nd dreams: in hot
haste, their iron hoofs resounding on the hard pavement of the road,
several horses came galloping from Juvavum; the practised ear of the
German clearly distinguished two, perhaps three horses.

The young man sprang up, and seized the spear which was lying near him.

"Those are not Alemannian horsemen," said he. "Who else can it
be?--Fugitive Romans? or even--her husband?"

He stepped behind the pier of the entrance to the right, where his form
and also his shadow was hidden, while the moonlight revealed clearly to
him the road and the footpath which led to the villa.

The hoof-strokes were now silent.

The watcher plainly saw how, at the turn oL the footpath, three riders
sprang from their horses, and fastened them to a milestone.

The one, the tallest, wore a Roman helm, with a dark flowing plume, the
two others the close-fitting headgear of the Moorish cavalry; their
white mantles floated in the night wind.

"That is scarcely her husband, and those are not slaves of this villa.
And yet they are coming here. What may they be seeking? Shall I call
Haduwalt? Bah! King Liutbert's son has often already stood against
three enemies at once."

At this moment the one in the helmet reached the entrance.

"Wait here," he commanded, raising his short spear, "I alone will fetch
the woman; if I need you, I will call. But I think"----

"Halt! stand, Roman!" cried Liuthari, with levelled spear, springing
into the gateway in the full moonlight. "What seek you here?"

"A German! Down with him!" cried the three voices at once. But at the
same moment the leader stumbled two steps backwards, struck on the
breast by the spear of Liuthari.

If the armour-factory of Lorch had not supplied such excellent work,
the point would have gone through and through the man. But it rebounded
and--broke.

The German angrily dropped the now useless shaft.

"By Tartarus, that was a murderous blow!" cried Leo fiercely. "Prudence
is necessary. Raise the spears; we will throw together."

The three lances flew at once--all three the Alemannian stopped with
his shield. One, hurled with especial momentum and fury, penetrated the
threefold ox-hide and ash-wood of the shield, and wounded his arm near
the shoulder.

The young man, full of strength, hardly felt the slight wound; but the
shield, encumbered with three spear-shafts, he could no longer
dexterously use.

"Haduwalt!" cried he now with a loud voice, "Waffena! Feindo!