uld scarce
drag themselves along owing to the state of their feet; their shoes and
sandals, well enough adapted for sandy plains, were wholly unfitted for
traversing rocky precipices, and the greater part of the army was almost
barefoot.

So long as they had been traversing the mountains they had struggled on
doggedly and desperately; to lag behind was to be slain by the natives,
to lie down was to perish of cold; but with the cessation of the
absolute necessity for exertion the power for exertion ceased also.
Worn out, silent, exhausted, and almost despairing, the army of Hannibal
presented the appearance of one which had suffered a terrible defeat,
rather than that of a body of men who had accomplished a feat of arms
unrivalled in the history of war.

Happily they found themselves among friends. The Insubres, who had been
looking forward eagerly to their coming, flocked in great numbers to
receive them as they issued out into the plain, bringing with them
cattle, grain, wine, and refreshments of all kinds, and inviting the
army to take up their quarters among them until recovered from their
fatigues. This offer Hannibal at once accepted. The army was broken
up and scattered among the various towns and villages, where the
inhabitants vied with each other in attending to the comforts of the
guests. A fortnight's absolute rest, an abundance of food, and the
consciousness that the worst of their labours was over, did wonders for
the men.

Malchus had arrived in a state of extreme exhaustion, and had, indeed,
been carried for the last two days of the march on the back of one of
the elephants. The company which he commanded no longer existed; they
had borne far more than their share of the fatigues of the march; they
had lost nearly half their number in the conflict among the precipices
with the natives, and while the rest of the army had marched along a
track where the snow had already been beaten hard by the cavalry in
front of them, the scouts ahead had to make their way through snow knee
deep. Inured to fatigue and hardship, the Arabs were unaccustomed to
cold, and every day had diminished their numbers, until, as they issued
out into the plain, but twenty men of the company remained alive.

Hannibal committed his young kinsman to the care of one of the chiefs
of the Insubres. The latter caused a litter to be constructed by his
followers, and carried the young Carthaginian away to his village, which
was situated at