A Struggle For Rome Volume Ii Part 40

"What canst thou advise?"

"Come with us! Up, away! Mount my horse and ride away with Mistress Rauthgundis. I will follow afterwards. Leave those who torture you till the bright drops stand in your eyes; leave them, and all the rubbish of crown and kingdom. It has brought you no happiness. They do not mean well by you. Who would part man and wife for a dead crown? Up and away, I say! And I know a rocky nest where no one can find you but an eagle or a chamois."

"Shall thy master run away from his kingdom, like a bad slave from the mill?"

"Farewell, Witichis. Here, take the locket with the blue ribbon; the ringlet of our boy is in it, and one," she whispered, kissing him on the forehead, and hanging the locket round his neck, "one of Rauthgundis'. Farewell, thou, my heart's life!"

He raised himself to look into her eyes.

She suddenly struck her horse--"Forward, Wallada!"--and galloped away.

Wachis followed.

Witichis stood motionless, and looked after her.

She stopped before the road turned into the wood--once more she waved her hand, and the next minute had disappeared.

Witichis listened to the tramp of the horses as if in a dream. When the sound ceased he turned.

But he could not leave the place.

He stepped out of the road. At the other side of the ditch lay a large mossy block of stone. There the King of the Goths seated himself, rested his arms upon his knees, and buried his face in his hands. He pressed them hard against his eyes, to shut out the whole world from his grief.

Tears trickled through his fingers. He did not notice them.

Hors.e.m.e.n galloped past. He scarcely heard them.

So he sat motionless for hours; so motionless, that the birds of the wood hopped close to him.

The sun stood in the south.

At last--he heard some one call his name.

He looked up. Earl Teja stood before him.

"I knew well," said Teja, "that thou hadst not fled like a coward. Come back with me, and save thy kingdom. When, this morning, thou wert not found in thy tent, the report spread through the camp that, despairing of kingdom and happiness, thou hadst fled. It soon reached the city of Ravenna and Guntharis. The Ravennese threaten a sally, and that they will go over to Belisarius. Arahad tempts the army to give him the crown. Two, three opposing Kings arise. Everything will fall to pieces if thou comest not to save us!"

"I come!" cried Witichis. "Let them take care! The best heart in the world has been broken for the sake of this crown; it is sacred, and they shall not desecrate it. Come, Teja, back to the camp!"

BOOK IV.-_Continued._

WITICHIS.

"But the Goths chose Witichis for their king, a man, not indeed of n.o.ble birth, but of great fame as a warrior."--_Procopius: Wars of the Goths_, i. 11.

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

When King Witichis readied the camp, he found it almost in a state of anarchy.

The pressing need of the moment forcibly roused him from his grief, and gave him sufficient occupation.

He found the army split into numerous parties, and on the point of dissolution. He acknowledged to himself that, if he had abdicated, or abandoned the camp, the complete ruin of the Gothic cause would have been the consequence. He found many of the troops already on the point of departure. Some were about to join Earl Grippa in Ravenna; others to go over to the rebels; others again to fly across the Alps. Many spoke of the choice of a new king, and here, too, the different parties opposed each other with threats of violence.

Hildebrand and Hildebad still kept together those who did not believe in the flight of the King. The old master-at-arms had declared that if Witichis had really deserted them, he would not rest until he had dealt to him the punishment of Theodoric, while Hildebad rated at those who could believe Witichis capable of such baseness.

They had guarded the roads to the city and to the rebel camp, and threatened to oppose force to every movement in those directions; while Duke Guntharis, having heard a report of the confusion, was already advancing against the royal camp.

Everywhere Witichis found discontented groups of troops on the point of departure; everywhere he heard words of blame and beheld uplifted weapons. At any moment the camp might become a scene of bloodshed.

Quickly resolved, he hurried to his tent, adorned himself with the coroneted helmet and the golden sceptre, mounted Boreas, his powerful charger, and galloped through the lines of tents, followed by Teja, who bore the blue banner of Theodoric.

In the middle of the camp they met with a crowd of men, women, and children--for the latter generally accompanied a Gothic army--who, murmuring and threatening, were moving towards the western gate.

Hildebad had sent his soldiers to bar this gate with levelled lances.

"Let us go out," cried the people. "The King has fled, the war is over, all is lost. We will save our lives."

"The King is no coward like thee!" cried Hildebad, pushing back the nearest man.

"Yes, he is a traitor!" cried the latter. "He has forsaken and betrayed us for the sake of a woman's tears."

"Yes," said another, "he has killed three thousand of our brothers and has fled."

"Thou liest!" said a quiet voice. Witichis had turned the corner of a tent.

"Hail, King Witichis!" cried Hildebad. "Do you see him, you rabble? Did I not tell you? But it was high time thou camest--things were getting to a desperate pa.s.s."

Just then Hildebrand came galloping up with a few hors.e.m.e.n.

"Hail, King Witichis!" he cried, and turning to his companions--"Hasten, heralds, through the camp," said he, "and tell what you have seen; and all the people will cry: 'Hail, Witichis, our faithful King!'"

But Witichis turned from him with a look of anguish.

The heralds galloped away in all directions, and shortly there arose through the whole camp the thundering shout, "Hail, King Witichis!"

Even those who had just been murmuring joined unanimously in the cry.

Witichis listened to these acclamations with a look full of pride and pain, and Teja whispered to him: "Now thou seest that thou hast saved the kingdom."

"Up! lead us to victory!" cried Hildebad, "for Guntharis and Arahad approach! They think to surprise us without a chief and in complete disorder. At them! They shall find themselves mistaken. At them! and down with the rebels!"