* * * * *
_The Secretary to the Senate announces_:
"The War Council met at the River Gate immediately on receipt of the news
of the fall of Janiculum. It was decided to accept the offer of
Port-Captain HORATIUS (S.P.Q.R.'s Own), SPURIUS LARTIUS (Ramnian Regt.),
and HERMINIUS ("Titian Toughs"), who gallantly volunteered to hold the
bridge-head in order to give time for the bridge itself to be destroyed.
All hope of saving the town should not therefore be abandoned."
* * * * *
_From our Special Correspondent._
I have just returned from the River Gate, where I was, I believe, the first
to applaud one of the Patres Conscripti (commanding the Axe-and-Crowbar
Volunteers), who set a fine example by actually starting on the demolition
of the bridge himself. Already you could see the Tuscan hordes in the
swarthy dust that shrouded the Western horizon. I was myself in a position
to pick out ASTUR, who was girt with the brand which (I am informed by a
high authority) none but he can wield. There is no need to describe to you
the firmament-rending yell that rose when the presence of the false and
shameful SEXTUS was officially notified. One saw women who hissed and even
expectorated in his direction, and more than one child, I noticed, shook
its small fist at him with splendid spirit....
I am told that HORATIUS spoke out pretty plainly to the Senate, expressing
the opinion that three men could easily hold the bridge-head. The gallant
officer, interviewed while he was in the act of tightening his harness,
declined to say much, merely expressing the opinion that everyone has got
to die some time and that there was, after all, some satisfaction in being
killed in a fight against odds. I confess I was favourably impressed by the
very nonchalance of his attitude.
* * * * *
_Stop Press News._