Felicitas Part 20

Long, long sat he thus.

Suddenly the nightingale was silent.

Liuthari was quickly awakened out of his thoughts and dreams: in hot haste, their iron hoofs resounding on the hard pavement of the road, several horses came galloping from Juvavum; the practised ear of the German clearly distinguished two, perhaps three horses.

The young man sprang up, and seized the spear which was lying near him.

"Those are not Alemannian hors.e.m.e.n," said he. "Who else can it be?--Fugitive Romans? or even--her husband?"

He stepped behind the pier of the entrance to the right, where his form and also his shadow was hidden, while the moonlight revealed clearly to him the road and the footpath which led to the villa.

The hoof-strokes were now silent.

The watcher plainly saw how, at the turn o the footpath, three riders sprang from their horses, and fastened them to a milestone.

The one, the tallest, wore a Roman helm, with a dark flowing plume, the two others the close-fitting headgear of the Moorish cavalry; their white mantles floated in the night wind.

"That is scarcely her husband, and those are not slaves of this villa.

And yet they are coming here. What may they be seeking? Shall I call Haduwalt? Bah! King Liutbert's son has often already stood against three enemies at once."

At this moment the one in the helmet reached the entrance.

"Wait here," he commanded, raising his short spear, "I alone will fetch the woman; if I need you, I will call. But I think"----

"Halt! stand, Roman!" cried Liuthari, with levelled spear, springing into the gateway in the full moonlight. "What seek you here?"

"A German! Down with him!" cried the three voices at once. But at the same moment the leader stumbled two steps backwards, struck on the breast by the spear of Liuthari.

If the armour-factory of Lorch had not supplied such excellent work, the point would have gone through and through the man. But it rebounded and--broke.

The German angrily dropped the now useless shaft.

"By Tartarus, that was a murderous blow!" cried Leo fiercely. "Prudence is necessary. Raise the spears; we will throw together."

The three lances flew at once--all three the Alemannian stopped with his shield. One, hurled with especial momentum and fury, penetrated the threefold ox-hide and ash-wood of the shield, and wounded his arm near the shoulder.

The young man, full of strength, hardly felt the slight wound; but the shield, enc.u.mbered with three spear-shafts, he could no longer dexterously use.

"Haduwalt!" cried he now with a loud voice, "Waffena! Feindo! Help!"

At the same time he seized one of the lances in his shield, tore it out, and threw. The Moor at the right of the Tribune cried out and fell dead to the ground.

"I will throw him down; thou, sir, stab him!" cried the other. It was Himilco, the centurion.

"With the leap of the panther of his native deserts, he now sprang at the throat of the German; but, quick as lightning, Liuthari had drawn the short knife from his shoulder-belt. He thrust it into the brow between the eyes of his a.s.sailant. The brown, muscular arms which had seized the German's two shoulders as with the claws o a beast of prey, loosened; without a sound the African fell backwards. But Liuthari had not time to draw out the deeply imbedded dagger-blade.

"Haduwalt! Help!" cried he loudly.

For already the third enemy, a most formidable opponent, had rushed upon him.

With a powerful sword-stroke he cleaved Liuthari's shield so that it split into two halves, and, with the clinging spears, fell right and left from his arm.

And the Roman had, at the same time, stuck the sharp iron spike in the centre of his convex shield, deep into the naked right arm of the king's son: the blood spurted out. He recoiled several steps from the weight of the blow, nearly stumbling over the stone slabs.

The furious enemy, well armed both for defence and offence, now stepped victoriously into the entrance, pushing aside with his foot the two halves of the shield, that his adversary should not draw out the spears.

With a keen look the Roman measured his adversary, who now drew his last weapon, the short-handled battle-axe, from his girdle, and raised it to strike. The towering stature of the young German must have seemed fearful to the Roman, in spite of the superiority of his arms.

"Why should we tear each other to pieces, barbarian? Why dost thou protect this house so grimly? I will not contest it with thee; I will leave it to thee as soon as I have taken out one single thing."

"What thing? something belonging to thee? Thou art not the master of the house."

"I will leave thee the house. I come only for--a woman."

"_Thy_ wife? Felicitas? No! she is not thine"

Furiously the other cried: "What? Thou art already so intimate in the house! But neither is Felicitas _thy_ wife; and shall not become so.

Felicitas shall be _mine_!"

"Never!" cried Liuthari, and he sprang forward and dashed his stone battle-axe against the magnificent bronze helmet, so that it split asunder where the plume was attached, and fell in pieces from the head of the wearer.

But alas! that head remained uninjured, while the axe, descending with such force on the metal, broke off at the handle. For a moment the Tribune stood as if stupefied by the blow. But he saw immediately how his opponent, now quite defenceless, did not turn his face for flight, but still stood before him.

With a wild, yelling, tiger-like shriek, in which thirst for blood and joy of revenge sounded harshly together, he let his shield slip down, raised the short, broad Roman sword for a blow, and with the cry, "Felicitas is mine!" sprang on the German.

At that first outcry, Liuthari quickly bent forward, slightly raising the heel of his left foot, and seized one of the marble slabs lying before him; and now, first swinging it high above his head, with the cry "Felicitas!" he hurled it with a good aim against the helmetless forehead of the Tribune, as he sprang towards him.

Hoa.r.s.ely groaning, clashing in his armour, the a.s.sailant fell backwards; the sword escaped from his hand.

Already Liuthari knelt on his breast, seized the blade, and raised it to force it into his throat.

But he breathed no more--he was dead. Liuthari rising, threw the sword aside, and looked proudly on the three slain enemies.

"For Felicitas!" said he. "Now to her. I think--I have deserved it."

He knelt down by the running stream, washed the smarting, still bleeding wound of his right arm, tore some broad strips from the linen mantle of the dead centurion, bound them firmly around the wound, and then trod with a light, elastic step the long path through the garden, back to the house.

CHAPTER XIX.

Having reached it he pushed carefully aside the yellow curtain of the outer door, letting the moonlight fall into the dark room.

At the entrance to the sleeping-room, before its red curtain, lay Haduwalt, snoring; by him, lying on its side, empty, was the amphora.

Lightly, on tip-toe and with a beating heart, the young man advanced and cautiously divided the two halves of the red curtain. He then perceived, with a smile, the cunning arrangement of the thread; it was still fastened to the leathern belt of the guard; but the hand of the sleeper had opened; the ball lay on a stool by her couch. With a wide stride Liuthari stepped across the old man into the sleeping-room.

Above the head of the bed, in a niche in the wall, stood the little earthen lamp; it threw its mild light over the pillow. By its red glimmer, he perceived the infant near the bed of the mother in a wicker cradle.