Volume Ii Part 46 (2/2)
”They dare not come,” he replied to Procopius's warnings; ”they lie in Ravenna and tremble before Belisarius.”
Late at night Cethegus lay sleepless upon his coach in his tent. He had left the lamp burning.
”I cannot sleep,” he said to himself. ”There is a sound of clas.h.i.+ng arms in the air, and an odour of blood. The Goths are coming; they are most surely marching down through the Sabine mountains, on the Via Casperia and Salara.”
On a sudden the curtain of his tent was pushed back, and Syphax rushed up to his couch breathless.
”I know,” cried Cethegus, springing up, ”what you come to announce--the Goths are coming!”
”Yes, master; to-morrow they will be here. They advance upon the Salarian Gate. I had the Queen's best horse; but this Totila, who leads the vanguard, rushes like the wind over the desert, and here in the camp no one has any suspicion.”
”The great general,” laughed Cethegus, ”has placed no outposts on the watch.”
”He relied upon the solid tower on the bridge over the Anius,[1]
but----”
”Well, the tower is safe?”
”Yes; but the garrison--Roman citizens from Neapolis--at once went over to the Goths when young Totila appeared. The body-guards of Belisarius, who tried to stop them, were taken prisoners and delivered up to Totila; the tower and the bridge are in the hands of the Goths.”
”Things are going on well! Have you any idea of the strength of the enemy?”
”Not merely an idea; I know it as exactly as Witichis himself. Here is the list of their troops; Mataswintha, their Queen, sends it to you.”
Cethegus looked at him inquiringly.
”Do miracles take place to further the ruin of the Goths?”
”Yes, master, miracles! This lovely woman desires the ruin of her people, to revenge herself on one man. And this man is her husband!”
”You are mistaken,” cried Cethegus. ”She loved him from childhood, and even bought his bust.”
”Yes, and she loves him still. But he loves not her; and the bust of Mars was shattered on the night of her marriage.”
”She cannot have told you all this herself?”
”No; but Aspa, my countrywoman and her slave, told me all. She loves me; and she loves her mistress almost as much as I my master.
Mataswintha wishes you to aid in the destruction of the kingdom of the Goths. She will write, through Aspa, in the secret cypher of my race.
And if I were Cethegus, I would take this sun-like Queen to my wife.”
”I too, if I were Syphax. But your message deserves a crown! A revengeful and cunning woman is worth more than legions! Now I defy you, Belisarius, Witichis, and Justinian! Ask a favour, Syphax--anything except your freedom, for I need you yet.”
”My freedom is--to serve you. _One_ favour--let me fight at your side to-morrow?”
”No, my beautiful panther; I do not need your claws--only your stealthy step. You will keep silence about the vicinity and strength of the Goths. Help me on with my armour, and give me the plan of the Salarian road out of that casket. Now call Marcus Licinius, and the leader of my Isaurians, Sandil.”
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