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leader's idea and gratification at the thought of escape. They began

without delay to retrace their steps, and after some trouble again found

the rope.

Nessus mounted first; his bare feet enabled him to grip any inequality

of the surface of the rock. Whenever he came to a ledge which afforded

him standing room he shook the rope, and waited until Malchus joined

him.

At last they stood together at the foot of the perpendicular rock at the

top. The lightly armed Arab found no difficulty whatever in climbing the

rope; but it was harder work for Malchus, encumbered with the weight

of his armour. The numerous knots, however, helped him, and when he was

within a few feet of the top, Nessus seized the rope and hauled it up

by sheer strength until Malchus was level with the top. Then he gave him

his hand, and assisted him to gain his feet. They entered the cave and

made their way to the further end, and there threw themselves down. They

had not long been there when they saw a flash of light at the mouth of

the cave and heard voices.

Malchus seized his spear and would have leaped to his feet, but Nessus

pressed his hand on his shoulder.

"They are come for the she bear," he said. "It is not likely they will

enter."

Lying hidden in the darkness the fugitives watched the natives roll the

bear over, tie its legs together, and put a stout pole through them.

Then four men lifted the pole on their shoulders and started.

Another holding a brand entered the cave. The two fugitives held their

breath, and Nessus sat with an arrow in the string ready to shoot. The

brand, however, gave but a feeble light, and the native, picking up the

bodies of three of the young bears, which lay close to the entrance,

threw them over his shoulder, and crawled back out of the cave again. As

they heard his departing footsteps the fugitives drew a long breath of

relief.

Nessus rose and made his way cautiously out of the cave. He returned in

a minute.

"They have taken the rope with them," he said, "and it is well, for when

they have searched the valley tomorrow, were it hanging there, it might

occur to them that we have made our way up. Now that it is gone they can

never suspect that we have returned here."

"There is no chance of our being disturbed again tonight, Nessus. We can

sleep as securely as if were in our camp."

So saying, Malchus chose a comfortable place, and was soon asleep.

Nessus, however, did not lie down, but sat watching with unwearied eyes

the entrance to the cave. As soon as day had fairly broken, a chorus

of loud shouts and yells far down the ravine told that the search had

begun. For hours it continued. Every bush and boulder in the bottom was

searched by the natives.

Again and again they went up and down the gorge, convinced that the

fugitives must be hidden somewhere; for, as Nessus had anticipated, the

cliffs at the upper end were so precipitous that an escape there was

impossible, and the natives had kept so close a watch all night along

the slopes at the lower end, and at the mouth, that they felt sure that

their prey could not have escaped them unseen. And yet at last they were

forced to come to the confusion that in some inexplicable way this must

have been the case, for how else could they have escaped? The thought

that they had reascended by the rope before it was removed, and that

they were hidden in the cave at the time the bodies of the bear and its

cubs were carried away, never occurred to them.

All day they wandered about in the bottom of the ravine, searching every

possible place, and sometimes removing boulders with great labour, where

these were piled together in such a manner that any one could be hidden

beneath them.

At nightfall they feasted upon the body of the bear first killed, which

had been found where it had fallen in the ravine. The body of one of the

young bears which lay far up the cave, had escaped their search, and

a portion of this furnished a meal to the two prisoners, who were,

however, obliged to eat it raw, being afraid to light a fire, lest the

smoke, however slight, should be observed coming out at the entrance.

The next morning, so far as they could see, the place was deserted by

the natives. Lying far back in the cave they could see that the men

on the opposite side of the ravine had retired; but as it was quite

possible that the natives, feeling still convinced that the fugitives

must be hidden somewhere, had set a watch at some spot commanding a

view of the whole ravine, they did not venture to show themselves at the

entrance.

After making another meal of the bear, they sallied out, when it again

became dark, and made their way along the path. When they neared the end

they saw a party of the enemy sitting round a great fire at the mouth

of the ravine below them. They retired a short distance, and sat down

patiently until at last the fire burned low, and the natives, leaving

two of the party on watch, lay down to sleep. Then Malchus and his

companion rose to their feet, and made their way along the path. When

they were nearly abreast of the fire, Malchus happened to tread upon a

loose stone, which went bouncing down the side of the hill.

The scouts gave a shout, which called their companions to their feet,

and started up the hillside towards the spot where the stone had fallen.

Nessus discharged an arrow, which struck full on the chest of the leader

of the party, and then followed Malchus along the hillside.

A shout of rage broke from the natives as their comrade fell; but

without pausing they pushed on. Malchus did not hurry. Silence now was

of more importance than speed. He strode along, then, with a rapid but

careful step, Nessus following closely behind him. The shouts of

the savages soon showed that they were at fault. Malchus listened

attentively as he went. Whenever the babel of tongues ceased for a

moment he stopped perfectly still, and only ventured on when they were

renewed.

At last they had placed a long gap between them and their pursuers, and

came out on a level shoulder of the hill. They continued their way until

they found themselves at the edge of the forest. It was so dark under

the trees that they could no longer advance, and Malchus therefore

determined to wait till the dawn should enable them to continue their

journey. Whether they were in a clump of trees or in the forest, which

covered a large portion of the mountain side, they were unable to tell;

nor, as not a single star could be seen, had they any indication of the

direction which they should take. Retiring then for some little distance

among the trees, they lay down and were soon asleep.

When the first dawn of day appeared they were on their way again, and

soon found that the trees under which they had slept formed part of the

forest. Through occasional openings, formed by trees which had fallen

from age or tempest, they obtained a view of the surrounding country,

and were enabled to form an idea where lay the camp which they had left

two days before.

They had not proceeded far when they heard in the distance behind them

the shouting of men and the barking of dogs, and knew that the

enemy were upon their track. They ran now at the top of their speed,

convinced, however, that the natives, who would have to follow the

track, could not travel as fast as they did. Suddenly Malchus stopped.

"Listen!" he said. They paused, and far down the hillside heard the

distant sound of a horn. "Those must be our men," Malchus exclaimed,

"they are searching for us still; Hannibal must have allowed them to

stay behind when the army proceeded on its way."

In another half hour the horn sounded close at hand and they were

speedily among a body of Malchus' own followers, who received them with

shouts of delight. The men were utterly worn out, for they had searched

continuously day and night from the time they had missed their leader,

sometimes high up among the hills, sometimes among the lower valleys.

The party which he met comprised but a fourth of the band, for they had

divided into four parties, the better to range the country.

They were now ascending the hills again at a distance of two miles

apart, and messengers were at once sent off to the other bodies to

inform them that Malchus had returned. Malchus quickly recounted to his

men the story of what had befallen them, and then bade them lie down to

rest while he and Nessus kept watch.

The natives who had been in pursuit did not make their appearance,

having doubtless heard the horn which told of the approach of a body of

the Carthaginians. In two hours the whole of the band were collected,

and after a few hours' halt, to enable the men to recover from their

long fatigue and sleeplessness, Malchus put himself at their head

and they marched away to join the main body of their army, which they

overtook two days later.

Malchus was received with great delight by his father and Hannibal, who

had given him up for lost. Nessus had over and over again recounted all

the details of their adventure to his comrades, and the quickness of

Malchus at hitting upon the stratagem of returning to the cave, and so

escaping from a position where escape seemed well nigh impossible,

won for him an even higher place than before in the admiration of his

followers.

CHAPTER XI: THE PASSAGE OF THE RHONE

The army was now moving through the passes of the Pyrenees. The labour

was great; no army had ever before crossed this mountain barrier; roads

had to be made, streams bridged, and rocks blasted away, to allow the

passage of the elephants and baggage wagons. Opinions have differed as

to the explosives used by the Carthaginian miners, but it is certain

that they possessed means of blasting rocks. The engineers of Hannibal's

force possessed an amount of knowledge and science vastly in excess of

that attained by the Romans at that time, and during the campaign the

latter frequently endeavoured, and sometimes with success, by promises

of high rewards, to induce Hannibal's engineers to desert and take

service with them. A people well acquainted with the uses of sulphur

and niter, skilled in the Oriental science of chemistry, capable of

manufacturing Greek fire--a compound which would burn under water--may

well have been acquainted with some mixture resembling gunpowder.

The art of making this explosive was certainly known to the Chinese in

very remote ages, and the Phoenicians, whose galleys traversed the most

distant seas to the east, may have acquired their knowledge from that

people.

The wild tribes of the mountains harassed the army during this difficult

march, and constant skirmishes went on between them and Hannibal's light

armed troops. However, at last all difficulties were overcome, and the

army descended the slopes into the plains of Southern Gaul.

Already Hannibal's agents had negotiated for an unopposed passage

through this country; but the Gauls, alarmed at the appearance of

the army, and at the news which had reached them of the conquest of

Catalonia, assembled in arms. Hannibal's tact and a lavish distribution

of presents dissipated the alarm of the Gauls, and their chiefs visited

Hannibal's camp at Elne, and a treaty was entered into for the passage

of the army.

A singular article of this treaty, and one which shows the esteem in

which the Gauls held their women, was that all complaints on the part

of the natives against Carthaginian troops should be carried to Hannibal

himself or the general representing him, and that all complaints of the

Carthaginians against the natives should be decided without appeal by a

council composed of Gaulish women. This condition caused much amusement

to the Carthaginians, who, however, had no cause to regret its

acceptance, for the decisions of this singular tribunal were marked by

the greatest fairness and impartiality. The greater part of the tribes

through whose country the army marched towards the Rhone observed the

terms of the treaty with good faith; some proved troublesome, but were

wholly unable to stand against the Carthaginian arms.

The exact route traversed by the army has been a subject of long and

bitter controversy; but, as no events of very great importance occurred

on the way, the precise line followed in crossing Gaul is a matter of

but slight interest. Suffice that, after marching from the Pyrenees at

a high rate of speed, the army reached the Rhone at the point where

Roquemaure now stands, a short distance above Avignon.

This point had been chosen by Hannibal because it was one of the few

spots at which the Rhone runs in a single stream, its course being for

the most part greatly broken up by islands. Roquemaure lies sixty-five

miles from the sea, and it was necessary to cross the Rhone at some

distance from its mouth, for Rome was now thoroughly alarmed, and

Scipio, with a fleet and powerful army, was near Marseilles waiting to

engage Hannibal on the plains of Gaul.

During the last few days' march no inhabitants had been encountered.

The Arecomici, who inhabited this part of the country, had not been

represented at the meeting, and at the news of the approach of the

Carthaginians had deserted their country and fled across the Rhone,

where, joined by the tribes dwelling upon the further bank, they

prepared to offer a desperate opposition to the passage of the river.

The appearance of this mass of barbarians, armed with bows and arrows

and javelins, on the further side of the wide and rapid river which had

to be crossed, was not encouraging.

"It was bad enough crossing the Pyrenees," Malchus said to Trebon,

"but that was nothing to this undertaking; it is one thing to climb a

precipice, however steep, to the assault of an enemy, another to swim

across at the head of the army under such a shower of missiles as we

shall meet with on the other side."

Hannibal, however, had prepared to overcome the difficulty. Messengers

had been sent up and down the river to all the people living on the

right bank, offering to buy from them at good prices every barge and