ther
articles which would be useful to them were also taken--cooking pots,
wooden platters, knives, and such arms as could be found. Laden with
these the Carthaginians set out on their return to camp. Loaded as they
were it was a long and toilsome journey, and they would have had
great difficulty in finding their way back had not Malchus taken
the precaution of leaving four or five men at different points with
instructions to keep fires of damp wood burning so that the smoke should
act as a guide. It was, however, late on the second day after their
leaving the village before they arrived in camp. Here the men set to
work to crush the grain between flat stones, and soon a supply of rough
cakes were baking in the embers.

A month passed away. Similar raids to the first were made when the
supplies became exhausted, and as at the second village they visited
they captured six donkeys, which helped to carry up the burdens, the
journeys were less fatiguing than on the first occasion. One morning as
the troop were taking their breakfast a column of bright smoke rose from
one of the hill tops. The men simultaneously leaped to their feet.

"Finish your breakfast," Malchus said, "there will be plenty of time.
Slay two more hogs and cut them up. Let each man take three or four
pounds of flesh and a supply of meal."

Just as the preparations were concluded the two men from the lookout
arrived and reported that a large force was winding along one of the
valleys. There were now but six of the herd of swine left--these were
driven into the forest. The grain and other stores were also carried
away and carefully hidden, and the band, who were now all well armed
with weapons taken in the different raids on the villages, marched away
from their camp.

Malchus had already with his two comrades explored all the valleys in
the neighbourhood of the camp, and had fixed upon various points
for defence. One of these was on the line by which the enemy were
approaching. The valley narrowed in until it was almost closed
by perpendicular rocks on either side. On the summit of these the
Carthaginians took their post. They could now clearly make out the
enemy; there were upwards of a thousand Roman troops, and they were
accompanied by fully five hundred natives.

When the head of the column approached the narrow path of the valley
the soldiers halted and the natives went on ahead to reconnoitre. They
reported that all seemed clear, and the column