Volume Iii Part 60 (1/2)
More and more rapidly the slave advanced. His goal was a little column of smoke which rose just at the other side of the cliff. For there yawned one of the small crater chasms of Vesuvius. For one moment Syphax stopped upon the edge of the black rocks; once again he raised the corpse of Cethegus erect in his strong arms, as if to show the n.o.ble form to the setting sun. And suddenly master and slave had disappeared.
The fiery mountain had received the faithful Syphax and the dead Cethegus, his greatness and his guilt, onto its glowing bosom. The hero was s.n.a.t.c.hed away from the small spite of his enemies.
Scaevola and Albinus, who had witnessed the occurrence, hastened to Na.r.s.es, and demanded that the corpse should be sought for on the sides of the crater. But Na.r.s.es said:
”I do not grudge the mighty hero his mighty grave. He has deserved it.
I fight with the living, and not with the dead.”
But almost at the same moment, the tumultuous battle round the pa.s.s, which Adalgoth, not unworthy of his royal master, heroically defended against the attacks of the enemy, ceased. For while, standing behind Adalgoth, Hildebrand and Wachis suddenly cried, ”Look! look at the sea!
The dragon s.h.i.+ps! The northern heroes! Harald! Harald!”--the solemn tones of the tuba were heard from below, sounding the signal for a cessation of hostilities--for a truce. Very gladly the fatigued and hara.s.sed warriors lowered their weapons.
But King Teja, who lay upon his s.h.i.+eld--Hildebrand had forbidden every one to draw out the spear of Cethegus from the wound--”for his life would flow out with his blood”--asked in a faint voice:
”What do I hear them cry? The northern heroes? The s.h.i.+ps? Is Harald there?”
”Yes, Harald! He comes to our rescue! He brings safety for the rest of the nation! For us, and for the women and children!” cried Adalgoth joyously, as he knelt at Teja's side. ”So thy incomparable heroism, my ever-beloved hero; thy superhuman and untiring efforts, were not in vain! Basiliskos has just come, sent by Na.r.s.es. Harald has destroyed the Ionian fleet in the harbour of Brundusium; he threatens to land and attack the already exhausted Byzantines; he demands to be allowed to carry away all the remaining Goths, with weapons and goods, to Thuleland and liberty! Na.r.s.es has agreed; he will honour, he says, King Teja's n.o.ble heroism, in the remnant of his people. May we accept? Oh, may we accept, my King?”
”Yes,” said Teja, as his eyes grew dim. ”You may and shall. The rest of my people free! The women, the children, delivered from a terrible death! Oh, happy that I am! Yes, take all who live to Thuleland; and take with you--two of the dead: King Theodoric--and----”
”And King Teja!” said Adalgoth: and kissed the dead man's mouth.
CHAPTER XV.
And so it happened, and this was the manner of it.
Immediately after Na.r.s.es had left his tent, a fisherman was led before him, who had just sailed round the promontory of Surrentum in a small and swift vessel, and who announced that an immense fleet of the Goths was in full sail for the coast. Na.r.s.es laughed; for he knew that not a Gothic sail was to be found on all the seas.
More narrowly questioned, the man was obliged to confess that he had not seen the fleet himself; but merchants had told him of it, and had related that a great naval combat had taken place, in which the Goths had destroyed the Emperor's fleet, at Brundusium.
That was impossible, as Na.r.s.es well knew. And when the fisherman described the appearance of the pretended Gothic s.h.i.+ps, according to what his informers had told him, the commander-in-chief cried out:
”At last they are coming! Triremes and galleys! They are our s.h.i.+ps which are approaching, not Gothic vessels.”
No one thought of the Viking's fleet, which had not been heard of for four moons, and which, it was believed, had sailed to the north.
A few hours later, as the battle was raging round the pa.s.s, engrossing the attention of all, the coastguards announced to Na.r.s.es the fact of the approach of a very large imperial fleet. The s.h.i.+p of the admiral, the Sophia, had been distinctly recognised. But the number of sails was far greater than had been expected. The s.h.i.+ps which Na.r.s.es had sent to urge the coming of the fleet were also among them, sailing first. The strong south-eastern breeze would shortly bring them within sight of the camp.
And presently Na.r.s.es himself could enjoy from the hill the magnificent spectacle of the approach of the fleet, propelled not only by their spreading sails, but also by their long oars.
Much relieved, he again turned his attention to the combat upon Vesuvius--when, suddenly, messengers reached him from the camp, affirming the first reports in an alarming manner, or rather, they brought much worse news. They had hurried on in advance of an emba.s.sy which reached the litter of Na.r.s.es just as Cethegus was advancing for the last time against Teja.
This emba.s.sy consisted of the admiral and captains of the Ionian fleet, who came forward with their hands in chains, and guarded by four Northmen, whose message they had been brought to interpret. They briefly related that they had been attacked by the fleet of the Viking one stormy night, and had lost almost all their s.h.i.+ps; that not one could escape to warn Na.r.s.es, for the enemy had blockaded the harbour.
When Jarl Harald had heard of the threatened destruction of the Goths upon Vesuvius, he had sworn to prevent or to share their evil fate. And sending the captured Grecian s.h.i.+ps in advance, prudently hiding behind them his dragon-s.h.i.+ps, he had hurried to the coast of Neapolis on the wings of the east wind. ”And thus,” concluded the interpreters, ”thus says Harald the Viking: 'Either you will allow all yet living Goths, with all their weapons and goods, to leave the Southland upon our s.h.i.+ps and return with us to their fatherland; in return for which we will give up all our thousands of prisoners, and all our prize-s.h.i.+ps, except those we need for the transport of the Goths; or we will immediately kill our prisoners, land, and attack you, your camp and army, in the rear. Then see to it, how many of you, when attacked in front by the Goths, in the rear by us, will remain alive! For we Northmen fight to the last man! I have sworn it by Odin.'”
Without a moment's hesitation Na.r.s.es agreed to the departure of the Goths.
”I have only sworn to drive them out of the Empire,” he said, ”not out of the world. It would bring me small renown if I overpowered and slaughtered the poor remains of such a n.o.ble nation. I reverence the heroism of this Teja; in forty years of warfare I have never seen his like. And I have no desire to try how my hara.s.sed army, which has had a day of the hardest fighting, and has lost almost all its leaders and numbers of its bravest soldiers, would resist these northern giants, who come with untired strength and unconquered courage.”