r. But you see.
King Gelimer, who once reigned here, enjoined upon my father after the
battle to take faithful care of the graves; he was to keep them as if
they were a sanctuary until Gelimer should return and carry the bodies
to Carthage. King Gelimer never returned to Decimum. But my father, on
his deathbed, committed the care of this tomb to me; and so shall I,
before I die, to the curly-headed boy who helped us to carry the
little skeleton. For King Gelimer was kind to every one,--to us Romans,
too,--and had done my father many a favor in the days of the Vandals.
Already many say he was no man, but a demon,--a wicked one, according
to some, a good one, most declare. But, man or demon, good he certainly
was; for my father has often praised him."

So little Eugenia at last reached her hero's side.

CHAPTER IX

PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS:

I am writing this--really and truly, though it is not yet three months
since we left Constantinople--in Carthage, at the capitol, in the royal
palace of the Asdings, in the hall of Genseric the Terrible. I often
doubt the fact myself--but it is so! On the day after the battle at
Decimum the infantry, coming from the camp, joined us, and the whole
army marched to Carthage, which we reached in the evening. We chose a
place to encamp outside of the city, though no one opposed our
entrance. Nay, the Carthaginians had opened all their gates and lighted
torches and lanterns everywhere in the streets and squares. All night
long the bonfires shone from the city into our camp, while the few
Vandals who had not fled sought shelter in the Catholic churches.

But Belisarius most strictly prohibited entering the city during the
night. He feared an ambush, a stratagem of war. He could not believe
that Genseric's capital had actually fallen into his hands with so
little trouble.

On the following day, borne by a favoring breeze, our ships rounded the
promontory. As soon as the Carthaginians recognized our flag, they
broke the iron chains of their outer harbor, Mandracium, and beckoned
to our sailors to enter. But the commanders, mindful of Belisarius's
warning, anchored in the harbor of Stagnum, five thousand paces from
the city, waiting further orders. Yet that the worthy citizens of
Carthage might make the acquaintance of their liberators on the very
first day, a ship's captain, Kalonymos, with several sailors, entered
Mandracium, against the orders of Belisa