lse the earth has fallen in, from the
jarring. When I entered this passage from the forest outside of the
camp--"

"What? you yourself?"

"Yes, I myself; night before last. I advanced only a few steps before I
found a heap of earth which had fallen from above, and I was obliged to
return. But I stole, on the surface of the earth, so near the ditch
that I could look into it from a tree. The whole ditch--it is now dry
again--was brightly lighted by their camp fires. Then I saw that the
earth-goddess of our land had blinded the strangers' eyes. They
perceived nothing suspicious in the large boulder that bars the
continuation of the passage from the ditch into their camp, and they
did not roll it away. True, it has not been moved from the spot for
decades; for the secret, bequeathed from generation to generation, is
known to but two men of the race who bear the emblem of the stag's
antlers, and there is rarely an occasion which demands its use. So they
did not perceive that the rock had been rolled there by human hands,
and they planted one of their banners on the turf which covers it. They
have no suspicion of the passage. For look! The plan of the camp shows
it; close beside the Nerthus pine, above the altar stones of the Idise,
they have pitched a tent filled with provisions and weapons. You see,
here!"

"Yes, indeed. The tent is placed exactly over the mouth of the passage.
But outside there, in the northern ditch, numerous sentinels are
posted--Thracian spearmen alternating with Batavians."

"Yes, that's just it. They must be driven away before I can roll the
rock aside and make my way up."

"That will cost blood; it will also require time. The Thracians, and
especially the Batavians, are their very best troops. Alas, if it
happen to be the turn of the Batavians. They are not inferior to us in
heroic courage."

"No matter! They must fall before the badger can enter the old burrow."

"And then--after the battle has summoned all our foes to arms--then you
will? Let me go in your place!"

"Obey! You will find work enough at the southern gate, the lake gate.
When we have stormed the camp, the whole flood of those who still
remain alive will pour to the ships through the southern gate. They
must not be allowed to reach the lake in close order, to turn the tide
of battle against us there at the last. You will meet them as they
burst through the southern gate, and drive them back into the burning
camp, or scatter t