y should first be buried, otherwise the soul would
be condemned to wail around the place until the Day of Judgment. So we
dug a grave and interred the dead hero with every honor. These few
hours decided Gelimer's escape; we could not make up the lost time. The
fugitives reached their goal, the Pappua Mountains on the frontier of
Numidia, whose steep, inaccessible peaks everywhere bristle with jagged
rocks. The Moors who dwell here are bound to Gelimer by ties of loyalty
and gratitude. An ancient city, Medenus, now a mere hamlet of a few
huts on the northern crest of the mountain, received him and his train.
To storm this narrow antelope path is impossible; a single man can bar
the ascent with his shield. The Moors have scornfully rejected an offer
of a large reward to deliver up the fugitives. So the watchword is
"patience." We must pitch our tents at the foot of the mountain, bar
all the outlets, and starve the people into a surrender.

That may occupy a great deal of time. And it is winter; the mountain
peaks are often covered in the morning with a light snow, which, it is
true, the sun soon melts when he breaks through the clouds. But he does
not always break through. On the other hand, mist and rain continually
penetrate the camel-skin coverings of our tents.

CHAPTER XVII

We are still encamped before the entrance of the mountain ravine of
Pappua. We cannot get in; they cannot get out. I have seen a cat watch
a mouse-hole a long time in the same way,--very tiresome for the cat.
But if the hole has no other outlet, the little mouse finally either
starves or runs into the cat's claws.

To-day news and reinforcements came from Carthage. Belisarius, who had
been informed of the state of affairs, gave the chief command to Fara
in the place of Althias. Fara and his Herulians won Belisarius's most
glorious victory, in the Persian battle at Dara, when the Roman ranks
were beginning to waver and only the German boldness which is nearly
allied to madness could save the day. Fara left more than half his
Herulians dead on the field. The General himself is marching on Hippo.

* * * * *

Fresh news--from Hippo.

Belisarius took the city without resistance. The Vandals, among them
numerous nobles, fled to the Catholic churches, and left these asylums
only on the assurance that their lives would be spared. And again the
wind blew, literally, rich gains int