1830.] a Tale of the Ancient Britons. 205 



wolf or wild fox. Occasionally he paused, till the free unshackled 

 moon should render his path more distinct ; and in the cloud-topped 

 mountain, with crag upon crag towering to a dizzy height above him 

 and before him, at the extremity of the pass, a black wood, tremendous 

 in its depth of gloom he recognized a withering spirit of desolation, like 

 that which chilled his own heart. 



It was during one of these pauses, that Manlius pointed out to his 

 notice a cataract, which, crossing the road immediately in front, went 

 shouting and leaping headlong down a ravine a few yards before them. 

 Down this steep declivity, the youth informed him they must proceed ; 

 and in a few minutes, himself setting the example, picked his way from 

 crag to crag, grasping fast by the shrubs that grew out beside the water- 

 fall. With some difficulty they accomplished the descent, which brought 

 them once more on level ground, and at the very entrance of the forest. 

 Manlius here halted, and looking around him, exclaimed, " The cave 

 must be somewhere hereabouts ;" and quitting his companion, moved 

 forward to reconnoitre. 



He had not been a quarter of an hour absent, when a few straggling 

 lights were seen glimmering through the wood. Sergius started with 

 astonishment; but at that instant his guide returned. His step was 

 tottering, his countenance corpse-like in its hue, his eye had a fixed 

 stony stare, his voice was broken by convulsive agitation. " Dacian !" 

 he said, in a tone which sounded like a wind among tombs, " the 

 Ides of May are come !" Then before the soldier could prepare himself 

 for what was to ensue, he shouted aloud, in the direction whence the 

 lights had been seen to glimmer, " Approach, and seize your victim !" 

 Immediately a loud tumult was heard ; the torches flashed nearer ; and 

 a body of men, rushing out from ambush, laid hold of the Dacian 

 and his guide, and bore them swiftly onwards into the forest. 



A very few minutes, during which brief space not a word transpired 

 on either side, brought the party to the end of their journey. Here 

 they halted in a broad open space, encircled with the troops of the 

 Silures, and bright as day with innumerable torches. Before Ser- 

 gius could recover the surprise into which this unexpected catastrophe 

 had thrown him, he found himself placed in front of the cromlech, and 

 surrounded by a body of Druids, in whose silent but expressive faces 

 he at once read his death-warrant. Above him, on the rude steps of the 

 altar, stood the Arch-Druid arrayed in the robe of sacrifice, and 

 before him Manlius, who was by this time at liberty. Sergius was the 

 first to break silence. Fixing a stern gaze on his guide, before whose 

 eagle glance, however, his spirit quailed in spite of itself, " Whence 

 this surprise ?" he said ; " who and what are you, Manlius ? Speak, 

 why have you thus betrayed me ?" 



" Who am I ? Fool ! can you so soon have forgotten ? But no 

 matter ; your memory will be stronger presently." With these words, 

 he stepped aside, and stooping down to a small streamlet that trickled 

 through the cromlech, washed the dark stains of the whartle-berry 

 from his face, dashed the military cap from his brow, the light but 

 ample tunic from his breast, and then advanced full in front of the 

 captive. 



" Now, tyrant ! do you recognise me now ?" he said. 



One glance one brief, shuddering glance sufficed to shew Sergius 

 who it was that stood before him. 



