--his people."

"That is another matter," said the stationarius, and let him go. "I
thought thee of those roving reavers who have plagued us day and night.
Thou hast indeed been out of the world not to know these things. Three
nights ago this happened. We were sent down from Calleva as soon as the
word was brought, but when we arrived the mischief had been done. The
lords had fled; the barbarians were in possession, and wallowing in the
havoc they had wrought. We gave them battle; in the midst of it came
your lord's men from the mines, whom also he had sent for. The
barbarians fled with what booty they could gather. Now the place is
patrolled by stationarii. We have been burying bodies and saving what
property we might, until your lord shall give command concerning it."

"And my lord?" Nicanor asked. "Whither hath he fled?"

"It is said to Londinium," the soldier answered. "Thence to Rutupiae to
take ship for Gaul. But of this I know not the truth. We are directed to
send in our reports to his house in Londinium; that is all that hath
been told us."

"Then have I no time to lose," said Nicanor.

Forthwith he remounted and rode eastward from the villa into the
deepening dusk. He turned into the Noviomagus road which led northward
to Londinium, down which he had been brought a prisoner so long a time
before, when first he had entered into his slaveship. And here he saw
that his lord's mansion had not been the only place to suffer.

For he found himself in the very track of the barbarians as they had
spread out of the Silva Anderida, through a neck of which, fifteen miles
ahead, the road passed. An acrid smell of smoke hung heavy in the
twilight; when he reached the station of Noviomagus he found it all in
flames, with dark figures which ran wildly in and out against the
glare. Here he changed his exhausted horse for a riderless gray which
came snorting with terror out of the smoke and gloom, ready to welcome a
master's hand and voice. He caught it, left the good roan by the
roadside, and hastened on. He met and passed people on the road fleeing
from burning houses and wrecked homes; in his ears were the crackle of
flames and the wailing of women who mourned their dead. From small
hamlets scattered in the country, folk were seeking refuge in the larger
towns. Yet when he had passed these heedless, scattered groups, he rode
almost alone.

All through the scented night he rode, and the round yellow moon rode
with him