Bissula. English

  CHAPTER XLVII.

  So the hours of the day had passed. The sun had sunk majestically intothe lake; darkness had gathered quickly; there was no moon. The Comesof Britannia had left Ausonius's table early, the hospitable host hadvainly tried to induce him to empty one more goblet.

  "As many as you please, after the victory, Ausonius. But a sailor mustkeep sober. Besides, his place is on the water, not on forest-cladheights. I feel here, away from my ships, like a whale left stranded bythe tide and lying gasping on the shore. Truly, the only right kind ofwater is salt water--"

  "Because we can't drink it," remarked Ausonius, filling his gobletagain.

  "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 willhave 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 tworeedy lakes for you. If there are no Alemanni, there will be plenty ofrare waterfowl to hunt."

  He went out with his officers and rode with them, guided bytorch-bearers, down the mountain back to the ship-camp: for one-half ofthe 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, atrustworthy Breton countryman, whether he had anything to report.

  "Nothing from here, my lord. Only behind Arbor a fire seems to beburning on the Hill of Mercury; or they are celebrating one of theirEaster festivals. Look yonder!"

  "Yes, that is in one of the farms of the Alemannic settlers. Hark! Whatwas that?"

  "Wild swans, my lord. They must have hundreds of nests in the reedyforests. They call and answer one another very often."

  "Then surely no men can be hidden there; the noble birds are very shyand wary. Who is coming to relieve you?"

  "I, Albinus, the veteran from Arbor."

  "Good: you will watch the first and second hours after midnight. Wakeme before the gray of dawn."

  * * * * *

  The sentries in the camp above on the Idisenhang, and below in thetents brought from the ships, had shouted the hour of midnight withoutthe occurrence of anything to disturb the sleepers, who were lying inthe deepest repose, except that for a long time the noble dogs whichthe Tribune, a keen sportsman, had brought from Vindonissa and kept inan empty tent near the northern gate, had barked violently. They werecostly animals of the purest British breed, which, trained in the arenaat Rome to fight the aurochs, were now to test their skill and couragein the primeval forests. They could not be quieted, whether the guardspatted or flogged them, and their loud, angry baying was heard in theditch before the north gate, where the whole Batavian cohort wason duty. The bright flames and thick columns of smoke from theirwatch-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 anoutpost.

  "Do you hear the dogs?" asked Rignomer.

  "I'm not deaf," growled Brinno,

  "When they keep on incessantly, it means something!" the othercontinued mysteriously.

  "Of course it does. They are hungry. Or they have the little one'sshe-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. Thereis something abroad. Between midnight and dawn the night huntsman ridesover the tree-tops. I thought just now that I heard a horse neigh aboveme, 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 andover the wind-swept forests, when he drives the woman of the woodsbefore 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 onmetal--the clanking of arms--close in front of us?"

  "No," said the fourth, "but I hear the faint trampling of a horse'shoofs. Hark! There are several. Now it comes again, nearer still! Thefoe!"

  "Yes, it is the foe!" said Rignomer, seizing the signal horn to raiseit to his lips--but he had no power to do so. Horror, paralyzingterror, awe which shook every limb, seized upon the brave man. His hairbristled; voice and hand refused their service. Rigid with fear, hestared at the wooded height before and above him, which suddenly seemedalive.

  A warrior sprang from behind every tree; every bush; yet it was notthese hundreds of Alemanni that terrified the battle-tried Batavian,but another spectacle. Sometimes in a full glare of light, sometimesdimly seen by the flame of two blazing torches, swung in circles by twohorsemen riding at his right and left, a powerful figure of superhumanstature on a grayish-white horse came dashing down from the heighttoward him. White hair and a floating beard waved around a fierce butmajestic countenance, above which a bird-monster, whose like Rignomerhad never seen, seemed to flap its white wings threateningly againstthe mercenary as the vision rushed onward in silence, a huge spearthrust before him, a long dark cloak flowing back from his shoulderslike 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 uponus! Odin is leading them! All is lost," ran back to the ditch at fullspeed. Two of his comrades followed his example, and all three leapedinto 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 hisexample; for they saw their leader unarmed, running with every sign ofthe utmost terror from the ditch toward the northern gate to tear itopen and vanish in the camp.

  "Fly! Fly! All is lost!"

  Most of the men had understood this and, with the same shouts, they nowclimbed up the wall or poured through the open gate.

  Brinno alone had not fled from the post: at Rignomer's cry, alsogreatly 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 onlyfour feet, not eight. That is not _he_!" He stepped forward bravelywith levelled spear, but the next instant was thrown down by the Duke'scharger and, directly after, about thirty mounted men leaped into theditch, which was now no longer defended, and dashed to the right andleft in pursuit of the fugitives who were running along the bottom. Thespace around the gate was almost empty, swept clean in an instant.

  Hariowald himself had ridden straight toward the gate, but just beforehe reached it, it was flung back from within, shutting out severalfugitives who were trying to enter. The Duke sprang from his horse; theintelligent animal instantly stood motionless. He beckoned to hismounted men and to a small band who, meanwhile, had reached the ditchon foot, to follow him to the left of the gate, where rose a hugestone. A large number of other foot-soldiers now also reached the gateand, mounting ladders they had brought with them (which, strangelyenough, were exactly the length required to reach from the bottom ofthe 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 attemptto enter the gate with the fugitives had failed. Saturninus had closedit and shot the huge iron bolt with his own strong hand. Awakened bythe furious baying of his dogs, he had made the round of the camp totest the watchfulness of the sentries, and was now directing thedefence from the walls. His own hand flung down the first ladderraised.

  But the battle was already raging at the same time on the other threesides of the camp.