share the battle for the victory which
your bold artifice has done so much to win."

Sippilo rushed to the old Commander-in-chief and clasped both his
hands: "You diviner and fulfiller of wishes! I can imagine Odin like
you! Last autumn Adalo refused me the sword, because"--he hung his
head--"because I could not pierce with my spear the willow-woven
Hermunduri shield in our hall. Pshaw, I was only a child then; but at
the spring festival I pierced the old Roman shield which Suomar gave me
for a target."

"I had bored six holes in it and stopped them up again," Zercho
whispered to the Duke; "but let him go. I'll protect him."

Hariowald dismissed the bondman and the lad.

"Well," urged Adalo vehemently, "in this sheet you hold in your hands
the victory,--you said so yourself,--so let us fight at last."

But the Duke silently shook his head.

"Consider. 'Hasten' was her last word! Tonight?"

"No. What is one girl in comparison to a whole nation?"

"I beseech you! I implore you! You are my friend--my kinsman."

"I am Duke of the Alemanni."

"Well then," cried Adalo, deeply incensed, "delay. I will save her--I
alone! There is a way, known only to myself and to you. I will use it."

He turned to rush from the tent, but quickly, with a threatening look,
the old noble barred his way. "Stop, boy! Do not stir from this place.
Will you rob your people of certain victory for the sake of a pair of
blue eyes?"

"I will not rob them of it! I will only appear to-night in the Roman
camp,--I alone,--and bear her out of it in these arms, or leave my life
there."

"Whether you live or die, the secret will be discovered--the surest way
to victory in our attack."

"You will conquer, with or without Adalo, in other ways. I will save
the girl I love before it is too late."

He tried to force himself past the Duke, but the old man seized him by
both shoulders with an iron grasp and forced him to stand.

"And I will accuse you before the popular assembly, like that
treacherous king; I will have you hung between two wolves to a bough of
the accursed withered yew."

"Do what you choose after I have saved her or died with her," cried the
frantic youth, wrenching himself free. But, with unexpected strength,
the old Duke flung him, reeling, back into the tent.

"I will have you bound hand and foot like a madman. You are mad. Freya
has bewitched you. Hear it, Adalger, high in Valhalla: Adalo, your son,
no longer heeds a hero's