ot of the mountain, they would
then be forced to begin the inexpressibly toilsome siege of this
natural fortress.

All the entrances were covered by several tiers of logs; while, on the
mountain itself, rising one behind another, was a whole system of "ring
walls." These extremely powerful and extensive fortifications dated
principally from Celtic times, but had been considerably strengthened
and enlarged in scope by the Alemanni during their occupation of the
country for more than the past century: they had been forced to seek
refuge here from the Roman troops often enough.

These walls were made of heaped up earth, turf, palisades, and so
called Cyclopean walls: that is, rocks, so closely joined together
without mortar or bricks, by a skilful use of their points, edges, and
fissures that fire, tearing asunder, and the blows of the ram seemed
equally ineffectual.

Each one of these rings, which rose in stories, like terraces, required
to be stormed as a separate fortress. Each lower one was protected not
only by its own garrison, but by all those above, since they were so
constructed that stones, logs, spears, and arrows from all the upper
walls could strike the enemy without injuring the combatants on the one
beneath. Seven such defences girdled the mountain, the topmost one
surrounding the summit, which concealed Odin's altar in the heart of an
ash forest.

Those unable to fight, the women, children, old men, and slaves, were
scattered through all the stories of the mountain fortress. The herds
had been driven to the rear on the northern side, where their lowing,
neighing, and bleating would be as far as possible from the enemy. The
fugitives rested at night in huts built of thick green foliage, often
with the skin of some animal fastened among the branches, which the
Alemanni had great skill in constructing. Nor was there any lack of
cellarlike subterranean passages where stores of grain and valuables
were concealed.

The fighting men garrisoned all the entrances, reconnoitred in small
bands, especially at night, beyond the barricades close to the
neighborhood of the Roman camp. They spent the day in feats of arms or
drilling, impatiently enduring the long delay in giving battle, and
grumbling at the incomprehensible procrastination of their white-haired
Duke. For the latter, Adalo, and other leaders, huts of leaves had been
built on the summit of the mountain with the tents of their followers
scattered aroun