as the road to Decimum is
said to lead through dangerous defiles, Belisarius has carefully
planned the order of marching and sent it in writing this evening to
all the leaders, to save time in the departure early in the morning.

* * * * *

The warlike notes of the tuba are rousing the sleepers. We are about to
start. An eagle from the desert in the west is flying over our camp.

It is reported that the first meeting with the enemy--only a few
mounted men--took place during the night at our farthest western
outpost. One of our Huns fell, and the commander of one of their
squadrons, Bleda, is missing. Probably it is merely one of the camp
rumors which the impatience of expectation has already conjured up
several times. To-night we shall reach Decimum; to-morrow night the
gates of Carthage. But where are the Vandals?

CHAPTER V

When Procopius wrote the last lines, those whom he was seeking were far
nearer than he imagined.

The first rays of the morning sun darted above the sea, glittered on
the waves, and shone over the yellowish-brown sand of the edge of the
desert, as a dozen Vandal horsemen dashed into the King's camp a few
leagues southwest of Decimum.

Gibamund, the leader, and the boy Ammata sprang from their horses.
"What do ye bring?" shouted the guards.

"Victory," answered Ammata.

"And a captive," added Gibamund.

They hastened to rouse the King. But Gelimer came in full armor out of
his tent to meet them.

"You are stained with blood--both. You, too, Ammata; are you wounded?"
His voice was tremulous with anxiety.

"No," laughed the handsome boy, his eyes sparkling brightly. "It is the
blood of the enemy."

"The first that has been shed in this war," replied the King, gravely,
"sullies your pure hand. Oh, if I had not consented--"

"It would have been unfortunate," Gibamund interrupted. "Our child has
done well. Go to the tent for Hilda, my lad, while I deliver the
report. So, chafing with impatience, we long endured your keeping us so
far away from the foe; we have followed their march at a great
distance, unsuspected even by their farthest outposts. When to-night
you finally permitted us to ride nearer to their flank than usual, in
order to discover whether they really intended to go to Decimum to-day
unprotected by the fleet, and to pass at noon through the Narrow Way,
you said that if we could obtain a captive without