The house of Caius Muro had been built six years before on the model
of one owned by him in the Tuscan hills. Passing through the hall
or vestibule, with its mosaic pavement, on which was the word of
welcome, "Salve!" Beric entered the atrium, the principal apartment
in the house. From each side, at a height of some twenty feet from
the ground, extended a roof, the fall being slightly to the centre,
where there was an aperture of about eight feet square. Through this
light and air made their way down to the apartment, the rainfall
from the roofs and opening falling into a marble tank, called
the impluvium, below the level of the floor, which was paved with
squares of coloured marble. On either side of the atrium were the
small sleeping chambers, the bed places being raised and covered
with thick mats and rugs.
The walls of the bed chambers as well as of the atrium were painted
in black, with figures and landscapes in colour. On the centre of
the side facing the vestibule was the tablinum, the apartment of
Caius Muro himself. This formed his sitting room and study. The
floor was raised about a foot above that of the atrium, and it was
partly open both on that side and on the other, looking into the
peristylium, so that, while at work, he commanded a view of all that
was going on in the atrium and in the courtyard. In the centre of
this was a fountain surrounded by plants. From the courtyard opened
the 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 the
lifetime of Julia, entertainments were given to the ladies of the
colony. Like the triclinium, this room was also partially open at
both ends, affording the guests a view of the graceful fountain
on the one side and of the garden on the other. In winter wooden
frames, with heavy hangings, were erected across these openings
and that of the tablinum, for the Romans soon found the necessity
for modifying the arrangements which, although well suited for an
Italian climate, were wholly unfit for that of Britain. The opening
in the centre of the atrium was then closed with an awning of
oiled canvas, which admitted a certain amount of light to pass,
but prevented the passage of rain and snow, and kept out much of
the cold. There was a narrow passage between the atrium and the
peristylium; this was called the fauces. Above the chambers round
the atrium was a second story, approached by a staircase from the
peristylium; here were the apartments of the ladies and of the
female slaves.
As Beric entered the atrium, a man, who was reading a roll of
parchment, 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 Berenice
has been constantly asking me when you were coming."
"I had been absent over four years, you see," Beric replied, "and
it was not easy to get away from home again. Now I must speak to
Caius." He crossed the apartment, and stood at the entrance to the
tablinum. Caius looked up from a military treatise he was perusing.
"Ah, Beric! it is you! I am glad to see you again, though I am
sorry to observe that you have abandoned our fashions and taken to
the native garb again."
"It was necessary, Caius," Beric said. "I should have lost all
influence with the tribe had I not laid aside my Roman dress. As it
is, they regard me with some doubt, as one too enamoured of Roman
customs."
"We have heard of you, Beric, and, indeed, report says that you
speak well of us, and are already famous for your relations of our
history."
"I thought it well that my countrymen should know your great deeds,"
Beric said, "and should see by what means you have come to rule
the world. I received nought but kindness at your hands, and no
prisoner's lot was ever made more easy than mine. To you and yours
I am deeply grateful. If your people all behaved as kindly towards
the natives of this country as you did to me, Britain would be
conquered without need of drawing sword from scabbard."
"I know not that, Beric; to rule, one should be strong as well
as kind. Still, as you know, I think that things might have been
arranged far less harshly than they have been. It was needful that
we should show ourselves to be masters; but I regret the harshness
that 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 a
desire for gain, but that each was animated, as he assuredly should
be, only by a desire to uphold the glory and power of Rome. But
that would be expecting too much from human nature, and even among
you there are plenty ready to side against their countrymen for the
sake of Roman gold. In that they have less excuse than we. Custom
and habit have made our wants many, and all aim at attaining the
luxuries of the rich. On the other hand, your wants are few, and
I see not that the piling up of wealth adds in any way to your
happiness."
"That is true, Caius. I quite agree with you that it is far more
excusable for a Roman to covet wealth than for a Briton; and while
I blame many officials and soldiers for the harshness with which
they strive to wring all their possessions from my countrymen, I
deem their conduct as worthy and honourable when compared with that
of Britons who sell their country for your gold."
"We must take the world as we find it, Beric. We may regret that
greed and the love of luxury should influence men, as we may grieve
that they are victims of other base passions; but it is of no use
quarrelling with human nature. Certain it is that all vices bring
their own punishment, and that the Romans were a far nobler race
when they were poor and simple, in the days of the early consuls,
than they are now, with all their power, their riches, and their
luxuries. Such is the history of all peoples--of Egypt, of Persia,
of Greece, and Carthage; and methinks that Rome, too, will run the
course of other nations, and that some day, far distant maybe, she
will sink beneath the weight of her power and her luxury, and that
some younger and more vigorous people will, bit by bit, wrest her
dominions from her and rule in her place.
"As yet, happily, I see no signs of failing in her powers. She is
still vigorous, and even in the distant outskirts of the empire
the wave of conquest flows onward. Happily for us, I think, it can
flow no farther this way; there is but one island beyond this to
conquer, and then, as in Western Gaul and Iberia, the ocean says
to Rome, 'Thou shalt go no farther.' Would that to the south, the
east, and north a similar barrier checked our progress, then we
could rest and be content, and need no longer waste our strength
in fresh conquests, or in opposing the incursions of hordes of
barbarians from regions unknown to us even by report. I could wish
myself, Beric, that nature had placed your island five days' sail
from the coasts of Gaul, instead of placing it within sight. Then
I might have been enjoying life in my villa among the Tuscan hills
with my daughter, instead of being exposed at any moment to march
with the Legion against the savage mountaineers of the west. Ah!
here comes Berenice," he broke off, as his daughter, attended by her
old nurse, entered the atrium from the vestibule. She hastened her
steps as she saw Beric standing before her father in the tablinum.
"I knew you would come back, Beric, because you promised me; but
you 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. I
have only come now for an hour's visit, to see that all goes well
in 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 tomorrow
we have a party to hunt the wolves, which have so multiplied as to
become 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 thick
and tangled, and we have to force our way through to get to their
lair."
"But last winter they came close to the town, and I heard that some
came even into the streets."
"Yes, they will do so when driven by hunger; but they were hunting
then and not being hunted. No, Berenice, I fear that your wish to
see a wolf hunt cannot be gratified; they are savage beasts, and
are great trouble and no loss to us. In winter they carry off many
children, and sometimes devour grown up people, and in times of
long snow have been known to attack large parties, and, in spite
of a stout resistance by the men, to devour them. In summer they
are only met singly, but in winter they go in packs and kill numbers
of our cattle."
"I should like to go into the woods," the girl said earnestly, "I
am tired of this town. My father says he will take me with him some
day when he goes west, but so far I have seen nothing except this
town 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 should
travel for miles through the forest and should sleep in tents, but
that 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 Romans
would not be always fighting."
"It is very troublesome," she said pettishly. "I should like
everyone to be friends, and then there would be no need to have so
many soldiers in Britain, and perhaps the emperor would order our
legions home. Father says that we ought to look upon this as home
now, for that the legion may remain here for years and years; but
he said the other day that he thought that if everything was quiet
here he should, when I am sixteen years old, obtain leave from the
governor, and go back to Rome for two or three years, and I think,
though he has not said so outright, that he will perhaps retire
and settle there."
"It would be much the best for you," Beric said earnestly. "I should be
sorry, because you have been very kind to me, and I should grieve
were you to leave me altogether; but there may be trouble here
again some day, and I think it would be far better for you to be
back in Rome, where you would have all the pleasures and delights
of the great capital, and live in ease and comfort, without the
risk of your father having to march away to the wars. I know that
if I were your father I would take you back. He says that his villa
there is exactly like this, and you have many relations there,
and there must be all sorts of pleasures and grand spectacles far
beyond anything there is here. I am sure it would be better for
you, 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 to
my own mother, there is no one I care for so much as you and your
father. I shall miss you terribly; but yet I am so sure that it
would be best for you to be at home with your own people, that I
should be glad to hear that your father was going to take you back
to Rome."
But Berenice did not altogether accept the explanation. She felt
really hurt that Beric should view even the possibility of her
going away with equanimity, and she very shortly went off to her
own apartment; while a few minutes later, Beric, after bidding
goodbye to Caius, started to rejoin Boduoc, whom he found waiting
at the edge of the forest.
That evening Berenice said to her father, "I was angry with Beric
today, 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 went
there you would not come back again; and instead of being very
much grieved, as I thought he would, he seemed quite pleased at the
idea. Of course he said he was sorry, but he did not really seem
to 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 now
I 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 that
he likes us, Berenice."
"He said he did, father, that he cared for us more than anyone except
his mother; but if he cared for us, surely he would be very, very
sorry for us to go away."
"Beric is a Briton, my dear, and we are Romans. By this time he
must have thoroughly learned his people's feelings towards us. I
have never believed, as some do, that Britain is as yet completely
conquered, and that when we have finished with the Silures in the
west our work will be completely done.
"Beric, who knows his countrymen, may feel this even more strongly
than I do, and may know that, sooner or later, there will be another
great effort on the part of the Britons to drive us out. It may be
a year, and it may be twenty, but I believe myself that some day we
shall 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 people
too much, still less that we treat them harshly and cruelly. Were
I propraetor of Britain, I would rule them differently. I am but the
commander of a legion, and my duty is but to rule my men. I would
punish, and punish sternly, all attempts at rising; but I would
give them no causes for discontent. We treat them as if their spirit
were altogether broken, as if they and their possessions were but
our chattels, as if they possessed no rights, not even the right to
live. Some day we shall find our mistake, and when the time comes
the awakening will be a rude one. It is partly because I see dimly
the 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 desire
rest and quiet. I have done my share of fighting, I have won honour
enough, and I may look before long to be a general; but I have
had 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 its
gaieties, and I can have the use of the libraries stored with the
learning 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 that
he 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 trouble
comes.
"Nero has come to the imperial throne, and the men he is sending
hither are of a widely different stamp from the lieutenants of
Claudius. The latter knew that the Britons can fight, and that, wild
and untutored as they are, it needed all the skill and courage of
Ostorius and Vespasian to reduce them to order. The newcomers regard
them as slaves to be trampled upon, robbed, and ill used as they
choose. I am sure they will find their mistake. As long as they
deal only with the tribes thoroughly subdued, the Trinobantes, the
Cantii, the Belgae, and the Dumnonii, all may be quiet; they dare
not move. But the Iceni and Brigantes, although they both have
felt the weight of our swords, are still partly independent, and
if pressed too severely will assuredly revolt, and if they give the
signal all Britain may be up in arms again. I am scoffed at if I
venture to hint to these newcomers that there is life yet in Britain.
Dwelling here in a Roman city, it seems to them absurd that there
can be danger from the savages who roam in the forests that stretch
away from beyond the river at our very feet to the far distant
north, to regions of which we are absolutely ignorant. I regard
what Beric has said as another warning."
"But I thought that Beric was our friend, father, and you told me
you had heard that he was teaching his countrymen how great is our
history."
"Beric is a Briton in the midst of Britons, child. He is a partially
tamed wolf cub, and had he been sent to Rome and remained there he
would have done credit to our teaching. He is fond of study, and
at the same time fond of arms; he might have turned out a wise
citizen or a valiant soldier. But this was not done. He has gone
back again among the wolves, and whatever his feelings towards
us personally may be, he must side with his own people. Did they
suspect 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 we
must 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 with
his countrymen, and should it be another ten years before the cloud
bursts, he may be one of our most formidable opponents. Don't blame
him, child; he only shows his regard for you, by wishing you back
safely in Rome before trouble arises."
"You are just in time, Beric," Boduoc said as the young chief
joined him. "The sun is but a hand's breadth above that hill. Here
are your spear and sword where you hid them, though why you should
have done it I know not, seeing that they have not yet ventured to
order us to disarm."
"And if they did we should not obey them, Boduoc; but as the
Trinobantes have long been forbidden to carry arms, it might have
caused trouble had I gone armed into the town, and we don't want
trouble at present. I went on a peaceful visit, and there was no
occasion for me to carry my weapons. But give me a piece of that
deer 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 stop
and did not wish it to seem as if I had come for a taste of Roman
dainties again."
As soon as the meal was eaten they set out. It was but a track
through the forest, for although the trees had been cleared away for
a width of twenty feet there was but little traffic, for the road
was seldom traversed, save by an occasional messenger from Prasutagus.
It had been used by the legions at the time that Ostorius had
built a line of forts stretching from the Nen to the Severn, and by
it they had advanced when the Iceni had risen; but from that time
it had been unused by them, as the Iceni had paid their tribute
regularly, and held aloof from all hostile movements against them.
Prasutagus was always profuse in his assurance of friendship towards
Rome, and save that the Roman officers visited his capital once a
year to receive their tribute, they troubled but little about the
Iceni, having their hands occupied by their wars in the south and
west, while their main road to the north ran far to the west of
Camalodunum.
"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 howling
several times as we came along this morning. The rapacious brutes
have not been so bold for years, and it is high time that we hunted
them down, or at any rate made our part of the country too hot to
hold them. I told Borgon before I started that if we did not return
by an hour after midnight it would be because we had been obliged
to take to a tree, and that he had better bring out a party at the
first break of day to rescue us."
"But we have never had any trouble of that kind while we have been
hunting, 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 have
in 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 the
tribe to assemble by tomorrow morning to make war against them.
The people in the farms and villages are afraid to stay out after
nightfall. No man with arms in his hands fears a wolf, or even two
or three of them, in the daytime; but when they are in packs they
are formidable assailants, even to a strong party. Things are
getting as bad now as they were twenty years ago. My father has
told me that during one hard winter they destroyed full half our
herds, and that hundreds of people were devoured by them. They had
to erect stockades round the villages and drive in all the cattle,
and half the men kept guard by turns, keeping great fires alight
to frighten them away. When we have cleared the land of those two
legged wolves the Romans, we shall have to make a general war upon
them, for truly they are becoming a perfect scourge to the land.
It is not like the wild boar, of which there might with advantage
be more, for they do but little harm, getting their food for the
most part in the woods, and furnishing us with good eating as well
as good sport. But the wolves give us nothing in return, and save
for the sport no one would trouble to hunt them; and it is only by
a general order for their destruction, or by the offer of a reward
for their heads, that we shall get rid of them."
"Well, let us press on, Boduoc. I would not that anything should
occur to prevent us starting with the rest in the morning."
"We are walking a good pace now," Boduoc said, "and shall gain but
little by going faster. One cannot run for six hours; and besides
it is as much as we can do to walk fast in the dark. Did we try
to run we should like enough fall over a stump or root, and maybe
not arrive there even though the wolves stopped us not."
For two hours more they strode along. Boduoc's eyes had been
trained by many a long night spent among the woods, and dark as it
was beneath the overarching trees, he was able to discern objects
around him, and kept along in his regular stride as surely and
almost as noiselessly as a wild beast; but the four years spent in
the Roman town had impaired Beric's nocturnal vision; and though
he had done much hunting since his return home, he was far from
being able to use his eyes as his companion did, and he more than
once 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 although
I can make out the trunks on either hand the ground is all black
to 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 clouds
that were rising when the sun went down have overspread all the
sky. I don't see that it could well be darker."
"Well we will stop at that hut in the little clearing, somewhere
about half a mile on, and get a couple of torches. If you were to
fall and twist your foot you would not be able to hunt tomorrow."
"What is that?" Beric exclaimed as a distant cry came to their
ears.
"I think it is the voice of a woman," Boduoc said. "Or maybe it is
one of the spirits of evil."
Beric during his stay among the Romans had lost faith in most of
his superstitions. "Nonsense, Boduoc! it was the cry of a woman; it
came from ahead. Maybe some woman returning late has been attacked
by wolves. Come along," he shouted, and he started to run, followed
reluctantly 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 eyes
may 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 have
not seized her yet," Beric said. "Her first cry would have been her
last had they done so. She must be in that hut, Boduoc, and they
are trying to get at her. Maybe her husband is away."
"It is wolves," Boduoc agreed in a tone of relief. "Since that is
all I am ready for them; but sword and spear are of no avail against
the spirits of the air. We must be careful though, or instead of
us attacking we may be attacked."
Beric paid no attention. They had as they passed the hut that
morning stopped for a drink of water there, and he saw now before
his eyes the tall comely young woman with a baby in her arms and
two children hanging to her skirts. In a short time they stood at
the edge of the little clearing by the side of the path. It was
lighter here, and he could make out the outline of the rude hut,
and, as he thought, that of many dark figures moving round it. A
fierce growling and snarling rose from around the hut, with once
or twice a sharp yell of pain.
"There are half a dozen of them on the roof," Boduoc said, "and
a 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 the
top of our voices as we go, and bidding the woman stand in readiness
to unbar the door. They will be scared for a moment, not knowing
how many of us there may be, and once inside we shall be safe from
them."
"Let us get as near as we can before we begin to shout, Beric. They
may run back a few paces at our voice, but will speedily rally."
Holding their spears in readiness for action they ran forward. When
within thirty yards of the hut Boduoc raised his voice in a wild
yell, Beric adding his cry and then shouting, "Unbar your door and
stand to close it as we enter."
There was, however, no occasion for haste. Boduoc's sudden yell
completely scared the wolves, and with whimpers of dismay they
scattered in all directions. The door opened as Beric and his
companion came up, and they rushed in and closed it after them.
A fire burned on the hearth. A dead wolf lay on the ground, the
children crouched in terror on a pile of rushes, and a woman stood
with a spear in her hand.
"Thanks to our country's gods you have come!" she said. "A few
minutes 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 a
dozen places they have scratched holes well nigh large enough to
pass through."
"We heard your cry," Beric said, "and hastened forward at the top
of our speed."
"It was for you that I called," the woman said. "By what you said
this morning I judged you would be returning about this hour, and
it was in hopes you might hear me that I cried out, for I knew well
that 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 bodied
men were ordered to assemble there tonight in readiness to begin
the war against the wolves at daybreak. There is no other house
within a mile, and even had they heard me there they could have
given me no assistance, seeing there are but women and children
remaining behind."
"They are coming again," Boduoc broke in; "I can hear their feet
pattering on the dead leaves. Which shall we do, Beric, pile more
wood on the fire, or let it go out altogether? I think that we shall
do 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 ready
to leap down; whereas, if we are in darkness we may be able to make
them out when they approach the holes, or as they pass over any of
the crevices."
"I don't know, Boduoc; I think we shall do better if we have light. We
may not make them out so well, but at least we can use our spears
better than we could in the dark, when we might strike them against
the rafters or thick branches."
The woman at once gathered some of the pieces of wood that had
fallen through as the wolves made the holes and put them on the
hearth, where they soon blazed up brightly.
"I will take this big hole," Boduoc said, "it is the only one by
which they can come down at present. Do you try and prevent them
from enlarging any of the others."
There was a sudden thump overhead, followed almost immediately by
several others.
"They get up by the wood pile," the woman said. "It is against that
side of the hut, and reaches nearly up to the eaves."
There was a sharp yell as Boduoc thrust his spear up through the
hole when he saw a pair of eyes, shining in the firelight, appear
at the edge. At the same moment there was a sound of scraping and
scratching at some of the other holes. The roof was constructed
of rough poles laid at short distances apart, and above these were
small branches, on which was a sort of thatch of reeds and rushes.
Standing close under one of the holes Beric could see nothing, but
from the sound of the scratching he could tell from which side the
wolf was at work enlarging it. He carefully thrust the point of
his spear through the branches and gave a sudden lunge upwards.
A fierce yell was heard, followed by the sound of a body rolling
down the roof, and then a struggle accompanied by angry snarling
and growling outside.
"That is one less, Beric," Boduoc said. "I fancy I only scratched
mine. Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, as without the least warning a
wolf sprang down through the hole. Before it could gather its legs
under it for a fresh spring Beric and the woman both thrust their
spears deeply into it, Boduoc keeping his eyes fixed on the hole,
and making a lunge as another wolf peered down in readiness to
spring after the one that had entered.
For hours the fight went on. Gradually the holes, in spite of the
efforts of the defenders, were enlarged, and the position became
more and more critical. At least twenty of the wolves were slain;
but as the attack was kept up as vigorously as at first, it was
evident 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 climb
them. 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 carried
out my instructions help ought to be near at hand. I would that we
could let them know of our peril."
"There is a cow horn," the woman said, pointing to the corner of
the hut. "My husband uses it for calling in the cattle."
Boduoc seized the horn and blew a deep hollow blast upon it. There
was a sudden pattering of feet overhead and then silence.
"That has scared them," Beric said. "Blow again, Boduoc; if we can
but gain half an hour our friends may be up."
Again and again the hoarse roar of the cow horn rose, but the wolves
speedily recovered from their scare and crowded on the roof.
"We can't hold out much longer," Beric said, as two wolves that
leapt down together had just been despatched. "Get a brand from
the fire." At this moment there was a sudden scuffle overhead, and
the three defenders stood, spear in hand, ready to repel a fresh
attack; 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 as
a score of men with lighted torches came running towards it, and
raised a shout of satisfaction as the light fell upon Beric.
"Thanks for your aid, my friends!" he said as they crowded round
him; "never was a shout more welcome than yours. You were just in
time, as you may see by looking at the roof. We were about to fire
it and make for the trees, though I doubt if one of us would have
reached them."
As the men entered the hut and looked at the ragged holes in the
roof and the bodies of nine wolves stretched on the ground, they
saw that they had, indeed, arrived only just in time. Among the
rescuing party was the man to whom the hut belonged, whose joy at
finding his wife and children unhurt was great indeed; and he poured
forth his thanks to Beric and Boduoc when he learned from his wife
that they had voluntarily abandoned the wood, where they could
have been secure in the shelter of a tree, in order to assist her
in defending the hut against the wolves.
"You must all come with us," Beric said; "the wolves may return
after we have gone. When our hunt is over I will send some men to
help 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 from
the forests, and collected great quantities of wood so that the
women might keep up great bonfires if the wolves tried to break
in."
A few minutes later the party started on their return. As they
walked they could sometimes hear the pattering of footsteps on the
falling leaves, but the torches deterred the animals from making
an attack, and after three hours' walking they arrived at Cardun.
The village stood on a knoll rising from swamps, through which a
branch of the Stour wound its way sluggishly. Round the crest of
the knoll ran two steep earthen banks, one rising behind the other,
and in the inclosed space, some eight acres in extent, stood the
village. The contrast between it and the Roman city but two-and-twenty
miles away was striking. No great advance had been made upon the
homes that the people had occupied in Gaul before their emigration.
In the centre stood Parta's abode, distinguished from the rest only
by its superior size. The walls were of mud and stone, the roof
high, so as to let the water run more easily off the rough thatching.
It contained but one central hall surrounded by half a dozen small
apartments.
The huts of the people consisted but of a single room, with a hole
in the roof by which the smoke of the fire in the centre made its
way out. The doorway was generally closed by a wattle secured by a
bar. When this was closed light only found its way into the room
through the chinks of the wattle and the hole in the roof. In
winter, for extra warmth, a skin was hung before the door. Beyond
piles of hides, which served as seats by day and beds at night,
there was no furniture whatever in the rooms, save a few earthen
cooking pots.
Parta's abode, however, was more sumptuously furnished. Across one
end ran a sort of dais of beaten earth, raised a foot above the
rest of the floor. This was thickly strewn with fresh rushes, and
there was a rough table and benches. The walls of the apartment
were hidden by skins, principally those of wolves.
The fireplace was in the centre of the lower part of the hall, and
arranged on a shelf against the wall were cooking pots of iron and
brass; while on a similar shelf on the wall above the dais were
jugs and drinking vessels of gold. Hams of wild boar and swine hung
from the rafters, where too were suspended wild duck and fish, and
other articles of food. Parta's own apartment led from the back
of the dais. That of Beric was next to it, its separate use having
been granted to him on his return from Camalodunum, not without
some scoffing remarks upon his effeminacy in requiring a separate
apartment, instead of sleeping as usual on the dais; while the
followers and attendants stretched themselves on the floor of the
hall.