t no
longer fight for Rome against the other Germans. He no longer wills
it."

"What do you mean by Germans? That's a word like Barbarians. The Romans
invented it, not we. What do I care for these Alemanni? I am a
Batavian; a Frank, if you prefer the name."

"Yes, I do prefer it."

"It's newer."

"But stronger, because it is larger."

"What do I care, I ask again, for these thick-skulled Suabians? I can
hardly understand what they say."

"But all we blue-eyed, yellow-haired men are sons of the dwellers in
Asgard. We have all come here to the great waters front the East. So
our forefathers teach us; so the harpers sing. And everywhere, on the
Rhine and the Danube, the districts and peoples who formerly had such
bitter feuds are gathering. This is Odin's work. He is summoning the
descendants of Asgard to war against Rome. This is my last campaign
under the dragon standard. In a few days my time of service will
expire; then I shall go home and till my land on the Issala, where my
mother and my brother and sisters live; till it with a better plough, a
Roman one. And if I must fight again, I will fight for my land, against
Rome. We Franks have too little room down there in the swamps of the
Rhine; we must go into beautiful Gaul."

"Well, this war of the Romans will soon be over. A bloodless victory."

"Who knows?" Here the centurion threw himself on the ground beside
Brinno and whispered: "A man from my district, who formerly fought
under the Emperor Valentinian by this lake against the Alemanni, told
me why in fear and horror he suddenly gave up the service and lost his
pay: In a battle the Romans were vanquished. _One_ against whom no man
can lift his hand without forfeiting salvation forever dashed forward
on a gray charger at the head of the Alemanni wedge."

"What?" asked Brinno, half incredulously, half timidly: "_He_--he--
himself?"

Rignomer nodded significantly: "In the form of a white-haired Duke; so
runs the legend. When sore peril threatens the dwellers by the lake he
descends from the heavenly heights, warns them, conceals them from the
eyes of the foe with his dark mantle of clouds; teaches them runes of
victory on inaccessible mountains, and bears them suddenly away on the
eagle wings of the tempest. Against him I will not fight. I vowed to
serve the Imperator against men only. But hark! a tuba signal from our
outposts. Whom are our mounted men bringing in?"

"A messenger from the Alemanni, it s