry sand.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A sensible child," remarked the Tribune thoughtfully, +stroking his +beautiful brown beard. "So she is pretty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think so!" cried Herculanus: the voice sounded almost +savage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, nephew, you have never seen her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you have described her to us often enough! I could paint +her, with +her bright red locks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And her name is Bissula?" Saturninus added.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, 'the little one,'" replied Ausonius, "for she is very +slender and +delicate of limb. I then saw her regularly again, but kept my promise +not to ask her to go with me. When I bade her farewell, she wept with a +child's loving tears. 'With you,' she said 'I part from a warm, bright, +beautiful world, into which, as it were, I peeped, standing on tiptoe, +over a curtain.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Recently, on reaching Vindonissa--during my journey through +the +country I had thought much of the charming child--I saw her before me +in a dream the first night, encircled by a poisonous serpent. Her eyes +were raised to mine, imploring help, I woke with a cry, and my heart +grew heavy at the thought of what might befall the lovely girl--for she +must have become beautiful--if our cohorts bring all the horrors of war +into the forests along the shore of the lake. And I confess, it was +principally to see that child again--perhaps to protect her until the +war should be over--that I entreated the Emperor to permit me to join +this expedition."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"But I suppose you did not think your uncle's life would be +sufficiently safe under my protection, Herculanus, since you were so +eager to join us?" asked the Tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before the nephew could answer, Ausonius interrupted: +"But--thank the +gods--our campaign will be bloodless: the Barbarians have abandoned the +country. Where can they have gone? What have you learned through your +spies of the movements of the enemy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing. That is the mysterious part of it. It seems as +though the +earth had swallowed them. They are said to have numerous subterranean +passages and cellars, in which they conceal their provisions and +themselves in times of danger. We found it very difficult to obtain +spies among our colonists on the southern shore. They know very well +that we Romans come and go; the Alemanni remain in the country, and +they fear their vengeance. And deserters can no longer be had. In +former wars they were often mentioned. But the fact that there are no +renegades shows that self-reliance is increasing and the dread or hope +of Rome is declining. I could get only two volunteers--for a large sum +of money--to venture upon a reconnoitring expedition; the one who went +to the East returned without having seen a sign of the foe; the one +dispatched to the North has not yet appeared. And unfortunately we have +not taken even one prisoner. Not a sign of a human footprint have we +seen on the whole march along the lake. Once, it is true, I thought I +saw a light column of smoke rising from the dense growth of rushes +which stretches for leagues into the lake, and ordered the troops to +halt; but the tiny cloud instantly vanished."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can understand the strategy of our admirable General only +by +crediting him with an almost offensive degree of caution," sneered the +commander of the mailed horsemen. "By Hercules! Wherever they may hide, +the Barbarians cannot be a day's march from us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," Ausonius assented. "Yet I should think we might be +strong enough +to seek them and drive them from their hiding places."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus frowned slightly. "Your nephew's opinion of my +courage gives +me no concern. But you, Prefect, have again forgotten that, by the +Emperor's orders, we are not to disperse the Barbarians, but to +surround them and force them to submission. We are too weak for this +encircling, and must wait for the ships. Unless our fleet should block +the lake, they will again escape, as they have often done, in their +boats. Stick to your hexameters, my Pierian friend, and leave the +Barbarians to me: it will be better for all concerned."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Except the Barbarians!" replied Ausonius smiling, extending +his hand +to his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who are probably the leaders of the enemy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Romans on the southern shore mention two names. The rest +of the +Alemanni provinces are mainly ruled by kings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So far do Germans carry royalty," nodded the learned Prefect. +"May +they always continue to be divided into numberless provinces under +their hedge kings and village magistrates, whom each man obeys as much +as he chooses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems that this state of things has changed. Many +provinces are +united in leagues, which hold together in peace as well as in war. The +men of Linzgau have no king now, it appears, only an aged count. But he +must be a man of powerful intellect, since the gray-haired Hariowald +has been chosen commander-in-chief of all the provinces leagued against +us. True, we have not to deal solely with the Lentienses. After +centuries of folly these Barbarians are beginning to discover that +'liberty,' that is, the privilege of doing what each man pleases +without regard to his neighbor, is, though a delightful, a somewhat +dangerous pleasure, and that with such 'liberty' they will be forever +our bondmen, so long as one province looks on with malicious pleasure +while we subjugate another with which it has had a quarrel--till its +own turn comes. Formerly they preferred to place their surplus of young +men at our disposal rather than have them obey the commands of one of +their own people, but for some time there has been a change; even those +splendid soldiers, my Batavians, no longer wish to remain with me, and +will not renew their oath of service. We no longer hear the names of +numberless small peoples: five or six great leagues fill the whole +country from the Ister to the Suabian Sea. It has long made me uneasy. +That old man is now the commander-in-chief of all the Germans allied +against us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Commander-in-chief of the Alemanni!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't laugh at them, Ausonius! Ay, this leadership of the +woodland war +has cost us much blood and many a dear-bought victory, since the days +of that Quinctilius Varus. As the white-beard is said to be the head, a +young relative of his is called the arm, the sword, the fire-brand of +the conflict."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is his name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Attalus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adalo! That was one of Bissula's playmates. She often +mentioned him. I +saw him frequently; he looked at me defiantly enough. Could it be he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The women and men at our stations along the lake cannot say +enough in +praise of his beauty and strength."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, hitherto neither the warlike wisdom of the old man nor +the +warlike zeal of the young one has showed itself," sneered Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," laughed Ausonius. "Their wisdom is the resolve to run +away, and +their zeal the energy with which they execute the decision."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Tribune, with frowning brow, cried: "Such speeches +drive away +the goddess of victory and summon the avenger of foolhardiness. Jeer +after we have conquered--and even then, it is wiser not to do it. +Nemesis sleeps lightly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you cannot discover where the Barbarians are hiding, what +will you +do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seek them until I do find them and bring them to a halt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But then," cried Herculanus, "let there be no treaties, no +mercy, +nothing save extermination. How often these faithless people have +broken the peace! Our legions are full of fury against the Barbarians +who, year after year, compel them to march through these horrible +marshy forests. Only the extirpation of the last German will give peace +to the Roman Empire." He clenched his fist threateningly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have perhaps uttered words of prophecy," said Saturninus +thoughtfully, "but in a different sense from what you intended."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has uttered abominable words!" cried Ausonius, filling his +goblet. +"And they are utterly groundless. Ay, more than a century ago it looked +as if the Persians and Germans under Gallienus would flood the Eastern +and the Western Empire. But since that time Eternal Rome has grown +young once more. Your brave countrymen, my Saturninus, the heroic +Illyrian emperors, have curbed the barbarians on the Euphrates, the +Rhine, and the Ister. Diocletian has remodelled the internal affairs of +the Empire; and so I might adapt to Rome's mastery of the world the +proud words of my colleague Horace: 'He did not lack talent, but he +possessed little learning.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do they belong to poetry?" asked Saturninus doubtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the eager speaker, without hearing his words, continued: +"What he +said concerning the permanence and spread of his own renown I will +apply to the glory of Rome: it will increase and grow, so long as the +priest ascends the hill to the Capitol with the silent Virgin. The +Vestal," he added in explanation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"H'm," observed the Illyrian, "only it's a pity that the +hypothesis is +no longer apt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? How so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The pious Constantine, of murderous memory (I hear they want +to +canonize the assassin of his mother and his wife) prohibited or +restricted the offering of sacrifices at the Capitol, and your pupil +and patron, Gratianus, recently abolished the Vestals."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that must not be taken so literally," Ausonius remarked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not superstitious. I rely possibly too much upon my +sword and too +little upon heaven; and I care nothing about the Vestal virgins. But I +do not like the second step your pupil took last year in Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He removed from the council-hall of the Senate the altar of +the +goddess of victory, where sacrifices were offered before the opening of +debates."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Constantine had removed it previously."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Julian, the mighty conqueror of the Alemanni, restored +it. And, by +Jupiter!--pardon me, by God!--with good success. The priests called him +'the apostate,' but the goddess of victory was not unfaithful to him. +Now men fight stoutly, with or without the goddess of victory. But--I +am a Roman--I dread the omen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see the matter in too dark colors."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see it in too rosy a light. Your kind heart wishes good +to all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, even to the Barbarians!" Ausonius nodded, raising his +goblet. +"They are human beings, too. And as the Stoa, not the Galilean, first +taught, all men are brothers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there are too many of these yellow-maned brothers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I believe in a deity--call him by whatever name you +choose--that +directs all things well. Therefore I believe that these Barbarians will +listen to reason and soon offer you their submission."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps the little girl--what is her name? Bissula--will also +surrender to Ausonius," said the Tribune in a jesting tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, the dear child! If I could only see her again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not wish it, Prefect."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps she will conquer you! She would not be the first +Barbarian. +Was it Pipa--or Pipara--that the girl of the Marcomanni was called, +with whom even an emperor fell desperately and hopelessly in love?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You forget I wanted her for a daughter, not a wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At that time. Now she is no longer a child--and you are a +widower."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas! she probably fled with her people long ago. And yet, I +am so +ready to believe what I desire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is one of your most amiable weaknesses,"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Am I to hope for what I fear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but to think what we do not desire more probable than +what we +wish--that is my wisdom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! I will not allow myself to be robbed of the hope that +I shall +again see the little nymph of these forests."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if I catch her," cried the Tribune, laughing, "she will +be mine +according to the laws of war."</p> + +<p class="normal">A sudden change of expression--like a flash of +lightning--flickered +across Herculanus's hazard visage. The Tribune did not see; his eyes +were fixed upon Ausonius's face, wondering that his features should +pale with fear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can this feeling be so deep-seated in my worthy friend?" he +thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle, surely you know that the Tribune is jesting," cried +Herculanus, +as if to comfort him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Illyrian turned toward him with a threatening bearing, +saying in a +stern, grave tone: "Who tells you so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius cast a hasty, anxious glance at the handsome, stately +man; +then he tried to smile, but the attempt was not very successful. "Your +jest brought before me the possibility of a terrible earnest. If the +charming, innocent child should fall into the hands of one of our +pitiless centurions! Horrible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has been the fate of thousands--pshaw, what am I +saying--of many +hundred thousands, since we Romans bore our eagles over the world. You +poets--even you, my softhearted friend--are fond of singing the praises +of war. I tell you, he who knows and directs it rarely lauds it. War is +necessary. I laugh at the foolish weaklings who, like the worthy +stoics, or the monks, imagine that some day there will be a kingdom of +eternal peace. War is grand; death for one's native land is the most +powerful feeling that rules mankind; but war is horrible! To me it does +not matter," he added, laughing, as he drained his goblet. "I need only +make war, not answer for it, and above all, I need not sing its +praises, I am neither anvil nor lyre; I am hammer, and woe to the +vanquished! For a thousand years we have carried the terrors of our +victories to all nations: an unprecedented loyalty on the part of +Fortuna. But now--I hope I shall not witness it--now her wheel is +gradually rolling backward--toward us--over us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" cried the poet. "What can these half-naked Barbarians +do +against us? So long as we have warriors like you and, for the service +of the Muses, minds--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like Ausonius's, do you mean? Enviable self-reliance! I tell +you, I +consider myself--and far better soldiers than I--incapable of resisting +this ever-advancing ocean which is called 'Germans.' I have gone +through many a campaign against them--against these very Alemanni. I +think they know my name! But there is something mysterious under this +surging multitude--I know not what--a motive power unintelligible to us +all, which can no more be resisted with sword and spear than the sea +itself. I have long sought the clue to the secret, yet cannot find it. +But so far as the service of the Muses is concerned--pardon a rude +soldier--we need peasants, not poets. There are only millionaires, +beggars, and slaves. Give me a hundred thousand free peasants of the +ancient Latin stock, and I'll sacrifice in return for them all the +Latin poets, dead and living, and once more believe in the future of +Rome. As things are--but it is already late," he cried, starting up. +"Let us seek our couches. We shall not be able to end this old +conflict of ours; coming generations will decide it, but not with +words. Good-night! Dream of Bissula--that we may find her: you believe +in dreams. For to-morrow--Nannienus has at least completed a couple of +ships which he will send to cruise along the northern shore--we will +make a little expedition eastward."</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised the curtain and strode in his clanking armor out +into the +darkness; he could not help thinking constantly of the beautiful +wood-nymph. Herculanus also took his leave, but he was scarcely outside +the tent when he shook his clenched fist threateningly toward the east, +muttering through his set teeth: "Wait, Barbarian witch!" But Ausonius +stretched himself on his camp bed, put out the light, and murmured: +"Sleep peacefully, my Bissula, wherever you may be; to-morrow perhaps I +shall once more see those never-to-be-forgotten eyes."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">At daybreak the tuba sounded through the Roman camp, summoning +to +departure the bands who were to share the expedition.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is my nephew?" asked Ausonius, mounting the beautiful +gray +Cantabrian stallion, whose stirrup was held by old Prosper. "He is +usually the first at my bedside to greet me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He hastened on with his mailed riders long ago. He started +even before +the Tribune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What zeal! I like that," said the uncle, patting the neck of +his noble +steed. "At home in Burdigala he devoted his time solely to--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To spending your money, O patron!" growled the old man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw, never mind, graybeard! My money--it will soon be his +money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May the Olympians--forgive me, the saints--forbid!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put no restraint on yourself on my account. I prefer them +too. They +have the advantage of suiting the metre better, at least most of them. +Where is Saturninus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gone already. He left word that you might follow: you could +not miss +the way. See, there are the helmets of the last men in his rear-guard. +His countryman Decius commands them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see. Forward! How beautifully the morning light smiles upon +us. Help +me, unconquered sun-god!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He put spurs to his horse and, followed by a brilliant train +of mounted +men, dashed down the hill and through the Porta Principalis Dextra +eastward, toward the sun. A guide had sought the best path at the +earliest dawn, marking it by placing at certain spaces small stones +carried in bags by the pioneers who accompanied and watched him. +The Prefect of Gaul soon reached the path trodden by Adalo a few +days before, which led to Suomar's lonely forest dwelling. With a +throbbing heart he recognized the familiar spot: the little hill, the +broad-branched oak, the neighboring spring: nothing had changed in the +few years, except that another piece of tilled land had been wrested by +fire from the primeval forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the fence which inclosed the court-yard he sprang from his +horse; he +had ordered his escort to halt at the oak-tree. The blood suffused his +face, so intense was his anxiety. The narrow gate in the palisade stood +ajar. Entering the yard, he uttered a cry of joyful astonishment: a +little flower garden had been laid out beside the door of the house; he +recognized with emotion in the gay blossoms, now in the full bloom of +summer, the seeds and slips which he had given the child in Arbor, nay, +even ordered from Gaul. Italian and Gallic flowers and shrubs, +evidently tended by loving hands, splendid roses and evergreen yews +greeted him in thick beds, and also small fruit-trees. Pontine +cherries, Picentinian apples, Aquitanian pears, had grown as high as +the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said Ausonius, smiling, "how everything has grown +and +blossomed in five years!" Then something whirred over his head; from +openings in the stable-roof a whole flock of dainty little blue-gray +doves flew across the garden to the neighboring field of oats. "See," +cried Ausonius, looking after them. "My Lycian rock-doves from +Burdigala! How that one pair has multiplied!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He hesitated to enter the house. Doubtless he told himself +that the +hope of finding her he sought was faint, nay futile. But here +everything seemed to bear witness to her presence; there on the bench +before the dwelling lay--he knew them well--the delicate garden shears +which he had sent to her from Vindonissa. He did not wish to cross the +threshold and rob himself of every hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">The clank of armor came from the open door: a centurion +belonging to +Herculanus's troop approached, bowing respectfully. "Everything is +empty, <i>vir illuster</i>, the Tribune sends word. And we are to ask +you--we are burning all the Barbarians' houses--whether this too--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let it remain uninjured."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man nodded with a look of pleasure. "I am glad to obey the +order. +It would have been a hard task to destroy this home. Umbrian roses, +Picentinian mallows, like those which grow around my parents' house in +Spoletium, in the midst of the Barbarians' marshes! Who can have +wrought this miracle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A poet," replied Ausonius, smiling, "and the fourth, the +youngest, of +the Graces. So Saturninus was here himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but even before him your nephew, with me. Herculanus +searched +everywhere carefully, nay, greedily. He forbade my accompanying him. I +was obliged to wait at the entrance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The good fellow! He wanted to bring her to me himself, to +surprise +me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Directly after Herculanus left, Saturninus dashed up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where did the troop go from here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yonder into the forest, keeping to the left, steadily to the +left, +away from the lake. Otherwise horses and men would sink in the morass. +You will find sentinels posted in the woods every three hundred paces. +I, with three men, form the commencement of the chain here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"See that the yard and garden are not injured. I'll promise in +return a +jug of the best wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words he turned away, mounted his horse and, +followed by his +escort, rode toward the left across the tilled land and meadows +surrounding the dwelling to the entrance of the neighboring wood, where +the helmets and spears of the next sentinels glittered brightly in the +sunshine.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Herculanus had not been content with thoroughly searching +the +deserted house. He had also carefully examined the neighborhood for +some trace of the vanished girl. He was soon unable to ride farther +through the tangled underbrush; so, leaping from his horse, he gave his +Mauritanian roan charger into the care of the only man he had permitted +to accompany him, and glided on foot through the thicket. A sort of +path which he had discovered with much difficulty and followed for some +distance suddenly ended.</p> + +<p class="normal">While vainly searching for the stones and bits of wood which +hitherto, +though at long distances, had marked the direction of the way, he saw +plainly in the marshy ground of the forest the imprint of human +footsteps. And the people who had passed here were not Romans: the +troops had never yet pressed so far eastward. Besides, the prints were +not like those made by the seeker's own heavy Roman marching shoes: he +intentionally trod lightly close beside the marks he had found, but how +different was the track! His deep footprints instantly filled with the +reddish-yellow marsh-water, which oozed from the ground at the least +pressure. But within a short time some one had walked by here +barefooted with a lighter tread. Indeed, not one person, but several. +For besides one mark which seemed to belong to a child, always one step +behind was a somewhat heavier and broader impression, and invariably at +the right of it a narrow but deep little hole filled with water, as if +made by the sharp end of a staff, while partly at the left, partly two +paces in advance, a man's heavier tread seemed unmistakable.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Roman followed the footprints with eager zeal; if he did +not find +those whom he sought, he would have the credit of being the first to +discover the direction in which the Barbarians had fled. Suddenly the +traces appeared to vanish, in front of a large hawthorn bush which +barred the way. From beneath the hand thrusting the thorns aside a +little brown bird with a red breast flew up startled. Bending forward, +the Roman peered into the bush, then a cry of glad surprise escaped his +lips: "Aha! She passed here! She herself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Slowly, slowly he drew through his hand a shining red-gold +hair which +had caught on a thorn: it was at least an ell long. And beyond the +thorn-bush the footprints were again visible, even more distinctly than +before, on a patch of damp sand. What seemed a child's footprints were +made by her steps.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The underbrush grew thinner, evidently removed by human hands; +a few +steps more and the pursuer stood in an open space in the forest which +had been cleared by fire. Here stood a little hut, very roughly built +of unhewn logs: instead of doors two low narrow holes were opposite +each other. Such buildings were used by hunters for stations, by +shepherds overtaken in the forest by storms for a shelter, but +especially to keep quantities of hay which could not be dragged to the +distant barns. That was the case here; heaps of the grass piled in +stacks could be seen through the holes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Herculanus had reached the hut, an indistinct sound +reached his +ear from the right, the shore of the lake. He drew his sword and +stopped, listening intently. There it came again! Was it a cry? It +seemed like the shout with which Romans on guard gave warning of the +presence of a foe. Directly afterwards he heard another noise: it was +like the whirring of the string in bending and releasing the wood of +the bow, then came a heavy fall or plunge into the water, and all was +still again. Nothing but the metallic tapping of the woodpecker broke +the silence of the forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cautiously raising his shield to his eyes and looking +watchfully toward +the right, the Roman, with his thin figure drawn to its foil height, +waited several seconds longer: nothing stirred.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now sprang in two bounds across the open ground to the hut +of hay, +stooped and entered through the northern hole. Something rustled under +the thick grass, which seemed to be alive: something glided beneath +it--was it a weasel?--toward the opposite hole: only the waving motion +of the bundles of hay betrayed the direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus hastily grasped with his shield arm at the creature +making +the rustling and lifted the broad short sword in his right for a +death-stroke. He seized something warm and drew it upward from the hay, +which fell on the right and left as he dragged forward a girl whose +face was covered with tangled red locks and blades of grass, through +which she gazed in mortal terror and fiery wrath at her assailant.</p> + +<p class="normal">So strange, so bewitchingly beautiful was the young creature +that +Herculanus uttered a fierce cry of pleasure. He had vowed that the +first moment he had the dangerous Barbarian alone within reach of his +sword, should be her last; and even now he did not really waver in the +resolve. Neither pity nor passion could influence a mind fixed solely +on his uncle's wealthy yet so much youthful beauty awakened a fleeting +desire for it: before he stabbed the foe, he would have one kiss from +those red lips. So, reserving his right hand for the death-blow, he +drew her closer to him with the left. The girl struggled with the +strength of despair. Turning her head as far as possible from him, she +uttered a cry of terror, like a dying fawn. It was only a moment's +delay of the assassin's thrust, but it saved her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Herculanus could press his lips on her averted face a +shadow +fell from outside upon the opening toward the lake, where the +struggling figures were now standing. "Murderer!" cried a deep voice; +and Herculanus, receiving a severe blow on the breast, staggered back, +loosing his hold upon his captive. Swiftly as the trout glides away, +the girl tried to slip through the opening; but she felt her arm seized +in the iron grasp of a much stronger hand, and looked up at another +helmeted Roman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it you, Tribune?" stammered Herculanus, hastily thrusting +his sword +into the sheath.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter did not vouchsafe him a single word. "You are +Bissula, +little one, are you not?" he asked, gazing with wondering eyes at the +strange vision. A sweet rapture ran through his veins as he saw the +lovely little face, the delicate, graceful limbs, the bare white feet, +and felt the pulsing of the young life through the round arm his hand +held so firmly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The prisoner made no reply, but she looked up trustfully into +the +Illyrian's handsome, manly face. Then she cast a strange glance, as if +seeking for some one, back into the hut,--Saturninus had dragged her +from the doorway into the open air,--and seemed to be listening +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is Bissula," said Herculanus, now also coming out. +"What made +you imagine that I wanted to kill her? I have been searching for her +since the earliest dawn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not for myself; I was only holding her firmly to prevent her +escape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With a quivering sword uplifted to strike?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only to frighten her."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bissula cast a reproachful glance at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"However that may be," the Illyrian continued, "she is my +captive." His +glowing eyes rested on her; the girl lowered her long lashes in +embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! I discovered her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But before you seized her a second time--for she was free +again--I +captured her. Dare to contradict it, you murderer of girls!" and he +advanced threateningly toward him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sound of a tuba rang from the forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must return. The tuba gives a sign of warning," said +Saturninus. +"The first trace of the foe has been found--not only the child--a man."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula looked up anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He lay covered with skins," the other added, as they moved +forward, +"hidden among the rushes so that he could not be distinguished from a +fallen tree. Before we could seize him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula uttered a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He had vanished in the sedges. A Batavian archer shot an +arrow after +him. Hark! the Prefect is giving the signal again. Come without fear, +child."</p> + +<p class="normal">He led her by the wrist, carefully trying not to hurt her; but +she +often stopped, glancing back at the hut, and once also at the lake. +After a few steps they heard the neighing of a horse and soon entered +an opening in the forest, where Ausonius had halted his mounted escort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father Ausonius!" cried the captive joyously, struggling to +release +herself to rush to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Illyrian's grasp on her arm became like iron. +Approaching the +Prefect, who held out both arms to Bissula, he made a military salute, +saying sternly: "The first encounter with the enemy! A man has escaped: +a girl--this one--became my prisoner: my slave."</p> + +<br> + +<h3>BOOK TWO</h3> + +<h2>THE SLAVE</h2> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">During those days the vicinity of the Holy Mountain, where a +large +number of fugitives had taken refuge, was full of busy life, and from +the north, the quarter not threatened by the Romans, reinforcements +were constantly arriving from other provinces.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tribune's efforts to discover the retreat of the fugitives +had been +baffled hitherto; neither those in the marshes nor on Odin's Mountain +had been overtaken by the spies and reconnoitring parties of the Roman +General. Marshes and impenetrable primeval forests surrounded the Roman +camp on the Idisenhang on every side except southward toward the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the last few days, after a tremendous thunder storm, a +southwest +wind had sprung up, bringing on its dripping wings pouring torrents of +rain; then the forests became absolutely impassable for the heavy tread +of the legions: the few fords were buried in marshes or overflowed; the +tiniest rivulet became a raging river. Sulky and shivering, the +intruders, principally natives of the south, remained in the camp under +plank roofs and leather tents, fanning day and night the flames of huge +fires which, however, as all the wood was wet, diffused more smoke than +warmth.</p> + +<p class="normal">For long distances from the foot of the mountain the few and +narrow +openings which led to the interior of the immense forests were blocked +and barricaded by felled trees. Huge oaks, ashes, and pine-trees had +been felled and piled one above another more than the height of a man, +strengthened by earth and turf, and held together at regular distances +by enormous posts driven into the ground or by trees which had been +left standing. Thus an almost insurmountable breastwork was formed, on +whose summit, and in the tops of the trees towering above it, the best +archers were stationed. Similar lines of defence were repeated, one +behind another, wherever the locality permitted. The legions would have +needed many more days than the brief time still remaining before the +end of August--they always finished their short summer campaigns in +Germany before the commencement of the autumn rains--to storm all these +fortifications; they could scarcely find it possible to make a circuit +of them, on account of the marshes. But even if they succeeded in +penetrating all the barricades to the foot of the mountain, they would +then be forced to begin the inexpressibly toilsome siege of this +natural fortress.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the entrances were covered by several tiers of logs; +while, on the +mountain itself, rising one behind another, was a whole system of "ring +walls." These extremely powerful and extensive fortifications dated +principally from Celtic times, but had been considerably strengthened +and enlarged in scope by the Alemanni during their occupation of the +country for more than the past century: they had been forced to seek +refuge here from the Roman troops often enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">These walls were made of heaped up earth, turf, palisades, and +so +called Cyclopean walls: that is, rocks, so closely joined together +without mortar or bricks, by a skilful use of their points, edges, and +fissures that fire, tearing asunder, and the blows of the ram seemed +equally ineffectual.</p> + +<p class="normal">Each one of these rings, which rose in stories, like terraces, +required +to be stormed as a separate fortress. Each lower one was protected not +only by its own garrison, but by all those above, since they were so +constructed that stones, logs, spears, and arrows from all the upper +walls could strike the enemy without injuring the combatants on the one +beneath. Seven such defences girdled the mountain, the topmost one +surrounding the summit, which concealed Odin's altar in the heart of an +ash forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Those unable to fight, the women, children, old men, and +slaves, were +scattered through all the stories of the mountain fortress. The herds +had been driven to the rear on the northern side, where their lowing, +neighing, and bleating would be as far as possible from the enemy. The +fugitives rested at night in huts built of thick green foliage, often +with the skin of some animal fastened among the branches, which the +Alemanni had great skill in constructing. Nor was there any lack of +cellarlike subterranean passages where stores of grain and valuables +were concealed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fighting men garrisoned all the entrances, reconnoitred in +small +bands, especially at night, beyond the barricades close to the +neighborhood of the Roman camp. They spent the day in feats of arms or +drilling, impatiently enduring the long delay in giving battle, and +grumbling at the incomprehensible procrastination of their white-haired +Duke. For the latter, Adalo, and other leaders, huts of leaves had been +built on the summit of the mountain with the tents of their followers +scattered around them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before one of these huts (a stag's antlers had been cut on the +central +post for a house mark) on the day after Bissula's capture, a bright +fire was burning late in the evening, fed with pine cones which had +been protected from the wet under the stone closing the opening of a +cellar. It was supplied by a man about forty years old, whose cropped +hair showed that he was a slave; while the shape of his short face, his +dark eyes, high cheek bones and snub nose denoted that he was not of +German lineage. Suomar had bought him many years before in Vindonissa; +cheap enough, for Valentinian--or the slave dealer--had brought +countless captives from the Jazyge war.</p> + +<p class="normal">In front of the fire, sheltered from the wind and smoke, old +Waldrun +lay on a bearskin, her feet covered with another. Adalo was kneeling +beside her. Mirthfulness and wrath had vanished; deep sorrow clouded +his handsome face. He gave the blind woman some wine to drink from a +silver goblet. Both beaker and wine were booty wrested from the Roman.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me everything once more, Zercho," he said earnestly, +"until +Waldrun has recovered and can add what you did not see. I have not yet +clearly understood the one thing upon which all depends."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bondman was now crouching beside the fire, trying to keep +the smoke +from the white-haired woman with the wolf-skin he wore for a cloak. It +did not annoy her at all, but it helped him to avert his eyes from the +youth's searching gaze.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It happened in this way, handsome neighbor. Directly after +you leaped +down the slope in anger,--I saw it from the stable,--the little red +sprite ordered me to bury the master's coins (alas, there are very few +of them!) and the brass vessels and broken-handled jug which he +obtained three winters ago at Brigantium. I had already driven the cow, +the sheep, and the goats into the alder thicket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The next day I was to take the young mistress and her +grandmother into +the marshes to Suomar, the master. But alas, the hot and cold cat, +which invisibly shakes the body like a mouse, often springs upon the +good old mistress. So it was the next day. The sufferer could hardly +stir her aged limbs from the couch; her strength was as feeble as a +dying torch; I almost had to carry her. But I could do this only +on solid ground: in the forest marshes I should have sunk with my +burden--strong bones weigh heavily. So, in the forest, the blind woman +was obliged to walk by herself, leaning on her staff and guided by the +little elf, while I jumped from stone to stone in advance, seeking the +best path. But just before we reached the hay hut, the grandmother +fell; she could no longer stand or walk. We carried her in. You know +the entrance to the old cave is just beside the left corner post. Down +below there it was safe, warm, and for her no darker than above. We +spent the rest of the day and the night in it. Bissula, in spite of +every warnings would not leave the old woman and go on with me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She had brought some milk in a goat-skin, and rye bread. I +watched +outside near the hut. In the gray dawn I stole back westward toward the +edge of the forest to watch for the helmeted Romans. Soon I saw a small +band of mounted men dash straight to Suomar's dwelling. I had hidden +our old log boat and the oars among the thickest rushes and meant to +row it through the marsh as near the hut as possible, carry the sick +woman to it, and then try to take my two mistresses to Suomar by way of +the lake. But when I reached the shore I saw several ships--their lofty +prows and triangular sails marked them as Roman galleys--moving from +Arbor on the opposite side toward our shore. They would soon be very +near. The way by the water was barred; but at the right, from the west, +I already heard the trampling of horses through the marshes and meadows +close beside me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two men with arrows and long bows in their right hands dashed +by, not +a spear's length distant. I crouched among the rushes, nay in the swamp +to my lips; but in doing so I startled the great egret that always +fishes there. As, screaming loudly--silly bird--he soared upward over +the rushes, he attracted the attention of the riders to himself and, +unluckily, to me too. They saw my head. A bow whirred, an arrow whizzed +through my otter cap and grazed my head. The wound wasn't deep; +Zercho's skull is hard, Suomar often says so, and this time, it was a +good thing. I now swam out into the lake, diving like a duck as long as +I could hold my breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I was forced to rise, the men had disappeared. +Cautiously as the +fox stealing after the mouse, I crept on all fours through the thickest +rushes nearer to the land, in the direction of the hut, but making a +wide circuit. Then I saw two Romans in glittering armor step into the +clearing in the forest: one was leading the young mistress by the +arm--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo heard this for the second time, but he again sighed +deeply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A horse neighed behind us, and on it sat the clever old man +who a few +winters ago read to the little one in Arbor from many, many parchments, +oh, such a long, horribly long time--while I was obliged to wait to row +her back across the lake."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you perfectly sure," asked Adalo, seizing the bondman by +the +shoulder and forcing him to turn his averted face, "that this horseman +was the old Roman?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he isn't so very old," replied the Sarmatian evasively, +"though +he has grown somewhat grayer since that summer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Answer," cried Adalo angrily. "Can you swear that the rider +was +Ausonius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ausonius! Yes, yes, that is what she always called him. +Father +Ausonius. And that's what she cried out yesterday when she saw him: +'Father Ausonius!' she shrieked."</p> + +<p class="normal">He broke off abruptly and began to rub his head (the wound +suddenly +seemed to pain him) muttering meanwhile in his Sarmatian dialect, which +Adalo did not understand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So it was really he," sighed Adalo. "And I must thank the +gods for +having led her to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Freya will reward you for it," said the blind woman suddenly, +raising +herself on her left arm and groping with her right hand in the +direction of the voice until she reached the youth's head and stroked +his long locks. "The dwellers in Asgard will repay you for such +thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must I not cherish them, Mother? Oh, if you could only sit up +again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your drink, the Romans' drink, cheers the weary soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ausonius will protect her from the others. But," Adalo went +on +angrily, "who will defend her from Ausonius? She was tenderly attached +to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As a child to its father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be it so--at that time. But now the maiden will owe him +gratitude for +everything, even the highest boon."</p> + +<p class="normal">During this conversation Zercho had repeatedly looked +thoughtfully at +both; now he scratched himself behind the ear and was about to make +some remark, but changed his mind and remained silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Against my warning," said the old woman, continuing the +bondman's +story, "the child had glided away from my side out of the cellar into +the hut. She grew tired of waiting in the dark hole for Zercho's +return. Suddenly I heard a man's heavy step above me; then a shriek +from the little one, which made me tremble. But by the time I had +groped my way to the stone slab and lifted it, all was still. I vainly +called her name. Soon Zercho came with the news that he had seen her +led away captive. We sorrowfully waited for the darkness. My fever had +left me; I could walk slowly, but faithful Zercho sought our cow and +found her among the tall reeds in the swamp, lifted me upon her and, by +a wide circuit through the forest, brought me here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For I had seen Italian galleys between the forest hut and +Suomar in +the eastern marshes," remarked the Sarmatian. "The enemy was +reconnoitring there, so I tried to reach the mountain, as my mistress +preferred."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; for since Suomar, my son, cannot be reached, it is you, +Adalo, +of all the men of our people, our kind neighbor, the playfellow of +her childhood, to whom I must lament. The dear one is a captive: +help--rescue--liberate her."</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth passed his hand sadly over his beautifully arched +eyebrows. +"Yes," he thought, with bitter grief, "a captive through the fault of +her own defiance and obstinacy." But he said nothing, only thinking: +"It will be a difficult task. If it depended upon me--from the moment I +heard it I would have stormed the Idisenhang so constantly and fiercely +that the Italians would have had neither inclination nor leisure to +torment the child. Or to win her," he added bitterly. "But the army is +under the sole command of my cousin Hariowald, the Duke. I cannot--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here a low growl interrupted him: he turned and saw a singular +spectacle.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">A handsome boy about fourteen, whose strong resemblance to +Adalo marked +him as his brother--only his curling locks were light yellow, almost +white--was dragging by the ear a huge she-bear, which, growling, +struggling, but yielding, allowed herself to be drawn nearer and nearer +to the fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down, Bruna!" cried the lad, forcing the huge animal to lie +prostrate. +"You dearly loved the merry, dancing girl too. Look, you growling brown +giantess, that's only the grandmother, and Zercho, who always brought +you so much wild-honey from the bee-wood. But <i>she</i> is missing; our +Bissula is gone. Ah, if you had been there, you would have defended her +savagely; for you haven't forgotten that she and Adalo saved you, +dragged you out of the torrent. When you were scarcely bigger than a +kitten the cloud-burst swept you away from your mother, and you cried +piteously as you were drowning. And her busy hands fed you even more +eagerly than ours, with rich milk, rye bread, and dainty wild berries. +Since you first opened your blinking eyes, which now look as though you +knew as much as a human being, you have recognized her as your best +friend. Oh, if you had been with her, no one would have dared to seize +her. O brother, strong brother, you hero and shield of the whole +province, bring her back! Alas, if the little one, with her dainty +hands, should be forced to heat the bath-water for the hated foe and +wash his feet, as I often saw their maid-servants do in Arbor! Why +don't we rush down on the wings of the storm and hew her out of the +high-walled camp citadel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He swung his little wolf spear: the fire blazed up brightly as +he stood +in the light of the flames, a handsome boyish figure, in his light-blue +linen robe bordered with white swan's down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my Sippilo," said the older brother with ill-repressed +sorrow, +"you loved her too."</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy looked up startled, but Adalo continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes. Perhaps she is dead--to us, to our people. Perhaps +we shall +never see her again, never hear her sweet, elfish, mocking laugh."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, the smoke! How it stings!" cried the lad, wiping the +tears from +his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps she went with the Italians willingly," said Adalo, +torturing +himself savagely--"with the clever Ausonius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is he here again?" cried Sippilo. "I'll run him through like +a fat +carp that is sunning itself in shallow water. Oh, I used to wish he +might fall under the curse of Odin and the sun. Whenever I went to get +frogs for fishing or to play ball, she had always rowed over to him or +would not leave the long rolls of runes over which she racked her +brains. He had given them to her. If only I could catch him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If we only had her back again! My heart is consumed with +anxiety."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Guard yourself from consuming anxiety, my son," said the old +woman in +a warning tone. "It will paralyze your thoughts and arm; and you will +need both to liberate the naughty child. I am no prophetess, but I have +had strange dreams since I grew blind--which often come to pass: I saw +you to-night wounded, severely wounded. Guard your life. If she should +be rescued, and no longer find you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then her vengeful wish would be fulfilled. She hates me. She +shouted +it loudly enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sippilo laughed. "You? Hate you? She loves you better than a +sister. How I always had to tell her about you, everything you were +doing,--your prizes of honor in the contests; the gifts of neighboring +princes; your last verses; whom they praised! When I met her on the +lake quite lately, she asked if Jettaburga and her father did not often +visit the Stag Hall. When I said that they no longer came there, for +sheer delight she loosed from her own waist the beautiful blue girdle +she always wore, and gave it to me. See, there it is. I always carry it +hidden in my blouse. And, Bruna, didn't she once kiss you between the +eyes, when I told her how you had sprung to Adalo's assistance in the +chase and torn the furious wild bull which was goring his horse? Yes, +Bruna, you are faithful to her too. You have trotted after us for hours +when we were gathering berries and mushrooms, and watched our noonday +nap."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment a long-drawn blast of a horn echoed from +the summit +of the mountain. Adalo started up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Duke is calling. We are to consult about what is to be +proposed in +the people's council. Zercho, come with me. He wishes to question you +about the number of the enemy's mounted men. You, Sippilo, take care of +Mother Waldrun; that is all you can do for your Bissula."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For the present," said the boy looking after his brother. +"But I will +take part in storming the camp fortress where the scoundrels hold +captive the prettiest little bird--little gold-crested wren, no, little +redbreast--in the land of the Alemanni." He raised his clenched fist +threateningly.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Outside of the Duke's tent also a huge fire was blazing, fed +by slaves +who were roasting on the ends of poles the haunches and back of a +freshly killed stag. Adalo passed by, motioning to Zercho to wait, +parted the sailcloth stretched over the wooden frame of the tent, and +entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">The roof was formed of interwoven pine branches; against the +poles of +the light timberwork hung and rested everywhere weapons of all kinds. +Skins covered the turf floor which, opposite to the entrance, was +raised until it formed a high seat; a curtain of heavy linen hung +behind it, dividing from the front of the tent a small space used for a +sleeping room. In the centre stood an iron tripod, running to a point +at the top, into which was screwed a burning pine-torch that diffused a +dim, flickering red light.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the fur-covered high seat, with his back resting against +the main +column of the tent, sat Duke Hariowald. He greeted his young kinsman +only by a glance and seemed to heed nothing except the eager words of +another guest, a man about forty years old, who, clad in a boarskin and +wearing on his head a "boar helm" with the animal's tusks, sat at his +right.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old Duke, a giant in height, towering nearly a head above +Adalo's +tall figure, was a man of singular appearance. The immense framework of +his body appeared to belong to a much older race of men. His deep-set +gray eye--the left one had been destroyed by a stone from a Balearican +sling long before, and the empty socket had a sinister expression--was +under a bushy, prominent arched brow; its fire was by no means dimmed, +but curbed by the long habit of self-control. This ever perceptible +rule of passions blazing fiercely in his breast gave the mighty man, +who in spite of his sixty-five winters could not be called old, an air +of mysterious majesty. His people looked up to him with reverence, with +timid expectation, nay, with a slight fear of what he was planning in +rigid secrecy. His eagle eye was inscrutable when he half closed it; +when open, the flash that blazed from it was fairly blinding. The +expression of the mouth was concealed by the magnificent silvery-white +beard, sweeping over the breast-plate to the bronze belt, which framed +the cheeks and mingled with the thick locks of hair of the same hue.</p> + +<p class="normal">Like the eye, the strong, deep, resonant voice revealed, no +matter how +quietly the mighty man spoke, the sense of power held in check. He +rarely moved his muscular limbs, and all his gestures had a calmness +which was the result of long training. So he sat without a helmet, with +his ample blue cloak floating from his shoulders, his bearing one of +dignified composure. The majestic beauty of his finely formed head was +plainly visible as he rested it against the tent-pole, listening +intently. An immense spear rested in the curve of his right arm, its +brass top rising above his shoulder, as the end touched the floor; he +often stroked with a gentle, almost loving touch of the hand the runes +of victory inscribed on the back of the ash handle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am usually glad to greet you, son of Adalger," said the +Duke's other +guest, with a frowning brow, "but now I am most unwilling. I pleaded +for peace--" The Duke remained silent. "Now you come and you--I know +it--dream of nothing day and night save war with Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo measured him with a wrathful glance. "The ancient foe of +our +people is in the country, and a king of the Alemanni counsels peace? +Ebarbold, son of Ebur, fear was alien to your kinsmen--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The other laid his hand on the curved knife in his belt. Adalo +did not +see it: he was under the spell of Hariowald's eye. A warning glance +from the old man, and the youth hastily added, "and is unknown to you, +hero of the wild-boar's courage."</p> + +<p class="normal">The guest loosened his grip of the dagger and leaned back +proudly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Roman gold does not ensnare you," Adalo continued; "so +some magic +blinds you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or <i>you</i> and all our crazy youths. The red drink of Zio, the +war-god, +has intoxicated you. Or," he added in a lower, almost timid tone, "He, +Odin the Val-father, wishes again to people his Valhalla with +slaughtered heroes."</p> + +<p class="normal">A change of expression flashed over the Duke's face. He gently +raised +his spear and, unheard by the others, murmured, "Mighty Odin, do not +avenge the words." But Ebarbold went on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter about the boys! Their only art is war, and they +have little +sense; but that you, who have seen sixty winters and almost as many +victories of the men with the high helmets--that you too should desire +war! My friends, I went to Rome; I climbed to the citadel on the +towering rock. It glitters with gold and marble. I served in the great +Valentinian's army. I have seen for years the countless thousands of +Roman warriors with their finest weapons, against which ours are like +children's toys."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke, unnoticed, pressed his spear closer to his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the military engines, the huge galleys with three banks +of oars +one above another, the treasures of coined and uncoined gold and +silver! The whole extent of the land, all Mittelgard, as far as men +live--white, brown, and black--I've seen them painted on a long, long +strip of hide. The rising and the setting of the sun serve Rome. In his +golden house on one of the seven hills of the Tiber the Imperator has +placed a gold ball: all the provinces are copied on it. It is the work +of a magician. If a foe crosses the boundary in the farthest north or +south, the gold ball echoes and trembles in that spot; the Imperator +hears it, looks, and sends the legions. We will not defy him. The Cæsar +is a god on earth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not hear it. Mighty One!" the old Duke murmured, stroking +the runes +on his spear soothingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo was about to make a vehement reply, but he involuntarily +looked +at the silent man, and controlled himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have learned that long enough, I think," Ebarbold +continued; "from +generation to generation, when each province still fought +independently, long before this name and league of the Alemanni were +heard and invented!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't like this league?" the Duke now asked suddenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King started. The voice, hitherto mute, sounded so loud +and +powerful. Glancing up timidly, he shrugged his shoulders: "Whether I +like it or not, I can no longer dissolve it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, you cannot," said Hariowald very calmly, stroking his +long beard; +but his gray eye darted a glance which boded evil.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't like the <i>name</i> of Alemanni either?" asked Adalo +indignantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Adeling. 'All men together!' Ha, our forefathers prided +themselves +on standing alone, province by province; nay, in the old days family by +family, not leaning on others, and also not bound by them, not subject +to the will of the majority."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that's it!" said the old Duke with a fierce smile. "You +were in +the citadel of Rome--so was I. But I perceived with my one eye what you +have not seen. You noticed the glittering lustre of their magnificence; +it dazzled you: I saw through the glitter to the decay, the decline +beneath. And one thing more," he added mysteriously, lowering his +voice--"for several generations they have had no more luck with their +own gods--with the new ones, I mean. Ay, the old one whom they formerly +had--" he now spoke with a certain timidity, even reverence--"I mean +the one with the thunderbolts and the eagle--he was a god of battles, +almost like our own. Often his eagle on their shields seemed to me to +flap its wings, and the lightning to glow redly. Often and often have I +seen them conquer under that handsome bearded god and his sons. Mars +and Hercules. But now they have chosen for their god a youth, gentle +and nobly wise, but no warrior. His own priests say he never held a +sword in his hand. He did not descend from a line of gods; he was the +son of a laborer. And this man--a carpenter--belonged to a race long in +bondage to Rome, a people many of whom have wandered to us with packs +on their bent backs, mere traders in spices. Not many of them are seen +in the ranks of the legions. Since the Romans chose for their god that +gentle teacher who would not even defend his own life, victory has +deserted their standards. But what (besides their Jupiter in the +clouds) formerly secured to them for centuries conquest on earth I also +learned; the god whom I most honor showed it to me: one will controlled +them all. They were already united men--all for one, and one for all, +through many hundred winters; while we, according to the wish of your +heart, fought province by province, each for himself, and--succumbed. +This is your freedom--the freedom of discord and consequent +destruction!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The glowing wrath of enthusiastic conviction transfigured the +old +Duke's noble face.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Ebarbold wished to cast a venomous glance at him, but was +forced to +lower his eyes in the presence of such lofty dignity. His lips curled +bitterly as he replied:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beware, Hariowald. Your title is Duke, not King; and your +reign ends +when this war is over. According to your desire, it seems, one man must +rule the Alemanni. From the earliest days we have had kings and counts +of the provinces; but woe betide us if all the districts ever become +the slaves of one king of the people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are the gods slaves because <i>one</i> rules them as king?" The +old Duke's +voice sounded threatening.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ebarbold answered evasively: "But here on earth we Alemanni +have equal +rights. And rather than--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you hesitate?" asked Adalo angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He hesitates because he shrinks from uttering his thoughts. +But the +Lofty One gave me the power to read the minds of men upon their brows +like explained runes."</p> + +<p class="normal">Flushing and paling, Ebarbold started up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This son of Ebur thinks," the Duke continued, "that rather +than obey a +king of the Alemanni he would serve the Cæsar."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Adalo sprang from his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose it were so," cried Ebarbold, "would you prevent +it? In a +few weeks, when the leaves fall, your command of the army will end. But +meanwhile--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Meanwhile I counsel you to obey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not me," the old man answered, with immovable composure, "but +the +Council which rules all the provinces--even yours, the Ebergau and its +King. But sit down again, hot-tempered hero! And Adalo, hand him from +the wall of the tent where it hangs, the mead horn. The heron of +forgetfulness will rustle over our heads, bearing away on its wings the +words of wrath and discord."</p> + +<p class="normal">The two young men took their seats again. While the wild +bull's horn, +tipped at both ends with bronze, was passing around the circle, +Ebarbold said: "Even if we should conquer this time and drive this +band of Romans from the country--we have learned the lesson often +enough--others will come to avenge those who are defeated. So it has +been for many generations."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But so it will be no longer," the Duke answered slowly. "That +is +provided for. The evil she-wolf is surrounded by too many dogs at once. +She can no longer raise her left paw to aid her right: the Goth is +holding it firmly on the Danube, and she is still scarcely able to +escape the bite of the Franconians on the Rhine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Goths?" said Ebarbold. "Who knows whether they will be in +the +field this year?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do," replied the Duke quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you see from here to Thrace?" sneered Ebarbold: "I +cannot."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there is One who, from his throne in the clouds, +overlooks all +countries: and he revealed it to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I see the misery the Romans have wrought around us in our +own +land," the King continued. "My people have suffered heavily. The +cohorts in passing through burned all the dwellings. My own hall too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will rebuild them," cried Adalo, laughing, as he hung the +horn on +the wall. "The forest will not refuse trees to its people. My home +below on the hillock beside the lake"--his face now grew grave--"is +dear to me; sacred the hearth beside which I sat in my dear mother's +lap while my father, skilled in the music of the harp, sung of the gods +and the deeds of our own ancestors. The Centurion will probably soon +hurl the torch into the ancient dwelling of my family with the rune of +the stag's antlers. Never more can I hope to mount the high seat where +I was so often allowed to fill my father's drinking horn. But though +through all the future years I should have no other shelter for this +head than the waving boughs of the woods, never will I yield to the +Italians."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yield? The purpose is only to confirm a treaty such as we +have often +made."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the Romans as often broken," said Adalo.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or we ourselves. What is asked of us? Young men to fight the +Cæsar's +battles. We have more than we can feed. In return they will give us red +gold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May Hel swallow up this gold and these treaties!" cried +Hariowald. +"For generations they have sold to our ancient foe our heart's blood +and our young heroes, who were used against ourselves and our +neighbors. If the hundreds of thousands who fell for Rome had banded +together against Rome, we should have watered our long-maned horses +long ago in the Gallic sea. But we will not cast aside your words, +Ebarbold. Perhaps I may even consent to send an envoy to the Roman camp +for peace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! Is that your wish?" cried Adalo impetuously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My wish will appear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To offer peace? Let them retire? With their booty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will not be hard to carry." Here a smile which lent the +old Duke's +lips a wonderful charm hovered around them. "Six pots in Iburninga and +a broken mead vessel in Mariswik; so two old women complained to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the prisoners!" Adalo reminded him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have only one, I hear," Ebarbold remarked, "the child of +a small +farmer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter, she is a free maiden, a daughter of our race," +cried Adalo, +with blazing eyes. "She has a right to the protection of her people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Protection? A captive! What can we--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Release her with the sword--or avenge her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Commence, for the sake of one woman, the conflict which will +destroy +the people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right," said the Duke slowly. "Women as well as men +must be +sacrificed for the welfare of the nation. Let her stay where she +is--little Bissula."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, Bissula?" asked Ebarbold, startled. "Albfledis, whom +they call +Bissula? The beautiful red elf?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know her?" Adalo asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has not heard of her? She is talked of along the whole +shore of +the lake, and in such a way that the listener is anxious to see her. I +too grew curious and tried to get a look at her lately, at the last +sun-festival. It is a pity about her. By Freya's eyes, a great pity! +But peace is worth more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," said Hariowald, "and victory still more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Victory is certain," exclaimed Adalo.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think so?" replied the old man reprovingly. "I do not. +Not +yet," he corrected himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lead us to the attack on the Roman camp! Our men are pouring +here in +dense throngs since you sent the blood-red arrow from house to house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are not yet enough. The army still lacks many men from +distant +provinces situated far away toward the north and the east: Alpgau, +Albwins-Bar, Wisentgau, and Draggau."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not calculate! Dare!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am doing so; but I also consider the firmness of the Roman +camp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But meanwhile our foes are strengthening themselves too. +Their proud +galleys already lie anchored opposite in Arbor; they will soon bring +fresh cohorts over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them do so." The old Duke laughed softly; his look +expressed a +grim, mysterious joy. "Meanwhile," he added after a pause, "I will send +an envoy to the foe to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Send me!" exclaimed Ebarbold eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. Adalo, you will go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He! He will not bring back peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but keen scrutiny, and--" he whispered to the +youth--"perhaps +Bissula."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks! Thanks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I," cried Ebarbold wrathfully, "would surely bring home to +our +people--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Subjection!" said the Duke. "That is just what you must not +do. If the +Italians reject fair proposals, then I will ask the Council of the +people, the whole army, for its decision--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know in advance," Ebarbold angrily interrupted, "what they +will +determine, guided by you, you disciple of Odin, you giver of victims to +Zio! But your decision is one thing; it is another--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He checked the word on his tongue and hesitated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you will do, you wish to say. King of the Ebergau! I +warn you, +Ebarbold. Your father was a gallant hero; he fell by my side twenty +winters ago in the murderous battle against Julian. Remembering him, I +once more warn you: beware!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look to yourself," cried Ebarbold angrily. "You are not my +guardian!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Springing up, he rushed out of the tent.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Adalo, too, rose hastily. "Will you let him go in this +threatening +mood? Shall I follow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Duke remained unmoved. "I fear no danger from this +man." A +shudder ran through the youth's limbs and he started, as the old chief, +lightly raising the spear, added: "He is dedicated to Odin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not I. He will--must sacrifice himself. Do not wonder. Wait."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the news about the Goths, Duke? Were you in earnest? Or +did you +merely wish to encourage the faint-hearted Ebarbold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha, do you credit me with such craft in the good work?" +asked the old +man, smiling?</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are Odin's favorite."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is as I said. One of the men in our ranks has been serving +in the +army of the other Emperor; he came home on leave of absence, and said +that such countless throngs of Goths had crossed the Danube and were +assailing that Emperor so closely that he certainly could not march +here to his young nephew's assistance. Nay, the nephew's whole army +will perhaps be compelled to hasten to the uncle's relief. Because I +knew this I permitted, nay, commanded our young leaders to cross the +frontier early this spring to renew the war. But do you keep silence +about it. And open your eyes wide in the Roman camp to-morrow: do not +think only of the child, much as I hope you may see her, perhaps ransom +her, or save her by stratagem. For, by Frigga's girdle, she is lovely! +and I would fain see the fairest ornament of our land at liberty +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo clasped the Duke's right hand; but the latter withdrew +it, adding +sternly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Note carefully the height of the wall, the depth of the +ditch, the +position of the gates, the number of the tents, the direction of the +paths between them, so that you can report everything accurately to me. +Now go, and send Zercho the bondman. No, do not ask what I want with +him. Obey!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo left the tent. His heart was throbbing violently. "I +shall see +her; ransom her! I will give all my property; nay, if necessary, my +estate, the land I have inherited--or sell it. But will she desire to +be ransomed? Will she not prefer to go with the clever-tongued Italian +to his sunny home? And what if he will not release her? Well, then +there will at least be one way to bring her forth, known only to the +Duke and my father's oldest son."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fiercely agitated by such thoughts, he sent the bondman, who +was +crouching beside the fire, to the tent. The slave stood timidly before +the mighty soldier.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long is it since Suomar bought you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's hard for Zercho to say. I can hardly count beyond the +fingers +of both hands, and there are more years than fingers. The little elf +was very small then. My master got me cheap, for the Romans had dragged +many, many of us as prisoners from the beautiful pastures of the +Tibiscus. He exchanged a horse and a net full of fish for me with the +dealer over in Vindonissa."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suomar has praised you to me. He has never been obliged to +flog you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Zercho made a wry face and rubbed his ear. "Yes, my +lord--once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why was that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I first saw the little elf--she was then a child about +seven +years old--I thought she was the wood maiden, red Vila, threw myself on +the ground and shut my eyes; for whoever sees her is blinded. Then he +shouted a word in your language which I have often heard since,--it +means an animal with horns,--and struck me. But never afterwards." The +slave had uttered all this very rapidly; he was afraid of the Duke, and +kept on talking to deaden his fear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are faithful to the young girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would be cut to pieces with the ploughshare for her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You plucked me by the cloak when you made your report in the +presence +of the Adeling and the old woman. You wished to tell me something that +they ought not to know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true, great Father! How did you discover--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was not hard to guess. But I suspect more--the girl did +not +become the captive of the kindhearted chatterer, Ausonius, but of +another Roman."</p> + +<p class="normal">The slave looked up at him in fright. "Did your Odin, your +terrible god +who knows all things, reveal this to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, he only gave me the power of reading men's eyes. So she +is +another's prisoner; I suspected it. And you did not wish to plunge into +still deeper grief both the old grandmother and the Adeling; for he +loves the child ardently."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know that too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"One doesn't need Odin's assistance for it," replied the Duke, +smiling. +"I was young once too. You wished to spare the youth?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, great Father. He would wear himself out with rage and +grief. Yet +he can do nothing to save her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He would only destroy himself, and perhaps our best hope of +victory, +by some desperate deed. I am pleased with you, slave. Keep silence as +before. But Ausonius was there too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, the foreigner who stayed so long in Arbor several years +ago. But +he didn't seize the child; it was another, younger man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you not hear his name? Was it anything like Saturninus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, his name was not spoken, or I did not hear it. He +was a +fine-looking man in glittering armor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he took his prisoner to Ausonius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. Yet he did not lift her on Ausonius's white horse, as +the latter +seemed to ask, but swung the struggling girl upon another--a black +one--perhaps, yes, probably his own."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke remained silent and thoughtful. At last he said: "The +Adeling +is not to reach the Roman camp until twilight is closing in tomorrow. +Before he rides forth he will receive some directions from me. Tell him +so. And"--here he lowered his voice to a whisper, much to the surprise +of the slave, since there was no one in the tent--"if a faithful and +cunning man should venture to introduce himself or some one else in +disguise into the hostile camp and tell me what he saw there,--for I +fear they will not give Adalo much chance to look about him,--and this +man should be a slave, I would buy his freedom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Great Father!" exclaimed the Sarmatian, throwing himself +prostrate +before the Duke and trying to kiss his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man angrily thrust him back with the handle of his +spear: "Are +you a dog, that you want to lick my feet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Zercho is a Jazyge," said the bondman, rising and rubbing his +bruised +shins. "Thus my people honor one who is worthy of honor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we sons of the Ases do not bend the knee even to the +mighty King +of Asgard when we call upon him and desire to honor him. Now go. +Perhaps it will be well that Adalo should not know what is to happen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must not hear of it until after it has succeeded, for he +would not +let the others whom I must have go with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not wish to know in advance how the work is to be done. +Say +outside that no one is to enter till I strike the shield."</p> + +<p class="normal">The slave had scarcely gone when the Duke drew back the linen +curtain +whose folds fell to the ground behind him, shutting off the rear of the +tent, used as a sleeping-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">A man with long gray hair, scarcely younger than Hariowald, +came +forward glancing cautiously around him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are alone, Ebarvin. Repeat your King's words exactly +again. For +consider, you must repeat them to his face, on oath, before the +assembly of the people, if he deny them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not deny them," said the graybeard sorrowfully. "He +is too +proud to submit to you, but he is also too proud to lie."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a pity," replied the Duke, curtly. "He was a fearless +man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak as if he were numbered with the dead!" cried the +other, +shuddering.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not see how he can survive. Or, do you believe he will +change his +choice?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ebarvin silently shook his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long have you borne his shield?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ever since he <i>had</i> a shield. I carried his father's, too," +sighed the +man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it, Ebarvin. And," he asked craftily, as if in +reproach, while +his gray eye blazed with a searching light, "and yet you betrayed him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The man gripped his short sword angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Betray? I accuse him openly, after I have often warned him +loyally, +after threatening that I would tell you all. He laughed at it; he would +not believe me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why do you do it? You have loved him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why? And you ask that--you, who taught it to me, to us all? +True, it +was not you alone--first necessity! Why? Because only this league of +the Alemanni can save us from ruin, from the shame of bondage. Why? Oh, +Duke, the oaths with which you bound us years ago, before the ash of +Odin, are terrible. Ebarvin will not forswear himself; I will not, a +perjured man, drift through endless nights down the horrible river of +Hel among corpses, serpents, and swords. And I have learned through a +long life that we must stand together, or the Romans will destroy us +province by province. Oh, I would slay my own son if, disobedient to +the Duke and the Council of the people, he tried to burst our league +asunder."</p> + +<p class="normal">Up sprang the old chieftain; his eye flashed with delight. +Raising the +spear aloft with his left hand, he struck the right one on the +clansman's shoulder: "I thank you for those words, Ebarvin! And I thank +thee, thou Mighty One in the clouds! If such a spirit lives in the +Alemanni, the league will never be sundered."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">It was really as Zercho the bondman had believed: Bissula had +become +the captive, not of Ausonius, but another; and his captive she +remained. To the extreme surprise, nay, barely repressed indignation of +the Prefect of Gaul, the younger man had asserted his claim according +to the rights of war. Ausonius had no claims whatever to the prisoner; +that was clear. His nephew undoubtedly might have raised them, and at +first he did make the attempt. But he grew strangely silent when the +Tribune--scarcely in absolute harmony with the truth--said in his +uncle's presence: "The girl had escaped again. I was the first to catch +her finally. Shall I call her, that she may tell you the whole story +herself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus, with a venomous glance, left the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Ausonius did not understand the imperious rudeness of the +brave +soldier who was usually so devoted to him. When the Tribune curtly +appealed to the right of war, Ausonius, deeply offended, pondered over +all the reasons which, as he thought, must induce his friend not to +yield his legal right in this instance to him. The poet, seeking +motives for the act, of course first grasped the nearest: all the men +in the camp gazed at the peculiar beauty of the child with unconcealed +admiration. It was no wonder then that the Illyrian, in the full vigor +of manhood, should also be seized with ardent love for the beautiful +creature who had fallen into his hands and, without really having any +evil design, wanted to keep her in his power until either from +affection or obedience the captive should yield to her master.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this anxiety, which at first had weighed heavily upon him, +was soon +relieved. With the keen distrust of jealousy, he watched his rival +sharply at every meeting; but even suspicion could discover nothing +that would have warranted this conjecture. Quiet, unmoved, and +steadfast as ever was the Tribune's bearing in her presence, which he +neither shunned nor sought, but treated with indifference. He looked +into the wonderful eyes no more frequently than occasion required, and +his glance was calm, his voice did not tremble. So Ausonius regarded +his friend's act as a soldier's strange whim, and did not doubt that he +would soon give it up. But this proved an error.</p> + +<p class="normal">On returning to the camp Ausonius entreated his friend, +without +renouncing his right of possession, to place the young girl in the tent +next to the Prefect's, now occupied by slaves and freedwomen, whom he +would remove. But Saturninus insisted that Bissula should be lodged +among the wives of the freedmen and female slaves who occupied some +tents a long distance from the Prefect's. The young girl herself paid +little heed to the discussion between the two Romans, whose meaning she +scarcely understood.</p> + +<p class="normal">Released by the Tribune from the fear of death, and soothed by +the +presence of her honored friend, her young cheerful heart soon +accommodated itself to the new condition of affairs,--not through +recklessness, but through childish ignorance of the perils which +possibly threatened her. Her grandmother was not discovered; her +faithful servant had not been captured; she herself was certainly +secure in the presence and under the eyes of her friend, the most +aristocratic man in the Roman camp. He would not let a hair of her head +be harmed, she knew.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, the thought weighed heavily upon her heart as soon as +she was +captured that she herself was solely to blame for her misfortune. If +she had obeyed the well-meant counsel--she was on the verge of tears; +experience had taught the value of the advice--she would now have been +safe and sheltered with her grandmother, though also with Adalo. And +owing him a debt of gratitude! She crushed the tears on her long +lashes. No, she would not admit that he was right. Now she owed the +haughty Adeling nothing: that was certainly an advantage. "And"--she +shook her waving locks back defiantly--"they won't eat me here! Only +don't be afraid, Bissula," she said to herself; "and don't submit to +anything!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had trembled only a moment after her escape from +Herculanus, when +her powerful deliverer measured her whole dainty figure with a look +under which she lowered her eyes in confusion. But when she again +raised those innocent child-eyes, the expression had vanished. And it +never returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her master allowed her to spend the whole day with her "Father +Ausonius": only when it grew dark he appeared, with inexorable +firmness, to take her away; and he went with her himself to the tent +assigned to her, before which he stationed one of his Illyrian +countrymen as a sentinel all night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula never saw her friend's nephew, whom she feared, alone. +She +confidently expected the restoration of her liberty when the camp +should be broken up and the Romans should withdraw from the country. +There would be no fighting, Ausonius repeatedly told her. So the +light-hearted girl regarded her captivity, which had lost all its +terrors, as an adventure that afforded her an opportunity for the +conversations with her friend which she had missed so long.</p> + +<p class="normal">Many of her young playmates had lived as hostages and probably +as +captives in Roman camps and in the fortresses on the southern shore, +and been restored to liberty uninjured when truce or peace was +declared. That she could be detained or carried away against her will +she did not fear: the most powerful man in the camp was her protector. +Yet this peril constantly threatened her more and more closely.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius kept a sort of diary, in which before going to sleep +he +recorded events, impressions, sketches of poems, and short bits of +verse--a custom whose regular observance he scarcely omitted even in +camp. A touch of pedantry was one of his characteristics. Yet the diary +was not a monologue, rather a sort of dialogue; for he addressed it in +the form of a letter to his oldest and most intimate friend, Arius +Paulus of Bigerri, rhetorician, but also an old soldier. Every three +months he collected what he had written and forwarded it to him to +receive his criticisms and answers on the margin of the manuscript when +returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, during these days of involuntary leisure he wrote.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">V. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius sends greetings to his Paulus.</p> + +<p class="normal">I wrote to you yesterday about the charming Barbarian child. +Child? She +is one no longer. The delicate, yet lovely outlines of her form have +developed into exquisite roundness. And Barbarian? If she ever was one +she has ceased to be so, since Ausonius taught her the pomp of the +Latin language. How shall I describe her to you without drawing, no, +painting her? For it is precisely the charm of her coloring that is so +peerless. If only I had brought with me Paralos, my Ionian slave, who +painted the nymphs so exquisitely--you know--in my little dining hall +yonder, in the villa in the Province Noverus! And the expression--the +vivacity--in those ever varying features, now full of mischievous +wrath, now mirth, now jest, and anon of a sorrowful yearning which to +me is full of mystery.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the dainty figure! Recently her leather sandals stuck fast +in the +mire outside the camp ditch. How white and charming were the little +feet! How can they even support the figure, lightly as it floats along? +The muse which so long has shunned me has again returned in the form of +this Suabian girl: a fairer metamorphosis than ever Ovid dreamed. +Verses well up in my mind ceaselessly. Just listen!</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i0">"Nature had dowered Bissula with charms which the greatest of +artists</p> +<p class="i0">Vainly to picture would strive. Doubtless to full many another</p> +<p class="i0">Justice he might do by use of the pigments of red and of white +lead:</p> +<p class="i0">Coloring like hers, alas! will forever escape him, unless he +should paint</p> +<p class="i0">Her face with a lily's lustre, on which the breath of a rose hath +rested."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Ah, my friend, with the feelings that come to me, I am often +ashamed of +the half century I bear with me. Fain would I sacrifice something to +Anteros--most willingly my gray hairs!</p> + +<p class="normal">A short time ago the little maid amazed us all (Saturninus was +even +more surprised than I; for I am already beginning to believe her almost +supernatural) by showing strategic insight. It was mentioned that while +making a tour on the southwestern wall I had saved her little hut from +burning, while our cohorts usually flung the torch with eager zeal into +the wooden houses of the Barbarians. Then Saturninus remarked that by +accident another building had been spared, a house with a lofty gable +roof rising on a hill farther toward the southwest. None of our +reconnoitring parties had marched in that direction. My nephew called +one of his men and ordered two of them to ride over the next day and +burn the dwelling down.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the girl, with flashing eyes, cried: "How stupid!" +and +laughed. Courtesy is not her favorite virtue, and she and my nephew +waste little love on each other. "How stupid!" she repeated, "The +building is very solid, the fence inclosing it very high; it is almost +a citadel like your camp here; and it is between you and the lake--to +which you must fly if my people come. You could fortify yourselves +there again, if you are forced to leave here as the fox darts from its +burrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus laughed sneeringly; but Saturninus cast a glance +from the +top of the wall to that hill and the lofty building, and said in the +quiet tone which quells contradiction: "I myself had resolved to have +the dwelling burned to-morrow. But the child is right. The solid house +will not be burned, but perhaps, later, occupied--when the ships +arrive."</p> + +<p class="normal">If those ships would only come! The eager Tribune is fairly +consumed +with impatience for action. Already he has gone across the lake +repeatedly in a wretched rotting boat belonging to the Barbarians, +which we found hidden among the thickest growth of rushes near +Bissula's hut, and urged Nannienus to hasten. But the latter might +truthfully say with Homer: "Why dost thou urge one who is willing?" We +cannot make up in days for the neglect of months. The Emperor's own +miserable officials do him more harm than the Barbarians. And we do not +even know where these strange defenders of the country have vanished.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, that reminds me of another anecdote of the little maid. +How +constantly she steals into my thoughts! Of course--in jest and +earnest--we have tried to obtain information about the hiding--places +of the enemy from the only captive of whose possession hitherto we can +boast; but there we "victors" met with small success, as you may guess.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are your heroes hiding?" I asked once laughing, toward +the end +of a meal in my tent. "Truly, their heroism is as hard to find as +themselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will hardly have told this little maid," replied +Saturninus. "For +Barbarian women can probably keep secrets no better than Roman ones. +She does not know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, she does!" cried the rogue, pouting defiantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed? Then we'll question you," I cried, "on the rack."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That isn't necessary. I am willing to tell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, where are they?" asked the Tribune seriously.</p> + +<p class="normal">She glided out of the tent, thrust her head saucily through +the +opening, and laughed mischievously: "They dwell with Odin and the nixie +in the lake. Search for them there yourself!" And she vanished.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her favorite resting-place is at the foot of a huge pine-tree; +it is +sacred, dedicated to a German goddess who, according to the +description, probably corresponds with Isis. I have repeatedly found +her there. Once she was swinging among the branches like a little bird. +She begged me not to betray her hiding-place to the others--the Tribune +and my nephew. She often liked to dream there all alone. Well, I +certainly shall not betray her. If <i>I</i> know where to look for her, the +others shall not find her against her will.</p> +<br> +<p class="center">IV. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER.</p> + +<p class="normal">I regretted the artist's absence a short time since, and +cannot get him +to come here. But perhaps Bissula will go later to the artist, to +Burdigala. How I wished it long ago! Oh, Paulus, if only I could show +her to you! The more I write of her and think of her, the more she +pleases me. Or perhaps the contrary is the case. I will write and think +of her no more.</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">You will not believe, my dear friend, how much I enjoy the +military +life I have not witnessed for so long. I understand little about it, +but the pomp and pride and power of war stir me very strongly.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is a pleasure to see the rule of a man like Saturninus. He +cannot +scan a verse of Alcæus, but he knows how to arrange a camp according to +the demands and advantages of the location, better than I can write an +Alcæan strophe. Here, on this steep hillside in the midst of the +Barbarian forests, he had applied Frontinus's rules to the given space +most admirably. It would please an old soldier like you to see our +camp, the strength of wall and moat, the arrangement of the spaces +between the tents, the distribution of horse and foot-soldiers, +luggage, and camp followers.</p> +<br> +<p class="center">III. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER.</p> + +<p class="normal">And why should you not see it? For what purpose has Athene or +the +clever Phœnicians taught us the art of writing? I begged Saturninus +to dictate to his fat slave scribe a sketch of our whole camp, with all +the points important for defence and the distribution of our troops. I +will put it on the papyrus.</p> + +<p class="normal">How stately is the entrance! Four squadrons of mailed warriors +at the +Porta Decumana, and all the baggage also piled up there. The wall eight +feet high; the ditch five feet deep. The weakest point is the northwest +corner, so the best troops are there: Batavian and spearmen of the +Emperor's Thracian Guard: etc.</p> + +<p class="normal">I will not repeat here in detail what the inclosure will +contain; but +the paper is not yet finished. He has taken it away to make the drawing +more accurate.</p> +<br> +<p class="center">II. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, what avails dissimulation, playing hide and seek with +myself? If +you drive her out with a pitchfork, Nature will always return, says the +Bandusian fellow. I am trying to make you--and myself--believe that my +thoughts are on ditch and wall and mailed soldiers. It is not true. I +think only of the little maid. Her image alone hovers before my eyes +day and night. It is already half decided that you shall see her.</p> + +<p class="normal">When this expedition is over, I at any rate shall return to +Gaul, +perhaps the whole army; for the Emperor Valens seems to be able to deal +with the Goths without needing our aid; he does not ask for us. Then I +can take the little maid as my guest for a short visit to Burdigala.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, she is still considered the Tribune's slave. It is an +odd +caprice of the valiant soldier. No, no, my Paulus! It is not what you +suppose that influences him. I have watched him suspiciously, almost +jealously, as sharply as a father--or can it be a lover? But I did him +injustice--or too much honor? He has nothing in his head except those +invisible Alemanni and our ships, still delayed at Arbor.</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet why only for a visit? Why should she not remain in my +house always +to beautify my advancing years with the roseate dawn of her youth?</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes. Eos, Aurora: it is a fitting symbol for her. So young, so +full of +the dewy freshness of the morning, with her ruddy curling locks +floating saucily around her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps, now that she has grown more sensible, she will +joyfully accept +the offer I made when she was a child: to go with me as my adopted +daughter.--Daughter? That is not the right word; no longer the right +word: she has blossomed into womanhood: I should not think of lifting +her on my knee, as I did years ago. She has become too mature.</p> + +<p class="normal">And I am still too young to regard her only as a +daughter.--Rather as a +brother, her loving brother who rejoices in her beauty. No, it will not +do.</p> + +<p class="normal">A short time ago her round arm brushed me (the German women go +with +bare arms); a fiery thrill darted through my veins. I can scarcely +doubt it, I---</p> + +<p class="normal">My feelings for her do not concern other people. I might at +any rate +first take her with me--and then adopt her? No matter what the legal +form may be, I am determined to keep her near me always.</p> + +<p class="normal">I can no longer do without her charming presence; everything +would grow +dark and cold. Already I shiver at the thought of again living alone +with the icy-hearted Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">She has become my muse! A barbarian one, do you scoff? Aha, +are these +lines so barbaric?</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i0">"Incarnate joy! Caressing bliss! O thou embodiment of +sportive grace!</p> +<p class="i0">How the Barbarian maid the fair ones of Latium hath vanquished!</p> +<p class="i0">Bissula! Plebeian her name may sound in the ears of aliens:</p> +<p class="i0">But to Ausonius it echoes with harmonies sweet and bewitching."</p> +</div> +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">It is useless to conceal it from myself any longer, and what I +admit to +myself must also be confessed to you, my Paulus, my second self, at the +same moment. Alas, I fear you read it long ago from these words in +prose and verse.</p> + +<p class="normal">I beseech you not to shake your cool, cautious head as usual +over your +"too youthful" Ausonius: I hope my heart will throb warmly till it +ceases to beat.</p> + +<p class="normal">I know all you will say--of course against it. For you would +speak in +favor only if you had seen her. Yet I rejoice that you are not here: I +have no desire to be warned.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, it is one thing to toy with the sweet illusion within my +own +breast and to the friend who will keep my secret; and quite another to +transfer it to practical reality.</p> + +<p class="normal">My thoughts are contradictory. I am fifty--ah no; fifty-two +years old! +But what happiness it will be for the young girl to share not only my +wealth but the whole Latin civilization with me! She is a pagan. Pshaw! +The baptismal water will no more wash away her charm than it has driven +the pagan Muses from me. She can believe after baptism precisely what +she believed before. And she shall offer sacrifices to golden Aphrodite +and to Hymen!</p> + +<p class="normal">I hesitate. She is very fond of me, but I often find her +dreaming, +gazing out with yearning eyes beyond the walls of the camp: strangely +enough, it is not eastward in the direction of her home, but always +toward the northwest. At that point the wall rises almost to the height +of her huge pine tree, whose branches reach the ground: I again found +her hidden among them yesterday. She climbs so far up among the boughs +that she can look over the wall to the distant hills, and hides among +the dense foliage like a martin.</p> + +<p class="normal">I discovered her with much difficulty,--twilight was +gathering,--and +when at my call she slipped down I thought I saw tears in her eyes. But +the crimson glow of sunset had probably dazzled me; I did not see them +when she stood on the ground by my side, though she looked graver than +usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want?" I asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Liberty," was her swift answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps I looked perplexed or angry, for she went on hastily: +"Forgive +me! I was foolish. I know that if you set me free now, before the close +of the war, I might fall into the hands of other Romans before reaching +my people. And I am not ungrateful. How kind you are to me! Yet I often +feel so homesick--for--for--oh, I don't know myself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then I said in jest,--for never before, and even now not +seriously, had +the idea entered my mind,--"For a lover?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She started back like a little red serpent. I have never seen +her so +angry, though the hot temper of the little creature boils over often +enough. She stamped her tiny foot, the blood crimsoned her cheeks, and +she vehemently exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="normal">"A lover? The 'red biting cat'? I have no heart! How should +<i>I</i> love?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then turning her back on me defiantly she ran off to her tent +and did +not appear again that evening. But I am glad to learn from her own lips +that no bond of affection will hold her fast in this Barbarian land, if +I really decide to take her with me to Burdigala.</p> + +<p class="normal">This possible obstacle to my wishes entered my thoughts rather +late, +you will tell me. But it was because I considered her a child so long. +Later I daily felt in my own heart the feeling within growing stronger. +No, no, this girl is a child no longer, but a maiden ready for her +bridal.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sweet wish--I scarcely repress it--is rapidly maturing. +And with +this dear girl I shall be sure of one thing: she will not marry me for +my wealth, which I anxiously fear from our Gallic maidens. As to the +widows, I feel gripes in my stomach whenever I think of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">I will be cautious not to startle the timid child; for how can +the +Barbarian maiden dream of such an honor as even being invited as my +guest to Burdigala? It is inconceivable that she should refuse: now +that she has grown to womanhood. If she does, then--But no, surely it +will not be necessary. And when she has once tasted the rich, beautiful +life there, she will no longer desire to return to this wilderness. +Then ere long I can read aloud to her these verses which now I dare +entrust only to my friend:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i0">"Bissula, fair maid born and reared in the cold land beyond the Rhine,</p> +<p class="i0">Bissula, who bloomed so near the source of the Danube:</p> +<p class="i0">Captive of war, thou hast, when released from bondage, made captive</p> +<p class="i0">Thy conqueror: his heart became the prisoner's booty.</p> +<p class="i0">Of a mother's care bereft, ne'er hast thou suffered a mistress:</p> +<p class="i0">When thou a captive wast made, a mistress thou didst become,</p> +<p class="i0">Though thou by Roman favor, O German, wast thus transformed.</p> +<p class="i0">Still hast thou thine eyes' deep azure, still hast thou +thy hair's red gold.</p> +<p class="i0">Dual thou seemest now, and with dual charms adorn</p> +<p class="i0">Latium's tongue thy mind, and Suabia's grace thy form."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">How do you like them, my dear friend? I hope they are not bad. +At least +they please <i>me</i> extremely, and you know I am not vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now imagine how these melodious lines must gratify her--her +who is +their inspiration.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The morning after Ausonius had made this last entry in his +diary, +Bissula, as usual, shared the first meal in his tent with the uncle and +nephew. The Prefect of Gaul was in excellent spirits, often jested, +talked a great deal, had his goblet repeatedly filled by the slave who +was his cup-bearer, and remarked again that the campaign would soon be +over. "When the ships come," he added in conclusion, "the Barbarians +will sue for peace." Glancing up merrily his eyes chanced to rest on +the young girl's face. To his surprise a mocking, nay, angry smile was +hovering around lips pouting in defiance; her brow was frowning, and +she made no reply. The conversation flagged. Herculanus watched the +rising cloud sharply, and eagerly fanned the flame.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" he cried. "Peace? Bondage; extirpation! The Cæsar will +soon +drag the last remaining Alemanni before his triumphal chariot to the +Capitol: the leaders will be strangled, the rest sold cheap: a German +for a cabbage."</p> + +<p class="normal">Tears of rage filled Bissula's eyes. She could find no words; +fury +choked her voice. She searched her thoughts, her memory, for aid and +defence. Adalo was the only name which came to her. "Yes, Adalo, if you +were here, or if I had your swift speech, whispered by Odin! Stay--his +verse--his verse of defiance. How, did it run?" She closed her eyes to +think, resting her elbows on the table, with both little clenched hands +pressed against her throbbing brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will offer a toast," Herculanus went on, raising his +goblet; "pledge +me. You, the pupil of Ausonius, are surely one of us: Disgrace and +death to the Alemanni!" Bissula sprang up. Her blue eyes were blazing; +her red tresses fluttered around her head; a blow from her clenched +fist sent the silver goblet rattling on the floor; and, in the language +of her people, she cried loudly:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"Woe to the Latins!</p> +<p class="i6">Vengeance on Romans!</p> +<p class="i6">Break down their castles,</p> +<p class="i6">Shatter their strongholds,</p> +<p class="i6">Swing ye the sword</p> +<p class="i6">Till the base robbers flee!</p> +<p class="i6">All this region</p> +<p class="i6">Hath Odin given</p> +<p class="i6">To his sons of victory--</p> +<p class="i6">To us, the Alemanni!</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">"Oh, I thank you, I thank you, Adalo!" And she rushed out of +the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How foolish!" Ausonius said reproachfully to his nephew. "How +inhospitable! How could you so incense our guest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Guest? Our, that is, the Illyrian's, slave-girl. But forgive +me, +uncle. It shall not happen again. How little a Barbarian woman suits +the society of Romans! Our thoughts, our wishes--she is implacably +hostile to all. And Adalo? I have already heard the name. Isn't it--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter who it is," thundered the uncle. "But you are my +nephew, and +have insulted, roused the lovely girl to furious rage at my table, in +my tent. How would you in Burdigala--"</p> + +<p class="normal">A gloomy, significant glance from the young Roman checked his +thoughtless speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must appease her. Now leave me; I don't wish to see you +again +to-day. Or stay--I will follow her myself. Poor little thing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius rose excitedly from the couch and hurried out. +Herculanus and +the slave who acted as cup-bearer remained alone in the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it so already?" muttered the former angrily through his +set teeth. +"Does the childish infatuated old fool reveal his plans so openly? To +work, Davus! Well or ill--to work! Have you the hemlock? Have you +enough?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think it will do. If it fail the first time, you still have +some in +the other little vial?" Herculanus nodded. The slave went on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"He complained yesterday of all sorts of bad feelings. I'll +risk it +soon, before he gets well again. But--one thing more--the Barbarian +girl will sleep alone to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Not in the tent with the teamsters' wives?</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; a contagious eruption broke out there last night: I heard +Saturninus give the order to pitch another tent at once on the opposite +side for the prisoner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he will have her closely guarded."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-night he is going on a reconnoitring expedition with all +his +incorruptible Illyrians. Batavians are to be on duty: they are fond of +drinking; perhaps--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence! This ring as a reward for the news. We don't yet +know whether +the plot against the old man will succeed, so we'll have two strings +ready for our bow. And I hate her. I don't hate him; only I must have +my inheritance quickly. So to-night! Hush, Prosper is coming! About the +poison--in the two little vials--we'll say more later; you know where +and when. First we'll wait to see what this night will bring forth."</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile kind-hearted Ausonius had vainly sought the angry +fugitive. +He looked eagerly down the long wide streets of the camp which crossed +in a square at the prætorium--in vain. Now he hoped to find her in her +favorite hiding-place, the secluded spot with the tall fir-tree; but it +was empty. Nor was she perched among the branches: he scanned them +carefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shaking his head he walked on still farther toward the +northwest, to +the wall itself. Here he heard voices raised as if disputing, a +soldier's and Bissula's. Now he saw Rignomer, the Batavian sentry, with +lowered spear forcing back the slowly retreating girl. The man spoke +half in German, half in vulgar Latin; for at that time the Batavians +and Alemanni, though both Germans, found it as hard to understand one +another as the sailors of the Lower Rhine and the peasants of Lake +Constance do at the present day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Back, you red elf, you beautiful Idise, you nymph, and never +try it +again! It would be a pity to hurt yourself. The wall is too high and +the ditch too deep--" Then the soldier recognized the Prefect, saluted +him, and went back to the top of the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula, noticing the respectful salute, had turned and, still +violently agitated, rushed to Ausonius, exclaiming: "Father, set me +free at once! at once!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius shook his head. "Consider--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you really catch defenceless girls and threaten to kill +them by the +sword, you glorious Romans, as your nephew--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When did he do that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind! Send me with a safe escort, with a letter from +you beyond +your outposts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where shall I send you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula remained silent a short time. Her face was deeply +flushed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where? To the place where you always gaze in your reveries? +Out +yonder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she replied, setting her teeth; "eastward, to my home. +Then I +will take care of myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child, you must stay till the war is over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I must go," she answered. "I belong to my people, not to +you. It is +not right, it is abominable, for me to sleep safe here in your +protection, drink Roman wine from golden goblets, while my kindred are +suffering want and danger. Let me go!" She raised her hand. The gesture +was meant to be an entreaty, but it resembled a threat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cease this folly, little one," Ausonius now said, more +seriously. "My +nephew's idle, unseemly words offended you; I reproved him for them; he +will beg your pardon,"--Bissula made a contemptuous movement,--"and +everything will be forgotten."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I forget my people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forget? No; but gradually become alienated from them. You +look amazed. +Well, let this trivial incident hasten the important disclosure I have +to make. Are you thinking of leaving me? Give it up, sweet girl!" He +controlled himself and went on more calmly: "My little daughter, you +will never leave me again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula opened her eyes in the utmost astonishment, gazing at +the Roman +with the expression of a captured deer. The iron tramp of a marching +cohort was heard close at hand, but the tents still concealed it from +their gaze.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" she stammered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you," said Ausonius in a firmer, sterner tone +than he had +ever used. The opposition he now suspected irritated him, and he was +determined to execute his will. "I will tell you that I have resolved +to fulfil my former plan. I shall take you as my guest for an +indefinite time. As my little daughter," he added cautiously, "with me +to Burdigala."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" cried Bissula, raising both arms in the wildest +terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, most certainly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I will not go. I--away from the lake--from--from my +people? No, +no, no!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, yes! This is not tyrannical nor cruel, as you think +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who will compel me to go away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I. We compel children whom we are educating to do what we +desire, for +their own good. You do not understand your real welfare: I will force +you to do so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I am no child; I am--" She advanced toward him defiantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a captive. Do not forget that. You must obey your +master, and +he--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is here," said a deep voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus stepped between them. With a firm hand he held +Bissula, who +had turned, reeled as though giddy, and tried again to scale the wall. +"Do not forget that, Ausonius."</p> + +<p class="normal">Angered by the interruption, perplexed, and half ashamed, the +other +drew back. "What are you doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am protecting my captive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Against whom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Against every threat: against wiles as well as +compulsion--even though +well meant."</p> + +<p class="normal">Both gazed at him in silence, but the girl's gratitude was +blended with +a slight thrill of fear--fear of this protector too.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius was the first to find words. In tones which revealed +wrath, +jealousy, and suspicion, he exclaimed: "And who will protect her +against you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing and no one, except my own will."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, set me free!" cried Bissula, raising her clasped hands +despairingly to the Tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you may tell the Barbarians all you have seen and heard +in our +camp? No, little maid. You will stay--perhaps forever. Have no thought +of escape! Here, countryman!" He beckoned to a soldier. "Take her to +the new tent; keep guard there until I leave tonight; then Rignomer the +Batavian will relieve you. And listen: tell my scribe that during the +day he must see that she--" The rest was whispered in the ear of the +Illyrian, who led the wondering, bewildered girl away by the arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius and Saturninus parted without exchanging a single +word: the +latter saluted respectfully; but the angry Prefect did not, or would +not, see the farewell.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Ever since the preceding day the rain clouds, which had so +long densely +veiled the mountain peaks and hung in gray curtains to the shore of the +lake, had grown lighter and lighter. Scattered fragments still floated +over the forest; but the mists were dispersing from Sentis and Tödi. +And before the sun of that day sank behind the wooded heights of the +western shore, it burst through the cloud rack for the first time in a +long while, illumining lake and country for a few minutes with a +blood-red glow. The fishes leaped greedily after the flies which were +sunning themselves in the beams and flew feebly, with damp wings, close +to the surface of the water: then the radiant ball disappeared behind +the long cloud curtain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The herons flew screaming from the rushes toward the land. The +wind +seemed to be rising. The clouds swept across the sky, sometimes in one +direction, sometimes in another. The waves of the lake, obeying the +former course of the wind, rolled in a direction opposite to the clouds +above them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Batavian mercenaries of the Lower Rhine were encamped +outside of +the northern gate of the camp, the Porta Prætoria, but a little toward +the west. The centurion, a man about forty years old, long in the +service of Rome, who was adorned with neck-chains and various badges of +honor on his breast-plate bestowed for gallant deeds, was fanning the +smoking fire, which they were loath to have die out in the cold damp +woods.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There!" he muttered, "there it goes. I invoked both gods, +Vulcan and +Loki, in vain. Vulcan won't help me, because I am a Barbarian; Loki +because I serve the Romans. We mercenaries no longer have any gods to +aid us, because we belong to no nation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, Rignomer," laughed another in the group, a youth whose +downy red +beard was just beginning to grow, "I care for only one god among them +all--the god of victory."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he, Odin, is the very one who has deserted us, Brinno. +Everywhere +the Germans are conquering; that is, the peoples who are fighting +against Rome, not we German mercenaries, who battle for the Cæsar. And +in every conflict the men who bleed are we mercenaries."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because these cunning Romans always put us in the place which +is most +severely threatened," Brinno cried angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because Odin is hostile to us," whispered the centurion. "We +must no +longer fight for Rome against the other Germans. He no longer wills +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean by Germans? That's a word like Barbarians. +The Romans +invented it, not we. What do I care for these Alemanni? I am a +Batavian; a Frank, if you prefer the name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I do prefer it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's newer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But stronger, because it is larger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I care, I ask again, for these thick-skulled +Suabians? I can +hardly understand what they say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But all we blue-eyed, yellow-haired men are sons of the +dwellers in +Asgard. We have all come here to the great waters front the East. So +our forefathers teach us; so the harpers sing. And everywhere, on the +Rhine and the Danube, the districts and peoples who formerly had such +bitter feuds are gathering. This is Odin's work. He is summoning the +descendants of Asgard to war against Rome. This is my last campaign +under the dragon standard. In a few days my time of service will +expire; then I shall go home and till my land on the Issala, where my +mother and my brother and sisters live; till it with a better plough, a +Roman one. And if I must fight again, I will fight for my land, against +Rome. We Franks have too little room down there in the swamps of the +Rhine; we must go into beautiful Gaul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, this war of the Romans will soon be over. A bloodless +victory."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who knows?" Here the centurion threw himself on the ground +beside +Brinno and whispered: "A man from my district, who formerly fought +under the Emperor Valentinian by this lake against the Alemanni, told +me why in fear and horror he suddenly gave up the service and lost his +pay: In a battle the Romans were vanquished. <i>One</i> against whom no man +can lift his hand without forfeiting salvation forever dashed forward +on a gray charger at the head of the Alemanni wedge."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" asked Brinno, half incredulously, half timidly: +"<i>He</i>--he-- +himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Rignomer nodded significantly: "In the form of a white-haired +Duke; so +runs the legend. When sore peril threatens the dwellers by the lake he +descends from the heavenly heights, warns them, conceals them from the +eyes of the foe with his dark mantle of clouds; teaches them runes of +victory on inaccessible mountains, and bears them suddenly away on the +eagle wings of the tempest. Against him I will not fight. I vowed to +serve the Imperator against men only. But hark! a tuba signal from our +outposts. Whom are our mounted men bringing in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A messenger from the Alemanni, it seems."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, a leader and two attendants. What a youth! Halt, young +hero: if +you wish to go into the camp to the General,--only one is permitted to +ride in,--I must first cover your eyes. Dismount! You will not? Well +then, turn back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a severe blow to Adalo's hopes. He would so gladly +have gazed +keenly about him in the Roman camp, scanned ditches, walls, gates, +and--two persons within that frowning palisade. He sullenly dismounted. +A thick woollen blanket was thrown in loose folds over his head like a +huge sack and fastened under his chin: Rignomer took him by the hand +and guided him to the gate, where a centurion of the Thracians received +the Barbarians' envoy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo's two companions also dismounted, tied the three horses +to the +nearest trees, and soon lay chatting with the Batavians. The bad Latin +of the frontier, it is true, often had to aid the understanding of the +different dialects around the watchfire. With great exertion it had now +been rekindled, for it was growing very dark. Suddenly, from the forest +path by which the envoys had come, a strange growling was heard which +drew nearer and nearer. The whole group, including the two Alemanni, +started up in surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A bear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So near the fire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Slipped through our outposts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They seized the spears which stood stacked together. Then a +Batavian, +laughing loudly, came around the bend of the narrow path, pointing +behind him. "Look, comrades! A Sarmatian juggler with a tame she-bear! +She dances to his big flute! It's very comical."</p> + +<p class="normal">A cry of surprise escaped the lips of one of the Alemanni, +whose eyes +and mouth opened in astonishment: "That's surely--"</p> + +<p class="normal">But his companion gave him a violent dig in the ribs with his +elbow: "A +she-bear! Yes. Didn't you ever see one?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A man in the Sarmatian costume--black sheepskin with the wool +turned +inside--now stepped into the firelight, leading by a leather thong a +large she-bear. Behind him, also clad in sheepskin, limped his boy, +probably carrying in his bundle provisions for their journey; he was a +poor cripple, who made his way forward slowly with the help of a +crutch, and doubtless found it hard either to stand or to walk; for +when the third Batavian, shoving him with the handle of his spear, +invited him to come nearer to the fire, the poor lad, with a low cry, +fell on the grass.</p> + +<p class="normal">The soldiers, with Roman and German taunts, asked what <i>he</i> +could do. +He did not stir.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can talk to him a long while," said his master, laughing. +"The boy +is deaf, and he is sick with fever. He is afraid of people. Let him lie +there!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad crept under the thickest underbrush, far away from the +flames. +He could scarcely be seen from the watchfire; all that was visible was +his coal-black curly hair. Taking out a little earthen pot, he poured a +few drops of some liquid on his lame foot and rubbed it with his hand.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">To Adalo's impatience the time seemed very long--in his wrath +he +believed the delay intentional--during which he was led through the +spacious camp till at last his guide stopped and removed the muffler +from his head. He found himself in the Prefect's tent. Ausonius, +Bissula's friend, he instantly recognized, with a thrill of anger. A +number of other army leaders were standing and sitting around him. They +had had plenty of time to assemble while the Barbarian was being guided +in bewildering zigzag lines through the streets of tents.</p> + +<p class="normal">He silently saluted Ausonius (it did not escape his eyes that +his foe +looked admiringly at him), who motioned to him to sit down on a camp +stool. But the youth, with a defiant bearing, remained standing. In +vain, gazing around the richly decorated space, Adalo endeavored to +discover some trace, not of Bissula herself--that was beyond his +hopes--but of some garment or article that belonged to her. Nothing was +to be seen except arms and papyrus rolls.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You understand the language of Rome, since you have come +without an +interpreter?" Ausonius began.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be welcome! We expected such a messenger. You desire peace?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young hero angrily flung back his handsome head so that +his long +locks rested on his shoulders, and answered with flashing eyes: "I +offer to let you depart unmolested."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, insolent Barbarian!" cried Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Saturninus wrathfully motioned to him to keep silence, and +then +asked very quietly: "Are we surrounded?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not yet; but only because we did not desire it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus cast a significant glance at the Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boasting!" replied the latter in Greek.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why haven't you destroyed us yet?" sneered Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The result, Roman, is in the hands of the gods. We have not +attacked +because we, who do not fear battle, but rather--you know well--love it, +this time desire peace; or our wise leaders, who think further than my +comrades, desire it. The great league of the Alemanni wishes to end +forever by a treaty not only this campaign but the whole war with you, +which for generations has been burning or at least smouldering: we wish +not a truce, but peace with Rome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is this your idea, youth?" asked Saturninus, searchingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have already said it is the choice of our wise leaders, +among whom I +am not numbered. But I, too, perceive that intercourse with you across +the frontiers, when the spears are leaning in the hall, will bring to +our people many benefits. We have already learned much from watching +you; we must learn still more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why," interposed Ausonius, "if you perceive this, have +you for +centuries broken every armistice, every treaty? You Germans boast of +fidelity as one of the virtues of your race, and we must praise the +loyal service of your mercenaries under our standards. Why, here on the +frontiers, are all your tribes of many names, Alemanni and Franks, +Goths and Quadi and Marcomanni, the same in this unfaithfulness? Why, +year after year, do you continually break peace and compact? Our +cohorts, constantly compelled to wade through your forest marshes, +upbraid you with fierce hatred as the falsest of the peoples. Why do +you continually break over our frontiers, like a forest stream?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like a forest stream! You have uttered the right words, +though +probably without knowing it. I will not answer that often we are not +the breakers of the treaties, but, perhaps against the Emperor's will, +your army leaders, your frontier officials. In defiance of the treaty +they build citadels on our free land, and the supplies which, according +to the treaties, you owe us, are withheld: especially the grain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why," asked Saturninus eagerly, rising from his seat, "do you +not +raise for yourselves the grain you need?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We cannot. There is not land enough for our increasing +population. The +gods multiply our numbers wonderfully: it must be their will that we +should grow and overflow our boundaries. Hundreds, nay, thousands of +our young men emigrate every year to serve you as mercenaries and +frontier guards. We often send forth a third of our young people, +chosen by lot, to seek a new home where the flight of the birds and the +will of the gods directs them: but all this does not avail."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then," Saturninus questioned, speaking more to himself than +to the +envoy, "it is not mere wantonness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think that mere wantonness would have driven, from the +days of +our earliest ancestors (the legends have treasured it loyally, sadly, +and proudly) our almost naked heroes upon the spears of your mailed +legions? Nay, had it been we youths only, we would always rather win +what we need by blood--the foe's or our own--than by toiling with the +plough. But do you believe that, from mere wantonness, whole nations, +with their women and children, their men and maid-servants, their herds +and wagons, would constantly press across your frontiers southward and +westward; not as a warlike band on a foray in quest of booty, but on a +weary pilgrimage, pressing forward because pressed by others, pushing +because being pushed from the south and the east by other Germans and +by Sarmatians; not quitting the old home, but maintaining it by those +left behind till they too were obliged to yield--do you believe that +mere wantonness has so often lured these hundreds of thousands to and +beyond your frontiers, usually to certain destruction? Oh, no. It is +not wantonness that impels us, but the most powerful of all the +goddesses--Necessity. A man utters her name unwillingly; for the woman +with the iron girdle is the only inexorable deity; she is the mother of +the three Fates, who also revere her, and she often strangles with her +iron girdle the mortals who mention her carelessly. Beware, Romans! +Before our faces stands only your Empire, one mighty in military power, +it is true, but behind us threatens and urges the terrible mother of +the Norns. We have no choice. The country has become too narrow; we +must, come what may, pour out of the old bed in roaring torrents. +Therefore, clever Roman, you speak aptly of a forest stream. Believe +me: we shall continually break over your frontiers, no matter how +strongly they may be guarded with men and walls, until either all we +countless German tribes are destroyed or until we have gained land +enough to live upon. Not until then will there be peace."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The words uttered by Adalo, evidently from sincere belief, and +with +warm feeling, produced a deep impression. Herculanus shrugged his +shoulders scornfully. Saturninus, with a grave face, gazed silently +into vacancy--into the future. After a long pause, Ausonius found +words:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have never seen that side of the question. Is this your +wisdom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say once more, it is the wisdom of our wise men; Duke +Hariowald +taught me. But the necessity of our people cries so loudly that even an +inexperienced youth must understand its call: Land or destruction! So, +in the name of our whole league of peoples, I ask (we Alemanni yield in +courage to no race on earth), do you wish to gain us, our spears, +forever against all your enemies, especially the false Franks, our evil +neighbors and yours? Do you desire that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Romans listened intently; no one interrupted him in his +appeal.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, there is a way, but only one." He paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak," urged Saturninus eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vacate all the land which you still occupy but can hold only +by +constant fighting, the country northward between this lake and the +right bank of the Rhine to where the Main empties into it beneath your +stronghold of Mogontiacum, and all the region south of the lake to the +chain of the Cisalpine region."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Insolent fellow!" shouted Herculanus. The other army leaders +also did +not spare words of wrath. "Not bad!" said Ausonius, smiling. Saturninus +alone was silent; he was thinking how the great military hero, +Aurelian, had given up, in a manner very similar to the way asked here, +Trajan's proud conquest, Dacia, and thereby, for a long time, pacified +the Goths on the Danube.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Adalo continued: "Do it, do it half voluntarily; do it for +the most +valuable compensation; for I tell you, it must be done very soon. Then +it will be exacted without compensation in return. Do it willingly; for +there is a proud prediction current among our people: the Alemanni will +some day pasture their horses from the snows of the Alps to the woods +of the Vosges."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius rose indignantly. "Not another word! For our sole +answer take +to your people the old Roman war-cry, 'Woe to the Barbarians!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Woe to the Barbarians!" repeated the army leaders, with loud +shouts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before I go," said the youth,--he struggled fiercely to +subdue the +agitation, the terrible anxiety which now sent a tremor through every +limb,--"listen to another message. You have captured a daughter of our +people." Six eyes were bent upon him with the keenest attention. "I am +commissioned to ransom her." In spite of every effort to appear calm +and cold his voice trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you Bissula's relative? She has no brother," said +Ausonius +suspiciously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or her lover?" asked Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth's face flamed, his brow knit wrathfully. "Neither +her kinsman +nor her betrothed lover. I am commissioned--I have already said so--to +ransom her. Name the price."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius was about to utter a refusal, but Saturninus hastily +anticipated him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would pay any price as ransom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Any."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is she a princess or a noble's daughter, that your people set +so high +a value upon her liberty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a free maiden of our people, and has as much right to +our +protection as a queen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, your protection has been of little service to her," +cried +Herculanus, laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will give her weight in silver, nay, if needful, in +gold--her full +weight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw!" replied Ausonius, smiling, "that isn't saying much. +The little +one doesn't weigh heavily. Don't trouble yourself: I will not release +her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me, Prefect," said Saturninus quietly, yet without +averting his +eyes an instant from Adalo, "I must again remind you that the Barbarian +girl is not your slave, but mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? O ye gods!" cried Adalo, wild with grief and horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastily advanced two paces toward the Roman. "Is it +possible? Is it +true? Say no, Ausonius." The voice of the usually defiant youth now +sounded almost pleading.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately it is true," replied the Prefect sullenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Saturninus, who now knew what he wished to learn, answered +calmly: +"The captive is my property. And she cannot be bought with gold. But I +will release her, if you--" he rose, approached Adalo and whispered +into his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth burst forth angrily: "The location of our +fortification and +the strength of our force? Come into the woods, Roman: you will learn +there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus stepped back coldly. "As you choose. Never will the +red-haired maiden see her people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And consider, Barbarian," hissed Herculanus, "we need not use +the rack +to torture a maiden."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo, with a fierce cry, gripped the hilt of the short sword +at his +side. But he controlled himself and only cast a look at Herculanus, +who, unable to endure it, blinked and turned his eyes away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo, tortured by deep anguish, gazed inquiringly, searching +into the +characters and dispositions of the two men; first into Saturninus's +stern, handsome face, then his glance scanned Ausonius's features, +kindly in expression, but wholly lacking the impress of a firm will. He +sighed heavily. But, conscious that the eyes of all were fixed intently +upon him, he summoned his whole strength, and said quietly: "If any +harm should befall her, her people will take terrible vengeance." The +firmly repressed, yet intense fury in the brief words, did not fail to +make an impression.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo, without any gesture of farewell, turned to leave the +tent, and +was already standing under the curtains at the entrance, when +Saturninus cried: "And what name has the envoy of the Alemanni?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth turned quickly and, comprehending the whole group in +a single +glance, exclaimed: "Adalo, son of Adalger. You shall remember it." He +passed outside the tent as he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle," cried Herculanus, "wasn't that the fellow's name? +Yes, yes, it +is he: the 'Mars of the Alemanni!' Seize him--and the war is over!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Ausonius could answer, Saturninus, hurrying out of the +tent, +said: "Beware, Ausonius! Nothing in heaven or on earth seems to be +sacred to this nephew of yours. But that Barbarian's eyes must be +quickly bandaged again; their glance is like an eagle's." He hastened +after the envoy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius, vexed by many things, said very irritably, in a tone +almost +never heard from the lips of the kind-hearted noble: "I have long been +displeased with you, nephew Herculanus. I am very much displeased. +Very! Extremely!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He passed him with a hasty step, harshly thrusting aside the +arms which +Herculanus stretched toward him with a soothing gesture. The nephew's +eyes followed him with a glance that boded evil.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the Batavians, Adalo's two companions, and the +bear-leader +had lain chattering peaceably together around the campfire.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was, in general, so total a lack of any feeling of unity +among +the various German tribes that the Alemanni did not think of openly +reproaching the Batavians, or even cherishing any secret resentment +because they were fighting under Roman standards against other Germans: +Alemanni mercenaries also fought against the German, as well as against +the other foes of Rome.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the Roman bronze vessel, filled with dark red Rhaetian +wine, was +passed to the two Alemanni also, and the Batavians gladly drank the +mead which Adalo's companions had brought in long wooden vessels +fastened on their backs. For in those days the thirst of the Alemanni +was great and frequent, and the brave fellows--hospitality in the +enemy's camp had not been expected--would have been reluctant to do +without liquor during the long hours consumed on the journey there, the +waiting, and the return.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Sarmatian, with laudable impartiality, drank wine and mead +by +turns. He, too, at a sign from Rignomer, had taken his seat by the +fire. The bear lay stretched at full length at his side, while he began +to throw sharp knives into the air and nimbly catch them again, to the +astonishment of the Batavians, who gave him small copper coins. His +lame companion was lying under the bushes, sleeping so soundly that he +snored.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," cried Rignomer, wiping his chin with his bare arm and +returning +the little cask to the Alemanni, "may Fro reward you for the drink! +Nothing has tasted so good since I turned my back on the Issala and my +mother's earth-cellar. She brews it even stronger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wine tastes still better," said his countryman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Better in the mouth, Brinno; but mead and ale taste better in +the +heart: it's home drink. And the best part is not the moist wave that +runs down the throat, but the memory of many a happy hour of former +drinks, which hovers over it like the rustling of a heron's wings. +Well, Alemanni, when will it come to fighting? And will you seek us, or +must we hunt for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As the Duke chooses," replied the other, draining his +cup--"and +all-ruling Odin."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Batavian's face changed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't name him to me! I fear <i>him</i>; you wearers of hair I +don't. I've +seized many a man of you with the left hand by his Suabian tail, and +thrust the short Roman sword into his throat with my right. But I fear +the wearer of the mantle! He is hostile to us mercenaries. It seems to +me as though he were hovering in the air opposing us, wherever we +fight. There, Juggler, drink again. And then show (we've seen <i>your</i> +tricks) what your bear has learned. Ought not your boy in the bushes +yonder, the lame fellow, to have something too? But where is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, Zizais, dog of a cripple, are you deaf as well as dumb? +Where are +you hiding? Look, there he lies over by the spring, nearer to the +ditch: he has a fever, and went for water. Now stir yourself, my brown +dancing maid."</p> + +<p class="normal">He whispered in the ear of the animal which, growling, rose on +its hind +legs; the juggler put his long staff in its fore-paws, and now the +clumsy creature turned slowly in a circle, keeping time to a monotonous +melancholy tune which he first played on his huge flute and then sang, +beating time on a bronze cup with a knife-blade. The Romans laughed +loudly at the clumsy dancer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the dainty damsel's name?" asked Rignomer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bruna. She can prophesy too. Take heed! Ask what you choose."</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking the staff from the bear's paws as he spoke, he laid his +hand on +her head. The animal now dropped down on her fore-paws and looked up +intelligently at her master, who thrust some bread into her mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you wise Wala," laughed Rignomer, "will the Romans +conquer in +the next battle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Sarmatian lightly stroked the animal's head against the +hair: the +bear, growling angrily, shook her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Batavian started, the laugh died on his lips. "She is +Donar's +friend," he said dejectedly. "He speaks through her. I thought so."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke as if the battle had already been fought and lost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said the juggler consolingly, "I'll question her for +you. +Bruna, clever wood spirit, look sharply at this hero: Will he come out +of this war safe and go back to his mother who brews the good mead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He lightly stroked the bear from the forehead down toward the +tail: +Bruna nodded assent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank thee, Donar," cried Rignomer cheerily. "What do I +care for the +Romans' victory? I'm going home soon. Hark ye, fellow, the clever +fortune-teller pleases me. Will you sell her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Sarmatian looked thoughtful. The question was evidently +unexpected. +"Not willingly--not cheaply--" he said hesitatingly, wishing to gain +time for reflection. "I live by her tricks even more than by my own."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Rignomer," Brinno observed. "It's often very +dull in +camp when we're not on duty. She would amuse us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I'd like to startle the Romans, the proud legionaries who +look +down scornfully upon us auxiliaries, but always send us to the +bloodiest posts in battle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose the creature came from these forests?" asked +Brinno.</p> + +<p class="normal">The juggler nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha," cried Rignomer, laughing, "then we must have her. We'll +take her +to little Bissula: the brown German to the red one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is Bissula?" drawled the juggler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The most charming girl I ever saw," cried Brinno quickly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes! Every one who sees her is fond of her," Rignomer went +on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Especially we Germans!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So are the Romans, I think; at any rate, most of them. But +she often +sits gazing so sadly toward the woods, as if longing for something. Her +countrywoman will amuse her. I'll buy the animal from you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! I don't want to part with her. But,"---his eyes +sparkled--"I'll tell you. Take me, the bear, and--" (he was going to +say my boy, but as he no longer saw him lying beside the spring, nor in +his former place, he checked himself) "into the camp for a few days, +till you are tired of the toy."</p> + +<p class="normal">But both mercenaries shook their heads.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That won't do! You jugglers and animal tamers are regarded as +professional spies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Tribune would have us flogged if we even let you pass +through the +gate of the camp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," replied the bear-leader, "I won't sell her, but I'll +leave the +creature with you a few days; I'll soon come back for her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without pay? That's suspicious!" said Brinno.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not without pay!" the other interposed quickly. "Not on any +account! I +earn my living by her. You must pay me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well. But listen: is the beast perfectly tame?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perfectly. If she gets a little unruly, you need only buckle +the broad +collar here--do you see?--a little tighter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't neglect to tell everybody who has anything to do with +the +animal," warned the Sarmatian.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Especially the little one," said Brinno. "It would be a pity +to have a +hair of her head harmed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If only people do nothing to injure her, this clever +countrywoman +won't bite them."</p> + +<p class="normal">Steps echoed from the camp: Adalo was being escorted back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Zizais, where are you? We must go!" called the Sarmatian, +turning +toward the bushes to search for the boy, who came limping slowly out of +the thicket.</p> + +<p class="normal">The woollen blanket was now removed from the envoy's head; +with a +gloomy face he swung himself upon his horse, his two companions did the +same, and all three soon vanished in the darkness of the forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">The clank of weapons sounded at the gate; the Thracian +spearmen were +coming to relieve the Batavians. At the same moment the bear-leader and +the cripple emerged from the thicket at the left; the former gave the +animal to Rignomer, who tried to drag it with him by the leather collar +toward the camp. But the bear resisted, growling and bracing herself on +her hind paws, as she looked beseechingly with her intelligent eyes at +her master.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come, Bruna," urged the latter--"they are good people +(he +stooped and whispered in her ear) won't you go yet? Didn't you +understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He scratched his head in perplexity. Then the cripple limped +forward, +took from his moleskin knapsack a narrow long blue kerchief,--it looked +like a girdle,--and handed it to his master. The latter, laughing, gave +it to the Batavian.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes. That will help. Hold it before the animal. No! Not +in front +of her eyes: her nose. There! See how she sniffs? She is getting the +scent. Are you surprised? Yes, the cloth belonged to Bruna's dearest +playfellow. Go on slowly. You see, she is following like a lamb. Well, +greet the Roman camp for me, Bruna: I'll soon come for you."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">During the following night Saturninus made a little +reconnoitring +expedition northward and, as far as it was possible to venture into the +swamps without trustworthy guides, towards the east. But he was +compelled to return to camp about noon without success.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are evidently hiding in the northwest," he said angrily +to his +best officer, Decius, as they rode side by side. "But none of the +guides will go in that direction, and we cannot penetrate into those +forest-clad mountains by force until Nannienus arrives. If we had only +brought his troops with us by land! It is almost useless, it seems to +me, to build galleys to blockade the lake."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," Decius assented. "The Barbarians must have burned all +their +boats, or carried them inland: not one is to be seen."</p> + +<p class="normal">Directly after the General's return a Batavian came to his +tent, and +asked to see him alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you desire, brave Rignomer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To report myself for punishment. I drank too much wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Last night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How? While on guard outside the camp?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, after I was relieved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The trader will be scourged. Who sold it to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one. That was just it! I shouldn't have drunk so much if I +had +bought it. But given! A present of Massican wine! Who can resist it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No German, it seems. And you report for punishment? Of your +own free +will? Highly improbable. You were probably detected and wish to +anticipate?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No: no one discovered me. When I was relieved, I had been +completely +sobered by fright."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord,"--he spoke hesitatingly,--"it is about the Idise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, the red-haired wood nymph."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What of her?" asked the Illyrian eagerly, now keenly intent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, I wish her well! As--as we all do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As we all do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," replied the German, smiling, "even you. General; +I've noticed +it. Well, I report for punishment, and will tell the whole story +because--because I'm afraid the little one's life is in danger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell your story," Saturninus commanded, evidently startled. +"Who gave +you the wine?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Davus, the Prefect's slave."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah--and what happened then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then it happened that I drank too much, and when I mounted +guard outside +of the little one's tent, I soon fell asleep on the soft turf. A terrible +growling roused me. The she-bear owned by a juggler, a Sarmatian, which +I brought into camp yesterday and carried to the captive girl, acted +exactly as though she were a human being, that is, a man; for she followed +the red elf everywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suspicious! Did Bissula know the animal? Did she call it by +any name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. But she was very much pleased when she saw the she-bear; +her face +flushed and paled. So much pleased that I asked, as you did just now: +'Bissula, do you know each other? How does it happen that the beast +will have nothing to do with anybody except you? Hark! how friendly her +growl sounds: why doesn't she treat us the same?'</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Oh,' replied Bissula, laughing, 'she comes from our country +and she +knows that I am the only one who understands her Alemanni language. +Don't you believe me? Well, then ask her,' she added, still laughing, +shaking back her curling locks, 'maybe she will tell you.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"In short, the monster would not leave her side, and followed +her into +the tent when she went to bed. So the bear's growling waked me. I +started up and saw by the light of the campfire a man, running at full +speed, vanish around the corner of the nearest tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I rushed in. The young girl had seen nothing--she had fallen +asleep. +She was trying to soothe the furious animal, which, bleeding from a +dagger thrust in its right fore-paw, was angrily crunching in its jaws +a piece of brown cloth. At last Bissula, while washing the wound, +coaxed it away. Here it is."</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave it to Saturninus. The Roman General examined it +closely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is certainly--but stay! Do you speak first, Rignomer. +What do you +think it is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fragment from the hem of a mantle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What kind of a mantle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A Roman one: a sagum,"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who wear brown mantles--the only ones?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Thracian spearmen and the mailed riders."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right. Say nothing of this matter to any one; and go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my punishment?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are pardoned. But drink gift wine cautiously in future."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed I will, General."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the inspection I am about to make you will act shrewdly +and +prudently, as I order. And listen: one thing more. You owe the young +girl some atonement: do you perceive it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you make it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gladly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then mark me. She has complained that I have her watched +continually, +even during the day. Thrax, my fat scribe, to whom I gave the secret +commission, has acted very awkwardly; she found him out long ago. I +promised to rid her of him. But she must not remain unguarded."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"After this attack less than ever. You, Rignomer,--I will +relieve you +meanwhile from any other duty,--must henceforth follow the young girl: +but unnoticed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, General. I'll make amends for my fault. She shall +neither +escape nor come to any harm. And she shall not discover that she is +constantly watched and guarded."</p> + +<p class="normal">Directly afterwards the tubas gave the signal through the +streets of +the camp for a general inspection of the troops, in marching +equipments, with mantles. The foot-soldiers were to occupy the wide +space on both sides of the Prætorium in the Forum and the Quæstorium, +and the cross streets intersecting the camp from east to west, the Via +Principalis and the Via Quintana; but the horsemen were to remain +directly in front of their rows of tents, near the southern gate facing +the lake, the Porta Decumana.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tribune mounted his horse and rode along the front. When +he had +inspected the Batavians, he ordered a body of them to follow him and +station themselves behind the mailed riders, at the same time making a +sign to Rignomer. The Tribune first rode at a walk down the lines of +the mailed cavalry, then he ordered them to wheel and pass before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You look pale, O Herculanus!" he called to their commander. +"Have you +been up all night? Did you sacrifice to Bacchus after the evening +banquet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A little."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus now closed the inspection. Turning the corner of +the Via +Media, which intersected the camp from north to south, he motioned to +Rignomer, dismounted, and gave him his horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who had a piece missing from his mantle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one. But one had a new piece of cloth sewed into the +hem--the color +did not match, it had not yet been faded by the sun exactly the size of +that scrap."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An officer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was he: it was Herculanus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But my lord, you saw the horsemen only from the front."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yet I know it. Be watchful. Guard the little one."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Adalo had retraced the road to the Holy Mountain with a heavy +heart, +and with deep pain he made his report in the Duke's tent at daybreak.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have gained nothing," were his closing words, "seen nothing +of the +camp, and not a sign of--of her. What is to be done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wait," replied the Duke, stroking his long beard and half +closing his +eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wait! it is easy for you to say that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Harder than for you, who still have thrice as many years +before you as +I."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Bissula! Surely I have told you that she does not belong +to the +old man, her friend. When will you lead us to the assault?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When it is time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When will it at last be time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not before the moon has vanished from the sky."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have the wise women read that to you in the runes of +destiny?" asked +Adalo wrathfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not consult old women, when I am to fight; but neither +will I +risk the victory for young ones. The moon must not shine; the night +must be dark. And another thing: the torrents of rain were a great +help, they kept the Romans in their camp, shut them out of the marshes +and forests. But now everything must get dry again, that it may burn +merrily. The god of wishes has already sent the right wind. Only have +patience a short time. Something else, too, must first be +accomplished."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then at least let me try to inform her by a secret messenger +how she +can surely escape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, by my wrath! Before we storm, I will show you why it is +impossible +for her to escape by the way of which you are thinking. It would lead +her into the very midst of the guards outside the camp and betray +everything to them. But, did you not meet Zercho on the way back?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but my companions told me. So you sent him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sent him? No; he went without my orders. But +hark--voices--there he +is, and some one with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Zercho and Sippilo came hurrying into the tent. The young +noble was +amazed to see his fair-haired brother in such a disguise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boy, what have you dared to do? You went with him as a spy?" +he cried +wrathfully. "How you look!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like an elf of darkness; but the soot rubs off easily. See!" +Laughing +merrily, he threw his arms around Adalo's neck and pressed his curly +black head against his brother's cheek.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't scold him until you know all--if you can do it then," +pleaded +Zercho.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make your report," the Duke commanded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, much--almost all is well! Yet not everything. +Unfortunately I +could not get into the camp. But Bruna did," he added, grinning, as he +turned to Adalo, "and she'll find the little mistress."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can the she-bear fly out again and bring us information about +the +camp?" said Hariowald angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not she, but perhaps this paper can," replied Sippilo, +laughing, as he +drew a roll of papyrus from his breast. "While Zercho and Bruna were +making the sentries laugh and stare, I succeeded, unnoticed, in +reaching the ditch, slipped down, and climbed part way up the wall on +the opposite side, I dared not risk going to the top, some one would +have seen me there. I'm as slender and supple as an eel. Part of the +earth in the wall had been washed away by the rain between the +palisades in many places; I squeezed into one and got my head and one +arm through, but could go no farther, my shoulders were too broad. +Then for a while I was very uncomfortable; I couldn't move forward +and did not want to go back without having seen something; besides, +the cramping hurt. Suddenly I heard voices, footsteps, and saw +hurrying toward me along the inner path of the camp, close to the +wall--Bissula."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo uttered a cry of joy, and the Duke, too, looked at the +bold lad +with surprise and pleasure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Several paces behind her a fat, very fat man came waddling +along. She +didn't see me, for she was looking straight in front of her, and her +face was not merry as usual, but very sorrowful. I risked the chance +that the panting fellow would hear me. But I didn't trust myself to +call with a human voice; I began the warbling notes of the chaffinch. +Often and often we had practised together to try which could imitate it +the more closely; but I did better and lured the little male bird in a +fit of furious jealousy to my hiding-place among the leaves. Bissula +started, looked toward the gap in the palisades where the bird--so late +in the season--was singing, saw and instantly recognized me; she could +probably see only my eyes, not my disfiguring sooty hair. Stooping as +if to look for the finch, she whispered: 'Save me quickly.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">An expression of delight flashed over Adalo's handsome face. +"She does +not love him; she wants to return!" his heart cried exultingly. Sippilo +noticed it and guessed the cause of his joy. His young face grew very +grave as he went on: "But alas, she added: 'Terrible danger, the +greatest, threatens me!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo groaned and clutched the nearest tent pole to support +himself: +his brain was reeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on," said the Duke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She could say no more, for the fat man was now close behind +her: I saw +some long yellowish-white thing sticking out of the front of his +mantle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'This is unbearable!' she cried furiously, turning upon him. +'Are you +my shadow, slave? Why do you follow at my heels? Leave me!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"'By command of my lord the Tribune.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Indeed?' she cried, half mischievously, half angrily. +'Then--by +command of your lord, the Tribune, you shall run and sweat well. Can +you catch the roe of the lake forest?'</p> + +<p class="normal">"And she darted off as swiftly as the merlin shoots down the +mountain +stream. The fat man, panting and swearing, followed. At the end of the +road along the wall she turned, glided nimbly past the breathless +slave, and again ran toward me: she probably wanted to tell me +something, but I understood only the one word, 'hasten!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then she was gone; for her companion, pursuing her, now +approached me. +When directly opposite he raised his cloak, which was hanging around +his legs, and the yellowish-white thing dropped from his breast. He +puffed along, and it rolled close to the two posts in the sides of my +hole. I hastily snatched it. I wanted to wait for Bissula to pass +again, but I saw several splendidly armed Romans stop her, and all went +into the inner camp. Then I drew myself backward from between the posts +(it wasn't easy; a little skin and hair were left sticking there in +remembrance of Sippilo), slid down the wall, climbed the other side of +the ditch, entered the bushes, crept back to my former place, and came +just as Zercho gave the she-bear to the guards and left the camp."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The Duke had already taken the roll of papyrus from the boy's +hand and +spread it open on the table. His eye sparkled with the joy of victory.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I read here? 'Four squadrons of mailed horsemen at +the Porta +Decumana, all the baggage also piled at the Porta Decumana.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The wall eight feet high.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The ditch five feet deep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The weakest point the corner in the northwest'--and so it +continues +for a long time!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks to thee, god of wishes. Thou hast sent this, no one +else, to +thy sons. Look here! A plan of the entire camp! Exact: all the +measurements. And here, marked on the margin, the strength of all the +troops horsemen, foot-soldiers, carters; and their distribution in +the camp. Look here, Adalo! Even the great pine, the tree of the +earth-goddess, is noted. What is this beside the tree? What stands +there above the stones of sacrifice which cover the turf near the tree? +A tent, empty, without soldiers, filled with provisions!</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this page I hold victory. Go now, Zercho: your reward +shall be +paid. As I promised, I will buy your freedom, whatever sum your master, +Suomar, may ask: he cannot give it to you, his lands are not large, and +you are his most valuable property."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O mighty, generous lord, I thank you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you can return, a free man, to your own people, to +Sarmatia. That +will be your wish?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Zercho shook his unkempt head. Tears filled his eyes: +"No," he +said. "I will stay here, my lord, if Suomar will let me keep the little +patch of ground I have always tilled--I had to give him only the +twelfth sheaf from it--and the hut of woven willow branches by the +lake. I would rather stay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Strange! Do you feel no longing for your home, your own +people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Home! We Sarmatians have none like yours, you patient, +plough-guiding +men, which you occupy beside the immovable hearthstone, rooted to the +earth. Our home is the steppe, the broad, free steppe, which can be +measured neither by the eye nor the steed. Ah! it is beautiful." The +man's eyes sparkled, and suddenly Zercho, usually so dull and taciturn, +was overwhelmed by an enthusiasm which, to the listeners' astonishment, +gave his words wings. "Yes, it is more beautiful, more magnificent than +all the Roman and German lands I have ever seen. When, in the spring, +the sun has kissed away the last snow; when the moor laughs; when the +steppe blossoms; when by day hundreds of hawks scream at once in the +blue air, and the wild stallions, which have never borne a rider, neigh +so terribly and dash so furiously past the tents, trampling over +everything in their path as they pursue the trembling mares, till the +heart of the boldest man might quiver with fear and yet also with joy +at sight of such fierce, uncurbed strength! And oh, the nights, when +the thousands and thousands of heavenly spirits look down from above, +far, far more star-gods, shining far more brightly than here with +you; and when, in the darkness, the cranes and wild-swans pass like +thick clouds--for there are so many that they cast shadows in the +moonlight--like resonant, clanging clouds high in the air!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doubtless the steppes of Sarmatia are more beautiful than any +other +lands and the lives of the Jazyges on their swift steeds are freer than +other lives. But Zercho--Zercho no longer suits the steppe. I am like +the bird, the wild bird of the moor, which boys keep for years in a +small cage where it cannot spread its wings. If it is set free, nay, +flung into the air, it drops down and lies still; it can no longer fly, +it has forgotten how. So, toiling with the plough for many years and +staying in one place has fettered me. Zercho can no longer ride as the +Jazyges ride, vying with the wind; Zercho can no longer sleep every +night on a different patch of earth and, if there be nothing better to +eat, catch locusts and lizards. I am used to grain and bread, the fruit +of the lands I have ploughed myself. I have no wish to leave them. And +my family? I saw them all--all six--die before my eyes in one night, +the terrible night when the faithless Romans--those slayers of the +people, those murderous wolves!--suddenly attacked our encampment with +the round, straw-thatched huts, by the Tibiscus, during an armistice. +The bright blaze of the hurdles lighted them well in their work of +slaughter. My father killed, my mother hurled into the flames of the +straw tent, my two sisters--oh, horrible!--tortured to death, my two +brothers leaping into the stream which flowed red with blood! And I--I +saw it all, stretched before the hut, my head cleft by a sword stroke, +defenceless, motionless. So I lay the whole starlit night, asking the +thousand gods above there: 'Why? Why? Why?' But, when day dawned, the +slave dealers who, like the ravens of the air and the wolves of the +steppe marshes, follow the Romans on every battle-field, came and trod +on all the Jazyges who lay there, to learn whether they were still +alive. I quivered under their feet, was flung into a cart, and carried +with them many, many days and weeks. At last the kind-hearted Suomar +bought and rescued me. For never, though I was a bondman, did he call +me 'dog,' like the dealers. He treated me like--like a human being. And +when the little mistress grew up, Suomar's farm became my home. And I +will stay down in the willow hut beside the lake as a free man, so long +as I live, if I am allowed to do so. And when Zercho's death hour +comes, the little red sprite (for we must rescue her, Adeling, and we +will) shall close my eyes with her hand, and then they shall bury me in +the open country, in the pastures by the lake. The cranes will pass +over me at night with rustling wings and clanging cries, high in the +air, and I shall hear it under the thin covering of turf and, in my +death sleep, dream that I am lying in the blossoming, fragrant steppe +grass."</p> + +<p class="normal">He stopped. His cheeks were flushed; his ugly face was +transfigured; +never in his whole life had he uttered so many words at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke held out his hand, saying: "No, Zercho, you are no +dog. You +have a heart, almost like the Alemanni's. Different, it is true, but +not evil."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo said nothing, but he clasped the bondman's other hand +and pressed +it warmly. Sippilo turned away: he did not want to let any one see his +eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have a lucky hand, boy," cried the Duke. "I can read your +wishes +in your eyes. Yes, you shall share the battle for the victory which +your bold artifice has done so much to win."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sippilo rushed to the old Commander-in-chief and clasped both +his +hands: "You diviner and fulfiller of wishes! I can imagine Odin like +you! Last autumn Adalo refused me the sword, because"--he hung his +head--"because I could not pierce with my spear the willow-woven +Hermunduri shield in our hall. Pshaw, I was only a child then; but at +the spring festival I pierced the old Roman shield which Suomar gave me +for a target."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had bored six holes in it and stopped them up again," +Zercho +whispered to the Duke; "but let him go. I'll protect him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hariowald dismissed the bondman and the lad.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," urged Adalo vehemently, "in this sheet you hold in +your hands +the victory,--you said so yourself,--so let us fight at last."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Duke silently shook his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Consider. 'Hasten' was her last word! Tonight?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. What is one girl in comparison to a whole nation?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beseech you! I implore you! You are my friend--my kinsman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am Duke of the Alemanni."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then," cried Adalo, deeply incensed, "delay. I will save +her--I +alone! There is a way, known only to myself and to you. I will use it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned to rush from the tent, but quickly, with a +threatening look, +the old noble barred his way. "Stop, boy! Do not stir from this place. +Will you rob your people of certain victory for the sake of a pair of +blue eyes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not rob them of it! I will only appear to-night in the +Roman +camp,--I alone,--and bear her out of it in these arms, or leave my life +there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whether you live or die, the secret will be discovered--the +surest way +to victory in our attack."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will conquer, with or without Adalo, in other ways. I +will save +the girl I love before it is too late."</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to force himself past the Duke, but the old man +seized him by +both shoulders with an iron grasp and forced him to stand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I will accuse you before the popular assembly, like that +treacherous king; I will have you hung between two wolves to a bough of +the accursed withered yew."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do what you choose after I have saved her or died with her," +cried the +frantic youth, wrenching himself free. But, with unexpected strength, +the old Duke flung him, reeling, back into the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will have you bound hand and foot like a madman. You are +mad. Freya +has bewitched you. Hear it, Adalger, high in Valhalla: Adalo, your son, +no longer heeds a hero's duty or manly honor. He must be bound with +willow withes, with ropes, that he may not become base and destroy his +people for a woman's sake."</p> + +<p class="normal">Agitated, overpowered, crushed, Adalo sank prostrate, his +hands +clenched in his long locks, moaning: "Bissula--lost--lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke, unobserved, cast a keen sympathizing glance at the +youth. He +saw that he had convinced and conquered him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo went out, grave and thoughtful, to be alone with his +grief.</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">In the course of the day a messenger secretly conveyed to the +Roman +camp a letter from Adalo, addressed to Saturninus and Ausonius. The +young chieftain, on the pretext of inspecting the farthest outposts, +had gone with his envoy from the top of the Holy Mountain through the +whole seven fortifications encircling it to the last one at the foot, +and then ridden with him into the forest which stretched between it and +the Roman camp. Here he awaited the answer, his noble face pale and +disfigured by the long mental conflict through which he had passed. +When he heard in the distance the hoof-beats of the returning horse +(evening had come, and the mountain peaks oh the opposite side of the +lake were glowing with crimson light), he ran breathless to meet it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he cried, "where is the answer to the letter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They gave me no answer. Both the Roman generals--for I had +them both +called, as you ordered--read your letter before me with great, great +astonishment. They talked together, with loud exclamations, in words I +did not understand, not Roman ones. Then both turned to me, the older +one, who was formerly in the country, speaking first: 'Tell your master +the answer is: Never.' And the younger man added: 'Not even for this +price.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Adalo suddenly fell prone like a young pine whose last +prop above +the last root has been cut by the axe. He had dropped face forward. The +faithful attendant sprang from his horse, sat down on the grass, and +took the senseless youth's head in his lap. Adalo lay unconscious a +long time, fairly stupefied by grief. The stars were already shining in +the sky, and the bats darting through the trees, when, panting for +breath, he climbed the mountain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was the last effort," he said to himself. "Nothing is +left now +except death--death in battle, not to save her, alas! only her corpse: +for if shame be inflicted on her, she will not survive it."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">But, eagerly as Saturninus watched for the galleys expected +from +Arbor, another was to learn their anticipated departure long before he +knew of it. This was Duke Hariowald.</p> + +<p class="normal">On a wooded hill, the hill of Zio, named the Geerebühl, east +of the +Holy Mountain, almost directly opposite to Arbor, a little band of +Alemanni spies watched night and day, one, relieved every hour, gazing +steadily across the lake at the Hill of Mercury, the nearest height +south of Arbor on the southern shore of the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">The region around this harbor fortress, which was wholly under +Roman +rule, was inhabited by colonists of various tribes: among them many +Alemanni whom capture, or voluntary surrender and removal, had led to +the better-tilled, more richly cultivated southern shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">At noon on the day of Adalo's secret message a slender, almost +invisible column of smoke rose from the Hill of Mercury on the southern +shore: instantly a thick grayish-black cloud of smoke ascended from the +Geerebühl on the north shore. This was clearly seen from the eastern +side of the summit of the Holy Mountain,--the Hill of Mercury was <i>not</i> +visible from it,--and one of the guards who constantly watched the +Geerebühl, instantly rushed into the Duke's tent "Smoke is rising on +Zio's Mountain! A high column of smoke."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hariowald came out of his tent in full armor (during the past +week he +had scarcely removed it night or day), with his battle helmet on his +noble head. This helmet was a very strange one: whoever unexpectedly +saw it gleam before him might well be startled.</p> + +<p class="normal">In those days, as well as now, the great white owl was a rare +visitor +to Lake Constance. Scarcely once in a decade did this stranger from the +far north go so far southwest in its migratory flight as the +neighborhood of the Alps. Early in the winter of the previous year +Adalo had brought down with his arrow a magnificent specimen of the +superb bird of prey from a tall fir-tree in the forest by the lake, and +given the huge bird with its gleaming snow-white plumage, marked only +with a few rusty brown feathers in undulating lines on the breast, to +his white-haired cousin as a splendid ornament for his helmet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The owl now spread above the bronze head-piece its huge +pinions which, +though not stretched to their full width, extended more than three +feet. It was not mounted as eagle and swan wings usually were, with the +tips of the feathers toward the back of the helmet, but in the opposite +way, turned forward, startling and confusing the spectator by the +threatening attitude--a true helmet of terror, such as Odin wears when +he rushes into battle at the head of his troops.</p> + +<p class="normal">With this helmet and clad in full armor, the Duke came out of +his tent +and motioned to one of the heralds, who always waited his orders here. +The man seized the long crooked horn of the aurochs, which hung ready +on one of the posts of the tent, and sounded it three times. The +summons echoed far and wide. Instantly the other heralds, carrying +white-ash staffs in their hands, and wearing smaller horns hung by +leather thongs over their shoulders, hurried down from the summit in +every direction, through all the lines of the fortifications, bearing +the Duke's summons to the most distant outpost.</p> + +<p class="normal">The warriors flocked from all sides, fully armed, swiftly +climbing the +mountain; only the guards needed to protect the fords across the +swamps, the barricades, and the narrow entrances to the ring walls +remained behind. All pressed up the mountain and, as soon as they +reached the summit, surged toward a giant ash-tree which, from the top +of the loftiest mountain peak, thrust its branches into the clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">Close to its trunk a sort of judge's tribunal had been built +of large +stones; an oblong one rested like a back against the tree; another of +the same height, laid across two blocks sunk in the earth, formed the +seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several stone steps led up to the high seat, and on them lay +various +weapons, among them one very plain shield and spear, with the rune +<i>fe</i>, corresponding to the Latin <i>F</i>. Then came a costly boar helmet, a +richly ornamented bronze shield, covered with a boar's hide and, like +the helmet, decorated with two boar's tusks outstretched defiantly; a +sword in a costly sheath of polished linden wood, richly mounted with +bronze; a sharp battle axe and a spear, the handles of both adorned and +strengthened by gilded nails: these weapons bore as a house-mark +drawings of two boar tusks. Last of all were a small, very light round +shield, a short spear, and a dainty sword with a white leather belt +painted with red lead: each of the three weapons bore as house-mark a +stag's antlers.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke had not yet taken his seat. Standing erect on the +horizontal +stone, with his spear in his right hand, he scanned the warriors +flocking from every direction. A huge oblong shield, almost the height +of a man, painted red, with black runes inscribed upon it, hung above +his head on a bough of the ash.</p> + +<p class="normal">The whole top of the peak around the tree was inclosed and +girdled by +"cords and staves"; that is, by hazel wands and spears, which--the +latter with the iron points uppermost--stood thrust into the earth at +distances of seven feet apart, and were bound together by linen bands +almost a hand's breadth wide, knotted around the middle of the staffs, +the red hue of the bands proclaiming that the popular assembly was to +judge matters of life and death.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">After the surging to and fro of the men pressing forward into +the +circle, the loud voices, and the clank of weapons had somewhat died +away, the Duke raised his spear and struck with it three solemn strokes +on the bronze shield. Instantly deep silence reigned. "The assembly is +opened!" said Hariowald, and slowly took his seat, crossing one foot +over the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">Throwing back the long, full, dark-blue mantle, fastened by a +clasp on +the left shoulder, he rested his spear like a staff on his right +shoulder, and raising his left hand with the fingers extended, said +slowly:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"I, the Judge, I ask you for the law!</p> +<p class="i6">I ask you, ye free men:</p> +<p class="i6">Is this the hour and the place,</p> +<p class="i6">To have and to hold</p> +<p class="i6">A judgment righteous</p> +<p class="i6">Upon noble Alemanni,</p> +<p class="i6">The sons of victory--</p> +<p class="i6">House and estate.</p> +<p class="i6">Cattle and chattels,</p> +<p class="i6">Money and lands,</p> +<p class="i6">Peace and liberty,</p> +<p class="i6">Body and life?</p> +<p class="i6">Point out, ye men of knowledge,</p> +<p class="i6">The law to the Judge."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Two elderly men stepped forward, drew their swords, raised +them toward +heaven, and said with long pauses, the words of one always blending +with those of the other:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"We will point out, as we know it,</p> +<p class="i6">To thee, Judge, the law:</p> +<p class="i6">This is the hour and the place</p> +<p class="i6">For judgment righteous:</p> +<p class="i6">On the conquered and inherited</p> +<p class="i6">Ancient soil of the Alemanni,</p> +<p class="i6">By the all-conquering sun's</p> +<p class="i6">Clear, shining, ascending,</p> +<p class="i6">Radiant light,</p> +<p class="i6">Beneath the ancient</p> +<p class="i6">Ash of our fathers,</p> +<p class="i6">In Odin's temple,</p> +<p class="i6">On cattle and chattels,</p> +<p class="i6">Money and lands,</p> +<p class="i6">Peace and liberty,</p> +<p class="i6">Body and life,</p> +<p class="i6">Justly we judge</p> +<p class="i6">And find, we free men,</p> +<p class="i6">Sentence righteous."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Both withdrew into the circle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before we march forth to the battle against the foe," the +Duke now +broke the silence, "and we shall set out soon, very soon--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Loud shouts of joy and rattling of weapons burst forth, which +the old +noble allowed to die away; then he continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The popular assembly must first pronounce judgment and decide +questions of justice and law. First on Fiskulf, the fisherman, from +Rohr-Mos, the rush marshes. Where is the accuser?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo stepped forward hesitatingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here: I, Adalo, son of Adalger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Step to the right. Where is the defendant?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here!" said a man in plain garments; he wore an old fishing +net for a +girdle. With head bent sorrowfully he came forward, lowering his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is your complaint?" asked the judge.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Breaking the oath of military duty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a matter of life and death. Tell me the law: may +Adalo, son of +Adalger, make such a charge here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the two old men stepped forward again, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The assembly knows Adalo, the Adeling, as a free man of +unblemished +reputation: his estate is in the Linzgau: it would cover any charge of +false accusation: he may make complaint in a matter of life and death."</p> + +<p class="normal">At a sign from the judge the young noble began:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I make the complaint reluctantly,--against my wish and +will,--but my +oath requires it. For when I took command of the men of the western +shore of the lake, I was obliged to swear on the Duke's hand to +denounce before the assembly any breach of his orders that might occur +in my troop. So speak I must, for I fear to break the oath. You all +know that the Duke forbade, on pain of death, the lighting of a fire by +day or night in any of the boats where the fugitives from the country +at first lay concealed among the rushes on the western shore: if the +Romans, while passing, discovered by smoke or flame that there were +people living in the wide marshy forests, all who were hidden there +might be lost. When I set out, I repeated the Duke's command to all my +men; Fiskulf was standing on my shield side. And yet, while the foe was +passing along the shore he lighted a fire on the Pike Stone which rises +above the reeds. True, it was daylight, but the smoke was visible. The +nearest cohort had halted and was preparing to look for the fire, which +I with difficulty put out in time to lull their suspicions. I must now +accuse Fiskulf of this breach of orders."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused and drew back a step. A murmur of indignation ran +through the +ranks, blended with many a loud cry of anger and reproach.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence, all! Silence in the circle, until I ask your +judgment," +shouted the Duke from his lofty stone seat, raising his spear aloft. "I +forbid reproaches; I command peace. You, Fiskulf, what say you to the +charge? Denial, or confession?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Confession," replied the fisherman sorrowfully. "It is as the +Adeling +said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You knew the command?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You broke the command?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I broke it. Alas, I am so deeply ashamed. It was from +hunger--but not +to satisfy my own. We had lain hidden in the marshland forest for many +nights; the stock of dried fish I had brought in the boat was +exhausted. I repressed my hunger and chewed the tops of the young +reeds. I would not have done it for myself; but my boy, who was with me +(he had just recovered from the fever that lurks in the swamps, and he +is only seven years old), cried so bitterly with hunger, begging and +pleading: 'Father, father, give me something to eat!' It cut me to the +heart! I speared a large pike that was sunning itself near the stone, +cut it in pieces, and meant to give it to the child to eat. But +loathing choked him: he only cried quietly and no longer entreated me. +Then I rubbed two dry sticks together till I kindled a fire, broiled +the fish on the top of the stone, and gave it to the boy to eat. I ate +some myself, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was forced to accuse him," said Adalo. "But I entreat the +assembly +not to punish the man. No harm came from his act. A father--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence, Accuser," the judge interrupted. "You have made the +complaint; he has confessed: you have nothing more to do here except to +listen to the sentence. I ask: what may follow breaking an order given +to the troops when the enemy is in the country? What? You are silent? +The disobedience might destroy the whole nation. What? You refuse to +point out the law," the old man went on indignantly. "Or do you +gray-beards no longer know what the boys learn? Answer! Point out the +law,--" he rose threateningly,--"or I will tear the shield of the +assembly from the ash and complain to the gods: The Alemanni have +forgotten the laws of their people! What is the punishment of treason +and breaking the oath of service?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Death!" now rang forth in many voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it," said the fisherman quietly. "Farewell, +countrymen. I wish +you victory and prosperity."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Duke continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What death must he die? By the willow-withe? By water? By the +red +stroke of the knife? Or by the red flame of burning branches?"</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the two old men stepped forward again, saying: "By his +deed he +has offended Zio the war-god and Odin the giver of victory. Zio demands +blood upon the stone of sacrifice; Odin's will is that he shall blow in +the wind. Odin is the greater god and the father of Zio: the lesser +yields to the greater; the son to the father. Odin's right is first: +the oath-breaker is consecrated to Odin, He shall be hung by willow +ropes under the chin, with his face toward the north, from the withered +yew, a wolf at his right hand and a wolf at his left--the oldest +symbols of quarrelsome, reckless lawbreakers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is consecrated to Odin," the judge repeated solemnly--"if +Odin +desires him. We will ask the god."</p> + +<p class="normal">All gazed in astonishment, the fisherman with a faint thrill +of hope, +at the old man, who now continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is dishonorable and shameful for the man to swing among +the +branches, between the sky and the mountain top. And hitherto he has +been brave--only he could not be strong enough to bear the weeping of +his child. He will die useless to his people, if he hang high aloft on +the tree. Well then, we will ask Odin if, perchance, he will forgive +him. You all, like the accuser himself, at first wished to let the act +pass unpunished. That will not do. To the Lofty One we must offer his +right; but--perhaps--he will not take it. I advise that Fiskulf shall +venture upon a deed in which, for his people's welfare, he will fall, +inevitably fall, unless Odin himself take pity on him and bear him away +in his floating mantle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak, speak! What may I do?" cried the fisherman, with +sparkling +eyes. "All! All! Gladly will I die by the spear. Only not the rope of +shame!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall be the first, in advance of all the others, to leap +on the +proudest Roman galley and--you understand how to kindle flames so +well--set fire to its sails."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes! That he shall! Hail to the Duke!" shouted thousands +of +voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fiskulf sprang forward to the judge's chair, lifted both hands +to him, +and cried: "I thank thee, Duke! Ay, thou knowest the will of Odin! The +proudest Roman galley--the General's vessel in Arbor, is it not? Well: +I do not yet know how I am to reach the ship on the other side of the +lake; but I will die, or accomplish it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will provide for that," said the Duke. "You need not go to +the ship: +Odin will bring the galley to you! Then do as I have told you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gladly! Gladly! Oh, give me back my weapons!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At a sign from the judge the heralds restored to him the spear +and +shield marked <i>F</i>, which lay on the stone steps, and he returned to the +circle of his comrades, many of whom clasped his hand.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"A joyful duty now awaits you," the Duke began again: "a boy +of noble +family asks the bestowal of the sword, the first weapon granted. Many +of us know him, and all who do, wish him well. True, the young hero is +not very large; but I take my oath that I saw him yesterday pierce with +his spear, at fifteen paces, a moderately thick linden-wood shield. And +great was his courage, bold his daring when, dauntlessly risking his +life and liberty, he scaled the wall of the Roman camp, brought back +most important information and placed it in the Duke's hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is it? Who is it?" asked many voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo stepped forward, leading his brother by the hand: +"Sippilo, my +brave little brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the Duke spoke:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ask the assembly: Shall he receive the weapons? Is the +young falcon +fledged?" A pleasant smile illumined the face which could look so +wrathful and threatening.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to him! Hail to the Adeling! Hail to the boy! Give him +the +weapons."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sippilo flushed like a young girl, but the blush was very +becoming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you grant him the favor of bestowing the weapons +yourself, O +Duke?" pleaded Adalo. "Then, when he grasps sword or spear, he must +always remember the hero to whom he first owed them, and prove himself +worthy of the giver."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will," said the judge, rising and beckoning to the boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sippilo ascended the first of the steps leading to the Duke's +chair. +Hariowald took the little round shield lying before him and gave it to +the lad, who seized it eagerly, passing his left arm under the upper +bar of the shield and clasping the lower one with his hand. "I, +Hariowald, son of Hariomar, Count of Linzgau, chosen by all the +Alemanni Duke for this summer's Roman war, say to you, Sippilo, son of +Adalger, of age to use weapons and worthy to receive them:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"With the shield I give, protect,</p> +<p class="i6">Better than thine own breast,</p> +<p class="i6">Dearer than thine own body and life,</p> +<p class="i6">The noble Alemanni</p> +<p class="i6">Land and nation.</p> +<p class="i6">Shield runes, and runes of defence,</p> +<p class="i6">Deep burned thy brother</p> +<p class="i6">Its solid framework within;</p> +<p class="i6">They will hold and keep</p> +<p class="i6">The shield's shelter for thee</p> +<p class="i6">So long as thou thyself</p> +<p class="i6">Dost hold and stand</p> +<p class="i6">Fast by thy people."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Then he handed him the spear, saying:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"Runes of victory I, sure of triumph,</p> +<p class="i6">Carved for thee myself</p> +<p class="i6">On the sharp spear's handle.</p> +<p class="i6">To mortal man never</p> +<p class="i6">Lower it vanquished,</p> +<p class="i6">Nor let its shaft be shattered.</p> +<p class="i6">Some day, full lightly,</p> +<p class="i6">From thy faithful hand</p> +<p class="i6">When, white-bearded, thou dost win</p> +<p class="i6">On thy shield the battle death</p> +<p class="i6">'Mid blissful victory--</p> +<p class="i6">Then, from thy faithful hand,</p> +<p class="i6">Lightly will take it</p> +<p class="i6">On swan-wings downward to thee floating,</p> +<p class="i6">Shining in beauty,</p> +<p class="i6">Valhalla's fairest Valkyria,</p> +<p class="i6">And bear thee, loyal one,</p> +<p class="i6">Upward to Odin."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Lastly, he put on the belt from which the sword hung in its +sheath, +saying:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"As the belt now girdles thee,</p> +<p class="i6">So, as its own doth hold thee</p> +<p class="i6">The Alemanni army.</p> +<p class="i6">As the belt is for thee</p> +<p class="i6">Ornament and defence,</p> +<p class="i6">So art thou, as one link,</p> +<p class="i6">Ornament and defence</p> +<p class="i6">To us, the Alemanni."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Then Sippilo drew the short sword from its sheath, held the +hilt toward +the shining sun, and said:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"This bright sword will I wield</p> +<p class="i6">For my free nation,</p> +<p class="i6">For its rights, its renown,</p> +<p class="i6">And for Sippilo's kinsmen!</p> +<p class="i6">Should I e'er do aught else,</p> +<p class="i6">May the keen, shining edge,</p> +<p class="i6">The sharp blade, the wise blade--</p> +<p class="i6">For this oath it knoweth--</p> +<p class="i6">Deal my faithless heart a death-blow!</p> +<p class="i6">Sun, thou dost see it;</p> +<p class="i6">The Lofty One heard it,</p> +<p class="i6">And Zio is witness,</p> +<p class="i6">With the Alemanni's</p> +<p class="i6">High-crested army."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">The boy now leaped joyously down the steps and, proud of his +new +weapons, took his place beside his brother amid loud shouts of applause +from the multitude, especially his kinsmen and those who had the stag's +antlers inscribed on their shields.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now the next act of justice. One who is absent wishes to free +his +bondman in the assembly. Suomar, son of Suobert, who is on guard in the +eastern marshes, liberates his slave Zercho. I have bought his freedom +for the sake of good service rendered to the army; his master, to whom +a messenger was sent, is willing to set him free; and Adalo, the +Adeling, by his wish, will speak and act for him. Bring the bondman."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Zercho, who had been waiting outside the body of freemen, +was led +before the stone seat by two heralds. His eyes were sparkling with joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo, holding in his hand a bow and arrow, stepped forward, +saying: +"As the representative of Suomar, your master, I announce in the open +assembly that he has received from Hariowald, Count of the Linzgau, a +faultless stallion four years old, two cows of Roman breed, twenty +sheep, a bronze armlet seven times twisted, and a silver solidus; in +exchange for which he frees you, Zercho, the Jazyge whom he bought as a +prisoner of war from a dealer in Vindonissa. By my hand and word he +liberates you: take the last blow which you have to bear as a slave." +He gave him a light stroke on the cheek. "And see, look, all ye +freemen: as I shoot this arrow, so free and far, unrestrained and +unfettered, Suomar, who hitherto has been your master, leaves you. You +may go forth as free as this arrow flies--free and restrained by no +one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke he sent the arrow, winged with heron feathers, +high into +the air. The missile whirred from the long bow, whose string struck +echoing against the beautifully polished wood. Zercho watched the +arrow. High, high up it flew, till it vanished in the blue sky. But he +did not see clearly; his eyes were swimming in tears; it was hard to +force back a loud sob. From long years of custom, he was about to throw +himself prostrate on the ground and, clasping the Adeling's feet, kiss +his hands in token of gratitude. But the latter quickly stopped him, +and the Duke said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are free now, Zercho! Rejoice, freeman! For, though your +master's +hand was gentle, bondage is pitiable and withers strength and courage. +Only the life of the free is life: the slave breathes, but he does not +live."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo handed him the bow, saying: "Here is this weapon, which +proves +your freedom before the whole people. Let it be the first one you carry +in the army and for the people of the Alemanni, which has now become +your nation too."</p> + +<p class="normal">With radiant eyes and head erect the freedman now entered the +ranks of +the free.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">A frown darkened the Duke's brow. "Now for the last judgment +of the +assembly! Other gods are drawing near, unlike those which have just +viewlessly hovered above the boy's fair locks--terrible gods! Complaint +is made against one of the district kings of the Alemanni."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ebarbold! Traitor! Rebel! Destroyer of the army! +Oath-breaker!" So +threatening voices rose from the throng.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Peace! Silence in the assembly!" the judge commanded. "Where +is the +accuser?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The King's weapon-bearer stepped forward, drew his sword, and +said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, Ebarvin, son of Erlafrid. For, like all the men of our +league of +peoples, I have sworn a terrible oath by all the gods and by the +terrors of Hel to resist, denounce, and avenge rebellion and treachery +against the league and the Duke of the Alemanni, wherever, however, and +whenever I can. Well! For twenty winters I bore the shield of King +Ebarbold's father, and for as many more the shield of this Ebarbold +himself. Every word I utter against him falls heavily upon my heart; +but still more heavily weighs the oath I swore to the Duke for +the league of the Alemanni. Well then, I accuse King Ebarbold of +oath-breaking, rebellion, and treason. Thrice have I warned him, thrice +have I openly threatened to reveal his conduct to the Duke and to the +whole people. He laughed at the threat; he would not believe it. He +said: 'The skin lies nearer to your heart than the cloak; the Ebergau +is dearer to you than the nation; your own lord is more to you than the +Duke.' He was mistaken. So it was in former days, so it was for a long, +long time; but this wrought woe to us all.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have learned the lesson at last: the Romans taught us with +iron +rods. We have learned it in bloody straits: the people, the league of +the people, is the highest thing, for it alone protects all: the hand +is more precious than the finger. But he wanted to persuade me and all +his followers, nay, all the fighting men in our district; and when we +refused, he tried to command us by virtue of his authority as King. He +said that, if the popular assembly decided to wage war and the Duke set +out on the march, we must not obey, but withdraw from the Holy +Mountain, force our way if necessary, and induce the Romans to spare +our district by giving hostages and submission."</p> + +<p class="normal">A terrible roar rose from the ranks; weapons clashed; the +wrath of the +people burst forth furiously; several young men, brandishing their +swords threateningly, sprang toward the accused, who stood, silent but +defiant, directly before the judge's seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold," cried the Duke, "down with your arms! Whoever wields +them again +in the place of the assembly, the place of the army, shall be punished +at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had started up, and now, from the upper step, he held his +long dark +mantle protectingly over the head of the threatened man. The tumult +instantly subsided: the most hot-headed retreated into the circle in +confusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ask you," the judge now began, "King Ebarbold, son--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare your words. Count of the Linzgau," interrupted the +other, with a +gloomy, but fearless glance. "It is all true. Kill me: you have the +power to do so, therefore you have the right. I do not wish to live! +Had that been my desire, believe me, I might have fled into my own +district or to the Roman camp long before you deprived me, by your men, +of the royal insignia of my race or watched my every step, while you +merely disarmed the insignificant fisherman. True, according to the new +law of the league, you might have had me bound--me, the son of many +kings, the descendant of a god! Since I have learned the disloyalty of +my most faithful follower, my own old shield-bearer, I feel a loathing +for the times. I no longer wish to live among a people, according to a +law, which permits the horrible thing to happen that the native of a +district values its King, the follower his lord, less than the empty +sound of the word 'league,' the brief authority of a Duke from another +district. I am too old and too proud to learn this new law. You, old +man, with your greed for power, long ago, in your bloody thoughts, +dedicated me to your savage Odin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not I, you yourself, son of Ebor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then--slay me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not I. You yourself have separated yourself from your people +by such +doctrines. Yes, it is better for such men as you to die than to live: +the district kings, if they offer defiance, must be sacrificed to Odin, +who, as King of the people, is above all our gods and all our peoples."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My family," said the King proudly, "runs back through a +hundred +ancestors to the gods: not to that crafty one, whose secret wiles you +are imitating, who scatters runes of discord among peoples and princes. +We descend from the god of peace. Fro, who bestows fertility. He has +set his golden-bristled boar for a sign upon the shields and helmets of +us, his sons. I have ever honored him and peace above all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha, the god Fro," replied the old Duke, now incensed, for he +could +ill brook hearing his Odin upbraided, "the god Fro will have little +cause to rejoice, when he looks down on his descendant dangling from +the withered yew, like the long-billed snipe that is caught in a snare. +For I ask the assembly,--his own words are the most open expression of +guilt,--with what does the law threaten him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The rope--the willow rope!" rang from a thousand voices. "The +tree of +shame! Hang him! Hang him up at once!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But between two dogs: wolves are too good for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">A look of keen anguish flitted over the King's proud, bold +face. He did +not fear death, but disgrace. He shuddered slightly. The Duke had +watched him intently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, the judge," he now began slowly, "ought not to oppose this +sentence, and the guilty man cannot. But consider, spearmen! It will +bring little renown to our name among the other peoples, when the rumor +spreads among them: a King of the Alemanni is swinging between the +clouds and water for treason to the army. You have offered the humble +fisherman the straw of hope that the Lofty One might save him from the +death of shame, bear him to himself in Valhalla, or even--almost +against possibility--after the fulfillment of the deed which you have +assigned to him, spare his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, this King's guilt, it is true, is far greater than +that +caused by the father's love for his child; but honor in him the +descendant of the god of harvests! Do not rouse Fro to vengeance, lest +for many years he should blast our crops. The god of the boar with +golden bristles is easily angered! And remember, too, with gratitude +this man's father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A brave hero!" ran from lip to lip.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He fell in the bloody battle of Strataburg, at the head of +the wedge +of his district. Fighting gallantly in the van of his people, he at +last sank--fell backward on his shield, with many wounds in his breast; +for he, the man who had the wild-boar's courage, would not turn his +back to the foe. This hero is now looking down from Valhalla upon us; +his heart is throbbing anxiously at this impending sentence of +disgrace. Alemanni, do not let him behold his son hanging between dogs. +Grant the King, as well as the fisherman, a deed of ransom!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ebarbold looked up with a grateful glance to the man whom he +had so +bitterly hated. The people were still silent: their wrath was fierce.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then: "Suppose he should run away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suppose he should desert to the Romans in the midst of the +battle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Two men uttered the questions at the same moment. A deep groan +escaped +the lips of the defiant King: "No one feared that from the fisherman! +They ought not to deem me so base." He struck his brow with his +clenched hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Ebarvin, his accuser, stepped forward, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"These questions were hard and undeserved. Few among our +people will +suspect that from the King of the Ebergau. He spoke truly: he might +have fled long ago, but he would not escape. I believe him. I have +known him ever since he learned to speak: he has never lied. He wants +to die, from resentment against the people's league, and perhaps also +from remorse and shame."</p> + +<p class="normal">The King, deeply moved, hastily turned away from the speaker +and closed +his eyes, but instantly opened them again with a defiant look.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, I, a free man of unblemished reputation, with +broad lands +in the Ebergau--I answer for him with life and limb, property and +honor. I will swear for him that any deed of arms imposed by the people +to ransom him from the rope King Ebarbold will perform, or he will fall +upon his shield in doing it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Ebarvin," said the tortured man, drawing himself +up to +his full height: this confidence was balm to his inmost soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So be it! So be it!" shouted the multitude before the judge +could put +the question. "The Duke shall choose the deed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then," said the latter without hesitation, "it <i>is</i> +chosen! In +the Roman camp is a hero who is its head and its whole strength; if he +fall, all their military power will be broken. Name the man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Saturninus!" echoed from many voices. For the Tribune had +repeatedly +commanded the Roman troops in Germany, and many of the men now +assembled on the Holy Mountain had formerly served beneath the Roman +eagles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ebarbold, bring us from the battle the head of +Saturninus--and your +guilt is pardoned. Will you do this, hero of the boar?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will," replied the latter, with a deep sigh of relief. +"Give me my +sword; give me my weapons again." The shield-bearer handed him the +sheathed sword. Tearing the blade from the scabbard, he held its point +toward the sun, saying: "I swear by this blade, the sacred symbol of +the one-armed god of war, that, in the next battle, I will slay the +Tribune, or fall by his sword."</p> + +<p class="normal">Loud shouts of applause now burst forth. All, even those whose +resentment at first had been most bitter, were heartily glad that, +instead of a disgraceful punishment, an honorable deed of ransom had +been found for the proud King.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke gazed down at the surging throng with satisfaction.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">After allowing the excitement of the multitude time to find +vent, the +old Duke gave the twelve heralds a sign, and they hurried into the +thick grove of oaks rustling behind the ash-tree. Then he struck the +shield, saying: "Justice has now been done according to righteous law +and the noble will of the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The judge has done his work: now listen to your Duke, army of +the +Alemanni!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Deep silence instantly followed: all eyes rested intently upon +Hariowald, who sprang up, took the shield from the tree, slipped it on +his left arm, and grasping the spear with his right hand, said from the +high stone step, his voice, now in a totally different tone, ringing +out with mighty resonance over the people:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Many of you, I know,--and not the worst spearmen,--have +silently +dissented or openly grumbled because I have so long delayed leading you +to battle. The foe was in the land, and we shrank into the forests; he +was burning halls and huts, and we were watching the smoke and flames +rise at a distance and remaining inactive. Gradually, even from the +farthest districts, the men faithful to the league and obedient to the +oath joined us: still the Duke delayed. And meanwhile the enemy was +fortifying his camp. Yes, we knew it--any morning from the fortress on +the opposite side of the lake the proud galleys might bring almost as +many warriors as the camp already contained. Why did the old man still +delay? When would he fight?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, why delay? When shall we go to battle?" Many voices +impatiently repeated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He delayed," the Duke went on, his voice rising in tones of +thunder, +"because he did not wish to strike part, not even half, but all, all, +as many as could be reached,--all the murderers, the burners of homes, +whom the boy in the imperial purple has again sent from across the lake +to attack our free people!</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow (faithful men reported it to me before the news +reached the +Roman General), early to-morrow morning the proud galleys will sail +across the lake and anchor off the shore close to the camp; and +to-morrow, after midnight, old Hariowald will lead you to storm the +camp and the ships at the same time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the long-repressed battle fury broke out in a terrible +tumult; +frantic shouts and wild clanking of weapons echoed through the air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look," Hariowald continued, "the heralds are already bearing +from the +sacred grove of the gods of our country, from the mysterious gloom of +the forest darkness, never illumined by a sunbeam, the victorious +badges of our tribes and districts which they have taken from the +ancient oaks."</p> + +<p class="normal">A shout of joy, somewhat subdued by reverence, greeted the +procession +of twelve heralds, who now, in pairs, with measured tread, came from +beyond the ash-tree and gave the badges to the representatives of the +various districts and clans, who stepped forward from the circle to +receive them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ebarvin seized the symbol of the Ebergau: the boar's head with +threatening tusks fastened to a cross-pole on a lofty spear. Adalo +grasped a similar shaft, which supported a pair of huge stag's antlers. +Almost all the monsters of the primeval forest and the animals sacred +to the gods were used in a similar way. Beside the huge horns of the +aurochs and the bison rose the broad antlers of the elk. Odin's wolf, +Donar's bear, and Löki's fox opened their jaws threateningly. Zio's +sword, pointing straight upward, surmounted a shaft painted blood-red; +another had Donar's hammer between two zigzag red lightnings forged +from iron; three lances bore each a horse's head and neck, and from the +necks the manes--respectively black, red, and brown--still fluttered. +On other poles the bald eagle, the golden eagle, and the Alpine vulture +spread their wings and extended their talons in attitudes of menace. A +winged dragon carved from wood had been covered with the skins of the +ring adder and the copper adder, which rustled in the wind. And as, +like the manes of the horses, the hair of the wild beasts had been left +hanging in a strip from the head to the tail, and long red, yellow, and +blue streamers fluttered from the cross-poles, there was no lack of the +rustling, waving motion, to which we moderns are accustomed in banners.</p> + +<p class="normal">Under these streamers was also many a trophy,--a fragment cut +from a +captured dragon standard, or a scrap of a purple pennon which the Roman +squadrons and cohorts had long carried under the <i>labarum</i> or standard +of the cross, for they had abjured the pagan eagles.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the representatives of the districts and families had +received +their beloved and honored emblems and returned to the ranks, the Duke +went on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hail to you, ancient symbols of conflict and witnesses of +victory! +Hail and greeting, ye emblems consecrated to the gods! In your +presence, looking into the future, seized by the power of the gods +invisibly hovering around you, I will venture to utter a prophecy:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Comrades in arms, Alemanni! do not doubt this time that +victory will +be ours. You know that it is not the custom of old Hariowald to boast +before acting: but this time I predict to you certain, complete, +glorious, joyous victory.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All our gods will unite to aid us to-morrow. Not least of +them Löki, +the flame-creator. Tents and ships will vanish in fire. The lake nymph +will drag many hundreds down in her net. The terrible earth-goddess +will open her mysterious bosom, on which the insolent aliens have +trodden with iron feet: she will pour forth the avengers, the sons of +her country, into the midst of the enemy's strongest fortress! For the +Lofty One blinded the hated foe, so that they chose in our whole +district the spot for their camp most fatal to them. And when they fly +from the tents to the galleys, amid the terrors of the night, by the +flickering glare of their burning fortifications--they will find on the +lake the same destruction in fire and blood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the last of the flying ships, with masts and prows half +burned, +pursued and harried by our swift boats, should really succeed in +reaching the southern shore and the harbor fortress from which they +sailed forth so victoriously, who knows--I will not say more--who knows +whether they may not find there an unexpected doom?</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! Silence still! Hear me to the end.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before I dissolve the assembly and send you all to prepare +your +weapons in the best way, to polish the points and blades, and to eat +and drink enough,--not over much, then afterwards--do you hear--to +seek sleep soon, very soon, for you will have no slumber to-morrow +night--hear one thing more: you must make one resolve before this +battle!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Remember, men, how from generation to generation these Romans +have +sinned against our people; how again and again they have broken faith +and treaty; how they will not even grant us the poor land we have +wrested from the marsh and the primeval forest; how, in violation of +treaties, they have pushed their fortresses farther and farther into +our boundaries; how they forced thousands of our ancestors to fight +naked and unarmed with wild beasts on the blood-stained sand of their +arenas in the city by the Tiber, gloating, safe in their high seats, +over the death-agonies of our kinsmen under the paws and rent by the +teeth of roaring monsters; how they forced thousands of our young men +into their cohorts and made them shed their blood, often far beyond the +salt sea!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, Alemanni of the Black Forest, do you still know how they +invited +your King Widigab to a banquet and murdered him over the wine-cup? Have +you forgotten, Alemanni of the Ebergau, who submitted to them on +condition that you should live according to your own laws, how on the +smallest pretext, they had your free men scourged by their lictors? Do +you still recollect, Alemanni from the Breisgau, how they asked a +peaceful passage through your country, and then encamped near the +sacred grove of the goddess Ostara, asked permission to visit the aged +priest of eighty and his great-granddaughter, the girl of sixteen, in +the grove (it was a General and one of their shaven priests, with a +hundred warriors), and inquired what was your most sacred thing? And +when the maiden unsuspiciously showed the sacred bronze vessels which +the gracious goddess had once sent down to you on the rainbow, how they +suddenly seized both, and the Christian priest, before the eyes of the +unarmed people, shamefully profaned the sacred vessel; how the General +slew the venerable priest and dragged the young priestess away to +captivity and disgrace, and how their warriors set fire to the sacred +grove?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you still remember, men of the Alpgau, how, in the midst +of peace, +a centurion dishonored your Count's young wife by her own hearthstone, +so that she hanged herself by her girdle?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you forgotten how often they have bound our girls +together, yes +and our boys, too, like beasts of burden, by their long locks, and +driven them forth to a life of disgrace from which the pure gods of +Asgard turn their faces, crimson with shame and wrath?</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have <i>not</i> forgotten these things! I hear it! I see it! +Well then, +do as I advise: <i>Take no prisoners!</i> Kill them all! Do not spare one; +disdain all ransom. Let the whole army,--leaders, horse and foot,--be +dedicated to Odin and to Zio. You will: I see it! Then repeat the words +after me and swear:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"To thee, Odin, doomed,</p> +<p class="i6">And to wrathful Zio,</p> +<p class="i6">Be all who live within the camp</p> +<p class="i6">And on the rocking galleys.</p> +<p class="i6">Soon will ye bathe in blood,</p> +<p class="i6">O gods so mighty,</p> +<p class="i6">From ankle to knee!"</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">Swinging their weapons in frantic excitement the gathered +thousands +repeated the terrible oath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will dismiss the army at once; only hear one thing +more--your Duke's +vow. The many thousand mailed men who broke into the peaceful districts +captured one single prisoner, a defenceless woman, a merry little +maiden. Many of you, I think, know her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bissula! The little one! The fair one! The red-elf, Suobert's +child!" +So shouted hundreds of voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bissula, Suobert's daughter. Well then: whoever releases +her, +whoever brings her to me from the Roman camp after the battle, shall +receive the Duke's whole share of the booty."</p> + +<p class="normal">A grateful but sorrowful glance from Adalo rested upon him: +the young +noble no longer dared to hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The circle is dissolved, the assembly is over," the old +commander +continued; he then turned the upright stone resting against the trunk +of the tree and descended the steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">The bands, with loud acclamations for the Duke, instantly +scattered in +all directions down the sides of the mountain, each division following +the symbols borne in front of its own district and tribe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo was going too; but the Duke motioned to him to remain, +took from +his hand the stag standard and gave it to Sippilo, who bore it proudly +down the Holy Mountain.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"Stay," said Hariowald, when the heralds, last of all, had +left the +place of assembly, "you must know how this battle is to be fought, +according to my plan and wish. For, if the Lofty One should call me up +to him before the victory is won, you must complete it. Therefore you +must now learn all (far more than the men in the army) that for weeks I +have been preparing during sleepless nights, and have secretly +accomplished in the past few days.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, sit down by me; we will spread out on this stone the +plan of the +Roman camp, which we owe to your brave little brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has been of the greatest service to me. I told you +yesterday how +the men of the districts were to attack the four sides and gates of the +camp at the same time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes: but you did not say where you would fight with your +bands, and +where I was to go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? I shall take the shortest way--from beneath."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! No! Leave it to me. It is the--most dangerous one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," cried the old man, laughing. "And you have no +suspicion how +dangerous it is. Know then: the ascent cannot be made, as we hoped, +first of all and unexpectedly, taking them by surprise; it cannot be +made until after the foe, alarmed by the assault on the northern wall, +stands ready in full armor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then it will be impossible! But why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because, as I first learned night before last, the Romans, in +digging +out the northern ditch, filled up the extreme northern end of the +subterranean passage; or else the earth has fallen in, from the +jarring. When I entered this passage from the forest outside of the +camp--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? you yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I myself; night before last. I advanced only a few steps +before I +found a heap of earth which had fallen from above, and I was obliged to +return. But I stole, on the surface of the earth, so near the ditch +that I could look into it from a tree. The whole ditch--it is now dry +again--was brightly lighted by their camp fires. Then I saw that the +earth-goddess of our land had blinded the strangers' eyes. They +perceived nothing suspicious in the large boulder that bars the +continuation of the passage from the ditch into their camp, and they +did not roll it away. True, it has not been moved from the spot for +decades; for the secret, bequeathed from generation to generation, is +known to but two men of the race who bear the emblem of the stag's +antlers, and there is rarely an occasion which demands its use. So they +did not perceive that the rock had been rolled there by human hands, +and they planted one of their banners on the turf which covers it. They +have no suspicion of the passage. For look! The plan of the camp shows +it; close beside the Nerthus pine, above the altar stones of the Idise, +they have pitched a tent filled with provisions and weapons. You see, +here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed. The tent is placed exactly over the mouth of the +passage. +But outside there, in the northern ditch, numerous sentinels are +posted--Thracian spearmen alternating with Batavians."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that's just it. They must be driven away before I can +roll the +rock aside and make my way up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will cost blood; it will also require time. The +Thracians, and +especially the Batavians, are their very best troops. Alas, if it +happen to be the turn of the Batavians. They are not inferior to us in +heroic courage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter! They must fall before the badger can enter the old +burrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then--after the battle has summoned all our foes to +arms--then you +will? Let me go in your place!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Obey! You will find work enough at the southern gate, the +lake gate. +When we have stormed the camp, the whole flood of those who still +remain alive will pour to the ships through the southern gate. They +must not be allowed to reach the lake in close order, to turn the tide +of battle against us there at the last. You will meet them as they +burst through the southern gate, and drive them back into the burning +camp, or scatter them. They must not be allowed to reach the lake from +the camp as reinforcements to the defenders of the galleys, but to +increase their alarm. This is your task: Saturninus, if he live, will +make it hard enough for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So my post will be at the southern gate?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; and to it I have sent, if by any means she can reach +it--Bissula!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not thank me! For I forbid you to fight for the girl; you +must +fight solely for victory. Yet have no anxiety. If she is still alive, +she will be rescued. I have relieved Zercho and Sippilo from every +other duty, and given them only one charge--to find and protect the +young girl. But you I need for higher work. I fear one man only in the +whole army," he added in a lower tone--"Saturninus. He is like the old +leaders they had in their better days, the days of which my grandfather +and father told me with horror, when it was almost impossible for the +most heroic courage to defeat a Roman army. Who knows whether Ebarbold +will strike him down? We must let the King have the first chance; he +has the prior claim: but if the Roman should be the one who survives +and I do not reach and kill him after the King's fall, before you (I +shall make every effort to do it), do you, son of Adalger, provide that +Saturninus shall not lead his army in closed ranks down to the lake: +detain him as long as you can stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As long as I can! But I wondered when you set the fisherman +his task. +If the Roman galleys cross the lake here, how can you know whether he +will be able to reach them from the shore? They will anchor, not come +to the land. How is Fiskulf to get from the storming of the Roman camp +here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not share the assault," replied Hariowald, laughing, +as he +stroked his beard complacently. "And he will not go by land to the +galley, but by the lake."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Swimming?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, rowing. Know what no one has yet learned; for crowds are +garrulous. Besides the most distant Alemanni districts, I have secretly +won as allies the Hermunduri, who drink the water of the Main, and +induced them to send us reinforcements for this war. You supposed that +the boats in the two forest-covered swamps on the east and west of the +Idisenhang were filled solely with people unable to bear arms, after I +had brought most of the men here? No, my friend! The boats, almost +three hundred, in the two marshes are not empty of men. The women and +children are to be put ashore to-night; more than two thousand Alemanni +and Hermunduri will leap into the boats. From left and right, from east +and west, they will float in the stillness and darkness of the night +against the high-decked galleys, and as soon as the first torch is +hurled into the Roman camp on the Idisenhang, our boats will attack the +Roman ships from the open lake and from left and right. Aha, do you +think our fishing boats will be like nutshells against those giants? +Probably: but have you never seen a flock of brave little swallows +put a sparrow hawk to flight? Our skiffs are small, it is true; but +more than two hundred against sixty. And the pitch and resin of the +pine-trees in the forests by the lake, blazing in a thousand faggots of +dry twigs, will burn merrily in the linen sails and the rigging of the +triremes."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"You have planned all this alone?" asked the young noble.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, more, far more than this! Like the wolf of hell, this +Rome opens +her jaws to swallow all Mittelgard. What? They are not willing to grant +us land enough on the northern shore of the lake to feed our growing +population? Well, let us see whether, in punishment to the insatiable +robbers for new and old crimes, the gods will not deprive them even of +the districts they have hitherto held by force,--the northern shore!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adalo's astonishment was increasing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Their proud giant ships will float against us from Arbor +to-morrow; +those which escape the midnight conflagration will not, I hope, be +received again, when they fly homeward, in the eyrie whence these birds +of prey went forth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! Arbor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have long tried to persuade our eastern districts also to +make +common cause with us; they did not refuse reinforcements to the league, +as people here suppose because they did not see the men of the eastern +provinces. Besides,"--he smiled craftily,--"most of the eastern +districts have kings. It was not necessary to have all these kings +here, when Ebarbold's fate was to be decided. Meanwhile, they will help +where I sent them: on the southern shore. But not they alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We wished to free the brothers of our race still enslaved by +Rome. For +a long time the Alemanni and the other colonists--more slaves than free +men--have borne, grinding their teeth, the yoke which every year +pressed heavier. But they were held in check by the fortresses on the +other side, from the Linden Island behind Brigantium, beyond Arbor and +Constantia. They had long been ready to fight, but the lake fortresses +seemed to be too strongly garrisoned. They dread these fortifications +from long experience. They required to have aid from us.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well: least of all now, with the Emperor so near and a Roman +army on +the northern shore, least of all now, do the tyrants fear an attack +upon their fortresses in the south. To-morrow nearly all the soldiers +who usually guard Arbor will come across on the ships to share the gay +expedition for booty; only a small guard will be left behind. But as +soon as the camp on the Idisenhang is burning,--a magnificent torch, +kindled by Zio himself,--the infuriated colonists will attack Arbor +from the land side. Thousands of free Alemanni from the eastern +districts will aid; they have stolen in small parties through the +mountain passes from far, far beyond Brigantium, and remained hidden in +the forests and farm-houses of the colonists for the last two days. At +the same time our men from the eastern marshes (Suomar commands them) +in thirty boats, under cover of the darkness (this is why I could not +move while the moon-goddess was in the sky), will go to Arbor, burst +the chains of the harbor, and unless the Christian God should descend +from the clouds to save the fortress, the morning sun will see the free +and the enslaved Alemanni on the walls of Arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Many times already we have won it, plundered it, half burned +it, and +then left it, so that the Romans could establish themselves there +again: we will be so foolish no longer. If we conquer this time, we +will remain there forever! Then one link of the iron chain will be +broken, and we shall find it easier to subdue the other fortresses at +the left and the right, from Brigantium to Constantia.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall not live to see the day, but you will, young warrior, +the day +when the southern shore of the lake and the country far, far into the +lofty mountains whose peaks are crowned with eternal snows, will be the +possession of the free Alemanni: then think of this hour and old +Hariowald."</p> + +<p class="normal">He started up, intensely moved, his white hair and silver +beard waving +proudly in the breeze.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Duke," cried Adalo enthusiastically, "this is magnificent! +Speak, +when to-morrow we have won this great victory according to your plans, +will you not then, instead of Count, bear the name of <i>King</i> of the +Linzgau and the Ebergau, if Ebarbold fall?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied the old man quietly, "that would not be wise. I +have +reflected upon it a long time. Odin's will, I think, is different for +our people. Ebarbold has no descendants: after his death I will propose +that they shall not elect another king.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will be well; for the time is close at hand, though, it +is true, +not yet fully here, when one king, a single one, will gather all the +districts of the Alemanni under his rule. The path will be more open, +easier for this universal king to traverse, the fewer kings and the +more counts rule the districts. We two will smooth, not block, the path +for the future king of the people. No, no! And, besides, the men of the +Ebergau must not say: 'Ebarbold was forced to fall because Hariowald +wished to be called King.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"That king of the people is coming! Then, it is true, the +nation will +scarcely remember me or you. Only perhaps some harper, in the hall of +the One King, will sing how Hariowald, the old chief and Adalo, the +young one, defeated the Romans three times in a single night. But we, +Adalo, shall then look down upon the free land of the Alemanni, +stretching from the Alps to the Vosges. We shall look down from Odin's +table. And I may probably expect that, when I cross the threshold of +Valhalla, the Lofty One will rise from his throne and come to meet me, +with the drinking-horn in his hand. For many men--far more through my +counsel, which always advised war, than by my spear--have I sent up to +him by the red death in the last fifty years, to fill his hall and +increase his army. Yes, my Adalo, we shall then look down upon the +glory of our people and say, laughing joyously: 'We two also helped to +build it that night on the Idisenhang.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, Adalo, so I praise you: your cheek is glowing, your eye +is +flashing! That is the right spirit, Odin's spirit, which is now taking +possession of you. And that alone, that ardor for battle, will also +give you the most ardent desire of your heart; not the dull despair of +the last few days, in which, unhappy youth, you sent that secret +message to the two Roman Generals!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! Of course I knew it. It was not difficult to guess the +contents +of the letter you forwarded after they had disdained everything else +you had to give. But I also knew positively that they would refuse you +too. That is the sole reason I allowed your messenger to pass through +the barricades, as you thought, undetected. I too would gladly see her +at liberty, the wild red rosebud of the hillside by the lake, the red +flower in our people's garland of oak-leaves. But your Bissula is +yonder, with victory, in the Roman camp. If you want her, hew her out +at the same hour with conquest and the salvation of your people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, do not thank me; do not talk! Go now! I must be alone."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, incidents of grave moment had occurred in the Roman +camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">The friendly feeling between the two Roman Generals had become +strained, and Bissula's ingenuousness toward both was transformed into +fear and distrust. The two friends, once so intimately associated, +avoided each other and confined their intercourse and conversation +solely to matters absolutely required by the service. At the same time +the prisoner, now suspiciously watchful, perceived in Ausonius a +resentful bitterness toward the Tribune, very alien to his usual +good-nature. The latter, on the other hand, evidently was not angry; +even in his cool reserve he seemed to spare his older friend, nay, to +treat him with a sort of compassion.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little maid herself was very unhappy. Her careless +unconsciousness +was completely destroyed, and she did not know which of the two men +whose friendship seemed to be broken, if not by her, on her account, +she ought to avoid with the greater fear. This feeling grieved the +kind-hearted girl. She was also burdened by anxiety about the future, +by dread of the unknown, by rebelliousness--when she was powerless and +fully aware of it--against the restraint imposed by the will of +strangers upon her obstinacy, all threatening her immediately. For, +however the two Romans differed in everything else concerning the +prisoner, they seemed to unite in one thing: Bissula should never again +be free, never return to the forest hut by the lake, to the familiar +scenes of the neighborhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">At these thoughts tears filled the eyes once so saucy or so +proud. How +sadly she admitted to herself that her own folly and defiance were the +sole causes which had brought all this misfortune upon her! How kind, +how prudent, how loyal Adalo's advice had been! Yet these tears, +burning, bitter tears of remorse, nay, yearning, were a relief. Even +now, in the trouble for which she alone was to blame, he had not +abandoned her! The first greeting that reached her from her people had +come from him; he had sent the young brother whom he loved so fondly, +and whom therefore she loved for his sake, and Bruna too, her old +playfellow.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had dissembled craftily before the soldiers, and wondered +loudly at +the animal's "friendliness." But, as soon as she was alone in her tent +with the faithful beast, she clasped the huge head tenderly with both +white arms, kissed the broad forehead and lovingly patted the neck of +the bear, who growled affectionately in reply. Then she slipped her +hand through the collar, felt a depression in it, drew it up from the +shaggy skin to the light of the Roman lamp, perceived characters +scrawled on it, and read: "Through the gate to the lake."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her heart throbbed warmly. So her friends had already +consulted about +her escape! They were giving her the safest direction, the part of the +camp where her companions would wait for her. But they could not +possibly mean that she should try to make her way now, without further +delay, through the lake gate, that is, through the "Porta Decumana," so +closely guarded day and night. Not now! But when?</p> + +<p class="normal">Evidently as soon as something happened which would render +escape +possible; then she was to choose that direction. But what was to +happen? An attack of the Alemanni? Ausonius laughed at it. Even +cautious Saturninus had said: "Unless they fly over it like the +swallows that are now preparing for departure, they will not come into +this solid camp."</p> + +<p class="normal">So she racked her little brains, pondering over all sorts of +possibilities which might bring her liberty against or with the will of +the Romans. Should she appeal to Ausonius again? No!</p> + +<p class="normal">A strange timidity had taken possession of her ever since her +last +interview with him. She had never cherished any affection for the +clever, eloquent man except the feeling a daughter has for a father; +but recently, in making the proposal to take her with him, his eyes had +rested on her so strangely. Never had he looked at her so before. It +was like the gaze Saturninus fixed upon her when he seized her outside +of the forest hut--but never again, not even when he told her that she +belonged to him and he would not release her.</p> + +<p class="normal">So it happened that the sensitive girl, alarmed by the +suddenly +discovered ardor of the older man, felt safer and more at ease with the +younger but undemonstrative one. She avoided Ausonius; she almost +sought Saturninus, to whom, at the beginning and during the whole +course of her captivity, she had learned to be grateful as to a +watchful guardian.</p> + +<p class="normal">Often and often, since reading Bruna's message, she walked +toward +the lake gate, without hoping to find it unwatched or carelessly +guarded,--the Tribune kept too strict a rule, too sharp an oversight +for that,--but to impress upon her mind the exact locality of the +streets and tents which might afford a hiding-place near the gate where +she might await, close at hand, the most favorable moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had soon chosen for this purpose a towering heap of beams, +gabions, +and boards piled one above another, which had not been used in building +the camp and had been left here: it rose high above her head, and when +behind it, she was concealed from the view of those at the gate or in +the street between the tents. But she never lingered long at the spot, +lest she might arouse suspicion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula sought from preference the opposite side of the camp, +facing +the north, where the lofty pine-tree of the earth-goddess rose beside +the broad sacrificial stones of the altar, spreading out its mighty +branches, and from above the wall the eye could rove freely over the +forests to the distant peaks where, veiled by mists, the Holy Mountain +towered. Her thoughts always flew thither, not to the eastern marshes, +not to Suomar. She was often anxious about her grandmother, but Zercho +had certainly concealed her; and now that "the obstinate redhead" could +no longer say no, probably on the Holy Mountain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Therefore"--this was the excuse she willingly made to +herself--"<i>therefore</i> I cannot help thinking constantly of the Holy +Mountain, Oh no! That isn't true. It is not for my grandmother's sake. +Adalo, Adalo, help!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So she had called aloud the evening after the refusal to set +her at +liberty, perched high among the branches of the pine-tree into which +she liked to climb to dream alone, and at the same moment stretched her +beautiful arms, with a gesture of longing entreaty, toward the +northwest, where lightning was flashing over the mountain peaks.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the evening after the inspection (it was the day of the +assembly on +the Holy Mountain) she walked through the streets of the camp, thinking +and dreaming of her liberation, also of her liberator. She had tied +faithful Bruna firmly to the poles of her tent; for there had +repeatedly been serious trouble when she took the animal with her: boys +belonging to the camp followers pelted her with stones, from safe +hiding-places, till she was greatly infuriated.</p> + +<p class="normal">To Ausonius's nephew, especially, the bear showed intense +antipathy, +rising on her hind legs and growling furiously whenever she saw him, +though he anxiously kept out of her way and never teased her. Only with +the utmost difficulty, by clasping her arms around the animal, had she +prevented Bruna from attacking him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your she-bear understands Latin," said Saturninus, who had +sprung to +help her, smiling. "She knew what Herculanus said when he swore that +some day she should pay in the amphitheatre at Rome, under the teeth of +his Thessalian dogs, for the mischief she meant to do him here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bruna in Rome?" the girl cried defiantly. "No more--than +Bissula in +Burdigala!" But as she spoke she almost wept from rage, hate, and fear.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Oppressed by sad yearning and anxiety, the usually +light-hearted child +had again walked this evening from her tent to the lake gate, and +thence, driven back by the shouts of the Thracian sentries, wandered +through the whole camp to her beloved pine-tree, which had begun to +supply the place of the oak beside her forest home: for the tree of the +earth-goddess also afforded a convenient ascent like a stairway on its +broad branches drooping to the sacrificial stones, while on the central +trunk was a hiding-place invisible from below, with a comfortable back, +and the beloved view over the Roman fortifications to the mountain +peaks rising in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun had set long before, and darkness gathered quickly in +that +region as soon as the glowing ball had vanished behind the wooded +western shores of the lake. There was no moon; only a few stars were in +the sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wind bore to her ears from the distance scattered sounds: +the +neighing of a horse, the rattle of a weapon, the shout of a sentinel at +the gate. Oh, those guards, who also watched her here in her spacious +prison, prevented her escape, her return to her people--for how much +longer? Sorrow overpowered her, and she felt that tears were about to +flow. But her tyrants should not see them; she would weep her fill, up +above there!</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula glided lightly up and sat so still in her hiding-place +among +the boughs that a belated bird--a blackbird--perched for the night, +without seeing her, a few branches above her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the girl saw two men step cautiously from behind corner +tents, +each at the end of a street running in opposite directions across the +camp; they made signs to each other, gazed carefully behind and +sideways, then hurried forward and met directly under the pine-tree on +its northern side, so that the huge trunk completely concealed them +from the camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula bent softly, softly downward: it was a man with a +helmet and +one unarmed; she could not distinguish their features. They began to +talk, in whispers, it is true, but the listener understood many words, +and she now recognized the speakers by their voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I tell you, it must be this very day! He has ordered the +scribe to +come early tomorrow morning, with the seal. He means to change his +will--to add a codicil. What good will his death do me, if he first +throws the best part of his riches into that wench's lap?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The other made some reply which the girl did not hear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!--she--she can't be reached!" answered the first speaker. +"That +red-haired witch is under the protection of the fiends of hell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, one night lately--a deadly terror has seized me ever +since when I +see the brown beast--the monster's hot, loathsome breath was steaming +from her open jaws into my face! She was within a hair's breadth of +clutching and squeezing me to death! This very evening--just now--at +supper--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark, what was that," asked the other startled, "up above in +the +pine-tree? Didn't you hear anything?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw! The night-breeze in the branches!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! It was--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it was that bird! There it flies!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The startled blackbird, loudly uttering its cry of fear and +warning, +flew upward; the listener, in her horror, had pressed her hand upon her +throbbing heart and, by the slight movement, frightened the bird +perched so near her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, by Tartarus, I will risk it! He complained again +to-day, +before many witnesses, of fever and all sorts of pains. Have you +hemlock enough? Shall I give you my vial? I brought it with me. Here, I +always carry it in my breast."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Enough for six uncles!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the stuff must have a suspicious taste: sharp, bitter. +Suppose he +should notice it too soon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's why I mixed the other half with honey. But take good +care of +your store. Perhaps Prosper, in case he has any suspicion, must also--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or the Barbarian girl, if the will has already--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us go," the other interrupted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put it in the Emperor's goblet! He drinks from no +other.--Quick: I go +to the left."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I go to the right."</p> + +<p class="normal">The voices died away, and the footsteps echoed from two +directions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Horrified, almost paralyzed with terror, Bissula slipped down +from the +tree. On reaching the ground she staggered, clinging to the trunk for +support, and for a moment wondered whether she had not fallen asleep +and dreamed. She could not realize, could not believe that such a deed +was possible. His own nephew--that kind-hearted man!</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet it was true. Haste was necessary. The hour for the +meal had +already come, and Ausonius always began by drinking from the Emperor's +goblet, with the three beautiful female figures, to the health of the +Emperor Gratianus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Those two men had the start, too, and it was a considerable +distance +from this extreme northwestern corner of the camp to the Prætorium in +the south. Turning, she ran as swiftly as she could, but had only +reached the corner of the nearest street of tents when she shrieked +aloud in terror. An iron hand grasped her arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help!" she screamed despairingly. "Help! Help for Ausonius!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why are you shrieking like a dying leveret, little one?" +replied a +deep voice. "Where are you going so fast?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go, whoever you may be! The Prefect's life is in +danger! Who +are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am Rignomer. I followed you unnoticed till you climbed the +tree. You +wouldn't have seen me now, if you hadn't dashed away as though you were +driven by the elves. Where are you going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the Prefect! They want to murder him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nonsense, what are you talking about? Who?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't ask! Come with me! Hurry! Alas, perhaps even now it is +too +late."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Batavian yielded to this unmistakable despair. Without +removing his +hand from her arm, he ran beside her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is the Tribune?" asked Bissula.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With the Prefect: some news has come from Arbor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The gods be thanked. He is the only one who can help!"</p> + +<p class="normal">On they ran through the streets of the camp, now perfectly +dark except +where fires were glimmering at the corners. Suddenly Bissula fell. The +German dragged her up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A tent rope! You must keep more in the middle. But you are +limping! +Did you hurt yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A little. Keep on."</p> + +<p class="normal">But she reeled; her feet refused to carry her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now it's lucky that I caught you," said the soldier, swinging +her on +his arm like a child. And Bissula, who usually so fiercely resisted +every touch, willingly permitted it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Throw your arms around my neck, little one! There. Now hold +fast! It +won't be long" ("unfortunately" he thought, but took good care not to +say it), "we shall reach there directly." And he pressed on swiftly and +sturdily with his light, beautiful burden.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">A slender bluish flame, burning in a marble vessel supported +by a +bronze pedestal of exquisite Corinthian workmanship, diffused both +light and perfume through the Prefect's sumptuously furnished and +richly decorated tent. Ausonius was lying on the low couch: before him +stood the Tribune. Prosper, the old freedman, was pushing forward the +citrus wood dining-table, which ran on rollers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus entered, greeted all present pleasantly and took +his place +on the second couch, opposite to Ausonius. "Where is Davus?" he asked +the freedman impatiently. "I am thirsty!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He ought to have been here long ago," replied Prosper. "He +often +wanders about needlessly, nobody knows where. You must have him put in +the block again, patronus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What," cried Ausonius laughing, "have you actually dragged +the block +here, you rigid slave-overseer, all the way from Vindonissa?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Three fine ones, patronus. If you take bad slaves with you, I +must +take good blocks."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus was about to go: "The business of the service is +over for +to-day, Prefect. Perhaps Nannienus may arrive with the galleys +to-morrow. He sent a swift galley across the lake to-day: he will +arrive very soon. Then, at last, we can begin our work without delay. +But," he added in a kindly tone, advancing a step nearer to the lectus, +"Will you permit me to utter a word of warning. Prefect Prætor of Gaul? +Yesterday, and to-day still more, you complained of illness; chills +followed by short attacks of fever: will you not remain here in the +camp to-morrow (Bissula shall nurse you), instead of marching with us +into the swampy forests? I fear you already have the marsh fever."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment Davus entered, bringing the beautiful +mixing-vessel, filled, and several empty goblets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Davus, you lazy hound!" shouted Herculanus. "Quick! I am +thirsty! +Wine!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Saturninus, bending anxiously over the reclining figure, +went on: +"Acid old Cæcubian is said to be a good remedy for this fever. May I +send you some from my store, Prefect?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Ausonius still remained silent. Contradictory feelings had +been +struggling for mastery in his soul since the Illyrian's last words. On +the one hand his resentment was very vehement against the obstinate +soldier who, for some incomprehensible whim, opposed the dearest wish +of his heart. But even during these days of constraint Saturninus had +treated him so respectfully, while he himself had been very harsh to +his old friend. And he loved the gallant General so warmly! And now +this touching, unfeigned solicitude for his health conquered the kind +heart of Ausonius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Saturninus! Your affection does me good. My nephew thinks +only of one +disease--his own thirst! The business of the service, Tribune, is +probably over; but I entreat you to stay as my guest. Let us forget +what briefly estranged us, and remember our beautiful old friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus quickly grasped the outstretched hand and pressed +it warmly: +"There your heart spoke, Ausonius! I thank you. I will stay gladly." He +took his place on the third lectus, which was at the rear of the tent +opposite to the entrance and at the right of the two others. "You ought +to have known long ago that my sole wish is your welfare, your real +happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment Davus came from the table beside the +entrance, +where the wine was poured, toward his master. He walked very slowly, +for he carried three goblets, all filled: two small ones on a silver +salver in his right hand, and the large imperial beaker in his left. +With his face turned to the entrance and his back to Saturninus, he had +poured the wine from the small amphora at the table and then added +spring water from the mixing-vessel.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus hastily started up, snatched one of the goblets +from the +salver and emptied it at one draught. His uncle cast a look of +disapproval at him, saying, "Could you not wait for my toast?" Then he +took the Emperor's goblet with the three graces. Davus carried the last +cup to the Illyrian and set the silver salver on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The first draught," said Ausonius, "is usually to the noble +Emperor, +to whom I owe this beautiful gift. But to-day Gratianus may wait; +to-day I drink first to our friendship, my Saturninus!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And all that your heart most ardently desires," added the +latter +smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius raised the goblet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment the curtain at the door of the tent was +dragged +violently back from the outside: Bissula, her face corpselike in its +pallor, her hair fluttering wildly around her, and blood streaming from +her bare right arm, rushed in, shrieking:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poison! Do not drink, Ausonius!" She fell forward headlong on +the +Prefect's couch.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus sprang up with the speed of lightning, to snatch +the cup +from his uncle's hand and pour its contents on the ground. But, before +he reached him, the Tribune, who had dropped his own goblet, clutched +him with a grasp of iron. In spite of his violent struggles, Herculanus +could not move forward an inch. Davus, the old freedman running at his +heels, darted toward the entrance. Prosper shouted loudly, but Davus +went no farther than the door; for here he encountered the Batavian, +Rignomer, who seized him by the throat and held him fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius, horrified and bewildered, had set the goblet on the +table +before him, and now raised Bissula's head. "Poison?" he asked +sorrowfully. "Poison me? Who?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The dog of a slave, of course!" cried Herculanus, struggling +furiously +in the Illyrian's hold. "Are you in league with Davus, Tribune? Why do +you prevent me from punishing the scoundrel?" And now he actually +succeeded in releasing his right hand and gripping the dagger in his +belt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't let him go," shrieked Bissula, who had now recovered +her senses. +"He is the instigator!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment, summoned by Prosper, who had rushed out +screaming +for help, two Thracians on guard before the Prefect's tent, and two +Illyrians who chanced to be passing, came in and, by the Tribune's +orders, seized Herculanus and the slave, who, pale and trembling, could +scarcely stand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius, groaning aloud, sank back on his pillows.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus, no longer occupied with his prisoner, stepped +forward into +the centre of the tent, saying: "In the name of the Emperor Gratianus! +As General and Commander of this camp I open the investigation. Speak, +girl! You, a slave, a captive Barbarian, are making a terrible charge +against a Roman leader. Weigh your words! Death is the penalty for +false accusation of such a deed."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bissula did not shrink. She had now recovered her strength +and +calmness, and gave no thought to herself; her mind was occupied solely +with the old friend who lay sighing on his cushions, and who had never +been so dear to her as in the helplessness of his anguish. Briefly, +clearly, and simply she related the conversation between the two men, +to which, in the boughs of the pine-tree, she had been an involuntary +listener.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Miserable lies," shrieked Herculanus, stamping his foot. "The +wench +wants to become my uncle's wanton and ruin his nephew, the heir. The +whole story is an invention,--the entire tale of hiding in the tree! +When I came in here she stood watching beside the tent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a base falsehood," said Rignomer, stepping forward. +"I swear +that she has just come down from the tree: I had been following +her--unseen--for half an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha, do you hear, uncle? Another lover!" sneered Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the Tribune, "it was done by my order."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Rignomer had flushed crimson with rage and shame. Shaking +his +clenched fist at Herculanus, he said, laughing grimly: "Just wait--you +fellow with your patched mantle. The child came down from the tree +before my eyes. I was standing, hidden by the tent, six paces opposite +to it. Two men came from the right and left, glided under the pine, +whispered together, and then separated."</p> + +<p class="normal">Davus grew even paler than before; he tottered and would have +fallen +but for the hands which grasped him. But Herculanus asked defiantly: +"Did you recognize the two men in the dark? Or, at six paces distance, +understand their whispers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Neither. But the child slid down the tree directly after in +the most +frantic terror, called 'Murder! They will poison Ausonius!' and ran +with me here. The last part of the way I carried her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So the two Barbarians conspired against me!" cried +Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus went up to the slave, who hung with shaking knees +between +the two Thracians. "You know what terrible tortures threaten the slave +who tries to murder his own master?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Davus sank to the ground; the two men could scarcely drag him +up again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then! What matters your miserable body! I will secure +your safety +of life and limb--in the Emperor's name--you shall merely go to the +lead mines, if you confess at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, my lord, a thousand thanks," groaned the slave. +"Yes, yes. +It is all as they say. For a year he has been tempting and urging! The +demon of gold blinded me. It is all true!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha," shouted Herculanus, struggling against his guards, "so +the slave, +too, is in the conspiracy against me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give the wine in the Emperor's goblet to a dog, and see how +long it +will live," said Davus. "It is hemlock! In my tunic--feel there--I have +a small vial which contains the rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't doubt it: poison in the goblet--the same poison in +the vial. +Of course," cried Herculanus with an angry laugh, "the slave put it +into both. But Ausonius will not die until he has altered his will and +disinherited his nephew; for the Barbarian girl appeared just at the +right moment as a deliverer."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the Tribune had taken from the slave's breast a +little amber +vial and placed it on the table beside the goblet. Ausonius glanced at +it mournfully; he seemed to recognize it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what he put in there," Herculanus went on, "is to convict +me?" +"No," cried Davus, now angered, "you shall convict yourself. Tribune, +feel in his tunic too; he has the same poison, in a similar vial, +hidden there. Could I force him to do it? Or could I conjure it there +by magic?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus turned pale. Defiance, the hope of life, deserted +him and, +gnashing his teeth, he struggled fiercely in the Illyrians' grasp. But +the latter held him firmly while their countryman, Saturninus, took +from his tunic a similar amber vial and placed it beside the first one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then go to Orcus together! I wish you all had poison in you!" +shrieked +Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Ausonius tore his gray locks, wailing: "Alas! alas! I know +them +well. I gave them myself, both vials, to my dear sister, his mother. +Alas, my own sister's son! To murder me! For miserable money! I had +left it all to him. Only I should have been glad to live a few years +longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">Weeping aloud, he covered his face. Bissula, kneeling before +him, +stroked his hands compassionately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No doubt is possible," said Saturninus, "even without the +confession +made by his fury."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! The son of my dearest sister, my Melania!" moaned the +Prefect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had long suspected him," the Tribune said. "But the +scoundrel did +not desire to murder you alone; he wanted to kill this child too, to +whom all are attached."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? What?" cried Ausonius. Bissula also started.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is why he hastened in advance of us all, alone, to her +dwelling, +on her track. He had raised his sword for a deadly blow when I caught +his arm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Horrible!" cried Ausonius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is true; but," the girl went on kindly and +truthfully, "but +then he had not yet recognized me as his uncle's friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," groaned the Prefect. "He told me himself that a +red hair +had put him on your track. How often I had described you to him! And, +as soon as he saw you he recognized you instantly. He wanted to bring +you to me; and he--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yesterday night," Rignomer put in wrathfully, "he stole +into her +tent with an unsheathed dagger. Unfortunately one who should have +guarded it was sleeping, but the she-bear was awake, and"--he swiftly +spread the full mantle open--"she tore out a piece here as he fled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>This</i> piece," said Saturninus, drawing it from his girdle +and laying +it on the fresh patch; "you see it fits exactly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Furies' curse on you all!" screamed Herculanus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Away with them both!" the Tribune commanded. "Prosper, two of +your +slave-blocks! It won't do to leave them guarded in an open tent. That +is always unsafe and requires the constant presence of trustworthy men, +whom we cannot spare. Rignomer, you will lock them in--both feet--apart +from each other. Your life will answer for it if they escape on the +way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They shall not," growled the Batavian, who had been +inexpressibly +enraged by the fling at his love for Bissula, though he did not know +why. "Forward!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Led by Rignomer, the four guards and Prosper thrust the +prisoners out +of the tent.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The curtains had scarcely dropped behind them when Ausonius +exclaimed: +"He must not die! My Melania's son! He must fly into exile!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Emperor will decide. But you, friend Ausonius, praise +Heaven, +which sent you this child. You owe your life solely to her."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Prefect drew the young girl to the couch by his side and +kissed her +hands and brow. She submitted, for she was weeping. He would fain have +kissed her lips too, but he forebore. The usually defiant creature was +so childlike, so helpless from sheer emotion over his escape. So he +only stroked her beautiful head with his hand and said, deeply moved +himself: "The Christians have a superstition which I have often +derided, of a guardian angel which God gives to mortals. I shall never +do so again. You, Bissula, are my guardian angel!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But angels ought not to be slaves," remarked the Illyrian +with a smile +which well became his manly face. "I give you this child, Ausonius; she +is your slave now. Do with her as you choose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I set her free, this moment. Bissula, you are free!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thanks, thanks, thanks!" cried the young girl exultantly, +springing from the couch. "Now away,--away at once to my people,--to my +grandmother,--to--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so fast, little one," interposed Saturninus. "Even the +faithful, +grateful freedwoman (the legal form of the act is still lacking) must +obey the will of the patronus. I doubt whether he will let you fly +away, you lovely little wild bird."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula fixed her wonderful eyes beseechingly, imploringly, +upon +Ausonius, but the latter did not see it; he was gazing, rigid with +amazement, at the Tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My friend--I don't understand you. Why do you so suddenly--I +almost +thought that you yourself--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us spare the child. I will say only this much; she can +hear it +without flushing too deeply, and sudden blushes are so becoming to +her! A man need not be a poet, my Ausonius, to find our--pardon me, +your--little maid very, very charming. I don't deny it; the first time +I saw her--well, she certainly would displease no one! But I soon told +myself what the duty of friendship commanded, and remembered that my +life belongs wholly to the god of war. I ordered my heart to calm my +blood. They belong to a soldier, and instantly obeyed."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these words Bissula, in spite of the warning, or perhaps on +account +of it, had flushed crimson and glided away from the two men. She was +just slipping out of the tent; but Saturninus gently caught her by the +hair, held her firmly, laughing merrily, and said: "Stay, little one. +The worst is over now, at any rate from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why," Ausonius went on, "have you all this time--Even +yesterday--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I suspected your nephew's murderous designs, though +only +against her. I could protect her solely as her master. If she had +remained, as you desired, in your tent, he could have killed the +unguarded girl at any hour of the day or night. I watched her for you! +Now it is no longer necessary. Obey your heart. I will leave you +alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but what more is to be done?" asked Bissula plaintively, +holding +the Tribune--she did not know why--firmly by the arm. "I am so tired!" +she added. "Let me go to sleep now. And to-morrow, away! Back to my +people!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my noble friend," said Ausonius, with a certain +solemnity, slowly +rising from his couch, "stay! I myself desire it. You shall be the +first witness: my resolution is formed, unalterable! Bissula, I owe my +life to you: in return there is but one reward--this life, my life +itself."</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl drew back in terror. She did not understand him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A slave was of course impossible. To wed even his own +freedwoman is +against the law for a Senator; but I shall undoubtedly receive a +dispensation from the Emperor, and I care nothing for the jests of my +colleagues."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want to do with me?" asked the young girl +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Except the Cæsar," Ausonius went on thoughtfully, "no man in +the +Western Empire stands above me; only two are of equal rank. I am +Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul. Nay, more,--no one knows it yet, not even +you,--my Saturninus,--the Emperor has promised me next year the highest +honor in the Roman State. This coming year will take its name from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are to be Consul?" cried the Tribune, reverently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it? What does it mean?" asked the poor girl, now +thoroughly +frightened. The solemnity, and the numerous Roman names of dignities +were becoming more and more mysterious.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Ausonius, nodding complacently, continued: "And no living +poet is +my peer. Bissula, you shall share all this with me. Tomorrow you shall +go with me to Vindonissa to the Emperor. Yes, yes, don't shake your +defiant little head, you shall be with me all my life, for I, Ausonius, +Ausonius of Burdigala, will make you my wife!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He now drew himself up to his full height, stretching both +arms to her. +With glowing cheeks, throbbing heart, and eyes flashing with shame and +fear and wrath, Bissula, crimsoning more and more deeply, had listened +to the last words and gazed in horror at the approaching Roman. Now she +uttered a loud shriek: "No! No! Never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wrenching herself from Saturninus, who tried to hold her, she +sprang +out of the tent. Outside, panting for breath, she ran as fast as her +little feet would carry her, through the dark silent camp, reached her +tent, unfastened Bruna, led her in, pressed her down on the ground, +flung herself beside her and, bursting into a torrent of tears, buried +her face in the soft thick fur.</p> + +<p class="normal">The faithful, intelligent animal doubtless knew that something +was +wrong. Licking the girl's fingers, the bear growled, a low, soft, +tender growl, like a mother soothing her sick child. The monotonous, +droning tone produced a drowsy influence like a lullaby. So, under the +protection of the bear, though often sobbing vehemently, Bissula at +last fell asleep.</p> + +<br> + +<h3>BOOK THREE</h3> + +<h2>THE FREEDWOMAN</h2> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius was deeply grateful to his preserver, certainly; and +he had +wished to bestow a transcendent reward. Yet he was very keenly +exasperated by this rude, fierce, foolish, nay, ungrateful disdain. And +before the Tribune, too--the younger man.</p> + +<p class="normal">This exasperation took full possession of him even amidst his +deep +grief for his nephew's crime. From the day of his birth neither the +fates nor men had often denied any wish of this spoiled favorite of +Fortune. Even the desire for poetic talent had been granted by the +Muses, and, as he believed, in lavish abundance; while his +contemporaries denied him no recognition, but lavished on him every +honor for which he longed in any department. His imperial pupil loaded +him with the highest dignities and honors in the gift of the State; he +was one of the richest, most highly educated men in the Western Empire; +he was agreeable, vivacious, well-bred, almost handsome in feature, and +not yet very old. Thousands of the most aristocratic Roman women would +have considered themselves fortunate if--</p> + +<p class="normal">And this Barbarian girl refused him! It was incomprehensible, +and he +determined not to tolerate this "folly."</p> + +<p class="normal">As she did not appear at breakfast at the usual hour, he sent +Prosper +for her. The old man returned without having accomplished his errand. +Bissula was not in her tent, and could not be found anywhere in the +camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius was startled. Then he said to himself: "Oh, nonsense. +She +cannot possibly escape from a walled Roman camp which is guarded by a +Saturninus." Yet he finished his early meal hurriedly and anxiously, +and went out to look for her, alone. He wished to spare his future +wife, which Bissula certainly was, the mortification of being dragged +by freedmen or slaves from some hiding-place into which her silly, +childish obstinacy might have led her. First he hastened to the +pine-tree: in vain. She was not concealed there; now, in broad +daylight, one could see through the branches distinctly. He went to her +tent and entered: it was empty. But as he was leaving it again he saw +the broad foot-prints of the bear, and followed the trail: it led +southward, to the lake gate, the Porta Decumana. He had nearly reached +it, when he met Saturninus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn back, I beg of you," said the latter kindly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isn't she there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes! I discovered her by accident, looking down from the +wall. She has +hidden herself behind beams and rubbish near the Porta Decumana, like a +sick birdling which creeps into some corner to die alone with its head +under its wing. Give her time! Perhaps she will submit to it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius yielded reluctantly as the Tribune, with gentle +force, took +his arm, turned him in the opposite direction, and led him back. He was +thoroughly angry, and besides, felt ashamed in Saturninus's presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Soon, I hope," he said angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," replied the Tribune slowly. "Unless--unless some one +else has +won her heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That she positively denied. She was enraged at the mere +question; and +falsehood is the perverse little thing's smallest fault. She is still +scarcely more than a child. You see how she behaves. Only a child, an +untutored child, could be led into such conduct."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Roman General shrugged his shoulders. "Let us wait. I +would far +rather see her yours than a Barbarian's. But think of the offer made by +that Adalus! That can only--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. But it doesn't prove that she loves him."</p> + +<p class="normal">He opposed with angry obstinacy a conjecture which might +forever +frustrate his wishes, and rejected the suggestion of his friend the +more vehemently, the more persistently this fear, though repressed, +constantly returned to his mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By the way," he asked the Tribune, to change the +conversation, "what +do you mean to do with the prisoners? Let them both escape?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible! My duty--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But my nephew must not die."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It would be the best thing that could happen," growled the +Illyrian, +"for himself and his opposite men (for this selfish fellow has no +fellow mortals). But I feared that it would be the result of your +indulgence. Well, comfort yourself. As I promised life to the slave, +the mere tool, the Cæsar can send the instigator to the mines too. But +you are paying no heed to my words. Where are your thoughts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius had suddenly stopped. Thrusting the staff he carried +violently +into the earth he exclaimed: "Listen! Suppose I should go to her +now--at once? Explain everything, persuade her? Last evening, in her +excitement, she probably did not hear or understand. Just think of +it--Consul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But his companion smiled and drew his reluctant friend +forward: "Let +her alone, Ausonius. You will only frighten her more. Perhaps a German +fisher-lad is dearer to her heart than a Roman Consul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Inconceivable!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes! Very intelligible. I will confess to you that she +vehemently +entreated me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, what!--when?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just now, when I climbed down the wall to her and tried to +speak for +you. She besought me to protect her--from your wooing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ungrateful girl!" exclaimed Ausonius wrathfully. This appeal +to the +Tribune against him wounded him most bitterly; he had the feeling: +Youth naturally combines against age.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beware," replied the Tribune earnestly, "lest you should +yourself be +very ungrateful." But this did not suit the Roman's deeply offended +vanity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since you have now suddenly become--what shall I call +it?--her +guardian or defender against me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not seek the position."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor did you decline it. Then tell your ward my firm, resolute +will: +She must go with me to-morrow in one of Nannienus's galleys to the +Emperor at Vindonissa, then to Burdigala. I will follow your advice: I +will not go into the forests with you; grief, anger, too much +excitement of many kinds, are making me ill--I feel it. First of all, I +must obtain the dispensation from the Emperor to permit me, a Senator, +to marry my freedwoman. That is now the thing nearest to my heart. And +please see that it is clear to her, perfectly clear, that she has +obtained no legal right whatever from my words spoken yesterday about +liberation. You remarked at the time, very justly, that my words did +not make her free: the form required by law was lacking. The words were +merely a promise. If I choose, she is still my slave, but no longer +yours, tell her that. In Burdigala, after she has tasted Roman life, +let her choose which she would prefer: to become the Consul's wife, or +be his slave and a she-bear's playmate. I cannot force her to wed me, +but tell her that I will never permit her to return to her Barbarian +land."</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus would have tried to soothe the excited man, but a +loud +signal from the tubas summoned both leaders to the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Roman trumpets were joyously greeting the galleys under +the command +of Nannienus which, with all their canvas spread to catch the southeast +wind, came swiftly nearer and nearer. It was a proud and imposing +spectacle.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the gallant Comes of Britannia, himself a Breton skilled +in +sailing, had discovered the culpable neglect of the ships and the fraud +of the guilty magistrates in Arbor, he had toiled night and day, +ceaselessly and untiringly, that he might take to his friend and +comrade, Saturninus, the ships and reënforcements on which his whole +plan for the encircling and destruction or unconditional surrender of +the Alemanni was based. So, in the course of these few days and nights, +he had actually succeeded in putting the dilapidated ships into +seaworthy condition; and, besides old trading vessels and fisher boats +of the largest size, he had a number of new galleys built which, though +by no means to be compared with the proud fleet of the Venetian or +Brigantinian lake which, a century and a half before, had ruled these +shores and waters, could yet render sufficient service in seeking out +the hiding-places of the Barbarians along all three sides of the land, +and intercepting any flight they might attempt across the lake from the +Tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nannienus's twenty high-decked ships of war, when not lying at +anchor +but fighting at full speed, would sink, by the mere weight of their +shock, when driven by oars and sails, whole swarms of the little +Barbarian boats, if they had the temerity to attack them. And to each +of these large ships he had assigned two or three smaller flat-decked, +shallow boats, to land provisions and troops and facilitate intercourse +between the biremes (which required considerable depth of water when +they lay at anchor) and the shore, often bordered for a considerable +distance by marshes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Probably more than sixty sail now appeared, in the full +radiance of the +most brilliant September sunshine, opposite to the Idisenhang, some at +anchor, some in an unbroken chain forming a sort of bridge of boats +from the place of anchorage to the shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">The various forms of the sails (for in the pressure of haste +all sorts +of Barbarian ones had been added to the triangular Latin form of the +Romans--ancient Celtic used on the lake from primeval days, and +Alemannic) and their motley colors, principally dazzlingly white, but +many deep yellow, gleaming in the sunlight, swelled by the fresh +breeze; the surging, swarming life of the soldiers thronging from the +ships to the shore, and from the shore to the ships; the greetings of +old comrades; the joyful recognition of what had been accomplished in +Arbor; the threatening outcries against the Barbarians, who must now be +thoroughly extirpated--the whole presented a scene full of splendor, +life, movement, and warlike uproar.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The largest galley, an old war ship which still bore the +figure of +Amphitrite on its prow, displayed a purple streamer, and the smallest +foresail was of the same color; for she carried the Commander of the +squadron.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At last!" the able officer exclaimed as, the first man in the +whole +armada, he leaped from his galley into the boat which lay rocking at +its bowsprit. He ran across the whole line of small vessels to the +shore, and sprang with one impatient leap from the last boat across the +marshy ground to the solid land to meet the Illyrian, who received him +with outstretched arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At last, my friend, I bring ships and men. It has been a long +delay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it was no fault of yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Cæsar has already sent the guilty men to the mines. Where +is the +Prefect?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Up above, in the camp. He is not well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have letters for him from the Emperor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has no news come from the Emperor Valens yet?" asked +Saturninus +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, very late news."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do matters stand between him and the Goths?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well for him and badly for the Barbarians. They are suffering +terribly +from hunger. His last letter declines, and right arrogantly, any +assistance from Gratianus and our army."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He doesn't wish to share the fame of the victory with his +nephew," +said the Tribune, mounting his horse and inviting his friend to ride up +the mountain on the beautiful charger brought for his use. Nannienus +swung himself into the saddle, and continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"A decisive battle is impending, Valens writes. He is marching +upon +Adrianople, where the Goths are encamped. Why, the horse is sinking +here! Are there marshes so far up?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is the ancient bottom of the lake. So, the die has +probably +already fallen yonder on the Ister! Well, our little campaign will +probably soon be over too. How many helmets do you bring?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thirteen hundred."</p> + +<p class="normal">"More than enough. Early to-morrow morning we will divide our +forces. +Five hundred men will remain in the camp: You will march with the rest +toward the northeast, I to the northwest, until we at last find and +scatter these incomprehensible foes. Did you see nothing suspicious on +your voyage across the lake?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing at all. Not a sail, far or near."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now that we have ships, we can also search the two tracts of +marshland +overgrown with rushes, which stretch for leagues on the right and left. +We once thought we saw a column of smoke rising in the western marsh."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That shall be done to-morrow, before we march. A naval battle +on Lake +Venetia! It has scarcely happened since the days of Tiberius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I am glad to know that you are here on land with your +men: Welcome +once more to the Barbarian country and to my camp."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words the two commanders, followed by a glittering +train of +Nannienus's officers and the Tribune's mailed riders, passed through +the Porta Decumana, which now stood wide open; for the Tribune's men +were pouring out, down the mountain side and through the damp meadows +and bogs of the half league of country to the shore, to greet their +comrades on the fleet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula had crouched and made herself as small as possible, +that she +might slip out unseen like a little mouse from her hiding-place east of +the lake gate. But the Illyrian guards were rigidly trained: two +gigantic Thracians--one on each side of the threshold--held their +spears crossed before the opening, and scanned sharply every one who +went in or out. The young girl had crept successfully between the +outstretched legs of one, when she struck her head against the shaft of +the other's spear. The man's attention was attracted; he recognized her +and pushed her gently but irresistibly back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" he said, laughing. "You mustn't go out, you little +red +serpent! I should get a double drubbing--from the Tribune on the right +and the Prefect on the left. Stay inside."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula, her eyes brimming with tears of impotent rage, was +obliged to +go back: and there, outside the gate, liberty was beckoning; there +laughed (she saw it again, for the first time through the open gate) in +its azure splendor her beloved lake; there on the right rustled the +trees which surrounded Adalo's hall, and there flew a gull, screaming +loudly with delight in life and joy in its free movement, across the +rushes of the marshy shore. Alas! and she must go back into the camp, +to an uncertain fate. To-morrow she was to leave the country, to +go--whither?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Adalo, help soon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Since the night before she had constantly whispered his name, +again and +again, as though it were a protecting spell.</p> + +<p class="normal">On reaching her tent, she untied the bear, which was becoming +wildly +excited by the noise of the soldiers, and dragged it by the collar +inside of the inclosure, where she remained all day. She was not +disturbed. Prosper brought wine and food, and told her that his +master's whole time was claimed by Nannienus and the other guests; but +early the next morning she must be ready to take ship for Constantia, +then to go to the Emperor at Vindonissa, and lastly, to his beautiful +home. Bissula made no answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Leaving the viands untouched, she crouched like some captured +wild +beast in the corner of her tent farthest from the entrance, with her +eyes fixed intently upon it, listening with anxiety and dread to every +sound which drew nearer to her tent from the streets of the camp. +Faithful Bruna lay across the threshold; she was the girl's only +comfort.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">So the hours of the day had passed. The sun had sunk +majestically into +the lake; darkness had gathered quickly; there was no moon. The Comes +of Britannia had left Ausonius's table early, the hospitable host had +vainly tried to induce him to empty one more goblet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As many as you please, after the victory, Ausonius. But a +sailor must +keep sober. Besides, his place is on the water, not on forest-clad +heights. I feel here, away from my ships, like a whale left stranded by +the tide and lying gasping on the shore. Truly, the only right kind of +water is salt water--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because we can't drink it," remarked Ausonius, filling his +goblet +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, when one can't have the sea, this long stretch of lake +isn't bad. +Remember me to your nephew, Herculanus; perhaps by to-morrow he will +have recovered from his illness enough for me to seek him in his tent. +And at the earliest dawn of morning, Saturninus, I will search the two +reedy lakes for you. If there are no Alemanni, there will be plenty of +rare waterfowl to hunt."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went out with his officers and rode with them, guided by +torch-bearers, down the mountain back to the ship-camp: for one-half of +the newcomers slept on shore in the tents they had brought with them; +the other half on the vessels.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Nannienus went on board he asked the watch at the +helm, a +trustworthy Breton countryman, whether he had anything to report.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing from here, my lord. Only behind Arbor a fire seems to +be +burning on the Hill of Mercury; or they are celebrating one of their +Easter festivals. Look yonder!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is in one of the farms of the Alemannic settlers. +Hark! What +was that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wild swans, my lord. They must have hundreds of nests in the +reedy +forests. They call and answer one another very often."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then surely no men can be hidden there; the noble birds are +very shy +and wary. Who is coming to relieve you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, Albinus, the veteran from Arbor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good: you will watch the first and second hours after +midnight. Wake +me before the gray of dawn."</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">The sentries in the camp above on the Idisenhang, and below in +the +tents brought from the ships, had shouted the hour of midnight without +the occurrence of anything to disturb the sleepers, who were lying in +the deepest repose, except that for a long time the noble dogs which +the Tribune, a keen sportsman, had brought from Vindonissa and kept in +an empty tent near the northern gate, had barked violently. They were +costly animals of the purest British breed, which, trained in the arena +at Rome to fight the aurochs, were now to test their skill and courage +in the primeval forests. They could not be quieted, whether the guards +patted or flogged them, and their loud, angry baying was heard in the +ditch before the north gate, where the whole Batavian cohort was +on duty. The bright flames and thick columns of smoke from their +watch-fire rose from the ditch, now dry once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Beyond it, on the north, about a hundred paces from the wall, +Rignomer, +with Brinno and two more of his countrymen, had been stationed as an +outpost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hear the dogs?" asked Rignomer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not deaf," growled Brinno,</p> + +<p class="normal">"When they keep on incessantly, it means something!" the other +continued mysteriously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course it does. They are hungry. Or they have the little +one's +she-bear at bay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She-bear? Nonsense! She's sleeping where others would like to +sleep. +No, no! Dogs don't you know that?--can see spirits and hear gods. There +is something abroad. Between midnight and dawn the night huntsman rides +over the tree-tops. I thought just now that I heard a horse neigh above +me, beyond that distant hill--in the air."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, pshaw! I never saw a horse fly yet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But <i>He</i> flies on his eight-hoofed gray steed through the +clouds and +over the wind-swept forests, when he drives the woman of the woods +before him. Hark, what was that? At the right!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The hoot of an owl! Very near us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And there--one at the left."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark," cried a third soldier, "didn't that sound like metal +on +metal--the clanking of arms--close in front of us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the fourth, "but I hear the faint trampling of a +horse's +hoofs. Hark! There are several. Now it comes again, nearer still! The +foe!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is the foe!" said Rignomer, seizing the signal horn +to raise +it to his lips--but he had no power to do so. Horror, paralyzing +terror, awe which shook every limb, seized upon the brave man. His hair +bristled; voice and hand refused their service. Rigid with fear, he +stared at the wooded height before and above him, which suddenly seemed +alive.</p> + +<p class="normal">A warrior sprang from behind every tree; every bush; yet it +was not +these hundreds of Alemanni that terrified the battle-tried Batavian, +but another spectacle. Sometimes in a full glare of light, sometimes +dimly seen by the flame of two blazing torches, swung in circles by two +horsemen riding at his right and left, a powerful figure of superhuman +stature on a grayish-white horse came dashing down from the height +toward him. White hair and a floating beard waved around a fierce but +majestic countenance, above which a bird-monster, whose like Rignomer +had never seen, seemed to flap its white wings threateningly against +the mercenary as the vision rushed onward in silence, a huge spear +thrust before him, a long dark cloak flowing back from his shoulders +like a cloud; then, when close at hand, the horseman shouted: "Odin! +Odin has you all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The German flung down spear and shield and, with the cry: +"Odin is upon +us! Odin is leading them! All is lost," ran back to the ditch at full +speed. Two of his comrades followed his example, and all three leaped +into the ditch shouting: "All is lost! Odin is upon us! Fly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Rignomer was considered the bravest of his race, so even the +Batavians, +who were too far off to understand his words, were infected by his +example; for they saw their leader unarmed, running with every sign of +the utmost terror from the ditch toward the northern gate to tear it +open and vanish in the camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly! Fly! All is lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Most of the men had understood this and, with the same shouts, +they now +climbed up the wall or poured through the open gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Brinno alone had not fled from the post: at Rignomer's cry, +also +greatly alarmed, he had leaped behind the nearest tree, but here, +looking sharply at the terrible horseman, he recovered his composure: +"Nonsense!" he called after his flying comrades. "His horse has only +four feet, not eight. That is not <i>he</i>!" He stepped forward bravely +with levelled spear, but the next instant was thrown down by the Duke's +charger and, directly after, about thirty mounted men leaped into the +ditch, which was now no longer defended, and dashed to the right and +left in pursuit of the fugitives who were running along the bottom. The +space around the gate was almost empty, swept clean in an instant.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hariowald himself had ridden straight toward the gate, but +just before +he reached it, it was flung back from within, shutting out several +fugitives who were trying to enter. The Duke sprang from his horse; the +intelligent animal instantly stood motionless. He beckoned to his +mounted men and to a small band who, meanwhile, had reached the ditch +on foot, to follow him to the left of the gate, where rose a huge +stone. A large number of other foot-soldiers now also reached the gate +and, mounting ladders they had brought with them (which, strangely +enough, were exactly the length required to reach from the bottom of +the ditch to the wall), or even climbing on one another's backs, +endeavored to scale the wall or to break down the gate with axes.</p> + +<p class="normal">But here they now encountered vigorous resistance. Arrows, +spears, +beams, stones flew down upon them: a battle was impending; the attempt +to enter the gate with the fugitives had failed. Saturninus had closed +it and shot the huge iron bolt with his own strong hand. Awakened by +the furious baying of his dogs, he had made the round of the camp to +test the watchfulness of the sentries, and was now directing the +defence from the walls. His own hand flung down the first ladder +raised.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the battle was already raging at the same time on the +other three +sides of the camp.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Bissula, too, on whose burning eyes sleep had not descended, +had soon +perceived what was happening. She heard with joyous terror the battle +cry of the Alemanni, the war horns of her people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There they are! They are coming!" she exclaimed exultingly. +"Now to +meet them!" With the words she ran out of her tent, leading her +faithful companion by the collar. She was determined to seize the first +opportunity, no matter how dangerous it might be, to escape from the +precincts of the camp.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this was far more difficult than Bissula had expected. She +experienced the utmost trouble even in gaining the vicinity of the lake +gate to which she was summoned. The regular squares of the Roman camp, +intersected at right angles by the streets of tents, rendered the task +still more arduous; for at all the streets and squares stood, in dense +masses, the reserve troops not engaged in fighting on the walk. No +matter whether their faces or their backs were turned toward her, those +ranks could not be penetrated.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her friend Bruna impeded instead of aiding her. The animal was +so +wildly excited by the noise of thousands of men shouting, weapons +clashing, horses dashing by, and flames blazing on all sides, that the +young girl had great difficulty in restraining the daughter of the +Alemannic forests from mingling in the battle and furiously attacking +the legionaries. So for a long time she could make little progress +toward the gate she desired to reach.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now a gap was suddenly made in the ranks of the soldiers +standing +before her. A troop of mailed riders came dashing down the street of +the camp from the north toward the gate, and the Illyrians before her +opened their ranks to let the cavalry pass. Bissula fearlessly seized +the tail of one of the horses and, without loosing her hold of Bruna, +let herself be dragged along. In this way she successfully reached the +Via Principalis, but here, feeling her arm seized, she released the +horse, which now kicked violently. The girl looked around angrily. It +was old Prosper.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Halt," he commanded, "you must stay with me, Bissula. That is +the +order of the patronus; he sent me to you, supposing that you would be +in the midst of the uproar. I am to keep strict watch of you, till the +attack is repulsed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go," she cried angrily, trying to release herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, you shall not. I must answer for you. Follow me."</p> + +<p class="normal">They now began to struggle violently; but the man was stronger +than the +girl. She could not escape his hold. Then Bruna, growling furiously, +rose on her hind legs and struck with her huge paws at her mistress's +foe. With a cry of terror the freedman, releasing the girl, sprang +back, and the next instant Bissula, by creeping between the horses' +legs, slipped through the ranks of the mailed riders, who, facing +south, were now the only obstacle between her and the lake gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">She fairly flew down the long, narrow central street, the Via +Media, in +whose tents the luggage was sheltered. There she saw Herculanus and, +somewhat farther down, Davus, each in a heavy oak-block, sunk into the +earth, with both feet thrust through holes and fettered to the blocks +with heavy cross chains. Bissula ran farther in terror. Now, for the +first time, she looked around for Bruna, The bear had not followed her; +her growling came from beyond the ranks of the horsemen, and at the +same time Bissula saw a pack of huge dogs, barking furiously, leaping +on the angry beast. One of the animals was hurled aside by the terrible +paw, yelping with agony. But the girl could wait no longer, far less +turn back. She hurried on; already she saw before her the goal of her +longing, the Decumanian Gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Already the blows of axes were thundering ceaselessly outside +upon the +groaning oak planks and iron bars. Those were her own people, her +deliverers, her liberators! But the solid gate held out firmly, and +missiles rained from the top of the wall upon the unprotected +assailants. She pressed forward as near the gate as she could. Only a +single rank of soldiers separated her from it. Then Bissula heard +outside a ringing voice which sent a thrill of rapture through every +vein. She knew those tones.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Set fire to the gate! Bring all the torches!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Forgetting all caution, she sprang through the rank of +soldiers, +pushing two of them aside, put her face to the gate and called with her +utmost strength, "Adalo! Help! Adalo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bissula!" rose a voice without, and a terrible blow--the +first which +had penetrated cleft a yawning gash in the right wing of the double +gate, so that the splinters flew inside.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same time Bissula heard two voices call her name from +the wall +above. Looking up she saw Zercho and Sippilo who, in advance of all the +others, had scaled the wall at the right of the gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, little one!" shouted the Sarmatian, letting a rope +slide down +the inside, while he wound the other end around the ladder rising above +the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you, Bissula?" called Sippilo, leaning far over and +holding +a torch down. "Alas! I can't see her anywhere!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl, standing at the left of the gate, could not make her +way +through the soldiers to the right; she was obliged to see a strong +Thracian on the top of the wall seize a heavy pole, which he held +crosswise with both hands, and springing forward hurl both the +over-bold assailants (they were still standing alone) backward at a +single thrust.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oho, Sippilo," shouted Adalo outside, "what was that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A somersault!" replied the boy laughing, and jumping up +again. "But +you, Zercho! Alas! you cannot stand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately! My foot--I think it is broken!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take him, men, two of you, and carry him out of the fight," +Adalo +ordered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To my own hall; it is still standing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula uttered a cry when she saw her two friends fall +backward; but +the next instant her senses failed. A soldier whom she had repeatedly +tried to thrust aside turned angrily: he meant to strike his +troublesome comrade, as he supposed the person to be. Then he +recognized the young girl, and his wrath instantly vanished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go back, little one!" he exclaimed. "You'll get killed here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And, with kindly intent, he flung her toward the left; but the +clumsy +fellow exerted too much strength, or the weight of the dainty figure +was too light; she struck her head so violently against one of the +beams of her old hiding-place that she lay stunned and senseless where +she had fallen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bissula!" Adalo called again through the gaping cleft in the +door. But +he received no answer.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The Adeling and his followers would probably soon have forced +their way +through this gate, one of whose wings had already caught fire and was +beginning to glow and smoke more and more, while the other was +splitting wider and wider under the heavy blows of the axe, had not the +battle on the opposite side of the camp taken a turn which was also to +prove decisive for the conflict around the Porta Decumana. Scarcely had +Bissula fallen unconscious, when down every street in the camp that led +from the north toward this southern gate, riders, riderless horses, +foot-soldiers, and slaves came rushing in a wild flight with frantic +cries.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly," cried a warrior in scale armor, dashing past Herculanus +and +Davus. "The Barbarians are upon us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The camp is taken!" shouted a Celt, hurrying out of a side +street.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have climbed over the wall at the Prætorian Gate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, the earth opened. Orcus spewed the Barbarians into the +middle of +the camp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly!" shrieked a camp-follower's wife, "I saw Saturninus run +down by +his own men! All is lost!" And in truth it seemed so.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius had been waked by Prosper, and while he was arming, +Decius, a +gallant officer, appeared and in the Tribune's name invited him to +undertake the defence of the Porta Principalis Dextra with a cohort of +the Twenty second Legion, which had already been ordered there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will accompany you," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter? The Barbarians? Are they attacking?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you hear them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, of course I do! On which side?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On all sides!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will hasten." With these words Ausonius, putting on his +helmet, left +the tent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the Tribune's decision?" he asked as they turned to +the right +into the nearest street. "To make a sally?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! To remain in the camp. It will be defended to the last. +There is +too great a superiority in the force outside." With these words the two +officers reached the legionaries and, followed by them, soon gained the +eastern gate of the camp. From here Ausonius sent Prosper to protect +Bissula, but also to watch that she did not escape.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Saturninus had convinced himself that, for the +moment, no +pressing danger threatened the northern or Prætorian Gate, and hurrying +down the steps inside the wall, he exchanged, his part of warrior for +that of Commander. Gathering his officers about him in the open space +at the foot of the wall, about a hundred paces north of the pine-tree +of the earth-goddess, he curtly issued swift commands. "Let all the +horsemen dismount and fight on the walls, except the first squadron of +mailed riders; but these are not to dismount--do you hear?--on pain of +death, under any pretext. All the riderless horses must be led to the +Porta Decumana; for if a sally should be made, or"--he added in a lower +tone so that only his officers could hear--"if it should be necessary +to leave the camp, we shall go to the south to aid Nannienus. If he be +not attacked himself, he will instantly assail the Barbarians in the +rear at that gate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help at the Porta Principalis Sinistra!" entreated a horseman +dashing +from the west.</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus turned to speak to the messenger and, in doing so, +turned +his back to the pine-tree; but he had scarcely addressed a few words to +the man, when a centurion standing behind the General uttered a cry of +terror and seized him by the arm: "Look around you, Tribune! There! By +the pine-tree! The earth is trembling; the abyss is opening; the altar +stones have sprung apart!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment the Barbarians' war-cry: "Odin! Odin! +Alemanni!" +rang out in the midst of the camp, and Saturninus's face blanched as he +saw a gigantic figure in a white helmet, near the pine-tree, strike +down with his long spear a Celtic archer, who, shrieking, tried to +escape. Three, six, eight, twelve Barbarians had risen from the earth. +With a cry of savage fury the brave Roman rushed toward the giant. But +he could not reach him, his own soldiers threw him down.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a body of the Celts, hot-blooded, brave in assault, but +easily +disheartened after an unfavorable turn. They saw the foe in the midst +of the camp; only a few had noticed whence they came or how small at +first was their number. Seized with panic, many throwing away their +weapons, they fled in frantic terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Treason! Treason! The enemy is in the camp!" With these +shouts a whole +troop of fugitives had flung themselves between the Duke and the Roman +General. The latter instantly sprang to his feet again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Halt, you cowards," shouted the fearless Tribune, again +trying to +check with flashing sword, the mad rush of the fugitives. "Look around +you. There is only a handful of the enemy. And where will you fly? +Outside of the camp? Among the greatly superior number of the foe? Only +these walls can save you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the ships! To Nannienus! Across the lake! To Arbor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then die, you coward!" he cried fiercely, striking down the +nearest +shouter, a standard bearer of the Celts; and tearing from the falling +man the dragon standard, with its fluttering purple streamers, he swung +it aloft, crying, "Roma! Roma!" and pressed forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment he really succeeded in checking the fugitives. +And now the +bold little band of intruders was in the utmost peril; then +Saturninus's attention was suddenly diverted to the top of the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Many, many of its defenders had turned at the noise behind +them, seen +German helmets in the midst of the camp, heard the cries of terror from +the Celts, and noticed their General himself rush into the midst of the +fugitives. They believed that the camp had been taken from the opposite +direction, and feared every moment that they would be attacked from the +rear. So they leaped from the top of the wall in large numbers or came +rushing down the stairs. The besiegers outside, hitherto held in check +by a heavy shower of missies, suddenly saw whole ranks of the defenders +vanish, whole stretches of the wall left empty and, with wild shouts, +they climbed boldly and confidently up the ladders. When the Tribune +looked up, the assailants were already springing from the wall in dense +masses, hewing down the few Romans who had gathered around him, while +the fierce giant's terrible spear struck down one after another.</p> + +<p class="normal">Saturninus cast one more glance at the top of the wall: +countless bands +of Barbarians were appearing on it. Then, in a voice whose tones rang +above the din of battle, he shouted the order: "Leave the camp! Follow +this standard! To the Porta Decumana! Close ranks! If you open them, +you will be lost!"</p> + +<p class="normal">These words had their effect. Often had these soldiers proved +that this +solid closing of their ranks was the best, nay, the only means of +repelling the assault of the Germans. The hope of reaching their +comrades on the ships revived their courage; retreating toward the +south, fighting as they marched, they followed their trusted leader.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pursuers from the north and east pressed hotly upon them; +but the +Romans moving southward received considerable reënforcements from the +east and the west, where the cross streets from both sides ran into the +one extending from north to south--the Via Media. Meanwhile the troops +defending the eastern and western gates had heard the war-cry of the +Alemanni within the camp and the shouts of their own fugitives, and +giving up the hopeless resistance, they thronged, according to a +standing rule in the camp, into the long central street which led to +the Porta Decumana, the gate assigned for the Roman line of retreat.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, the troops from the western gate, where the assailants +had +already made considerable progress, poured down in great confusion; but +Dedus and Ausonius led the legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort from +the eastern gate in good order. Saturninus saw the two leaders from the +distance, but separated by the whole flood of marching men, they could +not meet. So the columns, overtaken and pressed by the Barbarians only +in the rear, gradually reached in better order the spot where the Via +Principalis, near the Decumanian Gate, intersected the long central +street leading to it. Here all the baggage, with many hundred carts and +wagons, was piled together. Such a barricade, a valuable defence to +German bands on the migrations, was the most dangerous obstacle and +interruption to the Roman order of marching and fighting; for no matter +whether the attempt to pass was made by going around or climbing over +it, in either case the firmly closed ranks were broken into little +groups, nay sometimes even separated into individual warriors, who were +forced to press forward or climb over the wagons one behind another.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the old Duke had not studied the plan of the camp in vain: +he had +noted accurately where the baggage, the carts and wagons were placed, +and eagerly distributed all the bands of his men who poured toward him. +They came from the three gates north, west, and east, which they had +long since forced open, and they passed through the streets of the camp +in such a manner, as they pressed forward in pursuit, that they pushed +from all sides down the long and the cross streets upon the fugitives, +just at this exact point.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of the intoxication of victory another joy filled +the old +leader's heart: delight in the progress which, within a single +generation, the training in obedience had made in the subjection of his +Alemanni to the military authority of their Duke.</p> + +<p class="normal">The traditions of their forefathers and his own youthful +experience +contained many an instance in which Germans had lost a victory already +won, because the conquerors, against their leader's commands, began, in +unbridled lust for booty, to plunder the captured camp. They would +scatter themselves through tents and baggage wagons, each vying with +his comrades, so that the Romans, little disturbed by pursuit, found +the opportunity to assemble again and, with closed ranks, could wrest +from the dispersed pillagers both camp and victory. So the old +Commander could say to himself with proud delight: "They have learned +something, through me--under me--ay, for love of me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before the commencement of the assault he had proposed, for he +could +not command: "The camp and all its contents shall belong to the whole +army, after the victory is won. When the morning sun shines down upon +it, a division shall be made according to districts, families, and +individuals. Whoever takes, in advance, even a vessel or a weapon shall +be regarded as a thief who has robbed his people, and shall be hanged."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bands had assented, and they loyally kept their word: not +a man +turned from the battle, or left the ranks to plunder, or even stooped +to pick up the costly gold and silver articles which the slaves, flying +from Ausonius's tent, had tried to hide, or perhaps steal. The slaves +had soon thrown down these articles that they might not be hampered in +their flight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Obedient to Hariowald's orders, the Alemanni drove the +fugitives from +all directions toward the central street of the camp; so the confused +torrent which, hitherto, had poured through many separate channels +southward, was dammed by this obstacle and checked.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first men, still running at full speed down the narrow +side paths +at the right and left, squeezed past the wide rows of carts, or, if not +too much crowded by their neighbors, climbed over them; but both plans +soon became possible only by the most violent struggles for precedence +on the part of the fugitives, as the hundreds driven here and there by +the Duke's followers rushed upon the closed ranks of the two leaders' +orderly columns. These fugitives pressed forward with the strength of +despair, especially after they perceived, with horror, that throwing +down their weapons and surrendering did not save them from death.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Woe, they are killing every one! Make way! Let us pass! They +are +murdering the prisoners!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" shouted the Duke to the nearest shrieker, "they are not +murdering +the prisoners, for they have none!" and struck him down.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the ranks which had remained closed began to waver. +Saturninus +succeeded in crowding past the wagons on the right and hastened onward +toward the gate. The scene was brightly lighted by many blazing tents, +into which the victors had flung faggots smeared with pitch and resin. +At the corner of one of the cross streets Saturninus saw two of his +beautiful large dogs, with torn bodies, lying one above the other, +while he heard the others barking furiously, and at intervals the sound +of fierce growling. The next instant he was pushed far forward by the +men crowding behind him. He looked around for Ausonius, who had been +mounted, and saw him on foot trying to climb over the barricade of +wagons. He was making slow progress, and already, close upon this band +of fugitives, the war-cry of the pursuers sounded nearer and nearer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Tribune ordered several pioneers whom he met to break a +passage +with their axes through the carts for Ausonius and the left column. The +men did not obey willingly; they were reluctant to turn back, with the +Decumanian Gate in sight, to meet the furious attack of the foe; but +Roman military discipline and the habit of obedience to their honored +General again conquered, so they went to meet Ausonius, while the +Tribune hastened onward.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rising flames, the echoing blows of the axes, accompanied +by the +ominous crash of splintering wood, urged the Tribune to still greater +speed; this gate must not be opened from the outside if his last +attempt to escape was not to fail. But scarcely had he reached the open +space before it, when fresh cries of despair rose from the column at +the left commanded by Ausonius. Before the pioneers had broken a +passage to the Prefect, his men had been reached by the arrows and +spears of the pursuers, and he himself, falling between two wagons, +suddenly vanished from their eyes. Loud lamentations from his followers +burst forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the pioneers turned and fled in the opposite direction; +the +Barbarians were threatening on the left, so they ran down one of the +cross streets at the right which intersected the central one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fly," called the foremost one, running directly past +Herculanus, who +was making desperate but fruitless efforts to tear with his unchained +hands the solid oak-block from the earth or to release his feet from +the small holes and iron clamps. "Fly! Ausonius has fallen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ausonius is dead!" shouted the second; throwing away his +heavy axe, +which impeded his flight. It fell near the prisoner, who, without +heeding the violent pain which the movement caused to his strained feet +and bruised ankles, stretched both arms toward it. Triumph! He could +reach it. At least he could touch the handle with the tips of his +fingers, draw it slowly nearer, then at last seize and drag it to his +side.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of Ausonius's slaves, who had been wounded by an arrow, +limped +along more slowly. "Oh, my kind master, Ausonius! He has fallen. He is +dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dead?" cried Herculanus, "are you sure he is dead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the fugitive had not heard, or did not wish to hear +him--he had +already moved on to Davus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help me!" wailed the latter. "Don't leave me here to burn--or +to fall +into the hands of the Barbarians!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Miserable murderer!" was the only answer. The fugitive had +already +disappeared around the corner.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Herculanus, seizing the sharp axe with both hands +and bending +downward, dealt blows with all his strength upon the oak-block which +held his feet, just between the two holes pierced from the top to the +bottom. At last the solid wood parted, breaking open the holes; two +more blows severed the shackles which bound his feet to the two halves. +The prisoner was free. Yet it was only with difficulty and severe pain +that he could use his legs, stiffened by sitting still so many hours +and swollen by the pressure on the bones. But the desire to live, the +hope of escape, conquered the pain: he walked, at first very slowly, +toward Davus, who had watched him enviously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help me out too. You, you alone, have brought me to this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, traitor, I'll help you out," cried the other, with an +angry +laugh. Cleaving the slave's skull with the axe, he ran on more quickly, +his limbs becoming more supple at every step, toward the western end of +the cross street; for the noise from the east grew louder and louder.</p> + +<p class="normal">The conflagration did not extend to this part of the camp. He +glided +into a tent and hid himself, for he still had cause to fear his own +countrymen almost as much as the Barbarians. Here he found a short +dagger, like those worn by the Thracians, which he thrust into his +belt; he then put down the long-handled heavy axe, which had burdened +him while running.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius dead! Perhaps all who knew of that incident were dead +too! He +could not shake off the thought while peering cautiously between two +folds of the tent, watching for a way of escape between Romans and +Barbarians.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus was mistaken: Ausonius was not slain. In the +attempt to leap +from one cart to another he had fallen between them and slightly hurt +his foot. But Decius and some legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort +had helped him up again and taken him at once to the Decumanian Gate. +Here, meanwhile, the Tribune had quickly made his arrangements, +gathering the fugitives arriving singly around a body of his Illyrians, +to whom he also entrusted the standard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is the ala of mailed riders whom I ordered here, +forbidding them +to dismount? We need them now at the head of the sortie."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas, Tribune, in the turmoil, in the pressure on the gate +and the +walls, we all dismounted and fought on foot. Our horses are gone; they +dashed down the side streets."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is Herculanus's discipline of his men! So--we have no +horsemen. +Well then, the spears to the front! The wounded in the centre! Here, +Ausonius, behind my troop! There. Draw back the bolts; throw the gate +open. We will fight our way through to the ships. Forward! On!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the gate, hitherto so firmly defended, its right wing +half +shattered, the left half burned, opened from within, and the Romans, +summoning their last strength, led by their able General in person, and +stimulated to a final supreme effort by his example and the prospect of +safety, burst out of the camp. The shock was terrible, and the effect +of the unexpected attack upon the Barbarians was very great. All who +had been standing on the narrow strip of ground between the gate and +the ditch were hurled into it. Adalo was not among the number; he had +gone back for a moment to direct the preparation of a bridge of logs +which was to lead directly to the gate; then he intended to have his +men run across with beams to batter the already weakened timbers and +break it down completely. So he escaped the fall into the ditch, which +Sippilo shared, but as in the plunge from the wall, uninjured. The boy +climbed nimbly up the southern side. He had lost the helmet in his +first tumble, but held fast to his spear and shield this time too.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment, it is true, it seemed as if the Romans, as soon +as they +had passed through the gate and obtained a view of the lake, would +disperse again in fresh terror; for meanwhile the attack on the ships +and the camp below had apparently succeeded.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hitherto the defenders on the walls had waited longingly for +Nannienus, +and looked in vain over the Barbarians and their flaring pitch torches +toward the lake. But now that they had reached the open country outside +the camp, they saw a vast conflagration on the shore. Surrounded by the +tumult of the battle raging immediately about them, they had been +unable to hear the noise of the conflict which had commenced below half +an hour before; but they now perceived all that Saturninus had long +since concluded by the absence of his brave friend: the fleet itself +was being most hotly assailed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The ships are burning! The camp is in flames! Our last refuge +is +gone!" With these shouts, many sprang from the closed ranks, fled, and +were instantly overtaken by the Germans and struck down before their +comrades' eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see how fugitives fare!" cried Saturninus. "Keep your +ranks closed +if you want to save your lives. March in close order to the lake, and +we shall save ourselves and our friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a ray of encouragement, and the whole body followed +their +brave leader, who was the first man to climb up the southern side of +the ditch. As soon as he reached the top his own name, shouted loudly +from the ranks of the Barbarians, fell upon his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Saturninus, the General of the Romans?" called a +voice in +Latin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Brightly illumined by the flames of the burning camp, a leader +of the +Germans, in the richest armor, pressed forward before his men. A +boar-helmet covered his head; a gray-bearded attendant held before him +a long shield on which he caught two well-aimed Roman spears at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Saturninus? I must find him!" repeated the German, +springing +forward again and felling the nearest Thracian with his battle axe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here," answered the Tribune. "But this is no time to +negotiate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but to die!" shouted Ebarbold, his battle axe crashing +upon the +huge curved shield of the Roman. It entered it without injury to the +bearer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The King vainly struggled to draw out the weapon, it remained +motionless, and already the Roman's short, murderous broad sword was +quivering for the fatal stroke, when the gray-haired shield-bearer +sprang between them and threw the shield before his master.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Norian iron penetrated the boar hide and the wooden +frame of +the shield to the old man's left breast. He fell on his back, borne +down by the weight of the blow.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Ebarbold had dropped the handle of the battle axe, +drawn the +long unwieldy sword at his side, and swung it above the proud crest of +the Roman General's helmet; but before it fell, the short Roman sword, +red with the blood of the shield-bearer, pierced his throat and he sank +dying by the old man's side. "You--with me--for me!" he could say no +more.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you think I would desert you? The King of the Ebergau +must not +enter Odin's hall unattended. You shall not enter the door of Valhalla +unattended like some man of low degree. We--have--both--kept our +word--and together--with the honor of heroes we will go to Valhalla."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ebarvin's head sank on the shoulder of his King. Both were +silent in +death.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Illyrian had sprung forward over the bodies of the two +Germans--first hewing off with his sword the handle of the battle axe +still sticking in his shield--amid the wild, exulting shouts of his +countrymen who had witnessed the struggle. But the men of the Ebergau +were dismayed by their leader's fall; they hesitated--stopped--yielded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward, down to the lake!" shouted the Tribune. "You see +they are +giving way." It was a dangerous moment; for, confused by the retreat of +the Ebergau men, the band next behind them was wavering.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">"Stand, men of the Linzgau!" shouted a clear, resonant voice, +and a +youth with golden-brown locks fluttering around his handsome head +forced a passage through the Alemanni and Romans toward the Tribune.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Romans had neither the inclination nor the habit of +letting +their General fight single combats with the Barbarian princes. A +gigantic Illyrian stepped from the left of the ranks in front of his +leader and aimed his spear at the youth's face. But the weapon did not +fly; before he could hurl it a German boy leaped from below against the +warrior, and thrust his little spear into the arm-pit, now unprotected +by his suit of mail. He fell with a loud cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, little brother!" exclaimed Adalo and now, +pressing close +upon Saturninus, he called to him in Latin: "Where is Bissula?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Roman General had no thought to give to a Barbarian +girl; the +recollection of the captive had darted only once through his brain with +the speed of lightning, when he heard her she-bear growling in the +camp. He made no reply, except to wave the sword still dripping with +Ebarbold's blood.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Adeling's spear flew; Saturninus caught it on his shield; +but being +burdened by the long lance, this was now so difficult to manage that he +let it fall, and sprang with a well-aimed sword thrust toward the +youth, who had instantly drawn his short battle-axe from his girdle. +Each was so furiously resolved to fell the other, that neither thought +of his own defence. So both struck, and both fell.</p> + +<p class="normal">With his utmost strength--and it was great--the German had +aimed at his +adversary's forehead: the latter involuntarily bowed his head, putting +the helmet forward, but the terrible stroke cleft this best work of the +Roman armorers at Trier, and pierced through the bronze and the double +leather of the lining to the skull. The helmet was found afterwards; +and this "Suabian stroke" was long celebrated in the hall of the stag's +antlers. But the lord of the hall seemed destined never to return to +it, but to follow Ebarbold and Ebarvin; for, at the same time, the +Roman's sword had penetrated the wooden shield of the German and cut +deep into his left shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sippilo caught his brother's drooping head; several attendants +grasped +his feet, and thus they bore him swiftly out of the battle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Decius, springing from Ausonius's side, now took command of +the Romans. +But he could no longer maintain order in the ranks. At their leader's +fall under Adalo's terrible blow the column scattered in a wild flight +down the hillside. The foremost ones, who had witnessed the duel, +dispersed to the right and left. The rear ranks still held firm, but +now they received an attack from behind, from the camp, and all was +over. This attack was led by Duke Hariowald. At last--far too late for +his battle fury--he, too, had crossed the camp and reached the Porta +Decumana.</p> + +<p class="normal">The greatest obstacle to the pursuit was now what had formerly +been the +principal cause of the hesitation, confusion, and dispersion of the +retreating Roman troops: namely, the luggage, the barricade of wagons. +Behind it, that is, between it and the lake gate, numerous Romans, +especially the German mercenaries, the Batavians, who were accustomed +to such methods of fighting, had again made a stand; and much time was +consumed before the Duke, by means of fire, axe-blows, and bloodshed, +forced a passage through it. He had at once sent bodies of his men +through the cross streets leading to the right and left; to go round +the obstacle and attack the defenders on both flanks. Herculanus had +watched, in mortal terror, from his hiding-place in the tent, the +Alemanni dashing down these cross streets. Many rows of tents were +already blazing; others were blocked with piles of luggage and tent +equipage left behind. It was long before the Duke and his men, breaking +their way through the citadel of wagons and driving its last defenders +before them, reached the Decumanian Gate; but then with his whole body +of troops, intoxicated by their victory, he fell upon the rear of the +Romans commanded by Decius.</p> + +<p class="normal">All was lost. Decius succeeded in holding together only one +very small +band of Illyrians, scarcely twenty men. These, with their wounded +General and Ausonius in their midst, burst through the ranks of the +Linzgau men, who for some time were occupied with the care of Adalo, +and fled directly south toward the lake. It was evident that the only +hope of escape was by the ships, for swift destruction was overtaking +all the fugitives, who scattered and fled to the right and left, the +east and west. Without leadership or direction, only keeping in general +toward the lake, they ran singly, in pairs, and in groups. Most of +them, in the darkness of the night, floundered into the marshes, where, +ignorant of the fords or the few higher portions, they sank, and were +either drowned or cut down by their pursuers.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Hariowald reached the open ground he heard of the +King's +fall, to which he listened with a silent nod, and--from Sippilo's +lips--of the Adeling's wound.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Severe?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the shoulder; cut completely through."</p> + +<p class="normal">"H'm!--Was he carried to his hall?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take the blind old dame Waldrun to him at once from the Holy +Mountain. +She knows the strongest herbs, and she also knows when and how they +must be gathered, without impatience or rough handling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is already waiting at his hall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How did that happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She dreamed last night that this battle would end in victory, +but that +she nursed my brother, who lay in her lap, sorely wounded. She insisted +that the Sarmatian should lead her to our hall before the battle began. +'I will wait there for the wounded man,' she said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you are bleeding, too, my lad; there, in the arm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A spear grazed me. It isn't much."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Enough for the first time! You are surely tottering."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An arrow--in the calf of my leg--but it didn't go deep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can scarcely stand. Go home at once, do you hear? I, +command it by +the oath of loyalty to the Duke. Waldrun will have a healing herb for +you, too. Go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Assuming the direct leadership of the bands formerly commanded +by +Ebarbold and Adalo, the Duke spread his whole force into the widest +possible front, to inclose the fugitives, and gave only one order: +"Drive them into the lake!" The command was received with shouts of +exultation, and faithfully obeyed. Hariowald had swung himself upon one +of the numerous riderless horses dashing through and around the camp; +his men eagerly followed his example, and thus the pursuit became a +wild chase on horseback and on foot down the descent from the heights +to the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">The blazing camp behind, and the blazing ships before them, +cast a +terribly beautiful, flickering light over the savage, warlike scene. +But already, though still very dim, another light was stealing where +the red glare of the torches and the burning tents did not penetrate. +The night was no longer perfectly dark. Far away, in the extreme east, +dawn was glimmering; for more than two, almost three hours of the +September night had passed in the battle around the camp since the +criers had announced the second hour after twelve.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Bissula had recovered consciousness. The loud +summons of the +tubas, giving the signal for the sally of the Romans, had roused her. +Raising herself in her hiding-place behind the beams and planks which, +piled one above another to the height of a man, completely concealed +her, she peered through the openings between them. Her heart throbbed +with joy as she saw the lake gate, hitherto so impenetrably and +inexorably closed against her, now standing wide open. Cautiously, +crouching like a kitten that tries to escape the hand outstretched to +seize it, she glided to the western corner of her hiding-place and +looked out at the gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet, ardently as she longed for liberty, and familiar as was +the +fearless daughter of the forest by the lake with all the perils and +horrors of the primeval woods and the waves, she was but a girl, and +had never before witnessed the terrors of murderous battles. But now +Bissula saw the bloody scenes, of which, hitherto, she had only heard +from her uncle or some bard at a feast celebrating a victory: she saw, +and trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the light of the two wings of the gate, now blazing +furiously, the +torches of the Romans, and the bundles of faggots hurled among the +tents by the Alemanni, she saw close at hand, beyond the ditch, the +bloody, murderous conflict. She saw the meeting between the Romans, as +they burst from the camp, and the assailing bands of her own people; +saw things which sent a thrill of horror through every vein.</p> + +<p class="normal">Trembling in every limb she sank down, as though paralyzed, on +a pile +of lumber behind her, and gazed with dilated eyes, through the gate at +the terrible spectacle, from which, with all its horrors, she could not +avert her gaze, or even lower her eyelids. Suddenly she saw Saturninus, +then he vanished, hidden by his Illyrians, then reappeared, far in the +van. She recognized the King of the Ebergau,--he had given her a clasp +at the last spring festival,--then she saw him fall backward without +rising again. The little figure at his side, with fair curls floating +around his uncovered head, was Sippilo. So the plunge from the wall had +not injured him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then a gigantic Illyrian, swinging a blazing torch,--a +terrible +weapon,--approached him from the side. The boy did not see the brand +uplifted above him; Bissula, forgetting all danger to herself, shrieked +loudly. Then the soldier sank. For an instant she saw, by the glare of +the torch, Adalo, who had rescued his brother, and she rejoiced at the +spectacle, but the torch went out as its bearer fell. The brothers +vanished from her sight. Directly afterwards she heard in loud, wailing +tones the cry of many voices: "Adalo! alas for Adalo! alas for the +Adeling!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Horror and anxiety for her friend made her heart sink: she +could get no +further glimpse of him. And, from the camp behind her, a fresh uproar +arose, which swiftly drew nearer. It was Hariowald, now with his men +driving the last Batavians (Bissula recognized Rignomer) from the +fortress of wagons, and the scattered Romans flying down all the +streets through the Decumanian Gate. She attempted to join the pursuing +Alemanni, but their arrows and spears flew close about her; a stone +from a sling fell crashing against a beam above her head and, +terrified, she threw herself face downward on the ground and let the +dangerous stream of foe and friend roar past her into the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The camp soon became still, absolutely still. Outside the +gate, too, +the din of battle swept very swiftly down the hill toward the lake. +Bissula rose again and looked through the gate. In the distance she +saw, though indistinctly, the surging ranks pour down the slope; she +could scarcely distinguish the figures, but her people's shouts of +victory rang loudly in her ears. A rush of joy filled her heart and she +cried exultingly: "Victory! Liberty! Hurrah!" But the next instant she +said to herself reproachfully: "And Ausonius! And brave Saturninus! +Alas! and Adalo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her grief, her terrible anxiety for her lover drove her from +her +hiding-place even more powerfully than the longing for her liberation, +and she resolved to venture across the dreaded battlefield, lately so +full of uproar, now so horribly silent. The camp was deserted. At least +it seemed so, as Bissula, stealing cautiously around the corner of the +barricade, looked in every direction. She thought, too, of the faithful +bear: "Bruna! Here, Bruna!" she called up the streets of the camp as +loudly as she could; but no Bruna came. Though the burning tents still +gave light enough, she saw no upright figure near, either of friend or +foe. Only on the ground, here and there, some movement still remained.</p> + +<p class="normal">A dead Celt lay directly across one of the streets, his helmet +on his +head and the spear still in his rigid hand. With horror--she had never +before witnessed death, being only a few years old when she lost her +parents--she cautiously stepped over the broad mailed breast, holding +up her garments that they might not brush against the corpse. "Three +bounds," she thought, "and I shall reach the gate." She had already +raised her foot for a swift run, when a groan behind her reached her +ear. Involuntarily, though shaken by fresh fear, she looked around. +Terrible things exert a strange compulsion which at the same time +attracts and repels. A Roman severely wounded lay a few steps behind +her, his head resting on a tent-pole, his right arm propped on the +ground, and his left pressed against the gaping wound in his breast. He +must have seen the girl, for, instead of moaning, he now called, in +Latin, "Water, oh, pray give me some water!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula shrank in fear; besides, she dreaded to turn from the +liberty +beckoning outside the gate to go back into the camp. But her woman's +heart conquered the terror, and she glanced around her to see if she +could find means to quench the sufferer's thirst. Then her eyes fell on +one of the huge tuns which, according to Roman camp regulations, always +stood filled with water beside each gate. It was so high that she could +scarcely look into it, but she pulled herself to the top with both +hands and saw that there was plenty of water inside. But where was she +to find a cup? All sorts of utensils lay scattered around, but neither +goblet nor vessel.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then a thought flashed through her mind which at first made +her +shudder. But she bravely conquered the girlish fright, went to the dead +Celt, loosed, with trembling fingers, the iron band which fastened the +helmet under his chin, drew it carefully, tenderly, as if the dead +could feel, from his head, then hastened to the cask, half filled it, +and carried it with both hands, the long horse-hair of the crest +trailing on the ground. She walked slowly, that she might not spill too +much, to the groaning man, who watched her movements with glassy eyes +and opened his mouth eagerly. Kneeling by his side, she held the helmet +sideways to his bearded lips. He drained it to the last drop, and with +a long sigh of relief, laid his head back on the pole and said, with an +effort:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you a Christian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl shook back her red locks defiantly: "Freya and Frigga +protect +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter," replied the dying man, "Christ, the Saviour, +girl, will +reward you for this drink!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula rose slowly, her glance rested upon the nearest street +of tents +to the left and, with a sharp cry of terror, she dropped the helmet and +ran as swiftly as she could, toward the gate. For, down that street, +brightly illumined by the blaze of the burning tents, she saw, stealing +toward her, crouching like a beast of prey, with a dagger in his +hand,--Herculanus.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LIV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Hitherto Herculanus had remained concealed from both Romans +and Germans +in the tent on the cross street where he had sought refuge. Now +everything around had become so still that he might have supposed the +camp to be deserted, but the cautious fugitive probably would not have +left the tent yet if the fire, and still more the smoke, of the +consuming leather had not driven him away. Peering timidly between the +folds, he glided out, and his first glance fell upon the hated girl to +whom he believed he owed his downfall. With a short, half stifled cry +of savage delight in vengeance, he sprang toward her, the quivering +dagger uplifted, when he saw that he was discovered. But Bissula had a +good start; he was obliged to pass the fifty paces of the cross street +before reaching the corner tent where she had just been kneeling, and +his aching feet would not permit him to follow as fast as his hate +desired.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Bissula fled like a hunted deer down the central +street to +the gate; there she glanced back. Alas, he must have guessed the +direction of her flight, for he also ran toward the gate and saw her +pass out into the open country. He followed.</p> + +<p class="normal">At first hate and revenge urged him recklessly on. But now, +after +obeying these impulses, he said to himself while running:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ausonius is dead; I am his heir. And perhaps the few others +who knew +of the incident died, too, in this hour, like Davus; only the Barbarian +girl lives. Has he, meantime, made her his heiress? Hardly! And even if +it were so, the will has probably burned with the other things in the +camp; and even if it should be saved, what harm can it do, if the +person named as heiress also perishes during this night of universal +slaughter? However that may be, she shall not--must not live."</p> + +<p class="normal">He too had reached the gate. The gray dawn of day was already +diffusing +sufficient pale light for him speedily to discover the flying figure on +the opposite side of the ditch; her white garments and fluttering red +locks betrayed her when the wind bore the glare from the burning camp +in her direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herculanus leaped into the ditch, but uttered a cry of pain, +and fell: +his feet were too lame. Climbing and dragging himself up with his +hands, with great difficulty and keen suffering he succeeded in +reaching the southern side of the trench. The fugitive had gained a +longer distance in advance. The Roman perceived this with furious rage +and, battling with the pain, forcing his reluctant feet to bear him +onward, he redoubled his efforts to overtake her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula was doubtless greatly terrified when, after passing +through the +gate into the open country, she again saw flames rising before, as well +as behind her, and heard the din of the raging battle. She had learned +from Prosper the arrival of the ships and the camp made by the lake, so +she understood that the conflict was probably now roaring around the +galleys. Yet she unhesitatingly obeyed the impulse which led her away +from Herculanus straight down to the lake; there, though she would once +more encounter the horrors of war, she would surely find her own +people.</p> + +<p class="normal">So she ran directly down the hill, always watching sharply to +see if +she could not distinguish one of the Alemanni on her way. But the men +whom she met were not Alemanni; they were Romans, and lay dead or dying +on the earth. Once she was startled by a horse that dashed across her +path; trembling, she hid herself behind a clump of bushes; but the +steed bore no rider. Two, four, six masterless animals followed the +first, but neither Romans nor Alemanni, who might have threatened or +protected her, were visible far or near: flight and pursuit had long +since swept down to the lake. A furious struggle was still raging +below.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was forced to stop a moment, her heart was beating so +violently. +Looking back from the bushes, she saw a dark figure, now plainly +visible in the light of morning, still swiftly chasing her; nay, it +seemed as though, behind the first, a second pursuer had rushed from +the camp or risen from the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again she ran forward, confidently hoping to reach her people +by the +lake before she was overtaken; for the child of the forest was skilled +in running and had a considerable start. But, after a few steps, fresh +terror seized her: she again heard, this time directly behind her, the +hoofbeats of a horse. At first she hoped it was another riderless +charger, but it followed directly upon her track, and she now heard, in +the language of the foe, all sorts of cries urging the animal on. A +frightful thought darted through her brain. At any cost, she must turn +to see whether--</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, her fears were verified. Herculanus had caught one of the +horses +that crossed his path, thrown himself upon it, and was now pursuing the +girl, who was using the last remnant of her strength to fly. She +distinctly heard the heavy feet splash through the marshy pools of the +meadow land; heard, alas! louder and louder, therefore nearer and +nearer, the fierce shouts of the rider and the trampling of hoofs +winged by his excitement. The space which separated them grew shorter +and shorter very rapidly. Mortal terror overwhelmed Bissula; she +remembered how the cruel Roman had tried to kill her in the forest hut +like an animal slain for sacrifice.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this approach of death one name, one only sprang to her +lips. +"Adalo!" she shrieked, "Adalo! Help, save me, save Bissula!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Vain appeal! No human being was visible far or near. No answer +came.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was no fighting on the strip of shore toward which she +was +running, only far out on the lake blazing Roman galleys were floating, +pursued by the little boats of the Alemanni.</p> + +<p class="normal">The terrible horse was already very near. She could hear the +snorting +of the animal as it was urged forward with blows of the heels, shaking +of the bridle, and shouts, to more and more frantic speed. Then--oh, +rescue!--she saw in the gray light of morning, close to the shore, +hidden among the rushes, two boats of the Alemanni side by side. Those +were certainly no Roman vessels: there was neither triangular sail nor +lofty prow. Bissula even fancied that she distinguished on one the +sixteen-branched antlers, Adalo's house-mark. Yes, yes, there it was; +it was his fishing boat, and several men were bending to the oars. She +called loudly several times: "Help, Alemanni, help for Bissula!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Oh, joy! They had heard her voice. The men were rowing with +all their +might; both boats were flying toward the shore to meet her. And then, +more joy: she heard behind her a loud cry and a dull, heavy fall with a +splashing noise. She could not help looking back.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, the horse, urged beyond its strength by the pitiless +rider, had +fallen; it lay on its side, lashing out savagely with its hoofs. But +alas! Bissula had rejoiced too soon. The rider had sprung up unhurt and +was now running toward her--only a few steps away, brandishing his +dagger. The second pursuer appeared from behind the horse. And the boat +was still several ship's lengths out upon the lake. Without hesitation +the girl leaped into the water, waded as long as she could touch the +bottom, then with a strong push from the ground, spread out her +powerful white arms, well practised in the art, and swam toward the +nearest boat.</p> + +<p class="normal">No girl on the northern shore excelled Bissula in swimming; +but the +long flowing folds of her robe hampered her, winding about her feet as +soon as they were wet and preventing her from aiding the strokes of her +arms with those of the lower limbs. And, horror! splashes behind her +announced that her pursuer, or two of them, had followed her into the +lake, for she thought she twice heard a plunge or a heavy fall. This +fear paralyzed the last remnant of her strength; her arms also refused +to obey her will; she sank with her face low in the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once more she raised herself from it; then she felt her +pursuer seize +her long robe and drag her toward the land; but at the same instant his +grasp relaxed; a shrill death-cry fell upon her ear, followed by a low, +angry growl. Turning her head, she saw Herculanus sinking in the arms +of a huge blackish-brown beast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bruna!" she called again; then her senses seemed to fail. +There was a +strange roaring in her ears; the water filled her nose, mouth, and +ears, and she sank.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment four strong arms seized her by the +shoulders, and +the white hands flung high out of the waves for the last time. With +great, but tender strength she was lifted into the boat. Then she +opened her eyes: Ausonius and Saturninus stood before her. She shrieked +aloud in the anguish of the keenest disappointment; her eyelids closed, +her senses failed, and faintness overwhelmed her.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Even the reënforcements of Saturninus's troops could not have +changed +the result of the battle around the ships and the camp on the +lake-shore: the die had fallen long before, nay, almost at the moment +the conflict began; for the surprise here had been almost more complete +than in the assault upon the Idisenhang.</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of the chill of the September night, the brave +Commander, +Nannienus, had had his couch prepared on the high quarter-deck, above +the second bank of oars of his bireme; a very simple bed, consisting of +a woolen blanket spread over the planks, a coil of rope under his neck +and his Breton cloak for a coverlet. In reply to the warning of the +colonist from Arbor, who now relieved the helmsman, against the +nocturnal coolness of the lake, he had said, smiling:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, how often I have crossed at night, no more warmly +wrapped, between +Britain and Gaul! Is the German ocean to be shamed by this fresh water +pond? There is no better sleeping potion than the rocking ship beneath +me and the stars above! Unfortunately, tonight there is no moon and +there are few stars. Strange, this constant calling of the swans. I +never supposed there could be so many!"</p> + +<p class="normal">While thinking of the swan notes, he fell asleep, but they +haunted his +dreams. He saw countless white, brown, and black swans coming from both +sides of the marshy forest against his squadron, raising their wings +threateningly as if to strike.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a long sleep he awoke: gradually, as is natural after +healthy +slumber, not all at once, his thoughts began to clear. Was he still +dreaming? It seemed as if the calling and singing of the swans on both +sides actually came nearer, accompanied by a peculiar low whistling, +humming, rippling, with now and then a louder splash in the water. +Still half asleep he asked the man at the helm: "What is that humming +among the rushes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The swans, my lord, the wild swans," replied the helmsman, +the old +Roman colonist from Arbor. He was a retired member of the Twenty-second +Legion, faithful to the Cæsar. "I know it well! I have often seen them +at sunset going by thousands to the marshy forests of this lake. They +are preparing to migrate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," cried the Breton starting up. "Those are no water birds, +the +splashing is too loud." Lifting the helmet from his head, he gazed out +keenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The night is black as pitch, but look, something is swimming +out +from the rushes yonder: Swans? No, no!" He tore his sword from its +sheath.--"Those are boats! To arms! Raise the anchor! The foe!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same moment a bright light flamed on the Idisenhang, +red torches +blazed in the camp on the shore; a bundle of burning straw flew over +Nannienus's helmet into the half-reefed sail, remained there caught by +the folds, while tongues of fire, fanned by the north wind, crept up +the sail, the rigging, the mast. Already dark forms were climbing up +the sides of the galley from all directions, and wild cries from men, +attacked and mortally wounded while sleeping, rang from all the ships +and the camp on the lake shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nannienus sprang with flashing sword toward the first man who +boarded +the galley. But the desperate fellow did not seem to care for his own +life. Without heeding or attempting to parry the blow, which came +within a hair's breadth of his unprotected head, he thrust a sort of +harpoon (that is, a spear eight feet long with a sharp point and a hook +curving backward, such as the men threw through holes in the ice on the +lake in winter to catch the largest sheatfish) into the Roman's bronze +belt, jerked him forward with tremendous force and hurled him +overboard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nannienus fell into one of the boats of the Alemanni, at the +starboard +side of his bireme, and striking his head against a thwart, lay stunned +for a considerable time. The skiff was empty, all its occupants had +boarded the galley. When he regained consciousness, he saw his own ship +and most of the other vessels in flames; while his camp on the shore, +and even that of Saturninus, high up on the Idisenhang, were burning. +Then he perceived that all was lost. Everywhere the remnant of his +armada which had escaped the flames was in full flight, pursued by the +Barbarians.</p> + +<p class="normal">He resolved to make his escape to Arbor, and hastily unbuckled +the +Roman armor that would have betrayed him; his helmet he had lost in his +fall. Then, seeing a German mantle lying among the rubbish in the boat, +he threw it on, placed himself at the helm (these boats were rowed and +steered standing), trimmed the coarse square sail to catch the wind, +and was soon flying, unnoticed by the Germans, who recognized the boat +as one of their own, across the lake toward Arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once only, the utmost peril threatened him. He had overtaken a +lofty +Roman ship whose sails were partly burned, but the fire was evidently +being extinguished by the crew. He was on the point of hailing it and +ordering the men to take him on board when, to his horror, he perceived +that the galley was filled with Alemanni. As he had taken possession of +the German boat, they were pursuing on the captured bireme other Roman +ships that were flying to Arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastily rowed the skiff away from the great vessel, and now +perceived that in Arbor, too, a terrible conflagration was rising +toward heaven. It was the funeral pyre of Roman rule in the fortress on +the lake. Nannienus saw it with terror, turned his boat west southwest, +and tried to gain, instead of the lost Arbor, the distant but safe +harbor citadel of Constantia.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LVI.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The camp on the lake shore had been taken, with great loss of +life to +the Romans.</p> + +<p class="normal">A camp wall and ditch had been hurriedly made in the few hours +after +their arrival, merely for form's sake, because the good old Roman +custom prescribed it, and Nannienus insisted upon its observance. But +the Commander himself closed his eyes to the carelessness of the work. +This camp was to be abandoned at dawn on the following morning and its +men sent to garrison the one on the Idisenhang and to march in pursuit +of the Barbarians. So the ditch was dug only a few feet deep, the wall +erected only a few feet high, and other fortifications were omitted. +The Alemanni instantly poured from all directions into the fortress, +whose inmates were overcome by sleep and wine.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old Duke had given them counsel taken from the songs of a +wandering +bard, who had sung in his own hall, to the music of his harp, ancient +tales of his race. The man was a Batavian and bore the names, an odd +medley, Julius Claudius Civilis Chlodomer. He went from tribe to tribe +as far as they understood his language, singing and telling the old +songs and legends. So he related how, three centuries before, his +people, skilled in the use of arms, and led by his ancestor who, though +a German, had the same Roman names as his distant descendant, fought +furiously against the Roman yoke and won many a victory, inspired by +Veleda, a maiden prophetess of the Bructeri.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he sang how once, one moonless, starless night, they +attacked a +Roman ship camp on the Rhine: the galleys were anchored in the river; +on the shore were many tents. The Batavians first cut the main ropes, +which wound around the poles stretching the tents; and the sleepers, +buried, entangled, and held beneath them, were easily overpowered while +thus defenceless:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6">"Like plump fish captured</p> +<p class="i6">In nets by night,</p> +<p class="i6">They struggled, shouting</p> +<p class="i6">Their tents beneath."</p> +</div> +<p class="normal">The old Duke had firmly impressed upon his mind these lines of +the +Batavians; they had seemed to him the best of all, and he now used what +he had learned.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Romans were wakened first by the tents falling in upon +them, by the +glare of flames on all sides, and then by the Germans' shouts of +victory. They scattered without offering the least resistance; saw the +ships, their nearest refuge, also burning; tried to climb to the camp +on the height, but beheld fire blazing there also, and fled, without +aim or plan, to the right and left along the shore of the lake. They +were pursued by few of the victors, who preferred, first of all, to +seize the small Roman vessels and in these aid their comrades to board +the proud biremes. These vessels would contain more men, and their +higher decks were far better suited to climb the sides of the large war +galleys than the low fishing boats of the Alemanni. So it happened that +many German boats drifted to the shore empty, their crews having +abandoned them to pursue in the smaller Roman vessels, the Roman +galleys, or having already boarded them.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Decius, with the little band of Illyrians, whom he had +held +together around the wounded General and Ausonius, reached the burning +camp, even Saturninus, with the biremes blazing before his eyes, +recognized reluctantly that here, too, all was lost, and any +continuation of the battle impossible. He consented, hesitatingly, to +think only of flight. Rignomer, who had joined the General at the lake +gate, was the first to discover, as he gazed watchfully to and fro, +several deserted boats of the Alemanni drifting near them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Leaping into the water, sometimes wading, sometimes swimming, +he +reached the first, climbed in, found the oars, rowed to the three +skiffs nearest, tied them together with the ropes tangled near the +steering oar, and soon brought his little fleet so close to the shore +that the wounded Commander could be placed in the largest one, while +the whole band of fugitives--five or six in each--entered the others. +By his advice they all removed the high Roman helmets, which could be +recognized at a long distance, and the glittering Roman armor. At his +suggestion, too, they separated. Even Decius willingly followed the +counsel of the Batavian, an expert in sailing, in order not to attract +the enemy's attention so easily: thus they hoped to reach Arbor, on the +southern shore, singly and undetected.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Hariowald and his followers arrived, they found nothing +to do +except to take possession of all the Roman and German vessels which +still lay unused near the land, and continue the pursuit of the war +galleys on the lake. Springing into a Roman transport boat, he ordered +his men to row him to Nannienus's galley, where the boarders, after +overpowering the crew, had extinguished the flames. A man standing on +the lofty deck flung a rope ladder into the boat and gave Hariowald his +hand to help him on board. It was now dawn; the Duke recognized +Fiskulf, the fisherman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" cried the old Commander in astonishment. "Did Odin +really save +you? Then he is even more powerful and more gracious than I expected."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It must be so," replied the man, with a happy laugh. "I was +the first +on deck, flung, the first brand into the main sail, and swung the +Italian lord overboard like a lake salmon out of an ice-hole. But then +I saved the beautiful ship by putting out the flames. I thought: 'It is +better to capture than to burn.' Did I keep my word?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have surpassed it. And are you uninjured?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not entirely: henceforth I shall have one ear less. It must +be owned +that the short swords of these Italians slice sharply, and they deal +powerful blows. Look, not even the mother who bore me with two ears +would believe that one ever peered out under my hair here--he shaved it +off so smoothly."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duke held out his hand: "You shall be one of my followers, +Fiskulf! +You have learned to hear and to obey me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my lord, even with one ear! When I miss the second, I +shall +always tell myself why I lost it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how the Lofty One gave you back the life forfeited to +him: never +forget that. But now we will pursue the Italians across the lake to +Arbor on their own splendid galley. Spread every sail!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where shall we get them, my lord? They are all burned."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then stretch your mantles for sails. The north wind will help +to fill +them; a fresh west northwest breeze will spring up at sunrise. See how +the waves are rippling already. The first red ray of morning is +breaking through yonder clouds. Quick, men, seize the Roman oars; the +morning sun must greet us on the southern shore. Ha, do you behold it +over yonder? Smoke and flames are rising in Arbor. Our eastern men, the +Hermunduri, and our kinsmen, now free, though hitherto under the +foreign yoke, have kept their promise. Up! On to Arbor to celebrate the +third victory of one night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized the helm himself. The proud galley of the Romans +turned her +prow away from the northern shore, and being now rowed by the +conquerors, moved majestically across the lake. The mantles of the +Alemanni, brown, blue, yellow, and red, filled in the fresh +northwestern breeze, and the well-built ship darted swiftly through the +water, which reflected the clear sky in the increasing brightness of +the morning and shone with a wonderful azure hue. The waves broke in +foam before the bow, tossing their white spray high into the air; +little rosy clouds were floating in the eastern sky and were mirrored +in the lake.</p> + +<p class="normal">With the folds of his dark mantle around him, his white locks +fluttering, his head crowned with a shining white helmet, Hariowald's +tall figure stood forth in strong relief against the sky, as he +remained at the helm erect and motionless, his spear flung over his +shoulder. So the ship and her helmsman gradually vanished beyond the +sight of the eyes watching them intently from the northern shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rignomer, peering from behind his sail, also saw and +recognized him. +"They can upbraid me as much as they please," he muttered. "Where is +Brinno, who tried to oppose him? They can say what they choose. Even +though in human form, it is still <i>he</i>!"</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">But the Batavian was suddenly startled from his mythological +studies. +He heard from the east a shout in German: "Romans! Romans! On them!" +and saw a boat filled with Alemanni steer toward them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quick! Disperse in every direction!" he called, and the boats +containing the fugitives scattered. He soon lost sight of two, which +attracted the attention of the pursuers and were driven by the Germans +out upon the lake toward the south. He himself steered and rowed at the +same time, assisted by several soldiers, close in to the shore +westward, where by good fortune he reached a small patch of rushes, +among which he hid the boat; the second one, containing Decius, soon +joined him.</p> + +<p class="normal">From this place Ausonius, who by Saturninus's order was +watching the +shore to see if they could rescue any fugitive Romans, perceived by the +dim light of morning the figure of a girl in a gleaming white robe, who +was running at her utmost speed straight toward the boats. He already +thought he recognized Bissula when her cry fell upon his ear: "Adalo, +Alemanni, help Bissula!" He also saw a horseman dashing in furious +pursuit down the hill. He ordered the men to row quickly shoreward. +Prosper, even Rignomer, hesitated. "My lord," the latter warned him, +"they will murder us all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter! Bissula! It is for Bissula!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Rignomer instantly obeyed. Hidden behind his sail he had +not seen +the young girl, and could not hear her; but now he turned the helm, and +sent the boat with the speed of lightning toward the shore, at the same +time urging the soldiers to row with all their might. The rest of the +men now recognized the fugitive, and so the rescuers came just in time +to save her from sinking.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula, whose strength was completely exhausted, lay +unconscious in +the bottom of the boat for a long, long time. Rignomer had rolled into +a bundle a fishing net which he found in the bow and put it under her +head for a pillow. Ausonius, sitting on a thwart, supported her lovely +little head and gazed anxiously down into her face, while the Batavian +rubbed her cold hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the +rushes, rowed +first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide +circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did +not go far.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling +from the +second boat as they rowed side by side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance +for this +unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the +Cæsar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me +three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley +coming toward +us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains +Barbarians."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from +Constantia!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; +I +recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is +on board."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Cæsar," remarked +Saturninus.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept +forward. It +must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with +Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and +now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer, +stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head, +"that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you +bring? I hope help, reënforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are +lost." He groaned aloud.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. +"Nannienus, +whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has +told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you. +Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand +men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened?" asked the Roman leader, startled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A second Cannæ, Gratianus says."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what a dreadful word is that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Emperor Valens and his whole army are defeated, put to +rout by the +Goths at Adrianople. Forty thousand Romans lie dead upon their shields, +thirty thousand are prisoners. The Emperor Valens while wounded was +burned during his flight, in a peasant's house. All the Eastern +Provinces are overrun by the Goths; even Constantinople is threatened. +Gratianus has appointed you, Saturninus, commander-in-chief of the +whole trembling, orphaned Eastern Empire. He commands you to hasten at +once to Vindonissa, to lead his whole army thence against the Goths on +the Danube. You are his last hope, and the Empire's. 'Saturninus alone +can still save us,' he ordered me to tell you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And this Saturninus is a bungler," groaned the Illyrian, "and +a +wounded man, too. Attacked and disgracefully defeated by Suabian +robbers--beaten in every sense!" He laughed grimly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!" replied Nannienus mournfully, "that is nothing compared +to my +fate. An imperial fleet, under my command, captured and burned by +miserable fishing boats."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas," Saturninus continued, "and now I cannot even avenge +myself and +my honor as a General on these miscreants. But the Empire--the +Emperor's command overrules everything else. I obey. Turn the helm. We +will go to Constantia, thence to Vindonissa. Come with me at once, +Ausonius. Do you not hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Directly," replied the latter. "She is opening her eyes."</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">The imperial galley was preparing to tow Saturninus's boat. +This plan +seemed best for the wounded General, who could not easily be lifted +upon the lofty deck of the ship. Engaged in this task, the other Romans +did not notice the young girl, who now sat up. Her first glance rested +on the Prefect. "Ausonius!" she said feebly. "Again captured by you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Saved by me--by us Romans," he answered, more sternly than he +was +accustomed to speak, especially to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Strange changes had taken place in the character of the +variable man. +He was not yet absolutely sure of his own feelings--how everything +ought to end between him and Bissula.</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, you did not call my name or appeal to us for aid. You +had +another deliverer in your mind. Yet you were not saved by the Alemanni, +but by us Romans."</p> + +<p class="normal">"From your own nephew, he alone pursued me!" she answered +vehemently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Punishment has overtaken him," replied the Prefect, +shuddering. "Let +these thoughts pass. I saved you; I first recognized you and ordered +the boat to turn back, merely to rescue you. Thus I risked life and +liberty, for your wolfish people are certainly wild beasts and +murderers. So: life for life. There we are equal. But," he went on +gravely, earnestly, and kindly, yet with a stern, strange tone, as if +testing her, "but we have not yet done with each other, little maid. +You wounded me deeply, very deeply by your fierce, rude, childish +refusal. Almost as deeply as the poisoning plan of--the dead man. The +terrible events of the past night first taught me how I love you: I +thought constantly of you, your fate, your safety. Duty called me, but +I sent you my most faithful----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To prevent my escape!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To protect you, ungrateful girl. When I fell from the wagon +under the +missiles of the Barbarians and thought death would come the next +moment, even then I thought only of you. I have proved it by the most +terrible test; my love for you is genuine, no mere caprice; it will end +only with my life. And so once more, not as a reward for your act of +rescue (I have repaid that), not as a favor or a gift--if the word +offended you--once more, for the last time in life (and consider well, +I will never set you free again) I ask you: will you be my servant, or +my wife? I beseech you--do you hear? I, Ausonius, beseech you: become +my wife!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never! Never!" cried the girl starting up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Insolent!" replied the rejected lover, offended and deeply +incensed: +"You forget you are again my captive--again in my power."</p> + +<p class="normal">A glance from Bissula into the waves of the lake, here very +deep, was +her only reply. Ausonius continued, without understanding the meaning +of the look, "Now I know the cause of this defiant, senseless refusal. +You deceived me when you said you had no lover."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no one who loves me," she answered with the deepest +sadness; +tears filled her eyes as she gazed fixedly into vacancy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You lie!" cried Ausonius. "That Adalo!" Bissula started. "He +must love +you madly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula listened intently, gazing at him in astonishment; +glowing shame +and happy terror filled her heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Roman went on: "Or would he, a free Prince of the +Alemanni, +have solemnly made the proposal to Saturninus and me: 'Let the maiden +go unhurt. Adalo will take her place as captive.' Do you know what that +means? A slave for life?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He--he did that? For me?" Passionate delight flashed from her +eyes, +her soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ausonius gazed silently into her face. Then he said: "How he +loves you, +this offer shows: how you love him, your radiant eyes betray. But," he +added, slowly and searchingly, "know this. He will no longer separate +us. You can become mine without breaking faith with him, for--" he +clasped her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it? What has happened to him? Speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" shrieked Bissula, and, before Ausonius could stop her, +she had +wrenched herself from his hold, sprung on the thwart of the boat and, +clasping her hands above her head with a gesture of silent anguish, +flung herself forward toward the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">A strong arm caught her; it was Rignomer's.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, hot-hearted child!" he exclaimed kindly. But the girl +struggled +furiously in his grasp, she was resolved to plunge into the deep lake; +the light boat rocked dangerously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Calm yourself," said Ausonius gravely and sorrowfully. "He +lives."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, how cruelly you have played with me," cried the girl. The +Batavian +now drew her gently down upon the thwart, and she burst into a flood of +tears; but they were tears of joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was no play, only a test. I see with grief that you really +love the +fair-haired boy so fondly. If he had fallen, you would rather have +followed him to death than lived as my wife in splendor and happiness? +O Bissula, this is hard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father! Dear Father! Don't be angry. I cannot help it. But is +it +certain? Does he live?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. You cannot help it! That is true; I see it now. Be +comforted. He +is alive. I saw him carried off the field by his followers. Saturninus +and he exchanged blows."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. Be calm, little one," the Tribune interposed good +humoredly. "His +stroke was really no harder than mine. I am still alive, so he will +doubtless live too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Ausonius!" pleaded Bissula, raising both hands +beseechingly. But +he did not let her finish the sentence. Passing his hand across his +eyes he murmured unheard by the others: "It is over. This hour has made +me an old man." Then he asked: "Where do you wish to be put on shore? +Opposite to Suomar's forest hut?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, my warmest thanks! But not there, farther to the +left from +here; yonder under the willows, where a nobleman's hall stands on the +height."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His!" exclaimed Ausonius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which you saved for him," added Saturninus. "All very +beautiful and +noble--almost touching!" the Tribune continued, trying to seem unmoved, +yet at the same time kindly stroking the hand of the young girl, in +whose eyes the dancing light of joy mingled with tears like May rain. +"Only I will not permit the Prefect Prætor of Gaul to return to that +shore full of murderous wolves. No, indeed I will not. Neither will I +risk the life of any Roman soldier. Who is to take her to the land?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will go myself alone!" cried the eager girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That some Roman murderous wolf may follow you again on your +way to the +hall; they are still worse!" cried the voice of some one, in German. +"No, illustrious Tribune," it continued in Latin, "I will take the +child to her friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rignomer now stepped from behind the sail which had concealed +him. His +appearance was totally transformed: he had removed the Roman helmet +long before; now he had unbuckled the coat of mail and thrown around +him a brown Alemannic mantle which he had found in the boat. Instead of +the Roman weapons he carried over his shoulder a long iron-shod pole, +used for pushing and guiding boats while it could touch the bottom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You?" asked Saturninus. "You too will be a dead man if they +catch +you--a warrior in the Roman service."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me; I am one no longer. My time of service expired at +midnight--the last of the long seven years: what I did since--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was----" replied Saturninus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was done voluntarily. I shall not renew my oath of service. +No, no! I +have had enough--more than enough of it. The Emperor still owes my pay +for the last month. I will let it go. I shall return to my mother, on +the Issala. But first I will take this runaway child to her people."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke he grasped her hand. "Jump over, little one. See, +the other +boat is empty: they have all climbed up into the galley. Jump over! +Happily, we are going home!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So be it!" said Ausonius, without resentment but gravely: +"Farewell, +Bissula! We part never to meet again."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away. Bissula threw herself on his breast and, amid +flowing +tears, kissed his noble brow. His face had never been so handsome. +"Ausonius, farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She sprang into the second boat, where Rignomer was already +standing; +then she turned again toward the other one. This had been fastened by a +rope to the galley and now began to follow it as, propelled by many +oars, it swept toward the southwest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father Ausonius, I thank you!" she called. But he did not +hear. With +his face averted from his young friend, and his gray head pressed +against the mast, he was weeping bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The ship, dragging the boat in its wake, flew swiftly away.</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">The Batavian wielded the oars sturdily, and the light boat +rapidly +approached the shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bissula no longer watched the disappearing Roman galley, but +with a +throbbing heart sprang into the bow of the boat, where Adalo's +house-mark, the sixteen-branched antlers, rose proudly; she could not +help stroking it tenderly. The next instant she turned, laughing and +clapping her hands joyously, and exclaimed: "Now, Rignomer, you shall +see for once what rowing means. We are moving far too slowly for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lifting two oars from the bottom of the light boat she put +them +skilfully into the willow holders, seized them with both hands and, +standing erect, her face turned toward the shore, rowed with such +strength and skill that Rignomer exclaimed in wonder: "By Freya's eyes, +girl, you might become a boatman on the Issala any day! You can do this +too? A pity that you are not going with me to my mother!" The boat shot +to the land among the marshes. Bissula reached the ground with a long +leap before the Batavian could help her. The steersman had kept a +straight course for the nobleman's hall: they saw the stately wooden +mansion towering directly above them on the hill.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Donar be thanked," cried the girl joyously. "He has saved +his +favorite beast, as the she-bear saved me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? What are you looking at in the mire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"See! Bear tracks; very fresh ones! She was not drowned; she +ran yonder +to the right along the shore on the old path where Sippilo and I always +went to fish."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is Sippilo?" asked the Batavian. "Another Adalo?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nonsense! A child. And just see; from here the tracks go +directly +to the hall. Come! Don't walk! Leap! Spring up the hill!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, little one," said the Batavian gravely. "You can run; I +will not go +with you. You seem to know the way, to know it very well. There is no +human being in sight far or near. You can reach the hall safe without +me. Aha, there too, a huge stag's antlers tower from the roof. That is +the reason you were so pleased with the one on the boat's prow. +Farewell, little one! I won't go to the meeting--I mean yours with +Adalo and all the rest who belong to his clan."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They would thank you for having done so much for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind the thanks. I did not do it for them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Home. To the north and west. No, have no fear for me; I shall +make my +way through. Here in my breast, little one, I carry the pay and the +price of the booty won in seven years; and on my shoulder is this pole. +One can go far with these two assistants. Farewell! And,"--he whispered +in her ear--"heed my words: never defy the man you call your Duke; for +he is--<i>he</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He patted her hair and her pretty round head with rough +tenderness as +he spoke, and then sprang toward the west along the lake shore. Once he +stopped to look after her--he wanted to wave another farewell. But +Bissula did not see him. She was running, with glowing cheeks, up the +hill.</p> + +<br> + +<h2>CHAPTER LIX.</h2> + +<p class="normal">It was now broad daylight. The sun was shining radiantly on +the +mountain and the lake. Light clouds which hitherto had hung like a veil +thrown over a long spear about the peak of Sentis floated swiftly down +into the valley. During the night a light snow had fallen upon Sentis +and Tödi and the other topmost peaks in the chain, and lay there +glittering like sparkling crystal. It was very peaceful. The +war--thanks to Bissula--had not brought its destruction here. Hoar +frost flashed on every blade of grass.</p> + +<p class="normal">The child of the forest, so long shut out from lake, meadow, +and field, +rejoiced in the freedom of nature. She inhaled long draughts of the +pure air; nay, in spite of her impatience, she even turned once and, +standing still, gazed out over the shining azure lake and the peaks of +the mountains radiant in white and gold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know how to call you all by name, ye beloved gods, +who have +guided everything so happily for me, aided me upon land and water, and +are now shining in the sunlight and the glory of the mountains! And +Adalo lives: that is the best, the very best of all that ye have done. +Ye gods, I do not know you all, but I thank every one of you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She stretched her arms toward the sun. Then, that the goddess +of the +lake and Donar, the King of the mountains, whose throne was on Sentis, +might not be angry, she saluted the water and the mountains, with both +hands, raising and lowering them as one waves a greeting to a friend +recognized at a distance. Again she ran impatiently up the hill side. +Most of the singing birds had left the lake long before; but one little +robin which always remained there all winter recognized the friendly +being who often scattered food for it on the snow, and, greeting her +with a light chirping, flew a few paces in front of her until she +reached the door of the hall.</p> + +<p class="space">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="normal">Within the great central room Adalo lay on the floor upon a +pile of +soft skins, his head toward the steps of the master's lofty seat, his +feet toward the entrance. His head rested in the lap of gray-haired +Waldrun; his eyes were closed. At his left lay Zercho, but placed in +the opposite direction, with his head toward the door and a huge goblet +of mead beside him. At his right stood Sippilo, gazing down anxiously +at his brother's face. Beside the wounded man was Bruna, the she-bear, +growling softly as she licked his hand. She was the first to move, +raising her head as light footsteps were heard on the sand outside the +door.</p> + +<p class="normal">The blind woman said, in a low tone that the wounded man might +not +hear: "That is Bissula's tread."</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl appeared in the doorway. Sippilo started, Zercho +raised his +head, but she motioned to them all to keep silence, and noiselessly +advancing with bare feet to Adalo's couch, she laid her little hand on +his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bissula?" asked the Adeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">She bent over him, her red locks falling on his pale face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it you, little one? No, no! The fairest of the Valkyrias +has come +to bear me upward--do you see her swan wings?--up to Valhalla's shining +heights." Bissula's white robe was floating around her shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl cast a glance of agonized terror at Waldrun.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be comforted," said the old dame firmly, "he will live. And +everything +will be as I have said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must stay with us always now," cried Sippilo, seizing her +garments +as if to hold her by force.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bruna, growling joyfully, had risen and put one paw on her +knee, +looking up at her with intelligent eyes. Bissula gratefully patted the +animal's head and held out her hand to Zercho, who kissed it humbly. +Laughing, yet with tears in his eyes, he cried: "O little sprite, +little red sprite!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But now the girl bent down again, exclaiming:</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Adalo, it is no Valkyria, it is Bissula, little red +Bissula, who +is so wicked, so wicked! Adalo,--hush, don't speak,--I know all. I +know, too, what you wanted to do for me, what you offered. That was +wrong in you. Hush, hush! It was certainly what you--you only are of +all the people in the world. Hush, dearest--don't move. Yes, yes, I +will stay here, your nurse, your maid-servant, as long as you need me. +Ah! I beg you so earnestly--I entreat you--take me! No, no! Do not move +your arm! Not yet to your breast! But I will do everything all my +life--will be as blindly obedient as you desire: only let me stay with +you--your own!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her little head sank on his breast. The wounded man raised +himself, +kissed her flowing red hair, the red lips, now smiling again, and the +eyes still wet with tears, exclaiming rapturously:</p> + +<p class="normal">"O Bissula--you dear one--you wicked elf--my beloved bride!"</p> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_note01" href="#div2Ref_note01">Footnote 1</a>: The German name for Lake Constance.</p> + +<br> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<br> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Captive of the Roman Eagles, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + +***** This file should be named 32220-h.htm or 32220-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/2/32220/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Captive of the Roman Eagles + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Mary J. Safford + +Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32220] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/acaptiveromanea00dahngoog +2. Footnote is at the end of the book. +3. Diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE + ROMAN EAGLES + + + + + + + A Captive of the + Roman Eagles + + + _By_ FELIX DAHN + + + + Translated from the German by + Mary J. Safford + + TRANSLATOR OF + "Aspasia," "Cleopatra," etc. + + + + + Chicago + A. C. McClurg & Co. + 1902 + + + + + + + COPYRIGHT + A. C. McCLURG & CO. + 1902 + PUBLISHED Sept. 13, 1902 + + + + + + + TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. + +The author of the romance "A Captive of the Roman Eagles"--published in +Germany under the title of "Bissula"--is one of the most distinguished +novelists of the present day in his own country, and will doubtless be +equally appreciated by Americans. + +Like Dr. Georg Ebers, he has based his historical novels upon the solid +foundation of earnest study. The field he has chosen is principally the +period of the conflicts between Germany and Rome, and the struggles for +supremacy of the various peoples in the territory now occupied by +Germany, Switzerland, and France, and he describes with vivid colors +and dramatic power the life of those far-off days. + +Professor Dahn is a native of Hamburg, but spent his childhood in +Munich, always a centre of intellectual life, and, under the stimulus +of its circle of writers, his poetic talent developed early. He studied +law, philosophy, and history in Munich and Berlin. In 1862 he was made +Professor in the University of Wurzburg, in 1872 in Koenigsberg, and in +1888 he was called to a chair in the University of Breslau, where, in +the intervals of his professional duties, he has devoted himself to his +brilliant literary work. + +The warm welcome accorded to my translations of the novels of Ebers, +whose hold upon the affections of American readers has proved so +enduring, inspires the hope that "A Captive of the Roman Eagles" may +also receive a cordial recognition from our public. + + MARY J. SAFFORD. + +_Washington, D. C., June 10, 1902._ + + + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES + + + + + BOOK ONE + + THE FREE WOMAN + + + + CHAPTER I. + +Whoever has been at Friedrichshafen on beautiful Lake Constance, on a +clear August day, and watched the sun setting in splendor behind the +tops of the beeches of Manzell; whoever has seen the waves of the lake +and the snow-capped peaks of the Alps from Sentis to the Allgau +Mountains glow in the crimson light, while the notes of the Ave Maria +float softly over forest, meadow, and water, will treasure the memory +of the peaceful scene throughout his whole life. To this region the +story of little Bissula leads us. + +But in that period--the year 378--the whole northern shore of the +"Venetus Lacus" (Lake Constance) looked somewhat desolate, and often by +no means peaceful. The lowlands were covered with primeval forests and +fens--only here and there a few scattered settlements appeared on +patches of parched tilled land. + +At that time the lake covered a much more extensive tract of country +than now, and a still larger space was occupied by a marshy territory +between the water and the meadow, which being for the greater portion +of the year a mere swamp afforded at the same time refuge and food to +flocks of wild swans, herons, and countless smaller water-fowl. + +This region had already been a considerable time in the possession of +the Alemanni; but on the southern shore of the lake Rome still +maintained her supremacy. This was with the special object of +controlling the important roads leading from Gaul by way of Augst +(Augusta Rauracorum) to Basle, Windisch (Vindonissa) to Arbon (Arbor +Felix), Bregenz (Brigantium), and thence farther eastward, thus +preserving the connection between the Western and Eastern portions of +the Empire, and facilitating the movements of the troops. The men were +sometimes forced to hasten from the Rhine to the Danube to meet the +Goths in the East, and anon from the Danube to the Rhine to contend +with the Franks on the lower, or the Alemanni on the upper portion of +the stream. + +This year also such assistance seemed necessary--this time in the +eastern provinces, where the Gothic tribes, especially the Visigoths, +fleeing before the Huns, had found refuge on Roman territory, but, +driven to desperation by the ill-treatment of the Roman governor, had +risen in arms. + +True, Valens, the Emperor of the Eastern Empire, hoped to cope +successfully with them alone; he would have been reluctant to share the +fame of victory with his young nephew and fellow-ruler Gratianus, lord +of the Western portion. Yet, nevertheless, he had been compelled to ask +the latter to hold himself in readiness to come to his uncle's +assistance with his Gallic legions in the territory bordering on the +Danube. + +Gratianus, however, thought that he could not leave Gaul and the Rhine +until he had first punished the Alemanni for their recent incursions +across the frontier, and--at least for a while--deterred them from +making new inroads. At the same time he desired, in case the summons +for help should arrive, to have traversed a portion of the long +distance and thus be able to give his uncle aid more speedily. So, +toward the end of July, he left his residence, Trier, with the larger +portion of his troops, and marched by way of Zabern and Strassburg to +the left bank of the Rhine near Augst and Basle. Here and at Windisch +he formed two camps and kept the main body of his troops near him, +busying himself in the reorganization of the province and eagerly +awaiting news from the East. + +The expedition against the Alemanni on the northern shore of the lake +was entrusted to a small band of troops which, being able to move more +swiftly, seemed better suited for the marches through swamp and forest +and, moreover, amply sufficient in number; for the attack was directed +against only the Linzgau, so called from the little river, which at the +present time is still known as the Linz, or more frequently the Ach. +This was the home of the Lentian Alemanni, who lived on the northern +and western shores of the lake and, during that very spring, had +harried the Roman frontier. The command of the expedition had been +entrusted to experienced generals who had chosen their own force of +foot and horse, while a large baggage train conveyed the provisions and +the remainder of the luggage. In all, there were probably more than +three thousand men. + +According to the old victorious Roman strategy--whose success was +proved by the conquest of nearly half the world known at that +day--this small force was to assail the foe from several directions at +once, the same as in great campaigns, as if seized by claws, a favorite +comparison in Roman military literature. Part of the troops--the +cavalry, several squadrons of cataphractarii (mailed riders, who were +completely sheathed in armor), cohorts of the Twenty-Second Legion, +picked German mercenaries, Batavians (they were considered the best of +all the foreign soldiers), and lastly the flower of the Imperial Guard, +foot-soldiers, mainly Illyrians and Thracians, were to march northward +from Windisch, cross the Rhine, move along the old road to the north, +then, suddenly turning eastward, skirt the western shore of the lake to +gain its northern side, thus penetrating the whole Linzgau from the +west to the east, halting at an appointed place in the heart of the +enemy's country and awaiting the second division. Meanwhile this second +body was to march along the great highway bordering the southern shore +from Windisch to Arbon, cross the lake in boats, land on the northern +shore, and pass through the Linzgau from east to west till they reached +the first division. + +Thus the escape of the Barbarians, whose tilled lands would all be laid +waste, would be cut off both eastward and westward. Those who attempted +flight southward in their boats across the lake would be intercepted by +the Roman Bodensee[1] Fleet. Year after year, the last time that very +March, the most brilliant reports of its strength and prowess had been +sent to Gaul. The remnant of the foe remaining after the assault from +two or three directions were to be driven by the united bands as far as +possible into the inhospitable northern forests, or forced into the +Danube. + +The place of meeting appointed for both divisions was the lofty hill, +half a league north of Friedrichshafen, whence at the present day the +church of Berg dominates the lowlands. At that time it was known as the +Idisenhang,--the hill of the wood-goddesses. The Roman ships, in +crossing directly from Arbon, were obliged to run into the bay of what +we know as Friedrichshafen. For the land forces the leaders hoped to +find a passable route along the remains of an old military road, which +formerly--in Rome's better days--had extended also around the northern +shore of the lake. This steep hill, affording an unimpeded view in +every direction and dominating the whole neighborhood, was a model of +the positions where the Roman eagle was fain to alight for a brief rest +during its flights in quest of prey. Here a camp was to be formed, +whence the land of the Barbarians would be ravaged by small bodies of +troops in every direction, while the strong fortified camp should +maintain the connection with the lake, the fleet, and the southern +shore, until the whole enterprise was completed and the Romans could +return to the Emperor at Windisch. + + + + CHAPTER II. + +The experienced commanders had executed their tasks swiftly, skilfully, +and successfully. Arbon, the strongly fortified station of the great +military road, had, it is true, been repeatedly attacked, plundered, +and set on fire by the Alemanni in swift forays from the lake, but +never permanently occupied; they did not like to dwell in cities. + +A few years previously Valentinian, Gratianus's warlike father and +predecessor, had repaired and strengthened the old walls, increased the +garrison, filled the store-houses with provisions, especially grain, +and stationed in the harbor a number of ships. These, though neither so +numerous nor so stately as those of the Venetian Fleet in the prouder +days of Rome, were quite sufficient to prevent the Barbarians from an +attack by water, nay, they constantly threatened them with a landing on +the northern shore. + +The commander of the division intended for this fleet, the Comes of +Britannia, Nannienus, a man skilled in nautical matters and an +excellent officer, had reached the harbor fortification with his troops +very quickly by the excellent road from Windisch. The other column +needed a much longer time for its wearisome march, turning finally +eastward before it again reached the shore of the lake. + +Caution was the first requisite during this advance through the +pathless land of the Barbarians; and no measure of prudence was omitted +by the well-trained, circumspect leaders. Natives of the country who +were perfectly familiar with the region acted as guides; though the +southern shore was inhabited exclusively by Roman colonists, they +guarded carefully against treachery from that quarter. Horsemen, +lightly armed Celtic archers, the Keltae and Petulantes, and Germans +familiar with woodland warfare--the Batavians--formed the van and +rearguards. In the centre were the heavily armed foot-soldiers of the +Imperial Guard, protecting the traders and sutlers, luggage, camp +equipage, and provisions. They moved along the ruinous old road, as +near the shore as the marshy ground permitted, in order to keep in view +of the lake, that they might discover any attempt at an attack by the +Barbarians in their boats, and also not lose sight of the opposite +shore occupied by the Romans. + +The most difficult task was assigned to the left wing which, at the +north of the central division and the old road, was to force a passage +through forest and morass in a line parallel with that of the main +body, and protect it from any flank assault of the foe; for should the +latter suddenly burst from an ambush in the impenetrable woods and fall +upon the column extended in marching order, the whole body, thus taken +by surprise, might be scattered and driven into the marshes and the +lake. + +But the resistance offered by forest and fen to the progress of the +troop seemed destined to remain the sole opposition which the Romans +were to encounter; for the latter had not met a single human being +since they quitted the southern shore of the lake and the stations +along the road there. There were no villages of the Alemanni in this +region: the ground was occupied by farms, and the houses (called +"Schwaigen") were miles apart. The few lonely dwellings which they +passed during a march of several days had been abandoned. A mysterious +silence, boding destruction, seemed to brood over the empty wooden +buildings. + +Everywhere, just before the time of ripening, the grain--oats, barley, +and spelt--had been cut and partly burnt; the latter mode was the +quicker, and the grain of the Alemanni should not serve their foe even +as fodder for his horses. The cattle had been driven away; the kennels +of the faithful farm watch, almost always found at the gates, were also +empty; the hay and straw were removed from the barns, which were +usually connected with the houses and very often formed part of them. + +Slowly, with frequent halts, advancing with difficulty, the Romans +assigned to the care of the provisions in charge of the troops or the +sutlers and their wives struggled forward for several days, each night +carefully establishing a well-fortified camp. From the western end of +the lake, where it ran into a stretch of marshy ground densely +overgrown by rushes, and meadows with sedges waving in the wind, they +marched toward the east. Thus, by a toilsome march, they had reached +the foot of the steep hill now crowned by the stately castle of +Meersburg. + +The long August day, during which frequent showers of rain had fallen, +though the sky had not been always clouded, was drawing to a close. +Again the sun shone brilliantly through a rift, gilding the whole chain +of mountain peaks of the Bernese Alps to the Allgau heights; the Sentis +glowed in crimson splendor, solemnly, like a king of the mountain +giants who had drawn his radiant mantle around his proud shoulders. + +The Roman column halted cautiously at the foot of the steep hill, whose +rocky sides fell abruptly to the lake and the valley on the west, while +the summit, at that time densely covered with trees and bushes, +presented a gloomy, threatening aspect. The oak-leaves and pine-needles +were dripping with rain, and wherever the sun did not shine on them, +looked dark-green, almost black. + +Two officers, whose high rank was betokened by the gold and silver +ornaments on their equipments, now flashing brightly in the rays of the +setting sun, rode slowly toward the hill. Before them, bound by the +right and left arms respectively to the stirrups of two mounted +soldiers, walked a guide. A few pioneers with axes and spades +surrounded the leaders, and a little band of Batavian spearmen +followed. One of the officers, a stately man about thirty-five, now +checked his heavy Spanish barb and bent forward, his clear-cut bronzed +features wearing a keenly watchful expression. + +"If I have ever known and fought with Germans," he said with a strong +Illyrian accent, "they are hiding in the woods on yonder hill-top, +which is a natural fortress. Halt, I beg, Prefect Praetor of Gaul. We'll +go no farther without reconnoitring. Forward, my brave Batavians. +Rignomer, take six men and climb up among the underbrush. But be wary! +And you, Brinno, trumpeter, give the signal of warning the instant you +discover the foe." + +The other officer, a man much his senior, smiled as the order was +executed. "You are over-cautious, Saturninus. Always erring on the side +of prudence!" + +"We cannot be over-cautious against this foe, my noble friend. Had not +the Barbarians occupied this fortress erected by the gods of their +native land, all courage to offer resistance must have deserted them." + +"And it evidently _has_ abandoned them. All taste for war was +thoroughly extirpated by the departed hero, Valentinian, and our bold +young Emperor, his son. My pupil!" he added complacently. "I am quite +sure that all danger to the Empire from the Germans is over." + +His companion silently shook his head. Just at that moment a captain of +the mailed horsemen, a man numbering about five and twenty years, +dashed forward from the centre of the Roman column. Tangled locks hung +from beneath his helmet, and his features were ignoble in form and +disagreeable in expression. + +"Must we cross that accursed cliff. Tribune?" he exclaimed, abruptly +checking his horse. + +"We must," replied the Illyrian quietly. "I have just learned that our +left wing has again found the morass in the forest bottomless, and is +approaching along this, our only road. And the waves of the lake are +dashing at our right." + +The young man cast a doubtful glance at the cliff. "H'm," he muttered, +"it will cost us many men. But that's no misfortune," he added, "we +have more than enough Barbarians in our pay; if they fall fighting +against other Barbarians, there will simply be fewer of the beasts." + +"An abominable remark, nephew Herculanus," replied the Prefect +reprovingly. + +"If the ascent be resisted," said the Tribune, "it will consume much +time, and we have none to lose. We ought to have been on the bank of +the Ister long ago to fight the Goths. I am anxious about the Emperor +Valens. I have a presentiment of evil." + +"You are always boding evil," replied the Prefect, smiling, "but the +evil never comes, the good fortune of eternal Rome always conquers. +Hark, it is the same now. The trumpeter is giving the signal: 'All +safe! Forward!' and the Centurion of the Batavians, who climbed the +height first--what is his name?--Rignomer, is beckoning to us to +follow. Up, friends! Was I not right, my brave Tribune? The Barbarians +will make no defence." + +"You are right as usual, uncle!" said Herculanus with a smile intended +to be pleasant, but which made quite the opposite impression. + +"If you only remain right, Ausonius!" said the Illyrian hesitatingly. +"Yet at the moment it really does appear so. Up, give the signal with +the tubas: Forward! We will pitch our camp for the night on that +height, and the land of the Alemanni will be defenceless before us." + + + + CHAPTER III. + +As we have seen, the Romans were still ignorant whether the Barbarians +were aware of the bands approaching simultaneously from several +directions to menace the inhabitants of the forest with destruction. +Preparations had been made so secretly that the commanders believed it +possible to take the foe completely by surprise. For weeks not a German +had been allowed to pass the guards on the very outermost line of Roman +territory, which, it is true, had been greatly diminished in the course +of the last three or four generations. The right of traffic at the +stations on the southern shore had been withdrawn a still longer time, +on the pretext of alleged violations of the conditions of such +intercourse. Roman traders had not ventured recently within the +precincts occupied by neighbors who were justly irritated by such +severity. + +The sentinels on the frontier reported that nothing unusual could be +seen from the watch towers. The people went about their work in field +and forest as usual, tended their numerous flocks, hunted or fished; +apparently they thought neither of defence nor flight. + +Once, it is true, one of the _speculae_ reported that, late one night, a +fire had suddenly blazed upon a mountain peak probably several miles +from the lake and, after a short interval, as suddenly vanished. The +Alemanni called the towering height, whose summit was visible for many +a mile, the Sacred Mountain, the Holy Mountain, and Odin's Mountain, +and the name has clung to it tenaciously. True, in later times the +"sacred" related to Christian consecration; but at the present day the +stately castle on that majestic height bears the title of Heiligenberg. +On the spot where Odin's ash-trees then rustled, the breeze now sweeps +across the flower-beds of a beautiful garden. + +The report was unheeded. Forest fires, even at night, were not unusual +among the Germans, who in their labor of clearing the ground often +required, in the place of the axe, the aid of the swifter flame. During +the next few days also everything remained quiet. + +On the morning after that night--it was a few days prior to the Romans' +march across the height of Meersburg, already described--a youth +emerged from the dense woods stretching for miles in a northwesterly +direction toward the Holy Mountain, a youth whose figure was as +straight, tall, and slender as a young pine. The hood of lynx-skin +fluttering from his shoulders like a short cloak did not confine his +long fair locks, which fell in waves upon his shoulders, waves with +which the morning breeze played caressingly, as the youth stopped on +the crest of a low grassy hill that afforded a view of the lake. + +Resting his right arm upon the oak handle of his spear, he leaned +forward, shading his eyes with his left hand from the glare of the +sunbeams on the smooth surface of the water, as he gazed intently +toward the southern shore. It was an eagle glance, proud, bold, and +keen, and the color of the eye was a light golden brown. + +The red-tiled roofs of the Roman watchtowers and citadels opposite in +Arbon and the other stations (Constantia, etc.) shone brightly in the +morning sunlight. The utmost repose pervaded the whole scene. Neither +sail nor row-boat was visible: a huge kite, with an occasional stroke +of its broad pinions, was soaring in wide circles above the shallows +near the shore. + +The young German turned his eyes in the direction of the gently rising +ground before him northwest of Friedrichshafen, now occupied by the +village of Jettenhausen. At that time the land had been cleared and +brought under cultivation. The hill was crowned by a stately wooden +structure, surrounded by a fence built breast-high for purposes of +defence; a pair of superb antlers adorned the ridge-pole. From the main +building itself and a small one adjoining it smoke circled upward +through holes in the roof: the inmates were doubtless preparing the +morning meal. + +The youth made a movement in the direction of the hall, on which his +eyes had rested proudly, yet with an expression of almost sorrowful +earnestness, then he paused suddenly, saying to himself: "No! I will go +first to _her_." He hastened eastward through what was then a tract of +marshy woodland--now bearing the name of Seewald--crossing it in the +direction of the Tettnang forests. Often he was forced to leap from +rock to rock or from one mossy hillock to another, that he might not +sink waist-deep in the morass. But the young German seemed perfectly +familiar with the almost invisible path which, sometimes in the form of +a ford, sometimes as a bridge, led through the bog and the dense +underbrush. Swinging himself with a daring leap, aided by the handle of +his spear, across a tolerably wide stream which flowed through moss and +sedges to the lake--a startled red grouse flew upward with a shrill +cry--he soon saw before him the nearest settlement to his own stately +dwelling: for he was the lord of the manor he had left behind. In this +region neighbors lived more than a league apart; it was not until +succeeding generations that the scattered freeholds along the lake grew +into villages. + +The little house in the forest--it might almost be called a +hut--nestled modestly at the foot of a low hill which sheltered it from +the northeast wind. The old roof was overgrown with dark green moss, +and the small stable forming part of the dwelling afforded room for +only a few head of cattle. Yet everything was neat and well-kept, +especially the little pasture in whose fenced inclosure stood several +fruit-trees, while the eye noted with surprise the presence in this +wilderness of several ornamental plants belonging to Rome or Southern +Gaul: the yew and--carefully tended--some fine roses. Across the top of +the ridge-pole was a four-pointed star, clumsily carved from pine-wood, +but unmistakable. Its beauty, however, had not been increased by its +having been smeared with the red lead used to color the house-mark cut +in it--evidently a recent act. + +The youth's first glance as he came in sight of the little house was +unconsciously directed toward the star on the roof. When he saw the red +paint a smile curled the well-cut mouth, which was not yet wholly +concealed by the downy beard of early manhood. His second look sought +the top of the low hill, where an ancient oak, now steeped in the +golden sunshine, was waving its gnarled branches in the morning breeze; +long garlands of goat's beard, dangling from the boughs, swayed to and +fro. A circular wooden bench surrounded the trunk, and on the southern +side a few large stones had been arranged to form a sort of table. + + + + CHAPTER IV. + +An old woman, wrapped in a dark garment, sat almost motionless upon the +bench in the warm sunshine. Thin locks of beautiful white hair escaped +from beneath the edge of the brown cloak drawn over her head; her hands +alone stirred with a slight, regular motion. When the youth's footsteps +echoed on the sandy slope of the hillock, she paused in her work and +bent forward to listen; then nodding, murmured under her breath: +"That's why she slipped away." + +"Hail to you, Waldrun!" said the youth, pausing before her. "Don't be +frightened--it is I--" + +"Adalo, the young noble," interrupted the old woman. "Only the +evil-doers fear _you_." + +"You recognize me?" + +"When the gods blind the eyes, they give sight to the soul. Though your +light footstep rarely rings near me now, I know it well. I often hear +it as you hurry past our home, avoiding the house by taking a wide +circuit. No one save Bruna, your tame bear, comes to us by daylight +from the manor; for you have doubtless forbidden even your fair-haired +little brother to visit our house. But brutes are more loyal than human +beings: often, very often, Bruna seeks my little maid and Zercho the +bondman. When she brings us a wreath of the child's favorite flowers +wound around her neck and growling, drags it off to her lap, we know +well that the boy Sippilo, not you, sent it. By day you shun us! But--" +She bent forward and lowered her voice to a whisper: the youth glanced +around in surprise; surely they were still alone--"but by night you +often approach stealthily." + +Adalo flushed crimson, and sought to divert her thoughts. "Can you spin +without seeing?" + +"The youngest of the three great Sisters--who was born blind--spins the +future of the whole human race. And what I am spinning is as familiar +to my fingers as to my thoughts." + +"What is it?" + +"My shroud. But I do not think that Adalo, son of Adalger, came hither +to question Waldrun concerning her thoughts of death. Do you seek my +son? Suomar has not yet returned from the Council." + +"I do not seek him--he sends me. The Council--last night on Odin's +Mountain--resolved to destroy all the houses and harvests." The youth's +noble, handsome countenance beamed with the fierce menacing joy of +battle as he added: "_The Romans_ are coming." + +"They will not tarry long," said the old woman, calmly going on with +her spinning. "I have often seen them dash forward in all the pride of +strength, and soon sink feebly back again." + +"You women, those unable to bear arms, the slaves, and the cattle are +to be received in two fortresses far away from the lake--one on Odin's +Mountain in the west, the other among the eastern marshes. We shall +form two divisions: one stationed in the east, the other in the west. +Your son is assigned to the eastern band; he was sent directly from the +council to the swamps. The troop will go through the fords there and +strengthen the breastwork of logs around the meadows to prevent the +entrance of the Italians." + +"Then we must hasten eastward to the morasses. We shall be nearer to +him there." + +Adalo hesitated. His face again crimsoned and he cast a keen glance at +the door of the house ere he began: "That was his first idea--and by +the decree of the people the fugitives were thus divided. But--some one +else--a friend--counselled him not to hide you in the swamps, but--on +the Holy Mountain." + +"You belong to the western band--on the mountain." + +Adalo made no reply. + +"You gave him that counsel, Adalo!" + +"I do not deny it; you know that I mean kindly. You will be better +concealed on the lofty wooded summit of Odin's Mountain than in the +marshes. Life in the fever-breeding swamps is full of discomfort--the +disease often attacks the inhabitants--and it is not so safe. The +eastern band will not remain in your hiding place: Suomar himself +cannot protect you; concealment is your sole defence. But on Odin's +Mountain, far up within the stone fortress, the gods of the land +themselves will shield you. And the life there in the woodland huts and +tents built of green branches will be more comfortable and pleasant. +And--" he spoke slowly and modestly--"I myself will be there to defend +you. Follow me,--to-morrow it may be too late,--follow me at once!" + +Just at that moment two acorns fell rattling on the top of the rude +stone table and rebounded to the earth. Adalo looked up. "A squirrel?" +he asked. + +"Yes. A _red_ one," added the old woman, nodding. "It often plays its +saucy pranks up there. They are sometimes very spiteful." + +"Indeed they are," replied Adalo, laughing. "One which I once caught +nearly bit through my finger. There!" + +Waldrun felt the fore-finger of his outstretched hand, then without +releasing it, said: "There is another scar close by. My naughty +granddaughter bit you years ago--do you remember? How did it happen?" + +"It was at the spring festival. The west wind was blowing furiously, +like the very breath of Odin. She ventured alone in your mouldering +boat--the old one hollowed from a log--to cross the lake. The others +jeered at her--I pleaded. Every effort was vain. Springing into the +skiff, she pushed off: if she passed beyond the rushes into the open +water she was lost. I ran after her, waded, swam, and dragged her from +the boat, just as it upset. I carried her to the shore, while she +writhed and struggled, spitting like an otter, and, by way of thanks, +bit my finger." + +"And then," replied Waldrun reprovingly, "some spiteful tongue uttered +the saying, + + "'Sharp is the squirrel's scratch, + Bissula's bite is sharper.' + +"The saying ran through the district, nay, all the provinces by the +lake. Wherever my granddaughter went, to pick berries in summer, to +comb the flax, to glean, to mow, to thresh--everywhere the jeering +couplet greeted her. That was not kind. Or wise!" she added in a lower +tone. + +"Mother Waldrun, you are right: it was not well done, but no harm was +meant." + +"Yes, yes, Odin placed the song in your reckless lips and gave you the +winged words, the biting jest. You cannot help it! Wherever you see a +tempting mark, the arrow of a mocking speech whizzes from your mouth." + +"But unvenomed, unbarbed. A blunt little shaft like that with which we +strike the pretty red-breast, Donar's favorite, not to harm it, nay, +only to capture it unhurt and bear it home to our hearths that it may +sing sweetly to us year after year." + +"Beware! Everything that has the red hue is passionate, swift to +revenge, and slow to forgive. + +"Yes," replied the youth laughing. "How runs another verse? + + "'Dost vex little Red Hair? + I bid thee beware! + The fair one fear. + She's false and spits her ire + Like the fox and the fire.'" + +Scarcely was the last line uttered when, high among the topmost boughs +of the lofty tree, a strange sound was heard. At the very summit the +noise resembled spitting and rattling, while below it was different, +like something sliding down the trunk. The first sounds undoubtedly +came from a little squirrel, which, startled by some disturbance, +chattering and hissing in fear or anger, sprang in a wide curve yet +with a sure leap from the topmost bough of the tree to a neighboring +oak which stood at a considerable distance. + + + + CHAPTER V. + +Adalo's glance followed the little creature's bound, which really +resembled flying. + +But meanwhile, from amid the dense foliage in the centre of the tree a +figure clad in the dress of a girl slid nimbly down the trunk, and as +soon as she reached the ground, smoothed her garments carefully from +her knees to her ankles. With her dainty, sparkling beauty, her almost +childlike delicacy of form, this apparition looked less like a mortal +maiden than a spirit of light. + +She wore no cloak. Her white linen robe, with its cherry-red border and +girdle of the same hue a hand's breadth wide, left her neck and arms +bare; her complexion, wherever any portion of her almost too slenderly +moulded figure was visible, gleamed with the dazzling whiteness of +ivory; the unusually heavy dark-red eyebrows, which nearly met in the +centre but were beautifully arched, frowned threateningly, and her +clear blue eyes were now flashing with wrath. The vision attracted +rather by the vivacious charm of expression and the perfect symmetry of +her dainty figure than by regular beauty. For it must be confessed, +though the charming inquisitive little nose did not actually turn +up--by no means--it was really a little too short. And, as it sloped +sharply away at the end, the space between it and the upper lip became +too long, thereby giving the oval face when in repose an expression +half of alert surprise, half of mischievous wilfulness. + +Everything about this dainty dragon-fly was so delicate that the young +girl might easily have been taken for a child, had not her rounded bust +revealed her womanhood. Wonderfully charming was the little mouth, +whose lips were so full that they seemed to pout mirthfully, while +their hue rivalled the red border of her robe. A dimple in the chin and +a slight tendency to a double chin lent the face that innocent +sweetness without which woman's beauty fails to attract. + +The most remarkable thing about this elfin vision was her hair--hair +whose bright red hue was the very tint of flame--which rippled around +her brow and temples in a thousand wilful little ringlets as if each +individual one curled separately. They seemed to frame the face +protectingly, as thorns cluster about a rosebud. The rest of her locks, +after the Suabian fashion, were combed upward toward the crown, knotted +there, and then flowed in magnificent tawny waves, somewhat darker in +tint, over her dazzlingly white neck far below her waist. + +The expression of saucy defiance, inquisitive surprise, nay even +superiority, enhanced by this arrangement of the hair, was still +further heightened by the little creature's habit of raising her heavy +eyebrows as if in mingled astonishment and reproof. In the charm of the +contradiction lay a temptation to smile which this fragile elf, with +her pert little nose and sparkling blue eyes, seamed to discover--and +if necessary instantly resent. + +An extremely strong will, a hot, ungovernable temper, and the sweetness +of a half unfolded bud, were contrasts which provoked a smile--nay, +almost irresistibly awakened a desire to try what the impetuous little +thing would do if her swift wrath were aroused. But when she raised her +eyes with a more gentle expression, they were so bewitchingly +beautiful, so pure, so tender, so soulful, that enthusiastic admiration +made the spectator forget the inclination to tease her. + +True, at this moment the elf looked by no means angelic, but thoroughly +evil, as, darting only one swift glance of furious rage at the tall +young noble, she seized the old woman violently by the shoulder and in +a low voice stifled by suppressed fury--cried: "Grandmother!--Away!--To +the marshes! Zercho the bondman must guide us. Away!" + +"Gently, child, gently! Did not you hear? It will be safer on the +mountain." + +"Safer perhaps for us; but not for those whom we--no, whom _I_ should +then be near. Go," she cried furiously to the youth, "save yourself, I +advise you, from the red-hair. 'False and spitting her ire like the fox +and the fire.' Was that the way it ran, you witty fellow? As soon as +the daughter of our neighbor Ero, giggling with spiteful mirth, told me +your last jibe against me, I climbed the hay-ladder to the ridge-pole +of our house and painted our white star up there red: painted it very +thick and bright, so that you could see it from the edge of the forest +and keep far away from the evil color. Very far--do you hear?" + + + + CHAPTER VI. + +Adalo had now recovered from his astonishment. + +"I knew," he said, smiling, "that the elves of light dwell above our +heads; but I was not aware that they had nests among the boughs of the +oaks." + +"And why not? If you reproach me with being an elf of light." + +"It is no reproach, I should think. What says the elf-song? 'Fairest +fair are not the ases, but the elves.'" + +"'Sharp is the bite of the squirrel, but Bissula's is sharper still.' +You yourself classed me with the biting animals, so do not wonder that +I fled to my red, snarling, biting sisters when I heard in the distance +the haughty footfall of the hated Adalo. I detected your approach even +sooner than the long-practised ear of my blind grandmother. Hate is +quick to hear." + +"Do you hate me?" asked the youth. His voice sounded low and sad. + +"Forgive her, Adalo! She is but a child." + +"No, grandmother, I am a child no longer; I shall see my eighteenth +winter when the next snow falls. The child tried to defend herself +against superior strength. She was too weak; but now something within +me struggles against your arrogance--I know not what it is; it glows +here in my breast, and believe me, this thing within is stronger than +my hands once were: you cannot conquer." + +"I do not wish to conquer; I seek to protect you and your grandmother." + +"The head of our clan will protect us--Suomar, her son, my uncle and +guardian." + +"Suomar thought that you would be safer on Odin's Mountain." + +"Because my good uncle did not suspect that you were only trying to win +fresh renown by new couplets. Something like this: + + 'Bitterly bites Bissula! But back + Repentant she ran, in fear of the Romans; + To Adalo, the Adeling!' + +You hear--I too can make verses." + +"Evil words," said Waldrun reprovingly, "which were not given to you by +Odin the Wise, but by Loki! Why do you scorn the protection your +neighbor offers? You grew up together like brother and sister, constant +playfellows on the shore and the lake." + +"Until the neighbor discovered that he was the rich, strong young +noble, skilled in song; the 'handsome' Adalo--as all the silly girls +whisper. He handsome? He is hideous. His name is forever ringing in +one's ears throughout the whole region in every dwelling along the +lake. Who is the boldest hero in the Roman war? The stoutest swimmer, +the most successful hunter? The victor in wrestling, hurling stones, +casting the spear? Who leaps highest in the sword dance? To whom do +even the gray-beards listen in the Council? At whom do the maidens peep +at the sun-festival? Adalo! Adalo! Adalo!--The arrogant fellow! It is +unbearable." + +The angry maiden pressed both little clenched hands over her eyes to +shut out the sight of the foe she so fervently hated. + +"Would arrogance bring me here with this entreaty?" + +"Ay; sheer arrogance! When, during the spinning in the winter and the +hay-making in the autumn, the girls talked about you, I said little; I +only listened. It was rumored that Jetto, the rich lord of the manor, +was beginning--he took the first step--to treat with Adalo concerning a +marriage with his daughter, Jettaberga. Jettaberga is the handsomest +girl in the lake region--" + +"That is not true," said Adalo earnestly. + +"Her kinsmen, next to your own family, have the largest number of +spears and of cattle, are the richest in shields and in lands." + +"That is true," he answered, nodding assent. "But Adalo refused the +offer as soon as it was sufficiently well known in the neighborhood +that Jetto himself had proposed to give him his daughter because both +clans would have profited by the alliance--" + +"Especially Jetto!" interrupted Waldrun. "And because Jettaberga +thought the young nobleman was handsomer than any other man." + +"That is probably _not_ true!" remarked the latter, smiling pleasantly. + +"Yes, it is true!" exclaimed Bissula vehemently. "Don't deny it. She +told me so." + +"I wish to hear nothing about it, Bissula--chatterer!" said the +grandmother reproachfully. + +The girl bit her lips. + +"Pshaw, he knew it; or he believed he knew it, as he believes it of all +girls. And so it must seem to him and his companions that Bissula also +(who, it is true, is neither rich nor beautiful--only Bissula, who is +defiant and tameless), that I, too, instead of going to the marshes +would rather flee to the Holy Mountain--to Adalo! But"--and now her +eyes blazed with an almost menacing light--"you shall never boast of +_that_!" + +"But if I command?" warned the old woman. + +"Then I'll run off to the swamps alone. Forgive me, dear, dear +grandmother; but Suomar is my guardian, not you. Did he command? +Speak!" + +"He only advised," replied Adalo reluctantly. + +"Then I am free! Advice may be followed or not. But know this: If you +had lied--" + +Adalo's face blanched. + +"Insolent girl!" said the grandmother reprovingly. + +"Oh, I know--he never lies; but it is not from truthfulness, but pride. +If you had pretended that my guardian had given a command--I would +rather have leaped into the deepest part of the lake than have gone +with you." + +"What foolish defiance! He speaks only from anxiety." + +"He speaks from arrogance. The vain fellow weaves a wreath composed of +every flower to deck his curly head: Bissula, the red heather-blossom, +must not be wanting." + +"The red heather-blossom alone must adorn my life," said the youth +earnestly. + +Bissula started: every tinge of color faded from her face, and +trembling violently she clasped her grandmother's arm for support. + +The latter, however, with a keenly intent expression, turned her head +toward Adalo. "What words were those you dared to utter?" + +"Earnest ones. I am under no man's authority. I am old enough to lead a +wife to my home, strong enough to protect her. Well then, Bissula, +playmate of my childhood, come with me! I will give whatever Suomar +demands. I love you better than any one else can do. Come with me to +the Holy Mountain, that I may protect you there--my betrothed bride!" + + + + CHAPTER VII. + +The young girl clung still closer to Waldrun, but the latter started up +in alarm and hastily pressed her hand upon Bissula's heart. + +"How it throbs!" she murmured. Then, raising her left hand, as if to +keep the youth back, her right drew the folds of her ample cloak over +the brushing girl's sweet face. "Go," she said warningly. "Suspicion +seizes me also. It is ignoble for you to dare utter the words of wooing +to two defenceless women, confusing the girl, and inspiring vain, idle +thoughts. That is not the honorable custom of our people. If your suit +was serious you ought first to have spoken to Suomar, the guardian: he +gives my granddaughter's hand, not she herself. Whoever means marriage +deals with the guardian; whoever seeks mere amusement and dallying +coaxes the girl. Go! I doubt you!" + +Adalo laid his hand upon his breast with a gesture of protest, but ere +he could speak Bissula glided from beneath the shelter of her +grandmother's cloak. Her cheeks were glowing; her red locks fairly +bristled; it seemed as if one could almost hear them crackle; her angry +eyes blazed, and springing forward, she pushed the youth with both +hands, but had no power to stir the tall figure. + +"Yes, go!" she cried. "I do not doubt. Even Waldrun, who always speaks +in your behalf, distrusts you, and she cannot see your arrogant face, +the victorious smile on your proud lips, the light in your sparkling +eyes! There--see how the feigned expression of good-will vanishes from +your features; how resentfully you rear your head! Ay, that is the +noble, the swift, strong, handsome man, who believes that the god of +wishes must grant every whim, every caprice of his favorite. _You_ mate +with a poor girl! _you_ lead red-haired Bissula to your home! Besides, +I am called Bissula only by my friends; to strangers my name is +Albfledis. Waldrun is right: the blind woman has seen. If you were in +earnest you would have gone to the guardian." + +She drew back and seized her grandmother's arm. "Come! let us return to +the house." + +But Adalo, his tall figure drawn up to its full height, barred their +way. Grief and anger were contending for the mastery in the expression +of his handsome face. + +"I was in earnest, the deepest earnest. Freya knows it. Soon Frigga +will know also. I did not speak to Suomar, because I did not wish, like +most men, to obtain the girl solely by her guardian's command; I +desired not only her hand and her person, but her heart, her love. I +was sure of Suomar." + +"Do you hear his arrogance, grandmother?" + +"It is not arrogance. What can your uncle bring against me? Nothing! +And we have always been friendly neighbors. He would not have refused +me; but I did not want you as a gift from another, you defiant +creature. I wanted the playmate of my childhood to give herself to me. +Yes, I confess I hoped that she retained from those childish days a +little--just a little affection." + +"Presumptuous fellow!" + +"And now the hour and the danger loosed my tongue. The Romans are +approaching. Who knows what they may bring us? But you have repulsed me +with undeserved suspicion, disdained my loyal aid. True,"--here his +brow contracted with mingled grief and anger,--"perhaps the foe will +not injure _you_." + +"What do you mean?" asked Waldrun. Her tone expressed dread of some +fresh cause for contention between the two young people. Bissula, +without speaking, darted a flashing glance at him. + +"For years," Adalo went on with suppressed indignation, "you have had +friends among these hated enemies--at least one friend. Perhaps he will +return hither with the cohorts now threatening us--the wise, eloquent, +and wealthy Senator! Of course a German noble, a 'Barbarian,' cannot +vie with him in gifts of jewels, rare fruit, and foreign flowers. That +I belong to your own people and he to our mortal foes--what care you? +You need, nay perchance you desire, neither marsh nor mountain as a +defence against your--friend!" + +"Silence, Adalo! She was then only thirteen. The noble Roman might be +her father, nay, almost her grandfather." + +"But he was so clever! He understood how to choose his words so +skilfully that usually I could not comprehend them at all. And +Albfledis was so fond of listening to the language of the foe!" + +"At least," the girl hastily retorted, "Ausonius never used the +language of insolent mockery to the child. And since you have provoked +me to it, I tell you: yes, if the noble, kindly Roman should ever come +again and wish, as he did then, to take me with him as his child to his +beautiful country, his splendid pillared mansion,--listen,--I would +rather go with him, his daughter, than listen to you and your +contemptuous suit." + +"Stay, Albfledis," said the youth, drawing himself up proudly, "Enough! +My suit? It is ended forever. Never will I repeat it--I swear by this +spear. You have scorned me--have openly preferred the Roman. Hear my +vow, in the presence of your ancestress and the all-seeing sun: Never +again will Adalo woo you. Though the ardent longing of my heart should +consume me, I will die ere I approach you again with words of +entreaty." + +"Alas!" wailed the blind woman, "alas for my dearest wish! Is it never +to be fulfilled?" + +"If it should be. Mother Waldrun, Albfledis must first come to me in my +hall, and say: 'Adalo, here I am! Take me for your wife!'" + +"Oh, what shameless insolence!" cried Bissula, frantic with grief and +rage. Seizing one of the blocks of stone which formed the rude table +before the oak, she tried to hurl it at the hated man. Her little hands +tore at the jagged rock without avail, till the fingers bled, but the +heavy block remained unmoved, and bursting into tears of helpless rage, +she flung herself upon the ground. + +The old woman bent over her, listening anxiously to her sobs, but Adalo +had neither seen nor heard aught of these things. Even as he uttered +the last words, he turned his back upon the women, his face dark with +pride and anger, and throwing his spear over his shoulder, leaped down +the slope so swiftly that his yellow locks floated wildly around his +handsome head. + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + +Days had passed since the incident related in the last chapter. The +Romans had entered the country without encountering the slightest +resistance. After encamping on the summit of Meersburg and resting +during the following day, they had set forth again and, turning +somewhat inland from the lake and its swampy shores, reached the +Idisenhang. + +Finding this commanding position undefended, they had formed a +permanent camp here at the spot agreed upon with the troops which had +embarked on the fleet. As soon as this seemed sufficiently fortified to +be defended by a small garrison left behind, and their comrades in +Arbon had the fleet ready, the latter were to cross, land, and begin +the pursuit of the invisible Barbarians. + +But scarcely had Nannienus seen from Arbon on the opposite shore that +the column sent by land had reached the spot appointed and established +a camp, when he despatched by a swift fisher-boat tidings which +threatened to defer the progress of the enterprise for an indefinite +time. As soon as the experienced commander reached the Roman post he +discovered that the equipment of the necessary vessels would require +far more time than had been expected. + +The reports of the magistrates and officers to the distant Emperor, +which represented a considerable portion of the old Roman fleet as +still in existence and, moreover, strengthened by newly built ships, +proved false and shamefully exaggerated: these unprincipled men, +corrupt, like nearly all the officials in the Empire, had concealed +their numerous defeats in which the Barbarians had gradually destroyed +these ships; they had then appropriated the money furnished to build +new ones, and reported them completed. + +This was the discovery made by the Comes of Britannia, who announced +with fierce indignation--he had sent the treacherous quaestors and +nauarchs in chains to the Emperor at Vindonissa--that though he had +ordered work to be carried on in the little dockyard night and day, the +intended landing must be deferred to a considerably later period. +Energetic Saturninus was incensed by this enforced idleness: but he +could do nothing save vituperate the corruption of the magistracy, the +Empire, the whole age, and--wait. + +The richly decorated tent intended for the Prefect of Gaul was pitched +upon the very summit of the height which is now occupied by the +cemetery of the village of Berg. Soft rugs, piled one above another, +covered the ground; a couch was placed against the back of the leather +tent, and beside it stood a table adorned with costly drinking-vessels. +An old freedman, a slave, and the cup-bearer were engaged in giving the +last touches. There were places for three on the horseshoe-shaped +couch, and a row of goblets stood on the table; for, though the c[oe]na +had been served in the Tribune's tent, the Prefect had invited him and +his nephew to take some choice wine after the meal in the Praetorian +one. + +While the servants were busied in preparing the table, the loose +leather at the poles in the rear of the tent was repeatedly raised +noiselessly and then dropped again. No one observed it. Two of the men +now went out, but the cupbearer still lingered to wipe again and again +the inside of a magnificent silver goblet, which, supported by three +graceful female figures, bore the inscription: "The graces to their +favorite, Ausonius." + +"Not ready yet, Davus?" the old freedman had asked in a tone of +vexation, as he turned away. + +"No, Prosper. You know our master will drink only from this cup, the +Emperor's gift, and he is so particular about it." + +The slave was scarcely alone when the leather flap of the tent was +again raised, a watchful face was thrust cautiously in. "Alone at +last!" a voice whispered. + +"I was waiting for you, my lord." + +"Well? To-day? At the nocturnal carouse?" + +"No. I dare not attempt it yet. Your uncle is as well as he was at home +in Burdigala. Let him first sicken under this Barbarian sky, the +unwonted fatigues of camp life in the rain and swamps; then it will be +easier. But now--in perfect health? No, no! Have patience. Wait a +little longer." + +"I cannot. My creditors, the usurers, are hounding me to the death; +have followed me here to the camp. And this region, this neighborhood, +as you know, is more perilous to me than any other spot in the whole +world. So hasten!" + +"As soon as he begins to ail a little I'll do it at once. But I must +confess--" + +"What?" + +"The vial of poison you gave me, I--" + +"Lost? You blockhead!" + +"No, it is broken. During the steep ascent of the mountain recently I +slipped, struck my breast against a boulder, and crushed the little +bottle, whose contents all poured out." + +"Alas, then where else--" + +"Have no fear, my lord. I've seen hemlock enough growing in these +marshy meadows to poison our whole army. I have already begun to gather +and dry it. Do you the same, and as soon--" + +Loud voices and the clank of weapons were heard; the face vanished, and +the slave passed through the doorway of the tent into the open air. + + + + CHAPTER IX. + +Directly after, Ausonius and Saturninus entered the Praefectorian tent +from the _Via Principalis_, while Herculanus, coming from the rear, +passed in with them. The host shared his seat on the couch with his two +guests. + +He was a man of fifty-two, but his stately figure showed few signs of +approaching age, and his noble face lacked none of the characteristics +of the patrician Roman in the modelling of the forehead, nose, and +finely arched brows. + +But the mouth had smiled so often--probably far too often in self +complacency--that it had forgotten how to close with firm decision; it +was much too weak for a man. And the light-brown eyes, so pleasant and +kindly, so content with everything and everybody--and not least with +Ausonius--betrayed more plainly than any other feature the approach of +age; their glance had lost the fire of youth. They seemed weary, not of +life but of reading; for Ausonius had been professor, rhetorician, +tutor of princes, and poet. In those days that meant a man who read an +immense amount and, in default of elevating thoughts of his own, +extracted with the industry of a bee the ideas of the writers of four +centuries, tore them asunder, and put them together again in such tiny +fragments that his readers and himself believed them to be new ones of +his own and would have found it very difficult to separate the mosaic +into its borrowed portions. Passions had never furrowed this smooth +face: the lines around the eyes were not graven by pain, but by the +passage of the years. + +This kindly natured man, who himself saw everything on its best side, +thought the whole world most admirably arranged. He believed seriously +that all men who had not committed great crimes, and therefore deserved +punishment, fared just as well as the very, very wealthy, benevolent, +and much praised Decimus Magnus Ausonius of Burdigala (Bordeaux), the +delightful city of villas; that they fared as well as Ausonius, who was +petted by all who surrounded him, and who in the opinion of his +contemporaries--and especially his own--was the greatest poet of his +age. Even had this been true, it certainly would not have meant much. + +This really amiable, kindly man, whose only fault was a little undue +self-satisfaction, was now playing the part which best suited him,--far +better than that of poet or statesman,--the part of the host who, +comfortable himself, desires to make all his guests equally so. His +pleasant, cheery, friendly kindness of heart, which would fain see +everybody happy, though of course without too much self-sacrifice, +found in this _role_ its fullest expression. + +"There! now go, slaves." He waved his hand to those who had again +entered. "Look after yourselves--as we are doing. Go, too, my faithful +Prosper: take for yourself--and give to the others--the better wine +from Rhodanus; you know it. I saw how hard it was to drag the skins up +the steep hill. Go: we will serve ourselves." He stretched himself +comfortably on the lectus, thrusting under his head a soft downy pillow +filled with the feathers of German geese. "Give yonder amethyst goblet +to the Tribune, my dear nephew, for our Illyrian Hercules must drink +deeply! No, Saturninus, don't take the mixing vessel! The first +cup--unmixed. To the genius of the Emperor Gratianus!" + +"It's lucky that the Emperor himself doesn't hear you," cried the +Tribune, laughing, as he put down the empty goblet. "I am neither +Christian nor pagan, only a soldier, and nobody asks about my faith. +But you! Gratianus's teacher! The Emperor is zealous in the true +religion. And you drink to his genius, as though we were living in the +reign of Diocletian! Are you a pagan, Prefect of Gaul?" + +Ausonius glanced around to see that no slave was within hearing. Then +he smiled. "If I were a pagan, that is, if I had not been baptized, I +certainly should not be Prefect of Gaul. The dignity is probably worth +a few drops of water. They did not penetrate my skin. How could a poet +forget the old gods?" + +"Yes, yes, if the learned mythological allusions should be effaced from +your verses, the brightest of the borrowed foreign feathers would be +plucked from Ausonius's raven." + +"Tribune!" cried the nephew angrily,--he shouted much louder than was +necessary,--"you are speaking of the greatest Roman writer!" + +"No, no," said the man thus lauded, very seriously, "there are probably +two or three greater ones." + +"Forgive me, Ausonius," said Saturninus. "I understand battles, not +verses. Probably it is my own fault that yours don't suit me." + +"You know too few of them," replied Herculanus reprovingly. + +"I'm not of your opinion!" retorted the Illyrian, laughing. "I've never +had much time for reading. But I sometimes ride beside your uncle +through the olive woods of Aquitania, the vineyards of the Mosella, or +the marshy forests of the Alemanni: he has an inexhaustible memory and +can repeat his verses for miles." + +"Yes," the poet assented complacently, "my memory must supply the place +of imagination." + +"Wouldn't it be better if you had imagination, and your readers took +pleasure in remembering what it created?" asked the soldier. + +"My uncle can repeat the whole of Virgil." + +"Yes, that is evident--in his verses! The reader often doesn't know +where Virgil and Ovid end and Ausonius begins. But Ausonius prefers to +recite his own poetry." + +The latter nodded pleasantly. + +"That's the best thing about you. Prefect; though a little vain, like +all verse-writers, your heart is in the right place: a warm, kind heart +which never takes offence at a friend's jest." + +"I should be both stupid and contemptible if I did that." + +"As a reward I'll tell you now that I owe an exquisite night to one of +your poems--or a portion of it." + +The poet, much pleased, raised himself on the lectus: "What poem?" + +"Your 'Mosella.'" + +"Yes, yes," replied Ausonius smiling, "I like it very much, too." + +"It is divine!" Herculanus protested. + +"I'm no theologian," said Saturninus, laughing, "to understand divine +things. But the most beautiful part of the poem is the description of +the various kinds of fish in the river." + +"Yes, yes," observed the author, smiling as he slowly sipped his wine, +"verses eighty-two to one hundred and forty-nine: they are very pretty, +especially the euphony." + +"Oh, never mind the euphony. I read it in the evening, and fell +asleep." + +"Barbarian!" exclaimed the poet. "But in my dreams I saw before me the +most delicious fish; the salm--" + +"'Thee, too, I praise, O salmon, with thy roseate flesh!'" + +Ausonius quoted. + +"The trout." + + "'Then the trout, its back besprinkled with tiny crimson + stars.' + +"That's what I call a fine line." + +"The grayling." + + "'And the swift grayling, escaping from the eye with + rapid leaps!'" + +"Yes, but not as you describe them, alive in the Mosella--there is +nothing I enjoy eating more than a fine fish! No, I saw them before me +on silver dishes, baked, broiled, and in dainty stews; and in my dream +I tasted them all. When I woke, I licked my lips and blessed Ausonius: +no poet has ever given me so much pleasure." + +He laughed and drained his goblet. + + + + CHAPTER X. + +"I am generous," replied Ausonius. "It pleases me to discover in this +way a favorite dish of my usually Spartan friend. I will avenge myself +by placing before you, if possible, the delicious fish this lake +contains; for in its green depths are balche and trout of the most +delicate flavor. They are even better than those of the Mosella: I +could surely have supplied you with them if the Barbarians had not all +fled from the shore before our troops. When, five years ago, I spent +several months on the opposite side in Arbor Felix, to investigate the +condition of the frontiers, what magnificent fish I had!" Then, as if +lost in reverie, he sighed: "Ah, those were happy days! My dear wife, +my gentle Sabina, was living." + +"Hail to thy memory, Attusia Lucana Sabina!" said the nephew. + +"And my dear children! Then my beautiful, spacious house in the city, +and the charming villa outside the Garumna gate were not empty and +desolate. How gaily the songs of the young girls echoed through the +country during the season when the vine blossoms poured forth their +fragrance! Then I still saw around me the beloved faces of my kindred, +did not stand alone, poor with all my wealth, as now--" + +"Uncle!" interrupted Herculanus, trying to assume a tone of most tender +reproach, in which, however, he was not entirely successful. "Stand +alone? Have you not me, who love you so tenderly?" + +The Tribune gazed coldly at the over-zealous nephew. + +But Ausonius replied kindly: "Certainly, my dear fellow, you are left +to me, but you alone out of the whole circle of my family swept away in +a single year by the pestilence: my Sabina, my three children, my two +sisters and two sweet young nieces. Can you alone fill the places of +all? I often feel so lonely. And you are a man. My gentle wife, my +daughters, my sisters, my nieces, how I miss them! I confess it: I need +the melody of women's voices, their graceful movements around me. I +miss something!" + +The young Roman, excited, hastily seized the goblet. The Tribune looked +him keenly in the face and, without averting his eyes from the nephew, +suddenly said to the uncle in a very loud tone: "You must marry again!" +Then the Illyrian turned away from Herculanus: he seemed to have seen +enough. + +"Yes," said Ausonius slowly, almost solemnly, "I have often thought of +it. It is a serious, a very serious matter--at my age." + +"At any age," said Saturninus. "Years will not stand in your way. You +are perhaps fifty?" + +"Fifty-two," sighed the Prefect. "And my hair is gray!" + +"Not very yet! Besides, mine is too. In my case from the weight of the +helmet. And it is becoming. You are a--" + +"Handsome old man, you are going to say," replied Ausonius smiling. +"That is not exactly what pleases maidens." + +"Well, you need not choose a girl of sixteen." + +"But not one much older!" said the poet quickly. "No, my friend! I want +youth and charm near me." + +"That you may have too," said the Illyrian. "You can select from your +whole province, nay, the whole Empire. You, the highest official in +Gaul, the Emperor's tutor and favorite, the celebrated poet and--" + +"And the richest match in the whole West," interrupted the nephew +sharply. Hitherto he had remained persistently silent, his eyes cast +down and the expression of his mouth covered by his hand. "The richest +gray beard on this side of the Alps!" he added. + +"Yes, that is it," said Ausonius bitterly. "Herculanus only says openly +and frankly what has secretly tortured me so much all these years, nay, +what has alone deterred me. You know, my friend,--or rather, you blunt +Tribune of the camp, you do not know,--for what reasons parents in our +large cities marry their daughters, nay, how these girls themselves, +almost before they have laid aside their dolls, instantly look out for +'a good catch'! In sooth, neither Eros nor Anteros, but Hermes and +Plutus unite couples now." + +"Yes, they marry only for money!" cried Herculanus wrathfully. "I am +poor; the girls all shun me--" + +The Tribune was about to answer, but only laughed and drank his wine. + +"Although I am nearly thirty years younger than my uncle! Fathers, +mothers, guardians, nay, even the forward girls themselves, all cajole +him, till I can scarcely warn and guard enough." + +"That's the way the bee-keeper guards the honey from the mice," growled +the Illyrian under his breath. + +"My nephew is perfectly right. A friend of mine, Erminiscius, a rich +merchant who deals in gems, fifty years old, married a girl of twenty. +A week after, she disappeared with all his antique jewels and--his +youngest freedman. Another, Euronius, a large owner of vineyards, +somewhat older, married a young widow of twenty-five; that is--he was +married by her; for she did not rest until she had him. Even before the +wedding he was obliged to make his will; she dictated it to him word +for word. He died at the next kalends--violent colic. I did not like it +at all; I hate colic! And so many wild cherries grew close by his +garden! You ought to see how much this double widow enjoys life now. +She once paid me a visit--she is very beautiful and was bewitchingly +amiable to me; but I thought of the dead Euronius's colic, and escaped +unwedded. I don't imagine in all cases an elopement or a wild-cherry +cake; every one is neither a Helena nor a Locusta. Suspicion is not +usually one of my faults." + +"Rather the contrary," observed Saturninus. + +"But, I confess it, my gray hairs make me distrustful. I should be so +unhappy--Apollo's richest laurels would not heal the wound--if I were +forced to believe that I had been married only for the sake of my +wealth. I do not deserve it." + +"No indeed, you do not," cried the Tribune, pressing his hand warmly. +"Your heart is tender, kind, and frank. Whoever feigned love for the +sake of your money would be contemptible. And I hope that you may yet +see a band of children playing around your knees in the beautiful villa +gardens on the flowery shores of your beloved Garumna." + +Ausonius smiled. The picture seemed to please him. Then his eye met the +glance of his nephew, who seemed to be gazing into the distance less +complacently. "Don't be uneasy, Herculanus," he said. "Even if it +should be so, my will would not forget you. And your creditors," he +added, smiling compassionately. + +"Will! What an ill-omened word! Far be it," cried the young Roman. + +"Well, people don't die from making wills, or I should have left the +living long ago. A Roman citizen sets his house in order for every +emergency, death included. So, though Herculanus according to the law +would now be my sole heir, I made my will before the magistrate in +Burdigala before joining the army, formally naming him my heir: a few +little legacies and the liberation of some faithful slaves still +remain. To you, Saturninus," he added, laughing, "I shall bequeath +after my return, in a codicil, a valuable memento of this evening." + +"Well?" + +"A copy of the 'Mosella'; but the verses about the fish are to be cut +out by way of punishment." + +He quaffed his wine, pleased with his own jest. + + + + CHAPTER XI. + +"You must and will survive me, my noble friend! The Tribune will soon +lie where he belongs: on his shield. But you still belong to Burdigala, +in your tasteful house filled with rare works of art (what hospitality +I enjoyed there the last time I was wounded!), or to Rome, in the +Senate; not here, in the marshy forests of these Alemanni. Why (you +always liked to accompany the Emperor to Vindonissa)--why did you, a +man of peace and of leisure, join this military campaign? It has no +attraction for you! What have you to obtain on the Barbarian shores of +this lake?" + +"I? I am seeking for something here," replied Ausonius, after some +little hesitation. + +"Laurels of Mars to add to those of Apollo?" + +"Not at all; only--a memory!" + +Herculanus cast a sharp glance full of meaning at his uncle. + +"Or, if you prefer it, a dream, the fulfilment of a dream. I believe in +dreams." + +"Of course," said the Tribune, smiling, "like all poets! I care more +for waking thoughts." + +"When I reached the army over yonder in Vindonissa, a lovely charming +memory of a child rose vividly before me; a child equally bewitching in +mind and person, whom I knew and loved here several years ago." + +"A boy?" + +"No, a girl." + +"Ho, ho, pedagogue of the Emperor!" cried the Tribune, laughing. + +Herculanus did not enter into the jest; he was silently watching +Ausonius's every look. + +"Oh, calm yourself! Bissula is a girl about twelve years old--that +is--she was in those days. She and a Sarmatian boy brought to Arbor +every week the fish her uncle had caught on the northern shore of the +lake. And how delightfully she talked! Even her Barbarian Latin sounded +sweetly from her cherry-red lips. We became the best of friends. I gave +her--she would accept neither money nor costly jewels--trifling +articles, especially seeds of fine Gallic fruit and flowers from +Garumna for her little garden. She told me strange stories of the gods +and fauns in the woods, the nymphs in the lakes and springs here in the +country,--but she gave them different names,--and the mountain giants +opposite, whose white heads glittered in the sunset light. And I--I--" + +"You read the 'Mosella' to her, of course!" laughed Saturninus. + +"Certainly. And the little Barbarian girl showed a better appreciation +of it than the great Roman general. It was not the fish that pleased +_her_ best--" + +"I can easily believe it: she had better ones herself, you said just +now." + +"But the descriptions of the vineyards and villas along the river. And +when I told her that in my home on the Garumna were far, far handsomer +and richer houses, full of marble, gold, bronze, and ivory, adorned +with brightly painted walls and mosaics; that I myself owned the most +beautiful palaces and magnificent gardens full of leaping water, +foreign stags and deer, and birds with sweet songs or brilliant +plumage; when I spoke of the deep blue of the sky and the golden light +of the sun in the glorious land of Aquitania where almost perpetual +summer reigned, she could not hear enough in prose and verse of the +splendor of our country and the magnificence and art of our life. Once +she clapped her little hands in surprise and delight, exclaiming: 'Oh, +father, I should like to see that too. Just one day!' But I had grown +so fond of the gay, sweet child that, with a thrill of joy at the +thought, I answered: 'Come, my little daughter, not for a day--forever. +If your guardian will consent, I will adopt you as my child and take +you to Burdigala. How gladly my wife will welcome you! My daughters +will treat you as a dear sister. You shall become a Roman maiden!' + +"But, like a frightened deer, she sprang from my lap, ran off, leaped +into her boat, rowed swiftly across the lake, and did not return for +many days. I was full of anxiety lest I had driven her away forever. At +last--it was a time of complete peace--I had myself rowed across the +lake to its northern shore and guided to her hut in the forest. But she +had scarcely caught sight of me when, with a loud cry of terror, she +climbed into a huge oak as nimbly as a woodpecker and hid herself among +the branches. She would not come down again until I had solemnly +promised, in the presence of her uncle and her grandmother, not to take +her away and never even to say a word about it: 'For,' she said, with +tears in her eyes, 'in that hot country I should die of homesickness +for my own family, the neighbors, nay, even for the mountain, the +meadow, and lake, like the forest flowers transplanted from the marshy +soil into dry sand.'" + +"A sensible child," remarked the Tribune thoughtfully, stroking his +beautiful brown beard. "So she is pretty?" + +"I think so!" cried Herculanus: the voice sounded almost savage. + +"Why, nephew, you have never seen her." + +"But you have described her to us often enough! I could paint her, with +her bright red locks." + +"And her name is Bissula?" Saturninus added. + +"Yes, 'the little one,'" replied Ausonius, "for she is very slender and +delicate of limb. I then saw her regularly again, but kept my promise +not to ask her to go with me. When I bade her farewell, she wept with a +child's loving tears. 'With you,' she said 'I part from a warm, bright, +beautiful world, into which, as it were, I peeped, standing on tiptoe, +over a curtain.' + +"Recently, on reaching Vindonissa--during my journey through the +country I had thought much of the charming child--I saw her before me +in a dream the first night, encircled by a poisonous serpent. Her eyes +were raised to mine, imploring help, I woke with a cry, and my heart +grew heavy at the thought of what might befall the lovely girl--for she +must have become beautiful--if our cohorts bring all the horrors of war +into the forests along the shore of the lake. And I confess, it was +principally to see that child again--perhaps to protect her until the +war should be over--that I entreated the Emperor to permit me to join +this expedition." + + + + CHAPTER XII. + +"But I suppose you did not think your uncle's life would be +sufficiently safe under my protection, Herculanus, since you were so +eager to join us?" asked the Tribune. + +Before the nephew could answer, Ausonius interrupted: "But--thank the +gods--our campaign will be bloodless: the Barbarians have abandoned the +country. Where can they have gone? What have you learned through your +spies of the movements of the enemy?" + +"Nothing. That is the mysterious part of it. It seems as though the +earth had swallowed them. They are said to have numerous subterranean +passages and cellars, in which they conceal their provisions and +themselves in times of danger. We found it very difficult to obtain +spies among our colonists on the southern shore. They know very well +that we Romans come and go; the Alemanni remain in the country, and +they fear their vengeance. And deserters can no longer be had. In +former wars they were often mentioned. But the fact that there are no +renegades shows that self-reliance is increasing and the dread or hope +of Rome is declining. I could get only two volunteers--for a large sum +of money--to venture upon a reconnoitring expedition; the one who went +to the East returned without having seen a sign of the foe; the one +dispatched to the North has not yet appeared. And unfortunately we have +not taken even one prisoner. Not a sign of a human footprint have we +seen on the whole march along the lake. Once, it is true, I thought I +saw a light column of smoke rising from the dense growth of rushes +which stretches for leagues into the lake, and ordered the troops to +halt; but the tiny cloud instantly vanished." + +"I can understand the strategy of our admirable General only by +crediting him with an almost offensive degree of caution," sneered the +commander of the mailed horsemen. "By Hercules! Wherever they may hide, +the Barbarians cannot be a day's march from us." + +"Yes," Ausonius assented. "Yet I should think we might be strong enough +to seek them and drive them from their hiding places." + +Saturninus frowned slightly. "Your nephew's opinion of my courage gives +me no concern. But you, Prefect, have again forgotten that, by the +Emperor's orders, we are not to disperse the Barbarians, but to +surround them and force them to submission. We are too weak for this +encircling, and must wait for the ships. Unless our fleet should block +the lake, they will again escape, as they have often done, in their +boats. Stick to your hexameters, my Pierian friend, and leave the +Barbarians to me: it will be better for all concerned." + +"Except the Barbarians!" replied Ausonius smiling, extending his hand +to his friend. + +"Who are probably the leaders of the enemy?" + +"The Romans on the southern shore mention two names. The rest of the +Alemanni provinces are mainly ruled by kings." + +"So far do Germans carry royalty," nodded the learned Prefect. "May +they always continue to be divided into numberless provinces under +their hedge kings and village magistrates, whom each man obeys as much +as he chooses." + +"It seems that this state of things has changed. Many provinces are +united in leagues, which hold together in peace as well as in war. The +men of Linzgau have no king now, it appears, only an aged count. But he +must be a man of powerful intellect, since the gray-haired Hariowald +has been chosen commander-in-chief of all the provinces leagued against +us. True, we have not to deal solely with the Lentienses. After +centuries of folly these Barbarians are beginning to discover that +'liberty,' that is, the privilege of doing what each man pleases +without regard to his neighbor, is, though a delightful, a somewhat +dangerous pleasure, and that with such 'liberty' they will be forever +our bondmen, so long as one province looks on with malicious pleasure +while we subjugate another with which it has had a quarrel--till its +own turn comes. Formerly they preferred to place their surplus of young +men at our disposal rather than have them obey the commands of one of +their own people, but for some time there has been a change; even those +splendid soldiers, my Batavians, no longer wish to remain with me, and +will not renew their oath of service. We no longer hear the names of +numberless small peoples: five or six great leagues fill the whole +country from the Ister to the Suabian Sea. It has long made me uneasy. +That old man is now the commander-in-chief of all the Germans allied +against us." + +"Commander-in-chief of the Alemanni!" + +"Don't laugh at them, Ausonius! Ay, this leadership of the woodland war +has cost us much blood and many a dear-bought victory, since the days +of that Quinctilius Varus. As the white-beard is said to be the head, a +young relative of his is called the arm, the sword, the fire-brand of +the conflict." + +"What is his name?" + +"Attalus." + +"Adalo! That was one of Bissula's playmates. She often mentioned him. I +saw him frequently; he looked at me defiantly enough. Could it be he?" + +"The women and men at our stations along the lake cannot say enough in +praise of his beauty and strength." + +"Well, hitherto neither the warlike wisdom of the old man nor the +warlike zeal of the young one has showed itself," sneered Herculanus. + +"Yes," laughed Ausonius. "Their wisdom is the resolve to run away, and +their zeal the energy with which they execute the decision." + +But the Tribune, with frowning brow, cried: "Such speeches drive away +the goddess of victory and summon the avenger of foolhardiness. Jeer +after we have conquered--and even then, it is wiser not to do it. +Nemesis sleeps lightly." + +"If you cannot discover where the Barbarians are hiding, what will you +do?" + +"Seek them until I do find them and bring them to a halt." + +"But then," cried Herculanus, "let there be no treaties, no mercy, +nothing save extermination. How often these faithless people have +broken the peace! Our legions are full of fury against the Barbarians +who, year after year, compel them to march through these horrible +marshy forests. Only the extirpation of the last German will give peace +to the Roman Empire." He clenched his fist threateningly. + +"You have perhaps uttered words of prophecy," said Saturninus +thoughtfully, "but in a different sense from what you intended." + +"He has uttered abominable words!" cried Ausonius, filling his goblet. +"And they are utterly groundless. Ay, more than a century ago it looked +as if the Persians and Germans under Gallienus would flood the Eastern +and the Western Empire. But since that time Eternal Rome has grown +young once more. Your brave countrymen, my Saturninus, the heroic +Illyrian emperors, have curbed the barbarians on the Euphrates, the +Rhine, and the Ister. Diocletian has remodelled the internal affairs of +the Empire; and so I might adapt to Rome's mastery of the world the +proud words of my colleague Horace: 'He did not lack talent, but he +possessed little learning.'" + +"Do they belong to poetry?" asked Saturninus doubtfully. + +But the eager speaker, without hearing his words, continued: "What he +said concerning the permanence and spread of his own renown I will +apply to the glory of Rome: it will increase and grow, so long as the +priest ascends the hill to the Capitol with the silent Virgin. The +Vestal," he added in explanation. + +"H'm," observed the Illyrian, "only it's a pity that the hypothesis is +no longer apt." + +"What? How so?" + +"The pious Constantine, of murderous memory (I hear they want to +canonize the assassin of his mother and his wife) prohibited or +restricted the offering of sacrifices at the Capitol, and your pupil +and patron, Gratianus, recently abolished the Vestals." + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + +"Oh, that must not be taken so literally," Ausonius remarked. + +"I am not superstitious. I rely possibly too much upon my sword and too +little upon heaven; and I care nothing about the Vestal virgins. But I +do not like the second step your pupil took last year in Rome." + +"What do you mean?" + +"He removed from the council-hall of the Senate the altar of the +goddess of victory, where sacrifices were offered before the opening of +debates." + +"Constantine had removed it previously." + +"But Julian, the mighty conqueror of the Alemanni, restored it. And, by +Jupiter!--pardon me, by God!--with good success. The priests called him +'the apostate,' but the goddess of victory was not unfaithful to him. +Now men fight stoutly, with or without the goddess of victory. But--I +am a Roman--I dread the omen." + +"You see the matter in too dark colors." + +"You see it in too rosy a light. Your kind heart wishes good to all." + +"Yes, even to the Barbarians!" Ausonius nodded, raising his goblet. +"They are human beings, too. And as the Stoa, not the Galilean, first +taught, all men are brothers." + +"But there are too many of these yellow-maned brothers." + +"And I believe in a deity--call him by whatever name you choose--that +directs all things well. Therefore I believe that these Barbarians will +listen to reason and soon offer you their submission." + +"Perhaps the little girl--what is her name? Bissula--will also +surrender to Ausonius," said the Tribune in a jesting tone. + +"Oh, the dear child! If I could only see her again." + +"Do not wish it, Prefect." + +"Why?" + +"Perhaps she will conquer you! She would not be the first Barbarian. +Was it Pipa--or Pipara--that the girl of the Marcomanni was called, +with whom even an emperor fell desperately and hopelessly in love?" + +"You forget I wanted her for a daughter, not a wife." + +"At that time. Now she is no longer a child--and you are a widower." + +"Alas! she probably fled with her people long ago. And yet, I am so +ready to believe what I desire!" + +"Yes, that is one of your most amiable weaknesses," + +"Am I to hope for what I fear?" + +"No, but to think what we do not desire more probable than what we +wish--that is my wisdom." + +"No, no! I will not allow myself to be robbed of the hope that I shall +again see the little nymph of these forests." + +"But if I catch her," cried the Tribune, laughing, "she will be mine +according to the laws of war." + +A sudden change of expression--like a flash of lightning--flickered +across Herculanus's hazard visage. The Tribune did not see; his eyes +were fixed upon Ausonius's face, wondering that his features should +pale with fear. + +"Can this feeling be so deep-seated in my worthy friend?" he thought. + +"Uncle, surely you know that the Tribune is jesting," cried Herculanus, +as if to comfort him. + +The Illyrian turned toward him with a threatening bearing, saying in a +stern, grave tone: "Who tells you so?" + +Ausonius cast a hasty, anxious glance at the handsome, stately man; +then he tried to smile, but the attempt was not very successful. "Your +jest brought before me the possibility of a terrible earnest. If the +charming, innocent child should fall into the hands of one of our +pitiless centurions! Horrible!" + +"It has been the fate of thousands--pshaw, what am I saying--of many +hundred thousands, since we Romans bore our eagles over the world. You +poets--even you, my softhearted friend--are fond of singing the praises +of war. I tell you, he who knows and directs it rarely lauds it. War is +necessary. I laugh at the foolish weaklings who, like the worthy +stoics, or the monks, imagine that some day there will be a kingdom of +eternal peace. War is grand; death for one's native land is the most +powerful feeling that rules mankind; but war is horrible! To me it does +not matter," he added, laughing, as he drained his goblet. "I need only +make war, not answer for it, and above all, I need not sing its +praises, I am neither anvil nor lyre; I am hammer, and woe to the +vanquished! For a thousand years we have carried the terrors of our +victories to all nations: an unprecedented loyalty on the part of +Fortuna. But now--I hope I shall not witness it--now her wheel is +gradually rolling backward--toward us--over us!" + +"Never!" cried the poet. "What can these half-naked Barbarians do +against us? So long as we have warriors like you and, for the service +of the Muses, minds--" + +"Like Ausonius's, do you mean? Enviable self-reliance! I tell you, I +consider myself--and far better soldiers than I--incapable of resisting +this ever-advancing ocean which is called 'Germans.' I have gone +through many a campaign against them--against these very Alemanni. I +think they know my name! But there is something mysterious under this +surging multitude--I know not what--a motive power unintelligible to us +all, which can no more be resisted with sword and spear than the sea +itself. I have long sought the clue to the secret, yet cannot find it. +But so far as the service of the Muses is concerned--pardon a rude +soldier--we need peasants, not poets. There are only millionaires, +beggars, and slaves. Give me a hundred thousand free peasants of the +ancient Latin stock, and I'll sacrifice in return for them all the +Latin poets, dead and living, and once more believe in the future of +Rome. As things are--but it is already late," he cried, starting up. +"Let us seek our couches. We shall not be able to end this old +conflict of ours; coming generations will decide it, but not with +words. Good-night! Dream of Bissula--that we may find her: you believe +in dreams. For to-morrow--Nannienus has at least completed a couple of +ships which he will send to cruise along the northern shore--we will +make a little expedition eastward." + +He raised the curtain and strode in his clanking armor out into the +darkness; he could not help thinking constantly of the beautiful +wood-nymph. Herculanus also took his leave, but he was scarcely outside +the tent when he shook his clenched fist threateningly toward the east, +muttering through his set teeth: "Wait, Barbarian witch!" But Ausonius +stretched himself on his camp bed, put out the light, and murmured: +"Sleep peacefully, my Bissula, wherever you may be; to-morrow perhaps I +shall once more see those never-to-be-forgotten eyes." + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + +At daybreak the tuba sounded through the Roman camp, summoning to +departure the bands who were to share the expedition. + +"Where is my nephew?" asked Ausonius, mounting the beautiful gray +Cantabrian stallion, whose stirrup was held by old Prosper. "He is +usually the first at my bedside to greet me." + +"He hastened on with his mailed riders long ago. He started even before +the Tribune." + +"What zeal! I like that," said the uncle, patting the neck of his noble +steed. "At home in Burdigala he devoted his time solely to--" + +"To spending your money, O patron!" growled the old man. + +"Pshaw, never mind, graybeard! My money--it will soon be his money." + +"May the Olympians--forgive me, the saints--forbid!" + +"Put no restraint on yourself on my account. I prefer them too. They +have the advantage of suiting the metre better, at least most of them. +Where is Saturninus?" + +"Gone already. He left word that you might follow: you could not miss +the way. See, there are the helmets of the last men in his rear-guard. +His countryman Decius commands them." + +"I see. Forward! How beautifully the morning light smiles upon us. Help +me, unconquered sun-god!" + +He put spurs to his horse and, followed by a brilliant train of mounted +men, dashed down the hill and through the Porta Principalis Dextra +eastward, toward the sun. A guide had sought the best path at the +earliest dawn, marking it by placing at certain spaces small stones +carried in bags by the pioneers who accompanied and watched him. +The Prefect of Gaul soon reached the path trodden by Adalo a few +days before, which led to Suomar's lonely forest dwelling. With a +throbbing heart he recognized the familiar spot: the little hill, the +broad-branched oak, the neighboring spring: nothing had changed in the +few years, except that another piece of tilled land had been wrested by +fire from the primeval forest. + +At the fence which inclosed the court-yard he sprang from his horse; he +had ordered his escort to halt at the oak-tree. The blood suffused his +face, so intense was his anxiety. The narrow gate in the palisade stood +ajar. Entering the yard, he uttered a cry of joyful astonishment: a +little flower garden had been laid out beside the door of the house; he +recognized with emotion in the gay blossoms, now in the full bloom of +summer, the seeds and slips which he had given the child in Arbor, nay, +even ordered from Gaul. Italian and Gallic flowers and shrubs, +evidently tended by loving hands, splendid roses and evergreen yews +greeted him in thick beds, and also small fruit-trees. Pontine +cherries, Picentinian apples, Aquitanian pears, had grown as high as +the door. + +"Yes, yes," said Ausonius, smiling, "how everything has grown and +blossomed in five years!" Then something whirred over his head; from +openings in the stable-roof a whole flock of dainty little blue-gray +doves flew across the garden to the neighboring field of oats. "See," +cried Ausonius, looking after them. "My Lycian rock-doves from +Burdigala! How that one pair has multiplied!" + +He hesitated to enter the house. Doubtless he told himself that the +hope of finding her he sought was faint, nay futile. But here +everything seemed to bear witness to her presence; there on the bench +before the dwelling lay--he knew them well--the delicate garden shears +which he had sent to her from Vindonissa. He did not wish to cross the +threshold and rob himself of every hope. + +The clank of armor came from the open door: a centurion belonging to +Herculanus's troop approached, bowing respectfully. "Everything is +empty, _vir illuster_, the Tribune sends word. And we are to ask +you--we are burning all the Barbarians' houses--whether this too--" + +"Let it remain uninjured." + +The man nodded with a look of pleasure. "I am glad to obey the order. +It would have been a hard task to destroy this home. Umbrian roses, +Picentinian mallows, like those which grow around my parents' house in +Spoletium, in the midst of the Barbarians' marshes! Who can have +wrought this miracle?" + +"A poet," replied Ausonius, smiling, "and the fourth, the youngest, of +the Graces. So Saturninus was here himself?" + +"Yes, but even before him your nephew, with me. Herculanus searched +everywhere carefully, nay, greedily. He forbade my accompanying him. I +was obliged to wait at the entrance." + +"The good fellow! He wanted to bring her to me himself, to surprise +me--" + +"Directly after Herculanus left, Saturninus dashed up." + +"Where did the troop go from here?" + +"Yonder into the forest, keeping to the left, steadily to the left, +away from the lake. Otherwise horses and men would sink in the morass. +You will find sentinels posted in the woods every three hundred paces. +I, with three men, form the commencement of the chain here." + +"See that the yard and garden are not injured. I'll promise in return a +jug of the best wine." + +With these words he turned away, mounted his horse and, followed by his +escort, rode toward the left across the tilled land and meadows +surrounding the dwelling to the entrance of the neighboring wood, where +the helmets and spears of the next sentinels glittered brightly in the +sunshine. + +But Herculanus had not been content with thoroughly searching the +deserted house. He had also carefully examined the neighborhood for +some trace of the vanished girl. He was soon unable to ride farther +through the tangled underbrush; so, leaping from his horse, he gave his +Mauritanian roan charger into the care of the only man he had permitted +to accompany him, and glided on foot through the thicket. A sort of +path which he had discovered with much difficulty and followed for some +distance suddenly ended. + +While vainly searching for the stones and bits of wood which hitherto, +though at long distances, had marked the direction of the way, he saw +plainly in the marshy ground of the forest the imprint of human +footsteps. And the people who had passed here were not Romans: the +troops had never yet pressed so far eastward. Besides, the prints were +not like those made by the seeker's own heavy Roman marching shoes: he +intentionally trod lightly close beside the marks he had found, but how +different was the track! His deep footprints instantly filled with the +reddish-yellow marsh-water, which oozed from the ground at the least +pressure. But within a short time some one had walked by here +barefooted with a lighter tread. Indeed, not one person, but several. +For besides one mark which seemed to belong to a child, always one step +behind was a somewhat heavier and broader impression, and invariably at +the right of it a narrow but deep little hole filled with water, as if +made by the sharp end of a staff, while partly at the left, partly two +paces in advance, a man's heavier tread seemed unmistakable. + +The Roman followed the footprints with eager zeal; if he did not find +those whom he sought, he would have the credit of being the first to +discover the direction in which the Barbarians had fled. Suddenly the +traces appeared to vanish, in front of a large hawthorn bush which +barred the way. From beneath the hand thrusting the thorns aside a +little brown bird with a red breast flew up startled. Bending forward, +the Roman peered into the bush, then a cry of glad surprise escaped his +lips: "Aha! She passed here! She herself!" + + +Slowly, slowly he drew through his hand a shining red-gold hair which +had caught on a thorn: it was at least an ell long. And beyond the +thorn-bush the footprints were again visible, even more distinctly than +before, on a patch of damp sand. What seemed a child's footprints were +made by her steps. + + + + CHAPTER XV. + +The underbrush grew thinner, evidently removed by human hands; a few +steps more and the pursuer stood in an open space in the forest which +had been cleared by fire. Here stood a little hut, very roughly built +of unhewn logs: instead of doors two low narrow holes were opposite +each other. Such buildings were used by hunters for stations, by +shepherds overtaken in the forest by storms for a shelter, but +especially to keep quantities of hay which could not be dragged to the +distant barns. That was the case here; heaps of the grass piled in +stacks could be seen through the holes. + +Before Herculanus had reached the hut, an indistinct sound reached his +ear from the right, the shore of the lake. He drew his sword and +stopped, listening intently. There it came again! Was it a cry? It +seemed like the shout with which Romans on guard gave warning of the +presence of a foe. Directly afterwards he heard another noise: it was +like the whirring of the string in bending and releasing the wood of +the bow, then came a heavy fall or plunge into the water, and all was +still again. Nothing but the metallic tapping of the woodpecker broke +the silence of the forest. + +Cautiously raising his shield to his eyes and looking watchfully toward +the right, the Roman, with his thin figure drawn to its foil height, +waited several seconds longer: nothing stirred. + +He now sprang in two bounds across the open ground to the hut of hay, +stooped and entered through the northern hole. Something rustled under +the thick grass, which seemed to be alive: something glided beneath +it--was it a weasel?--toward the opposite hole: only the waving motion +of the bundles of hay betrayed the direction. + +Herculanus hastily grasped with his shield arm at the creature making +the rustling and lifted the broad short sword in his right for a +death-stroke. He seized something warm and drew it upward from the hay, +which fell on the right and left as he dragged forward a girl whose +face was covered with tangled red locks and blades of grass, through +which she gazed in mortal terror and fiery wrath at her assailant. + +So strange, so bewitchingly beautiful was the young creature that +Herculanus uttered a fierce cry of pleasure. He had vowed that the +first moment he had the dangerous Barbarian alone within reach of his +sword, should be her last; and even now he did not really waver in the +resolve. Neither pity nor passion could influence a mind fixed solely +on his uncle's wealthy yet so much youthful beauty awakened a fleeting +desire for it: before he stabbed the foe, he would have one kiss from +those red lips. So, reserving his right hand for the death-blow, he +drew her closer to him with the left. The girl struggled with the +strength of despair. Turning her head as far as possible from him, she +uttered a cry of terror, like a dying fawn. It was only a moment's +delay of the assassin's thrust, but it saved her. + +Before Herculanus could press his lips on her averted face a shadow +fell from outside upon the opening toward the lake, where the +struggling figures were now standing. "Murderer!" cried a deep voice; +and Herculanus, receiving a severe blow on the breast, staggered back, +loosing his hold upon his captive. Swiftly as the trout glides away, +the girl tried to slip through the opening; but she felt her arm seized +in the iron grasp of a much stronger hand, and looked up at another +helmeted Roman. + +"Is it you, Tribune?" stammered Herculanus, hastily thrusting his sword +into the sheath. + +The latter did not vouchsafe him a single word. "You are Bissula, +little one, are you not?" he asked, gazing with wondering eyes at the +strange vision. A sweet rapture ran through his veins as he saw the +lovely little face, the delicate, graceful limbs, the bare white feet, +and felt the pulsing of the young life through the round arm his hand +held so firmly. + +The prisoner made no reply, but she looked up trustfully into the +Illyrian's handsome, manly face. Then she cast a strange glance, as if +seeking for some one, back into the hut,--Saturninus had dragged her +from the doorway into the open air,--and seemed to be listening +anxiously. + +"Yes, it is Bissula," said Herculanus, now also coming out. "What made +you imagine that I wanted to kill her? I have been searching for her +since the earliest dawn." + +"So I thought." + +"Not for myself; I was only holding her firmly to prevent her escape." + +"With a quivering sword uplifted to strike?" + +"Only to frighten her." + +But Bissula cast a reproachful glance at him. + +"However that may be," the Illyrian continued, "she is my captive." His +glowing eyes rested on her; the girl lowered her long lashes in +embarrassment. + +"No, no! I discovered her." + +"But before you seized her a second time--for she was free again--I +captured her. Dare to contradict it, you murderer of girls!" and he +advanced threateningly toward him. + +The sound of a tuba rang from the forest. + +"We must return. The tuba gives a sign of warning," said Saturninus. +"The first trace of the foe has been found--not only the child--a man." + +Bissula looked up anxiously. + +"He lay covered with skins," the other added, as they moved forward, +"hidden among the rushes so that he could not be distinguished from a +fallen tree. Before we could seize him--" + +Bissula uttered a sigh of relief. + +"He had vanished in the sedges. A Batavian archer shot an arrow after +him. Hark! the Prefect is giving the signal again. Come without fear, +child." + +He led her by the wrist, carefully trying not to hurt her; but she +often stopped, glancing back at the hut, and once also at the lake. +After a few steps they heard the neighing of a horse and soon entered +an opening in the forest, where Ausonius had halted his mounted escort. + +"Father Ausonius!" cried the captive joyously, struggling to release +herself to rush to him. + +But the Illyrian's grasp on her arm became like iron. Approaching the +Prefect, who held out both arms to Bissula, he made a military salute, +saying sternly: "The first encounter with the enemy! A man has escaped: +a girl--this one--became my prisoner: my slave." + + + + + BOOK TWO + + THE SLAVE + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + +During those days the vicinity of the Holy Mountain, where a large +number of fugitives had taken refuge, was full of busy life, and from +the north, the quarter not threatened by the Romans, reinforcements +were constantly arriving from other provinces. + +The Tribune's efforts to discover the retreat of the fugitives had been +baffled hitherto; neither those in the marshes nor on Odin's Mountain +had been overtaken by the spies and reconnoitring parties of the Roman +General. Marshes and impenetrable primeval forests surrounded the Roman +camp on the Idisenhang on every side except southward toward the lake. + +In the last few days, after a tremendous thunder storm, a southwest +wind had sprung up, bringing on its dripping wings pouring torrents of +rain; then the forests became absolutely impassable for the heavy tread +of the legions: the few fords were buried in marshes or overflowed; the +tiniest rivulet became a raging river. Sulky and shivering, the +intruders, principally natives of the south, remained in the camp under +plank roofs and leather tents, fanning day and night the flames of huge +fires which, however, as all the wood was wet, diffused more smoke than +warmth. + +For long distances from the foot of the mountain the few and narrow +openings which led to the interior of the immense forests were blocked +and barricaded by felled trees. Huge oaks, ashes, and pine-trees had +been felled and piled one above another more than the height of a man, +strengthened by earth and turf, and held together at regular distances +by enormous posts driven into the ground or by trees which had been +left standing. Thus an almost insurmountable breastwork was formed, on +whose summit, and in the tops of the trees towering above it, the best +archers were stationed. Similar lines of defence were repeated, one +behind another, wherever the locality permitted. The legions would have +needed many more days than the brief time still remaining before the +end of August--they always finished their short summer campaigns in +Germany before the commencement of the autumn rains--to storm all these +fortifications; they could scarcely find it possible to make a circuit +of them, on account of the marshes. But even if they succeeded in +penetrating all the barricades to the foot of the mountain, they would +then be forced to begin the inexpressibly toilsome siege of this +natural fortress. + +All the entrances were covered by several tiers of logs; while, on the +mountain itself, rising one behind another, was a whole system of "ring +walls." These extremely powerful and extensive fortifications dated +principally from Celtic times, but had been considerably strengthened +and enlarged in scope by the Alemanni during their occupation of the +country for more than the past century: they had been forced to seek +refuge here from the Roman troops often enough. + +These walls were made of heaped up earth, turf, palisades, and so +called Cyclopean walls: that is, rocks, so closely joined together +without mortar or bricks, by a skilful use of their points, edges, and +fissures that fire, tearing asunder, and the blows of the ram seemed +equally ineffectual. + +Each one of these rings, which rose in stories, like terraces, required +to be stormed as a separate fortress. Each lower one was protected not +only by its own garrison, but by all those above, since they were so +constructed that stones, logs, spears, and arrows from all the upper +walls could strike the enemy without injuring the combatants on the one +beneath. Seven such defences girdled the mountain, the topmost one +surrounding the summit, which concealed Odin's altar in the heart of an +ash forest. + +Those unable to fight, the women, children, old men, and slaves, were +scattered through all the stories of the mountain fortress. The herds +had been driven to the rear on the northern side, where their lowing, +neighing, and bleating would be as far as possible from the enemy. The +fugitives rested at night in huts built of thick green foliage, often +with the skin of some animal fastened among the branches, which the +Alemanni had great skill in constructing. Nor was there any lack of +cellarlike subterranean passages where stores of grain and valuables +were concealed. + +The fighting men garrisoned all the entrances, reconnoitred in small +bands, especially at night, beyond the barricades close to the +neighborhood of the Roman camp. They spent the day in feats of arms or +drilling, impatiently enduring the long delay in giving battle, and +grumbling at the incomprehensible procrastination of their white-haired +Duke. For the latter, Adalo, and other leaders, huts of leaves had been +built on the summit of the mountain with the tents of their followers +scattered around them. + +Before one of these huts (a stag's antlers had been cut on the central +post for a house mark) on the day after Bissula's capture, a bright +fire was burning late in the evening, fed with pine cones which had +been protected from the wet under the stone closing the opening of a +cellar. It was supplied by a man about forty years old, whose cropped +hair showed that he was a slave; while the shape of his short face, his +dark eyes, high cheek bones and snub nose denoted that he was not of +German lineage. Suomar had bought him many years before in Vindonissa; +cheap enough, for Valentinian--or the slave dealer--had brought +countless captives from the Jazyge war. + +In front of the fire, sheltered from the wind and smoke, old Waldrun +lay on a bearskin, her feet covered with another. Adalo was kneeling +beside her. Mirthfulness and wrath had vanished; deep sorrow clouded +his handsome face. He gave the blind woman some wine to drink from a +silver goblet. Both beaker and wine were booty wrested from the Roman. + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + +"Tell me everything once more, Zercho," he said earnestly, "until +Waldrun has recovered and can add what you did not see. I have not yet +clearly understood the one thing upon which all depends." + +The bondman was now crouching beside the fire, trying to keep the smoke +from the white-haired woman with the wolf-skin he wore for a cloak. It +did not annoy her at all, but it helped him to avert his eyes from the +youth's searching gaze. + +"It happened in this way, handsome neighbor. Directly after you leaped +down the slope in anger,--I saw it from the stable,--the little red +sprite ordered me to bury the master's coins (alas, there are very few +of them!) and the brass vessels and broken-handled jug which he +obtained three winters ago at Brigantium. I had already driven the cow, +the sheep, and the goats into the alder thicket. + +"The next day I was to take the young mistress and her grandmother into +the marshes to Suomar, the master. But alas, the hot and cold cat, +which invisibly shakes the body like a mouse, often springs upon the +good old mistress. So it was the next day. The sufferer could hardly +stir her aged limbs from the couch; her strength was as feeble as a +dying torch; I almost had to carry her. But I could do this only +on solid ground: in the forest marshes I should have sunk with my +burden--strong bones weigh heavily. So, in the forest, the blind woman +was obliged to walk by herself, leaning on her staff and guided by the +little elf, while I jumped from stone to stone in advance, seeking the +best path. But just before we reached the hay hut, the grandmother +fell; she could no longer stand or walk. We carried her in. You know +the entrance to the old cave is just beside the left corner post. Down +below there it was safe, warm, and for her no darker than above. We +spent the rest of the day and the night in it. Bissula, in spite of +every warnings would not leave the old woman and go on with me. + +"She had brought some milk in a goat-skin, and rye bread. I watched +outside near the hut. In the gray dawn I stole back westward toward the +edge of the forest to watch for the helmeted Romans. Soon I saw a small +band of mounted men dash straight to Suomar's dwelling. I had hidden +our old log boat and the oars among the thickest rushes and meant to +row it through the marsh as near the hut as possible, carry the sick +woman to it, and then try to take my two mistresses to Suomar by way of +the lake. But when I reached the shore I saw several ships--their lofty +prows and triangular sails marked them as Roman galleys--moving from +Arbor on the opposite side toward our shore. They would soon be very +near. The way by the water was barred; but at the right, from the west, +I already heard the trampling of horses through the marshes and meadows +close beside me. + +"Two men with arrows and long bows in their right hands dashed by, not +a spear's length distant. I crouched among the rushes, nay in the swamp +to my lips; but in doing so I startled the great egret that always +fishes there. As, screaming loudly--silly bird--he soared upward over +the rushes, he attracted the attention of the riders to himself and, +unluckily, to me too. They saw my head. A bow whirred, an arrow whizzed +through my otter cap and grazed my head. The wound wasn't deep; +Zercho's skull is hard, Suomar often says so, and this time, it was a +good thing. I now swam out into the lake, diving like a duck as long as +I could hold my breath. + +"When I was forced to rise, the men had disappeared. Cautiously as the +fox stealing after the mouse, I crept on all fours through the thickest +rushes nearer to the land, in the direction of the hut, but making a +wide circuit. Then I saw two Romans in glittering armor step into the +clearing in the forest: one was leading the young mistress by the +arm--" + +Adalo heard this for the second time, but he again sighed deeply. + +"A horse neighed behind us, and on it sat the clever old man who a few +winters ago read to the little one in Arbor from many, many parchments, +oh, such a long, horribly long time--while I was obliged to wait to row +her back across the lake." + +"Are you perfectly sure," asked Adalo, seizing the bondman by the +shoulder and forcing him to turn his averted face, "that this horseman +was the old Roman?" + +"Well, he isn't so very old," replied the Sarmatian evasively, "though +he has grown somewhat grayer since that summer." + +"Answer," cried Adalo angrily. "Can you swear that the rider was +Ausonius?" + +"Ausonius! Yes, yes, that is what she always called him. Father +Ausonius. And that's what she cried out yesterday when she saw him: +'Father Ausonius!' she shrieked." + +He broke off abruptly and began to rub his head (the wound suddenly +seemed to pain him) muttering meanwhile in his Sarmatian dialect, which +Adalo did not understand. + +"So it was really he," sighed Adalo. "And I must thank the gods for +having led her to him." + +"Freya will reward you for it," said the blind woman suddenly, raising +herself on her left arm and groping with her right hand in the +direction of the voice until she reached the youth's head and stroked +his long locks. "The dwellers in Asgard will repay you for such +thoughts." + +"Must I not cherish them, Mother? Oh, if you could only sit up again!" + +"Your drink, the Romans' drink, cheers the weary soul." + +"Ausonius will protect her from the others. But," Adalo went on +angrily, "who will defend her from Ausonius? She was tenderly attached +to him." + +"As a child to its father." + +"Be it so--at that time. But now the maiden will owe him gratitude for +everything, even the highest boon." + +During this conversation Zercho had repeatedly looked thoughtfully at +both; now he scratched himself behind the ear and was about to make +some remark, but changed his mind and remained silent. + +"Against my warning," said the old woman, continuing the bondman's +story, "the child had glided away from my side out of the cellar into +the hut. She grew tired of waiting in the dark hole for Zercho's +return. Suddenly I heard a man's heavy step above me; then a shriek +from the little one, which made me tremble. But by the time I had +groped my way to the stone slab and lifted it, all was still. I vainly +called her name. Soon Zercho came with the news that he had seen her +led away captive. We sorrowfully waited for the darkness. My fever had +left me; I could walk slowly, but faithful Zercho sought our cow and +found her among the tall reeds in the swamp, lifted me upon her and, by +a wide circuit through the forest, brought me here." + +"For I had seen Italian galleys between the forest hut and Suomar in +the eastern marshes," remarked the Sarmatian. "The enemy was +reconnoitring there, so I tried to reach the mountain, as my mistress +preferred." + +"Yes; for since Suomar, my son, cannot be reached, it is you, Adalo, +of all the men of our people, our kind neighbor, the playfellow of +her childhood, to whom I must lament. The dear one is a captive: +help--rescue--liberate her." + +The youth passed his hand sadly over his beautifully arched eyebrows. +"Yes," he thought, with bitter grief, "a captive through the fault of +her own defiance and obstinacy." But he said nothing, only thinking: +"It will be a difficult task. If it depended upon me--from the moment I +heard it I would have stormed the Idisenhang so constantly and fiercely +that the Italians would have had neither inclination nor leisure to +torment the child. Or to win her," he added bitterly. "But the army is +under the sole command of my cousin Hariowald, the Duke. I cannot--" + +Here a low growl interrupted him: he turned and saw a singular +spectacle. + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + +A handsome boy about fourteen, whose strong resemblance to Adalo marked +him as his brother--only his curling locks were light yellow, almost +white--was dragging by the ear a huge she-bear, which, growling, +struggling, but yielding, allowed herself to be drawn nearer and nearer +to the fire. + +"Down, Bruna!" cried the lad, forcing the huge animal to lie prostrate. +"You dearly loved the merry, dancing girl too. Look, you growling brown +giantess, that's only the grandmother, and Zercho, who always brought +you so much wild-honey from the bee-wood. But _she_ is missing; our +Bissula is gone. Ah, if you had been there, you would have defended her +savagely; for you haven't forgotten that she and Adalo saved you, +dragged you out of the torrent. When you were scarcely bigger than a +kitten the cloud-burst swept you away from your mother, and you cried +piteously as you were drowning. And her busy hands fed you even more +eagerly than ours, with rich milk, rye bread, and dainty wild berries. +Since you first opened your blinking eyes, which now look as though you +knew as much as a human being, you have recognized her as your best +friend. Oh, if you had been with her, no one would have dared to seize +her. O brother, strong brother, you hero and shield of the whole +province, bring her back! Alas, if the little one, with her dainty +hands, should be forced to heat the bath-water for the hated foe and +wash his feet, as I often saw their maid-servants do in Arbor! Why +don't we rush down on the wings of the storm and hew her out of the +high-walled camp citadel?" + +He swung his little wolf spear: the fire blazed up brightly as he stood +in the light of the flames, a handsome boyish figure, in his light-blue +linen robe bordered with white swan's down. + +"Yes, my Sippilo," said the older brother with ill-repressed sorrow, +"you loved her too." + +The boy looked up startled, but Adalo continued: + +"Yes, yes. Perhaps she is dead--to us, to our people. Perhaps we shall +never see her again, never hear her sweet, elfish, mocking laugh." + +"Oh, the smoke! How it stings!" cried the lad, wiping the tears from +his eyes. + +"Perhaps she went with the Italians willingly," said Adalo, torturing +himself savagely--"with the clever Ausonius!" + +"Is he here again?" cried Sippilo. "I'll run him through like a fat +carp that is sunning itself in shallow water. Oh, I used to wish he +might fall under the curse of Odin and the sun. Whenever I went to get +frogs for fishing or to play ball, she had always rowed over to him or +would not leave the long rolls of runes over which she racked her +brains. He had given them to her. If only I could catch him!" + +"If we only had her back again! My heart is consumed with anxiety." + +"Guard yourself from consuming anxiety, my son," said the old woman in +a warning tone. "It will paralyze your thoughts and arm; and you will +need both to liberate the naughty child. I am no prophetess, but I have +had strange dreams since I grew blind--which often come to pass: I saw +you to-night wounded, severely wounded. Guard your life. If she should +be rescued, and no longer find you--" + +"Then her vengeful wish would be fulfilled. She hates me. She shouted +it loudly enough." + +Sippilo laughed. "You? Hate you? She loves you better than a +sister. How I always had to tell her about you, everything you were +doing,--your prizes of honor in the contests; the gifts of neighboring +princes; your last verses; whom they praised! When I met her on the +lake quite lately, she asked if Jettaburga and her father did not often +visit the Stag Hall. When I said that they no longer came there, for +sheer delight she loosed from her own waist the beautiful blue girdle +she always wore, and gave it to me. See, there it is. I always carry it +hidden in my blouse. And, Bruna, didn't she once kiss you between the +eyes, when I told her how you had sprung to Adalo's assistance in the +chase and torn the furious wild bull which was goring his horse? Yes, +Bruna, you are faithful to her too. You have trotted after us for hours +when we were gathering berries and mushrooms, and watched our noonday +nap." + +Just at that moment a long-drawn blast of a horn echoed from the summit +of the mountain. Adalo started up. + +"The Duke is calling. We are to consult about what is to be proposed in +the people's council. Zercho, come with me. He wishes to question you +about the number of the enemy's mounted men. You, Sippilo, take care of +Mother Waldrun; that is all you can do for your Bissula." + +"For the present," said the boy looking after his brother. "But I will +take part in storming the camp fortress where the scoundrels hold +captive the prettiest little bird--little gold-crested wren, no, little +redbreast--in the land of the Alemanni." He raised his clenched fist +threateningly. + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + +Outside of the Duke's tent also a huge fire was blazing, fed by slaves +who were roasting on the ends of poles the haunches and back of a +freshly killed stag. Adalo passed by, motioning to Zercho to wait, +parted the sailcloth stretched over the wooden frame of the tent, and +entered. + +The roof was formed of interwoven pine branches; against the poles of +the light timberwork hung and rested everywhere weapons of all kinds. +Skins covered the turf floor which, opposite to the entrance, was +raised until it formed a high seat; a curtain of heavy linen hung +behind it, dividing from the front of the tent a small space used for a +sleeping room. In the centre stood an iron tripod, running to a point +at the top, into which was screwed a burning pine-torch that diffused a +dim, flickering red light. + +On the fur-covered high seat, with his back resting against the main +column of the tent, sat Duke Hariowald. He greeted his young kinsman +only by a glance and seemed to heed nothing except the eager words of +another guest, a man about forty years old, who, clad in a boarskin and +wearing on his head a "boar helm" with the animal's tusks, sat at his +right. + +The old Duke, a giant in height, towering nearly a head above Adalo's +tall figure, was a man of singular appearance. The immense framework of +his body appeared to belong to a much older race of men. His deep-set +gray eye--the left one had been destroyed by a stone from a Balearican +sling long before, and the empty socket had a sinister expression--was +under a bushy, prominent arched brow; its fire was by no means dimmed, +but curbed by the long habit of self-control. This ever perceptible +rule of passions blazing fiercely in his breast gave the mighty man, +who in spite of his sixty-five winters could not be called old, an air +of mysterious majesty. His people looked up to him with reverence, with +timid expectation, nay, with a slight fear of what he was planning in +rigid secrecy. His eagle eye was inscrutable when he half closed it; +when open, the flash that blazed from it was fairly blinding. The +expression of the mouth was concealed by the magnificent silvery-white +beard, sweeping over the breast-plate to the bronze belt, which framed +the cheeks and mingled with the thick locks of hair of the same hue. + +Like the eye, the strong, deep, resonant voice revealed, no matter how +quietly the mighty man spoke, the sense of power held in check. He +rarely moved his muscular limbs, and all his gestures had a calmness +which was the result of long training. So he sat without a helmet, with +his ample blue cloak floating from his shoulders, his bearing one of +dignified composure. The majestic beauty of his finely formed head was +plainly visible as he rested it against the tent-pole, listening +intently. An immense spear rested in the curve of his right arm, its +brass top rising above his shoulder, as the end touched the floor; he +often stroked with a gentle, almost loving touch of the hand the runes +of victory inscribed on the back of the ash handle. + +"I am usually glad to greet you, son of Adalger," said the Duke's other +guest, with a frowning brow, "but now I am most unwilling. I pleaded +for peace--" The Duke remained silent. "Now you come and you--I know +it--dream of nothing day and night save war with Rome." + +Adalo measured him with a wrathful glance. "The ancient foe of our +people is in the country, and a king of the Alemanni counsels peace? +Ebarbold, son of Ebur, fear was alien to your kinsmen--" + +The other laid his hand on the curved knife in his belt. Adalo did not +see it: he was under the spell of Hariowald's eye. A warning glance +from the old man, and the youth hastily added, "and is unknown to you, +hero of the wild-boar's courage." + +The guest loosened his grip of the dagger and leaned back proudly. + +"But Roman gold does not ensnare you," Adalo continued; "so some magic +blinds you." + +"Or _you_ and all our crazy youths. The red drink of Zio, the war-god, +has intoxicated you. Or," he added in a lower, almost timid tone, "He, +Odin the Val-father, wishes again to people his Valhalla with +slaughtered heroes." + +A change of expression flashed over the Duke's face. He gently raised +his spear and, unheard by the others, murmured, "Mighty Odin, do not +avenge the words." But Ebarbold went on: + +"No matter about the boys! Their only art is war, and they have little +sense; but that you, who have seen sixty winters and almost as many +victories of the men with the high helmets--that you too should desire +war! My friends, I went to Rome; I climbed to the citadel on the +towering rock. It glitters with gold and marble. I served in the great +Valentinian's army. I have seen for years the countless thousands of +Roman warriors with their finest weapons, against which ours are like +children's toys." + +The Duke, unnoticed, pressed his spear closer to his breast. + +"And the military engines, the huge galleys with three banks of oars +one above another, the treasures of coined and uncoined gold and +silver! The whole extent of the land, all Mittelgard, as far as men +live--white, brown, and black--I've seen them painted on a long, long +strip of hide. The rising and the setting of the sun serve Rome. In his +golden house on one of the seven hills of the Tiber the Imperator has +placed a gold ball: all the provinces are copied on it. It is the work +of a magician. If a foe crosses the boundary in the farthest north or +south, the gold ball echoes and trembles in that spot; the Imperator +hears it, looks, and sends the legions. We will not defy him. The Caesar +is a god on earth." + +"Do not hear it. Mighty One!" the old Duke murmured, stroking the runes +on his spear soothingly. + +Adalo was about to make a vehement reply, but he involuntarily looked +at the silent man, and controlled himself. + +"We have learned that long enough, I think," Ebarbold continued; "from +generation to generation, when each province still fought +independently, long before this name and league of the Alemanni were +heard and invented!" + +"You don't like this league?" the Duke now asked suddenly. + +The King started. The voice, hitherto mute, sounded so loud and +powerful. Glancing up timidly, he shrugged his shoulders: "Whether I +like it or not, I can no longer dissolve it." + +"No, you cannot," said Hariowald very calmly, stroking his long beard; +but his gray eye darted a glance which boded evil. + +"You don't like the _name_ of Alemanni either?" asked Adalo +indignantly. + +"No, Adeling. 'All men together!' Ha, our forefathers prided themselves +on standing alone, province by province; nay, in the old days family by +family, not leaning on others, and also not bound by them, not subject +to the will of the majority." + +"Yes, that's it!" said the old Duke with a fierce smile. "You were in +the citadel of Rome--so was I. But I perceived with my one eye what you +have not seen. You noticed the glittering lustre of their magnificence; +it dazzled you: I saw through the glitter to the decay, the decline +beneath. And one thing more," he added mysteriously, lowering his +voice--"for several generations they have had no more luck with their +own gods--with the new ones, I mean. Ay, the old one whom they formerly +had--" he now spoke with a certain timidity, even reverence--"I mean +the one with the thunderbolts and the eagle--he was a god of battles, +almost like our own. Often his eagle on their shields seemed to me to +flap its wings, and the lightning to glow redly. Often and often have I +seen them conquer under that handsome bearded god and his sons. Mars +and Hercules. But now they have chosen for their god a youth, gentle +and nobly wise, but no warrior. His own priests say he never held a +sword in his hand. He did not descend from a line of gods; he was the +son of a laborer. And this man--a carpenter--belonged to a race long in +bondage to Rome, a people many of whom have wandered to us with packs +on their bent backs, mere traders in spices. Not many of them are seen +in the ranks of the legions. Since the Romans chose for their god that +gentle teacher who would not even defend his own life, victory has +deserted their standards. But what (besides their Jupiter in the +clouds) formerly secured to them for centuries conquest on earth I also +learned; the god whom I most honor showed it to me: one will controlled +them all. They were already united men--all for one, and one for all, +through many hundred winters; while we, according to the wish of your +heart, fought province by province, each for himself, and--succumbed. +This is your freedom--the freedom of discord and consequent +destruction!" + +The glowing wrath of enthusiastic conviction transfigured the old +Duke's noble face. + + + + CHAPTER XX. + +Ebarbold wished to cast a venomous glance at him, but was forced to +lower his eyes in the presence of such lofty dignity. His lips curled +bitterly as he replied: + +"Beware, Hariowald. Your title is Duke, not King; and your reign ends +when this war is over. According to your desire, it seems, one man must +rule the Alemanni. From the earliest days we have had kings and counts +of the provinces; but woe betide us if all the districts ever become +the slaves of one king of the people." + +"Are the gods slaves because _one_ rules them as king?" The old Duke's +voice sounded threatening. + +Ebarbold answered evasively: "But here on earth we Alemanni have equal +rights. And rather than--" + +"Why do you hesitate?" asked Adalo angrily. + +"He hesitates because he shrinks from uttering his thoughts. But the +Lofty One gave me the power to read the minds of men upon their brows +like explained runes." + +Flushing and paling, Ebarbold started up. + +"This son of Ebur thinks," the Duke continued, "that rather than obey a +king of the Alemanni he would serve the Caesar." + +Now Adalo sprang from his seat. + +"And suppose it were so," cried Ebarbold, "would you prevent it? In a +few weeks, when the leaves fall, your command of the army will end. But +meanwhile--" + +"Meanwhile I counsel you to obey." + +"You?" + +"Not me," the old man answered, with immovable composure, "but the +Council which rules all the provinces--even yours, the Ebergau and its +King. But sit down again, hot-tempered hero! And Adalo, hand him from +the wall of the tent where it hangs, the mead horn. The heron of +forgetfulness will rustle over our heads, bearing away on its wings the +words of wrath and discord." + +The two young men took their seats again. While the wild bull's horn, +tipped at both ends with bronze, was passing around the circle, +Ebarbold said: "Even if we should conquer this time and drive this +band of Romans from the country--we have learned the lesson often +enough--others will come to avenge those who are defeated. So it has +been for many generations." + +"But so it will be no longer," the Duke answered slowly. "That is +provided for. The evil she-wolf is surrounded by too many dogs at once. +She can no longer raise her left paw to aid her right: the Goth is +holding it firmly on the Danube, and she is still scarcely able to +escape the bite of the Franconians on the Rhine." + +"The Goths?" said Ebarbold. "Who knows whether they will be in the +field this year?" + +"I do," replied the Duke quietly. + +"Can you see from here to Thrace?" sneered Ebarbold: "I cannot." + +"But there is One who, from his throne in the clouds, overlooks all +countries: and he revealed it to me." + +"But I see the misery the Romans have wrought around us in our own +land," the King continued. "My people have suffered heavily. The +cohorts in passing through burned all the dwellings. My own hall too." + +"We will rebuild them," cried Adalo, laughing, as he hung the horn on +the wall. "The forest will not refuse trees to its people. My home +below on the hillock beside the lake"--his face now grew grave--"is +dear to me; sacred the hearth beside which I sat in my dear mother's +lap while my father, skilled in the music of the harp, sung of the gods +and the deeds of our own ancestors. The Centurion will probably soon +hurl the torch into the ancient dwelling of my family with the rune of +the stag's antlers. Never more can I hope to mount the high seat where +I was so often allowed to fill my father's drinking horn. But though +through all the future years I should have no other shelter for this +head than the waving boughs of the woods, never will I yield to the +Italians." + +"Yield? The purpose is only to confirm a treaty such as we have often +made." + +"And the Romans as often broken," said Adalo. + +"Or we ourselves. What is asked of us? Young men to fight the Caesar's +battles. We have more than we can feed. In return they will give us red +gold." + +"May Hel swallow up this gold and these treaties!" cried Hariowald. +"For generations they have sold to our ancient foe our heart's blood +and our young heroes, who were used against ourselves and our +neighbors. If the hundreds of thousands who fell for Rome had banded +together against Rome, we should have watered our long-maned horses +long ago in the Gallic sea. But we will not cast aside your words, +Ebarbold. Perhaps I may even consent to send an envoy to the Roman camp +for peace!" + +"What! Is that your wish?" cried Adalo impetuously. + +"My wish will appear." + +"To offer peace? Let them retire? With their booty?" + +"It will not be hard to carry." Here a smile which lent the old Duke's +lips a wonderful charm hovered around them. "Six pots in Iburninga and +a broken mead vessel in Mariswik; so two old women complained to me." + +"And the prisoners!" Adalo reminded him. + +"They have only one, I hear," Ebarbold remarked, "the child of a small +farmer." + +"No matter, she is a free maiden, a daughter of our race," cried Adalo, +with blazing eyes. "She has a right to the protection of her people." + +"Protection? A captive! What can we--" + +"Release her with the sword--or avenge her." + +"Commence, for the sake of one woman, the conflict which will destroy +the people?" + +"You are right," said the Duke slowly. "Women as well as men must be +sacrificed for the welfare of the nation. Let her stay where she +is--little Bissula." + +"What, Bissula?" asked Ebarbold, startled. "Albfledis, whom they call +Bissula? The beautiful red elf?" + +"You know her?" Adalo asked. + +"Who has not heard of her? She is talked of along the whole shore of +the lake, and in such a way that the listener is anxious to see her. I +too grew curious and tried to get a look at her lately, at the last +sun-festival. It is a pity about her. By Freya's eyes, a great pity! +But peace is worth more." + +"Certainly," said Hariowald, "and victory still more." + +"Victory is certain," exclaimed Adalo. + +"Do you think so?" replied the old man reprovingly. "I do not. Not +yet," he corrected himself. + +"Lead us to the attack on the Roman camp! Our men are pouring here in +dense throngs since you sent the blood-red arrow from house to house." + +"There are not yet enough. The army still lacks many men from distant +provinces situated far away toward the north and the east: Alpgau, +Albwins-Bar, Wisentgau, and Draggau." + +"Do not calculate! Dare!" + +"I am doing so; but I also consider the firmness of the Roman camp." + +"But meanwhile our foes are strengthening themselves too. Their proud +galleys already lie anchored opposite in Arbor; they will soon bring +fresh cohorts over." + +"Let them do so." The old Duke laughed softly; his look expressed a +grim, mysterious joy. "Meanwhile," he added after a pause, "I will send +an envoy to the foe to-morrow." + +"Send me!" exclaimed Ebarbold eagerly. + +"No. Adalo, you will go." + +"He! He will not bring back peace." + +"No, but keen scrutiny, and--" he whispered to the youth--"perhaps +Bissula." + +"Thanks! Thanks!" + +"I," cried Ebarbold wrathfully, "would surely bring home to our +people--" + +"Subjection!" said the Duke. "That is just what you must not do. If the +Italians reject fair proposals, then I will ask the Council of the +people, the whole army, for its decision--" + +"I know in advance," Ebarbold angrily interrupted, "what they will +determine, guided by you, you disciple of Odin, you giver of victims to +Zio! But your decision is one thing; it is another--" + +He checked the word on his tongue and hesitated. + +"That you will do, you wish to say. King of the Ebergau! I warn you, +Ebarbold. Your father was a gallant hero; he fell by my side twenty +winters ago in the murderous battle against Julian. Remembering him, I +once more warn you: beware!" + +"Look to yourself," cried Ebarbold angrily. "You are not my guardian!" + +Springing up, he rushed out of the tent. + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + +Adalo, too, rose hastily. "Will you let him go in this threatening +mood? Shall I follow?" + +But the Duke remained unmoved. "I fear no danger from this man." A +shudder ran through the youth's limbs and he started, as the old chief, +lightly raising the spear, added: "He is dedicated to Odin." + +"You will--?" + +"Not I. He will--must sacrifice himself. Do not wonder. Wait." + +"And the news about the Goths, Duke? Were you in earnest? Or did you +merely wish to encourage the faint-hearted Ebarbold?" + +"Aha, do you credit me with such craft in the good work?" asked the old +man, smiling? + +"You are Odin's favorite." + +"It is as I said. One of the men in our ranks has been serving in the +army of the other Emperor; he came home on leave of absence, and said +that such countless throngs of Goths had crossed the Danube and were +assailing that Emperor so closely that he certainly could not march +here to his young nephew's assistance. Nay, the nephew's whole army +will perhaps be compelled to hasten to the uncle's relief. Because I +knew this I permitted, nay, commanded our young leaders to cross the +frontier early this spring to renew the war. But do you keep silence +about it. And open your eyes wide in the Roman camp to-morrow: do not +think only of the child, much as I hope you may see her, perhaps ransom +her, or save her by stratagem. For, by Frigga's girdle, she is lovely! +and I would fain see the fairest ornament of our land at liberty +again." + +Adalo clasped the Duke's right hand; but the latter withdrew it, adding +sternly: + +"Note carefully the height of the wall, the depth of the ditch, the +position of the gates, the number of the tents, the direction of the +paths between them, so that you can report everything accurately to me. +Now go, and send Zercho the bondman. No, do not ask what I want with +him. Obey!" + +Adalo left the tent. His heart was throbbing violently. "I shall see +her; ransom her! I will give all my property; nay, if necessary, my +estate, the land I have inherited--or sell it. But will she desire to +be ransomed? Will she not prefer to go with the clever-tongued Italian +to his sunny home? And what if he will not release her? Well, then +there will at least be one way to bring her forth, known only to the +Duke and my father's oldest son." + +Fiercely agitated by such thoughts, he sent the bondman, who was +crouching beside the fire, to the tent. The slave stood timidly before +the mighty soldier. + +"How long is it since Suomar bought you?" + +"That's hard for Zercho to say. I can hardly count beyond the fingers +of both hands, and there are more years than fingers. The little elf +was very small then. My master got me cheap, for the Romans had dragged +many, many of us as prisoners from the beautiful pastures of the +Tibiscus. He exchanged a horse and a net full of fish for me with the +dealer over in Vindonissa." + +"Suomar has praised you to me. He has never been obliged to flog you." + +Zercho made a wry face and rubbed his ear. "Yes, my lord--once." + +"And why was that?" + +"When I first saw the little elf--she was then a child about seven +years old--I thought she was the wood maiden, red Vila, threw myself on +the ground and shut my eyes; for whoever sees her is blinded. Then he +shouted a word in your language which I have often heard since,--it +means an animal with horns,--and struck me. But never afterwards." The +slave had uttered all this very rapidly; he was afraid of the Duke, and +kept on talking to deaden his fear. + +"You are faithful to the young girl?" + +"I would be cut to pieces with the ploughshare for her." + +"You plucked me by the cloak when you made your report in the presence +of the Adeling and the old woman. You wished to tell me something that +they ought not to know." + +"That is true, great Father! How did you discover--?" + +"That was not hard to guess. But I suspect more--the girl did not +become the captive of the kindhearted chatterer, Ausonius, but of +another Roman." + +The slave looked up at him in fright. "Did your Odin, your terrible god +who knows all things, reveal this to you?" + +"No, he only gave me the power of reading men's eyes. So she is +another's prisoner; I suspected it. And you did not wish to plunge into +still deeper grief both the old grandmother and the Adeling; for he +loves the child ardently." + +"You know that too?" + +"One doesn't need Odin's assistance for it," replied the Duke, smiling. +"I was young once too. You wished to spare the youth?" + +"Yes, great Father. He would wear himself out with rage and grief. Yet +he can do nothing to save her." + +"He would only destroy himself, and perhaps our best hope of victory, +by some desperate deed. I am pleased with you, slave. Keep silence as +before. But Ausonius was there too?" + +"Yes, the foreigner who stayed so long in Arbor several years ago. But +he didn't seize the child; it was another, younger man." + +"Did you not hear his name? Was it anything like Saturninus?" + +"My lord, his name was not spoken, or I did not hear it. He was a +fine-looking man in glittering armor." + +"But he took his prisoner to Ausonius?" + +"Yes. Yet he did not lift her on Ausonius's white horse, as the latter +seemed to ask, but swung the struggling girl upon another--a black +one--perhaps, yes, probably his own." + +The Duke remained silent and thoughtful. At last he said: "The Adeling +is not to reach the Roman camp until twilight is closing in tomorrow. +Before he rides forth he will receive some directions from me. Tell him +so. And"--here he lowered his voice to a whisper, much to the surprise +of the slave, since there was no one in the tent--"if a faithful and +cunning man should venture to introduce himself or some one else in +disguise into the hostile camp and tell me what he saw there,--for I +fear they will not give Adalo much chance to look about him,--and this +man should be a slave, I would buy his freedom." + +"Great Father!" exclaimed the Sarmatian, throwing himself prostrate +before the Duke and trying to kiss his feet. + +The old man angrily thrust him back with the handle of his spear: "Are +you a dog, that you want to lick my feet?" + +"Zercho is a Jazyge," said the bondman, rising and rubbing his bruised +shins. "Thus my people honor one who is worthy of honor." + +"But we sons of the Ases do not bend the knee even to the mighty King +of Asgard when we call upon him and desire to honor him. Now go. +Perhaps it will be well that Adalo should not know what is to happen." + +"He must not hear of it until after it has succeeded, for he would not +let the others whom I must have go with me." + +"I do not wish to know in advance how the work is to be done. Say +outside that no one is to enter till I strike the shield." + +The slave had scarcely gone when the Duke drew back the linen curtain +whose folds fell to the ground behind him, shutting off the rear of the +tent, used as a sleeping-room. + +A man with long gray hair, scarcely younger than Hariowald, came +forward glancing cautiously around him. + +"We are alone, Ebarvin. Repeat your King's words exactly again. For +consider, you must repeat them to his face, on oath, before the +assembly of the people, if he deny them." + +"He will not deny them," said the graybeard sorrowfully. "He is too +proud to submit to you, but he is also too proud to lie." + +"It is a pity," replied the Duke, curtly. "He was a fearless man." + +"You speak as if he were numbered with the dead!" cried the other, +shuddering. + +"I do not see how he can survive. Or, do you believe he will change his +choice?" + +Ebarvin silently shook his head. + +"How long have you borne his shield?" + +"Ever since he _had_ a shield. I carried his father's, too," sighed the +man. + +"I know it, Ebarvin. And," he asked craftily, as if in reproach, while +his gray eye blazed with a searching light, "and yet you betrayed him?" + +The man gripped his short sword angrily. + +"Betray? I accuse him openly, after I have often warned him loyally, +after threatening that I would tell you all. He laughed at it; he would +not believe me." + +"And why do you do it? You have loved him." + +"Why? And you ask that--you, who taught it to me, to us all? True, it +was not you alone--first necessity! Why? Because only this league of +the Alemanni can save us from ruin, from the shame of bondage. Why? Oh, +Duke, the oaths with which you bound us years ago, before the ash of +Odin, are terrible. Ebarvin will not forswear himself; I will not, a +perjured man, drift through endless nights down the horrible river of +Hel among corpses, serpents, and swords. And I have learned through a +long life that we must stand together, or the Romans will destroy us +province by province. Oh, I would slay my own son if, disobedient to +the Duke and the Council of the people, he tried to burst our league +asunder." + +Up sprang the old chieftain; his eye flashed with delight. Raising the +spear aloft with his left hand, he struck the right one on the +clansman's shoulder: "I thank you for those words, Ebarvin! And I thank +thee, thou Mighty One in the clouds! If such a spirit lives in the +Alemanni, the league will never be sundered." + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + +It was really as Zercho the bondman had believed: Bissula had become +the captive, not of Ausonius, but another; and his captive she +remained. To the extreme surprise, nay, barely repressed indignation of +the Prefect of Gaul, the younger man had asserted his claim according +to the rights of war. Ausonius had no claims whatever to the prisoner; +that was clear. His nephew undoubtedly might have raised them, and at +first he did make the attempt. But he grew strangely silent when the +Tribune--scarcely in absolute harmony with the truth--said in his +uncle's presence: "The girl had escaped again. I was the first to catch +her finally. Shall I call her, that she may tell you the whole story +herself?" + +Herculanus, with a venomous glance, left the tent. + +But Ausonius did not understand the imperious rudeness of the brave +soldier who was usually so devoted to him. When the Tribune curtly +appealed to the right of war, Ausonius, deeply offended, pondered over +all the reasons which, as he thought, must induce his friend not to +yield his legal right in this instance to him. The poet, seeking +motives for the act, of course first grasped the nearest: all the men +in the camp gazed at the peculiar beauty of the child with unconcealed +admiration. It was no wonder then that the Illyrian, in the full vigor +of manhood, should also be seized with ardent love for the beautiful +creature who had fallen into his hands and, without really having any +evil design, wanted to keep her in his power until either from +affection or obedience the captive should yield to her master. + +But this anxiety, which at first had weighed heavily upon him, was soon +relieved. With the keen distrust of jealousy, he watched his rival +sharply at every meeting; but even suspicion could discover nothing +that would have warranted this conjecture. Quiet, unmoved, and +steadfast as ever was the Tribune's bearing in her presence, which he +neither shunned nor sought, but treated with indifference. He looked +into the wonderful eyes no more frequently than occasion required, and +his glance was calm, his voice did not tremble. So Ausonius regarded +his friend's act as a soldier's strange whim, and did not doubt that he +would soon give it up. But this proved an error. + +On returning to the camp Ausonius entreated his friend, without +renouncing his right of possession, to place the young girl in the tent +next to the Prefect's, now occupied by slaves and freedwomen, whom he +would remove. But Saturninus insisted that Bissula should be lodged +among the wives of the freedmen and female slaves who occupied some +tents a long distance from the Prefect's. The young girl herself paid +little heed to the discussion between the two Romans, whose meaning she +scarcely understood. + +Released by the Tribune from the fear of death, and soothed by the +presence of her honored friend, her young cheerful heart soon +accommodated itself to the new condition of affairs,--not through +recklessness, but through childish ignorance of the perils which +possibly threatened her. Her grandmother was not discovered; her +faithful servant had not been captured; she herself was certainly +secure in the presence and under the eyes of her friend, the most +aristocratic man in the Roman camp. He would not let a hair of her head +be harmed, she knew. + +True, the thought weighed heavily upon her heart as soon as she was +captured that she herself was solely to blame for her misfortune. If +she had obeyed the well-meant counsel--she was on the verge of tears; +experience had taught the value of the advice--she would now have been +safe and sheltered with her grandmother, though also with Adalo. And +owing him a debt of gratitude! She crushed the tears on her long +lashes. No, she would not admit that he was right. Now she owed the +haughty Adeling nothing: that was certainly an advantage. "And"--she +shook her waving locks back defiantly--"they won't eat me here! Only +don't be afraid, Bissula," she said to herself; "and don't submit to +anything!" + +She had trembled only a moment after her escape from Herculanus, when +her powerful deliverer measured her whole dainty figure with a look +under which she lowered her eyes in confusion. But when she again +raised those innocent child-eyes, the expression had vanished. And it +never returned. + +Her master allowed her to spend the whole day with her "Father +Ausonius": only when it grew dark he appeared, with inexorable +firmness, to take her away; and he went with her himself to the tent +assigned to her, before which he stationed one of his Illyrian +countrymen as a sentinel all night. + +Bissula never saw her friend's nephew, whom she feared, alone. She +confidently expected the restoration of her liberty when the camp +should be broken up and the Romans should withdraw from the country. +There would be no fighting, Ausonius repeatedly told her. So the +light-hearted girl regarded her captivity, which had lost all its +terrors, as an adventure that afforded her an opportunity for the +conversations with her friend which she had missed so long. + +Many of her young playmates had lived as hostages and probably as +captives in Roman camps and in the fortresses on the southern shore, +and been restored to liberty uninjured when truce or peace was +declared. That she could be detained or carried away against her will +she did not fear: the most powerful man in the camp was her protector. +Yet this peril constantly threatened her more and more closely. + +Ausonius kept a sort of diary, in which before going to sleep he +recorded events, impressions, sketches of poems, and short bits of +verse--a custom whose regular observance he scarcely omitted even in +camp. A touch of pedantry was one of his characteristics. Yet the diary +was not a monologue, rather a sort of dialogue; for he addressed it in +the form of a letter to his oldest and most intimate friend, Arius +Paulus of Bigerri, rhetorician, but also an old soldier. Every three +months he collected what he had written and forwarded it to him to +receive his criticisms and answers on the margin of the manuscript when +returned. + +So, during these days of involuntary leisure he wrote. + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + V. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +Ausonius sends greetings to his Paulus. + +I wrote to you yesterday about the charming Barbarian child. Child? She +is one no longer. The delicate, yet lovely outlines of her form have +developed into exquisite roundness. And Barbarian? If she ever was one +she has ceased to be so, since Ausonius taught her the pomp of the +Latin language. How shall I describe her to you without drawing, no, +painting her? For it is precisely the charm of her coloring that is so +peerless. If only I had brought with me Paralos, my Ionian slave, who +painted the nymphs so exquisitely--you know--in my little dining hall +yonder, in the villa in the Province Noverus! And the expression--the +vivacity--in those ever varying features, now full of mischievous +wrath, now mirth, now jest, and anon of a sorrowful yearning which to +me is full of mystery. + +And the dainty figure! Recently her leather sandals stuck fast in the +mire outside the camp ditch. How white and charming were the little +feet! How can they even support the figure, lightly as it floats along? +The muse which so long has shunned me has again returned in the form of +this Suabian girl: a fairer metamorphosis than ever Ovid dreamed. +Verses well up in my mind ceaselessly. Just listen! + + "Nature had dowered Bissula with charms which the greatest of artists + Vainly to picture would strive. Doubtless to full many another + Justice he might do by use of the pigments of red and of white lead: + Coloring like hers, alas! will forever escape him, unless he + should paint + Her face with a lily's lustre, on which the breath of a rose + hath rested." + +Ah, my friend, with the feelings that come to me, I am often ashamed of +the half century I bear with me. Fain would I sacrifice something to +Anteros--most willingly my gray hairs! + +A short time ago the little maid amazed us all (Saturninus was even +more surprised than I; for I am already beginning to believe her almost +supernatural) by showing strategic insight. It was mentioned that while +making a tour on the southwestern wall I had saved her little hut from +burning, while our cohorts usually flung the torch with eager zeal into +the wooden houses of the Barbarians. Then Saturninus remarked that by +accident another building had been spared, a house with a lofty gable +roof rising on a hill farther toward the southwest. None of our +reconnoitring parties had marched in that direction. My nephew called +one of his men and ordered two of them to ride over the next day and +burn the dwelling down. + +Suddenly the girl, with flashing eyes, cried: "How stupid!" and +laughed. Courtesy is not her favorite virtue, and she and my nephew +waste little love on each other. "How stupid!" she repeated, "The +building is very solid, the fence inclosing it very high; it is almost +a citadel like your camp here; and it is between you and the lake--to +which you must fly if my people come. You could fortify yourselves +there again, if you are forced to leave here as the fox darts from its +burrow." + +Herculanus laughed sneeringly; but Saturninus cast a glance from the +top of the wall to that hill and the lofty building, and said in the +quiet tone which quells contradiction: "I myself had resolved to have +the dwelling burned to-morrow. But the child is right. The solid house +will not be burned, but perhaps, later, occupied--when the ships +arrive." + +If those ships would only come! The eager Tribune is fairly consumed +with impatience for action. Already he has gone across the lake +repeatedly in a wretched rotting boat belonging to the Barbarians, +which we found hidden among the thickest growth of rushes near +Bissula's hut, and urged Nannienus to hasten. But the latter might +truthfully say with Homer: "Why dost thou urge one who is willing?" We +cannot make up in days for the neglect of months. The Emperor's own +miserable officials do him more harm than the Barbarians. And we do not +even know where these strange defenders of the country have vanished. + +Ah, that reminds me of another anecdote of the little maid. How +constantly she steals into my thoughts! Of course--in jest and +earnest--we have tried to obtain information about the hiding--places +of the enemy from the only captive of whose possession hitherto we can +boast; but there we "victors" met with small success, as you may guess. + +"Where are your heroes hiding?" I asked once laughing, toward the end +of a meal in my tent. "Truly, their heroism is as hard to find as +themselves." + +"They will hardly have told this little maid," replied Saturninus. "For +Barbarian women can probably keep secrets no better than Roman ones. +She does not know." + +"Yes, she does!" cried the rogue, pouting defiantly. + +"Indeed? Then we'll question you," I cried, "on the rack." + +"That isn't necessary. I am willing to tell." + +"Well, where are they?" asked the Tribune seriously. + +She glided out of the tent, thrust her head saucily through the +opening, and laughed mischievously: "They dwell with Odin and the nixie +in the lake. Search for them there yourself!" And she vanished. + +Her favorite resting-place is at the foot of a huge pine-tree; it is +sacred, dedicated to a German goddess who, according to the +description, probably corresponds with Isis. I have repeatedly found +her there. Once she was swinging among the branches like a little bird. +She begged me not to betray her hiding-place to the others--the Tribune +and my nephew. She often liked to dream there all alone. Well, I +certainly shall not betray her. If _I_ know where to look for her, the +others shall not find her against her will. + + + IV. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +I regretted the artist's absence a short time since, and cannot get him +to come here. But perhaps Bissula will go later to the artist, to +Burdigala. How I wished it long ago! Oh, Paulus, if only I could show +her to you! The more I write of her and think of her, the more she +pleases me. Or perhaps the contrary is the case. I will write and think +of her no more. + + * * * * * + +You will not believe, my dear friend, how much I enjoy the military +life I have not witnessed for so long. I understand little about it, +but the pomp and pride and power of war stir me very strongly. + +It is a pleasure to see the rule of a man like Saturninus. He cannot +scan a verse of Alcaeus, but he knows how to arrange a camp according to +the demands and advantages of the location, better than I can write an +Alcaean strophe. Here, on this steep hillside in the midst of the +Barbarian forests, he had applied Frontinus's rules to the given space +most admirably. It would please an old soldier like you to see our +camp, the strength of wall and moat, the arrangement of the spaces +between the tents, the distribution of horse and foot-soldiers, +luggage, and camp followers. + + + III. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +And why should you not see it? For what purpose has Athene or the +clever Ph[oe]nicians taught us the art of writing? I begged Saturninus +to dictate to his fat slave scribe a sketch of our whole camp, with all +the points important for defence and the distribution of our troops. I +will put it on the papyrus. + +How stately is the entrance! Four squadrons of mailed warriors at the +Porta Decumana, and all the baggage also piled up there. The wall eight +feet high; the ditch five feet deep. The weakest point is the northwest +corner, so the best troops are there: Batavian and spearmen of the +Emperor's Thracian Guard: etc. + +I will not repeat here in detail what the inclosure will contain; but +the paper is not yet finished. He has taken it away to make the drawing +more accurate. + + + II. BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER. + +Ah, what avails dissimulation, playing hide and seek with myself? If +you drive her out with a pitchfork, Nature will always return, says the +Bandusian fellow. I am trying to make you--and myself--believe that my +thoughts are on ditch and wall and mailed soldiers. It is not true. I +think only of the little maid. Her image alone hovers before my eyes +day and night. It is already half decided that you shall see her. + +When this expedition is over, I at any rate shall return to Gaul, +perhaps the whole army; for the Emperor Valens seems to be able to deal +with the Goths without needing our aid; he does not ask for us. Then I +can take the little maid as my guest for a short visit to Burdigala. + +True, she is still considered the Tribune's slave. It is an odd +caprice of the valiant soldier. No, no, my Paulus! It is not what you +suppose that influences him. I have watched him suspiciously, almost +jealously, as sharply as a father--or can it be a lover? But I did him +injustice--or too much honor? He has nothing in his head except those +invisible Alemanni and our ships, still delayed at Arbor. + + * * * * * + +Yet why only for a visit? Why should she not remain in my house always +to beautify my advancing years with the roseate dawn of her youth? + +Yes. Eos, Aurora: it is a fitting symbol for her. So young, so full of +the dewy freshness of the morning, with her ruddy curling locks +floating saucily around her. + +Perhaps, now that she has grown more sensible, she will joyfully accept +the offer I made when she was a child: to go with me as my adopted +daughter.--Daughter? That is not the right word; no longer the right +word: she has blossomed into womanhood: I should not think of lifting +her on my knee, as I did years ago. She has become too mature. + +And I am still too young to regard her only as a daughter.--Rather as a +brother, her loving brother who rejoices in her beauty. No, it will not +do. + +A short time ago her round arm brushed me (the German women go with +bare arms); a fiery thrill darted through my veins. I can scarcely +doubt it, I--- + +My feelings for her do not concern other people. I might at any rate +first take her with me--and then adopt her? No matter what the legal +form may be, I am determined to keep her near me always. + +I can no longer do without her charming presence; everything would grow +dark and cold. Already I shiver at the thought of again living alone +with the icy-hearted Herculanus. + +She has become my muse! A barbarian one, do you scoff? Aha, are these +lines so barbaric? + + "Incarnate joy! Caressing bliss! O thou embodiment of + sportive grace! + How the Barbarian maid the fair ones of Latium hath vanquished! + Bissula! Plebeian her name may sound in the ears of aliens: + But to Ausonius it echoes with harmonies sweet and bewitching." + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + +It is useless to conceal it from myself any longer, and what I admit to +myself must also be confessed to you, my Paulus, my second self, at the +same moment. Alas, I fear you read it long ago from these words in +prose and verse. + +I beseech you not to shake your cool, cautious head as usual over your +"too youthful" Ausonius: I hope my heart will throb warmly till it +ceases to beat. + +I know all you will say--of course against it. For you would speak in +favor only if you had seen her. Yet I rejoice that you are not here: I +have no desire to be warned. + +True, it is one thing to toy with the sweet illusion within my own +breast and to the friend who will keep my secret; and quite another to +transfer it to practical reality. + +My thoughts are contradictory. I am fifty--ah no; fifty-two years old! +But what happiness it will be for the young girl to share not only my +wealth but the whole Latin civilization with me! She is a pagan. Pshaw! +The baptismal water will no more wash away her charm than it has driven +the pagan Muses from me. She can believe after baptism precisely what +she believed before. And she shall offer sacrifices to golden Aphrodite +and to Hymen! + +I hesitate. She is very fond of me, but I often find her dreaming, +gazing out with yearning eyes beyond the walls of the camp: strangely +enough, it is not eastward in the direction of her home, but always +toward the northwest. At that point the wall rises almost to the height +of her huge pine tree, whose branches reach the ground: I again found +her hidden among them yesterday. She climbs so far up among the boughs +that she can look over the wall to the distant hills, and hides among +the dense foliage like a martin. + +I discovered her with much difficulty,--twilight was gathering,--and +when at my call she slipped down I thought I saw tears in her eyes. But +the crimson glow of sunset had probably dazzled me; I did not see them +when she stood on the ground by my side, though she looked graver than +usual. + +"What do you want?" I asked. + +"Liberty," was her swift answer. + +Perhaps I looked perplexed or angry, for she went on hastily: "Forgive +me! I was foolish. I know that if you set me free now, before the close +of the war, I might fall into the hands of other Romans before reaching +my people. And I am not ungrateful. How kind you are to me! Yet I often +feel so homesick--for--for--oh, I don't know myself!" + +Then I said in jest,--for never before, and even now not seriously, had +the idea entered my mind,--"For a lover?" + +She started back like a little red serpent. I have never seen her so +angry, though the hot temper of the little creature boils over often +enough. She stamped her tiny foot, the blood crimsoned her cheeks, and +she vehemently exclaimed: + +"A lover? The 'red biting cat'? I have no heart! How should _I_ love?" + +Then turning her back on me defiantly she ran off to her tent and did +not appear again that evening. But I am glad to learn from her own lips +that no bond of affection will hold her fast in this Barbarian land, if +I really decide to take her with me to Burdigala. + +This possible obstacle to my wishes entered my thoughts rather late, +you will tell me. But it was because I considered her a child so long. +Later I daily felt in my own heart the feeling within growing stronger. +No, no, this girl is a child no longer, but a maiden ready for her +bridal. + +The sweet wish--I scarcely repress it--is rapidly maturing. And with +this dear girl I shall be sure of one thing: she will not marry me for +my wealth, which I anxiously fear from our Gallic maidens. As to the +widows, I feel gripes in my stomach whenever I think of them. + +I will be cautious not to startle the timid child; for how can the +Barbarian maiden dream of such an honor as even being invited as my +guest to Burdigala? It is inconceivable that she should refuse: now +that she has grown to womanhood. If she does, then--But no, surely it +will not be necessary. And when she has once tasted the rich, beautiful +life there, she will no longer desire to return to this wilderness. +Then ere long I can read aloud to her these verses which now I dare +entrust only to my friend: + + "Bissula, fair maid born and reared in the cold land beyond + the Rhine, + Bissula, who bloomed so near the source of the Danube: + Captive of war, thou hast, when released from bondage, made captive + Thy conqueror: his heart became the prisoner's booty. + Of a mother's care bereft, ne'er hast thou suffered a mistress: + When thou a captive wast made, a mistress thou didst become, + Though thou by Roman favor, O German, wast thus transformed. + Still hast thou thine eyes' deep azure, still hast thou + thy hair's red gold. + Dual thou seemest now, and with dual charms adorn + Latium's tongue thy mind, and Suabia's grace thy form." + +How do you like them, my dear friend? I hope they are not bad. At least +they please _me_ extremely, and you know I am not vain. + +Now imagine how these melodious lines must gratify her--her who is +their inspiration. + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + +The morning after Ausonius had made this last entry in his diary, +Bissula, as usual, shared the first meal in his tent with the uncle and +nephew. The Prefect of Gaul was in excellent spirits, often jested, +talked a great deal, had his goblet repeatedly filled by the slave who +was his cup-bearer, and remarked again that the campaign would soon be +over. "When the ships come," he added in conclusion, "the Barbarians +will sue for peace." Glancing up merrily his eyes chanced to rest on +the young girl's face. To his surprise a mocking, nay, angry smile was +hovering around lips pouting in defiance; her brow was frowning, and +she made no reply. The conversation flagged. Herculanus watched the +rising cloud sharply, and eagerly fanned the flame. + +"What?" he cried. "Peace? Bondage; extirpation! The Caesar will soon +drag the last remaining Alemanni before his triumphal chariot to the +Capitol: the leaders will be strangled, the rest sold cheap: a German +for a cabbage." + +Tears of rage filled Bissula's eyes. She could find no words; fury +choked her voice. She searched her thoughts, her memory, for aid and +defence. Adalo was the only name which came to her. "Yes, Adalo, if you +were here, or if I had your swift speech, whispered by Odin! Stay--his +verse--his verse of defiance. How, did it run?" She closed her eyes to +think, resting her elbows on the table, with both little clenched hands +pressed against her throbbing brow. + +"I will offer a toast," Herculanus went on, raising his goblet; "pledge +me. You, the pupil of Ausonius, are surely one of us: Disgrace and +death to the Alemanni!" Bissula sprang up. Her blue eyes were blazing; +her red tresses fluttered around her head; a blow from her clenched +fist sent the silver goblet rattling on the floor; and, in the language +of her people, she cried loudly: + + "Woe to the Latins! + Vengeance on Romans! + Break down their castles, + Shatter their strongholds, + Swing ye the sword + Till the base robbers flee! + All this region + Hath Odin given + To his sons of victory-- + To us, the Alemanni! + +"Oh, I thank you, I thank you, Adalo!" And she rushed out of the tent. + +"How foolish!" Ausonius said reproachfully to his nephew. "How +inhospitable! How could you so incense our guest?" + +"Guest? Our, that is, the Illyrian's, slave-girl. But forgive me, +uncle. It shall not happen again. How little a Barbarian woman suits +the society of Romans! Our thoughts, our wishes--she is implacably +hostile to all. And Adalo? I have already heard the name. Isn't it--?" + +"No matter who it is," thundered the uncle. "But you are my nephew, and +have insulted, roused the lovely girl to furious rage at my table, in +my tent. How would you in Burdigala--" + +A gloomy, significant glance from the young Roman checked his +thoughtless speech. + +"You must appease her. Now leave me; I don't wish to see you again +to-day. Or stay--I will follow her myself. Poor little thing!" + +Ausonius rose excitedly from the couch and hurried out. Herculanus and +the slave who acted as cup-bearer remained alone in the tent. + +"Is it so already?" muttered the former angrily through his set teeth. +"Does the childish infatuated old fool reveal his plans so openly? To +work, Davus! Well or ill--to work! Have you the hemlock? Have you +enough?" + +"I think it will do. If it fail the first time, you still have some in +the other little vial?" Herculanus nodded. The slave went on: + +"He complained yesterday of all sorts of bad feelings. I'll risk it +soon, before he gets well again. But--one thing more--the Barbarian +girl will sleep alone to-night." + +"What? Not in the tent with the teamsters' wives? + +"No; a contagious eruption broke out there last night: I heard +Saturninus give the order to pitch another tent at once on the opposite +side for the prisoner." + +"But he will have her closely guarded." + +"To-night he is going on a reconnoitring expedition with all his +incorruptible Illyrians. Batavians are to be on duty: they are fond of +drinking; perhaps--" + +"Silence! This ring as a reward for the news. We don't yet know whether +the plot against the old man will succeed, so we'll have two strings +ready for our bow. And I hate her. I don't hate him; only I must have +my inheritance quickly. So to-night! Hush, Prosper is coming! About the +poison--in the two little vials--we'll say more later; you know where +and when. First we'll wait to see what this night will bring forth." + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile kind-hearted Ausonius had vainly sought the angry fugitive. +He looked eagerly down the long wide streets of the camp which crossed +in a square at the praetorium--in vain. Now he hoped to find her in her +favorite hiding-place, the secluded spot with the tall fir-tree; but it +was empty. Nor was she perched among the branches: he scanned them +carefully. + +Shaking his head he walked on still farther toward the northwest, to +the wall itself. Here he heard voices raised as if disputing, a +soldier's and Bissula's. Now he saw Rignomer, the Batavian sentry, with +lowered spear forcing back the slowly retreating girl. The man spoke +half in German, half in vulgar Latin; for at that time the Batavians +and Alemanni, though both Germans, found it as hard to understand one +another as the sailors of the Lower Rhine and the peasants of Lake +Constance do at the present day. + +"Back, you red elf, you beautiful Idise, you nymph, and never try it +again! It would be a pity to hurt yourself. The wall is too high and +the ditch too deep--" Then the soldier recognized the Prefect, saluted +him, and went back to the top of the wall. + +Bissula, noticing the respectful salute, had turned and, still +violently agitated, rushed to Ausonius, exclaiming: "Father, set me +free at once! at once!" + +Ausonius shook his head. "Consider--" + +"If you really catch defenceless girls and threaten to kill them by the +sword, you glorious Romans, as your nephew--" + +"When did he do that?" + +"Never mind! Send me with a safe escort, with a letter from you beyond +your outposts." + +"Where shall I send you?" + +Bissula remained silent a short time. Her face was deeply flushed. + +"Where? To the place where you always gaze in your reveries? Out +yonder?" + +"No," she replied, setting her teeth; "eastward, to my home. Then I +will take care of myself." + +"Child, you must stay till the war is over." + +"No, I must go," she answered. "I belong to my people, not to you. It is +not right, it is abominable, for me to sleep safe here in your +protection, drink Roman wine from golden goblets, while my kindred are +suffering want and danger. Let me go!" She raised her hand. The gesture +was meant to be an entreaty, but it resembled a threat. + +"Cease this folly, little one," Ausonius now said, more seriously. "My +nephew's idle, unseemly words offended you; I reproved him for them; he +will beg your pardon,"--Bissula made a contemptuous movement,--"and +everything will be forgotten." + +"Shall I forget my people?" + +"Forget? No; but gradually become alienated from them. You look amazed. +Well, let this trivial incident hasten the important disclosure I have +to make. Are you thinking of leaving me? Give it up, sweet girl!" He +controlled himself and went on more calmly: "My little daughter, you +will never leave me again." + +Bissula opened her eyes in the utmost astonishment, gazing at the Roman +with the expression of a captured deer. The iron tramp of a marching +cohort was heard close at hand, but the tents still concealed it from +their gaze. + +"What do you mean?" she stammered. + +"I will tell you," said Ausonius in a firmer, sterner tone than he had +ever used. The opposition he now suspected irritated him, and he was +determined to execute his will. "I will tell you that I have resolved +to fulfil my former plan. I shall take you as my guest for an +indefinite time. As my little daughter," he added cautiously, "with me +to Burdigala." + +"Never!" cried Bissula, raising both arms in the wildest terror. + +"Yes, most certainly." + +"But I will not go. I--away from the lake--from--from my people? No, +no, no!" + +"Yes, yes, yes! This is not tyrannical nor cruel, as you think now." + +"Who will compel me to go away?" + +"I. We compel children whom we are educating to do what we desire, for +their own good. You do not understand your real welfare: I will force +you to do so." + +"But I am no child; I am--" She advanced toward him defiantly. + +"You are a captive. Do not forget that. You must obey your master, and +he--" + +"Is here," said a deep voice. + +Saturninus stepped between them. With a firm hand he held Bissula, who +had turned, reeled as though giddy, and tried again to scale the wall. +"Do not forget that, Ausonius." + +Angered by the interruption, perplexed, and half ashamed, the other +drew back. "What are you doing?" + +"I am protecting my captive." + +"Against whom?" + +"Against every threat: against wiles as well as compulsion--even though +well meant." + +Both gazed at him in silence, but the girl's gratitude was blended with +a slight thrill of fear--fear of this protector too. + +Ausonius was the first to find words. In tones which revealed wrath, +jealousy, and suspicion, he exclaimed: "And who will protect her +against you?" + +"Nothing and no one, except my own will." + +"Oh, set me free!" cried Bissula, raising her clasped hands +despairingly to the Tribune. + +"That you may tell the Barbarians all you have seen and heard in our +camp? No, little maid. You will stay--perhaps forever. Have no thought +of escape! Here, countryman!" He beckoned to a soldier. "Take her to +the new tent; keep guard there until I leave tonight; then Rignomer the +Batavian will relieve you. And listen: tell my scribe that during the +day he must see that she--" The rest was whispered in the ear of the +Illyrian, who led the wondering, bewildered girl away by the arm. + +Ausonius and Saturninus parted without exchanging a single word: the +latter saluted respectfully; but the angry Prefect did not, or would +not, see the farewell. + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + +Ever since the preceding day the rain clouds, which had so long densely +veiled the mountain peaks and hung in gray curtains to the shore of the +lake, had grown lighter and lighter. Scattered fragments still floated +over the forest; but the mists were dispersing from Sentis and Toedi. +And before the sun of that day sank behind the wooded heights of the +western shore, it burst through the cloud rack for the first time in a +long while, illumining lake and country for a few minutes with a +blood-red glow. The fishes leaped greedily after the flies which were +sunning themselves in the beams and flew feebly, with damp wings, close +to the surface of the water: then the radiant ball disappeared behind +the long cloud curtain. + +The herons flew screaming from the rushes toward the land. The wind +seemed to be rising. The clouds swept across the sky, sometimes in one +direction, sometimes in another. The waves of the lake, obeying the +former course of the wind, rolled in a direction opposite to the clouds +above them. + +The Batavian mercenaries of the Lower Rhine were encamped outside of +the northern gate of the camp, the Porta Praetoria, but a little toward +the west. The centurion, a man about forty years old, long in the +service of Rome, who was adorned with neck-chains and various badges of +honor on his breast-plate bestowed for gallant deeds, was fanning the +smoking fire, which they were loath to have die out in the cold damp +woods. + +"There!" he muttered, "there it goes. I invoked both gods, Vulcan and +Loki, in vain. Vulcan won't help me, because I am a Barbarian; Loki +because I serve the Romans. We mercenaries no longer have any gods to +aid us, because we belong to no nation." + +"Ha, Rignomer," laughed another in the group, a youth whose downy red +beard was just beginning to grow, "I care for only one god among them +all--the god of victory." + +"And he, Odin, is the very one who has deserted us, Brinno. Everywhere +the Germans are conquering; that is, the peoples who are fighting +against Rome, not we German mercenaries, who battle for the Caesar. And +in every conflict the men who bleed are we mercenaries." + +"Because these cunning Romans always put us in the place which is most +severely threatened," Brinno cried angrily. + +"Because Odin is hostile to us," whispered the centurion. "We must no +longer fight for Rome against the other Germans. He no longer wills +it." + +"What do you mean by Germans? That's a word like Barbarians. The Romans +invented it, not we. What do I care for these Alemanni? I am a +Batavian; a Frank, if you prefer the name." + +"Yes, I do prefer it." + +"It's newer." + +"But stronger, because it is larger." + +"What do I care, I ask again, for these thick-skulled Suabians? I can +hardly understand what they say." + +"But all we blue-eyed, yellow-haired men are sons of the dwellers in +Asgard. We have all come here to the great waters front the East. So +our forefathers teach us; so the harpers sing. And everywhere, on the +Rhine and the Danube, the districts and peoples who formerly had such +bitter feuds are gathering. This is Odin's work. He is summoning the +descendants of Asgard to war against Rome. This is my last campaign +under the dragon standard. In a few days my time of service will +expire; then I shall go home and till my land on the Issala, where my +mother and my brother and sisters live; till it with a better plough, a +Roman one. And if I must fight again, I will fight for my land, against +Rome. We Franks have too little room down there in the swamps of the +Rhine; we must go into beautiful Gaul." + +"Well, this war of the Romans will soon be over. A bloodless victory." + +"Who knows?" Here the centurion threw himself on the ground beside +Brinno and whispered: "A man from my district, who formerly fought +under the Emperor Valentinian by this lake against the Alemanni, told +me why in fear and horror he suddenly gave up the service and lost his +pay: In a battle the Romans were vanquished. _One_ against whom no man +can lift his hand without forfeiting salvation forever dashed forward +on a gray charger at the head of the Alemanni wedge." + +"What?" asked Brinno, half incredulously, half timidly: "_He_--he-- +himself?" + +Rignomer nodded significantly: "In the form of a white-haired Duke; so +runs the legend. When sore peril threatens the dwellers by the lake he +descends from the heavenly heights, warns them, conceals them from the +eyes of the foe with his dark mantle of clouds; teaches them runes of +victory on inaccessible mountains, and bears them suddenly away on the +eagle wings of the tempest. Against him I will not fight. I vowed to +serve the Imperator against men only. But hark! a tuba signal from our +outposts. Whom are our mounted men bringing in?" + +"A messenger from the Alemanni, it seems." + +"Yes, a leader and two attendants. What a youth! Halt, young hero: if +you wish to go into the camp to the General,--only one is permitted to +ride in,--I must first cover your eyes. Dismount! You will not? Well +then, turn back again." + +This was a severe blow to Adalo's hopes. He would so gladly have gazed +keenly about him in the Roman camp, scanned ditches, walls, gates, +and--two persons within that frowning palisade. He sullenly dismounted. +A thick woollen blanket was thrown in loose folds over his head like a +huge sack and fastened under his chin: Rignomer took him by the hand +and guided him to the gate, where a centurion of the Thracians received +the Barbarians' envoy. + +Adalo's two companions also dismounted, tied the three horses to the +nearest trees, and soon lay chatting with the Batavians. The bad Latin +of the frontier, it is true, often had to aid the understanding of the +different dialects around the watchfire. With great exertion it had now +been rekindled, for it was growing very dark. Suddenly, from the forest +path by which the envoys had come, a strange growling was heard which +drew nearer and nearer. The whole group, including the two Alemanni, +started up in surprise. + +"A bear?" + +"So near the fire?" + +"Slipped through our outposts?" + +They seized the spears which stood stacked together. Then a Batavian, +laughing loudly, came around the bend of the narrow path, pointing +behind him. "Look, comrades! A Sarmatian juggler with a tame she-bear! +She dances to his big flute! It's very comical." + +A cry of surprise escaped the lips of one of the Alemanni, whose eyes +and mouth opened in astonishment: "That's surely--" + +But his companion gave him a violent dig in the ribs with his elbow: "A +she-bear! Yes. Didn't you ever see one?" + +A man in the Sarmatian costume--black sheepskin with the wool turned +inside--now stepped into the firelight, leading by a leather thong a +large she-bear. Behind him, also clad in sheepskin, limped his boy, +probably carrying in his bundle provisions for their journey; he was a +poor cripple, who made his way forward slowly with the help of a +crutch, and doubtless found it hard either to stand or to walk; for +when the third Batavian, shoving him with the handle of his spear, +invited him to come nearer to the fire, the poor lad, with a low cry, +fell on the grass. + +The soldiers, with Roman and German taunts, asked what _he_ could do. +He did not stir. + +"You can talk to him a long while," said his master, laughing. "The boy +is deaf, and he is sick with fever. He is afraid of people. Let him lie +there!" + +The lad crept under the thickest underbrush, far away from the flames. +He could scarcely be seen from the watchfire; all that was visible was +his coal-black curly hair. Taking out a little earthen pot, he poured a +few drops of some liquid on his lame foot and rubbed it with his hand. + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + +To Adalo's impatience the time seemed very long--in his wrath he +believed the delay intentional--during which he was led through the +spacious camp till at last his guide stopped and removed the muffler +from his head. He found himself in the Prefect's tent. Ausonius, +Bissula's friend, he instantly recognized, with a thrill of anger. A +number of other army leaders were standing and sitting around him. They +had had plenty of time to assemble while the Barbarian was being guided +in bewildering zigzag lines through the streets of tents. + +He silently saluted Ausonius (it did not escape his eyes that his foe +looked admiringly at him), who motioned to him to sit down on a camp +stool. But the youth, with a defiant bearing, remained standing. In +vain, gazing around the richly decorated space, Adalo endeavored to +discover some trace, not of Bissula herself--that was beyond his +hopes--but of some garment or article that belonged to her. Nothing was +to be seen except arms and papyrus rolls. + +"You understand the language of Rome, since you have come without an +interpreter?" Ausonius began. + +Adalo nodded. + +"Be welcome! We expected such a messenger. You desire peace?" + +The young hero angrily flung back his handsome head so that his long +locks rested on his shoulders, and answered with flashing eyes: "I +offer to let you depart unmolested." + +"Ha, insolent Barbarian!" cried Herculanus. + +But Saturninus wrathfully motioned to him to keep silence, and then +asked very quietly: "Are we surrounded?" + +"Not yet; but only because we did not desire it." + +Saturninus cast a significant glance at the Prefect. + +"Boasting!" replied the latter in Greek. + +"And why haven't you destroyed us yet?" sneered Herculanus. + +"The result, Roman, is in the hands of the gods. We have not attacked +because we, who do not fear battle, but rather--you know well--love it, +this time desire peace; or our wise leaders, who think further than my +comrades, desire it. The great league of the Alemanni wishes to end +forever by a treaty not only this campaign but the whole war with you, +which for generations has been burning or at least smouldering: we wish +not a truce, but peace with Rome." + +"Is this your idea, youth?" asked Saturninus, searchingly. + +"I have already said it is the choice of our wise leaders, among whom I +am not numbered. But I, too, perceive that intercourse with you across +the frontiers, when the spears are leaning in the hall, will bring to +our people many benefits. We have already learned much from watching +you; we must learn still more." + +"But why," interposed Ausonius, "if you perceive this, have you for +centuries broken every armistice, every treaty? You Germans boast of +fidelity as one of the virtues of your race, and we must praise the +loyal service of your mercenaries under our standards. Why, here on the +frontiers, are all your tribes of many names, Alemanni and Franks, +Goths and Quadi and Marcomanni, the same in this unfaithfulness? Why, +year after year, do you continually break peace and compact? Our +cohorts, constantly compelled to wade through your forest marshes, +upbraid you with fierce hatred as the falsest of the peoples. Why do +you continually break over our frontiers, like a forest stream?" + +"Like a forest stream! You have uttered the right words, though +probably without knowing it. I will not answer that often we are not +the breakers of the treaties, but, perhaps against the Emperor's will, +your army leaders, your frontier officials. In defiance of the treaty +they build citadels on our free land, and the supplies which, according +to the treaties, you owe us, are withheld: especially the grain." + +"Why," asked Saturninus eagerly, rising from his seat, "do you not +raise for yourselves the grain you need?" + +"We cannot. There is not land enough for our increasing population. The +gods multiply our numbers wonderfully: it must be their will that we +should grow and overflow our boundaries. Hundreds, nay, thousands of +our young men emigrate every year to serve you as mercenaries and +frontier guards. We often send forth a third of our young people, +chosen by lot, to seek a new home where the flight of the birds and the +will of the gods directs them: but all this does not avail." + +"Then," Saturninus questioned, speaking more to himself than to the +envoy, "it is not mere wantonness?" + +"Do you think that mere wantonness would have driven, from the days of +our earliest ancestors (the legends have treasured it loyally, sadly, +and proudly) our almost naked heroes upon the spears of your mailed +legions? Nay, had it been we youths only, we would always rather win +what we need by blood--the foe's or our own--than by toiling with the +plough. But do you believe that, from mere wantonness, whole nations, +with their women and children, their men and maid-servants, their herds +and wagons, would constantly press across your frontiers southward and +westward; not as a warlike band on a foray in quest of booty, but on a +weary pilgrimage, pressing forward because pressed by others, pushing +because being pushed from the south and the east by other Germans and +by Sarmatians; not quitting the old home, but maintaining it by those +left behind till they too were obliged to yield--do you believe that +mere wantonness has so often lured these hundreds of thousands to and +beyond your frontiers, usually to certain destruction? Oh, no. It is +not wantonness that impels us, but the most powerful of all the +goddesses--Necessity. A man utters her name unwillingly; for the woman +with the iron girdle is the only inexorable deity; she is the mother of +the three Fates, who also revere her, and she often strangles with her +iron girdle the mortals who mention her carelessly. Beware, Romans! +Before our faces stands only your Empire, one mighty in military power, +it is true, but behind us threatens and urges the terrible mother of +the Norns. We have no choice. The country has become too narrow; we +must, come what may, pour out of the old bed in roaring torrents. +Therefore, clever Roman, you speak aptly of a forest stream. Believe +me: we shall continually break over your frontiers, no matter how +strongly they may be guarded with men and walls, until either all we +countless German tribes are destroyed or until we have gained land +enough to live upon. Not until then will there be peace." + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + +The words uttered by Adalo, evidently from sincere belief, and with +warm feeling, produced a deep impression. Herculanus shrugged his +shoulders scornfully. Saturninus, with a grave face, gazed silently +into vacancy--into the future. After a long pause, Ausonius found +words: + +"I have never seen that side of the question. Is this your wisdom?" + +"I say once more, it is the wisdom of our wise men; Duke Hariowald +taught me. But the necessity of our people cries so loudly that even an +inexperienced youth must understand its call: Land or destruction! So, +in the name of our whole league of peoples, I ask (we Alemanni yield in +courage to no race on earth), do you wish to gain us, our spears, +forever against all your enemies, especially the false Franks, our evil +neighbors and yours? Do you desire that?" + +The Romans listened intently; no one interrupted him in his appeal. + +"Well, there is a way, but only one." He paused. + +"Speak," urged Saturninus eagerly. + +"Vacate all the land which you still occupy but can hold only by +constant fighting, the country northward between this lake and the +right bank of the Rhine to where the Main empties into it beneath your +stronghold of Mogontiacum, and all the region south of the lake to the +chain of the Cisalpine region." + +"Insolent fellow!" shouted Herculanus. The other army leaders also did +not spare words of wrath. "Not bad!" said Ausonius, smiling. Saturninus +alone was silent; he was thinking how the great military hero, +Aurelian, had given up, in a manner very similar to the way asked here, +Trajan's proud conquest, Dacia, and thereby, for a long time, pacified +the Goths on the Danube. + +But Adalo continued: "Do it, do it half voluntarily; do it for the most +valuable compensation; for I tell you, it must be done very soon. Then +it will be exacted without compensation in return. Do it willingly; for +there is a proud prediction current among our people: the Alemanni will +some day pasture their horses from the snows of the Alps to the woods +of the Vosges." + +Ausonius rose indignantly. "Not another word! For our sole answer take +to your people the old Roman war-cry, 'Woe to the Barbarians!'" + +"Woe to the Barbarians!" repeated the army leaders, with loud shouts. + +"Before I go," said the youth,--he struggled fiercely to subdue the +agitation, the terrible anxiety which now sent a tremor through every +limb,--"listen to another message. You have captured a daughter of our +people." Six eyes were bent upon him with the keenest attention. "I am +commissioned to ransom her." In spite of every effort to appear calm +and cold his voice trembled. + +"Are you Bissula's relative? She has no brother," said Ausonius +suspiciously. + +"Or her lover?" asked Herculanus. + +The youth's face flamed, his brow knit wrathfully. "Neither her kinsman +nor her betrothed lover. I am commissioned--I have already said so--to +ransom her. Name the price." + +Ausonius was about to utter a refusal, but Saturninus hastily +anticipated him. + +"You would pay any price as ransom?" + +"Any." + +"Is she a princess or a noble's daughter, that your people set so high +a value upon her liberty?" + +"She is a free maiden of our people, and has as much right to our +protection as a queen." + +"Well, your protection has been of little service to her," cried +Herculanus, laughing. + +"I will give her weight in silver, nay, if needful, in gold--her full +weight." + +"Pshaw!" replied Ausonius, smiling, "that isn't saying much. The little +one doesn't weigh heavily. Don't trouble yourself: I will not release +her." + +"Pardon me, Prefect," said Saturninus quietly, yet without averting his +eyes an instant from Adalo, "I must again remind you that the Barbarian +girl is not your slave, but mine." + +"What? O ye gods!" cried Adalo, wild with grief and horror. + +He hastily advanced two paces toward the Roman. "Is it possible? Is it +true? Say no, Ausonius." The voice of the usually defiant youth now +sounded almost pleading. + +"Unfortunately it is true," replied the Prefect sullenly. + +But Saturninus, who now knew what he wished to learn, answered calmly: +"The captive is my property. And she cannot be bought with gold. But I +will release her, if you--" he rose, approached Adalo and whispered +into his ear. + +The youth burst forth angrily: "The location of our fortification and +the strength of our force? Come into the woods, Roman: you will learn +there." + +Saturninus stepped back coldly. "As you choose. Never will the +red-haired maiden see her people." + +"And consider, Barbarian," hissed Herculanus, "we need not use the rack +to torture a maiden." + +Adalo, with a fierce cry, gripped the hilt of the short sword at his +side. But he controlled himself and only cast a look at Herculanus, +who, unable to endure it, blinked and turned his eyes away. + +Adalo, tortured by deep anguish, gazed inquiringly, searching into the +characters and dispositions of the two men; first into Saturninus's +stern, handsome face, then his glance scanned Ausonius's features, +kindly in expression, but wholly lacking the impress of a firm will. He +sighed heavily. But, conscious that the eyes of all were fixed intently +upon him, he summoned his whole strength, and said quietly: "If any +harm should befall her, her people will take terrible vengeance." The +firmly repressed, yet intense fury in the brief words, did not fail to +make an impression. + +Adalo, without any gesture of farewell, turned to leave the tent, and +was already standing under the curtains at the entrance, when +Saturninus cried: "And what name has the envoy of the Alemanni?" + +The youth turned quickly and, comprehending the whole group in a single +glance, exclaimed: "Adalo, son of Adalger. You shall remember it." He +passed outside the tent as he spoke. + +"Uncle," cried Herculanus, "wasn't that the fellow's name? Yes, yes, it +is he: the 'Mars of the Alemanni!' Seize him--and the war is over!" + +Before Ausonius could answer, Saturninus, hurrying out of the tent, +said: "Beware, Ausonius! Nothing in heaven or on earth seems to be +sacred to this nephew of yours. But that Barbarian's eyes must be +quickly bandaged again; their glance is like an eagle's." He hastened +after the envoy. + +Ausonius, vexed by many things, said very irritably, in a tone almost +never heard from the lips of the kind-hearted noble: "I have long been +displeased with you, nephew Herculanus. I am very much displeased. +Very! Extremely!" + +He passed him with a hasty step, harshly thrusting aside the arms which +Herculanus stretched toward him with a soothing gesture. The nephew's +eyes followed him with a glance that boded evil. + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + +Meanwhile the Batavians, Adalo's two companions, and the bear-leader +had lain chattering peaceably together around the campfire. + +There was, in general, so total a lack of any feeling of unity among +the various German tribes that the Alemanni did not think of openly +reproaching the Batavians, or even cherishing any secret resentment +because they were fighting under Roman standards against other Germans: +Alemanni mercenaries also fought against the German, as well as against +the other foes of Rome. + +So the Roman bronze vessel, filled with dark red Rhaetian wine, was +passed to the two Alemanni also, and the Batavians gladly drank the +mead which Adalo's companions had brought in long wooden vessels +fastened on their backs. For in those days the thirst of the Alemanni +was great and frequent, and the brave fellows--hospitality in the +enemy's camp had not been expected--would have been reluctant to do +without liquor during the long hours consumed on the journey there, the +waiting, and the return. + +The Sarmatian, with laudable impartiality, drank wine and mead by +turns. He, too, at a sign from Rignomer, had taken his seat by the +fire. The bear lay stretched at full length at his side, while he began +to throw sharp knives into the air and nimbly catch them again, to the +astonishment of the Batavians, who gave him small copper coins. His +lame companion was lying under the bushes, sleeping so soundly that he +snored. + +"Ah," cried Rignomer, wiping his chin with his bare arm and returning +the little cask to the Alemanni, "may Fro reward you for the drink! +Nothing has tasted so good since I turned my back on the Issala and my +mother's earth-cellar. She brews it even stronger." + +"Wine tastes still better," said his countryman. + +"Better in the mouth, Brinno; but mead and ale taste better in the +heart: it's home drink. And the best part is not the moist wave that +runs down the throat, but the memory of many a happy hour of former +drinks, which hovers over it like the rustling of a heron's wings. +Well, Alemanni, when will it come to fighting? And will you seek us, or +must we hunt for you?" + +"As the Duke chooses," replied the other, draining his cup--"and +all-ruling Odin." + +The Batavian's face changed. + +"Don't name him to me! I fear _him_; you wearers of hair I don't. I've +seized many a man of you with the left hand by his Suabian tail, and +thrust the short Roman sword into his throat with my right. But I fear +the wearer of the mantle! He is hostile to us mercenaries. It seems to +me as though he were hovering in the air opposing us, wherever we +fight. There, Juggler, drink again. And then show (we've seen _your_ +tricks) what your bear has learned. Ought not your boy in the bushes +yonder, the lame fellow, to have something too? But where is he?" + +"Ho, Zizais, dog of a cripple, are you deaf as well as dumb? Where are +you hiding? Look, there he lies over by the spring, nearer to the +ditch: he has a fever, and went for water. Now stir yourself, my brown +dancing maid." + +He whispered in the ear of the animal which, growling, rose on its hind +legs; the juggler put his long staff in its fore-paws, and now the +clumsy creature turned slowly in a circle, keeping time to a monotonous +melancholy tune which he first played on his huge flute and then sang, +beating time on a bronze cup with a knife-blade. The Romans laughed +loudly at the clumsy dancer. + +"What is the dainty damsel's name?" asked Rignomer. + +"Bruna. She can prophesy too. Take heed! Ask what you choose." + +Taking the staff from the bear's paws as he spoke, he laid his hand on +her head. The animal now dropped down on her fore-paws and looked up +intelligently at her master, who thrust some bread into her mouth. + +"Well, you wise Wala," laughed Rignomer, "will the Romans conquer in +the next battle?" + +The Sarmatian lightly stroked the animal's head against the hair: the +bear, growling angrily, shook her head. + +The Batavian started, the laugh died on his lips. "She is Donar's +friend," he said dejectedly. "He speaks through her. I thought so." + +He spoke as if the battle had already been fought and lost. + +"Well," said the juggler consolingly, "I'll question her for you. +Bruna, clever wood spirit, look sharply at this hero: Will he come out +of this war safe and go back to his mother who brews the good mead?" + +He lightly stroked the bear from the forehead down toward the tail: +Bruna nodded assent. + +"I thank thee, Donar," cried Rignomer cheerily. "What do I care for the +Romans' victory? I'm going home soon. Hark ye, fellow, the clever +fortune-teller pleases me. Will you sell her?" + +The Sarmatian looked thoughtful. The question was evidently unexpected. +"Not willingly--not cheaply--" he said hesitatingly, wishing to gain +time for reflection. "I live by her tricks even more than by my own." + +"You are right, Rignomer," Brinno observed. "It's often very dull in +camp when we're not on duty. She would amuse us." + +"And I'd like to startle the Romans, the proud legionaries who look +down scornfully upon us auxiliaries, but always send us to the +bloodiest posts in battle." + +"I suppose the creature came from these forests?" asked Brinno. + +The juggler nodded. + +"Aha," cried Rignomer, laughing, "then we must have her. We'll take her +to little Bissula: the brown German to the red one." + +"Who is Bissula?" drawled the juggler. + +"The most charming girl I ever saw," cried Brinno quickly. + +"Yes! Every one who sees her is fond of her," Rignomer went on. + +"Especially we Germans!" + +"So are the Romans, I think; at any rate, most of them. But she often +sits gazing so sadly toward the woods, as if longing for something. Her +countrywoman will amuse her. I'll buy the animal from you." + +"No, no! I don't want to part with her. But,"---his eyes +sparkled--"I'll tell you. Take me, the bear, and--" (he was going to +say my boy, but as he no longer saw him lying beside the spring, nor in +his former place, he checked himself) "into the camp for a few days, +till you are tired of the toy." + +But both mercenaries shook their heads. + +"That won't do! You jugglers and animal tamers are regarded as +professional spies." + +"The Tribune would have us flogged if we even let you pass through the +gate of the camp." + +"Well," replied the bear-leader, "I won't sell her, but I'll leave the +creature with you a few days; I'll soon come back for her." + +"Without pay? That's suspicious!" said Brinno. + +"Not without pay!" the other interposed quickly. "Not on any account! I +earn my living by her. You must pay me." + +"Very well. But listen: is the beast perfectly tame?" + +"Perfectly. If she gets a little unruly, you need only buckle the broad +collar here--do you see?--a little tighter." + +"I see." + +"Don't neglect to tell everybody who has anything to do with the +animal," warned the Sarmatian. + +"Especially the little one," said Brinno. "It would be a pity to have a +hair of her head harmed." + +"If only people do nothing to injure her, this clever countrywoman +won't bite them." + +Steps echoed from the camp: Adalo was being escorted back. + +"Zizais, where are you? We must go!" called the Sarmatian, turning +toward the bushes to search for the boy, who came limping slowly out of +the thicket. + +The woollen blanket was now removed from the envoy's head; with a +gloomy face he swung himself upon his horse, his two companions did the +same, and all three soon vanished in the darkness of the forest. + +The clank of weapons sounded at the gate; the Thracian spearmen were +coming to relieve the Batavians. At the same moment the bear-leader and +the cripple emerged from the thicket at the left; the former gave the +animal to Rignomer, who tried to drag it with him by the leather collar +toward the camp. But the bear resisted, growling and bracing herself on +her hind paws, as she looked beseechingly with her intelligent eyes at +her master. + +"Come, come, Bruna," urged the latter--"they are good people (he +stooped and whispered in her ear) won't you go yet? Didn't you +understand?" + +He scratched his head in perplexity. Then the cripple limped forward, +took from his moleskin knapsack a narrow long blue kerchief,--it looked +like a girdle,--and handed it to his master. The latter, laughing, gave +it to the Batavian. + +"Yes, yes. That will help. Hold it before the animal. No! Not in front +of her eyes: her nose. There! See how she sniffs? She is getting the +scent. Are you surprised? Yes, the cloth belonged to Bruna's dearest +playfellow. Go on slowly. You see, she is following like a lamb. Well, +greet the Roman camp for me, Bruna: I'll soon come for you." + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + +During the following night Saturninus made a little reconnoitring +expedition northward and, as far as it was possible to venture into the +swamps without trustworthy guides, towards the east. But he was +compelled to return to camp about noon without success. + +"They are evidently hiding in the northwest," he said angrily to his +best officer, Decius, as they rode side by side. "But none of the +guides will go in that direction, and we cannot penetrate into those +forest-clad mountains by force until Nannienus arrives. If we had only +brought his troops with us by land! It is almost useless, it seems to +me, to build galleys to blockade the lake." + +"Yes," Decius assented. "The Barbarians must have burned all their +boats, or carried them inland: not one is to be seen." + +Directly after the General's return a Batavian came to his tent, and +asked to see him alone. + +"What do you desire, brave Rignomer?" + +"To report myself for punishment. I drank too much wine." + +"When?" + +"Last night." + +"How? While on guard outside the camp?" + +"No, after I was relieved." + +"The trader will be scourged. Who sold it to you?" + +"No one. That was just it! I shouldn't have drunk so much if I had +bought it. But given! A present of Massican wine! Who can resist it?" + +"No German, it seems. And you report for punishment? Of your own free +will? Highly improbable. You were probably detected and wish to +anticipate?" + +"No: no one discovered me. When I was relieved, I had been completely +sobered by fright." + +"Why?" + +"My lord,"--he spoke hesitatingly,--"it is about the Idise." + +"Who is that?" + +"Why, the red-haired wood nymph." + +"What of her?" asked the Illyrian eagerly, now keenly intent. + +"My lord, I wish her well! As--as we all do." + +"As we all do?" + +"Yes, yes," replied the German, smiling, "even you. General; I've noticed +it. Well, I report for punishment, and will tell the whole story +because--because I'm afraid the little one's life is in danger." + +"Tell your story," Saturninus commanded, evidently startled. "Who gave +you the wine?" + +"Davus, the Prefect's slave." + +"Ah--and what happened then?" + +"Then it happened that I drank too much, and when I mounted guard outside +of the little one's tent, I soon fell asleep on the soft turf. A terrible +growling roused me. The she-bear owned by a juggler, a Sarmatian, which +I brought into camp yesterday and carried to the captive girl, acted +exactly as though she were a human being, that is, a man; for she followed +the red elf everywhere." + +"Suspicious! Did Bissula know the animal? Did she call it by any name?" + +"No. But she was very much pleased when she saw the she-bear; her face +flushed and paled. So much pleased that I asked, as you did just now: +'Bissula, do you know each other? How does it happen that the beast +will have nothing to do with anybody except you? Hark! how friendly her +growl sounds: why doesn't she treat us the same?' + +"'Oh,' replied Bissula, laughing, 'she comes from our country and she +knows that I am the only one who understands her Alemanni language. +Don't you believe me? Well, then ask her,' she added, still laughing, +shaking back her curling locks, 'maybe she will tell you.' + +"In short, the monster would not leave her side, and followed her into +the tent when she went to bed. So the bear's growling waked me. I +started up and saw by the light of the campfire a man, running at full +speed, vanish around the corner of the nearest tent. + +"I rushed in. The young girl had seen nothing--she had fallen asleep. +She was trying to soothe the furious animal, which, bleeding from a +dagger thrust in its right fore-paw, was angrily crunching in its jaws +a piece of brown cloth. At last Bissula, while washing the wound, +coaxed it away. Here it is." + +He gave it to Saturninus. The Roman General examined it closely. + +"This is certainly--but stay! Do you speak first, Rignomer. What do you +think it is?" + +"A fragment from the hem of a mantle." + +"What kind of a mantle?" + +"A Roman one: a sagum," + +"Who wear brown mantles--the only ones?" + +"The Thracian spearmen and the mailed riders." + +"Right. Say nothing of this matter to any one; and go." + +"And my punishment?" + +"You are pardoned. But drink gift wine cautiously in future." + +"Indeed I will, General." + +"In the inspection I am about to make you will act shrewdly and +prudently, as I order. And listen: one thing more. You owe the young +girl some atonement: do you perceive it?" + +"Unfortunately." + +"Will you make it?" + +"Gladly." + +"Then mark me. She has complained that I have her watched continually, +even during the day. Thrax, my fat scribe, to whom I gave the secret +commission, has acted very awkwardly; she found him out long ago. I +promised to rid her of him. But she must not remain unguarded." + +"Certainly not." + +"After this attack less than ever. You, Rignomer,--I will relieve you +meanwhile from any other duty,--must henceforth follow the young girl: +but unnoticed." + +"I thank you, General. I'll make amends for my fault. She shall neither +escape nor come to any harm. And she shall not discover that she is +constantly watched and guarded." + +Directly afterwards the tubas gave the signal through the streets of +the camp for a general inspection of the troops, in marching +equipments, with mantles. The foot-soldiers were to occupy the wide +space on both sides of the Praetorium in the Forum and the Quaestorium, +and the cross streets intersecting the camp from east to west, the Via +Principalis and the Via Quintana; but the horsemen were to remain +directly in front of their rows of tents, near the southern gate facing +the lake, the Porta Decumana. + +The Tribune mounted his horse and rode along the front. When he had +inspected the Batavians, he ordered a body of them to follow him and +station themselves behind the mailed riders, at the same time making a +sign to Rignomer. The Tribune first rode at a walk down the lines of +the mailed cavalry, then he ordered them to wheel and pass before him. + +"You look pale, O Herculanus!" he called to their commander. "Have you +been up all night? Did you sacrifice to Bacchus after the evening +banquet?" + +"A little." + +Saturninus now closed the inspection. Turning the corner of the Via +Media, which intersected the camp from north to south, he motioned to +Rignomer, dismounted, and gave him his horse. + +"Who had a piece missing from his mantle?" + +"No one. But one had a new piece of cloth sewed into the hem--the color +did not match, it had not yet been faded by the sun exactly the size of +that scrap." + +"An officer?" + +"Yes." + +"It was he: it was Herculanus." + +"But my lord, you saw the horsemen only from the front." + +"Yet I know it. Be watchful. Guard the little one." + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + +Adalo had retraced the road to the Holy Mountain with a heavy heart, +and with deep pain he made his report in the Duke's tent at daybreak. + +"I have gained nothing," were his closing words, "seen nothing of the +camp, and not a sign of--of her. What is to be done?" + +"Wait," replied the Duke, stroking his long beard and half closing his +eye. + +"Wait! it is easy for you to say that." + +"Harder than for you, who still have thrice as many years before you as +I." + +"But Bissula! Surely I have told you that she does not belong to the +old man, her friend. When will you lead us to the assault?" + +"When it is time." + +"When will it at last be time?" + +"Not before the moon has vanished from the sky." + +"Have the wise women read that to you in the runes of destiny?" asked +Adalo wrathfully. + +"I do not consult old women, when I am to fight; but neither will I +risk the victory for young ones. The moon must not shine; the night +must be dark. And another thing: the torrents of rain were a great +help, they kept the Romans in their camp, shut them out of the marshes +and forests. But now everything must get dry again, that it may burn +merrily. The god of wishes has already sent the right wind. Only have +patience a short time. Something else, too, must first be +accomplished." + +"Then at least let me try to inform her by a secret messenger how she +can surely escape." + +"No, by my wrath! Before we storm, I will show you why it is impossible +for her to escape by the way of which you are thinking. It would lead +her into the very midst of the guards outside the camp and betray +everything to them. But, did you not meet Zercho on the way back?" + +"No; but my companions told me. So you sent him?" + +"Sent him? No; he went without my orders. But hark--voices--there he +is, and some one with him." + +Zercho and Sippilo came hurrying into the tent. The young noble was +amazed to see his fair-haired brother in such a disguise. + +"Boy, what have you dared to do? You went with him as a spy?" he cried +wrathfully. "How you look!" + +"Like an elf of darkness; but the soot rubs off easily. See!" Laughing +merrily, he threw his arms around Adalo's neck and pressed his curly +black head against his brother's cheek. + +"Don't scold him until you know all--if you can do it then," pleaded +Zercho. + +"Make your report," the Duke commanded. + +"My lord, much--almost all is well! Yet not everything. Unfortunately I +could not get into the camp. But Bruna did," he added, grinning, as he +turned to Adalo, "and she'll find the little mistress." + +"Can the she-bear fly out again and bring us information about the +camp?" said Hariowald angrily. + +"Not she, but perhaps this paper can," replied Sippilo, laughing, as he +drew a roll of papyrus from his breast. "While Zercho and Bruna were +making the sentries laugh and stare, I succeeded, unnoticed, in +reaching the ditch, slipped down, and climbed part way up the wall on +the opposite side, I dared not risk going to the top, some one would +have seen me there. I'm as slender and supple as an eel. Part of the +earth in the wall had been washed away by the rain between the +palisades in many places; I squeezed into one and got my head and one +arm through, but could go no farther, my shoulders were too broad. +Then for a while I was very uncomfortable; I couldn't move forward +and did not want to go back without having seen something; besides, +the cramping hurt. Suddenly I heard voices, footsteps, and saw +hurrying toward me along the inner path of the camp, close to the +wall--Bissula." + +Adalo uttered a cry of joy, and the Duke, too, looked at the bold lad +with surprise and pleasure. + +"Several paces behind her a fat, very fat man came waddling along. She +didn't see me, for she was looking straight in front of her, and her +face was not merry as usual, but very sorrowful. I risked the chance +that the panting fellow would hear me. But I didn't trust myself to +call with a human voice; I began the warbling notes of the chaffinch. +Often and often we had practised together to try which could imitate it +the more closely; but I did better and lured the little male bird in a +fit of furious jealousy to my hiding-place among the leaves. Bissula +started, looked toward the gap in the palisades where the bird--so late +in the season--was singing, saw and instantly recognized me; she could +probably see only my eyes, not my disfiguring sooty hair. Stooping as +if to look for the finch, she whispered: 'Save me quickly.'" + +An expression of delight flashed over Adalo's handsome face. "She does +not love him; she wants to return!" his heart cried exultingly. Sippilo +noticed it and guessed the cause of his joy. His young face grew very +grave as he went on: "But alas, she added: 'Terrible danger, the +greatest, threatens me!'" + +Adalo groaned and clutched the nearest tent pole to support himself: +his brain was reeling. + +"Go on," said the Duke. + +"She could say no more, for the fat man was now close behind her: I saw +some long yellowish-white thing sticking out of the front of his +mantle. + +"'This is unbearable!' she cried furiously, turning upon him. 'Are you +my shadow, slave? Why do you follow at my heels? Leave me!' + +"'By command of my lord the Tribune.' + +"'Indeed?' she cried, half mischievously, half angrily. 'Then--by +command of your lord, the Tribune, you shall run and sweat well. Can +you catch the roe of the lake forest?' + +"And she darted off as swiftly as the merlin shoots down the mountain +stream. The fat man, panting and swearing, followed. At the end of the +road along the wall she turned, glided nimbly past the breathless +slave, and again ran toward me: she probably wanted to tell me +something, but I understood only the one word, 'hasten!' + +"Then she was gone; for her companion, pursuing her, now approached me. +When directly opposite he raised his cloak, which was hanging around +his legs, and the yellowish-white thing dropped from his breast. He +puffed along, and it rolled close to the two posts in the sides of my +hole. I hastily snatched it. I wanted to wait for Bissula to pass +again, but I saw several splendidly armed Romans stop her, and all went +into the inner camp. Then I drew myself backward from between the posts +(it wasn't easy; a little skin and hair were left sticking there in +remembrance of Sippilo), slid down the wall, climbed the other side of +the ditch, entered the bushes, crept back to my former place, and came +just as Zercho gave the she-bear to the guards and left the camp." + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + +The Duke had already taken the roll of papyrus from the boy's hand and +spread it open on the table. His eye sparkled with the joy of victory. + +"What do I read here? 'Four squadrons of mailed horsemen at the Porta +Decumana, all the baggage also piled at the Porta Decumana. + +"'The wall eight feet high. + +"'The ditch five feet deep. + +"'The weakest point the corner in the northwest'--and so it continues +for a long time! + +"Thanks to thee, god of wishes. Thou hast sent this, no one else, to +thy sons. Look here! A plan of the entire camp! Exact: all the +measurements. And here, marked on the margin, the strength of all the +troops horsemen, foot-soldiers, carters; and their distribution in +the camp. Look here, Adalo! Even the great pine, the tree of the +earth-goddess, is noted. What is this beside the tree? What stands +there above the stones of sacrifice which cover the turf near the tree? +A tent, empty, without soldiers, filled with provisions! + +"In this page I hold victory. Go now, Zercho: your reward shall be +paid. As I promised, I will buy your freedom, whatever sum your master, +Suomar, may ask: he cannot give it to you, his lands are not large, and +you are his most valuable property." + +"O mighty, generous lord, I thank you!" + +"Then you can return, a free man, to your own people, to Sarmatia. That +will be your wish?" + +But Zercho shook his unkempt head. Tears filled his eyes: "No," he +said. "I will stay here, my lord, if Suomar will let me keep the little +patch of ground I have always tilled--I had to give him only the +twelfth sheaf from it--and the hut of woven willow branches by the +lake. I would rather stay." + +"Strange! Do you feel no longing for your home, your own people?" + +"Home! We Sarmatians have none like yours, you patient, plough-guiding +men, which you occupy beside the immovable hearthstone, rooted to the +earth. Our home is the steppe, the broad, free steppe, which can be +measured neither by the eye nor the steed. Ah! it is beautiful." The +man's eyes sparkled, and suddenly Zercho, usually so dull and taciturn, +was overwhelmed by an enthusiasm which, to the listeners' astonishment, +gave his words wings. "Yes, it is more beautiful, more magnificent than +all the Roman and German lands I have ever seen. When, in the spring, +the sun has kissed away the last snow; when the moor laughs; when the +steppe blossoms; when by day hundreds of hawks scream at once in the +blue air, and the wild stallions, which have never borne a rider, neigh +so terribly and dash so furiously past the tents, trampling over +everything in their path as they pursue the trembling mares, till the +heart of the boldest man might quiver with fear and yet also with joy +at sight of such fierce, uncurbed strength! And oh, the nights, when +the thousands and thousands of heavenly spirits look down from above, +far, far more star-gods, shining far more brightly than here with +you; and when, in the darkness, the cranes and wild-swans pass like +thick clouds--for there are so many that they cast shadows in the +moonlight--like resonant, clanging clouds high in the air! + +"Doubtless the steppes of Sarmatia are more beautiful than any other +lands and the lives of the Jazyges on their swift steeds are freer than +other lives. But Zercho--Zercho no longer suits the steppe. I am like +the bird, the wild bird of the moor, which boys keep for years in a +small cage where it cannot spread its wings. If it is set free, nay, +flung into the air, it drops down and lies still; it can no longer fly, +it has forgotten how. So, toiling with the plough for many years and +staying in one place has fettered me. Zercho can no longer ride as the +Jazyges ride, vying with the wind; Zercho can no longer sleep every +night on a different patch of earth and, if there be nothing better to +eat, catch locusts and lizards. I am used to grain and bread, the fruit +of the lands I have ploughed myself. I have no wish to leave them. And +my family? I saw them all--all six--die before my eyes in one night, +the terrible night when the faithless Romans--those slayers of the +people, those murderous wolves!--suddenly attacked our encampment with +the round, straw-thatched huts, by the Tibiscus, during an armistice. +The bright blaze of the hurdles lighted them well in their work of +slaughter. My father killed, my mother hurled into the flames of the +straw tent, my two sisters--oh, horrible!--tortured to death, my two +brothers leaping into the stream which flowed red with blood! And I--I +saw it all, stretched before the hut, my head cleft by a sword stroke, +defenceless, motionless. So I lay the whole starlit night, asking the +thousand gods above there: 'Why? Why? Why?' But, when day dawned, the +slave dealers who, like the ravens of the air and the wolves of the +steppe marshes, follow the Romans on every battle-field, came and trod +on all the Jazyges who lay there, to learn whether they were still +alive. I quivered under their feet, was flung into a cart, and carried +with them many, many days and weeks. At last the kind-hearted Suomar +bought and rescued me. For never, though I was a bondman, did he call +me 'dog,' like the dealers. He treated me like--like a human being. And +when the little mistress grew up, Suomar's farm became my home. And I +will stay down in the willow hut beside the lake as a free man, so long +as I live, if I am allowed to do so. And when Zercho's death hour +comes, the little red sprite (for we must rescue her, Adeling, and we +will) shall close my eyes with her hand, and then they shall bury me in +the open country, in the pastures by the lake. The cranes will pass +over me at night with rustling wings and clanging cries, high in the +air, and I shall hear it under the thin covering of turf and, in my +death sleep, dream that I am lying in the blossoming, fragrant steppe +grass." + +He stopped. His cheeks were flushed; his ugly face was transfigured; +never in his whole life had he uttered so many words at once. + +The Duke held out his hand, saying: "No, Zercho, you are no dog. You +have a heart, almost like the Alemanni's. Different, it is true, but +not evil." + +Adalo said nothing, but he clasped the bondman's other hand and pressed +it warmly. Sippilo turned away: he did not want to let any one see his +eyes. + +"You have a lucky hand, boy," cried the Duke. "I can read your wishes +in your eyes. Yes, you shall share the battle for the victory which +your bold artifice has done so much to win." + +Sippilo rushed to the old Commander-in-chief and clasped both his +hands: "You diviner and fulfiller of wishes! I can imagine Odin like +you! Last autumn Adalo refused me the sword, because"--he hung his +head--"because I could not pierce with my spear the willow-woven +Hermunduri shield in our hall. Pshaw, I was only a child then; but at +the spring festival I pierced the old Roman shield which Suomar gave me +for a target." + +"I had bored six holes in it and stopped them up again," Zercho +whispered to the Duke; "but let him go. I'll protect him." + +Hariowald dismissed the bondman and the lad. + +"Well," urged Adalo vehemently, "in this sheet you hold in your hands +the victory,--you said so yourself,--so let us fight at last." + +But the Duke silently shook his head. + +"Consider. 'Hasten' was her last word! Tonight?" + +"No. What is one girl in comparison to a whole nation?" + +"I beseech you! I implore you! You are my friend--my kinsman." + +"I am Duke of the Alemanni." + +"Well then," cried Adalo, deeply incensed, "delay. I will save her--I +alone! There is a way, known only to myself and to you. I will use it." + +He turned to rush from the tent, but quickly, with a threatening look, +the old noble barred his way. "Stop, boy! Do not stir from this place. +Will you rob your people of certain victory for the sake of a pair of +blue eyes?" + +"I will not rob them of it! I will only appear to-night in the Roman +camp,--I alone,--and bear her out of it in these arms, or leave my life +there." + +"Whether you live or die, the secret will be discovered--the surest way +to victory in our attack." + +"You will conquer, with or without Adalo, in other ways. I will save +the girl I love before it is too late." + +He tried to force himself past the Duke, but the old man seized him by +both shoulders with an iron grasp and forced him to stand. + +"And I will accuse you before the popular assembly, like that +treacherous king; I will have you hung between two wolves to a bough of +the accursed withered yew." + +"Do what you choose after I have saved her or died with her," cried the +frantic youth, wrenching himself free. But, with unexpected strength, +the old Duke flung him, reeling, back into the tent. + +"I will have you bound hand and foot like a madman. You are mad. Freya +has bewitched you. Hear it, Adalger, high in Valhalla: Adalo, your son, +no longer heeds a hero's duty or manly honor. He must be bound with +willow withes, with ropes, that he may not become base and destroy his +people for a woman's sake." + +Agitated, overpowered, crushed, Adalo sank prostrate, his hands +clenched in his long locks, moaning: "Bissula--lost--lost!" + +The Duke, unobserved, cast a keen sympathizing glance at the youth. He +saw that he had convinced and conquered him. + +Adalo went out, grave and thoughtful, to be alone with his grief. + + * * * * * + +In the course of the day a messenger secretly conveyed to the Roman +camp a letter from Adalo, addressed to Saturninus and Ausonius. The +young chieftain, on the pretext of inspecting the farthest outposts, +had gone with his envoy from the top of the Holy Mountain through the +whole seven fortifications encircling it to the last one at the foot, +and then ridden with him into the forest which stretched between it and +the Roman camp. Here he awaited the answer, his noble face pale and +disfigured by the long mental conflict through which he had passed. +When he heard in the distance the hoof-beats of the returning horse +(evening had come, and the mountain peaks oh the opposite side of the +lake were glowing with crimson light), he ran breathless to meet it. + +"Well," he cried, "where is the answer to the letter?" + +"They gave me no answer. Both the Roman generals--for I had them both +called, as you ordered--read your letter before me with great, great +astonishment. They talked together, with loud exclamations, in words I +did not understand, not Roman ones. Then both turned to me, the older +one, who was formerly in the country, speaking first: 'Tell your master +the answer is: Never.' And the younger man added: 'Not even for this +price.'" + +Then Adalo suddenly fell prone like a young pine whose last prop above +the last root has been cut by the axe. He had dropped face forward. The +faithful attendant sprang from his horse, sat down on the grass, and +took the senseless youth's head in his lap. Adalo lay unconscious a +long time, fairly stupefied by grief. The stars were already shining in +the sky, and the bats darting through the trees, when, panting for +breath, he climbed the mountain. + +"That was the last effort," he said to himself. "Nothing is left now +except death--death in battle, not to save her, alas! only her corpse: +for if shame be inflicted on her, she will not survive it." + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + +But, eagerly as Saturninus watched for the galleys expected from +Arbor, another was to learn their anticipated departure long before he +knew of it. This was Duke Hariowald. + +On a wooded hill, the hill of Zio, named the Geerebuehl, east of the +Holy Mountain, almost directly opposite to Arbor, a little band of +Alemanni spies watched night and day, one, relieved every hour, gazing +steadily across the lake at the Hill of Mercury, the nearest height +south of Arbor on the southern shore of the lake. + +The region around this harbor fortress, which was wholly under Roman +rule, was inhabited by colonists of various tribes: among them many +Alemanni whom capture, or voluntary surrender and removal, had led to +the better-tilled, more richly cultivated southern shore. + +At noon on the day of Adalo's secret message a slender, almost +invisible column of smoke rose from the Hill of Mercury on the southern +shore: instantly a thick grayish-black cloud of smoke ascended from the +Geerebuehl on the north shore. This was clearly seen from the eastern +side of the summit of the Holy Mountain,--the Hill of Mercury was _not_ +visible from it,--and one of the guards who constantly watched the +Geerebuehl, instantly rushed into the Duke's tent "Smoke is rising on +Zio's Mountain! A high column of smoke." + +Hariowald came out of his tent in full armor (during the past week he +had scarcely removed it night or day), with his battle helmet on his +noble head. This helmet was a very strange one: whoever unexpectedly +saw it gleam before him might well be startled. + +In those days, as well as now, the great white owl was a rare visitor +to Lake Constance. Scarcely once in a decade did this stranger from the +far north go so far southwest in its migratory flight as the +neighborhood of the Alps. Early in the winter of the previous year +Adalo had brought down with his arrow a magnificent specimen of the +superb bird of prey from a tall fir-tree in the forest by the lake, and +given the huge bird with its gleaming snow-white plumage, marked only +with a few rusty brown feathers in undulating lines on the breast, to +his white-haired cousin as a splendid ornament for his helmet. + +The owl now spread above the bronze head-piece its huge pinions which, +though not stretched to their full width, extended more than three +feet. It was not mounted as eagle and swan wings usually were, with the +tips of the feathers toward the back of the helmet, but in the opposite +way, turned forward, startling and confusing the spectator by the +threatening attitude--a true helmet of terror, such as Odin wears when +he rushes into battle at the head of his troops. + +With this helmet and clad in full armor, the Duke came out of his tent +and motioned to one of the heralds, who always waited his orders here. +The man seized the long crooked horn of the aurochs, which hung ready +on one of the posts of the tent, and sounded it three times. The +summons echoed far and wide. Instantly the other heralds, carrying +white-ash staffs in their hands, and wearing smaller horns hung by +leather thongs over their shoulders, hurried down from the summit in +every direction, through all the lines of the fortifications, bearing +the Duke's summons to the most distant outpost. + +The warriors flocked from all sides, fully armed, swiftly climbing the +mountain; only the guards needed to protect the fords across the +swamps, the barricades, and the narrow entrances to the ring walls +remained behind. All pressed up the mountain and, as soon as they +reached the summit, surged toward a giant ash-tree which, from the top +of the loftiest mountain peak, thrust its branches into the clouds. + +Close to its trunk a sort of judge's tribunal had been built of large +stones; an oblong one rested like a back against the tree; another of +the same height, laid across two blocks sunk in the earth, formed the +seat. + +Several stone steps led up to the high seat, and on them lay various +weapons, among them one very plain shield and spear, with the rune +_fe_, corresponding to the Latin _F_. Then came a costly boar helmet, a +richly ornamented bronze shield, covered with a boar's hide and, like +the helmet, decorated with two boar's tusks outstretched defiantly; a +sword in a costly sheath of polished linden wood, richly mounted with +bronze; a sharp battle axe and a spear, the handles of both adorned and +strengthened by gilded nails: these weapons bore as a house-mark +drawings of two boar tusks. Last of all were a small, very light round +shield, a short spear, and a dainty sword with a white leather belt +painted with red lead: each of the three weapons bore as house-mark a +stag's antlers. + +The Duke had not yet taken his seat. Standing erect on the horizontal +stone, with his spear in his right hand, he scanned the warriors +flocking from every direction. A huge oblong shield, almost the height +of a man, painted red, with black runes inscribed upon it, hung above +his head on a bough of the ash. + +The whole top of the peak around the tree was inclosed and girdled by +"cords and staves"; that is, by hazel wands and spears, which--the +latter with the iron points uppermost--stood thrust into the earth at +distances of seven feet apart, and were bound together by linen bands +almost a hand's breadth wide, knotted around the middle of the staffs, +the red hue of the bands proclaiming that the popular assembly was to +judge matters of life and death. + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + +After the surging to and fro of the men pressing forward into the +circle, the loud voices, and the clank of weapons had somewhat died +away, the Duke raised his spear and struck with it three solemn strokes +on the bronze shield. Instantly deep silence reigned. "The assembly is +opened!" said Hariowald, and slowly took his seat, crossing one foot +over the other. + +Throwing back the long, full, dark-blue mantle, fastened by a clasp on +the left shoulder, he rested his spear like a staff on his right +shoulder, and raising his left hand with the fingers extended, said +slowly: + + "I, the Judge, I ask you for the law! + I ask you, ye free men: + Is this the hour and the place, + To have and to hold + A judgment righteous + Upon noble Alemanni, + The sons of victory-- + House and estate. + Cattle and chattels, + Money and lands, + Peace and liberty, + Body and life? + Point out, ye men of knowledge, + The law to the Judge." + +Two elderly men stepped forward, drew their swords, raised them toward +heaven, and said with long pauses, the words of one always blending +with those of the other: + + "We will point out, as we know it, + To thee, Judge, the law: + This is the hour and the place + For judgment righteous: + On the conquered and inherited + Ancient soil of the Alemanni, + By the all-conquering sun's + Clear, shining, ascending, + Radiant light, + Beneath the ancient + Ash of our fathers, + In Odin's temple, + On cattle and chattels, + Money and lands, + Peace and liberty, + Body and life, + Justly we judge + And find, we free men, + Sentence righteous." + +Both withdrew into the circle. + +"Before we march forth to the battle against the foe," the Duke now +broke the silence, "and we shall set out soon, very soon--" + +Loud shouts of joy and rattling of weapons burst forth, which the old +noble allowed to die away; then he continued: + +"The popular assembly must first pronounce judgment and decide +questions of justice and law. First on Fiskulf, the fisherman, from +Rohr-Mos, the rush marshes. Where is the accuser?" + +Adalo stepped forward hesitatingly. + +"Here: I, Adalo, son of Adalger." + +"Step to the right. Where is the defendant?" + +"Here!" said a man in plain garments; he wore an old fishing net for a +girdle. With head bent sorrowfully he came forward, lowering his eyes. + +"What is your complaint?" asked the judge. + +"Breaking the oath of military duty." + +"That is a matter of life and death. Tell me the law: may Adalo, son of +Adalger, make such a charge here?" + +One of the two old men stepped forward again, and said: + +"The assembly knows Adalo, the Adeling, as a free man of unblemished +reputation: his estate is in the Linzgau: it would cover any charge of +false accusation: he may make complaint in a matter of life and death." + +At a sign from the judge the young noble began: + +"I make the complaint reluctantly,--against my wish and will,--but my +oath requires it. For when I took command of the men of the western +shore of the lake, I was obliged to swear on the Duke's hand to +denounce before the assembly any breach of his orders that might occur +in my troop. So speak I must, for I fear to break the oath. You all +know that the Duke forbade, on pain of death, the lighting of a fire by +day or night in any of the boats where the fugitives from the country +at first lay concealed among the rushes on the western shore: if the +Romans, while passing, discovered by smoke or flame that there were +people living in the wide marshy forests, all who were hidden there +might be lost. When I set out, I repeated the Duke's command to all my +men; Fiskulf was standing on my shield side. And yet, while the foe was +passing along the shore he lighted a fire on the Pike Stone which rises +above the reeds. True, it was daylight, but the smoke was visible. The +nearest cohort had halted and was preparing to look for the fire, which +I with difficulty put out in time to lull their suspicions. I must now +accuse Fiskulf of this breach of orders." + +He paused and drew back a step. A murmur of indignation ran through the +ranks, blended with many a loud cry of anger and reproach. + +"Silence, all! Silence in the circle, until I ask your judgment," +shouted the Duke from his lofty stone seat, raising his spear aloft. "I +forbid reproaches; I command peace. You, Fiskulf, what say you to the +charge? Denial, or confession?" + +"Confession," replied the fisherman sorrowfully. "It is as the Adeling +said." + +"You knew the command?" + +"I knew it." + +"You broke the command?" + +"I broke it. Alas, I am so deeply ashamed. It was from hunger--but not +to satisfy my own. We had lain hidden in the marshland forest for many +nights; the stock of dried fish I had brought in the boat was +exhausted. I repressed my hunger and chewed the tops of the young +reeds. I would not have done it for myself; but my boy, who was with me +(he had just recovered from the fever that lurks in the swamps, and he +is only seven years old), cried so bitterly with hunger, begging and +pleading: 'Father, father, give me something to eat!' It cut me to the +heart! I speared a large pike that was sunning itself near the stone, +cut it in pieces, and meant to give it to the child to eat. But +loathing choked him: he only cried quietly and no longer entreated me. +Then I rubbed two dry sticks together till I kindled a fire, broiled +the fish on the top of the stone, and gave it to the boy to eat. I ate +some myself, too." + +"I was forced to accuse him," said Adalo. "But I entreat the assembly +not to punish the man. No harm came from his act. A father--" + +"Silence, Accuser," the judge interrupted. "You have made the +complaint; he has confessed: you have nothing more to do here except to +listen to the sentence. I ask: what may follow breaking an order given +to the troops when the enemy is in the country? What? You are silent? +The disobedience might destroy the whole nation. What? You refuse to +point out the law," the old man went on indignantly. "Or do you +gray-beards no longer know what the boys learn? Answer! Point out the +law,--" he rose threateningly,--"or I will tear the shield of the +assembly from the ash and complain to the gods: The Alemanni have +forgotten the laws of their people! What is the punishment of treason +and breaking the oath of service?" + +"Death!" now rang forth in many voices. + +"I knew it," said the fisherman quietly. "Farewell, countrymen. I wish +you victory and prosperity." + +But the Duke continued: + +"What death must he die? By the willow-withe? By water? By the red +stroke of the knife? Or by the red flame of burning branches?" + +One of the two old men stepped forward again, saying: "By his deed he +has offended Zio the war-god and Odin the giver of victory. Zio demands +blood upon the stone of sacrifice; Odin's will is that he shall blow in +the wind. Odin is the greater god and the father of Zio: the lesser +yields to the greater; the son to the father. Odin's right is first: +the oath-breaker is consecrated to Odin, He shall be hung by willow +ropes under the chin, with his face toward the north, from the withered +yew, a wolf at his right hand and a wolf at his left--the oldest +symbols of quarrelsome, reckless lawbreakers." + +"He is consecrated to Odin," the judge repeated solemnly--"if Odin +desires him. We will ask the god." + +All gazed in astonishment, the fisherman with a faint thrill of hope, +at the old man, who now continued: + +"It is dishonorable and shameful for the man to swing among the +branches, between the sky and the mountain top. And hitherto he has +been brave--only he could not be strong enough to bear the weeping of +his child. He will die useless to his people, if he hang high aloft on +the tree. Well then, we will ask Odin if, perchance, he will forgive +him. You all, like the accuser himself, at first wished to let the act +pass unpunished. That will not do. To the Lofty One we must offer his +right; but--perhaps--he will not take it. I advise that Fiskulf shall +venture upon a deed in which, for his people's welfare, he will fall, +inevitably fall, unless Odin himself take pity on him and bear him away +in his floating mantle." + +"Speak, speak! What may I do?" cried the fisherman, with sparkling +eyes. "All! All! Gladly will I die by the spear. Only not the rope of +shame!" + +"You shall be the first, in advance of all the others, to leap on the +proudest Roman galley and--you understand how to kindle flames so +well--set fire to its sails." + +"Yes, yes! That he shall! Hail to the Duke!" shouted thousands of +voices. + +Fiskulf sprang forward to the judge's chair, lifted both hands to him, +and cried: "I thank thee, Duke! Ay, thou knowest the will of Odin! The +proudest Roman galley--the General's vessel in Arbor, is it not? Well: +I do not yet know how I am to reach the ship on the other side of the +lake; but I will die, or accomplish it." + +"I will provide for that," said the Duke. "You need not go to the ship: +Odin will bring the galley to you! Then do as I have told you." + +"Gladly! Gladly! Oh, give me back my weapons!" + +At a sign from the judge the heralds restored to him the spear and +shield marked _F_, which lay on the stone steps, and he returned to the +circle of his comrades, many of whom clasped his hand. + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + +"A joyful duty now awaits you," the Duke began again: "a boy of noble +family asks the bestowal of the sword, the first weapon granted. Many +of us know him, and all who do, wish him well. True, the young hero is +not very large; but I take my oath that I saw him yesterday pierce with +his spear, at fifteen paces, a moderately thick linden-wood shield. And +great was his courage, bold his daring when, dauntlessly risking his +life and liberty, he scaled the wall of the Roman camp, brought back +most important information and placed it in the Duke's hand." + +"Who is it? Who is it?" asked many voices. + +Adalo stepped forward, leading his brother by the hand: "Sippilo, my +brave little brother." + +Then the Duke spoke: + +"I ask the assembly: Shall he receive the weapons? Is the young falcon +fledged?" A pleasant smile illumined the face which could look so +wrathful and threatening. + +"Hail to him! Hail to the Adeling! Hail to the boy! Give him the +weapons." + +Sippilo flushed like a young girl, but the blush was very becoming. + +"Will you grant him the favor of bestowing the weapons yourself, O +Duke?" pleaded Adalo. "Then, when he grasps sword or spear, he must +always remember the hero to whom he first owed them, and prove himself +worthy of the giver." + +"I will," said the judge, rising and beckoning to the boy. + +Sippilo ascended the first of the steps leading to the Duke's chair. +Hariowald took the little round shield lying before him and gave it to +the lad, who seized it eagerly, passing his left arm under the upper +bar of the shield and clasping the lower one with his hand. "I, +Hariowald, son of Hariomar, Count of Linzgau, chosen by all the +Alemanni Duke for this summer's Roman war, say to you, Sippilo, son of +Adalger, of age to use weapons and worthy to receive them: + + "With the shield I give, protect, + Better than thine own breast, + Dearer than thine own body and life, + The noble Alemanni + Land and nation. + Shield runes, and runes of defence, + Deep burned thy brother + Its solid framework within; + They will hold and keep + The shield's shelter for thee + So long as thou thyself + Dost hold and stand + Fast by thy people." + +Then he handed him the spear, saying: + + "Runes of victory I, sure of triumph, + Carved for thee myself + On the sharp spear's handle. + To mortal man never + Lower it vanquished, + Nor let its shaft be shattered. + Some day, full lightly, + From thy faithful hand + When, white-bearded, thou dost win + On thy shield the battle death + 'Mid blissful victory-- + Then, from thy faithful hand, + Lightly will take it + On swan-wings downward to thee floating, + Shining in beauty, + Valhalla's fairest Valkyria, + And bear thee, loyal one, + Upward to Odin." + +Lastly, he put on the belt from which the sword hung in its sheath, +saying: + + "As the belt now girdles thee, + So, as its own doth hold thee + The Alemanni army. + As the belt is for thee + Ornament and defence, + So art thou, as one link, + Ornament and defence + To us, the Alemanni." + +Then Sippilo drew the short sword from its sheath, held the hilt toward +the shining sun, and said: + + "This bright sword will I wield + For my free nation, + For its rights, its renown, + And for Sippilo's kinsmen! + Should I e'er do aught else, + May the keen, shining edge, + The sharp blade, the wise blade-- + For this oath it knoweth-- + Deal my faithless heart a death-blow! + Sun, thou dost see it; + The Lofty One heard it, + And Zio is witness, + With the Alemanni's + High-crested army." + +The boy now leaped joyously down the steps and, proud of his new +weapons, took his place beside his brother amid loud shouts of applause +from the multitude, especially his kinsmen and those who had the stag's +antlers inscribed on their shields. + +"Now the next act of justice. One who is absent wishes to free his +bondman in the assembly. Suomar, son of Suobert, who is on guard in the +eastern marshes, liberates his slave Zercho. I have bought his freedom +for the sake of good service rendered to the army; his master, to whom +a messenger was sent, is willing to set him free; and Adalo, the +Adeling, by his wish, will speak and act for him. Bring the bondman." + +Then Zercho, who had been waiting outside the body of freemen, was led +before the stone seat by two heralds. His eyes were sparkling with joy. + +Adalo, holding in his hand a bow and arrow, stepped forward, saying: +"As the representative of Suomar, your master, I announce in the open +assembly that he has received from Hariowald, Count of the Linzgau, a +faultless stallion four years old, two cows of Roman breed, twenty +sheep, a bronze armlet seven times twisted, and a silver solidus; in +exchange for which he frees you, Zercho, the Jazyge whom he bought as a +prisoner of war from a dealer in Vindonissa. By my hand and word he +liberates you: take the last blow which you have to bear as a slave." +He gave him a light stroke on the cheek. "And see, look, all ye +freemen: as I shoot this arrow, so free and far, unrestrained and +unfettered, Suomar, who hitherto has been your master, leaves you. You +may go forth as free as this arrow flies--free and restrained by no +one!" + +As he spoke he sent the arrow, winged with heron feathers, high into +the air. The missile whirred from the long bow, whose string struck +echoing against the beautifully polished wood. Zercho watched the +arrow. High, high up it flew, till it vanished in the blue sky. But he +did not see clearly; his eyes were swimming in tears; it was hard to +force back a loud sob. From long years of custom, he was about to throw +himself prostrate on the ground and, clasping the Adeling's feet, kiss +his hands in token of gratitude. But the latter quickly stopped him, +and the Duke said: + +"You are free now, Zercho! Rejoice, freeman! For, though your master's +hand was gentle, bondage is pitiable and withers strength and courage. +Only the life of the free is life: the slave breathes, but he does not +live." + +Adalo handed him the bow, saying: "Here is this weapon, which proves +your freedom before the whole people. Let it be the first one you carry +in the army and for the people of the Alemanni, which has now become +your nation too." + +With radiant eyes and head erect the freedman now entered the ranks of +the free. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A frown darkened the Duke's brow. "Now for the last judgment of the +assembly! Other gods are drawing near, unlike those which have just +viewlessly hovered above the boy's fair locks--terrible gods! Complaint +is made against one of the district kings of the Alemanni." + +"Ebarbold! Traitor! Rebel! Destroyer of the army! Oath-breaker!" So +threatening voices rose from the throng. + +"Peace! Silence in the assembly!" the judge commanded. "Where is the +accuser?" + +The King's weapon-bearer stepped forward, drew his sword, and said: + +"I, Ebarvin, son of Erlafrid. For, like all the men of our league of +peoples, I have sworn a terrible oath by all the gods and by the +terrors of Hel to resist, denounce, and avenge rebellion and treachery +against the league and the Duke of the Alemanni, wherever, however, and +whenever I can. Well! For twenty winters I bore the shield of King +Ebarbold's father, and for as many more the shield of this Ebarbold +himself. Every word I utter against him falls heavily upon my heart; +but still more heavily weighs the oath I swore to the Duke for +the league of the Alemanni. Well then, I accuse King Ebarbold of +oath-breaking, rebellion, and treason. Thrice have I warned him, thrice +have I openly threatened to reveal his conduct to the Duke and to the +whole people. He laughed at the threat; he would not believe it. He +said: 'The skin lies nearer to your heart than the cloak; the Ebergau +is dearer to you than the nation; your own lord is more to you than the +Duke.' He was mistaken. So it was in former days, so it was for a long, +long time; but this wrought woe to us all. + +"We have learned the lesson at last: the Romans taught us with iron +rods. We have learned it in bloody straits: the people, the league of +the people, is the highest thing, for it alone protects all: the hand +is more precious than the finger. But he wanted to persuade me and all +his followers, nay, all the fighting men in our district; and when we +refused, he tried to command us by virtue of his authority as King. He +said that, if the popular assembly decided to wage war and the Duke set +out on the march, we must not obey, but withdraw from the Holy +Mountain, force our way if necessary, and induce the Romans to spare +our district by giving hostages and submission." + +A terrible roar rose from the ranks; weapons clashed; the wrath of the +people burst forth furiously; several young men, brandishing their +swords threateningly, sprang toward the accused, who stood, silent but +defiant, directly before the judge's seat. + +"Hold," cried the Duke, "down with your arms! Whoever wields them again +in the place of the assembly, the place of the army, shall be punished +at once." + +He had started up, and now, from the upper step, he held his long dark +mantle protectingly over the head of the threatened man. The tumult +instantly subsided: the most hot-headed retreated into the circle in +confusion. + +"I ask you," the judge now began, "King Ebarbold, son--" + +"Spare your words. Count of the Linzgau," interrupted the other, with a +gloomy, but fearless glance. "It is all true. Kill me: you have the +power to do so, therefore you have the right. I do not wish to live! +Had that been my desire, believe me, I might have fled into my own +district or to the Roman camp long before you deprived me, by your men, +of the royal insignia of my race or watched my every step, while you +merely disarmed the insignificant fisherman. True, according to the new +law of the league, you might have had me bound--me, the son of many +kings, the descendant of a god! Since I have learned the disloyalty of +my most faithful follower, my own old shield-bearer, I feel a loathing +for the times. I no longer wish to live among a people, according to a +law, which permits the horrible thing to happen that the native of a +district values its King, the follower his lord, less than the empty +sound of the word 'league,' the brief authority of a Duke from another +district. I am too old and too proud to learn this new law. You, old +man, with your greed for power, long ago, in your bloody thoughts, +dedicated me to your savage Odin." + +"Not I, you yourself, son of Ebor." + +"Well then--slay me." + +"Not I. You yourself have separated yourself from your people by such +doctrines. Yes, it is better for such men as you to die than to live: +the district kings, if they offer defiance, must be sacrificed to Odin, +who, as King of the people, is above all our gods and all our peoples." + +"My family," said the King proudly, "runs back through a hundred +ancestors to the gods: not to that crafty one, whose secret wiles you +are imitating, who scatters runes of discord among peoples and princes. +We descend from the god of peace. Fro, who bestows fertility. He has +set his golden-bristled boar for a sign upon the shields and helmets of +us, his sons. I have ever honored him and peace above all." + +"Aha, the god Fro," replied the old Duke, now incensed, for he could +ill brook hearing his Odin upbraided, "the god Fro will have little +cause to rejoice, when he looks down on his descendant dangling from +the withered yew, like the long-billed snipe that is caught in a snare. +For I ask the assembly,--his own words are the most open expression of +guilt,--with what does the law threaten him?" + +"The rope--the willow rope!" rang from a thousand voices. "The tree of +shame! Hang him! Hang him up at once!" + +"But between two dogs: wolves are too good for him." + +A look of keen anguish flitted over the King's proud, bold face. He did +not fear death, but disgrace. He shuddered slightly. The Duke had +watched him intently. + +"I, the judge," he now began slowly, "ought not to oppose this +sentence, and the guilty man cannot. But consider, spearmen! It will +bring little renown to our name among the other peoples, when the rumor +spreads among them: a King of the Alemanni is swinging between the +clouds and water for treason to the army. You have offered the humble +fisherman the straw of hope that the Lofty One might save him from the +death of shame, bear him to himself in Valhalla, or even--almost +against possibility--after the fulfillment of the deed which you have +assigned to him, spare his life. + +"Well then, this King's guilt, it is true, is far greater than that +caused by the father's love for his child; but honor in him the +descendant of the god of harvests! Do not rouse Fro to vengeance, lest +for many years he should blast our crops. The god of the boar with +golden bristles is easily angered! And remember, too, with gratitude +this man's father." + +"A brave hero!" ran from lip to lip. + +"He fell in the bloody battle of Strataburg, at the head of the wedge +of his district. Fighting gallantly in the van of his people, he at +last sank--fell backward on his shield, with many wounds in his breast; +for he, the man who had the wild-boar's courage, would not turn his +back to the foe. This hero is now looking down from Valhalla upon us; +his heart is throbbing anxiously at this impending sentence of +disgrace. Alemanni, do not let him behold his son hanging between dogs. +Grant the King, as well as the fisherman, a deed of ransom!" + +Ebarbold looked up with a grateful glance to the man whom he had so +bitterly hated. The people were still silent: their wrath was fierce. + +Then: "Suppose he should run away?" + +"Suppose he should desert to the Romans in the midst of the battle?" + +Two men uttered the questions at the same moment. A deep groan escaped +the lips of the defiant King: "No one feared that from the fisherman! +They ought not to deem me so base." He struck his brow with his +clenched hand. + +Then Ebarvin, his accuser, stepped forward, saying: + +"These questions were hard and undeserved. Few among our people will +suspect that from the King of the Ebergau. He spoke truly: he might +have fled long ago, but he would not escape. I believe him. I have +known him ever since he learned to speak: he has never lied. He wants +to die, from resentment against the people's league, and perhaps also +from remorse and shame." + +The King, deeply moved, hastily turned away from the speaker and closed +his eyes, but instantly opened them again with a defiant look. + +"Well then, I, a free man of unblemished reputation, with broad lands +in the Ebergau--I answer for him with life and limb, property and +honor. I will swear for him that any deed of arms imposed by the people +to ransom him from the rope King Ebarbold will perform, or he will fall +upon his shield in doing it." + +"I thank you, Ebarvin," said the tortured man, drawing himself up to +his full height: this confidence was balm to his inmost soul. + +"So be it! So be it!" shouted the multitude before the judge could put +the question. "The Duke shall choose the deed!" + +"Well then," said the latter without hesitation, "it _is_ chosen! In +the Roman camp is a hero who is its head and its whole strength; if he +fall, all their military power will be broken. Name the man!" + +"Saturninus!" echoed from many voices. For the Tribune had repeatedly +commanded the Roman troops in Germany, and many of the men now +assembled on the Holy Mountain had formerly served beneath the Roman +eagles. + +"Ebarbold, bring us from the battle the head of Saturninus--and your +guilt is pardoned. Will you do this, hero of the boar?" + +"I will," replied the latter, with a deep sigh of relief. "Give me my +sword; give me my weapons again." The shield-bearer handed him the +sheathed sword. Tearing the blade from the scabbard, he held its point +toward the sun, saying: "I swear by this blade, the sacred symbol of +the one-armed god of war, that, in the next battle, I will slay the +Tribune, or fall by his sword." + +Loud shouts of applause now burst forth. All, even those whose +resentment at first had been most bitter, were heartily glad that, +instead of a disgraceful punishment, an honorable deed of ransom had +been found for the proud King. + +The Duke gazed down at the surging throng with satisfaction. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + +After allowing the excitement of the multitude time to find vent, the +old Duke gave the twelve heralds a sign, and they hurried into the +thick grove of oaks rustling behind the ash-tree. Then he struck the +shield, saying: "Justice has now been done according to righteous law +and the noble will of the people. + +"The judge has done his work: now listen to your Duke, army of the +Alemanni!" + +Deep silence instantly followed: all eyes rested intently upon +Hariowald, who sprang up, took the shield from the tree, slipped it on +his left arm, and grasping the spear with his right hand, said from the +high stone step, his voice, now in a totally different tone, ringing +out with mighty resonance over the people: + +"Many of you, I know,--and not the worst spearmen,--have silently +dissented or openly grumbled because I have so long delayed leading you +to battle. The foe was in the land, and we shrank into the forests; he +was burning halls and huts, and we were watching the smoke and flames +rise at a distance and remaining inactive. Gradually, even from the +farthest districts, the men faithful to the league and obedient to the +oath joined us: still the Duke delayed. And meanwhile the enemy was +fortifying his camp. Yes, we knew it--any morning from the fortress on +the opposite side of the lake the proud galleys might bring almost as +many warriors as the camp already contained. Why did the old man still +delay? When would he fight?" + +"Yes, yes, why delay? When shall we go to battle?" Many voices +impatiently repeated. + +"He delayed," the Duke went on, his voice rising in tones of thunder, +"because he did not wish to strike part, not even half, but all, all, +as many as could be reached,--all the murderers, the burners of homes, +whom the boy in the imperial purple has again sent from across the lake +to attack our free people! + +"To-morrow (faithful men reported it to me before the news reached the +Roman General), early to-morrow morning the proud galleys will sail +across the lake and anchor off the shore close to the camp; and +to-morrow, after midnight, old Hariowald will lead you to storm the +camp and the ships at the same time!" + +Then the long-repressed battle fury broke out in a terrible tumult; +frantic shouts and wild clanking of weapons echoed through the air. + +"Look," Hariowald continued, "the heralds are already bearing from the +sacred grove of the gods of our country, from the mysterious gloom of +the forest darkness, never illumined by a sunbeam, the victorious +badges of our tribes and districts which they have taken from the +ancient oaks." + +A shout of joy, somewhat subdued by reverence, greeted the procession +of twelve heralds, who now, in pairs, with measured tread, came from +beyond the ash-tree and gave the badges to the representatives of the +various districts and clans, who stepped forward from the circle to +receive them. + +Ebarvin seized the symbol of the Ebergau: the boar's head with +threatening tusks fastened to a cross-pole on a lofty spear. Adalo +grasped a similar shaft, which supported a pair of huge stag's antlers. +Almost all the monsters of the primeval forest and the animals sacred +to the gods were used in a similar way. Beside the huge horns of the +aurochs and the bison rose the broad antlers of the elk. Odin's wolf, +Donar's bear, and Loeki's fox opened their jaws threateningly. Zio's +sword, pointing straight upward, surmounted a shaft painted blood-red; +another had Donar's hammer between two zigzag red lightnings forged +from iron; three lances bore each a horse's head and neck, and from the +necks the manes--respectively black, red, and brown--still fluttered. +On other poles the bald eagle, the golden eagle, and the Alpine vulture +spread their wings and extended their talons in attitudes of menace. A +winged dragon carved from wood had been covered with the skins of the +ring adder and the copper adder, which rustled in the wind. And as, +like the manes of the horses, the hair of the wild beasts had been left +hanging in a strip from the head to the tail, and long red, yellow, and +blue streamers fluttered from the cross-poles, there was no lack of the +rustling, waving motion, to which we moderns are accustomed in banners. + +Under these streamers was also many a trophy,--a fragment cut from a +captured dragon standard, or a scrap of a purple pennon which the Roman +squadrons and cohorts had long carried under the _labarum_ or standard +of the cross, for they had abjured the pagan eagles. + +When the representatives of the districts and families had received +their beloved and honored emblems and returned to the ranks, the Duke +went on: + +"Hail to you, ancient symbols of conflict and witnesses of victory! +Hail and greeting, ye emblems consecrated to the gods! In your +presence, looking into the future, seized by the power of the gods +invisibly hovering around you, I will venture to utter a prophecy: + +"Comrades in arms, Alemanni! do not doubt this time that victory will +be ours. You know that it is not the custom of old Hariowald to boast +before acting: but this time I predict to you certain, complete, +glorious, joyous victory. + +"All our gods will unite to aid us to-morrow. Not least of them Loeki, +the flame-creator. Tents and ships will vanish in fire. The lake nymph +will drag many hundreds down in her net. The terrible earth-goddess +will open her mysterious bosom, on which the insolent aliens have +trodden with iron feet: she will pour forth the avengers, the sons of +her country, into the midst of the enemy's strongest fortress! For the +Lofty One blinded the hated foe, so that they chose in our whole +district the spot for their camp most fatal to them. And when they fly +from the tents to the galleys, amid the terrors of the night, by the +flickering glare of their burning fortifications--they will find on the +lake the same destruction in fire and blood. + +"If the last of the flying ships, with masts and prows half burned, +pursued and harried by our swift boats, should really succeed in +reaching the southern shore and the harbor fortress from which they +sailed forth so victoriously, who knows--I will not say more--who knows +whether they may not find there an unexpected doom? + +"No! Silence still! Hear me to the end. + +"Before I dissolve the assembly and send you all to prepare your +weapons in the best way, to polish the points and blades, and to eat +and drink enough,--not over much, then afterwards--do you hear--to +seek sleep soon, very soon, for you will have no slumber to-morrow +night--hear one thing more: you must make one resolve before this +battle! + +"Remember, men, how from generation to generation these Romans have +sinned against our people; how again and again they have broken faith +and treaty; how they will not even grant us the poor land we have +wrested from the marsh and the primeval forest; how, in violation of +treaties, they have pushed their fortresses farther and farther into +our boundaries; how they forced thousands of our ancestors to fight +naked and unarmed with wild beasts on the blood-stained sand of their +arenas in the city by the Tiber, gloating, safe in their high seats, +over the death-agonies of our kinsmen under the paws and rent by the +teeth of roaring monsters; how they forced thousands of our young men +into their cohorts and made them shed their blood, often far beyond the +salt sea! + +"Ha, Alemanni of the Black Forest, do you still know how they invited +your King Widigab to a banquet and murdered him over the wine-cup? Have +you forgotten, Alemanni of the Ebergau, who submitted to them on +condition that you should live according to your own laws, how on the +smallest pretext, they had your free men scourged by their lictors? Do +you still recollect, Alemanni from the Breisgau, how they asked a +peaceful passage through your country, and then encamped near the +sacred grove of the goddess Ostara, asked permission to visit the aged +priest of eighty and his great-granddaughter, the girl of sixteen, in +the grove (it was a General and one of their shaven priests, with a +hundred warriors), and inquired what was your most sacred thing? And +when the maiden unsuspiciously showed the sacred bronze vessels which +the gracious goddess had once sent down to you on the rainbow, how they +suddenly seized both, and the Christian priest, before the eyes of the +unarmed people, shamefully profaned the sacred vessel; how the General +slew the venerable priest and dragged the young priestess away to +captivity and disgrace, and how their warriors set fire to the sacred +grove? + +"Do you still remember, men of the Alpgau, how, in the midst of peace, +a centurion dishonored your Count's young wife by her own hearthstone, +so that she hanged herself by her girdle? + +"Have you forgotten how often they have bound our girls together, yes +and our boys, too, like beasts of burden, by their long locks, and +driven them forth to a life of disgrace from which the pure gods of +Asgard turn their faces, crimson with shame and wrath? + +"You have _not_ forgotten these things! I hear it! I see it! Well then, +do as I advise: _Take no prisoners!_ Kill them all! Do not spare one; +disdain all ransom. Let the whole army,--leaders, horse and foot,--be +dedicated to Odin and to Zio. You will: I see it! Then repeat the words +after me and swear: + + "To thee, Odin, doomed, + And to wrathful Zio, + Be all who live within the camp + And on the rocking galleys. + Soon will ye bathe in blood, + O gods so mighty, + From ankle to knee!" + +Swinging their weapons in frantic excitement the gathered thousands +repeated the terrible oath. + +"I will dismiss the army at once; only hear one thing more--your Duke's +vow. The many thousand mailed men who broke into the peaceful districts +captured one single prisoner, a defenceless woman, a merry little +maiden. Many of you, I think, know her." + +"Bissula! The little one! The fair one! The red-elf, Suobert's child!" +So shouted hundreds of voices. + +"Yes, Bissula, Suobert's daughter. Well then: whoever releases her, +whoever brings her to me from the Roman camp after the battle, shall +receive the Duke's whole share of the booty." + +A grateful but sorrowful glance from Adalo rested upon him: the young +noble no longer dared to hope. + +"The circle is dissolved, the assembly is over," the old commander +continued; he then turned the upright stone resting against the trunk +of the tree and descended the steps. + +The bands, with loud acclamations for the Duke, instantly scattered in +all directions down the sides of the mountain, each division following +the symbols borne in front of its own district and tribe. + +Adalo was going too; but the Duke motioned to him to remain, took from +his hand the stag standard and gave it to Sippilo, who bore it proudly +down the Holy Mountain. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +"Stay," said Hariowald, when the heralds, last of all, had left the +place of assembly, "you must know how this battle is to be fought, +according to my plan and wish. For, if the Lofty One should call me up +to him before the victory is won, you must complete it. Therefore you +must now learn all (far more than the men in the army) that for weeks I +have been preparing during sleepless nights, and have secretly +accomplished in the past few days. + +"Come, sit down by me; we will spread out on this stone the plan of the +Roman camp, which we owe to your brave little brother. + +"It has been of the greatest service to me. I told you yesterday how +the men of the districts were to attack the four sides and gates of the +camp at the same time." + +"Yes: but you did not say where you would fight with your bands, and +where I was to go." + +"I? I shall take the shortest way--from beneath." + +"No! No! Leave it to me. It is the--most dangerous one." + +"Yes, yes," cried the old man, laughing. "And you have no suspicion how +dangerous it is. Know then: the ascent cannot be made, as we hoped, +first of all and unexpectedly, taking them by surprise; it cannot be +made until after the foe, alarmed by the assault on the northern wall, +stands ready in full armor." + +"Then it will be impossible! But why?" + +"Because, as I first learned night before last, the Romans, in digging +out the northern ditch, filled up the extreme northern end of the +subterranean passage; or else the earth has fallen in, from the +jarring. When I entered this passage from the forest outside of the +camp--" + +"What? you yourself?" + +"Yes, I myself; night before last. I advanced only a few steps before I +found a heap of earth which had fallen from above, and I was obliged to +return. But I stole, on the surface of the earth, so near the ditch +that I could look into it from a tree. The whole ditch--it is now dry +again--was brightly lighted by their camp fires. Then I saw that the +earth-goddess of our land had blinded the strangers' eyes. They +perceived nothing suspicious in the large boulder that bars the +continuation of the passage from the ditch into their camp, and they +did not roll it away. True, it has not been moved from the spot for +decades; for the secret, bequeathed from generation to generation, is +known to but two men of the race who bear the emblem of the stag's +antlers, and there is rarely an occasion which demands its use. So they +did not perceive that the rock had been rolled there by human hands, +and they planted one of their banners on the turf which covers it. They +have no suspicion of the passage. For look! The plan of the camp shows +it; close beside the Nerthus pine, above the altar stones of the Idise, +they have pitched a tent filled with provisions and weapons. You see, +here!" + +"Yes, indeed. The tent is placed exactly over the mouth of the passage. +But outside there, in the northern ditch, numerous sentinels are +posted--Thracian spearmen alternating with Batavians." + +"Yes, that's just it. They must be driven away before I can roll the +rock aside and make my way up." + +"That will cost blood; it will also require time. The Thracians, and +especially the Batavians, are their very best troops. Alas, if it +happen to be the turn of the Batavians. They are not inferior to us in +heroic courage." + +"No matter! They must fall before the badger can enter the old burrow." + +"And then--after the battle has summoned all our foes to arms--then you +will? Let me go in your place!" + +"Obey! You will find work enough at the southern gate, the lake gate. +When we have stormed the camp, the whole flood of those who still +remain alive will pour to the ships through the southern gate. They +must not be allowed to reach the lake in close order, to turn the tide +of battle against us there at the last. You will meet them as they +burst through the southern gate, and drive them back into the burning +camp, or scatter them. They must not be allowed to reach the lake from +the camp as reinforcements to the defenders of the galleys, but to +increase their alarm. This is your task: Saturninus, if he live, will +make it hard enough for you." + +"So my post will be at the southern gate?" + +"Yes; and to it I have sent, if by any means she can reach +it--Bissula!" + +"Thanks!" + +"Do not thank me! For I forbid you to fight for the girl; you must +fight solely for victory. Yet have no anxiety. If she is still alive, +she will be rescued. I have relieved Zercho and Sippilo from every +other duty, and given them only one charge--to find and protect the +young girl. But you I need for higher work. I fear one man only in the +whole army," he added in a lower tone--"Saturninus. He is like the old +leaders they had in their better days, the days of which my grandfather +and father told me with horror, when it was almost impossible for the +most heroic courage to defeat a Roman army. Who knows whether Ebarbold +will strike him down? We must let the King have the first chance; he +has the prior claim: but if the Roman should be the one who survives +and I do not reach and kill him after the King's fall, before you (I +shall make every effort to do it), do you, son of Adalger, provide that +Saturninus shall not lead his army in closed ranks down to the lake: +detain him as long as you can stand." + +"As long as I can! But I wondered when you set the fisherman his task. +If the Roman galleys cross the lake here, how can you know whether he +will be able to reach them from the shore? They will anchor, not come +to the land. How is Fiskulf to get from the storming of the Roman camp +here?" + +"He will not share the assault," replied Hariowald, laughing, as he +stroked his beard complacently. "And he will not go by land to the +galley, but by the lake." + +"Swimming?" + +"No, rowing. Know what no one has yet learned; for crowds are +garrulous. Besides the most distant Alemanni districts, I have secretly +won as allies the Hermunduri, who drink the water of the Main, and +induced them to send us reinforcements for this war. You supposed that +the boats in the two forest-covered swamps on the east and west of the +Idisenhang were filled solely with people unable to bear arms, after I +had brought most of the men here? No, my friend! The boats, almost +three hundred, in the two marshes are not empty of men. The women and +children are to be put ashore to-night; more than two thousand Alemanni +and Hermunduri will leap into the boats. From left and right, from east +and west, they will float in the stillness and darkness of the night +against the high-decked galleys, and as soon as the first torch is +hurled into the Roman camp on the Idisenhang, our boats will attack the +Roman ships from the open lake and from left and right. Aha, do you +think our fishing boats will be like nutshells against those giants? +Probably: but have you never seen a flock of brave little swallows +put a sparrow hawk to flight? Our skiffs are small, it is true; but +more than two hundred against sixty. And the pitch and resin of the +pine-trees in the forests by the lake, blazing in a thousand faggots of +dry twigs, will burn merrily in the linen sails and the rigging of the +triremes." + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + +"You have planned all this alone?" asked the young noble. + +"Ha, more, far more than this! Like the wolf of hell, this Rome opens +her jaws to swallow all Mittelgard. What? They are not willing to grant +us land enough on the northern shore of the lake to feed our growing +population? Well, let us see whether, in punishment to the insatiable +robbers for new and old crimes, the gods will not deprive them even of +the districts they have hitherto held by force,--the northern shore!" + +Adalo's astonishment was increasing. + +"Their proud giant ships will float against us from Arbor to-morrow; +those which escape the midnight conflagration will not, I hope, be +received again, when they fly homeward, in the eyrie whence these birds +of prey went forth." + +"What! Arbor?" + +"I have long tried to persuade our eastern districts also to make +common cause with us; they did not refuse reinforcements to the league, +as people here suppose because they did not see the men of the eastern +provinces. Besides,"--he smiled craftily,--"most of the eastern +districts have kings. It was not necessary to have all these kings +here, when Ebarbold's fate was to be decided. Meanwhile, they will help +where I sent them: on the southern shore. But not they alone. + +"We wished to free the brothers of our race still enslaved by Rome. For +a long time the Alemanni and the other colonists--more slaves than free +men--have borne, grinding their teeth, the yoke which every year +pressed heavier. But they were held in check by the fortresses on the +other side, from the Linden Island behind Brigantium, beyond Arbor and +Constantia. They had long been ready to fight, but the lake fortresses +seemed to be too strongly garrisoned. They dread these fortifications +from long experience. They required to have aid from us. + +"Well: least of all now, with the Emperor so near and a Roman army on +the northern shore, least of all now, do the tyrants fear an attack +upon their fortresses in the south. To-morrow nearly all the soldiers +who usually guard Arbor will come across on the ships to share the gay +expedition for booty; only a small guard will be left behind. But as +soon as the camp on the Idisenhang is burning,--a magnificent torch, +kindled by Zio himself,--the infuriated colonists will attack Arbor +from the land side. Thousands of free Alemanni from the eastern +districts will aid; they have stolen in small parties through the +mountain passes from far, far beyond Brigantium, and remained hidden in +the forests and farm-houses of the colonists for the last two days. At +the same time our men from the eastern marshes (Suomar commands them) +in thirty boats, under cover of the darkness (this is why I could not +move while the moon-goddess was in the sky), will go to Arbor, burst +the chains of the harbor, and unless the Christian God should descend +from the clouds to save the fortress, the morning sun will see the free +and the enslaved Alemanni on the walls of Arbor. + +"Many times already we have won it, plundered it, half burned it, and +then left it, so that the Romans could establish themselves there +again: we will be so foolish no longer. If we conquer this time, we +will remain there forever! Then one link of the iron chain will be +broken, and we shall find it easier to subdue the other fortresses at +the left and the right, from Brigantium to Constantia. + +"I shall not live to see the day, but you will, young warrior, the day +when the southern shore of the lake and the country far, far into the +lofty mountains whose peaks are crowned with eternal snows, will be the +possession of the free Alemanni: then think of this hour and old +Hariowald." + +He started up, intensely moved, his white hair and silver beard waving +proudly in the breeze. + +"My Duke," cried Adalo enthusiastically, "this is magnificent! Speak, +when to-morrow we have won this great victory according to your plans, +will you not then, instead of Count, bear the name of _King_ of the +Linzgau and the Ebergau, if Ebarbold fall?" + +"No," replied the old man quietly, "that would not be wise. I have +reflected upon it a long time. Odin's will, I think, is different for +our people. Ebarbold has no descendants: after his death I will propose +that they shall not elect another king. + +"That will be well; for the time is close at hand, though, it is true, +not yet fully here, when one king, a single one, will gather all the +districts of the Alemanni under his rule. The path will be more open, +easier for this universal king to traverse, the fewer kings and the +more counts rule the districts. We two will smooth, not block, the path +for the future king of the people. No, no! And, besides, the men of the +Ebergau must not say: 'Ebarbold was forced to fall because Hariowald +wished to be called King.' + +"That king of the people is coming! Then, it is true, the nation will +scarcely remember me or you. Only perhaps some harper, in the hall of +the One King, will sing how Hariowald, the old chief and Adalo, the +young one, defeated the Romans three times in a single night. But we, +Adalo, shall then look down upon the free land of the Alemanni, +stretching from the Alps to the Vosges. We shall look down from Odin's +table. And I may probably expect that, when I cross the threshold of +Valhalla, the Lofty One will rise from his throne and come to meet me, +with the drinking-horn in his hand. For many men--far more through my +counsel, which always advised war, than by my spear--have I sent up to +him by the red death in the last fifty years, to fill his hall and +increase his army. Yes, my Adalo, we shall then look down upon the +glory of our people and say, laughing joyously: 'We two also helped to +build it that night on the Idisenhang.' + +"So, Adalo, so I praise you: your cheek is glowing, your eye is +flashing! That is the right spirit, Odin's spirit, which is now taking +possession of you. And that alone, that ardor for battle, will also +give you the most ardent desire of your heart; not the dull despair of +the last few days, in which, unhappy youth, you sent that secret +message to the two Roman Generals! + +"Hush! Of course I knew it. It was not difficult to guess the contents +of the letter you forwarded after they had disdained everything else +you had to give. But I also knew positively that they would refuse you +too. That is the sole reason I allowed your messenger to pass through +the barricades, as you thought, undetected. I too would gladly see her +at liberty, the wild red rosebud of the hillside by the lake, the red +flower in our people's garland of oak-leaves. But your Bissula is +yonder, with victory, in the Roman camp. If you want her, hew her out +at the same hour with conquest and the salvation of your people. + +"No, do not thank me; do not talk! Go now! I must be alone." + + + + CHAPTER XL. + +Meanwhile, incidents of grave moment had occurred in the Roman camp. + +The friendly feeling between the two Roman Generals had become +strained, and Bissula's ingenuousness toward both was transformed into +fear and distrust. The two friends, once so intimately associated, +avoided each other and confined their intercourse and conversation +solely to matters absolutely required by the service. At the same time +the prisoner, now suspiciously watchful, perceived in Ausonius a +resentful bitterness toward the Tribune, very alien to his usual +good-nature. The latter, on the other hand, evidently was not angry; +even in his cool reserve he seemed to spare his older friend, nay, to +treat him with a sort of compassion. + +The little maid herself was very unhappy. Her careless unconsciousness +was completely destroyed, and she did not know which of the two men +whose friendship seemed to be broken, if not by her, on her account, +she ought to avoid with the greater fear. This feeling grieved the +kind-hearted girl. She was also burdened by anxiety about the future, +by dread of the unknown, by rebelliousness--when she was powerless and +fully aware of it--against the restraint imposed by the will of +strangers upon her obstinacy, all threatening her immediately. For, +however the two Romans differed in everything else concerning the +prisoner, they seemed to unite in one thing: Bissula should never again +be free, never return to the forest hut by the lake, to the familiar +scenes of the neighborhood. + +At these thoughts tears filled the eyes once so saucy or so proud. How +sadly she admitted to herself that her own folly and defiance were the +sole causes which had brought all this misfortune upon her! How kind, +how prudent, how loyal Adalo's advice had been! Yet these tears, +burning, bitter tears of remorse, nay, yearning, were a relief. Even +now, in the trouble for which she alone was to blame, he had not +abandoned her! The first greeting that reached her from her people had +come from him; he had sent the young brother whom he loved so fondly, +and whom therefore she loved for his sake, and Bruna too, her old +playfellow. + +She had dissembled craftily before the soldiers, and wondered loudly at +the animal's "friendliness." But, as soon as she was alone in her tent +with the faithful beast, she clasped the huge head tenderly with both +white arms, kissed the broad forehead and lovingly patted the neck of +the bear, who growled affectionately in reply. Then she slipped her +hand through the collar, felt a depression in it, drew it up from the +shaggy skin to the light of the Roman lamp, perceived characters +scrawled on it, and read: "Through the gate to the lake." + +Her heart throbbed warmly. So her friends had already consulted about +her escape! They were giving her the safest direction, the part of the +camp where her companions would wait for her. But they could not +possibly mean that she should try to make her way now, without further +delay, through the lake gate, that is, through the "Porta Decumana," so +closely guarded day and night. Not now! But when? + +Evidently as soon as something happened which would render escape +possible; then she was to choose that direction. But what was to +happen? An attack of the Alemanni? Ausonius laughed at it. Even +cautious Saturninus had said: "Unless they fly over it like the +swallows that are now preparing for departure, they will not come into +this solid camp." + +So she racked her little brains, pondering over all sorts of +possibilities which might bring her liberty against or with the will of +the Romans. Should she appeal to Ausonius again? No! + +A strange timidity had taken possession of her ever since her last +interview with him. She had never cherished any affection for the +clever, eloquent man except the feeling a daughter has for a father; +but recently, in making the proposal to take her with him, his eyes had +rested on her so strangely. Never had he looked at her so before. It +was like the gaze Saturninus fixed upon her when he seized her outside +of the forest hut--but never again, not even when he told her that she +belonged to him and he would not release her. + +So it happened that the sensitive girl, alarmed by the suddenly +discovered ardor of the older man, felt safer and more at ease with the +younger but undemonstrative one. She avoided Ausonius; she almost +sought Saturninus, to whom, at the beginning and during the whole +course of her captivity, she had learned to be grateful as to a +watchful guardian. + +Often and often, since reading Bruna's message, she walked toward +the lake gate, without hoping to find it unwatched or carelessly +guarded,--the Tribune kept too strict a rule, too sharp an oversight +for that,--but to impress upon her mind the exact locality of the +streets and tents which might afford a hiding-place near the gate where +she might await, close at hand, the most favorable moment. + +She had soon chosen for this purpose a towering heap of beams, gabions, +and boards piled one above another, which had not been used in building +the camp and had been left here: it rose high above her head, and when +behind it, she was concealed from the view of those at the gate or in +the street between the tents. But she never lingered long at the spot, +lest she might arouse suspicion. + +Bissula sought from preference the opposite side of the camp, facing +the north, where the lofty pine-tree of the earth-goddess rose beside +the broad sacrificial stones of the altar, spreading out its mighty +branches, and from above the wall the eye could rove freely over the +forests to the distant peaks where, veiled by mists, the Holy Mountain +towered. Her thoughts always flew thither, not to the eastern marshes, +not to Suomar. She was often anxious about her grandmother, but Zercho +had certainly concealed her; and now that "the obstinate redhead" could +no longer say no, probably on the Holy Mountain. + +"Therefore"--this was the excuse she willingly made to +herself--"_therefore_ I cannot help thinking constantly of the Holy +Mountain, Oh no! That isn't true. It is not for my grandmother's sake. +Adalo, Adalo, help!" + +So she had called aloud the evening after the refusal to set her at +liberty, perched high among the branches of the pine-tree into which +she liked to climb to dream alone, and at the same moment stretched her +beautiful arms, with a gesture of longing entreaty, toward the +northwest, where lightning was flashing over the mountain peaks. + +On the evening after the inspection (it was the day of the assembly on +the Holy Mountain) she walked through the streets of the camp, thinking +and dreaming of her liberation, also of her liberator. She had tied +faithful Bruna firmly to the poles of her tent; for there had +repeatedly been serious trouble when she took the animal with her: boys +belonging to the camp followers pelted her with stones, from safe +hiding-places, till she was greatly infuriated. + +To Ausonius's nephew, especially, the bear showed intense antipathy, +rising on her hind legs and growling furiously whenever she saw him, +though he anxiously kept out of her way and never teased her. Only with +the utmost difficulty, by clasping her arms around the animal, had she +prevented Bruna from attacking him. + +"Your she-bear understands Latin," said Saturninus, who had sprung to +help her, smiling. "She knew what Herculanus said when he swore that +some day she should pay in the amphitheatre at Rome, under the teeth of +his Thessalian dogs, for the mischief she meant to do him here." + +"Bruna in Rome?" the girl cried defiantly. "No more--than Bissula in +Burdigala!" But as she spoke she almost wept from rage, hate, and fear. + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + +Oppressed by sad yearning and anxiety, the usually light-hearted child +had again walked this evening from her tent to the lake gate, and +thence, driven back by the shouts of the Thracian sentries, wandered +through the whole camp to her beloved pine-tree, which had begun to +supply the place of the oak beside her forest home: for the tree of the +earth-goddess also afforded a convenient ascent like a stairway on its +broad branches drooping to the sacrificial stones, while on the central +trunk was a hiding-place invisible from below, with a comfortable back, +and the beloved view over the Roman fortifications to the mountain +peaks rising in the distance. + +The sun had set long before, and darkness gathered quickly in that +region as soon as the glowing ball had vanished behind the wooded +western shores of the lake. There was no moon; only a few stars were in +the sky. + +The wind bore to her ears from the distance scattered sounds: the +neighing of a horse, the rattle of a weapon, the shout of a sentinel at +the gate. Oh, those guards, who also watched her here in her spacious +prison, prevented her escape, her return to her people--for how much +longer? Sorrow overpowered her, and she felt that tears were about to +flow. But her tyrants should not see them; she would weep her fill, up +above there! + +Bissula glided lightly up and sat so still in her hiding-place among +the boughs that a belated bird--a blackbird--perched for the night, +without seeing her, a few branches above her head. + +Then the girl saw two men step cautiously from behind corner tents, +each at the end of a street running in opposite directions across the +camp; they made signs to each other, gazed carefully behind and +sideways, then hurried forward and met directly under the pine-tree on +its northern side, so that the huge trunk completely concealed them +from the camp. + +Bissula bent softly, softly downward: it was a man with a helmet and +one unarmed; she could not distinguish their features. They began to +talk, in whispers, it is true, but the listener understood many words, +and she now recognized the speakers by their voices. + +"But I tell you, it must be this very day! He has ordered the scribe to +come early tomorrow morning, with the seal. He means to change his +will--to add a codicil. What good will his death do me, if he first +throws the best part of his riches into that wench's lap?" + +The other made some reply which the girl did not hear. + +"Ha!--she--she can't be reached!" answered the first speaker. "That +red-haired witch is under the protection of the fiends of hell." + +"How so?" + +"Why, one night lately--a deadly terror has seized me ever since when I +see the brown beast--the monster's hot, loathsome breath was steaming +from her open jaws into my face! She was within a hair's breadth of +clutching and squeezing me to death! This very evening--just now--at +supper--" + +"Hark, what was that," asked the other startled, "up above in the +pine-tree? Didn't you hear anything?" + +"Pshaw! The night-breeze in the branches!" + +"No, no! It was--" + +"Well, it was that bird! There it flies!" + +The startled blackbird, loudly uttering its cry of fear and warning, +flew upward; the listener, in her horror, had pressed her hand upon her +throbbing heart and, by the slight movement, frightened the bird +perched so near her. + +"Well then, by Tartarus, I will risk it! He complained again to-day, +before many witnesses, of fever and all sorts of pains. Have you +hemlock enough? Shall I give you my vial? I brought it with me. Here, I +always carry it in my breast." + +"Enough for six uncles!" + +"But the stuff must have a suspicious taste: sharp, bitter. Suppose he +should notice it too soon?" + +"That's why I mixed the other half with honey. But take good care of +your store. Perhaps Prosper, in case he has any suspicion, must also--" + +"Or the Barbarian girl, if the will has already--" + +"Let us go," the other interrupted. + +"Put it in the Emperor's goblet! He drinks from no other.--Quick: I go +to the left." + +"And I go to the right." + +The voices died away, and the footsteps echoed from two directions. + +Horrified, almost paralyzed with terror, Bissula slipped down from the +tree. On reaching the ground she staggered, clinging to the trunk for +support, and for a moment wondered whether she had not fallen asleep +and dreamed. She could not realize, could not believe that such a deed +was possible. His own nephew--that kind-hearted man! + +And yet it was true. Haste was necessary. The hour for the meal had +already come, and Ausonius always began by drinking from the Emperor's +goblet, with the three beautiful female figures, to the health of the +Emperor Gratianus. + +Those two men had the start, too, and it was a considerable distance +from this extreme northwestern corner of the camp to the Praetorium in +the south. Turning, she ran as swiftly as she could, but had only +reached the corner of the nearest street of tents when she shrieked +aloud in terror. An iron hand grasped her arm. + +"Help!" she screamed despairingly. "Help! Help for Ausonius!" + +"Why are you shrieking like a dying leveret, little one?" replied a +deep voice. "Where are you going so fast?" + +"Let me go, whoever you may be! The Prefect's life is in danger! Who +are you?" + +"I am Rignomer. I followed you unnoticed till you climbed the tree. You +wouldn't have seen me now, if you hadn't dashed away as though you were +driven by the elves. Where are you going?" + +"To the Prefect! They want to murder him!" + +"Oh, nonsense, what are you talking about? Who?" + +"Don't ask! Come with me! Hurry! Alas, perhaps even now it is too +late." + +The Batavian yielded to this unmistakable despair. Without removing his +hand from her arm, he ran beside her. + +"Where is the Tribune?" asked Bissula. + +"With the Prefect: some news has come from Arbor." + +"The gods be thanked. He is the only one who can help!" + +On they ran through the streets of the camp, now perfectly dark except +where fires were glimmering at the corners. Suddenly Bissula fell. The +German dragged her up. + +"A tent rope! You must keep more in the middle. But you are limping! +Did you hurt yourself?" + +"A little. Keep on." + +But she reeled; her feet refused to carry her. + +"Now it's lucky that I caught you," said the soldier, swinging her on +his arm like a child. And Bissula, who usually so fiercely resisted +every touch, willingly permitted it. + +"Throw your arms around my neck, little one! There. Now hold fast! It +won't be long" ("unfortunately" he thought, but took good care not to +say it), "we shall reach there directly." And he pressed on swiftly and +sturdily with his light, beautiful burden. + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + +A slender bluish flame, burning in a marble vessel supported by a +bronze pedestal of exquisite Corinthian workmanship, diffused both +light and perfume through the Prefect's sumptuously furnished and +richly decorated tent. Ausonius was lying on the low couch: before him +stood the Tribune. Prosper, the old freedman, was pushing forward the +citrus wood dining-table, which ran on rollers. + +Herculanus entered, greeted all present pleasantly and took his place +on the second couch, opposite to Ausonius. "Where is Davus?" he asked +the freedman impatiently. "I am thirsty!" + +"He ought to have been here long ago," replied Prosper. "He often +wanders about needlessly, nobody knows where. You must have him put in +the block again, patronus." + +"What," cried Ausonius laughing, "have you actually dragged the block +here, you rigid slave-overseer, all the way from Vindonissa?" + +"Three fine ones, patronus. If you take bad slaves with you, I must +take good blocks." + +Saturninus was about to go: "The business of the service is over for +to-day, Prefect. Perhaps Nannienus may arrive with the galleys +to-morrow. He sent a swift galley across the lake to-day: he will +arrive very soon. Then, at last, we can begin our work without delay. +But," he added in a kindly tone, advancing a step nearer to the lectus, +"Will you permit me to utter a word of warning. Prefect Praetor of Gaul? +Yesterday, and to-day still more, you complained of illness; chills +followed by short attacks of fever: will you not remain here in the +camp to-morrow (Bissula shall nurse you), instead of marching with us +into the swampy forests? I fear you already have the marsh fever." + +Just at that moment Davus entered, bringing the beautiful +mixing-vessel, filled, and several empty goblets. + +"Davus, you lazy hound!" shouted Herculanus. "Quick! I am thirsty! +Wine!" + +But Saturninus, bending anxiously over the reclining figure, went on: +"Acid old Caecubian is said to be a good remedy for this fever. May I +send you some from my store, Prefect?" + +But Ausonius still remained silent. Contradictory feelings had been +struggling for mastery in his soul since the Illyrian's last words. On +the one hand his resentment was very vehement against the obstinate +soldier who, for some incomprehensible whim, opposed the dearest wish +of his heart. But even during these days of constraint Saturninus had +treated him so respectfully, while he himself had been very harsh to +his old friend. And he loved the gallant General so warmly! And now +this touching, unfeigned solicitude for his health conquered the kind +heart of Ausonius. + +"Saturninus! Your affection does me good. My nephew thinks only of one +disease--his own thirst! The business of the service, Tribune, is +probably over; but I entreat you to stay as my guest. Let us forget +what briefly estranged us, and remember our beautiful old friendship." + +Saturninus quickly grasped the outstretched hand and pressed it warmly: +"There your heart spoke, Ausonius! I thank you. I will stay gladly." He +took his place on the third lectus, which was at the rear of the tent +opposite to the entrance and at the right of the two others. "You ought +to have known long ago that my sole wish is your welfare, your real +happiness." + +Just at that moment Davus came from the table beside the entrance, +where the wine was poured, toward his master. He walked very slowly, +for he carried three goblets, all filled: two small ones on a silver +salver in his right hand, and the large imperial beaker in his left. +With his face turned to the entrance and his back to Saturninus, he had +poured the wine from the small amphora at the table and then added +spring water from the mixing-vessel. + +Herculanus hastily started up, snatched one of the goblets from the +salver and emptied it at one draught. His uncle cast a look of +disapproval at him, saying, "Could you not wait for my toast?" Then he +took the Emperor's goblet with the three graces. Davus carried the last +cup to the Illyrian and set the silver salver on the table. + +"The first draught," said Ausonius, "is usually to the noble Emperor, +to whom I owe this beautiful gift. But to-day Gratianus may wait; +to-day I drink first to our friendship, my Saturninus!" + +"And all that your heart most ardently desires," added the latter +smiling. + +Ausonius raised the goblet. + +Just at that moment the curtain at the door of the tent was dragged +violently back from the outside: Bissula, her face corpselike in its +pallor, her hair fluttering wildly around her, and blood streaming from +her bare right arm, rushed in, shrieking: + +"Poison! Do not drink, Ausonius!" She fell forward headlong on the +Prefect's couch. + +Herculanus sprang up with the speed of lightning, to snatch the cup +from his uncle's hand and pour its contents on the ground. But, before +he reached him, the Tribune, who had dropped his own goblet, clutched +him with a grasp of iron. In spite of his violent struggles, Herculanus +could not move forward an inch. Davus, the old freedman running at his +heels, darted toward the entrance. Prosper shouted loudly, but Davus +went no farther than the door; for here he encountered the Batavian, +Rignomer, who seized him by the throat and held him fast. + +Ausonius, horrified and bewildered, had set the goblet on the table +before him, and now raised Bissula's head. "Poison?" he asked +sorrowfully. "Poison me? Who?" + +"The dog of a slave, of course!" cried Herculanus, struggling furiously +in the Illyrian's hold. "Are you in league with Davus, Tribune? Why do +you prevent me from punishing the scoundrel?" And now he actually +succeeded in releasing his right hand and gripping the dagger in his +belt. + +"Don't let him go," shrieked Bissula, who had now recovered her senses. +"He is the instigator!" + +Just at that moment, summoned by Prosper, who had rushed out screaming +for help, two Thracians on guard before the Prefect's tent, and two +Illyrians who chanced to be passing, came in and, by the Tribune's +orders, seized Herculanus and the slave, who, pale and trembling, could +scarcely stand. + +Ausonius, groaning aloud, sank back on his pillows. + + + + CHAPTER XLIII. + +Saturninus, no longer occupied with his prisoner, stepped forward into +the centre of the tent, saying: "In the name of the Emperor Gratianus! +As General and Commander of this camp I open the investigation. Speak, +girl! You, a slave, a captive Barbarian, are making a terrible charge +against a Roman leader. Weigh your words! Death is the penalty for +false accusation of such a deed." + +But Bissula did not shrink. She had now recovered her strength and +calmness, and gave no thought to herself; her mind was occupied solely +with the old friend who lay sighing on his cushions, and who had never +been so dear to her as in the helplessness of his anguish. Briefly, +clearly, and simply she related the conversation between the two men, +to which, in the boughs of the pine-tree, she had been an involuntary +listener. + +"Miserable lies," shrieked Herculanus, stamping his foot. "The wench +wants to become my uncle's wanton and ruin his nephew, the heir. The +whole story is an invention,--the entire tale of hiding in the tree! +When I came in here she stood watching beside the tent." + +"That is a base falsehood," said Rignomer, stepping forward. "I swear +that she has just come down from the tree: I had been following +her--unseen--for half an hour." + +"Aha, do you hear, uncle? Another lover!" sneered Herculanus. + +"No," said the Tribune, "it was done by my order." + +But Rignomer had flushed crimson with rage and shame. Shaking his +clenched fist at Herculanus, he said, laughing grimly: "Just wait--you +fellow with your patched mantle. The child came down from the tree +before my eyes. I was standing, hidden by the tent, six paces opposite +to it. Two men came from the right and left, glided under the pine, +whispered together, and then separated." + +Davus grew even paler than before; he tottered and would have fallen +but for the hands which grasped him. But Herculanus asked defiantly: +"Did you recognize the two men in the dark? Or, at six paces distance, +understand their whispers?" + +"Neither. But the child slid down the tree directly after in the most +frantic terror, called 'Murder! They will poison Ausonius!' and ran +with me here. The last part of the way I carried her." + +"So the two Barbarians conspired against me!" cried Herculanus. + +Saturninus went up to the slave, who hung with shaking knees between +the two Thracians. "You know what terrible tortures threaten the slave +who tries to murder his own master?" + +Davus sank to the ground; the two men could scarcely drag him up again. + +"Well then! What matters your miserable body! I will secure your safety +of life and limb--in the Emperor's name--you shall merely go to the +lead mines, if you confess at once." + +"Thank you, my lord, a thousand thanks," groaned the slave. "Yes, yes. +It is all as they say. For a year he has been tempting and urging! The +demon of gold blinded me. It is all true!" + +"Ha," shouted Herculanus, struggling against his guards, "so the slave, +too, is in the conspiracy against me?" + +"Give the wine in the Emperor's goblet to a dog, and see how long it +will live," said Davus. "It is hemlock! In my tunic--feel there--I have +a small vial which contains the rest." + +"I don't doubt it: poison in the goblet--the same poison in the vial. +Of course," cried Herculanus with an angry laugh, "the slave put it +into both. But Ausonius will not die until he has altered his will and +disinherited his nephew; for the Barbarian girl appeared just at the +right moment as a deliverer." + +Meanwhile the Tribune had taken from the slave's breast a little amber +vial and placed it on the table beside the goblet. Ausonius glanced at +it mournfully; he seemed to recognize it. + +"And what he put in there," Herculanus went on, "is to convict me?" +"No," cried Davus, now angered, "you shall convict yourself. Tribune, +feel in his tunic too; he has the same poison, in a similar vial, +hidden there. Could I force him to do it? Or could I conjure it there +by magic?" + +Herculanus turned pale. Defiance, the hope of life, deserted him and, +gnashing his teeth, he struggled fiercely in the Illyrians' grasp. But +the latter held him firmly while their countryman, Saturninus, took +from his tunic a similar amber vial and placed it beside the first one. + +"Then go to Orcus together! I wish you all had poison in you!" shrieked +Herculanus. + +But Ausonius tore his gray locks, wailing: "Alas! alas! I know them +well. I gave them myself, both vials, to my dear sister, his mother. +Alas, my own sister's son! To murder me! For miserable money! I had +left it all to him. Only I should have been glad to live a few years +longer." + +Weeping aloud, he covered his face. Bissula, kneeling before him, +stroked his hands compassionately. + +"No doubt is possible," said Saturninus, "even without the confession +made by his fury." + +"Oh! The son of my dearest sister, my Melania!" moaned the Prefect. + +"I had long suspected him," the Tribune said. "But the scoundrel did +not desire to murder you alone; he wanted to kill this child too, to +whom all are attached." + +"What? What?" cried Ausonius. Bissula also started. + +"That is why he hastened in advance of us all, alone, to her dwelling, +on her track. He had raised his sword for a deadly blow when I caught +his arm." + +"What? Horrible!" cried Ausonius. + +"Yes, that is true; but," the girl went on kindly and truthfully, "but +then he had not yet recognized me as his uncle's friend." + +"Yes, yes," groaned the Prefect. "He told me himself that a red hair +had put him on your track. How often I had described you to him! And, +as soon as he saw you he recognized you instantly. He wanted to bring +you to me; and he--" + +"And yesterday night," Rignomer put in wrathfully, "he stole into her +tent with an unsheathed dagger. Unfortunately one who should have +guarded it was sleeping, but the she-bear was awake, and"--he swiftly +spread the full mantle open--"she tore out a piece here as he fled." + +"_This_ piece," said Saturninus, drawing it from his girdle and laying +it on the fresh patch; "you see it fits exactly." + +"The Furies' curse on you all!" screamed Herculanus. + +"Away with them both!" the Tribune commanded. "Prosper, two of your +slave-blocks! It won't do to leave them guarded in an open tent. That +is always unsafe and requires the constant presence of trustworthy men, +whom we cannot spare. Rignomer, you will lock them in--both feet--apart +from each other. Your life will answer for it if they escape on the +way." + +"They shall not," growled the Batavian, who had been inexpressibly +enraged by the fling at his love for Bissula, though he did not know +why. "Forward!" + +Led by Rignomer, the four guards and Prosper thrust the prisoners out +of the tent. + + + + CHAPTER XLIV. + +The curtains had scarcely dropped behind them when Ausonius exclaimed: +"He must not die! My Melania's son! He must fly into exile!" + +"The Emperor will decide. But you, friend Ausonius, praise Heaven, +which sent you this child. You owe your life solely to her." + +The Prefect drew the young girl to the couch by his side and kissed her +hands and brow. She submitted, for she was weeping. He would fain have +kissed her lips too, but he forebore. The usually defiant creature was +so childlike, so helpless from sheer emotion over his escape. So he +only stroked her beautiful head with his hand and said, deeply moved +himself: "The Christians have a superstition which I have often +derided, of a guardian angel which God gives to mortals. I shall never +do so again. You, Bissula, are my guardian angel!" + +"But angels ought not to be slaves," remarked the Illyrian with a smile +which well became his manly face. "I give you this child, Ausonius; she +is your slave now. Do with her as you choose." + +"I set her free, this moment. Bissula, you are free!" + +"Oh, thanks, thanks, thanks!" cried the young girl exultantly, +springing from the couch. "Now away,--away at once to my people,--to my +grandmother,--to--" + +"Not so fast, little one," interposed Saturninus. "Even the faithful, +grateful freedwoman (the legal form of the act is still lacking) must +obey the will of the patronus. I doubt whether he will let you fly +away, you lovely little wild bird." + +Bissula fixed her wonderful eyes beseechingly, imploringly, upon +Ausonius, but the latter did not see it; he was gazing, rigid with +amazement, at the Tribune. + +"My friend--I don't understand you. Why do you so suddenly--I almost +thought that you yourself--" + +"Let us spare the child. I will say only this much; she can hear it +without flushing too deeply, and sudden blushes are so becoming to +her! A man need not be a poet, my Ausonius, to find our--pardon me, +your--little maid very, very charming. I don't deny it; the first time +I saw her--well, she certainly would displease no one! But I soon told +myself what the duty of friendship commanded, and remembered that my +life belongs wholly to the god of war. I ordered my heart to calm my +blood. They belong to a soldier, and instantly obeyed." + +At these words Bissula, in spite of the warning, or perhaps on account +of it, had flushed crimson and glided away from the two men. She was +just slipping out of the tent; but Saturninus gently caught her by the +hair, held her firmly, laughing merrily, and said: "Stay, little one. +The worst is over now, at any rate from me." + +"But why," Ausonius went on, "have you all this time--Even yesterday--" + +"Because I suspected your nephew's murderous designs, though only +against her. I could protect her solely as her master. If she had +remained, as you desired, in your tent, he could have killed the +unguarded girl at any hour of the day or night. I watched her for you! +Now it is no longer necessary. Obey your heart. I will leave you +alone." + +"Yes, but what more is to be done?" asked Bissula plaintively, holding +the Tribune--she did not know why--firmly by the arm. "I am so tired!" +she added. "Let me go to sleep now. And to-morrow, away! Back to my +people!" + +"Yes, my noble friend," said Ausonius, with a certain solemnity, slowly +rising from his couch, "stay! I myself desire it. You shall be the +first witness: my resolution is formed, unalterable! Bissula, I owe my +life to you: in return there is but one reward--this life, my life +itself." + +The girl drew back in terror. She did not understand him. + +"A slave was of course impossible. To wed even his own freedwoman is +against the law for a Senator; but I shall undoubtedly receive a +dispensation from the Emperor, and I care nothing for the jests of my +colleagues." + +"What do you want to do with me?" asked the young girl anxiously. + +"Except the Caesar," Ausonius went on thoughtfully, "no man in the +Western Empire stands above me; only two are of equal rank. I am +Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul. Nay, more,--no one knows it yet, not even +you,--my Saturninus,--the Emperor has promised me next year the highest +honor in the Roman State. This coming year will take its name from me." + +"You are to be Consul?" cried the Tribune, reverently. + +"What is it? What does it mean?" asked the poor girl, now thoroughly +frightened. The solemnity, and the numerous Roman names of dignities +were becoming more and more mysterious. + +But Ausonius, nodding complacently, continued: "And no living poet is +my peer. Bissula, you shall share all this with me. Tomorrow you shall +go with me to Vindonissa to the Emperor. Yes, yes, don't shake your +defiant little head, you shall be with me all my life, for I, Ausonius, +Ausonius of Burdigala, will make you my wife!" + +He now drew himself up to his full height, stretching both arms to her. +With glowing cheeks, throbbing heart, and eyes flashing with shame and +fear and wrath, Bissula, crimsoning more and more deeply, had listened +to the last words and gazed in horror at the approaching Roman. Now she +uttered a loud shriek: "No! No! Never!" + +Wrenching herself from Saturninus, who tried to hold her, she sprang +out of the tent. Outside, panting for breath, she ran as fast as her +little feet would carry her, through the dark silent camp, reached her +tent, unfastened Bruna, led her in, pressed her down on the ground, +flung herself beside her and, bursting into a torrent of tears, buried +her face in the soft thick fur. + +The faithful, intelligent animal doubtless knew that something was +wrong. Licking the girl's fingers, the bear growled, a low, soft, +tender growl, like a mother soothing her sick child. The monotonous, +droning tone produced a drowsy influence like a lullaby. So, under the +protection of the bear, though often sobbing vehemently, Bissula at +last fell asleep. + + + + + BOOK THREE + + THE FREEDWOMAN + + + + CHAPTER XLV. + +Ausonius was deeply grateful to his preserver, certainly; and he had +wished to bestow a transcendent reward. Yet he was very keenly +exasperated by this rude, fierce, foolish, nay, ungrateful disdain. And +before the Tribune, too--the younger man. + +This exasperation took full possession of him even amidst his deep +grief for his nephew's crime. From the day of his birth neither the +fates nor men had often denied any wish of this spoiled favorite of +Fortune. Even the desire for poetic talent had been granted by the +Muses, and, as he believed, in lavish abundance; while his +contemporaries denied him no recognition, but lavished on him every +honor for which he longed in any department. His imperial pupil loaded +him with the highest dignities and honors in the gift of the State; he +was one of the richest, most highly educated men in the Western Empire; +he was agreeable, vivacious, well-bred, almost handsome in feature, and +not yet very old. Thousands of the most aristocratic Roman women would +have considered themselves fortunate if-- + +And this Barbarian girl refused him! It was incomprehensible, and he +determined not to tolerate this "folly." + +As she did not appear at breakfast at the usual hour, he sent Prosper +for her. The old man returned without having accomplished his errand. +Bissula was not in her tent, and could not be found anywhere in the +camp. + +Ausonius was startled. Then he said to himself: "Oh, nonsense. She +cannot possibly escape from a walled Roman camp which is guarded by a +Saturninus." Yet he finished his early meal hurriedly and anxiously, +and went out to look for her, alone. He wished to spare his future +wife, which Bissula certainly was, the mortification of being dragged +by freedmen or slaves from some hiding-place into which her silly, +childish obstinacy might have led her. First he hastened to the +pine-tree: in vain. She was not concealed there; now, in broad +daylight, one could see through the branches distinctly. He went to her +tent and entered: it was empty. But as he was leaving it again he saw +the broad foot-prints of the bear, and followed the trail: it led +southward, to the lake gate, the Porta Decumana. He had nearly reached +it, when he met Saturninus. + +"Turn back, I beg of you," said the latter kindly. + +"Isn't she there?" + +"Yes! I discovered her by accident, looking down from the wall. She has +hidden herself behind beams and rubbish near the Porta Decumana, like a +sick birdling which creeps into some corner to die alone with its head +under its wing. Give her time! Perhaps she will submit to it." + +Ausonius yielded reluctantly as the Tribune, with gentle force, took +his arm, turned him in the opposite direction, and led him back. He was +thoroughly angry, and besides, felt ashamed in Saturninus's presence. + +"Soon, I hope," he said angrily. + +"Yes," replied the Tribune slowly. "Unless--unless some one else has +won her heart." + +"That she positively denied. She was enraged at the mere question; and +falsehood is the perverse little thing's smallest fault. She is still +scarcely more than a child. You see how she behaves. Only a child, an +untutored child, could be led into such conduct." + +But the Roman General shrugged his shoulders. "Let us wait. I would far +rather see her yours than a Barbarian's. But think of the offer made by +that Adalus! That can only--" + +"Certainly. But it doesn't prove that she loves him." + +He opposed with angry obstinacy a conjecture which might forever +frustrate his wishes, and rejected the suggestion of his friend the +more vehemently, the more persistently this fear, though repressed, +constantly returned to his mind. + +"By the way," he asked the Tribune, to change the conversation, "what +do you mean to do with the prisoners? Let them both escape?" + +"Impossible! My duty--" + +"But my nephew must not die." + +"It would be the best thing that could happen," growled the Illyrian, +"for himself and his opposite men (for this selfish fellow has no +fellow mortals). But I feared that it would be the result of your +indulgence. Well, comfort yourself. As I promised life to the slave, +the mere tool, the Caesar can send the instigator to the mines too. But +you are paying no heed to my words. Where are your thoughts?" + +Ausonius had suddenly stopped. Thrusting the staff he carried violently +into the earth he exclaimed: "Listen! Suppose I should go to her +now--at once? Explain everything, persuade her? Last evening, in her +excitement, she probably did not hear or understand. Just think of +it--Consul!" + +But his companion smiled and drew his reluctant friend forward: "Let +her alone, Ausonius. You will only frighten her more. Perhaps a German +fisher-lad is dearer to her heart than a Roman Consul." + +"Inconceivable!" + +"Yes, yes! Very intelligible. I will confess to you that she vehemently +entreated me--" + +"What, what!--when?" + +"Just now, when I climbed down the wall to her and tried to speak for +you. She besought me to protect her--from your wooing." + +"Ungrateful girl!" exclaimed Ausonius wrathfully. This appeal to the +Tribune against him wounded him most bitterly; he had the feeling: +Youth naturally combines against age. + +"Beware," replied the Tribune earnestly, "lest you should yourself be +very ungrateful." But this did not suit the Roman's deeply offended +vanity. + +"Since you have now suddenly become--what shall I call it?--her +guardian or defender against me--" + +"I did not seek the position." + +"Nor did you decline it. Then tell your ward my firm, resolute will: +She must go with me to-morrow in one of Nannienus's galleys to the +Emperor at Vindonissa, then to Burdigala. I will follow your advice: I +will not go into the forests with you; grief, anger, too much +excitement of many kinds, are making me ill--I feel it. First of all, I +must obtain the dispensation from the Emperor to permit me, a Senator, +to marry my freedwoman. That is now the thing nearest to my heart. And +please see that it is clear to her, perfectly clear, that she has +obtained no legal right whatever from my words spoken yesterday about +liberation. You remarked at the time, very justly, that my words did +not make her free: the form required by law was lacking. The words were +merely a promise. If I choose, she is still my slave, but no longer +yours, tell her that. In Burdigala, after she has tasted Roman life, +let her choose which she would prefer: to become the Consul's wife, or +be his slave and a she-bear's playmate. I cannot force her to wed me, +but tell her that I will never permit her to return to her Barbarian +land." + +Saturninus would have tried to soothe the excited man, but a loud +signal from the tubas summoned both leaders to the wall. + +The Roman trumpets were joyously greeting the galleys under the command +of Nannienus which, with all their canvas spread to catch the southeast +wind, came swiftly nearer and nearer. It was a proud and imposing +spectacle. + +After the gallant Comes of Britannia, himself a Breton skilled in +sailing, had discovered the culpable neglect of the ships and the fraud +of the guilty magistrates in Arbor, he had toiled night and day, +ceaselessly and untiringly, that he might take to his friend and +comrade, Saturninus, the ships and reenforcements on which his whole +plan for the encircling and destruction or unconditional surrender of +the Alemanni was based. So, in the course of these few days and nights, +he had actually succeeded in putting the dilapidated ships into +seaworthy condition; and, besides old trading vessels and fisher boats +of the largest size, he had a number of new galleys built which, though +by no means to be compared with the proud fleet of the Venetian or +Brigantinian lake which, a century and a half before, had ruled these +shores and waters, could yet render sufficient service in seeking out +the hiding-places of the Barbarians along all three sides of the land, +and intercepting any flight they might attempt across the lake from the +Tribune. + +Nannienus's twenty high-decked ships of war, when not lying at anchor +but fighting at full speed, would sink, by the mere weight of their +shock, when driven by oars and sails, whole swarms of the little +Barbarian boats, if they had the temerity to attack them. And to each +of these large ships he had assigned two or three smaller flat-decked, +shallow boats, to land provisions and troops and facilitate intercourse +between the biremes (which required considerable depth of water when +they lay at anchor) and the shore, often bordered for a considerable +distance by marshes. + +Probably more than sixty sail now appeared, in the full radiance of the +most brilliant September sunshine, opposite to the Idisenhang, some at +anchor, some in an unbroken chain forming a sort of bridge of boats +from the place of anchorage to the shore. + +The various forms of the sails (for in the pressure of haste all sorts +of Barbarian ones had been added to the triangular Latin form of the +Romans--ancient Celtic used on the lake from primeval days, and +Alemannic) and their motley colors, principally dazzlingly white, but +many deep yellow, gleaming in the sunlight, swelled by the fresh +breeze; the surging, swarming life of the soldiers thronging from the +ships to the shore, and from the shore to the ships; the greetings of +old comrades; the joyful recognition of what had been accomplished in +Arbor; the threatening outcries against the Barbarians, who must now be +thoroughly extirpated--the whole presented a scene full of splendor, +life, movement, and warlike uproar. + + + + CHAPTER XLVI. + +The largest galley, an old war ship which still bore the figure of +Amphitrite on its prow, displayed a purple streamer, and the smallest +foresail was of the same color; for she carried the Commander of the +squadron. + +"At last!" the able officer exclaimed as, the first man in the whole +armada, he leaped from his galley into the boat which lay rocking at +its bowsprit. He ran across the whole line of small vessels to the +shore, and sprang with one impatient leap from the last boat across the +marshy ground to the solid land to meet the Illyrian, who received him +with outstretched arms. + +"At last, my friend, I bring ships and men. It has been a long delay." + +"I know it was no fault of yours." + +"The Caesar has already sent the guilty men to the mines. Where is the +Prefect?" + +"Up above, in the camp. He is not well." + +"I have letters for him from the Emperor." + +"Has no news come from the Emperor Valens yet?" asked Saturninus +anxiously. + +"Yes, very late news." + +"How do matters stand between him and the Goths?" + +"Well for him and badly for the Barbarians. They are suffering terribly +from hunger. His last letter declines, and right arrogantly, any +assistance from Gratianus and our army." + +"He doesn't wish to share the fame of the victory with his nephew," +said the Tribune, mounting his horse and inviting his friend to ride up +the mountain on the beautiful charger brought for his use. Nannienus +swung himself into the saddle, and continued: + +"A decisive battle is impending, Valens writes. He is marching upon +Adrianople, where the Goths are encamped. Why, the horse is sinking +here! Are there marshes so far up?" + +"Yes, it is the ancient bottom of the lake. So, the die has probably +already fallen yonder on the Ister! Well, our little campaign will +probably soon be over too. How many helmets do you bring?" + +"Thirteen hundred." + +"More than enough. Early to-morrow morning we will divide our forces. +Five hundred men will remain in the camp: You will march with the rest +toward the northeast, I to the northwest, until we at last find and +scatter these incomprehensible foes. Did you see nothing suspicious on +your voyage across the lake?" + +"Nothing at all. Not a sail, far or near." + +"Now that we have ships, we can also search the two tracts of marshland +overgrown with rushes, which stretch for leagues on the right and left. +We once thought we saw a column of smoke rising in the western marsh." + +"That shall be done to-morrow, before we march. A naval battle on Lake +Venetia! It has scarcely happened since the days of Tiberius." + +"But I am glad to know that you are here on land with your men: Welcome +once more to the Barbarian country and to my camp." + +With these words the two commanders, followed by a glittering train of +Nannienus's officers and the Tribune's mailed riders, passed through +the Porta Decumana, which now stood wide open; for the Tribune's men +were pouring out, down the mountain side and through the damp meadows +and bogs of the half league of country to the shore, to greet their +comrades on the fleet. + +Bissula had crouched and made herself as small as possible, that she +might slip out unseen like a little mouse from her hiding-place east of +the lake gate. But the Illyrian guards were rigidly trained: two +gigantic Thracians--one on each side of the threshold--held their +spears crossed before the opening, and scanned sharply every one who +went in or out. The young girl had crept successfully between the +outstretched legs of one, when she struck her head against the shaft of +the other's spear. The man's attention was attracted; he recognized her +and pushed her gently but irresistibly back. + +"No, no!" he said, laughing. "You mustn't go out, you little red +serpent! I should get a double drubbing--from the Tribune on the right +and the Prefect on the left. Stay inside." + +Bissula, her eyes brimming with tears of impotent rage, was obliged to +go back: and there, outside the gate, liberty was beckoning; there +laughed (she saw it again, for the first time through the open gate) in +its azure splendor her beloved lake; there on the right rustled the +trees which surrounded Adalo's hall, and there flew a gull, screaming +loudly with delight in life and joy in its free movement, across the +rushes of the marshy shore. Alas! and she must go back into the camp, +to an uncertain fate. To-morrow she was to leave the country, to +go--whither? + +"Oh, Adalo, help soon!" + +Since the night before she had constantly whispered his name, again and +again, as though it were a protecting spell. + +On reaching her tent, she untied the bear, which was becoming wildly +excited by the noise of the soldiers, and dragged it by the collar +inside of the inclosure, where she remained all day. She was not +disturbed. Prosper brought wine and food, and told her that his +master's whole time was claimed by Nannienus and the other guests; but +early the next morning she must be ready to take ship for Constantia, +then to go to the Emperor at Vindonissa, and lastly, to his beautiful +home. Bissula made no answer. + +Leaving the viands untouched, she crouched like some captured wild +beast in the corner of her tent farthest from the entrance, with her +eyes fixed intently upon it, listening with anxiety and dread to every +sound which drew nearer to her tent from the streets of the camp. +Faithful Bruna lay across the threshold; she was the girl's only +comfort. + + + + CHAPTER XLVII. + +So the hours of the day had passed. The sun had sunk majestically into +the lake; darkness had gathered quickly; there was no moon. The Comes +of Britannia had left Ausonius's table early, the hospitable host had +vainly tried to induce him to empty one more goblet. + +"As many as you please, after the victory, Ausonius. But a sailor must +keep sober. Besides, his place is on the water, not on forest-clad +heights. I feel here, away from my ships, like a whale left stranded by +the tide and lying gasping on the shore. Truly, the only right kind of +water is salt water--" + +"Because we can't drink it," remarked Ausonius, filling his goblet +again. + +"But, when one can't have the sea, this long stretch of lake isn't bad. +Remember me to your nephew, Herculanus; perhaps by to-morrow he will +have recovered from his illness enough for me to seek him in his tent. +And at the earliest dawn of morning, Saturninus, I will search the two +reedy lakes for you. If there are no Alemanni, there will be plenty of +rare waterfowl to hunt." + +He went out with his officers and rode with them, guided by +torch-bearers, down the mountain back to the ship-camp: for one-half of +the newcomers slept on shore in the tents they had brought with them; +the other half on the vessels. + +As soon as Nannienus went on board he asked the watch at the helm, a +trustworthy Breton countryman, whether he had anything to report. + +"Nothing from here, my lord. Only behind Arbor a fire seems to be +burning on the Hill of Mercury; or they are celebrating one of their +Easter festivals. Look yonder!" + +"Yes, that is in one of the farms of the Alemannic settlers. Hark! What +was that?" + +"Wild swans, my lord. They must have hundreds of nests in the reedy +forests. They call and answer one another very often." + +"Then surely no men can be hidden there; the noble birds are very shy +and wary. Who is coming to relieve you?" + +"I, Albinus, the veteran from Arbor." + +"Good: you will watch the first and second hours after midnight. Wake +me before the gray of dawn." + + * * * * * + +The sentries in the camp above on the Idisenhang, and below in the +tents brought from the ships, had shouted the hour of midnight without +the occurrence of anything to disturb the sleepers, who were lying in +the deepest repose, except that for a long time the noble dogs which +the Tribune, a keen sportsman, had brought from Vindonissa and kept in +an empty tent near the northern gate, had barked violently. They were +costly animals of the purest British breed, which, trained in the arena +at Rome to fight the aurochs, were now to test their skill and courage +in the primeval forests. They could not be quieted, whether the guards +patted or flogged them, and their loud, angry baying was heard in the +ditch before the north gate, where the whole Batavian cohort was +on duty. The bright flames and thick columns of smoke from their +watch-fire rose from the ditch, now dry once more. + +Beyond it, on the north, about a hundred paces from the wall, Rignomer, +with Brinno and two more of his countrymen, had been stationed as an +outpost. + +"Do you hear the dogs?" asked Rignomer. + +"I'm not deaf," growled Brinno, + +"When they keep on incessantly, it means something!" the other +continued mysteriously. + +"Of course it does. They are hungry. Or they have the little one's +she-bear at bay." + +"She-bear? Nonsense! She's sleeping where others would like to sleep. +No, no! Dogs don't you know that?--can see spirits and hear gods. There +is something abroad. Between midnight and dawn the night huntsman rides +over the tree-tops. I thought just now that I heard a horse neigh above +me, beyond that distant hill--in the air." + +"Oh, pshaw! I never saw a horse fly yet!" + +"But _He_ flies on his eight-hoofed gray steed through the clouds and +over the wind-swept forests, when he drives the woman of the woods +before him. Hark, what was that? At the right!" + +"The hoot of an owl! Very near us!" + +"And there--one at the left." + +"Hark," cried a third soldier, "didn't that sound like metal on +metal--the clanking of arms--close in front of us?" + +"No," said the fourth, "but I hear the faint trampling of a horse's +hoofs. Hark! There are several. Now it comes again, nearer still! The +foe!" + +"Yes, it is the foe!" said Rignomer, seizing the signal horn to raise +it to his lips--but he had no power to do so. Horror, paralyzing +terror, awe which shook every limb, seized upon the brave man. His hair +bristled; voice and hand refused their service. Rigid with fear, he +stared at the wooded height before and above him, which suddenly seemed +alive. + +A warrior sprang from behind every tree; every bush; yet it was not +these hundreds of Alemanni that terrified the battle-tried Batavian, +but another spectacle. Sometimes in a full glare of light, sometimes +dimly seen by the flame of two blazing torches, swung in circles by two +horsemen riding at his right and left, a powerful figure of superhuman +stature on a grayish-white horse came dashing down from the height +toward him. White hair and a floating beard waved around a fierce but +majestic countenance, above which a bird-monster, whose like Rignomer +had never seen, seemed to flap its white wings threateningly against +the mercenary as the vision rushed onward in silence, a huge spear +thrust before him, a long dark cloak flowing back from his shoulders +like a cloud; then, when close at hand, the horseman shouted: "Odin! +Odin has you all!" + +The German flung down spear and shield and, with the cry: "Odin is upon +us! Odin is leading them! All is lost," ran back to the ditch at full +speed. Two of his comrades followed his example, and all three leaped +into the ditch shouting: "All is lost! Odin is upon us! Fly!" + +Rignomer was considered the bravest of his race, so even the Batavians, +who were too far off to understand his words, were infected by his +example; for they saw their leader unarmed, running with every sign of +the utmost terror from the ditch toward the northern gate to tear it +open and vanish in the camp. + +"Fly! Fly! All is lost!" + +Most of the men had understood this and, with the same shouts, they now +climbed up the wall or poured through the open gate. + +Brinno alone had not fled from the post: at Rignomer's cry, also +greatly alarmed, he had leaped behind the nearest tree, but here, +looking sharply at the terrible horseman, he recovered his composure: +"Nonsense!" he called after his flying comrades. "His horse has only +four feet, not eight. That is not _he_!" He stepped forward bravely +with levelled spear, but the next instant was thrown down by the Duke's +charger and, directly after, about thirty mounted men leaped into the +ditch, which was now no longer defended, and dashed to the right and +left in pursuit of the fugitives who were running along the bottom. The +space around the gate was almost empty, swept clean in an instant. + +Hariowald himself had ridden straight toward the gate, but just before +he reached it, it was flung back from within, shutting out several +fugitives who were trying to enter. The Duke sprang from his horse; the +intelligent animal instantly stood motionless. He beckoned to his +mounted men and to a small band who, meanwhile, had reached the ditch +on foot, to follow him to the left of the gate, where rose a huge +stone. A large number of other foot-soldiers now also reached the gate +and, mounting ladders they had brought with them (which, strangely +enough, were exactly the length required to reach from the bottom of +the ditch to the wall), or even climbing on one another's backs, +endeavored to scale the wall or to break down the gate with axes. + +But here they now encountered vigorous resistance. Arrows, spears, +beams, stones flew down upon them: a battle was impending; the attempt +to enter the gate with the fugitives had failed. Saturninus had closed +it and shot the huge iron bolt with his own strong hand. Awakened by +the furious baying of his dogs, he had made the round of the camp to +test the watchfulness of the sentries, and was now directing the +defence from the walls. His own hand flung down the first ladder +raised. + +But the battle was already raging at the same time on the other three +sides of the camp. + + + + CHAPTER XLVIII. + +Bissula, too, on whose burning eyes sleep had not descended, had soon +perceived what was happening. She heard with joyous terror the battle +cry of the Alemanni, the war horns of her people. + +"There they are! They are coming!" she exclaimed exultingly. "Now to +meet them!" With the words she ran out of her tent, leading her +faithful companion by the collar. She was determined to seize the first +opportunity, no matter how dangerous it might be, to escape from the +precincts of the camp. + +But this was far more difficult than Bissula had expected. She +experienced the utmost trouble even in gaining the vicinity of the lake +gate to which she was summoned. The regular squares of the Roman camp, +intersected at right angles by the streets of tents, rendered the task +still more arduous; for at all the streets and squares stood, in dense +masses, the reserve troops not engaged in fighting on the walk. No +matter whether their faces or their backs were turned toward her, those +ranks could not be penetrated. + +Her friend Bruna impeded instead of aiding her. The animal was so +wildly excited by the noise of thousands of men shouting, weapons +clashing, horses dashing by, and flames blazing on all sides, that the +young girl had great difficulty in restraining the daughter of the +Alemannic forests from mingling in the battle and furiously attacking +the legionaries. So for a long time she could make little progress +toward the gate she desired to reach. + +But now a gap was suddenly made in the ranks of the soldiers standing +before her. A troop of mailed riders came dashing down the street of +the camp from the north toward the gate, and the Illyrians before her +opened their ranks to let the cavalry pass. Bissula fearlessly seized +the tail of one of the horses and, without loosing her hold of Bruna, +let herself be dragged along. In this way she successfully reached the +Via Principalis, but here, feeling her arm seized, she released the +horse, which now kicked violently. The girl looked around angrily. It +was old Prosper. + +"Halt," he commanded, "you must stay with me, Bissula. That is the +order of the patronus; he sent me to you, supposing that you would be +in the midst of the uproar. I am to keep strict watch of you, till the +attack is repulsed." + +"Let me go," she cried angrily, trying to release herself. + +"No, you shall not. I must answer for you. Follow me." + +They now began to struggle violently; but the man was stronger than the +girl. She could not escape his hold. Then Bruna, growling furiously, +rose on her hind legs and struck with her huge paws at her mistress's +foe. With a cry of terror the freedman, releasing the girl, sprang +back, and the next instant Bissula, by creeping between the horses' +legs, slipped through the ranks of the mailed riders, who, facing +south, were now the only obstacle between her and the lake gate. + +She fairly flew down the long, narrow central street, the Via Media, in +whose tents the luggage was sheltered. There she saw Herculanus and, +somewhat farther down, Davus, each in a heavy oak-block, sunk into the +earth, with both feet thrust through holes and fettered to the blocks +with heavy cross chains. Bissula ran farther in terror. Now, for the +first time, she looked around for Bruna, The bear had not followed her; +her growling came from beyond the ranks of the horsemen, and at the +same time Bissula saw a pack of huge dogs, barking furiously, leaping +on the angry beast. One of the animals was hurled aside by the terrible +paw, yelping with agony. But the girl could wait no longer, far less +turn back. She hurried on; already she saw before her the goal of her +longing, the Decumanian Gate. + +Already the blows of axes were thundering ceaselessly outside upon the +groaning oak planks and iron bars. Those were her own people, her +deliverers, her liberators! But the solid gate held out firmly, and +missiles rained from the top of the wall upon the unprotected +assailants. She pressed forward as near the gate as she could. Only a +single rank of soldiers separated her from it. Then Bissula heard +outside a ringing voice which sent a thrill of rapture through every +vein. She knew those tones. + +"Set fire to the gate! Bring all the torches!" + +Forgetting all caution, she sprang through the rank of soldiers, +pushing two of them aside, put her face to the gate and called with her +utmost strength, "Adalo! Help! Adalo!" + +"Bissula!" rose a voice without, and a terrible blow--the first which +had penetrated cleft a yawning gash in the right wing of the double +gate, so that the splinters flew inside. + +At the same time Bissula heard two voices call her name from the wall +above. Looking up she saw Zercho and Sippilo who, in advance of all the +others, had scaled the wall at the right of the gate. + +"Here, little one!" shouted the Sarmatian, letting a rope slide down +the inside, while he wound the other end around the ladder rising above +the wall. + +"Where are you, Bissula?" called Sippilo, leaning far over and holding +a torch down. "Alas! I can't see her anywhere!" + +The girl, standing at the left of the gate, could not make her way +through the soldiers to the right; she was obliged to see a strong +Thracian on the top of the wall seize a heavy pole, which he held +crosswise with both hands, and springing forward hurl both the +over-bold assailants (they were still standing alone) backward at a +single thrust. + +"Oho, Sippilo," shouted Adalo outside, "what was that?" + +"A somersault!" replied the boy laughing, and jumping up again. "But +you, Zercho! Alas! you cannot stand?" + +"Unfortunately! My foot--I think it is broken!" + +"Take him, men, two of you, and carry him out of the fight," Adalo +ordered. + +"Where?" + +"To my own hall; it is still standing." + +Bissula uttered a cry when she saw her two friends fall backward; but +the next instant her senses failed. A soldier whom she had repeatedly +tried to thrust aside turned angrily: he meant to strike his +troublesome comrade, as he supposed the person to be. Then he +recognized the young girl, and his wrath instantly vanished. + +"Go back, little one!" he exclaimed. "You'll get killed here!" + +And, with kindly intent, he flung her toward the left; but the clumsy +fellow exerted too much strength, or the weight of the dainty figure +was too light; she struck her head so violently against one of the +beams of her old hiding-place that she lay stunned and senseless where +she had fallen. + +"Bissula!" Adalo called again through the gaping cleft in the door. But +he received no answer. + + + + CHAPTER XLIX. + +The Adeling and his followers would probably soon have forced their way +through this gate, one of whose wings had already caught fire and was +beginning to glow and smoke more and more, while the other was +splitting wider and wider under the heavy blows of the axe, had not the +battle on the opposite side of the camp taken a turn which was also to +prove decisive for the conflict around the Porta Decumana. Scarcely had +Bissula fallen unconscious, when down every street in the camp that led +from the north toward this southern gate, riders, riderless horses, +foot-soldiers, and slaves came rushing in a wild flight with frantic +cries. + +"Fly," cried a warrior in scale armor, dashing past Herculanus and +Davus. "The Barbarians are upon us!" + +"The camp is taken!" shouted a Celt, hurrying out of a side street. + +"They have climbed over the wall at the Praetorian Gate." + +"No, the earth opened. Orcus spewed the Barbarians into the middle of +the camp!" + +"Fly!" shrieked a camp-follower's wife, "I saw Saturninus run down by +his own men! All is lost!" And in truth it seemed so. + +Ausonius had been waked by Prosper, and while he was arming, Decius, a +gallant officer, appeared and in the Tribune's name invited him to +undertake the defence of the Porta Principalis Dextra with a cohort of +the Twenty second Legion, which had already been ordered there. + +"I will accompany you," said he. + +"What is the matter? The Barbarians? Are they attacking?" + +"Don't you hear them?" + +"Yes, of course I do! On which side?" + +"On all sides!" + +"I will hasten." With these words Ausonius, putting on his helmet, left +the tent. + +"What is the Tribune's decision?" he asked as they turned to the right +into the nearest street. "To make a sally?" + +"No! To remain in the camp. It will be defended to the last. There is +too great a superiority in the force outside." With these words the two +officers reached the legionaries and, followed by them, soon gained the +eastern gate of the camp. From here Ausonius sent Prosper to protect +Bissula, but also to watch that she did not escape. + +Meanwhile Saturninus had convinced himself that, for the moment, no +pressing danger threatened the northern or Praetorian Gate, and hurrying +down the steps inside the wall, he exchanged, his part of warrior for +that of Commander. Gathering his officers about him in the open space +at the foot of the wall, about a hundred paces north of the pine-tree +of the earth-goddess, he curtly issued swift commands. "Let all the +horsemen dismount and fight on the walls, except the first squadron of +mailed riders; but these are not to dismount--do you hear?--on pain of +death, under any pretext. All the riderless horses must be led to the +Porta Decumana; for if a sally should be made, or"--he added in a lower +tone so that only his officers could hear--"if it should be necessary +to leave the camp, we shall go to the south to aid Nannienus. If he be +not attacked himself, he will instantly assail the Barbarians in the +rear at that gate." + +"Help at the Porta Principalis Sinistra!" entreated a horseman dashing +from the west. + +Saturninus turned to speak to the messenger and, in doing so, turned +his back to the pine-tree; but he had scarcely addressed a few words to +the man, when a centurion standing behind the General uttered a cry of +terror and seized him by the arm: "Look around you, Tribune! There! By +the pine-tree! The earth is trembling; the abyss is opening; the altar +stones have sprung apart!" + +Just at that moment the Barbarians' war-cry: "Odin! Odin! Alemanni!" +rang out in the midst of the camp, and Saturninus's face blanched as he +saw a gigantic figure in a white helmet, near the pine-tree, strike +down with his long spear a Celtic archer, who, shrieking, tried to +escape. Three, six, eight, twelve Barbarians had risen from the earth. +With a cry of savage fury the brave Roman rushed toward the giant. But +he could not reach him, his own soldiers threw him down. + +It was a body of the Celts, hot-blooded, brave in assault, but easily +disheartened after an unfavorable turn. They saw the foe in the midst +of the camp; only a few had noticed whence they came or how small at +first was their number. Seized with panic, many throwing away their +weapons, they fled in frantic terror. + +"Treason! Treason! The enemy is in the camp!" With these shouts a whole +troop of fugitives had flung themselves between the Duke and the Roman +General. The latter instantly sprang to his feet again. + +"Halt, you cowards," shouted the fearless Tribune, again trying to +check with flashing sword, the mad rush of the fugitives. "Look around +you. There is only a handful of the enemy. And where will you fly? +Outside of the camp? Among the greatly superior number of the foe? Only +these walls can save you!" + +"To the ships! To Nannienus! Across the lake! To Arbor!" + +"Then die, you coward!" he cried fiercely, striking down the nearest +shouter, a standard bearer of the Celts; and tearing from the falling +man the dragon standard, with its fluttering purple streamers, he swung +it aloft, crying, "Roma! Roma!" and pressed forward. + +For a moment he really succeeded in checking the fugitives. And now the +bold little band of intruders was in the utmost peril; then +Saturninus's attention was suddenly diverted to the top of the wall. + +Many, many of its defenders had turned at the noise behind them, seen +German helmets in the midst of the camp, heard the cries of terror from +the Celts, and noticed their General himself rush into the midst of the +fugitives. They believed that the camp had been taken from the opposite +direction, and feared every moment that they would be attacked from the +rear. So they leaped from the top of the wall in large numbers or came +rushing down the stairs. The besiegers outside, hitherto held in check +by a heavy shower of missies, suddenly saw whole ranks of the defenders +vanish, whole stretches of the wall left empty and, with wild shouts, +they climbed boldly and confidently up the ladders. When the Tribune +looked up, the assailants were already springing from the wall in dense +masses, hewing down the few Romans who had gathered around him, while +the fierce giant's terrible spear struck down one after another. + +Saturninus cast one more glance at the top of the wall: countless bands +of Barbarians were appearing on it. Then, in a voice whose tones rang +above the din of battle, he shouted the order: "Leave the camp! Follow +this standard! To the Porta Decumana! Close ranks! If you open them, +you will be lost!" + +These words had their effect. Often had these soldiers proved that this +solid closing of their ranks was the best, nay, the only means of +repelling the assault of the Germans. The hope of reaching their +comrades on the ships revived their courage; retreating toward the +south, fighting as they marched, they followed their trusted leader. + +The pursuers from the north and east pressed hotly upon them; but the +Romans moving southward received considerable reenforcements from the +east and the west, where the cross streets from both sides ran into the +one extending from north to south--the Via Media. Meanwhile the troops +defending the eastern and western gates had heard the war-cry of the +Alemanni within the camp and the shouts of their own fugitives, and +giving up the hopeless resistance, they thronged, according to a +standing rule in the camp, into the long central street which led to +the Porta Decumana, the gate assigned for the Roman line of retreat. + +True, the troops from the western gate, where the assailants had +already made considerable progress, poured down in great confusion; but +Dedus and Ausonius led the legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort from +the eastern gate in good order. Saturninus saw the two leaders from the +distance, but separated by the whole flood of marching men, they could +not meet. So the columns, overtaken and pressed by the Barbarians only +in the rear, gradually reached in better order the spot where the Via +Principalis, near the Decumanian Gate, intersected the long central +street leading to it. Here all the baggage, with many hundred carts and +wagons, was piled together. Such a barricade, a valuable defence to +German bands on the migrations, was the most dangerous obstacle and +interruption to the Roman order of marching and fighting; for no matter +whether the attempt to pass was made by going around or climbing over +it, in either case the firmly closed ranks were broken into little +groups, nay sometimes even separated into individual warriors, who were +forced to press forward or climb over the wagons one behind another. + +But the old Duke had not studied the plan of the camp in vain: he had +noted accurately where the baggage, the carts and wagons were placed, +and eagerly distributed all the bands of his men who poured toward him. +They came from the three gates north, west, and east, which they had +long since forced open, and they passed through the streets of the camp +in such a manner, as they pressed forward in pursuit, that they pushed +from all sides down the long and the cross streets upon the fugitives, +just at this exact point. + + + + CHAPTER L. + +In the midst of the intoxication of victory another joy filled the old +leader's heart: delight in the progress which, within a single +generation, the training in obedience had made in the subjection of his +Alemanni to the military authority of their Duke. + +The traditions of their forefathers and his own youthful experience +contained many an instance in which Germans had lost a victory already +won, because the conquerors, against their leader's commands, began, in +unbridled lust for booty, to plunder the captured camp. They would +scatter themselves through tents and baggage wagons, each vying with +his comrades, so that the Romans, little disturbed by pursuit, found +the opportunity to assemble again and, with closed ranks, could wrest +from the dispersed pillagers both camp and victory. So the old +Commander could say to himself with proud delight: "They have learned +something, through me--under me--ay, for love of me!" + +Before the commencement of the assault he had proposed, for he could +not command: "The camp and all its contents shall belong to the whole +army, after the victory is won. When the morning sun shines down upon +it, a division shall be made according to districts, families, and +individuals. Whoever takes, in advance, even a vessel or a weapon shall +be regarded as a thief who has robbed his people, and shall be hanged." + +The bands had assented, and they loyally kept their word: not a man +turned from the battle, or left the ranks to plunder, or even stooped +to pick up the costly gold and silver articles which the slaves, flying +from Ausonius's tent, had tried to hide, or perhaps steal. The slaves +had soon thrown down these articles that they might not be hampered in +their flight. + +Obedient to Hariowald's orders, the Alemanni drove the fugitives from +all directions toward the central street of the camp; so the confused +torrent which, hitherto, had poured through many separate channels +southward, was dammed by this obstacle and checked. + +The first men, still running at full speed down the narrow side paths +at the right and left, squeezed past the wide rows of carts, or, if not +too much crowded by their neighbors, climbed over them; but both plans +soon became possible only by the most violent struggles for precedence +on the part of the fugitives, as the hundreds driven here and there by +the Duke's followers rushed upon the closed ranks of the two leaders' +orderly columns. These fugitives pressed forward with the strength of +despair, especially after they perceived, with horror, that throwing +down their weapons and surrendering did not save them from death. + +"Woe, they are killing every one! Make way! Let us pass! They are +murdering the prisoners!" + +"No!" shouted the Duke to the nearest shrieker, "they are not murdering +the prisoners, for they have none!" and struck him down. + +Then the ranks which had remained closed began to waver. Saturninus +succeeded in crowding past the wagons on the right and hastened onward +toward the gate. The scene was brightly lighted by many blazing tents, +into which the victors had flung faggots smeared with pitch and resin. +At the corner of one of the cross streets Saturninus saw two of his +beautiful large dogs, with torn bodies, lying one above the other, +while he heard the others barking furiously, and at intervals the sound +of fierce growling. The next instant he was pushed far forward by the +men crowding behind him. He looked around for Ausonius, who had been +mounted, and saw him on foot trying to climb over the barricade of +wagons. He was making slow progress, and already, close upon this band +of fugitives, the war-cry of the pursuers sounded nearer and nearer. + +The Tribune ordered several pioneers whom he met to break a passage +with their axes through the carts for Ausonius and the left column. The +men did not obey willingly; they were reluctant to turn back, with the +Decumanian Gate in sight, to meet the furious attack of the foe; but +Roman military discipline and the habit of obedience to their honored +General again conquered, so they went to meet Ausonius, while the +Tribune hastened onward. + +The rising flames, the echoing blows of the axes, accompanied by the +ominous crash of splintering wood, urged the Tribune to still greater +speed; this gate must not be opened from the outside if his last +attempt to escape was not to fail. But scarcely had he reached the open +space before it, when fresh cries of despair rose from the column at +the left commanded by Ausonius. Before the pioneers had broken a +passage to the Prefect, his men had been reached by the arrows and +spears of the pursuers, and he himself, falling between two wagons, +suddenly vanished from their eyes. Loud lamentations from his followers +burst forth. + +Then the pioneers turned and fled in the opposite direction; the +Barbarians were threatening on the left, so they ran down one of the +cross streets at the right which intersected the central one. + +"Fly," called the foremost one, running directly past Herculanus, who +was making desperate but fruitless efforts to tear with his unchained +hands the solid oak-block from the earth or to release his feet from +the small holes and iron clamps. "Fly! Ausonius has fallen!" + +"Ausonius is dead!" shouted the second; throwing away his heavy axe, +which impeded his flight. It fell near the prisoner, who, without +heeding the violent pain which the movement caused to his strained feet +and bruised ankles, stretched both arms toward it. Triumph! He could +reach it. At least he could touch the handle with the tips of his +fingers, draw it slowly nearer, then at last seize and drag it to his +side. + +One of Ausonius's slaves, who had been wounded by an arrow, limped +along more slowly. "Oh, my kind master, Ausonius! He has fallen. He is +dead." + +"Dead?" cried Herculanus, "are you sure he is dead?" + +But the fugitive had not heard, or did not wish to hear him--he had +already moved on to Davus. + +"Help me!" wailed the latter. "Don't leave me here to burn--or to fall +into the hands of the Barbarians!" + +"Miserable murderer!" was the only answer. The fugitive had already +disappeared around the corner. + +Meanwhile Herculanus, seizing the sharp axe with both hands and bending +downward, dealt blows with all his strength upon the oak-block which +held his feet, just between the two holes pierced from the top to the +bottom. At last the solid wood parted, breaking open the holes; two +more blows severed the shackles which bound his feet to the two halves. +The prisoner was free. Yet it was only with difficulty and severe pain +that he could use his legs, stiffened by sitting still so many hours +and swollen by the pressure on the bones. But the desire to live, the +hope of escape, conquered the pain: he walked, at first very slowly, +toward Davus, who had watched him enviously. + +"Help me out too. You, you alone, have brought me to this." + +"Yes, traitor, I'll help you out," cried the other, with an angry +laugh. Cleaving the slave's skull with the axe, he ran on more quickly, +his limbs becoming more supple at every step, toward the western end of +the cross street; for the noise from the east grew louder and louder. + +The conflagration did not extend to this part of the camp. He glided +into a tent and hid himself, for he still had cause to fear his own +countrymen almost as much as the Barbarians. Here he found a short +dagger, like those worn by the Thracians, which he thrust into his +belt; he then put down the long-handled heavy axe, which had burdened +him while running. + +Ausonius dead! Perhaps all who knew of that incident were dead too! He +could not shake off the thought while peering cautiously between two +folds of the tent, watching for a way of escape between Romans and +Barbarians. + + + + CHAPTER LI. + +Herculanus was mistaken: Ausonius was not slain. In the attempt to leap +from one cart to another he had fallen between them and slightly hurt +his foot. But Decius and some legionaries of the Twenty-second Cohort +had helped him up again and taken him at once to the Decumanian Gate. +Here, meanwhile, the Tribune had quickly made his arrangements, +gathering the fugitives arriving singly around a body of his Illyrians, +to whom he also entrusted the standard. + +"Where is the ala of mailed riders whom I ordered here, forbidding them +to dismount? We need them now at the head of the sortie." + +"Alas, Tribune, in the turmoil, in the pressure on the gate and the +walls, we all dismounted and fought on foot. Our horses are gone; they +dashed down the side streets." + +"This is Herculanus's discipline of his men! So--we have no horsemen. +Well then, the spears to the front! The wounded in the centre! Here, +Ausonius, behind my troop! There. Draw back the bolts; throw the gate +open. We will fight our way through to the ships. Forward! On!" + +Then the gate, hitherto so firmly defended, its right wing half +shattered, the left half burned, opened from within, and the Romans, +summoning their last strength, led by their able General in person, and +stimulated to a final supreme effort by his example and the prospect of +safety, burst out of the camp. The shock was terrible, and the effect +of the unexpected attack upon the Barbarians was very great. All who +had been standing on the narrow strip of ground between the gate and +the ditch were hurled into it. Adalo was not among the number; he had +gone back for a moment to direct the preparation of a bridge of logs +which was to lead directly to the gate; then he intended to have his +men run across with beams to batter the already weakened timbers and +break it down completely. So he escaped the fall into the ditch, which +Sippilo shared, but as in the plunge from the wall, uninjured. The boy +climbed nimbly up the southern side. He had lost the helmet in his +first tumble, but held fast to his spear and shield this time too. + +For a moment, it is true, it seemed as if the Romans, as soon as they +had passed through the gate and obtained a view of the lake, would +disperse again in fresh terror; for meanwhile the attack on the ships +and the camp below had apparently succeeded. + +Hitherto the defenders on the walls had waited longingly for Nannienus, +and looked in vain over the Barbarians and their flaring pitch torches +toward the lake. But now that they had reached the open country outside +the camp, they saw a vast conflagration on the shore. Surrounded by the +tumult of the battle raging immediately about them, they had been +unable to hear the noise of the conflict which had commenced below half +an hour before; but they now perceived all that Saturninus had long +since concluded by the absence of his brave friend: the fleet itself +was being most hotly assailed. + +"The ships are burning! The camp is in flames! Our last refuge is +gone!" With these shouts, many sprang from the closed ranks, fled, and +were instantly overtaken by the Germans and struck down before their +comrades' eyes. + +"You see how fugitives fare!" cried Saturninus. "Keep your ranks closed +if you want to save your lives. March in close order to the lake, and +we shall save ourselves and our friends." + +This was a ray of encouragement, and the whole body followed their +brave leader, who was the first man to climb up the southern side of +the ditch. As soon as he reached the top his own name, shouted loudly +from the ranks of the Barbarians, fell upon his ear. + +"Where is Saturninus, the General of the Romans?" called a voice in +Latin. + +Brightly illumined by the flames of the burning camp, a leader of the +Germans, in the richest armor, pressed forward before his men. A +boar-helmet covered his head; a gray-bearded attendant held before him +a long shield on which he caught two well-aimed Roman spears at once. + +"Where is Saturninus? I must find him!" repeated the German, springing +forward again and felling the nearest Thracian with his battle axe. + +"Here," answered the Tribune. "But this is no time to negotiate." + +"No, but to die!" shouted Ebarbold, his battle axe crashing upon the +huge curved shield of the Roman. It entered it without injury to the +bearer. + +The King vainly struggled to draw out the weapon, it remained +motionless, and already the Roman's short, murderous broad sword was +quivering for the fatal stroke, when the gray-haired shield-bearer +sprang between them and threw the shield before his master. + +But the Norian iron penetrated the boar hide and the wooden frame of +the shield to the old man's left breast. He fell on his back, borne +down by the weight of the blow. + +Meanwhile Ebarbold had dropped the handle of the battle axe, drawn the +long unwieldy sword at his side, and swung it above the proud crest of +the Roman General's helmet; but before it fell, the short Roman sword, +red with the blood of the shield-bearer, pierced his throat and he sank +dying by the old man's side. "You--with me--for me!" he could say no +more. + +"Did you think I would desert you? The King of the Ebergau must not +enter Odin's hall unattended. You shall not enter the door of Valhalla +unattended like some man of low degree. We--have--both--kept our +word--and together--with the honor of heroes we will go to Valhalla." + +Ebarvin's head sank on the shoulder of his King. Both were silent in +death. + +The Illyrian had sprung forward over the bodies of the two +Germans--first hewing off with his sword the handle of the battle axe +still sticking in his shield--amid the wild, exulting shouts of his +countrymen who had witnessed the struggle. But the men of the Ebergau +were dismayed by their leader's fall; they hesitated--stopped--yielded. + +"Forward, down to the lake!" shouted the Tribune. "You see they are +giving way." It was a dangerous moment; for, confused by the retreat of +the Ebergau men, the band next behind them was wavering. + + + + CHAPTER LII. + +"Stand, men of the Linzgau!" shouted a clear, resonant voice, and a +youth with golden-brown locks fluttering around his handsome head +forced a passage through the Alemanni and Romans toward the Tribune. + +But the Romans had neither the inclination nor the habit of letting +their General fight single combats with the Barbarian princes. A +gigantic Illyrian stepped from the left of the ranks in front of his +leader and aimed his spear at the youth's face. But the weapon did not +fly; before he could hurl it a German boy leaped from below against the +warrior, and thrust his little spear into the arm-pit, now unprotected +by his suit of mail. He fell with a loud cry. + +"I thank you, little brother!" exclaimed Adalo and now, pressing close +upon Saturninus, he called to him in Latin: "Where is Bissula?" + +But the Roman General had no thought to give to a Barbarian girl; the +recollection of the captive had darted only once through his brain with +the speed of lightning, when he heard her she-bear growling in the +camp. He made no reply, except to wave the sword still dripping with +Ebarbold's blood. + +The Adeling's spear flew; Saturninus caught it on his shield; but being +burdened by the long lance, this was now so difficult to manage that he +let it fall, and sprang with a well-aimed sword thrust toward the +youth, who had instantly drawn his short battle-axe from his girdle. +Each was so furiously resolved to fell the other, that neither thought +of his own defence. So both struck, and both fell. + +With his utmost strength--and it was great--the German had aimed at his +adversary's forehead: the latter involuntarily bowed his head, putting +the helmet forward, but the terrible stroke cleft this best work of the +Roman armorers at Trier, and pierced through the bronze and the double +leather of the lining to the skull. The helmet was found afterwards; +and this "Suabian stroke" was long celebrated in the hall of the stag's +antlers. But the lord of the hall seemed destined never to return to +it, but to follow Ebarbold and Ebarvin; for, at the same time, the +Roman's sword had penetrated the wooden shield of the German and cut +deep into his left shoulder. + +Sippilo caught his brother's drooping head; several attendants grasped +his feet, and thus they bore him swiftly out of the battle. + +Decius, springing from Ausonius's side, now took command of the Romans. +But he could no longer maintain order in the ranks. At their leader's +fall under Adalo's terrible blow the column scattered in a wild flight +down the hillside. The foremost ones, who had witnessed the duel, +dispersed to the right and left. The rear ranks still held firm, but +now they received an attack from behind, from the camp, and all was +over. This attack was led by Duke Hariowald. At last--far too late for +his battle fury--he, too, had crossed the camp and reached the Porta +Decumana. + +The greatest obstacle to the pursuit was now what had formerly been the +principal cause of the hesitation, confusion, and dispersion of the +retreating Roman troops: namely, the luggage, the barricade of wagons. +Behind it, that is, between it and the lake gate, numerous Romans, +especially the German mercenaries, the Batavians, who were accustomed +to such methods of fighting, had again made a stand; and much time was +consumed before the Duke, by means of fire, axe-blows, and bloodshed, +forced a passage through it. He had at once sent bodies of his men +through the cross streets leading to the right and left; to go round +the obstacle and attack the defenders on both flanks. Herculanus had +watched, in mortal terror, from his hiding-place in the tent, the +Alemanni dashing down these cross streets. Many rows of tents were +already blazing; others were blocked with piles of luggage and tent +equipage left behind. It was long before the Duke and his men, breaking +their way through the citadel of wagons and driving its last defenders +before them, reached the Decumanian Gate; but then with his whole body +of troops, intoxicated by their victory, he fell upon the rear of the +Romans commanded by Decius. + +All was lost. Decius succeeded in holding together only one very small +band of Illyrians, scarcely twenty men. These, with their wounded +General and Ausonius in their midst, burst through the ranks of the +Linzgau men, who for some time were occupied with the care of Adalo, +and fled directly south toward the lake. It was evident that the only +hope of escape was by the ships, for swift destruction was overtaking +all the fugitives, who scattered and fled to the right and left, the +east and west. Without leadership or direction, only keeping in general +toward the lake, they ran singly, in pairs, and in groups. Most of +them, in the darkness of the night, floundered into the marshes, where, +ignorant of the fords or the few higher portions, they sank, and were +either drowned or cut down by their pursuers. + +As soon as Hariowald reached the open ground he heard of the King's +fall, to which he listened with a silent nod, and--from Sippilo's +lips--of the Adeling's wound. + +"Severe?" + +"Yes." + +"Where?" + +"In the shoulder; cut completely through." + +"H'm!--Was he carried to his hall?" + +"Yes." + +"Take the blind old dame Waldrun to him at once from the Holy Mountain. +She knows the strongest herbs, and she also knows when and how they +must be gathered, without impatience or rough handling." + +"She is already waiting at his hall." + +"How did that happen?" + +"She dreamed last night that this battle would end in victory, but that +she nursed my brother, who lay in her lap, sorely wounded. She insisted +that the Sarmatian should lead her to our hall before the battle began. +'I will wait there for the wounded man,' she said." + +"But you are bleeding, too, my lad; there, in the arm." + +"A spear grazed me. It isn't much." + +"Enough for the first time! You are surely tottering." + +"An arrow--in the calf of my leg--but it didn't go deep." + +"You can scarcely stand. Go home at once, do you hear? I, command it by +the oath of loyalty to the Duke. Waldrun will have a healing herb for +you, too. Go!" + +Assuming the direct leadership of the bands formerly commanded by +Ebarbold and Adalo, the Duke spread his whole force into the widest +possible front, to inclose the fugitives, and gave only one order: +"Drive them into the lake!" The command was received with shouts of +exultation, and faithfully obeyed. Hariowald had swung himself upon one +of the numerous riderless horses dashing through and around the camp; +his men eagerly followed his example, and thus the pursuit became a +wild chase on horseback and on foot down the descent from the heights +to the lake. + +The blazing camp behind, and the blazing ships before them, cast a +terribly beautiful, flickering light over the savage, warlike scene. +But already, though still very dim, another light was stealing where +the red glare of the torches and the burning tents did not penetrate. +The night was no longer perfectly dark. Far away, in the extreme east, +dawn was glimmering; for more than two, almost three hours of the +September night had passed in the battle around the camp since the +criers had announced the second hour after twelve. + + + + CHAPTER LIII. + +Meanwhile Bissula had recovered consciousness. The loud summons of the +tubas, giving the signal for the sally of the Romans, had roused her. +Raising herself in her hiding-place behind the beams and planks which, +piled one above another to the height of a man, completely concealed +her, she peered through the openings between them. Her heart throbbed +with joy as she saw the lake gate, hitherto so impenetrably and +inexorably closed against her, now standing wide open. Cautiously, +crouching like a kitten that tries to escape the hand outstretched to +seize it, she glided to the western corner of her hiding-place and +looked out at the gate. + +Yet, ardently as she longed for liberty, and familiar as was the +fearless daughter of the forest by the lake with all the perils and +horrors of the primeval woods and the waves, she was but a girl, and +had never before witnessed the terrors of murderous battles. But now +Bissula saw the bloody scenes, of which, hitherto, she had only heard +from her uncle or some bard at a feast celebrating a victory: she saw, +and trembled. + +By the light of the two wings of the gate, now blazing furiously, the +torches of the Romans, and the bundles of faggots hurled among the +tents by the Alemanni, she saw close at hand, beyond the ditch, the +bloody, murderous conflict. She saw the meeting between the Romans, as +they burst from the camp, and the assailing bands of her own people; +saw things which sent a thrill of horror through every vein. + +Trembling in every limb she sank down, as though paralyzed, on a pile +of lumber behind her, and gazed with dilated eyes, through the gate at +the terrible spectacle, from which, with all its horrors, she could not +avert her gaze, or even lower her eyelids. Suddenly she saw Saturninus, +then he vanished, hidden by his Illyrians, then reappeared, far in the +van. She recognized the King of the Ebergau,--he had given her a clasp +at the last spring festival,--then she saw him fall backward without +rising again. The little figure at his side, with fair curls floating +around his uncovered head, was Sippilo. So the plunge from the wall had +not injured him. + +Then a gigantic Illyrian, swinging a blazing torch,--a terrible +weapon,--approached him from the side. The boy did not see the brand +uplifted above him; Bissula, forgetting all danger to herself, shrieked +loudly. Then the soldier sank. For an instant she saw, by the glare of +the torch, Adalo, who had rescued his brother, and she rejoiced at the +spectacle, but the torch went out as its bearer fell. The brothers +vanished from her sight. Directly afterwards she heard in loud, wailing +tones the cry of many voices: "Adalo! alas for Adalo! alas for the +Adeling!" + +Horror and anxiety for her friend made her heart sink: she could get no +further glimpse of him. And, from the camp behind her, a fresh uproar +arose, which swiftly drew nearer. It was Hariowald, now with his men +driving the last Batavians (Bissula recognized Rignomer) from the +fortress of wagons, and the scattered Romans flying down all the +streets through the Decumanian Gate. She attempted to join the pursuing +Alemanni, but their arrows and spears flew close about her; a stone +from a sling fell crashing against a beam above her head and, +terrified, she threw herself face downward on the ground and let the +dangerous stream of foe and friend roar past her into the distance. + +The camp soon became still, absolutely still. Outside the gate, too, +the din of battle swept very swiftly down the hill toward the lake. +Bissula rose again and looked through the gate. In the distance she +saw, though indistinctly, the surging ranks pour down the slope; she +could scarcely distinguish the figures, but her people's shouts of +victory rang loudly in her ears. A rush of joy filled her heart and she +cried exultingly: "Victory! Liberty! Hurrah!" But the next instant she +said to herself reproachfully: "And Ausonius! And brave Saturninus! +Alas! and Adalo!" + +Her grief, her terrible anxiety for her lover drove her from her +hiding-place even more powerfully than the longing for her liberation, +and she resolved to venture across the dreaded battlefield, lately so +full of uproar, now so horribly silent. The camp was deserted. At least +it seemed so, as Bissula, stealing cautiously around the corner of the +barricade, looked in every direction. She thought, too, of the faithful +bear: "Bruna! Here, Bruna!" she called up the streets of the camp as +loudly as she could; but no Bruna came. Though the burning tents still +gave light enough, she saw no upright figure near, either of friend or +foe. Only on the ground, here and there, some movement still remained. + +A dead Celt lay directly across one of the streets, his helmet on his +head and the spear still in his rigid hand. With horror--she had never +before witnessed death, being only a few years old when she lost her +parents--she cautiously stepped over the broad mailed breast, holding +up her garments that they might not brush against the corpse. "Three +bounds," she thought, "and I shall reach the gate." She had already +raised her foot for a swift run, when a groan behind her reached her +ear. Involuntarily, though shaken by fresh fear, she looked around. +Terrible things exert a strange compulsion which at the same time +attracts and repels. A Roman severely wounded lay a few steps behind +her, his head resting on a tent-pole, his right arm propped on the +ground, and his left pressed against the gaping wound in his breast. He +must have seen the girl, for, instead of moaning, he now called, in +Latin, "Water, oh, pray give me some water!" + +Bissula shrank in fear; besides, she dreaded to turn from the liberty +beckoning outside the gate to go back into the camp. But her woman's +heart conquered the terror, and she glanced around her to see if she +could find means to quench the sufferer's thirst. Then her eyes fell on +one of the huge tuns which, according to Roman camp regulations, always +stood filled with water beside each gate. It was so high that she could +scarcely look into it, but she pulled herself to the top with both +hands and saw that there was plenty of water inside. But where was she +to find a cup? All sorts of utensils lay scattered around, but neither +goblet nor vessel. + +Then a thought flashed through her mind which at first made her +shudder. But she bravely conquered the girlish fright, went to the dead +Celt, loosed, with trembling fingers, the iron band which fastened the +helmet under his chin, drew it carefully, tenderly, as if the dead +could feel, from his head, then hastened to the cask, half filled it, +and carried it with both hands, the long horse-hair of the crest +trailing on the ground. She walked slowly, that she might not spill too +much, to the groaning man, who watched her movements with glassy eyes +and opened his mouth eagerly. Kneeling by his side, she held the helmet +sideways to his bearded lips. He drained it to the last drop, and with +a long sigh of relief, laid his head back on the pole and said, with an +effort: + +"Are you a Christian?" + +The girl shook back her red locks defiantly: "Freya and Frigga protect +me." + +"No matter," replied the dying man, "Christ, the Saviour, girl, will +reward you for this drink!" + +Bissula rose slowly, her glance rested upon the nearest street of tents +to the left and, with a sharp cry of terror, she dropped the helmet and +ran as swiftly as she could, toward the gate. For, down that street, +brightly illumined by the blaze of the burning tents, she saw, stealing +toward her, crouching like a beast of prey, with a dagger in his +hand,--Herculanus. + + + + CHAPTER LIV. + +Hitherto Herculanus had remained concealed from both Romans and Germans +in the tent on the cross street where he had sought refuge. Now +everything around had become so still that he might have supposed the +camp to be deserted, but the cautious fugitive probably would not have +left the tent yet if the fire, and still more the smoke, of the +consuming leather had not driven him away. Peering timidly between the +folds, he glided out, and his first glance fell upon the hated girl to +whom he believed he owed his downfall. With a short, half stifled cry +of savage delight in vengeance, he sprang toward her, the quivering +dagger uplifted, when he saw that he was discovered. But Bissula had a +good start; he was obliged to pass the fifty paces of the cross street +before reaching the corner tent where she had just been kneeling, and +his aching feet would not permit him to follow as fast as his hate +desired. + +Meanwhile Bissula fled like a hunted deer down the central street to +the gate; there she glanced back. Alas, he must have guessed the +direction of her flight, for he also ran toward the gate and saw her +pass out into the open country. He followed. + +At first hate and revenge urged him recklessly on. But now, after +obeying these impulses, he said to himself while running: + +"Ausonius is dead; I am his heir. And perhaps the few others who knew +of the incident died, too, in this hour, like Davus; only the Barbarian +girl lives. Has he, meantime, made her his heiress? Hardly! And even if +it were so, the will has probably burned with the other things in the +camp; and even if it should be saved, what harm can it do, if the +person named as heiress also perishes during this night of universal +slaughter? However that may be, she shall not--must not live." + +He too had reached the gate. The gray dawn of day was already diffusing +sufficient pale light for him speedily to discover the flying figure on +the opposite side of the ditch; her white garments and fluttering red +locks betrayed her when the wind bore the glare from the burning camp +in her direction. + +Herculanus leaped into the ditch, but uttered a cry of pain, and fell: +his feet were too lame. Climbing and dragging himself up with his +hands, with great difficulty and keen suffering he succeeded in +reaching the southern side of the trench. The fugitive had gained a +longer distance in advance. The Roman perceived this with furious rage +and, battling with the pain, forcing his reluctant feet to bear him +onward, he redoubled his efforts to overtake her. + +Bissula was doubtless greatly terrified when, after passing through the +gate into the open country, she again saw flames rising before, as well +as behind her, and heard the din of the raging battle. She had learned +from Prosper the arrival of the ships and the camp made by the lake, so +she understood that the conflict was probably now roaring around the +galleys. Yet she unhesitatingly obeyed the impulse which led her away +from Herculanus straight down to the lake; there, though she would once +more encounter the horrors of war, she would surely find her own +people. + +So she ran directly down the hill, always watching sharply to see if +she could not distinguish one of the Alemanni on her way. But the men +whom she met were not Alemanni; they were Romans, and lay dead or dying +on the earth. Once she was startled by a horse that dashed across her +path; trembling, she hid herself behind a clump of bushes; but the +steed bore no rider. Two, four, six masterless animals followed the +first, but neither Romans nor Alemanni, who might have threatened or +protected her, were visible far or near: flight and pursuit had long +since swept down to the lake. A furious struggle was still raging +below. + +She was forced to stop a moment, her heart was beating so violently. +Looking back from the bushes, she saw a dark figure, now plainly +visible in the light of morning, still swiftly chasing her; nay, it +seemed as though, behind the first, a second pursuer had rushed from +the camp or risen from the ground. + +Again she ran forward, confidently hoping to reach her people by the +lake before she was overtaken; for the child of the forest was skilled +in running and had a considerable start. But, after a few steps, fresh +terror seized her: she again heard, this time directly behind her, the +hoofbeats of a horse. At first she hoped it was another riderless +charger, but it followed directly upon her track, and she now heard, in +the language of the foe, all sorts of cries urging the animal on. A +frightful thought darted through her brain. At any cost, she must turn +to see whether-- + +Yes, her fears were verified. Herculanus had caught one of the horses +that crossed his path, thrown himself upon it, and was now pursuing the +girl, who was using the last remnant of her strength to fly. She +distinctly heard the heavy feet splash through the marshy pools of the +meadow land; heard, alas! louder and louder, therefore nearer and +nearer, the fierce shouts of the rider and the trampling of hoofs +winged by his excitement. The space which separated them grew shorter +and shorter very rapidly. Mortal terror overwhelmed Bissula; she +remembered how the cruel Roman had tried to kill her in the forest hut +like an animal slain for sacrifice. + +In this approach of death one name, one only sprang to her lips. +"Adalo!" she shrieked, "Adalo! Help, save me, save Bissula!" + +Vain appeal! No human being was visible far or near. No answer came. + +There was no fighting on the strip of shore toward which she was +running, only far out on the lake blazing Roman galleys were floating, +pursued by the little boats of the Alemanni. + +The terrible horse was already very near. She could hear the snorting +of the animal as it was urged forward with blows of the heels, shaking +of the bridle, and shouts, to more and more frantic speed. Then--oh, +rescue!--she saw in the gray light of morning, close to the shore, +hidden among the rushes, two boats of the Alemanni side by side. Those +were certainly no Roman vessels: there was neither triangular sail nor +lofty prow. Bissula even fancied that she distinguished on one the +sixteen-branched antlers, Adalo's house-mark. Yes, yes, there it was; +it was his fishing boat, and several men were bending to the oars. She +called loudly several times: "Help, Alemanni, help for Bissula!" + +Oh, joy! They had heard her voice. The men were rowing with all their +might; both boats were flying toward the shore to meet her. And then, +more joy: she heard behind her a loud cry and a dull, heavy fall with a +splashing noise. She could not help looking back. + +Yes, the horse, urged beyond its strength by the pitiless rider, had +fallen; it lay on its side, lashing out savagely with its hoofs. But +alas! Bissula had rejoiced too soon. The rider had sprung up unhurt and +was now running toward her--only a few steps away, brandishing his +dagger. The second pursuer appeared from behind the horse. And the boat +was still several ship's lengths out upon the lake. Without hesitation +the girl leaped into the water, waded as long as she could touch the +bottom, then with a strong push from the ground, spread out her +powerful white arms, well practised in the art, and swam toward the +nearest boat. + +No girl on the northern shore excelled Bissula in swimming; but the +long flowing folds of her robe hampered her, winding about her feet as +soon as they were wet and preventing her from aiding the strokes of her +arms with those of the lower limbs. And, horror! splashes behind her +announced that her pursuer, or two of them, had followed her into the +lake, for she thought she twice heard a plunge or a heavy fall. This +fear paralyzed the last remnant of her strength; her arms also refused +to obey her will; she sank with her face low in the water. + +Once more she raised herself from it; then she felt her pursuer seize +her long robe and drag her toward the land; but at the same instant his +grasp relaxed; a shrill death-cry fell upon her ear, followed by a low, +angry growl. Turning her head, she saw Herculanus sinking in the arms +of a huge blackish-brown beast. + +"Bruna!" she called again; then her senses seemed to fail. There was a +strange roaring in her ears; the water filled her nose, mouth, and +ears, and she sank. + +Just at that moment four strong arms seized her by the shoulders, and +the white hands flung high out of the waves for the last time. With +great, but tender strength she was lifted into the boat. Then she +opened her eyes: Ausonius and Saturninus stood before her. She shrieked +aloud in the anguish of the keenest disappointment; her eyelids closed, +her senses failed, and faintness overwhelmed her. + + + + CHAPTER LV. + +Even the reenforcements of Saturninus's troops could not have changed +the result of the battle around the ships and the camp on the +lake-shore: the die had fallen long before, nay, almost at the moment +the conflict began; for the surprise here had been almost more complete +than in the assault upon the Idisenhang. + +In spite of the chill of the September night, the brave Commander, +Nannienus, had had his couch prepared on the high quarter-deck, above +the second bank of oars of his bireme; a very simple bed, consisting of +a woolen blanket spread over the planks, a coil of rope under his neck +and his Breton cloak for a coverlet. In reply to the warning of the +colonist from Arbor, who now relieved the helmsman, against the +nocturnal coolness of the lake, he had said, smiling: + +"Oh, how often I have crossed at night, no more warmly wrapped, between +Britain and Gaul! Is the German ocean to be shamed by this fresh water +pond? There is no better sleeping potion than the rocking ship beneath +me and the stars above! Unfortunately, tonight there is no moon and +there are few stars. Strange, this constant calling of the swans. I +never supposed there could be so many!" + +While thinking of the swan notes, he fell asleep, but they haunted his +dreams. He saw countless white, brown, and black swans coming from both +sides of the marshy forest against his squadron, raising their wings +threateningly as if to strike. + +After a long sleep he awoke: gradually, as is natural after healthy +slumber, not all at once, his thoughts began to clear. Was he still +dreaming? It seemed as if the calling and singing of the swans on both +sides actually came nearer, accompanied by a peculiar low whistling, +humming, rippling, with now and then a louder splash in the water. +Still half asleep he asked the man at the helm: "What is that humming +among the rushes?" + +"The swans, my lord, the wild swans," replied the helmsman, the old +Roman colonist from Arbor. He was a retired member of the Twenty-second +Legion, faithful to the Caesar. "I know it well! I have often seen them +at sunset going by thousands to the marshy forests of this lake. They +are preparing to migrate." + +"No," cried the Breton starting up. "Those are no water birds, the +splashing is too loud." Lifting the helmet from his head, he gazed out +keenly. + +"The night is black as pitch, but look, something is swimming out +from the rushes yonder: Swans? No, no!" He tore his sword from its +sheath.--"Those are boats! To arms! Raise the anchor! The foe!" + +At the same moment a bright light flamed on the Idisenhang, red torches +blazed in the camp on the shore; a bundle of burning straw flew over +Nannienus's helmet into the half-reefed sail, remained there caught by +the folds, while tongues of fire, fanned by the north wind, crept up +the sail, the rigging, the mast. Already dark forms were climbing up +the sides of the galley from all directions, and wild cries from men, +attacked and mortally wounded while sleeping, rang from all the ships +and the camp on the lake shore. + +Nannienus sprang with flashing sword toward the first man who boarded +the galley. But the desperate fellow did not seem to care for his own +life. Without heeding or attempting to parry the blow, which came +within a hair's breadth of his unprotected head, he thrust a sort of +harpoon (that is, a spear eight feet long with a sharp point and a hook +curving backward, such as the men threw through holes in the ice on the +lake in winter to catch the largest sheatfish) into the Roman's bronze +belt, jerked him forward with tremendous force and hurled him +overboard. + +Nannienus fell into one of the boats of the Alemanni, at the starboard +side of his bireme, and striking his head against a thwart, lay stunned +for a considerable time. The skiff was empty, all its occupants had +boarded the galley. When he regained consciousness, he saw his own ship +and most of the other vessels in flames; while his camp on the shore, +and even that of Saturninus, high up on the Idisenhang, were burning. +Then he perceived that all was lost. Everywhere the remnant of his +armada which had escaped the flames was in full flight, pursued by the +Barbarians. + +He resolved to make his escape to Arbor, and hastily unbuckled the +Roman armor that would have betrayed him; his helmet he had lost in his +fall. Then, seeing a German mantle lying among the rubbish in the boat, +he threw it on, placed himself at the helm (these boats were rowed and +steered standing), trimmed the coarse square sail to catch the wind, +and was soon flying, unnoticed by the Germans, who recognized the boat +as one of their own, across the lake toward Arbor. + +Once only, the utmost peril threatened him. He had overtaken a lofty +Roman ship whose sails were partly burned, but the fire was evidently +being extinguished by the crew. He was on the point of hailing it and +ordering the men to take him on board when, to his horror, he perceived +that the galley was filled with Alemanni. As he had taken possession of +the German boat, they were pursuing on the captured bireme other Roman +ships that were flying to Arbor. + +He hastily rowed the skiff away from the great vessel, and now +perceived that in Arbor, too, a terrible conflagration was rising +toward heaven. It was the funeral pyre of Roman rule in the fortress on +the lake. Nannienus saw it with terror, turned his boat west southwest, +and tried to gain, instead of the lost Arbor, the distant but safe +harbor citadel of Constantia. + + + + CHAPTER LVI. + +The camp on the lake shore had been taken, with great loss of life to +the Romans. + +A camp wall and ditch had been hurriedly made in the few hours after +their arrival, merely for form's sake, because the good old Roman +custom prescribed it, and Nannienus insisted upon its observance. But +the Commander himself closed his eyes to the carelessness of the work. +This camp was to be abandoned at dawn on the following morning and its +men sent to garrison the one on the Idisenhang and to march in pursuit +of the Barbarians. So the ditch was dug only a few feet deep, the wall +erected only a few feet high, and other fortifications were omitted. +The Alemanni instantly poured from all directions into the fortress, +whose inmates were overcome by sleep and wine. + +The old Duke had given them counsel taken from the songs of a wandering +bard, who had sung in his own hall, to the music of his harp, ancient +tales of his race. The man was a Batavian and bore the names, an odd +medley, Julius Claudius Civilis Chlodomer. He went from tribe to tribe +as far as they understood his language, singing and telling the old +songs and legends. So he related how, three centuries before, his +people, skilled in the use of arms, and led by his ancestor who, though +a German, had the same Roman names as his distant descendant, fought +furiously against the Roman yoke and won many a victory, inspired by +Veleda, a maiden prophetess of the Bructeri. + +And he sang how once, one moonless, starless night, they attacked a +Roman ship camp on the Rhine: the galleys were anchored in the river; +on the shore were many tents. The Batavians first cut the main ropes, +which wound around the poles stretching the tents; and the sleepers, +buried, entangled, and held beneath them, were easily overpowered while +thus defenceless: + + "Like plump fish captured + In nets by night, + They struggled, shouting + Their tents beneath." + +The old Duke had firmly impressed upon his mind these lines of the +Batavians; they had seemed to him the best of all, and he now used what +he had learned. + +The Romans were wakened first by the tents falling in upon them, by the +glare of flames on all sides, and then by the Germans' shouts of +victory. They scattered without offering the least resistance; saw the +ships, their nearest refuge, also burning; tried to climb to the camp +on the height, but beheld fire blazing there also, and fled, without +aim or plan, to the right and left along the shore of the lake. They +were pursued by few of the victors, who preferred, first of all, to +seize the small Roman vessels and in these aid their comrades to board +the proud biremes. These vessels would contain more men, and their +higher decks were far better suited to climb the sides of the large war +galleys than the low fishing boats of the Alemanni. So it happened that +many German boats drifted to the shore empty, their crews having +abandoned them to pursue in the smaller Roman vessels, the Roman +galleys, or having already boarded them. + +When Decius, with the little band of Illyrians, whom he had held +together around the wounded General and Ausonius, reached the burning +camp, even Saturninus, with the biremes blazing before his eyes, +recognized reluctantly that here, too, all was lost, and any +continuation of the battle impossible. He consented, hesitatingly, to +think only of flight. Rignomer, who had joined the General at the lake +gate, was the first to discover, as he gazed watchfully to and fro, +several deserted boats of the Alemanni drifting near them. + +Leaping into the water, sometimes wading, sometimes swimming, he +reached the first, climbed in, found the oars, rowed to the three +skiffs nearest, tied them together with the ropes tangled near the +steering oar, and soon brought his little fleet so close to the shore +that the wounded Commander could be placed in the largest one, while +the whole band of fugitives--five or six in each--entered the others. +By his advice they all removed the high Roman helmets, which could be +recognized at a long distance, and the glittering Roman armor. At his +suggestion, too, they separated. Even Decius willingly followed the +counsel of the Batavian, an expert in sailing, in order not to attract +the enemy's attention so easily: thus they hoped to reach Arbor, on the +southern shore, singly and undetected. + +When Hariowald and his followers arrived, they found nothing to do +except to take possession of all the Roman and German vessels which +still lay unused near the land, and continue the pursuit of the war +galleys on the lake. Springing into a Roman transport boat, he ordered +his men to row him to Nannienus's galley, where the boarders, after +overpowering the crew, had extinguished the flames. A man standing on +the lofty deck flung a rope ladder into the boat and gave Hariowald his +hand to help him on board. It was now dawn; the Duke recognized +Fiskulf, the fisherman. + +"What!" cried the old Commander in astonishment. "Did Odin really save +you? Then he is even more powerful and more gracious than I expected." + +"It must be so," replied the man, with a happy laugh. "I was the first +on deck, flung, the first brand into the main sail, and swung the +Italian lord overboard like a lake salmon out of an ice-hole. But then +I saved the beautiful ship by putting out the flames. I thought: 'It is +better to capture than to burn.' Did I keep my word?" + +"You have surpassed it. And are you uninjured?" + +"Not entirely: henceforth I shall have one ear less. It must be owned +that the short swords of these Italians slice sharply, and they deal +powerful blows. Look, not even the mother who bore me with two ears +would believe that one ever peered out under my hair here--he shaved it +off so smoothly." + +The Duke held out his hand: "You shall be one of my followers, Fiskulf! +You have learned to hear and to obey me." + +"Yes, my lord, even with one ear! When I miss the second, I shall +always tell myself why I lost it." + +"And how the Lofty One gave you back the life forfeited to him: never +forget that. But now we will pursue the Italians across the lake to +Arbor on their own splendid galley. Spread every sail!" + +"Where shall we get them, my lord? They are all burned." + +"Then stretch your mantles for sails. The north wind will help to fill +them; a fresh west northwest breeze will spring up at sunrise. See how +the waves are rippling already. The first red ray of morning is +breaking through yonder clouds. Quick, men, seize the Roman oars; the +morning sun must greet us on the southern shore. Ha, do you behold it +over yonder? Smoke and flames are rising in Arbor. Our eastern men, the +Hermunduri, and our kinsmen, now free, though hitherto under the +foreign yoke, have kept their promise. Up! On to Arbor to celebrate the +third victory of one night!" + +He seized the helm himself. The proud galley of the Romans turned her +prow away from the northern shore, and being now rowed by the +conquerors, moved majestically across the lake. The mantles of the +Alemanni, brown, blue, yellow, and red, filled in the fresh +northwestern breeze, and the well-built ship darted swiftly through the +water, which reflected the clear sky in the increasing brightness of +the morning and shone with a wonderful azure hue. The waves broke in +foam before the bow, tossing their white spray high into the air; +little rosy clouds were floating in the eastern sky and were mirrored +in the lake. + +With the folds of his dark mantle around him, his white locks +fluttering, his head crowned with a shining white helmet, Hariowald's +tall figure stood forth in strong relief against the sky, as he +remained at the helm erect and motionless, his spear flung over his +shoulder. So the ship and her helmsman gradually vanished beyond the +sight of the eyes watching them intently from the northern shore. + +Rignomer, peering from behind his sail, also saw and recognized him. +"They can upbraid me as much as they please," he muttered. "Where is +Brinno, who tried to oppose him? They can say what they choose. Even +though in human form, it is still _he_!" + + + + CHAPTER LVII. + +But the Batavian was suddenly startled from his mythological studies. +He heard from the east a shout in German: "Romans! Romans! On them!" +and saw a boat filled with Alemanni steer toward them. + +"Quick! Disperse in every direction!" he called, and the boats +containing the fugitives scattered. He soon lost sight of two, which +attracted the attention of the pursuers and were driven by the Germans +out upon the lake toward the south. He himself steered and rowed at the +same time, assisted by several soldiers, close in to the shore +westward, where by good fortune he reached a small patch of rushes, +among which he hid the boat; the second one, containing Decius, soon +joined him. + +From this place Ausonius, who by Saturninus's order was watching the +shore to see if they could rescue any fugitive Romans, perceived by the +dim light of morning the figure of a girl in a gleaming white robe, who +was running at her utmost speed straight toward the boats. He already +thought he recognized Bissula when her cry fell upon his ear: "Adalo, +Alemanni, help Bissula!" He also saw a horseman dashing in furious +pursuit down the hill. He ordered the men to row quickly shoreward. +Prosper, even Rignomer, hesitated. "My lord," the latter warned him, +"they will murder us all!" + +"No matter! Bissula! It is for Bissula!" + +Then Rignomer instantly obeyed. Hidden behind his sail he had not seen +the young girl, and could not hear her; but now he turned the helm, and +sent the boat with the speed of lightning toward the shore, at the same +time urging the soldiers to row with all their might. The rest of the +men now recognized the fugitive, and so the rescuers came just in time +to save her from sinking. + +Bissula, whose strength was completely exhausted, lay unconscious in +the bottom of the boat for a long, long time. Rignomer had rolled into +a bundle a fishing net which he found in the bow and put it under her +head for a pillow. Ausonius, sitting on a thwart, supported her lovely +little head and gazed anxiously down into her face, while the Batavian +rubbed her cold hands. + +Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the rushes, rowed +first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide +circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did +not go far. + +"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling from the +second boat as they rowed side by side. + +"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance for this +unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the +Caesar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me +three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night." + +"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley coming toward +us." + +"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains Barbarians." + +"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from +Constantia!" + +"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; I +recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is +on board." + +"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Caesar," remarked Saturninus. + +The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept forward. It +must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with +Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and +now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer, +stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head, +"that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you +bring? I hope help, reenforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are +lost." He groaned aloud. + +"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. "Nannienus, +whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has +told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you. +Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand +men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?" + +"What has happened?" asked the Roman leader, startled. + +"A second Cannae, Gratianus says." + +"Oh, what a dreadful word is that!" + +"The Emperor Valens and his whole army are defeated, put to rout by the +Goths at Adrianople. Forty thousand Romans lie dead upon their shields, +thirty thousand are prisoners. The Emperor Valens while wounded was +burned during his flight, in a peasant's house. All the Eastern +Provinces are overrun by the Goths; even Constantinople is threatened. +Gratianus has appointed you, Saturninus, commander-in-chief of the +whole trembling, orphaned Eastern Empire. He commands you to hasten at +once to Vindonissa, to lead his whole army thence against the Goths on +the Danube. You are his last hope, and the Empire's. 'Saturninus alone +can still save us,' he ordered me to tell you." + +"And this Saturninus is a bungler," groaned the Illyrian, "and a +wounded man, too. Attacked and disgracefully defeated by Suabian +robbers--beaten in every sense!" He laughed grimly. + +"Ha!" replied Nannienus mournfully, "that is nothing compared to my +fate. An imperial fleet, under my command, captured and burned by +miserable fishing boats." + +"Alas," Saturninus continued, "and now I cannot even avenge myself and +my honor as a General on these miscreants. But the Empire--the +Emperor's command overrules everything else. I obey. Turn the helm. We +will go to Constantia, thence to Vindonissa. Come with me at once, +Ausonius. Do you not hear?" + +"Directly," replied the latter. "She is opening her eyes." + + + + CHAPTER LVIII. + +The imperial galley was preparing to tow Saturninus's boat. This plan +seemed best for the wounded General, who could not easily be lifted +upon the lofty deck of the ship. Engaged in this task, the other Romans +did not notice the young girl, who now sat up. Her first glance rested +on the Prefect. "Ausonius!" she said feebly. "Again captured by you." + +"Saved by me--by us Romans," he answered, more sternly than he was +accustomed to speak, especially to her. + +Strange changes had taken place in the character of the variable man. +He was not yet absolutely sure of his own feelings--how everything +ought to end between him and Bissula. + +"True, you did not call my name or appeal to us for aid. You had +another deliverer in your mind. Yet you were not saved by the Alemanni, +but by us Romans." + +"From your own nephew, he alone pursued me!" she answered vehemently. + +"Punishment has overtaken him," replied the Prefect, shuddering. "Let +these thoughts pass. I saved you; I first recognized you and ordered +the boat to turn back, merely to rescue you. Thus I risked life and +liberty, for your wolfish people are certainly wild beasts and +murderers. So: life for life. There we are equal. But," he went on +gravely, earnestly, and kindly, yet with a stern, strange tone, as if +testing her, "but we have not yet done with each other, little maid. +You wounded me deeply, very deeply by your fierce, rude, childish +refusal. Almost as deeply as the poisoning plan of--the dead man. The +terrible events of the past night first taught me how I love you: I +thought constantly of you, your fate, your safety. Duty called me, but +I sent you my most faithful----" + +"To prevent my escape!" + +"To protect you, ungrateful girl. When I fell from the wagon under the +missiles of the Barbarians and thought death would come the next +moment, even then I thought only of you. I have proved it by the most +terrible test; my love for you is genuine, no mere caprice; it will end +only with my life. And so once more, not as a reward for your act of +rescue (I have repaid that), not as a favor or a gift--if the word +offended you--once more, for the last time in life (and consider well, +I will never set you free again) I ask you: will you be my servant, or +my wife? I beseech you--do you hear? I, Ausonius, beseech you: become +my wife!" + +"Never! Never!" cried the girl starting up. + +"Insolent!" replied the rejected lover, offended and deeply incensed: +"You forget you are again my captive--again in my power." + +A glance from Bissula into the waves of the lake, here very deep, was +her only reply. Ausonius continued, without understanding the meaning +of the look, "Now I know the cause of this defiant, senseless refusal. +You deceived me when you said you had no lover." + +"I have no one who loves me," she answered with the deepest sadness; +tears filled her eyes as she gazed fixedly into vacancy. + +"You lie!" cried Ausonius. "That Adalo!" Bissula started. "He must love +you madly." + +Bissula listened intently, gazing at him in astonishment; glowing shame +and happy terror filled her heart. + +But the Roman went on: "Or would he, a free Prince of the Alemanni, +have solemnly made the proposal to Saturninus and me: 'Let the maiden +go unhurt. Adalo will take her place as captive.' Do you know what that +means? A slave for life?" + +"He--he did that? For me?" Passionate delight flashed from her eyes, +her soul. + +Ausonius gazed silently into her face. Then he said: "How he loves you, +this offer shows: how you love him, your radiant eyes betray. But," he +added, slowly and searchingly, "know this. He will no longer separate +us. You can become mine without breaking faith with him, for--" he +clasped her hand. + +"What is it? What has happened to him? Speak!" + +"He is dead." + +"Oh!" shrieked Bissula, and, before Ausonius could stop her, she had +wrenched herself from his hold, sprung on the thwart of the boat and, +clasping her hands above her head with a gesture of silent anguish, +flung herself forward toward the water. + +A strong arm caught her; it was Rignomer's. + +"Stay, hot-hearted child!" he exclaimed kindly. But the girl struggled +furiously in his grasp, she was resolved to plunge into the deep lake; +the light boat rocked dangerously. + +"Calm yourself," said Ausonius gravely and sorrowfully. "He lives." + +"Oh, how cruelly you have played with me," cried the girl. The Batavian +now drew her gently down upon the thwart, and she burst into a flood of +tears; but they were tears of joy. + +"It was no play, only a test. I see with grief that you really love the +fair-haired boy so fondly. If he had fallen, you would rather have +followed him to death than lived as my wife in splendor and happiness? +O Bissula, this is hard!" + +"Father! Dear Father! Don't be angry. I cannot help it. But is it +certain? Does he live?" + +"Yes. You cannot help it! That is true; I see it now. Be comforted. He +is alive. I saw him carried off the field by his followers. Saturninus +and he exchanged blows." + +"Yes. Be calm, little one," the Tribune interposed good humoredly. "His +stroke was really no harder than mine. I am still alive, so he will +doubtless live too." + +"Oh, Ausonius!" pleaded Bissula, raising both hands beseechingly. But +he did not let her finish the sentence. Passing his hand across his +eyes he murmured unheard by the others: "It is over. This hour has made +me an old man." Then he asked: "Where do you wish to be put on shore? +Opposite to Suomar's forest hut?" + +"Thank you, my warmest thanks! But not there, farther to the left from +here; yonder under the willows, where a nobleman's hall stands on the +height." + +"His!" exclaimed Ausonius. + +"Which you saved for him," added Saturninus. "All very beautiful and +noble--almost touching!" the Tribune continued, trying to seem unmoved, +yet at the same time kindly stroking the hand of the young girl, in +whose eyes the dancing light of joy mingled with tears like May rain. +"Only I will not permit the Prefect Praetor of Gaul to return to that +shore full of murderous wolves. No, indeed I will not. Neither will I +risk the life of any Roman soldier. Who is to take her to the land?" + +"I will go myself alone!" cried the eager girl. + +"That some Roman murderous wolf may follow you again on your way to the +hall; they are still worse!" cried the voice of some one, in German. +"No, illustrious Tribune," it continued in Latin, "I will take the +child to her friends." + +Rignomer now stepped from behind the sail which had concealed him. His +appearance was totally transformed: he had removed the Roman helmet +long before; now he had unbuckled the coat of mail and thrown around +him a brown Alemannic mantle which he had found in the boat. Instead of +the Roman weapons he carried over his shoulder a long iron-shod pole, +used for pushing and guiding boats while it could touch the bottom. + +"You?" asked Saturninus. "You too will be a dead man if they catch +you--a warrior in the Roman service." + +"Pardon me; I am one no longer. My time of service expired at +midnight--the last of the long seven years: what I did since--" + +"It was----" replied Saturninus. + +"Was done voluntarily. I shall not renew my oath of service. No, no! I +have had enough--more than enough of it. The Emperor still owes my pay +for the last month. I will let it go. I shall return to my mother, on +the Issala. But first I will take this runaway child to her people." + +As he spoke he grasped her hand. "Jump over, little one. See, the other +boat is empty: they have all climbed up into the galley. Jump over! +Happily, we are going home!" + +"So be it!" said Ausonius, without resentment but gravely: "Farewell, +Bissula! We part never to meet again." + +He turned away. Bissula threw herself on his breast and, amid flowing +tears, kissed his noble brow. His face had never been so handsome. +"Ausonius, farewell!" + +She sprang into the second boat, where Rignomer was already standing; +then she turned again toward the other one. This had been fastened by a +rope to the galley and now began to follow it as, propelled by many +oars, it swept toward the southwest. + +"Father Ausonius, I thank you!" she called. But he did not hear. With +his face averted from his young friend, and his gray head pressed +against the mast, he was weeping bitterly. + +The ship, dragging the boat in its wake, flew swiftly away. + + * * * * * + +The Batavian wielded the oars sturdily, and the light boat rapidly +approached the shore. + +Bissula no longer watched the disappearing Roman galley, but with a +throbbing heart sprang into the bow of the boat, where Adalo's +house-mark, the sixteen-branched antlers, rose proudly; she could not +help stroking it tenderly. The next instant she turned, laughing and +clapping her hands joyously, and exclaimed: "Now, Rignomer, you shall +see for once what rowing means. We are moving far too slowly for me!" + +Lifting two oars from the bottom of the light boat she put them +skilfully into the willow holders, seized them with both hands and, +standing erect, her face turned toward the shore, rowed with such +strength and skill that Rignomer exclaimed in wonder: "By Freya's eyes, +girl, you might become a boatman on the Issala any day! You can do this +too? A pity that you are not going with me to my mother!" The boat shot +to the land among the marshes. Bissula reached the ground with a long +leap before the Batavian could help her. The steersman had kept a +straight course for the nobleman's hall: they saw the stately wooden +mansion towering directly above them on the hill. + +"Oh, Donar be thanked," cried the girl joyously. "He has saved his +favorite beast, as the she-bear saved me." + +"What? What are you looking at in the mire?" + +"See! Bear tracks; very fresh ones! She was not drowned; she ran yonder +to the right along the shore on the old path where Sippilo and I always +went to fish." + +"Who is Sippilo?" asked the Batavian. "Another Adalo?" + +"Oh, nonsense! A child. And just see; from here the tracks go directly +to the hall. Come! Don't walk! Leap! Spring up the hill!" + +"No, little one," said the Batavian gravely. "You can run; I will not go +with you. You seem to know the way, to know it very well. There is no +human being in sight far or near. You can reach the hall safe without +me. Aha, there too, a huge stag's antlers tower from the roof. That is +the reason you were so pleased with the one on the boat's prow. +Farewell, little one! I won't go to the meeting--I mean yours with +Adalo and all the rest who belong to his clan." + +"They would thank you for having done so much for me." + +"Never mind the thanks. I did not do it for them." + +"Where are you going?" + +"Home. To the north and west. No, have no fear for me; I shall make my +way through. Here in my breast, little one, I carry the pay and the +price of the booty won in seven years; and on my shoulder is this pole. +One can go far with these two assistants. Farewell! And,"--he whispered +in her ear--"heed my words: never defy the man you call your Duke; for +he is--_he_!" + +He patted her hair and her pretty round head with rough tenderness as +he spoke, and then sprang toward the west along the lake shore. Once he +stopped to look after her--he wanted to wave another farewell. But +Bissula did not see him. She was running, with glowing cheeks, up the +hill. + + + + CHAPTER LIX. + +It was now broad daylight. The sun was shining radiantly on the +mountain and the lake. Light clouds which hitherto had hung like a veil +thrown over a long spear about the peak of Sentis floated swiftly down +into the valley. During the night a light snow had fallen upon Sentis +and Toedi and the other topmost peaks in the chain, and lay there +glittering like sparkling crystal. It was very peaceful. The +war--thanks to Bissula--had not brought its destruction here. Hoar +frost flashed on every blade of grass. + +The child of the forest, so long shut out from lake, meadow, and field, +rejoiced in the freedom of nature. She inhaled long draughts of the +pure air; nay, in spite of her impatience, she even turned once and, +standing still, gazed out over the shining azure lake and the peaks of +the mountains radiant in white and gold. + +"I do not know how to call you all by name, ye beloved gods, who have +guided everything so happily for me, aided me upon land and water, and +are now shining in the sunlight and the glory of the mountains! And +Adalo lives: that is the best, the very best of all that ye have done. +Ye gods, I do not know you all, but I thank every one of you!" + +She stretched her arms toward the sun. Then, that the goddess of the +lake and Donar, the King of the mountains, whose throne was on Sentis, +might not be angry, she saluted the water and the mountains, with both +hands, raising and lowering them as one waves a greeting to a friend +recognized at a distance. Again she ran impatiently up the hill side. +Most of the singing birds had left the lake long before; but one little +robin which always remained there all winter recognized the friendly +being who often scattered food for it on the snow, and, greeting her +with a light chirping, flew a few paces in front of her until she +reached the door of the hall. + + * * * * * + +Within the great central room Adalo lay on the floor upon a pile of +soft skins, his head toward the steps of the master's lofty seat, his +feet toward the entrance. His head rested in the lap of gray-haired +Waldrun; his eyes were closed. At his left lay Zercho, but placed in +the opposite direction, with his head toward the door and a huge goblet +of mead beside him. At his right stood Sippilo, gazing down anxiously +at his brother's face. Beside the wounded man was Bruna, the she-bear, +growling softly as she licked his hand. She was the first to move, +raising her head as light footsteps were heard on the sand outside the +door. + +The blind woman said, in a low tone that the wounded man might not +hear: "That is Bissula's tread." + +The girl appeared in the doorway. Sippilo started, Zercho raised his +head, but she motioned to them all to keep silence, and noiselessly +advancing with bare feet to Adalo's couch, she laid her little hand on +his head. + +"Bissula?" asked the Adeling. + +She bent over him, her red locks falling on his pale face. + +"Is it you, little one? No, no! The fairest of the Valkyrias has come +to bear me upward--do you see her swan wings?--up to Valhalla's shining +heights." Bissula's white robe was floating around her shoulders. + +The girl cast a glance of agonized terror at Waldrun. + +"Be comforted," said the old dame firmly, "he will live. And everything +will be as I have said." + +"You must stay with us always now," cried Sippilo, seizing her garments +as if to hold her by force. + +Bruna, growling joyfully, had risen and put one paw on her knee, +looking up at her with intelligent eyes. Bissula gratefully patted the +animal's head and held out her hand to Zercho, who kissed it humbly. +Laughing, yet with tears in his eyes, he cried: "O little sprite, +little red sprite!" + +But now the girl bent down again, exclaiming: + +"No, Adalo, it is no Valkyria, it is Bissula, little red Bissula, who +is so wicked, so wicked! Adalo,--hush, don't speak,--I know all. I +know, too, what you wanted to do for me, what you offered. That was +wrong in you. Hush, hush! It was certainly what you--you only are of +all the people in the world. Hush, dearest--don't move. Yes, yes, I +will stay here, your nurse, your maid-servant, as long as you need me. +Ah! I beg you so earnestly--I entreat you--take me! No, no! Do not move +your arm! Not yet to your breast! But I will do everything all my +life--will be as blindly obedient as you desire: only let me stay with +you--your own!" + +Her little head sank on his breast. The wounded man raised himself, +kissed her flowing red hair, the red lips, now smiling again, and the +eyes still wet with tears, exclaiming rapturously: + +"O Bissula--you dear one--you wicked elf--my beloved bride!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + [Footnote 1: The German name for Lake Constance.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Captive of the Roman Eagles, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES *** + +***** This file should be named 32220.txt or 32220.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/2/32220/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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