CHAPTER XVII.
"Tell me everything once more, Zercho," he said earnestly, "untilWaldrun has recovered and can add what you did not see. I have not yetclearly understood the one thing upon which all depends."
The bondman was now crouching beside the fire, trying to keep the smokefrom the white-haired woman with the wolf-skin he wore for a cloak. Itdid not annoy her at all, but it helped him to avert his eyes from theyouth's searching gaze.
"It happened in this way, handsome neighbor. Directly after you leapeddown the slope in anger,--I saw it from the stable,--the little redsprite ordered me to bury the master's coins (alas, there are very fewof them!) and the brass vessels and broken-handled jug which heobtained 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 intothe marshes to Suomar, the master. But alas, the hot and cold cat,which invisibly shakes the body like a mouse, often springs upon thegood old mistress. So it was the next day. The sufferer could hardlystir her aged limbs from the couch; her strength was as feeble as adying torch; I almost had to carry her. But I could do this onlyon solid ground: in the forest marshes I should have sunk with myburden--strong bones weigh heavily. So, in the forest, the blind womanwas obliged to walk by herself, leaning on her staff and guided by thelittle elf, while I jumped from stone to stone in advance, seeking thebest path. But just before we reached the hay hut, the grandmotherfell; she could no longer stand or walk. We carried her in. You knowthe entrance to the old cave is just beside the left corner post. Downbelow there it was safe, warm, and for her no darker than above. Wespent the rest of the day and the night in it. Bissula, in spite ofevery 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 watchedoutside near the hut. In the gray dawn I stole back westward toward theedge of the forest to watch for the helmeted Romans. Soon I saw a smallband of mounted men dash straight to Suomar's dwelling. I had hiddenour old log boat and the oars among the thickest rushes and meant torow it through the marsh as near the hut as possible, carry the sickwoman to it, and then try to take my two mistresses to Suomar by way ofthe lake. But when I reached the shore I saw several ships--their loftyprows and triangular sails marked them as Roman galleys--moving fromArbor on the opposite side toward our shore. They would soon be verynear. 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 meadowsclose beside me.
"Two men with arrows and long bows in their right hands dashed by, nota spear's length distant. I crouched among the rushes, nay in the swampto my lips; but in doing so I startled the great egret that alwaysfishes there. As, screaming loudly--silly bird--he soared upward overthe rushes, he attracted the attention of the riders to himself and,unluckily, to me too. They saw my head. A bow whirred, an arrow whizzedthrough 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 agood thing. I now swam out into the lake, diving like a duck as long asI could hold my breath.
"When I was forced to rise, the men had disappeared. Cautiously as thefox stealing after the mouse, I crept on all fours through the thickestrushes nearer to the land, in the direction of the hut, but making awide circuit. Then I saw two Romans in glittering armor step into theclearing in the forest: one was leading the young mistress by thearm--"
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 fewwinters 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 rowher back across the lake."
"Are you perfectly sure," asked Adalo, seizing the bondman by theshoulder and forcing him to turn his averted face, "that this horsemanwas the old Roman?"
"Well, he isn't so very old," replied the Sarmatian evasively, "thoughhe has grown somewhat grayer since that summer."
"Answer," cried Adalo angrily. "Can you swear that the rider wasAusonius?"
"Ausonius! Yes, yes, that is what she always called him. FatherAusonius. 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 suddenlyseemed to pain him) muttering meanwhile in his Sarmatian dialect, whichAdalo did not understand.
"So it was really he," sighed Adalo. "And I must thank the gods forhaving led her to him."
"Freya will reward you for it," said the blind woman suddenly, raisingherself on her left arm and groping with her right hand in thedirection of the voice until she reached the youth's head and strokedhis long locks. "The dwellers in Asgard will repay you for suchthoughts."
"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 onangrily, "who will defend her from Ausonius? She was tenderly attachedto him."
"As a child to its father."
"Be it so--at that time. But now the maiden will owe him gratitude foreverything, even the highest boon."
During this conversation Zercho had repeatedly looked thoughtfully atboth; now he scratched himself behind the ear and was about to makesome remark, but changed his mind and remained silent.
"Against my warning," said the old woman, continuing the bondman'sstory, "the child had glided away from my side out of the cellar intothe hut. She grew tired of waiting in the dark hole for Zercho'sreturn. Suddenly I heard a man's heavy step above me; then a shriekfrom the little one, which made me tremble. But by the time I hadgroped my way to the stone slab and lifted it, all was still. I vainlycalled her name. Soon Zercho came with the news that he had seen herled away captive. We sorrowfully waited for the darkness. My fever hadleft me; I could walk slowly, but faithful Zercho sought our cow andfound her among the tall reeds in the swamp, lifted me upon her and, bya wide circuit through the forest, brought me here."
"For I had seen Italian galleys between the forest hut and Suomar inthe eastern marshes," remarked the Sarmatian. "The enemy wasreconnoitring there, so I tried to reach the mountain, as my mistresspreferred."
"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 ofher 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 ofher own defiance and obstinacy." But he said nothing, only thinking:"It will be a difficult task. If it depended upon me--from the moment Iheard it I would have stormed the Idisenhang so constantly and fiercelythat the Italians would have had neither inclination nor leisure totorment the child. Or to win her," he added bitterly. "But the army isunder the sole command of my cousin Hariowald, the Duke. I cannot--"
Here a low growl interrupted him: he turned and saw a singularspectacle.