idians,
certain of having found a ford, ran to convey the news to the Roman
army. Then the legions formed in several deep columns. The passage of
the river commenced. According to the orders of the Chief of the Hundred
Valleys, the archers and slingers resumed their shooting, while Cretan
archers and slingers from the Balearic Islands, spreading over the
opposite bank, answered our people.

"My sons," said Joel to us, looking towards the bay of Morbihan, "your
brother Albinik advances to the fight on the water as we begin the fight
on land. See--our fleet has met the Roman galleys."

Mikael and I looked in the direction the brenn was pointing, and saw our
ships with their heavy leathern sails, bent on iron chains, grappling
with the galleys. The brenn spoke true. The battle was joined on land
and sea simultaneously. On that double combat depended the freedom or
slavery of Gaul. But as I turned my attention from the two fleets back
to our own army, I was struck to the heart with a sinister omen. The
Gallic troops, ordinarily such chatterers, so gay in the hour of battle
that from their ranks rise continually playful provocations to the
enemy, or jests upon the dangers of war, were now sober and silent,
resolved to win or die.

The signal for battle was given. The cymbals of the bards spoke back to
the Roman clarions. The Chief of the Hundred Valleys, dismounting from
his horse, put himself some paces ahead of the line of battle. Several
druids and bards took up their station on either side of him. He
brandished his sword and started on a run down the steep hill-side. The
druids and bards kept even pace with him, striking as they went upon
their golden harps. At that signal, our whole army precipitated itself
upon the enemy, who, now across the river, were re-forming their
cohorts.

The _Mahrek-Ha-Droad_, cavalry and footmen, of the tribes near that of
Karnak, which my father commanded, darted down the slope with the rest
of the army. Mikael, holding his axe in his right hand, was, during this
impetuous descent, almost continually suspended from the mane of my
horse, which he had seized with his left. At the foot of the slope, that
troop of the Romans called the Iron Legion, because of their heavy
armor, formed in a wedge. Immovable as a wall of steel, bristling with
spears, it made ready to receive our charge on the points of its lances.
I carried, in common with all the Gallic horsemen, a saber at my left
side, an