第 11 页

In the midst of the greatest trials and dangers he preserved his

cheerfulness, and had ever an encouraging word for his soldiers. Various

as were the nationalities of the troops who followed him, constrained

as most of them had been to enter the service of Carthage, so great was

their love and admiration for their commander that they were ready

to suffer all hardships, to dare all dangers for his sake. It was his

personal influence, and that alone, which welded this army, composed of

men of various nationalities and tribes, into one whole, and enabled it

to perform the greatest military exploits in the world's history, and

for years to sustain a terrible struggle against the whole power of

Rome.

CHAPTER VI: A CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN

Among the young officers who had followed Hannibal on board were

some who had left Carthage only a few months before and were known to

Malchus. From them he learned with delight that the troops would take

the field at once.

"We are going on a campaign against the Vacaei," one of them said. "The

army marched out two days since. Hannibal has been waiting here for your

arrival, for a fast sailing ship which started a few hours after you

brought the news that you were on your way, and you will set off to join

the rest without delay. It is going to be a hard campaign."

"Where is the country of the Vacaei?" Malchus asked.

"A long way off," the other replied. "The marches will be long and

tiresome. Their country lies somewhat to the northwest of the great

plateau in the centre of Iberia. We shall have to ascend the mountains

on this side, to cross the plateau, to follow the rivers which flow to

the great ocean."

The Vacaei, in fact, dwelt in the lands bordered by the upper Duero,

their country comprising a portion of old Castille, Leon, and the Basque

provinces. The journey would indeed be a long and difficult one; and

Hannibal was undertaking the expedition not only to punish the turbulent

Vacaei, who had attacked some of the tribes which had submitted to

Carthage, but to accustom the troops to fatigues and hardships, and to

prepare them for the great expedition which he had in view. No time was

indeed lost, for as soon as the troops were landed they were formed up

and at once started on their march.

"This is more than we bargained for," Trebon, a young guardsman whose

place in the ranks was next to Malchus, said to him. "I thought we

should have had at least a month here before we set out. They say the

city is as gay as Carthage; and as I have many friends here I have

looked forward to a month of jollity before starting. Every night when I

lay down on the hard planks of the deck I have consoled myself with the

thought that a soft bed awaited me here; and now we have to take at once

to the bare ground, with nothing but this skin strapped on the pommel of

my saddle to sleep on, and my bernous to cover me. It is colder already

a great deal than it was at Carthage; and if that is so here, what will

it be on the tops of those jagged mountains we see before us? Why, as I

live, that highest one over there is of dazzling white! That must be the

snow we have heard of--the rain turned solid by cold, and which they say

causes a pain to the naked limbs something like hot iron. Fancy having

to sleep in such stuff!"

Malchus laughed at the complaints of his comrade.

"I confess I am glad we are off at once," he said, "for I was sick of

doing nothing but idling away my time at Carthage; and I suppose it

would be just the same here. How busy are the streets of the town!

Except for the sight of the mountains which we see through the breaks of

the houses, one might believe one's self still at home."

The aspect of Carthagena, indeed, closely resembled that of the mother

city, and the inhabitants were of the same race and blood.

Carthagena had in the first place been formed by a great colony of

Libyans. The inhabitants of that province inhabiting the seaports and

coasts near Carthage were a mixture of Phoenician and native blood. They

were ever impatient of the supremacy of Carthage, and their rebellions

were frequent and often dangerous. After the suppression of these

insurrections, Carthage, sensible of the danger arising from the

turbulence of her neighbours, deported great numbers of them to form

colonies. Vast numbers were sent up into the Soudan, which was then one

of the most important possessions of the republic. The most extensive,

however, of these forced emigrations was the great colony sent to found

Carthagena, which had thus in a very few years, under the fostering

genius of the great Hamilcar, become a great and prosperous city.

Carthage itself had thus suddenly sprung into existence. After many

internal troubles the democracy of Tyre had gained the upper hand in

that city; and finding their position intolerable, the whole of the

aristocracy decided to emigrate, and, sailing with a great fleet under

their queen Dido or Elisa--for she was called by both names--founded

Carthage. This triumph of the democracy in Tyre, as might be expected,

proved the ruin of that city. Very rapidly she fell from the lofty

position she had held, and her place in the world and her proud position

as Queen of the Seas was very speedily taken by Carthage.

The original Libyan colony of Carthagena had been very largely increased

by subsequent emigration, and the populace presented an appearance very

similar to that of the mother city, save that instead of the swarthy

desert tribesmen, with their passive face and air of proud indifference,

mingling with the population of the town, there was in Carthagena a

large admixture of native Iberians, who, belonging to the tribes first

subdued by Carthage, had either been forced to settle here to supply

manual labour needed for the rising city, or who had voluntarily

abandoned their wandering life and adopted the more settled habitudes

and more assured comforts of existence in a great town.

Skirting the lower part of the city, Hamilcar's force marched along the

isthmus and crossed the bridge over the canal cut through it, and

was soon in the country beyond. The ground rose gradually, and after

marching for six miles the brigade was halted at a spot to which

Hannibal had, when the fleet was first discerned approaching along the

coast, despatched some bullocks and other provisions for their use. The

march was a short one, but after a week's confinement on board ship

the men were little fitted for a long journey. The bullocks and other

rations were served out to the various companies, and the work of

preparing the repast began. Malchus was amused, although rather

disgusted at his first experience in a real campaign. When with Hamilcar

on the expedition against the Atarantes he had formed part of his

father's suite and had lived in luxury. He was now a simple soldier, and

was called upon to assist to cut up the bullock which had fallen to the

share of the Carthaginian cavalry.

Some of the party went out to cut and bring in wood for the fires and

cooking; others moistened the flour and made dough for the flat cakes

which would be baked in the hot embers and eaten with the meat.

Loud shouts of laughter rose as the young soldiers worked at their

unaccustomed tasks, superintended by the officers, who, having all made

several campaigns, were able to instruct them as to their duties. From

a culinary point of view the meal could not be pronounced a success,

and was, indeed, a contrast to the food to which the young nobles were

accustomed. The march, however, and the keen bracing air had given them

good appetites, and the novelty and strangeness of the experience gave

a zest to the food; and in spite of the roughness of the meal, all

declared that they had never dined better. Many fires were now lit; and

round these, as the evening closed in, the men gathered in groups, all

closely wrapped in their bernouses, which were worn alike by officers

and men of the whole of the nationalities serving in the Carthaginian

army, serving as a cloak by day and a blanket at night. Presently a

trampling of horses was heard, and Hannibal and his personal staff rode

into the encampment.

He had not started until several hours after them, when, having given

his last orders and made all final arrangements for the management

of affairs during his absence, he had ridden on to join the army.

Dismounting, he went at once on foot among the troops, chatting gaily

with them and inquiring how they fared. After visiting all the other

detachments he came to the bivouac of the Carthaginian horse, and for an

hour sat talking by their fires.

"Ah!" he said as he rose to go, "the others will sleep well enough

tonight; but you sybarites, accustomed to your soft couches and your

luxuries, will fare badly. I remember my first night on the hard ground,

although `tis now sixteen years back, how my limbs ached and how I

longed for morning. Now, let me give you a hint how to make your beds

comfortable. Mind, this is not for the future, but till your limbs get

accustomed to the ground you may indulge in luxuries. Before you try

to go off to sleep note exactly where your hip bones and shoulders will

rest; take your daggers and scoop out the earth at these points so as

to make depressions in which they may lie. Then spread your lion skins

above them and lie down. You will sleep as comfortably as if on a soft

couch."

Many of the young soldiers followed Hannibal's advice; others, among

whom was Malchus, determined to accustom themselves at once to the hard

ground. Malchus was not long in getting to sleep, his last thought being

that the precaution advised by Hannibal to ensure repose was altogether

unnecessary. But he changed his opinion when, two or three hours later,

he woke up with acute pains in his hip and shoulder. After trying

vainly, by changing his position, again to go off to sleep, he rose,

rolled up the skin, and set to work to make the excavations recommended

by the general. Then spreading out the skin again he lay down, and was

astonished to find how immense was the relief afforded by this simple

expedient.

At daybreak the party were in motion. Their march was a long one; for

Hannibal wished to come up with the main army as soon as possible, and

no less than thirty miles were encompassed before they halted for the

night. They were now far up on the slopes of the Sierras. The latter

part of the journey had been exceedingly toilsome. The route was mostly

bare rock, which sorely tried the feet of the soldiers, these being

in most cases unprotected even by sandals. Malchus and his mounted

companions did not of course suffer in their feet. But they were almost

as glad as the infantry when the camping place was reached, for nothing

is more fatiguing to a horseman than to be obliged to travel in the

saddle for ten hours at the pace of footmen. The halting place this

time was near the upper edge of the forest which then clothed the lower

slopes of the mountains.

Enough meat had been killed on the previous evening for three days'

rations for the troops, and there was therefore no loss of time in

preparing the meal. Wood, of course, was in abundance, and the pots

were soon hanging from thick poles placed above the fires. The night was

exceedingly cold, and the soldiers were grateful for the shelter which

the trees afforded from the piercing wind which blew across the snow

covered peaks of the higher range of mountains.

"What is that noise?" Malchus asked one of the officers as, after the

meal was finished and silence began to reign in the camp, a deep sound

was heard in the forest.

"That is the howling of a pack of wolves," the officer said. "They are

savage brutes, and when in company will not hesitate to attack small

parties of men. They abound in the mountains, and are a scourge to

the shepherds of the plains, especially in the cold weather, when they

descend and commit terrible damage among the flocks."

"I thought I did not know the sound," Malchus said. "The nights were

noisy enough sometimes at the southern edge of the desert. The packs

of jackals, with their sharp yelping cry, abounded; then there was the

deeper note of the hyenas, and the barking cry of troops of monkeys, and

the thundering roar of the lions. They were unpleasant enough, and at

first used to keep one awake; but none of them were so lugubrious

as that mournful howl I hear now. I suppose sometimes, when there is

nothing else to do, we get up hunting parties?"

"Yes," the officer replied; "it is the chief amusement of our garrisons

in winter among the wild parts of the country. Of course, near

Carthagena these creatures have been eradicated; but among the mountains

they abound, and the carcass of a dead horse is sure to attract plenty

of them. It is a sport not without danger; and there are many instances

where parties of five or six have gone out, taking with them a carcass

to attract the wolves, and have never returned; and a search has

resulted in the discovery of their weapons, injured and perhaps broken,

of stains of blood and signs of a desperate struggle, but of them not so

much as a bone has remained behind."

"I thought lion hunting was an exciting sport but the lions, although

they may move and hunt in companies, do not fight in packs, as these

fierce brutes seem to do. I hope some day to try it. I should like to

send back two of their heads to hang on the wall by the side of that of

the lion I killed up in the desert."

"Next winter you may do so," the officer said. "The season is nearly

over now, and you may be sure that Hannibal will give us enough to do

without our thinking of hunting wolves. The Vacaei are fierce enough.

Perhaps two of their heads would do instead of those of wolves."

"I do not think my mother and sisters would approve of that," Malchus

laughed; "so I must wait for the winter."

The night did not pass so quietly as that which had preceded it. The