“I want three of the fleetest footed of your
men, Gatho, to stay behind with Porus and watch them,
themselves unseen. We will cross over the crest
of the hills to the eastern side, Porus. Do you
mark that tall craig near the summit; you will find
one of us there, and he will lead you to our camping
place. I want to know whether the Romans, after
spending the day searching the hills, go back through
the forest, or whether they encamp here. In the
one case we can return, in the other it will be better
to move south at once. We could laugh at their
heavy armed spearmen, but their archers and slingers
carry no more weight than we do, and would harass us
sorely with their missiles, which we have no means
of returning.”
As soon as the men to remain with Porus were chosen,
the rest of the band proceeded on their way.
It was late at night before Porus with the three Gauls
joined the rest of the band in their new encampment
on the eastern slope of the hills.
“As soon as the moon rises, Beric, we must be
up and moving. The Romans are in earnest.
When they came through the forest they ascended for
some little distance, and then the spearmen halted
and the light armed troops scattered in parties of
four searching the country like dogs after game.
They were not very long before they discovered signs
of us, whether footmarks or broken twigs I know not,
but following them they soon came upon the entrance
of the ravine. No doubt our marks were plain
enough there, for the spearmen were brought down.
What happened then I know not; no doubt they entered
and found that we had gone. At any rate, in a
short time they set out briskly up the mountain, the
spearmen as before keeping together, and the light
armed men scattering.
“All day they searched, and it was well that
you crossed the crest. They halted for the night
halfway between the forest and the summit, and I determined
to learn something of their intentions. So after
it was dark I laid aside my arms and crawled into the
camp. The ground was broken and rough, and there
was no great difficulty in getting close to their
fires. I learned that the whole of the legion
at Praeneste had been sent into the mountains, and
that there were twenty parties of equal force; they
were but a mile and a half apart, and considered that
they could search every foot of the ground for thirty
miles along, and would assuredly discover us if we
were still in this part. More than that, troops
from Corfinium and Marrubium had started to search
the eastern slopes, and between them they made sure
that they should catch you, now that they had found,
by the heat of the earth where our fire had been,
that we must have been there but an hour or so before
their arrival.”
