ds to every one they have taken."

Three days passed, food was brought to the captives regularly, and their
bonds were sufficiently relaxed for them to feed themselves. At the end
of that time they were ordered to rise and leave the hut. Outside the
chief with some forty of his followers were waiting them. All were
armed, and the prisoners being placed in their midst, the party started.

They proceeded by the same road by which Malchus had ridden to the
village, and some miles were passed without incident, when, as they were
passing through a narrow valley, a great number of rocks came
bounding down the hillside, and at different points along it several
Carthaginians appeared. In these Malchus recognized at once the soldiers
of his escort. One of these shouted out:

"Surrender, or you are all dead men. A strong force surrounds you on
both sides, and my officers, whom you see, will give orders to their
men, who will loose such an avalanche of rocks that you will all be
swept away."

"It is only the men who escaped us," the chief cried; "push forward at
once."

But the instant the movement began the Carthaginians all shouted orders,
and a great number of rocks came bounding down, proving that they were
obeyed by an invisible army. Several of the mountaineers were crushed by
the stones, and the old chief, struck by a great rock in the chest, fell
dead. A Carthaginian standing next to Malchus was also slain.

The tribesmen gave a cry of terror. Hand to hand they were ready to
fight valiantly, but this destruction by an unseen foe terrified them.
The Carthaginian leader raised his hand, and the descent of the stones
ceased.

"Now," he said, "you see the truth of my words. Hesitate any longer and
all will be lost; but if you throw down your arms, and, leaving your
captives behind, retire by the way you came, you are free to do so.
Hannibal has no desire for the blood of the Italian people. He has come
to free them from the yoke of Rome, and your treacherous chief, who,
after our making an alliance with him, sold you to the Romans, has been
slain, therefore I have no further ill will against you."

The tribesmen, dismayed by the loss of their chief, and uncertain as to
the strength of the foes who surrounded them, at once threw down their
arms, and, glad to escape with their lives, fled at all speed up the
pass towards their village, leaving their captives behind them.

The Carthaginians then descended, Trebon among