chus, that at such a moment as this faction would have
been silent at Carthage, and a feeling of patriotism would once again
have asserted itself. I find that it is not so, and my heart sinks for
my country. Were it not for my wife and family, Malchus, I would gladly
die in the coming battle."

The words recurred to Malchus as he sat in his tent by the side of his
father's body on the night after the battle of the Trebia, and a deep
bitterness mingled with his sorrow.

"Giscon was right," he exclaimed. "All means are justifiable to rid
one's country of those who are destroying her. It makes one mad to think
that while men like my father are fighting and dying for their country,
the tribunes of the democracy, who fatten on our spoils, are plotting
against them at home. Henceforth, I fight not as a Carthaginian, but as
a soldier of Hannibal, and will aid him in his endeavour to humble Rome;
not that Carthage, with her blood stained altars, her corrupt officials,
and her indolent population, may continue to exist, but that these manly
and valiant Gauls who have thrown in their lot with us may live free and
independent of the yoke of Rome. These people are rude and primitive,
but their simple virtues, their love of freedom, their readiness to die
rather than to be slaves, put the sham patriotism of Carthage to shame."

When the army went into winter quarters, and Hannibal dismissed his
Gaulish allies, with many rich presents, to their homes, Malchus
obtained leave from Hannibal to depart with Allobrigius--the chief of
the Insubrian tribe living on the Orcus--who had, with his fighting
men, accompanied Hannibal through the campaign. The chief's wife and
daughters had returned after seeing the army across the Po. Malchus
had sought the society of his late host during the campaign, had often
ridden beside him on the march, and had spent the evening in his tent
talking either of the civilization of Carthage, which seemed wonderful
indeed to the simple Gaulish chieftain, or of the campaign on which they
were engaged.

Malchus had by this time mastered the differences between the dialect
of the Cisalpine Gauls and that of those in Gaul itself and Iberia,
with which he was already acquainted. The chief was gratified by the
friendship of Hannibal's kinsman, and liked the frank simplicity of his
manner. He had laughed loudly when his wife had told him how Malchus had
leaped from the bridge to save the life of Clotilde when she fe