A Captive of the Roman Eagles Part 38

Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the rushes, rowed first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did not go far.

"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling from the second boat as they rowed side by side.

"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance for this unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the Caesar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night."

"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley coming toward us."

"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains Barbarians."

"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from Constantia!"

"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; I recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is on board."

"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Caesar," remarked Saturninus.

The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept forward. It must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer, stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head, "that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you bring? I hope help, reenforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are lost." He groaned aloud.

"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. "Nannienus, whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you.

Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?"

"What has happened?" asked the Roman leader, startled.

"A second Cannae, Gratia.n.u.s says."

"Oh, what a dreadful word is that!"

"The Emperor Valens and his whole army are defeated, put to rout by the Goths at Adrianople. Forty thousand Romans lie dead upon their shields, thirty thousand are prisoners. The Emperor Valens while wounded was burned during his flight, in a peasant's house. All the Eastern Provinces are overrun by the Goths; even Constantinople is threatened.

Gratia.n.u.s has appointed you, Saturninus, commander-in-chief of the whole trembling, orphaned Eastern Empire. He commands you to hasten at once to Vindonissa, to lead his whole army thence against the Goths on the Danube. You are his last hope, and the Empire's. 'Saturninus alone can still save us,' he ordered me to tell you."

"And this Saturninus is a bungler," groaned the Illyrian, "and a wounded man, too. Attacked and disgracefully defeated by Suabian robbers--beaten in every sense!" He laughed grimly.

"Ha!" replied Nannienus mournfully, "that is nothing compared to my fate. An imperial fleet, under my command, captured and burned by miserable fishing boats."

"Alas," Saturninus continued, "and now I cannot even avenge myself and my honor as a General on these miscreants. But the Empire--the Emperor's command overrules everything else. I obey. Turn the helm. We will go to Constantia, thence to Vindonissa. Come with me at once, Ausonius. Do you not hear?"

"Directly," replied the latter. "She is opening her eyes."

CHAPTER LVIII.

The imperial galley was preparing to tow Saturninus's boat. This plan seemed best for the wounded General, who could not easily be lifted upon the lofty deck of the ship. Engaged in this task, the other Romans did not notice the young girl, who now sat up. Her first glance rested on the Prefect. "Ausonius!" she said feebly. "Again captured by you."

"Saved by me--by us Romans," he answered, more sternly than he was accustomed to speak, especially to her.

Strange changes had taken place in the character of the variable man.

He was not yet absolutely sure of his own feelings--how everything ought to end between him and Bissula.

"True, you did not call my name or appeal to us for aid. You had another deliverer in your mind. Yet you were not saved by the Alemanni, but by us Romans."

"From your own nephew, he alone pursued me!" she answered vehemently.

"Punishment has overtaken him," replied the Prefect, shuddering. "Let these thoughts pa.s.s. I saved you; I first recognized you and ordered the boat to turn back, merely to rescue you. Thus I risked life and liberty, for your wolfish people are certainly wild beasts and murderers. So: life for life. There we are equal. But," he went on gravely, earnestly, and kindly, yet with a stern, strange tone, as if testing her, "but we have not yet done with each other, little maid.

You wounded me deeply, very deeply by your fierce, rude, childish refusal. Almost as deeply as the poisoning plan of--the dead man. The terrible events of the past night first taught me how I love you: I thought constantly of you, your fate, your safety. Duty called me, but I sent you my most faithful----"

"To prevent my escape!"

"To protect you, ungrateful girl. When I fell from the wagon under the missiles of the Barbarians and thought death would come the next moment, even then I thought only of you. I have proved it by the most terrible test; my love for you is genuine, no mere caprice; it will end only with my life. And so once more, not as a reward for your act of rescue (I have repaid that), not as a favor or a gift--if the word offended you--once more, for the last time in life (and consider well, I will never set you free again) I ask you: will you be my servant, or my wife? I beseech you--do you hear? I, Ausonius, beseech you: become my wife!"

"Never! Never!" cried the girl starting up.

"Insolent!" replied the rejected lover, offended and deeply incensed: "You forget you are again my captive--again in my power."

A glance from Bissula into the waves of the lake, here very deep, was her only reply. Ausonius continued, without understanding the meaning of the look, "Now I know the cause of this defiant, senseless refusal.

You deceived me when you said you had no lover."

"I have no one who loves me," she answered with the deepest sadness; tears filled her eyes as she gazed fixedly into vacancy.

"You lie!" cried Ausonius. "That Adalo!" Bissula started. "He must love you madly."

Bissula listened intently, gazing at him in astonishment; glowing shame and happy terror filled her heart.

But the Roman went on: "Or would he, a free Prince of the Alemanni, have solemnly made the proposal to Saturninus and me: 'Let the maiden go unhurt. Adalo will take her place as captive.' Do you know what that means? A slave for life?"

"He--he did that? For me?" Pa.s.sionate delight flashed from her eyes, her soul.

Ausonius gazed silently into her face. Then he said: "How he loves you, this offer shows: how you love him, your radiant eyes betray. But," he added, slowly and searchingly, "know this. He will no longer separate us. You can become mine without breaking faith with him, for--" he clasped her hand.

"What is it? What has happened to him? Speak!"

"He is dead."

"Oh!" shrieked Bissula, and, before Ausonius could stop her, she had wrenched herself from his hold, sprung on the thwart of the boat and, clasping her hands above her head with a gesture of silent anguish, flung herself forward toward the water.

A strong arm caught her; it was Rignomer's.

"Stay, hot-hearted child!" he exclaimed kindly. But the girl struggled furiously in his grasp, she was resolved to plunge into the deep lake; the light boat rocked dangerously.

"Calm yourself," said Ausonius gravely and sorrowfully. "He lives."

"Oh, how cruelly you have played with me," cried the girl. The Batavian now drew her gently down upon the thwart, and she burst into a flood of tears; but they were tears of joy.

"It was no play, only a test. I see with grief that you really love the fair-haired boy so fondly. If he had fallen, you would rather have followed him to death than lived as my wife in splendor and happiness?

O Bissula, this is hard!"

"Father! Dear Father! Don't be angry. I cannot help it. But is it certain? Does he live?"

"Yes. You cannot help it! That is true; I see it now. Be comforted. He is alive. I saw him carried off the field by his followers. Saturninus and he exchanged blows."