Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman Invasion Page 2

  CHAPTER II: CITY AND FOREST

  The house of Caius Muro had been built six years before on the modelof one owned by him in the Tuscan hills. Passing through the hallor vestibule, with its mosaic pavement, on which was the word ofwelcome, "Salve!" Beric entered the atrium, the principal apartmentin the house. From each side, at a height of some twenty feet fromthe ground, extended a roof, the fall being slightly to the centre,where there was an aperture of about eight feet square. Through thislight and air made their way down to the apartment, the rainfallfrom the roofs and opening falling into a marble tank, calledthe impluvium, below the level of the floor, which was paved withsquares of coloured marble. On either side of the atrium were thesmall sleeping chambers, the bed places being raised and coveredwith thick mats and rugs.

  The walls of the bed chambers as well as of the atrium were paintedin black, with figures and landscapes in colour. On the centre ofthe side facing the vestibule was the tablinum, the apartment ofCaius Muro himself. This formed his sitting room and study. Thefloor was raised about a foot above that of the atrium, and it waspartly open both on that side and on the other, looking into theperistylium, so that, while at work, he commanded a view of all thatwas going on in the atrium and in the courtyard. In the centre ofthis was a fountain surrounded by plants. From the courtyard openedthe triclinium, or dining room, and also rooms used as storerooms,kitchen, and the sleeping places of the slaves.

  At the back of the peristylium was the oecus, or state apartment,where Caius received distinguished guests, and where, in thelifetime of Julia, entertainments were given to the ladies of thecolony. Like the triclinium, this room was also partially open atboth ends, affording the guests a view of the graceful fountainon the one side and of the garden on the other. In winter woodenframes, with heavy hangings, were erected across these openingsand that of the tablinum, for the Romans soon found the necessityfor modifying the arrangements which, although well suited for anItalian climate, were wholly unfit for that of Britain. The openingin the centre of the atrium was then closed with an awning ofoiled canvas, which admitted a certain amount of light to pass,but prevented the passage of rain and snow, and kept out much ofthe cold. There was a narrow passage between the atrium and theperistylium; this was called the fauces. Above the chambers roundthe atrium was a second story, approached by a staircase from theperistylium; here were the apartments of the ladies and of thefemale slaves.

  As Beric entered the atrium, a man, who was reading a roll ofparchment, rose to his feet.

  "Welcome, Beric!" he said warmly.

  "All hail, preceptor!" the lad replied. "Are all well here?"

  "All well, Beric. We had looked to see you before, and Berenicehas been constantly asking me when you were coming."

  "I had been absent over four years, you see," Beric replied, "andit was not easy to get away from home again. Now I must speak toCaius." He crossed the apartment, and stood at the entrance to thetablinum. Caius looked up from a military treatise he was perusing.

  "Ah, Beric! it is you! I am glad to see you again, though I amsorry to observe that you have abandoned our fashions and taken tothe native garb again."

  "It was necessary, Caius," Beric said. "I should have lost allinfluence with the tribe had I not laid aside my Roman dress. As itis, they regard me with some doubt, as one too enamoured of Romancustoms."

  "We have heard of you, Beric, and, indeed, report says that youspeak well of us, and are already famous for your relations of ourhistory."

  "I thought it well that my countrymen should know your great deeds,"Beric said, "and should see by what means you have come to rulethe world. I received nought but kindness at your hands, and noprisoner's lot was ever made more easy than mine. To you and yoursI am deeply grateful. If your people all behaved as kindly towardsthe natives of this country as you did to me, Britain would beconquered without need of drawing sword from scabbard."

  "I know not that, Beric; to rule, one should be strong as wellas kind. Still, as you know, I think that things might have beenarranged far less harshly than they have been. It was needful thatwe should show ourselves to be masters; but I regret the harshnessthat has been too often used, and I would that not one of us here,from the governor down to the poorest soldier, was influenced by adesire for gain, but that each was animated, as he assuredly shouldbe, only by a desire to uphold the glory and power of Rome. Butthat would be expecting too much from human nature, and even amongyou there are plenty ready to side against their countrymen for thesake of Roman gold. In that they have less excuse than we. Customand habit have made our wants many, and all aim at attaining theluxuries of the rich. On the other hand, your wants are few, andI see not that the piling up of wealth adds in any way to yourhappiness."

  "That is true, Caius. I quite agree with you that it is far moreexcusable for a Roman to covet wealth than for a Briton; and whileI blame many officials and soldiers for the harshness with whichthey strive to wring all their possessions from my countrymen, Ideem their conduct as worthy and honourable when compared with thatof Britons who sell their country for your gold."

  "We must take the world as we find it, Beric. We may regret thatgreed and the love of luxury should influence men, as we may grievethat they are victims of other base passions; but it is of no usequarrelling with human nature. Certain it is that all vices bringtheir own punishment, and that the Romans were a far nobler racewhen they were poor and simple, in the days of the early consuls,than they are now, with all their power, their riches, and theirluxuries. Such is the history of all peoples--of Egypt, of Persia,of Greece, and Carthage; and methinks that Rome, too, will run thecourse of other nations, and that some day, far distant maybe, shewill sink beneath the weight of her power and her luxury, and thatsome younger and more vigorous people will, bit by bit, wrest herdominions from her and rule in her place.

  "As yet, happily, I see no signs of failing in her powers. She isstill vigorous, and even in the distant outskirts of the empirethe wave of conquest flows onward. Happily for us, I think, it canflow no farther this way; there is but one island beyond this toconquer, and then, as in Western Gaul and Iberia, the ocean saysto Rome, 'Thou shalt go no farther.' Would that to the south, theeast, and north a similar barrier checked our progress, then wecould rest and be content, and need no longer waste our strengthin fresh conquests, or in opposing the incursions of hordes ofbarbarians from regions unknown to us even by report. I could wishmyself, Beric, that nature had placed your island five days' sailfrom the coasts of Gaul, instead of placing it within sight. ThenI might have been enjoying life in my villa among the Tuscan hillswith my daughter, instead of being exposed at any moment to marchwith the Legion against the savage mountaineers of the west. Ah!here comes Berenice," he broke off, as his daughter, attended by herold nurse, entered the atrium from the vestibule. She hastened hersteps as she saw Beric standing before her father in the tablinum.

  "I knew you would come back, Beric, because you promised me; butyou have been a long time in keeping your word."

  "I am not my own master at home, any more than I was here, Berenice,"he said, "and my mother would not hear before of my leaving her. Ihave only come now for an hour's visit, to see that all goes wellin this house, and to tell you that I had not forgotten my promise;the next time I hope to pay a longer visit. At daybreak tomorrowwe have a party to hunt the wolves, which have so multiplied as tobecome a danger in the forests of late."

  "I should like to go out to see a wolf hunt, Beric."

  "I fear that would not be possible," he said; "the woods are thickand tangled, and we have to force our way through to get to theirlair."

  "But last winter they came close to the town, and I heard that somecame even into the streets."

  "Yes, they will do so when driven by hunger; but they were huntingthen and not being hunted. No, Berenice, I fear that your wish tosee a wolf hunt cannot be gratified; they are savage beasts, andare great trouble and no loss to us. In winter they carry off manychildren, and sometimes devour
grown up people, and in times oflong snow have been known to attack large parties, and, in spiteof a stout resistance by the men, to devour them. In summer theyare only met singly, but in winter they go in packs and kill numbersof our cattle."

  "I should like to go into the woods," the girl said earnestly, "Iam tired of this town. My father says he will take me with him someday when he goes west, but so far I have seen nothing except thistown and Verulamium, and the country was all just as it is here,fields and cultivation. We could see the forests in the distance,but that was all. My father says, that if we went west, we shouldtravel for miles through the forest and should sleep in tents, butthat we cannot do it till everything is quiet and peaceful. Oh,Beric! I do wish the Britons would not be always fighting."

  Beric smiled. "The British girls, Berenice, say they wish the Romanswould not be always fighting."

  "It is very troublesome," she said pettishly. "I should likeeveryone to be friends, and then there would be no need to have somany soldiers in Britain, and perhaps the emperor would order ourlegions home. Father says that we ought to look upon this as homenow, for that the legion may remain here for years and years; buthe said the other day that he thought that if everything was quiethere he should, when I am sixteen years old, obtain leave from thegovernor, and go back to Rome for two or three years, and I think,though he has not said so outright, that he will perhaps retireand settle there."

  "It would be much the best for you," Beric said earnestly. "I should besorry, because you have been very kind to me, and I should grievewere you to leave me altogether; but there may be trouble hereagain some day, and I think it would be far better for you to beback in Rome, where you would have all the pleasures and delightsof the great capital, and live in ease and comfort, without therisk of your father having to march away to the wars. I know thatif I were your father I would take you back. He says that his villathere is exactly like this, and you have many relations there,and there must be all sorts of pleasures and grand spectacles farbeyond anything there is here. I am sure it would be better foryou, and happier."

  "I thought that you would be quite sorry," she said gravely.

  "So I shall be very sorry for myself," Beric said; "as, next tomy own mother, there is no one I care for so much as you and yourfather. I shall miss you terribly; but yet I am so sure that itwould be best for you to be at home with your own people, that Ishould be glad to hear that your father was going to take you backto Rome."

  But Berenice did not altogether accept the explanation. She feltreally hurt that Beric should view even the possibility of hergoing away with equanimity, and she very shortly went off to herown apartment; while a few minutes later, Beric, after biddinggoodbye to Caius, started to rejoin Boduoc, whom he found waitingat the edge of the forest.

  That evening Berenice said to her father, "I was angry with Berictoday, father."

  "Were you, child? what about?"

  "I told him that perhaps in another three years, when I was sixteen,you would take me to Rome, and that I thought, perhaps, if we wentthere you would not come back again; and instead of being verymuch grieved, as I thought he would, he seemed quite pleased at theidea. Of course he said he was sorry, but he did not really seemto be, and he says he thought it would be very much better for me.I thought he was grateful, father, and liked us very much, and nowI am quite disappointed in him."

  Caius was silent for a minute or two.

  "I do not think Beric is ungrateful," he said, "and I am sure thathe likes us, Berenice."

  "He said he did, father, that he cared for us more than anyone excepthis mother; but if he cared for us, surely he would be very, verysorry for us to go away."

  "Beric is a Briton, my dear, and we are Romans. By this time hemust have thoroughly learned his people's feelings towards us. Ihave never believed, as some do, that Britain is as yet completelyconquered, and that when we have finished with the Silures in thewest our work will be completely done.

  "Beric, who knows his countrymen, may feel this even more stronglythan I do, and may know that, sooner or later, there will be anothergreat effort on the part of the Britons to drive us out. It may bea year, and it may be twenty, but I believe myself that some day weshall have a fierce struggle to maintain our hold here, and Beric,who may see this also, and who knows the feeling of his countrymen,may wish that we should be away before the storm comes.

  "There is but little doubt, Berenice, that we despise these peopletoo much, still less that we treat them harshly and cruelly. WereI propraetor of Britain, I would rule them differently. I am but thecommander of a legion, and my duty is but to rule my men. I wouldpunish, and punish sternly, all attempts at rising; but I wouldgive them no causes for discontent. We treat them as if their spiritwere altogether broken, as if they and their possessions were butour chattels, as if they possessed no rights, not even the right tolive. Some day we shall find our mistake, and when the time comesthe awakening will be a rude one. It is partly because I see dimlythe storm gathering in the distance that I long to be home again.As long as your mother lived this seemed a home to me, now I desirerest and quiet. I have done my share of fighting, I have won honourenough, and I may look before long to be a general; but I havehad enough of it, and long for my quiet villa in the Alban hills,with an occasional visit to Rome, where you can take part in itsgaieties, and I can have the use of the libraries stored with thelearning of the world. So do not think harshly of Beric, my child;he may see the distant storm more plainly than I do. I am sure thathe cares for us, and if he is glad at the news that we are going,it is because he wishes us away and in safety before the troublecomes.

  "Nero has come to the imperial throne, and the men he is sendinghither are of a widely different stamp from the lieutenants ofClaudius. The latter knew that the Britons can fight, and that, wildand untutored as they are, it needed all the skill and courage ofOstorius and Vespasian to reduce them to order. The newcomers regardthem as slaves to be trampled upon, robbed, and ill used as theychoose. I am sure they will find their mistake. As long as theydeal only with the tribes thoroughly subdued, the Trinobantes, theCantii, the Belgae, and the Dumnonii, all may be quiet; they darenot move. But the Iceni and Brigantes, although they both havefelt the weight of our swords, are still partly independent, andif pressed too severely will assuredly revolt, and if they give thesignal all Britain may be up in arms again. I am scoffed at if Iventure to hint to these newcomers that there is life yet in Britain.Dwelling here in a Roman city, it seems to them absurd that therecan be danger from the savages who roam in the forests that stretchaway from beyond the river at our very feet to the far distantnorth, to regions of which we are absolutely ignorant. I regardwhat Beric has said as another warning."

  "But I thought that Beric was our friend, father, and you told meyou had heard that he was teaching his countrymen how great is ourhistory."

  "Beric is a Briton in the midst of Britons, child. He is a partiallytamed wolf cub, and had he been sent to Rome and remained there hewould have done credit to our teaching. He is fond of study, andat the same time fond of arms; he might have turned out a wisecitizen or a valiant soldier. But this was not done. He has goneback again among the wolves, and whatever his feelings towardsus personally may be, he must side with his own people. Did theysuspect him of being Roman at heart they would tear him in pieces.I believe that as he knows our strength, and that in the end wemust conquer, his influence will always be on the side of peace;but if arms are taken up he will have no choice but to side withhis countrymen, and should it be another ten years before the cloudbursts, he may be one of our most formidable opponents. Don't blamehim, child; he only shows his regard for you, by wishing you backsafely in Rome before trouble arises."

  "You are just in time, Beric," Boduoc said as the young chiefjoined him. "The sun is but a hand's breadth above that hill. Hereare your spear and sword where you hid them, though why you shouldhave done it I know not, seeing that they have not yet ventured toorder us to disarm."

  "And if
they did we should not obey them, Boduoc; but as theTrinobantes have long been forbidden to carry arms, it might havecaused trouble had I gone armed into the town, and we don't wanttrouble at present. I went on a peaceful visit, and there was nooccasion for me to carry my weapons. But give me a piece of thatdeer flesh and an oaten cake; we have a long march before us."

  "Why, did you not eat with them?"

  "No. I was, of course, invited, but I had but a short time to stopand did not wish it to seem as if I had come for a taste of Romandainties again."

  As soon as the meal was eaten they set out. It was but a trackthrough the forest, for although the trees had been cleared away fora width of twenty feet there was but little traffic, for the roadwas seldom traversed, save by an occasional messenger from Prasutagus.It had been used by the legions at the time that Ostorius hadbuilt a line of forts stretching from the Nen to the Severn, and byit they had advanced when the Iceni had risen; but from that timeit had been unused by them, as the Iceni had paid their tributeregularly, and held aloof from all hostile movements against them.Prasutagus was always profuse in his assurance of friendship towardsRome, and save that the Roman officers visited his capital once ayear to receive their tribute, they troubled but little about theIceni, having their hands occupied by their wars in the south andwest, while their main road to the north ran far to the west ofCamalodunum.

  "We shall arrive about midnight," Beric said as they strode along.

  "We may or we may not," Boduoc said curtly.

  "What is to prevent us, Boduoc?"

  "Well, the wolves may prevent us, Beric; we heard them howlingseveral times as we came along this morning. The rapacious bruteshave not been so bold for years, and it is high time that we huntedthem down, or at any rate made our part of the country too hot tohold them. I told Borgon before I started that if we did not returnby an hour after midnight it would be because we had been obligedto take to a tree, and that he had better bring out a party at thefirst break of day to rescue us."

  "But we have never had any trouble of that kind while we have beenhunting, Boduoc."

  "No; but I think there must have been some great hunts up in Norfolk,and that the brutes have come south. Certain it is that there havein the last week been great complaints of them, and, as you know,it was for that reason that your mother ordered all the men of thetribe to assemble by tomorrow morning to make war against them.The people in the farms and villages are afraid to stay out afternightfall. No man with arms in his hands fears a wolf, or even twoor three of them, in the daytime; but when they are in packs theyare formidable assailants, even to a strong party. Things aregetting as bad now as they were twenty years ago. My father hastold me that during one hard winter they destroyed full half ourherds, and that hundreds of people were devoured by them. They hadto erect stockades round the villages and drive in all the cattle,and half the men kept guard by turns, keeping great fires alightto frighten them away. When we have cleared the land of those twolegged wolves the Romans, we shall have to make a general war uponthem, for truly they are becoming a perfect scourge to the land.It is not like the wild boar, of which there might with advantagebe more, for they do but little harm, getting their food for themost part in the woods, and furnishing us with good eating as wellas good sport. But the wolves give us nothing in return, and savefor the sport no one would trouble to hunt them; and it is only bya general order for their destruction, or by the offer of a rewardfor their heads, that we shall get rid of them."

  "Well, let us press on, Boduoc. I would not that anything shouldoccur to prevent us starting with the rest in the morning."

  "We are walking a good pace now," Boduoc said, "and shall gain butlittle by going faster. One cannot run for six hours; and besidesit is as much as we can do to walk fast in the dark. Did we tryto run we should like enough fall over a stump or root, and maybenot arrive there even though the wolves stopped us not."

  For two hours more they strode along. Boduoc's eyes had beentrained by many a long night spent among the woods, and dark as itwas beneath the overarching trees, he was able to discern objectsaround him, and kept along in his regular stride as surely andalmost as noiselessly as a wild beast; but the four years spent inthe Roman town had impaired Beric's nocturnal vision; and thoughhe had done much hunting since his return home, he was far frombeing able to use his eyes as his companion did, and he more thanonce stumbled over the roots that crossed the path.

  "You will be on your head presently," Boduoc growled.

  "It is all very well for you, Boduoc, who have the eyes of a cat;but you must remember we are travelling in the dark, and althoughI can make out the trunks on either hand the ground is all blackto me, and I am walking quite at hazard."

  "It is not what I should call a light night," Boduoc admitted.

  "Well, no, considering that there is no moon, and that the cloudsthat were rising when the sun went down have overspread all thesky. I don't see that it could well be darker."

  "Well we will stop at that hut in the little clearing, somewhereabout half a mile on, and get a couple of torches. If you were tofall and twist your foot you would not be able to hunt tomorrow."

  "What is that?" Beric exclaimed as a distant cry came to theirears.

  "I think it is the voice of a woman," Boduoc said. "Or maybe it isone of the spirits of evil."

  Beric during his stay among the Romans had lost faith in most ofhis superstitions. "Nonsense, Boduoc! it was the cry of a woman; itcame from ahead. Maybe some woman returning late has been attackedby wolves. Come along," he shouted, and he started to run, followedreluctantly by his companion.

  "Stop, Beric, stop!" he said in a short time, "I hear other sounds."

  "So do I," Beric agreed, but without checking his pace. "My eyesmay be dull, Boduoc, but they are not so dull as your ears. Why,don't you know the snarling of wolves when you hear them?"

  Again the loud cry of distress came on the night air. "They havenot seized her yet," Beric said. "Her first cry would have been herlast had they done so. She must be in that hut, Boduoc, and theyare trying to get at her. Maybe her husband is away."

  "It is wolves," Boduoc agreed in a tone of relief. "Since that isall I am ready for them; but sword and spear are of no avail againstthe spirits of the air. We must be careful though, or instead ofus attacking we may be attacked."

  Beric paid no attention. They had as they passed the hut thatmorning stopped for a drink of water there, and he saw now beforehis eyes the tall comely young woman with a baby in her arms andtwo children hanging to her skirts. In a short time they stood atthe edge of the little clearing by the side of the path. It waslighter here, and he could make out the outline of the rude hut,and, as he thought, that of many dark figures moving round it. Afierce growling and snarling rose from around the hut, with onceor twice a sharp yell of pain.

  "There are half a dozen of them on the roof," Boduoc said, "anda score or more round the hut. At present they haven't winded us,for the air is in our faces."

  "I think we had best make a rush at them, Boduoc, shouting at thetop of our voices as we go, and bidding the woman stand in readinessto unbar the door. They will be scared for a moment, not knowinghow many of us there may be, and once inside we shall be safe fromthem."

  "Let us get as near as we can before we begin to shout, Beric. Theymay run back a few paces at our voice, but will speedily rally."

  Holding their spears in readiness for action they ran forward. Whenwithin thirty yards of the hut Boduoc raised his voice in a wildyell, Beric adding his cry and then shouting, "Unbar your door andstand to close it as we enter."

  There was, however, no occasion for haste. Boduoc's sudden yellcompletely scared the wolves, and with whimpers of dismay theyscattered in all directions. The door opened as Beric and hiscompanion came up, and they rushed in and closed it after them.A fire burned on the hearth. A dead wolf lay on the ground, thechildren crouched in terror on a pile of rushes, and a woman stoodwith a spear in her hand.

  "Thanks to ou
r country's gods you have come!" she said. "A fewminutes later and all would have been over with me and my children.See, one has already made his way through the roof, and in half adozen places they have scratched holes well nigh large enough topass through."

  "We heard your cry," Beric said, "and hastened forward at the topof our speed."

  "It was for you that I called," the woman said. "By what you saidthis morning I judged you would be returning about this hour, andit was in hopes you might hear me that I cried out, for I knew wellthat no one else would be likely to be within earshot."

  "Where is your husband?" Beric asked.

  "He started this afternoon for Cardun. He and all the able bodiedmen were ordered to assemble there tonight in readiness to beginthe war against the wolves at daybreak. There is no other housewithin a mile, and even had they heard me there they could havegiven me no assistance, seeing there are but women and childrenremaining behind."

  "They are coming again," Boduoc broke in; "I can hear their feetpattering on the dead leaves. Which shall we do, Beric, pile morewood on the fire, or let it go out altogether? I think that we shalldo better without it; it is from the roof that they will attack,and if we have a light here we cannot see them till they are readyto leap down; whereas, if we are in darkness we may be able to makethem out when they approach the holes, or as they pass over any ofthe crevices."

  "I don't know, Boduoc; I think we shall do better if we have light. Wemay not make them out so well, but at least we can use our spearsbetter than we could in the dark, when we might strike them againstthe rafters or thick branches."

  The woman at once gathered some of the pieces of wood that hadfallen through as the wolves made the holes and put them on thehearth, where they soon blazed up brightly.

  "I will take this big hole," Boduoc said, "it is the only one bywhich they can come down at present. Do you try and prevent themfrom enlarging any of the others."

  There was a sudden thump overhead, followed almost immediately byseveral others.

  "They get up by the wood pile," the woman said. "It is against thatside of the hut, and reaches nearly up to the eaves."

  There was a sharp yell as Boduoc thrust his spear up through thehole when he saw a pair of eyes, shining in the firelight, appearat the edge. At the same moment there was a sound of scraping andscratching at some of the other holes. The roof was constructedof rough poles laid at short distances apart, and above these weresmall branches, on which was a sort of thatch of reeds and rushes.Standing close under one of the holes Beric could see nothing, butfrom the sound of the scratching he could tell from which side thewolf was at work enlarging it. He carefully thrust the point ofhis spear through the branches and gave a sudden lunge upwards.A fierce yell was heard, followed by the sound of a body rollingdown the roof, and then a struggle accompanied by angry snarlingand growling outside.

  "That is one less, Beric," Boduoc said. "I fancy I only scratchedmine. Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, as without the least warning awolf sprang down through the hole. Before it could gather its legsunder it for a fresh spring Beric and the woman both thrust theirspears deeply into it, Boduoc keeping his eyes fixed on the hole,and making a lunge as another wolf peered down in readiness tospring after the one that had entered.

  For hours the fight went on. Gradually the holes, in spite of theefforts of the defenders, were enlarged, and the position becamemore and more critical. At least twenty of the wolves were slain;but as the attack was kept up as vigorously as at first, it wasevident that fresh reinforcements had arrived to the assailants.

  "We cannot keep them out much longer, Beric," Boduoc said at last."It seems to me that our only plan is to fire the hut, and then,each taking a child, to make a rush across to the trees and climbthem. The sudden burst of fire will drive them back for a little,and we may make good our retreat to the trees."

  "What time is it, think you, Boduoc?"

  "It must be two or three hours past midnight, and if Borgon carriedout my instructions help ought to be near at hand. I would that wecould let them know of our peril."

  "There is a cow horn," the woman said, pointing to the corner ofthe hut. "My husband uses it for calling in the cattle."

  Boduoc seized the horn and blew a deep hollow blast upon it. Therewas a sudden pattering of feet overhead and then silence.

  "That has scared them," Beric said. "Blow again, Boduoc; if we canbut gain half an hour our friends may be up."

  Again and again the hoarse roar of the cow horn rose, but the wolvesspeedily recovered from their scare and crowded on the roof.

  "We can't hold out much longer," Beric said, as two wolves thatleapt down together had just been despatched. "Get a brand fromthe fire." At this moment there was a sudden scuffle overhead, andthe three defenders stood, spear in hand, ready to repel a freshattack; but all was quiet; then a loud shout rose on the air.

  "Thank the gods, here they are!" Boduoc said. He listened a moment,but all was still round the hut; then he threw the door open asa score of men with lighted torches came running towards it, andraised a shout of satisfaction as the light fell upon Beric.

  "Thanks for your aid, my friends!" he said as they crowded roundhim; "never was a shout more welcome than yours. You were just intime, as you may see by looking at the roof. We were about to fireit and make for the trees, though I doubt if one of us would havereached them."

  As the men entered the hut and looked at the ragged holes in theroof and the bodies of nine wolves stretched on the ground, theysaw that they had, indeed, arrived only just in time. Among therescuing party was the man to whom the hut belonged, whose joy atfinding his wife and children unhurt was great indeed; and he pouredforth his thanks to Beric and Boduoc when he learned from his wifethat they had voluntarily abandoned the wood, where they couldhave been secure in the shelter of a tree, in order to assist herin defending the hut against the wolves.

  "You must all come with us," Beric said; "the wolves may returnafter we have gone. When our hunt is over I will send some men tohelp you to repair your roof. Where are the cattle?"

  "They are safe in a stockade at the next village," the man said."We finished it only yesterday, and drove in all the cattle fromthe forests, and collected great quantities of wood so that thewomen might keep up great bonfires if the wolves tried to breakin."

  A few minutes later the party started on their return. As theywalked they could sometimes hear the pattering of footsteps on thefalling leaves, but the torches deterred the animals from makingan attack, and after three hours' walking they arrived at Cardun.The village stood on a knoll rising from swamps, through which abranch of the Stour wound its way sluggishly. Round the crest ofthe knoll ran two steep earthen banks, one rising behind the other,and in the inclosed space, some eight acres in extent, stood thevillage. The contrast between it and the Roman city but two-and-twentymiles away was striking. No great advance had been made upon thehomes that the people had occupied in Gaul before their emigration.In the centre stood Parta's abode, distinguished from the rest onlyby its superior size. The walls were of mud and stone, the roofhigh, so as to let the water run more easily off the rough thatching.It contained but one central hall surrounded by half a dozen smallapartments.

  The huts of the people consisted but of a single room, with a holein the roof by which the smoke of the fire in the centre made itsway out. The doorway was generally closed by a wattle secured by abar. When this was closed light only found its way into the roomthrough the chinks of the wattle and the hole in the roof. Inwinter, for extra warmth, a skin was hung before the door. Beyondpiles of hides, which served as seats by day and beds at night,there was no furniture whatever in the rooms, save a few earthencooking pots.

  Parta's abode, however, was more sumptuously furnished. Across oneend ran a sort of dais of beaten earth, raised a foot above therest of the floor. This was thickly strewn with fresh rushes, andthere was a rough table and benches. The walls of the apartmentwere hidden by skins, principally those of wolves.

 
; The fireplace was in the centre of the lower part of the hall, andarranged on a shelf against the wall were cooking pots of iron andbrass; while on a similar shelf on the wall above the dais werejugs and drinking vessels of gold. Hams of wild boar and swine hungfrom the rafters, where too were suspended wild duck and fish, andother articles of food. Parta's own apartment led from the backof the dais. That of Beric was next to it, its separate use havingbeen granted to him on his return from Camalodunum, not withoutsome scoffing remarks upon his effeminacy in requiring a separateapartment, instead of sleeping as usual on the dais; while thefollowers and attendants stretched themselves on the floor of thehall.