Part 8 (1/2)

”Run up to the women's apartments,” he said to a slave, ”and tell your mistress to hurry down, for that every minute is precious.”

Almost immediately Berenice came down the stairs in her disguise as a British boy, and at the same moment Cneius issued from his room.

”Come, Berenice,” Beric said, ”there is not a moment to be lost; the town is in our hands, and if others of the tribe arrive I might not be able to save you.”

Hurrying them from the house he ordered the men to close round them, and then started on his way back. A terrible din was going on all round; yells, shouts, and screams arising from every house. Flames were bursting up at a dozen points. To his great satisfaction Beric reached the point where the Sarci were at work, breaking into the houses, before he encountered any of the other Iceni. The men were too busy to pay any attention to the little group of their own tribesmen; pa.s.sing through these they were soon at the gate. It already stood open, the bolts having been drawn by those who first entered. Fifty yards from the wall stood the chariot.

”Now you can leave us,” Beric said to his followers, ”I will rejoin you soon.”

Berenice was crying bitterly, horror stricken at the sounds she had heard, though happily she had seen nothing, being closely shut in by the tall forms of her guard.

”Thanks be to the G.o.ds that I have saved you, Berenice,” Beric said, ”and you also, Cneius! Now I must commit you to the care of the driver of the chariot, who is one of my tribesmen. He will take you to a retreat where you will, I trust, be in perfect safety until the troubles are over. His mother has promised to do all in her power for your comfort. You will find one of our huts but a rough abode, but it will at least be a shelter.”

”Cannot you come with us, Beric?” the girl sobbed.

”That I cannot do, Berenice. I am a Briton and a chief, and I must be with my tribe. And now I must away. Farewell, Berenice! may your G.o.ds and mine watch over you! Farewell, my kind teacher!”

He took off the torque, the collar formed of a number of small metal cords interlaced with each other, the emblem of rank and command, and handed it to the driver. ”You will show this, Runoc, to any you meet, for it may be that you will find parties of late comers on the road. This will be a proof that you are journeying on my business and under my orders. Do not stop and let them question you, but drive quickly along, and if they should shout and bid you stop, hold up the torque and shout, 'I travel at speed by my chief's orders.'

”Do you both sit down in the chariot,” he said to the others. ”Then as you journey rapidly along it will be supposed that you are either wounded or messengers of importance. Farewell!”

Cneius and the girl had already mounted the chariot, and the driver now gave the horses rein and started at full speed. Beric turned and re-entered the town slowly. In those days pity for the vanquished was a sentiment but little comprehended, and he had certainly not learned it among the Romans, who frequently ma.s.sacred their prisoners wholesale. Woe to the vanquished! was almost a maxim with them. But Beric shrank from witnessing the scene, now that the tables were turned upon the oppressors. Nationally he hated the Romans, but individually he had no feeling against them, and had he had the power he would at once have arrested the effusion of blood. He wished to drive them from the kingdom, not to ma.s.sacre them; but he knew well that he had no power whatever in such a matter. Even his own tribesmen would not have stayed their hand at his command.

To slay a Roman was to them a far more meritorious action than to slay a wolf, and any one who urged mercy would have been regarded not only as a weakling but as a traitor.

Already the work was well nigh done. Pouring in on all sides into the city the Iceni had burst into the houses and slain their occupants whether they resisted or not. A few men here and there sold their lives dearly, but the great majority had been too panic stricken with the sudden danger to attempt the slightest resistance.

Some of the inhabitants whose houses were near the temple had fled thither for refuge before the a.s.sailants reached them, but in half an hour from the striking of the first blow these and the troops there were the sole survivors of the population of Camalodunum.

For the present the temple was disregarded. It was known that the garrison did not exceed four hundred men, and there was no fear of so small a body a.s.suming the offensive.

The work of destruction had commenced. There was but little plundering, for the Britons despised the Roman luxuries, of the greater part of which they did not even comprehend the use. They were Roman, and therefore to be hated as well as despised. Save, therefore, weapons, which were highly prized, and gold ornaments, which were taken as trinkets for the women at home, nothing was saved. As the defenders of each house were slain, fire was applied to hangings and curtains, and then the a.s.sailants hurried away in search of fresh victims. Thus the work of destruction proceeded concurrently with that of ma.s.sacre, and as the sun rose vast columns of smoke mounting upwards conveyed the news to the women of the Iceni and Trin.o.bantes for a circle of many miles round, that the attack had been successful, and that Camalodunum, the seat of their oppressors, was in flames. Beric, as he made his way towards the centre of the town, sighed as he pa.s.sed the shop where two months before he had stopped a moment to look at the rolls of vellum.

The destruction of the monuments of Roman luxury; the houses with their costly contents; and even the Palace of Cun.o.beline, which had been converted into the residence of the Roman governor, had not affected him; but he mourned over the loss of the precious ma.n.u.scripts which had contained such a wealth of stored up learning.

Already the house was wrapped in flames, which were rus.h.i.+ng from the windows, and the prize which he had looked upon as his own special share of the plunder had escaped him.

At the edge of the broad open s.p.a.ce that surrounded the Temple of Claudius the Britons were gathering thickly. Beric applied his horn to his lips, and in a few minutes the Sarci gathered round him.

Bidding them stand in order he moved away to see what disposition was being made for the attack on the temple, but at present all were too excited with their success for any to a.s.sume the lead or give orders. At the first rush parties of the Britons had made for the temple, but had been received with showers of darts and stones, and had been met on the steps by the Roman soldiers and roughly repulsed. Walking round he came upon the chariot of Boadicea. The queen was flushed with excitement and gratified vengeance, and was shaking her spear menacingly towards the temple; her eye presently fell upon Beric.

”The work has begun well, my young chief, but we have still to crush the wolves in their den. It is a strong place, with its ma.s.sive walls unpierced save by the doorway at each end; but we will have them out if to do so we are forced to tear it down stone by stone.”

”I trust that we shall not be as long as that would take, queen,”

Beric said, ”for we have other work to do.”

Just at this moment one of the chiefs of the Trin.o.bantes came up.

”Queen Boadicea,” he said, ”we crave that we may be allowed to storm the temple. It is built on our ground as a sign of our subjection, and we would fain ourselves capture it.”

”Be it so,” the queen replied. ”Do you undertake the task at once.”

The Trin.o.bantes, who had joined the Iceni in the attack on the town, presently gathered with loud shouts, and under their chiefs rushed at the temple. From the roof darts and stones were showered down upon them; but though many were killed they swarmed up the broad steps that surrounded it on all sides and attacked the doors.

Beric shook his head, and returning to his men led them off down one of the broad streets to an open s.p.a.ce a short distance away.