by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XV: A MOUNTAIN TRIBE
"It is a petty place for a chief of any power," Trebon said.
"Yes," Malchus agreed, "but I fancy these hill tribes are broken up intoa very large number of small villages in isolated valleys, only unitingwhen the order of the chief calls upon them to defend the mountainsagainst an invader, or to make a simultaneous raid upon the plains."
As they neared the village several persons were seen to issue out fromthe gate, and among these was a small and elderly man, evidentlythe chief of the party. His white hair descended to his waist; a boystanding behind him carried his bow and several javelins. The rest ofthe men appeared to be unarmed.
"He is a crafty looking old fellow," Malchus said as he alighted andadvanced towards the chief, "but I suppose he has made up his mind toreceive us as friends, at any rate for the present.
"I come, chief, as an ambassador from the Carthaginian general. When wepassed south he received messengers from you, saying that you wereready to enter into an alliance with him. To this he agreed, and sentpresents. Since then you have done nothing, although he has sent to youurging you to aid him by making an attack on the tribes allied to Rome.In every battle which he has fought with the Romans he has defeated themwith great slaughter; but, owing to the aid which they have receivedfrom the tribes in alliance with them, they are enabled continually toput fresh armies in the field. Therefore it is that he has sent me toyou and to the other chiefs of the tribes inhabiting the mountains, tourge you to descend with your forces into the plains, and so oblige thetribes there to turn their attention to their own defence rather than tothe sending of assistance to Rome. He has sent by my hands many valuablepresents, and has authorized me to promise you, in his name, such landsas you may wish to obtain beyond the foot of the hills. He promises you,also, a share in the booty taken at the sack of the Italian cities."
"Will you please to enter," the chief said, speaking a patois of Latinwhich Malchus found it difficult to understand. "We will then discussthe matters concerning which you speak."
So saying he led the way through the gates to a hut somewhat larger thanthe rest.
"Do you enter with me, Trebon, but let your men remain in their saddle,and hold our horses in readiness for us to mount speedily if there beneed. I doubt the friendliness of this old fellow and his people."
Upon entering the hut Malchus observed at once that the walls werecovered with hangings which were new and fresh, and he detected somecostly armour half hidden in a corner.
"The Romans have been here before us," he muttered to his companion;"the question is, how high have they bid for his support."
The chief took his seat on a roughly carved chair, and seats werebrought in for his visitors. He began by asking an account of the stateof affairs in the plains. Malchus answered him truthfully, except thathe exaggerated a little the effects that the Carthaginian victorieshad produced among the natives. The chief asked many questions, and wasevidently by some means well informed on the subject. He then expresseda desire to see the presents which they had brought him. Trebon went outand returned with two soldiers bearing them.
"I don't like the look of things," he said in a low voice. "The numberof men in the village has trebled since we arrived, and they still keepcoming in. None of them show arms at present, but no doubt theyare hidden close at hand. I believe the chief is only keeping us inconversation till he considers that a sufficient force has arrived tomake sure of us."
"We can't break it off now," Malchus said, "and must take our chance. Itwould not do to ensure a failure by showing suspicion."
The chief examined the presents with great care and announced hissatisfaction at them. Then he entered upon the question of the landwhich he was to receive, inquired whether the towns were to be capturedby the Carthaginians and handed over to him, or were to be capturedby his forces. When these points had been arranged, as it seemed,satisfactorily, he entered upon questions in dispute between himself andother chiefs of the mountain tribes. Malchus said he had no instructionsas to these points, which were new to him, but that in all questionsbetween the chief and tribes hostile to Carthage, full satisfactionwould be given him. As to those between himself and other chiefs, whomight also join against the Romans, if they elected to submit them toHannibal for decision he would arbitrate between them.
At this moment a horn was blown outside. A din of voices instantlyarose, which was followed immediately afterwards by the clashing ofweapons. Malchus and his companion leaped to their feet and rushedfrom the hut. They found that their men were attacked by a crowd ofmountaineers. In an instant they leaped on their horses, and drawingtheir swords joined in the fray. The number of their foes was large,a great many men having come in since Trebon had last issued out. Theattack was a determined one. Those next to the horsemen hewed at themwith axes, those further back hurled darts and javelins, while otherscrept in among the horses and stabbed them from beneath with their longknives.
"We must get out of this or we are lost," Trebon exclaimed, and,encouraging the men with his shouts, he strove to hew a way through thecrowd to the gate, while Malchus faced some of the men round and coveredthe rear. Several of the Carthaginians were already dismounted, owing totheir horses being slain, and some of them were despatched before theycould gain their feet. Malchus shouted to the others to leap up behindtheir comrades.
By dint of desperate efforts Trebon and the soldiers with him clearedthe way to the gate, but those behind were so hampered by the enemy thatthey were unable to follow. The natives clung to their legs and stroveto pull them off their horses, while a storm of blows was hurled uponthem. Trebon, seeing the danger of those behind, had turned, and in vaintried to cut his way back to them; but the number of the natives was toogreat. Malchus seeing this shouted at the top of his voice:
"Fly, Trebon, you cannot help us, save those you can." Seeing that hecould render his friend no assistance, Trebon turned round and gallopedoff with nine of the soldiers who had made their way with him to thegate. Five had already fallen, and Malchus shouted to the other six tothrow down their arms and yield themselves as prisoners. This they did,but two of them were killed before the villagers perceived they hadsurrendered.
Malchus and the others were dragged from their horses, bound hand andfoot, and thrown into one of the huts. The natives shouted in triumph,and yells of delight arose as the packages borne by the baggage animalswere examined, and the variety of rich presents, intended for thevarious chiefs, divided among them.
Most of the captives were more or less severely wounded, and some ofthe natives presently came into the hut and examined and bound up thewounds.
"Keep up your spirits," Malchus said cheerfully, "it is evident theydon't intend to kill us. No doubt they are going to send us prisoners tothe Romans, and in that case we shall be exchanged sooner or later. Atany rate the Romans would not dare ill treat us, for Hannibal holds morethan a hundred prisoners in his hands to every one they have taken."
Three days passed, food was brought to the captives regularly, and theirbonds were sufficiently relaxed for them to feed themselves. At the endof that time they were ordered to rise and leave the hut. Outside thechief with some forty of his followers were waiting them. All werearmed, and the prisoners being placed in their midst, the party started.
They proceeded by the same road by which Malchus had ridden to thevillage, and some miles were passed without incident, when, as they werepassing through a narrow valley, a great number of rocks camebounding down the hillside, and at different points along it severalCarthaginians appeared. In these Malchus recognized at once the soldiersof his escort. One of these shouted out:
"Surrender, or you are all dead men. A strong force surrounds you onboth sides, and my officers, whom you see, will give orders to theirmen, who will loose such an avalanche of rocks that you will all beswept away."
"It is only the men who escaped us," the chief cried; "push forward atonce."
But the instant the movement began the C
arthaginians all shouted orders,and a great number of rocks came bounding down, proving that they wereobeyed by an invisible army. Several of the mountaineers were crushed bythe stones, and the old chief, struck by a great rock in the chest, felldead. A Carthaginian standing next to Malchus was also slain.
The tribesmen gave a cry of terror. Hand to hand they were ready tofight valiantly, but this destruction by an unseen foe terrified them.The Carthaginian leader raised his hand, and the descent of the stonesceased.
"Now," he said, "you see the truth of my words. Hesitate any longer andall will be lost; but if you throw down your arms, and, leaving yourcaptives behind, retire by the way you came, you are free to do so.Hannibal has no desire for the blood of the Italian people. He has cometo free them from the yoke of Rome, and your treacherous chief, who,after our making an alliance with him, sold you to the Romans, has beenslain, therefore I have no further ill will against you."
The tribesmen, dismayed by the loss of their chief, and uncertain as tothe strength of the foes who surrounded them, at once threw down theirarms, and, glad to escape with their lives, fled at all speed up thepass towards their village, leaving their captives behind them.
The Carthaginians then descended, Trebon among them.
"I did not show myself, Malchus," the latter said as he joined hisfriend, "for the chief knew me by sight, and I wished him to beuncertain whether we were not a fresh party who had arrived."
"But who are your army?" Malchus asked; "you have astonished me as muchas the barbarians."
"There they are," Trebon said, laughing, as some fifty or sixty womenand a dozen old men and boys began to make their way down the hill."Fortunately the tribesmen were too much occupied with their plunder andyou to pursue us, and I got down safely with my men. I was, of course,determined to try to rescue you somehow, but did not see how it was tobe done. Then a happy thought struck me, and the next morning we rodedown to the plain till we came to a walled village. I at once summonedit to surrender, using threats of bringing up a strong body to destroythe place if they refused. They opened the gates sooner than I hadexpected, and I found the village inhabited only by women, old men, andchildren, the whole of the fighting men having been called away to jointhe Romans. They were, as you may imagine, in a terrible fright, andexpected every one of them to be killed. However, I told them that wewould not only spare their lives, but also their property, if they wouldobey my orders.
"They agreed willingly enough, and I ordered all those who were strongenough to be of any good to take each sufficient provisions for a weekand to accompany me. Astonished as they were at the order, there wasnothing for them to do but to obey, and they accordingly set out. Ifound by questioning them that the road we had travelled was the regularone up to the village, and that you would be sure to be brought down byit if the chief intended to send you to Rome.
"By nightfall we reached this valley. The next morning we set to workand cut a number of strong levers, then we went up on the hillside towhere you saw us, and I posted them all behind the rocks. We spent allthe day loosing stones and placing them in readiness to roll down, andwere then prepared for your coming. At nightfall I assembled them all,and put a guard over them. We posted them again at daybreak yesterday,but watched all day in vain, and here we should have remained for amonth if necessary, as I should have sent down some of the boys for moreprovisions when those they brought were gone. However, I was right gladwhen I saw you coming today, for it was dull work. I would have killedthe whole of these treacherous savages if I had not been afraid ofinjuring you and the men. As it was I was in terrible fright when thestones went rushing down at you. One of our men has been killed, I see;but there was no help for it."
The whole party then proceeded down the valley. On emerging from thehills Trebon told his improvised army that they could return to theirvillage, as he had no further need of their services, and, delighted athaving escaped without damage or injury, they at once proceeded on theirway.
"We had best halt here for the night," Trebon said, "and in the morningI will start off with the mounted men and get some horses from one ofthe villages for the rest of you. No doubt they are all pretty wellstripped of fighting men."
The next day the horses were obtained, and Malchus, seeing that, now hehad lost all the presents intended for the chiefs, it would be uselessto pursue his mission further, especially as he had learned that theRoman agents had already been at work among the tribes, returned withhis party to Hannibal's camp.
"I am sorry, Malchus," the Carthaginian general said, when he relatedhis failure to carry out the mission, "that you have not succeeded, butit is clear that your failure is due to no want of tact on your part.The attack upon you was evidently determined upon the instant youappeared in sight of the village, for men must have been sent outat once to summon the tribe. Your friend Trebon behaved with greatintelligence in the matter of your rescue, and I shall at once promotehim a step in rank."
"I am ready to set out again and try whether I can succeed better withsome of the other chiefs if you like," Malchus said.
"No, Malchus, we will leave them alone for the present. The Romans havebeen beforehand with us, and as this man was one of their principalchiefs, it is probable that, as he has forsaken his alliance with us,the others have done the same. Moreover, the news of his death, deservedas it was, at the hands of a party of Carthaginians, will not improvetheir feelings towards us. Nothing short of a general movement among thehill tribes would be of any great advantage to us, and it is clear thatno general movement can be looked for now. Besides, now that we see thespirit which animates these savages, I do not care to risk your loss bysending you among them."
The news of the disaster of Lake Trasimene was met by Rome in a spiritworthy of her. No one so much as breathed the thought of negotiationswith the enemy, not even a soldier was recalled from the army of Spain.Quintus Fabius Maximus was chosen dictator, and he with two newly raisedlegions marched to Ariminum and assumed the command of the army there,raised by the reinforcements he brought with him to fifty thousand men.
Stringent orders were issued to the inhabitants of the districts throughwhich Hannibal would march on his way to Rome to destroy their crops,drive off their cattle, and take refuge in the fortified towns.Servilius was appointed to the command of the Roman fleet, and orderedto oppose the Carthaginians at sea. The army of Fabius was now greatlysuperior to that of Hannibal, but was inferior in cavalry. He had,moreover, the advantage of being in a friendly country, and of beingprovisioned by the people through whose country he moved, while Hannibalwas obliged to scatter his army greatly to obtain provisions.
Fabius moved his army until within six miles of that of Hannibal,and then took up his position upon the hills, contenting himself withwatching from a distance the movements of the Carthaginians. Hannibalmarched unmolested through some of the richest provinces of Italy tillhe descended into the plain of Campania. He obtained large quantities ofrich booty, but the inhabitants in all cases held aloof from him, theirbelief in the star of Rome being still unshaken in spite of the reverseswhich had befallen her.
Fabius followed at a safe distance, avoiding every attempt of Hannibalto bring on a battle.
The Roman soldiers fretted with rage and indignation at seeing theenemy, so inferior in strength to themselves, wasting and plunderingthe country at their will. Minucius, the master of horse and second incommand, a fiery officer, sympathized to the full with the anger of thesoldiers, and continually urged upon Fabius to march the army to theassault, but Fabius was immovable. The terrible defeats which Hannibalhad inflicted upon two Roman armies showed him how vast would be thedanger of engaging such an opponent unless at some great advantage.
Such advantage he thought he saw when Hannibal descended into theplain of Campania. This plain was inclosed on the south by the riverVulturnus, which could be passed only at the bridge at Casilinum,defended by the Roman garrison at that town, while on its other sidesit was surrounded by an unbroken barrier of ste
ep and wooded hills, thepasses of which were strongly guarded by the Romans.
After seeing that every road over the hills was strongly held by histroops, Fabius sat down with his army on the mountains, whence he couldwatch the doings of Hannibal's force on the plains. He himself was amplysupplied with provisions from the country in his rear, and he awaitedpatiently the time when Hannibal, having exhausted all the resourcesof the Campania, would be forced by starvation to attack the Romans intheir almost impregnable position in the passes.
Hannibal was perfectly aware of the difficulties of his position. Hadhe been free and unencumbered by baggage he might have led his armydirectly across the wooded mountains, avoiding the passes guarded bythe Romans, but with his enormous trail of baggage this was impossibleunless he abandoned all the rich plunder which the army had collected.Of the two outlets from the plain, by the Appian and Latin roads whichled to Rome, neither could be safely attempted, for the Roman army wouldhave followed in his rear, and attacked him while endeavouring to forcethe passages in the mountains.
The same objection applied to his crossing the Vulturnus. The onlybridge was strongly held by the Romans, and the river was far too deepand rapid for a passage to be attempted elsewhere with the great Romanarmy close at hand. The mountain range between the Vulturnus and Cadeswas difficult in the extreme, as the passes were few and very stronglyguarded, but it was here that Hannibal resolved to make the attempt tolead his army from the difficult position in which it was placed. Hewaited quietly in the plain until the supplies of food were beginning torun low, and then prepared for his enterprise.
An immense number of cattle were among the plunder. Two thousand of thestoutest of these were selected, torches were fastened to their horns,and shortly before midnight the light troops drove the oxen to thehills, avoiding the position of the passes guarded by the enemy. Thetorches were then lighted, and the light troops drove the oxen straightup the hill. The animals, maddened by fear, rushed tumultuously forward,scattering in all directions on the hillside, but, continually urged bythe troops behind them, mounting towards the summits of the hills.
The Roman defenders of the passes, seeing this great number of lightsmoving upwards, supposed that Hannibal had abandoned all his baggage,and was leading his army straight across the hills. This idea wasconfirmed by the light troops, on gaining the crest of the hills,commencing an attack upon the Romans posted below them in the passthrough which Hannibal intended to move. The Roman troops thereuponquitted the pass, and scaled the heights to interrupt or harass theretreating foe.
As soon as Hannibal saw the lights moving on the top of the hillshe commenced his march. The African infantry led the way; they werefollowed by the cavalry; then came the baggage and booty, and the rearwas covered by the Spaniards and Gauls. The defile was found deserted byits defenders, and the army marched through unopposed. Meanwhile Fabiuswith his main army had remained inactive. The Roman general had seenwith astonishment the numerous lights making their way up the mountainside, but he feared that this was some device on the part of Hannibalto entrap him into an ambush, as he had entrapped Flaminius on LakeTrasimene. He therefore held his army in readiness for whatever mightoccur until morning broke.
Then he saw that he had been outwitted. The rear of the Carthaginianarmy was just entering the defile, and in a short time Fabius saw theGauls and Spaniards scaling the heights to the assistance of theircomrades, who were maintaining an unequal fight with the Romans.The latter were soon driven with slaughter into the plain, and theCarthaginian troops descended into the defile and followed theirretreating army. Hannibal now came down into the fertile country ofApulia, and determined to winter there. He took by storm the town ofGeronium, where he stored his supplies and placed his sick in shelter,while his army occupied an intrenched camp which he formed outside thetown.