The Scarlet Banner

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER XX

  "I know those tones," said Gelimer, anxiously, turning toward theentrance.

  "Yes; it is our boy," cried Gibamund. "He seems very angry."

  Even as he spoke young Ammata rushed in, dragging with him by his shorthair and the open neck of his robe a lad considerably larger, clad in arichly ornamented tunic, who struggled vainly as the other jerked himwith both hands through the entrance, which was closed only by acurtain. The dark eyes, clear-cut features, and round, short head ofAmmata's foe indicated his Roman lineage.

  "What is it, Ammata?"

  "What has happened, Publius Pudentius?"

  "No, no! I won't let you go," shouted the Vandal prince. "You shallrepeat it in the presence of the King! And the King shall give you thelie! Listen, brother! We were playing in the vestibule; we werewrestling together. I threw him. He rose angrily, and, grinding histeeth, said, 'That doesn't count. The devil, the demon of your race,helped you.'

  "'Who?' I asked.

  "'Why, that Genseric, the son of Orcus. You Asdings boast of yourdescent from pagan gods; but these, so the priest taught us, weredemons. That is the reason of his luck, his victories.'

  "I laughed, but he went on: 'He said so himself. Once, when Gensericleft the harbor of Carthage on his corsair ship and the helmsman askedwhere he should turn the prow, the wicked tyrant answered: "Let usdrift with the wind and waves toward whomsoever God's anger is directedagainst."' Is that true, brother?"

  "Yes, it is true!" retorted the young Roman. "And it is also true thatGenseric was as cruel as a demon to the defenceless and the prisoners.From rage because he was defeated in an attack upon Taenarus he landedat Zacynthus, dragged away as captives five hundred noble men andwomen, and, when out at sea, ordered them the whole five hundred--to behacked into pieces from the feet upward, and flung into the waves."

  "Brother, surely this is not true?" cried Ammata, pushing back hiswaving locks from his flushed face. "What? You are silent? You turnaway? You cannot--"

  "No, he cannot deny it," cried Pudentius, defiantly. "Do you see howpale he turns? Genseric was a demon. You have all sprung from hell. Heand his successors have committed horrible deeds of cruelty upon usRomans, us Catholics! But wait! It will not remain unpunished. Assurely as there is a God in Heaven! This curse of sin rests upon you.What do the Scriptures say? 'I will visit the sins of the fathers uponthe children unto the third and fourth generation.'"

  A hollow groan escaped the lips of the King. He tottered, sank upon thecouch, and covered his face with the folds of his purple mantle. Ammatagazed at him in terror. Hilda hastily pushed him and the young Romanaway.

  "Go!" she whispered. "Make friends with each other; you must stopquarrelling. What have you boys to do with such things? Make friends, Isay." Ammata held out his right hand pleasantly; the Roman clasped itslowly, angrily.

  "Look," said Ammata, stooping, "how lucky!" He lifted from the floorthe bit of brownish-red cord, to which the little wax seal hung.

  "Yes, indeed," exclaimed Pudentius, in surprise; "the same seal thatVerus would not give us for our collection of seals and impressions."

  "It is very odd,--a scorpion surrounded by flames."

  "Last week, when I saw the open letter lying on his table with the sealand cord, how I begged him for it!"

  "He struck my fingers when I seized it."

  "I wondered why it should be so valuable."

  "And to-day we find it thrown away, on the floor."

  "He might have given it to us, then, after the letter was opened."

  "He do a kind act? He looks as though he came straight from the netherworld."

  "Come, let us go."

  The two lads left the hall together, apparently friends again. But forhow long a time? No one had heard their whispered conversation.

  Gibamund bent over his brother.

  "Gelimer," he cried sorrowfully, "rouse yourself! Calm yourself! Howcan the words of a child--"

  "Oh, it is true, all too true! It is the torture of my life. It is theworm boring into my brain. Even the children perceive it, utter it!God, the terrible God of vengeance, will visit the sins of our fathersupon us all,--on our whole nation, especially on Genseric's race. Weare cursed for the guilt of our ancestors. And on the Day of Judgment,even from the depths of the sea, accusers will rise against us. Whenthe Son of Man returns in the clouds of Heaven, when the summons isheard: 'Earth, open thy heights! mighty ocean, give up thy dead!' thosemutilated forms will bear witness against us."

  "No, no, thrice no!" cried Gibamund. "Verus, do not stand there withfolded arms, so cold, so silent. You see how your friend, your priestlycharge, is suffering. You, the shepherd of his soul, help him! Take hisdelusion from him. Tell him God is a God of Mercy, and every mansuffers for his own sins only."

  But the priest answered gloomily: "I cannot tell the King that he iswrong. You, Prince, talk like a youth, like a layman, like a German,almost like a pagan. King Gelimer, a mature man, has acquired theecclesiastical wisdom of the Fathers of the Church and the secularknowledge of the philosophers. And he is a devout Christian. God is aterrible avenger of sin. Gelimer is right, and you are wrong."

  "Then I will praise the folly of my youth."

  "And I my paganism!" said Hilda. "They make me happy."

  "The King's (or your) Sacred Wisdom makes him miserable."

  "It might paralyze his strength!"

  "Had he not inherited such unusual vigor from his much-despisedancestors."

  "And with it the curse of their sins," said Gelimer to himself.

  "We might consider," said Verus, slowly, "whether it would not be wiseto cast into prison, with the other captives, this Publius Pudentius,the son of Pudentius the rebel, whom he could not take with him in hishasty flight."

  "The lad? Why?" asked Hilda, reproachfully.

  "With shrewd caution, your former kings reared the sons of aristocraticRomans at their courts, in the palace," Verus went on quietly,"apparently to do honor to their fathers; really as hostages for theirfidelity."

  "Shall Gelimer the Good visit the father's guilt on the innocent son,like your terrible God?" cried Gibamund.

  "That I would never do," said Gelimer.

  "The traitor knew it," replied Verus. "He calculated on your mildness;that is why he dares to rebel while his son is in your hands."

  "Let all these boys go in peace to their families."

  "That will not do. They are old enough, and have seen enough of ourpreparations and our weak points to do us serious injury if they shouldtalk of them to our foes. They must remain in the city, in the palace.I will leave you now; my work summons me."

  "One thing more, my Verus. It grieves me that I could not extort fromZazo before his departure a consent which I have long striven to winfrom him."

  "What do you mean?" asked Hilda.

  "I can guess," said Gibamund.

  "It concerns the prisoners in the dungeons of the citadel. When,against the entreaties of the whole nation and Zazo's urgencyespecially, Gelimer protected the lives of Hilderic and Euages,changing the sentence of death pronounced by the Council of the Nationto imprisonment, he was obliged to promise Zazo that at least he wouldnever liberate the prisoners without his consent."

  "I wished to release them now. But Zazo has my promise, and he couldnot be softened."

  "He is right,--a rare instance," said Verus.

  "What? You, the priest, counsel against pity and pardon?" asked Hilda,in astonishment.

  "I am also chancellor of this kingdom. The former King would be far toodangerous if he were set at liberty. Romans, Catholics,--he is saidsecretly to have joined this church,--might gather round him, and 'therightful King of the Vandals' would be a much-desired weapon againstthe 'Tyrant' Gelimer. The prisoners will be better off where they are.Their lives are safe--"

  "They have repeatedly requested an audience; they wish to justifythemselves. These petitions--"

  "Were always granted. I have heard t
hem myself."

  "What resulted from them?"

  "Nothing that I did not already know. Did you not feel the armor underHilderic's robe, wrest the dagger from his hand yourself?"

  "Alas, yes! Yet I so easily distrust myself. Ambition, desire for thiscrown (one of my heaviest sins), made me only too ready to believe inHilderic's guilt. And now the captive King, protesting his innocence,appealing to a warning letter received by him on that day, which wouldexplain and prove everything, requests another trial. Yet you havefulfilled the prisoner's wish and searched for it in the place henamed?"

  "Certainly," said Verus, quietly, his lifeless features growing evenmore rigid, more sternly controlled. "That letter is an invention. AsHilderic repeatedly asserted that he had concealed it in a secretdrawer of 'Genseric's Golden Chest,'--you know the coffer, Gibamund?--Isearched the whole chest with my own hands and alone. I even found thesecret drawer and opened it; nothing of the kind was there. Nay, at theprisoner's earnest entreaties, I had the coffer carried to his dungeonand examined by himself in the presence of witnesses. He, too, foundnothing."

  "And no one could have previously removed the letter?" asked Gelimer.

  "You and I alone have the keys to the chest which contains the mostimportant documents. But I must leave you now," said the priest. "Ihave many letters to write to-night. Farewell!"

  "I thank you, my Verus. May the angel of the Lord watch over me inHeaven as faithfully as you watch and care for me on earth."

  The priest closed his eyes a moment, then smiling faintly, nodded,saying: "That is my prayer also."

  He glided noiselessly across the threshold.