1830.] a Tale of the Ancient Britons. 279 



" Hah, Manlius/' he said, " whence come you ? This is no time for 

 visiting. I concluded you were asleep hours since." 



" I have just left the British outposts/' was the youth's reply, " who, 

 deceived by my dress and manner, mistook me for one of their own spies. 

 Hence I had a brief opportunity of glancing at their forces, which, 

 though strong in point of numbers, seem undisciplined and full of 

 apprehension/' 



" Noble youth !" rejoined Sergius, " your daring does you infinite 

 credit, and shall not be forgotten in my next dispatches to the em- 

 peror." 



Manlius bowed low, and made answer, " Your next dispatches, Gene- 

 ral ! Have you then forgotten the warning voice of the augur, ' Re- 

 member the Ides of May ?' To-morrow is the first of the Ides. How, 

 then, do you know that the next dispatches may not be written of, 

 instead of by, you ? But perhaps you are not superstitious ; perhaps 

 you have no presentiment of misfortune ?" 



Like an adder's hiss, these few words, spoken in a tone barely above 

 a whisper, rung in the Dacian's ear. He regarded the speaker with a 

 look that seemed to imply, " You know more than you feel inclined to 

 confess regarding the secret of my destiny;" but being answered with a 

 gaze bold in conscious innocence, he faltered out, " You are a strange 

 youth, Manlius ; I hardly know what to make of you. My good offices 

 you reject, as if they were beneath consideration ; promotion seems not 

 your object, nor civil nor military renown ; yet, though you neither 

 court my confidence nor solicit my affection, you appear desirous of 

 laying me under perpetual obligations to you. Say, whence this strange 

 contradiction of character ?" 



(( I am the son of a Numidian chief," rejoined Manlius, with a 

 laugh ; " and inconsistency in act and deed is, as you ought by 

 this time to have known, the main feature in the character of an 

 African. I profess neither to be better nor wiser than the rest of my 

 tribe, though a long acquaintance with Roman manners ought perhaps 

 to have sobered down, if not eradicated, the defects of nature." 



" Well, well," interrupted the Dacian quickly, but not with ill- 

 nature, " I seek not to know more about you, than you yourself 

 choose to communicate. You are a moody, petulant youth crazed, 

 probably, for love of some Brundisian fair one. Is it not so ? Ah ! I 



see the question has stirred you ; so I will not further distress your 



But, hark ! the sentinels are changing their posts. You had better now 

 retire, and snatch a few hours' sleep, else to-morrow's exertions will 

 make sad inroads on your sickly frame." 



At this instant, the shrill tones of the trumpet announced the last 

 change of the watch. The youth caught at the sound, and wrapping 

 his cloak round him, bade Sergius a hurried adieu, and retired to his 

 own quarters. 



Left rmce more alone, the Dacian, after vainly endeavouring to sleep, 

 sunk again into one of those fits of despondency which as often pre- 

 cede as follow periods of excitement. It was not that he doubted the 

 issue of the morrow's engagement. Far from it. His fantastic young 

 protege's communication had convinced him that he had little to appre- 

 hend from the raw, undisciplined barbarians. Still less did he fear for 

 himself. In animal courage, at least, he was a true Roman warrior. What, 

 then, occasioned his depression ? It was the augur's mysterious pre- 



