of war as would be injured by the wet. The rest of the men waded till
they reached the channel, and then swam, supporting themselves in part
by their bucklers, which they placed beneath their bodies in the
water. Thus they all crossed in safety. They paused a day, to dry
their clothes and to rest, and then moved cautiously down the river
until they were near enough to Hannibal's position to allow their
signal to be seen. The fire was then built, and they gazed with
exultation upon the column of smoke which ascended from it high into
the air.

Hannibal saw the signal, and now immediately prepared to cross with
his army. The horsemen embarked in boats, holding their horses by
lines, with a view of leading them into the water so that they might
swim in company with the boats. Other horses, bridled and accoutered,
were put into large flat-bottomed boats, to be taken across dry, in
order that they might be all ready for service at the instant of
landing. The most vigorous and efficient portion of the army were, of
course, selected for the first passage, while all those who, for any
cause, were weak or disabled, remained behind, with the stores and
munitions of war, to be transported afterward, when the first passage
should have been effected. All this time the enemy, on the opposite
shore, were getting their ranks in array, and making every thing ready
for a furious assault upon the invaders the moment they should
approach the land.

There was something like silence and order during the period while the
men were embarking and pushing out from the land, but as they advanced
into the current, the loud commands, and shouts, and outcries
increased more and more, and the rapidity of the current and of the
eddies by which the boats and rafts were hurried down the stream, or
whirled against each other, soon produced a terrific scene of tumult
and confusion. As soon as the first boats approached the land, the
Gauls assembled to oppose them rushed down upon them with showers of
missiles, and with those unearthly yells which barbarous warriors
always raise in going into battle, as a means both of exciting
themselves and of terrifying their enemy. Hannibal's officers urged
the boats on, and endeavored, with as much coolness and deliberation
as possible, to effect a landing. It is perhaps doubtful how the
contest would have ended, had it not been for the detachment under
Hanno, which now came suddenly into action. While the Gauls wer