t of child's
play, at which they could look on and laugh, and bet, from morning till
night; while to the more cunning heads, such as Wulf and Smid, they were
but signs of the general rottenness--new cracks in those great walls
over which they intended, with a simple and boyish consciousness of
power, to mount to victory when they chose.

And in the meantime, till the right opening offered, what was there
better than to eat, drink, and sleep? And certainly they had chosen
a charming retreat in which to fulfil that lofty mission. Columns
of purple and green porphyry, among which gleamed the white limbs of
delicate statues, surrounded a basin of water, fed by a perpetual jet,
which sprinkled with cool spray the leaves of the oranges and mimosas,
mingling its murmurs with the warblings of the tropic birds which
nestled among the branches.

On one side of the fountain, under the shade of a broad-leaved palmetto,
lay the Amal's mighty limbs, stretched out on cushions, his yellow hair
crowned with vine-leaves, his hand grasping a golden cup, which had
been won from Indian Rajahs by Parthian Chosroos, from Chosroos by Roman
generals, from Roman generals by the heroes of sheepskin and horsehide;
while Pelagia, by the side of the sleepy Hercules-Dionysos, lay leaning
over the brink of the fountain, lazily dipping her fingers into the
water, and basking, like the gnats which hovered over its surface, in
the mere pleasure of existence.

On the opposite brink of the basin, tended each by a dark-eyed Hebe,
who filled the wine-cups, and helped now and then to empty them, lay the
especial friends and companions in arms of the Amal, Goderic the son
of Ermenric, and Agilmund the son of Cniva, who both, like the Amal,
boasted a descent from gods; and last, but not least, that most
important and all but sacred personage, Smid the son of Troll,
reverenced for cunning beyond the sons of men; for not only could he
make and mend all matters, from a pontoon bridge to a gold bracelet,
shoe horses and doctor them, charm all diseases out of man and beast,
carve runes, interpret war-omens, foretell weather, raise the winds, and
finally, conquer in the battle of mead-horns all except Wulf the son of
Ovida; but he had actually, during a sojourn among the half-civilised
Maesogoths, picked up a fair share of Latin and Greek, and a rough
knowledge of reading and writing.

A few yards off lay old Wulf upon his back, his knees in the air,
his hands c