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.