The Scarlet Banner
Page 20
CHAPTER XIX
During the day following the nocturnal festival the fleet sailed out ofthe harbor of Carthage; it was only necessary to choose the troopsintended for the campaign and to send them on board.
On the evening of this day Gibamund, Hilda, and Verus had gatheredaround Gelimer in the great hall of the palace, whose lofty archedwindows afforded a wide view of the sea. Beside the marble table,heaped with papers, stood Gelimer, his head bowed as if by deepanxiety; his noble features expressed the gravest care.
"You sent for me, friend Verus, to listen with Gibamund to importanttidings which had arrived within the few hours since Zazo left us. Theymust be matters of serious moment, from the expression of your face.Begin; I am prepared for everything. I have strength to bear the news."
"You will need it," replied the priest, in a hollow tone.
"But shall Hilda also?"
"Oh, let me stay, my King," pleaded the young wife, pressing closer toher husband. "I am a woman; but I can keep silence. And I wish to knowand share your dangers."
Gelimer held out his hand to her. "Then brave sister-in-law! And bearwith us whatever may be allotted by the stern Judge in heaven."
"Yes," Verus began, "it seems as if the wrath of Heaven indeed restedon you, King Gelimer." Gelimer shuddered.
"Chancellor," cried Gibamund, indignantly, "cease such words, suchunhallowed thoughts. You are always thrusting the dagger of suchsayings into the soul of the best of men. It seems as if you torturedhim intentionally, fostered this delusion."
"Silence, Gibamund!" said the King, with a deep groan. "It is nodelusion. It is the most terrible truth which religion, conscience, thehistory of the world teach; sin will be punished. And when Verus becamemy Chancellor, he remained my confessor. Who but he has the right andthe duty to bruise my conscience and, by warning me of the wrath ofGod, break the defiant pride of my spirit?"
"But you need strength. King of the Vandals," cried Hilda, her eyessparkling wrathfully, "not contrition."
Gelimer waved his hand, and Verus began:
"It is almost crushing, blow upon blow. As soon as the fleet had leftthe roadstead (the last sail had barely vanished from our sight), themessages of evil came. First, from the Visigoths. Simultaneously withthe news from Sardinia a long, long letter from King Theudis arrived.It contained merely the repetition in many words it came fromHispalis--that he must consider everything maturely, must test what wecould do in war."
"Test from Hispalis!" muttered Gibamund.
But Verus went on: "A stranger delivered this letter at the palace soonafter our fleet went out to sea. It ran as follows:--
"'To King Gelimer King Theudis.
"'I am writing this in the harbor of Carthage--'"
"What? Impossible!" cried the three listeners.
"'--which I am just leaving. I wished to see the condition of affairswith my own eyes. For three days I remained among you unrecognized.Only my brave General, Theudigisel, accompanied me in the fishing boatwhich bore me across the narrow arm of the sea from Calpe, and will becarrying me home again when you read this, Gelimer. You are a trueking, a true hero. I saw you slay the tiger to-night; but you cannotkill the serpent of degeneration which has coiled around your people.Your guards sleep at their posts; your nobles go naked, or in women'sgarb. I saw them flame up at last, but it is a fire of straw. Even ifthey really desired to improve, they could not change in a few weekswhat the slothfulness of two generations has accomplished. Thepunishment, the recompense, for our sins does not fail.'" The Kingsighed heavily. "'Woe betide him who sought to unite his destiny toyour sinking race! I offer you not alliance, but refuge. If after thebattle is lost, you can escape to Spain,--and I will gladly aid you todo so,--no Justinian, no Belisarius shall reach you with us.Farewell!'"
"The subterfuge of cowardice," said Gibamund, resentfully.
"This man is no coward," replied Gelimer, sadly. "He is wise. Well,then, we will fight alone."
"And invite this wise King Theudis to be our guest at our banquet tocelebrate the victory!" exclaimed Hilda.
"Do not challenge Heaven by idle boasting," warned Gelimer. "But be itso. The aid of the Visigoths in the war is of less value to us than tohave the Ostrogoths at least remain neutral; to have Sicily--"
"Sicily," interrupted Verus, "if war should be declared, will be thebridge over which the enemy will march into Africa."
The King's eyes opened wider in astonishment; Gibamund started up, butHilda, turning pale, exclaimed,--
"What? My own people? The daughter of the Amalungi?"
"This letter from the Regent has just arrived; Cassiodorus composed it.I should know by the scholarly style if he had not affixed hissignature. She writes that, too weak to avenge, by her own power, theblood of her father's sister and many thousand Goths, she will joyfullysee the vengeance of Heaven executed by her imperial friend inConstantinople."
"The vengeance of Heaven,--retribution," Gelimer repeated in a hollowtone. "All, all, unite in that!"
"What?" cried Gibamund, in an outburst of rage. "Has the learnedCassiodorus grown childish? Justinian, the wily intriguer, an avengingangel of God! And especially that she-devil, whose name I will notutter in my pure wife's presence! That pair the avengers of God!"
"That proves nothing," Gelimer murmured, talking to himself as if lostin reverie. "The Fathers of the Church teach that God often uses evil,sinful men for His deeds of vengeance."
"A wise utterance," said the priest, nodding his head gravely.
"I cannot believe it," cried Gibamund. "Where is the sentence?"Snatching the letter from Verus's hand, he rapidly glanced through it."Sicily shall stand open to the Byzantines,--Justinian her only realfriend, her protector and gracious defender."
"Ah," cried Hilda, sorrowfully, "does the daughter of the greatTheodoric write that?"
"But," Gibamund went on in astonishment, "the sentence about thevengeance of Heaven--it is not here at all--not one word of it."
"Not in the mere wording, but the meaning is there," said the priest,taking the letter again and concealing it in the folds of his robe.
The King had not noticed the incident. He was pacing up and down thespacious hall with slow, hesitating steps, talking to himself. Now heagain approached the table, saying wearily: "Go on. I suppose this isnot all? But the end is coming," he added, unheard by the others.
"Your messenger. King Gelimer, sent to Tripolis to bring Pudentius hereto be tried before your tribunal, has returned."
"When did he arrive?"
"Within an hour."
"Without Pudentius?"
"He refuses to obey."
"What? I gave the messenger a hundred horsemen to bring the traitor byforce if necessary."
"They were received with a discharge of arrows from the walls.Pudentius had locked the gates, armed the citizens; the city hasforsworn its allegiance to you. The whole province of Tripolitana hasalso risen, probably relying upon aid from Constantinople. Pudentiuscalled from the battlements to your messenger, 'Now Nemesis isovertaking the bloody Vandals.'"
The King made a gesture as if to ward off invisible powers assailinghim.
"Nemesis?" cried Gibamund. "Yes, she will overtake--the traitor. Andwhile such peril threatens us close at hand in Africa itself, we sendour best weapon,--the fleet,--the flower of our army, and the hero Zazoto distant Sardinia! How could you counsel that, Verus?"
"Am I omniscient?" replied the priest, shrugging his shoulders. "I toldyou that the messenger returned from Tripolis only an hour ago."
"Oh, brother, brother," urged Gibamund, "give me two thousand men,--no,only one thousand. I will fly to Tripolis on the wings of the wind andshow the faithless wretch Nemesis as she looks in the Vandal dragonhelmet."
"Not until Zazo returns," replied the King, who had drawn himself up tohis full height. "We will not divide our strength still more. Zazo mustcome back at once! It was a grave error to send him. I wonder that Idid not perceive it. But your c
ounsel, Verus--Hush! That is not meantfor a reproach. But a swift sailing ship must follow the fleetinstantly to summon it back."
"Too late, my King," cried Gibamund, who had hurried to the archedwindow. "See how high the sea is running, and from the north! The windhas veered since we came in here, shifted from the southeast to thenorth. No ship can overtake the fleet which, borne by a strong southwind, has a start of many hours."
"O God," sighed Gelimer, "even Thy storms are against us. Only--" andagain he drew himself up--"who knows whether we may not err inbelieving the peril so close at hand? Constantinople may send a smallbody of troops to aid Sardinia, but whether Justinian will really dareto attack us on our own soil here in Africa--"
"Oh, if he would but dare!" cried Gibamund.
Just at that moment a priest--he was a deacon from Verus'sbasilica--hastened in, and, bowing humbly, handed to his superior asealed letter, saying: "This has just been brought by a swift-sailingship from Constantinople." He bowed again and left the hall.
At the first sight of the cord fastening the papyrus Verus started soviolently that neither of the three could fail to notice it asextraordinary in the man who, usually possessing almost superhumanself-control, never betrayed his emotion by a glance or even a vehementgesture.
"What fresh misfortune has happened?" cried even the brave Hilda.
"It is the sign agreed upon," said Verus, now gazing at the letteragain with such icy calmness that the very transition from suchagitation to such composure could not fail to perplex the witnessesafresh. But the little group were not overwhelmed with astonishmentlong, and waited impatiently while Verus, with a sharp dagger which hedrew from the breast of his cloak, severed the brownish-red cord. Thepieces, with the dainty little wax-seal fastening them, fell on thefloor. Casting a single glance at the letter, the priest instantlyhanded it, without a word, to Gelimer. The King read,--
"You will receive a visit in Africa; the grain ship has sailed. ThePersian merchant is in command."
"This was the agreement between me and my spy in Constantinople: thebrownish-red cord means that war is certain; 'visit' is landing; 'grainship' is the fleet; 'the Persian merchant' is Belisarius."
"Ah, that sounds like a war-song," cried Hilda.
"Welcome, Belisarius," cried Gibamund, grasping his sword.
The King threw the letter on the table. His expression was grave butcalm: "Had this paper been in my hand only a day, only a few hoursearlier, all would have been different. I thank you, Verus, that youobtained the news today, at least."
An almost imperceptible smile--did it mean pride? or was it flatteredvanity?--flickered over the priest's pallid, bloodless lips. "I haveold connections in Constantinople; since this danger threatened I haveeagerly fostered them."
"Well, then," said the King, "let them come! The decision, thecertainty, exerts a soothing, beneficial influence after the longperiod of suspense. Now there will be work, military work, which alwaysdoes me good; it prevents pondering, thinking."
"Yes, let them come," cried Gibamund; "they break into our country likerobbers, and we will resist them as if they were robbers. What righthas the Emperor to interfere with the succession to the Vandal throne?Right is on our side; God and victory will also be with us."
"Yes, right is on our side," said the King. "That is my best, my solesupport. God defends the right. He punishes wrong; so He will. He must,be with us."
This praise of justice, and this joyous confidence in their own causeseemed by no means to please the priest. With a gloomy frown on hisbrow he raised his sharp, penetrating voice, fixing his eyesthreateningly on Gelimer,--
"Justice? Who is just in the eyes of God? The Lord finds sin where wesee none. And He punishes not only present--"
At these words the King relapsed into his former mood; his eyes lostthe bright sparkle of resolution. But Verus could not finish. A loudnoise of voices in angry dispute rose in the corridor leading to thehall.