the stranger to stop,
and briefly communicated to him his willingness to conduct him
instantly to the presence of the leader of the Goths.

The man intimated by a sign his readiness to accept the offer. His
physical powers were now evidently fast failing, but he still tottered
painfully onward as they moved to the headquarters of the camp,
muttering and gesticulating to himself almost incessantly. Once only
did he address his conductor during their progress; and then with a
startling abruptness of manner, and in tones of vehement anxiety and
suspicion, he demanded of the young Goth if he had ever examined the
surface of the city wall before that night. Hermanric replied in the
negative; and they then proceeded in perfect silence.

Their way lay through the line of encampment to the westward, and was
imperfectly lighted by the flame of an occasional torch or the glow of
a distant watch-fire. The thunder had diminished in frequency, but had
increased in volume; faint breaths of wind soared up fitfully from the
west, and already a few raindrops fell slowly to the thirsty earth.
The warriors not actually on duty at the different posts of observation
had retired to the shelter of their tents; none of the thousand idlers
and attendants attached to the great army appeared at their usual
haunts; even the few voices that were audible sounded distant and low.
The night-scene here, among the ranks of the invaders of Italy, was as
gloomy and repelling as on the solitary plains before the walls of Rome.

Ere long the stranger perceived that they had reached a part of the
camp more thickly peopled, more carefully illuminated, more strongly
fortified, than that through which they had already passed; and the
liquid, rushing sound of the waters of the rapid Tiber now caught his
suspicious and attentive ear. They still moved onward a few yards; and
then paused suddenly before a tent, immediately surrounded by many
others, and occupied at all its approaches by groups of richly-armed
warriors. Here Hermanric stopped an instant to parley with the
sentinel, who, after a short delay, raised the outer covering of the
entrance to the tent, and the moment after the Roman adventurer beheld
himself standing by his conductor's side in the presence of the Gothic
king.

The interior of Alaric's tent was lined with skins, and illuminated by
one small lamp, fastened to the centre pole that supported its roof.
The only articles of furniture in