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Page 60
'Only old Allo lingered behind a little.
'"You see," he said, winking and blinking, "I am no more than their dog.
When I have shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they
will kick me like one."
'"Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways," said Pertinax,
"till I was sure that Rome could not save the Wall."
'"You think so? Woe is me!" said the old man. "I only wanted peace for
my people," and he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall
Winged Hats.
'In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for
doubting troops, the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in
from the sea as they had done before, and there we met them as
before--with the catapults; and they sickened of it. Yet for a long time
they would not trust their duck-legs on land, and I think, when it came
to revealing the secrets of the tribe, the little Picts were afraid or
ashamed to show them all the roads across the heather. I had this from a
Pict prisoner. They were as much our spies as our enemies, for the
Winged Hats oppressed them, and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish
Little People!
'Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I
sent runners Southward to see what the news might be in Britain, but the
wolves were very bold that winter, among the deserted stations where the
troops had once been, and none came back. We had trouble, too, with the
forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did Pertinax.
We lived and slept in the saddle, riding east or west, and we ate our
worn-out ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I
gathered them all in one quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on
either side of it to make as it were a citadel. Our men fought better in
close order.
'By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep
in a snowdrift, or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least
I know I have gone on the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing
between, though my throat was harsh with giving orders, and my sword, I
could see, had been used.
'The Winged Hats fought like wolves--all in a pack. Where they had
suffered most, there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the
defenders, but it held them from sweeping on into Britain.
'In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked
archway into Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which
they fell one by one. We wished for some record.
'And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the
great statue of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus's house. By the Light of
the Sun, that old fat man, whom we had not considered at all, grew young
again among the trumpets! I remember he said his sword was an oracle!
"Let us consult the Oracle," he would say, and put the handle against
his ear, and shake his head wisely. "And _this_ day is allowed
Rutilianus to live," he would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would
puff and pant and fight well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall
to take the place of food!
'We endured for two months and seventeen days--always being pressed from
three sides into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that
help was at hand. We did not believe it, but it cheered our men. 'The
end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a dream.
The Winged Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night and the next
day; which is too long for spent men. We slept at first lightly,
expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each where he lay. May you
never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of strange,
armed men, who watched us snoring. I roused Pertinax, and we leaped up
together.
'"What?" said a young man in clean armour. "Do you fight against
Theodosius? Look!"
'North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we
looked over the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two
strong Legions encamped. East and west we saw flame and fighting, but by
Hunno all was still.
'"Trouble no more," said the young man. "Rome's arm is long. Where are
the Captains of the Wall?"
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