eps away, brandishing his
dagger. The second pursuer appeared from behind the horse. And the boat
was still several ship's lengths out upon the lake. Without hesitation
the girl leaped into the water, waded as long as she could touch the
bottom, then with a strong push from the ground, spread out her
powerful white arms, well practised in the art, and swam toward the
nearest boat.

No girl on the northern shore excelled Bissula in swimming; but the
long flowing folds of her robe hampered her, winding about her feet as
soon as they were wet and preventing her from aiding the strokes of her
arms with those of the lower limbs. And, horror! splashes behind her
announced that her pursuer, or two of them, had followed her into the
lake, for she thought she twice heard a plunge or a heavy fall. This
fear paralyzed the last remnant of her strength; her arms also refused
to obey her will; she sank with her face low in the water.

Once more she raised herself from it; then she felt her pursuer seize
her long robe and drag her toward the land; but at the same instant his
grasp relaxed; a shrill death-cry fell upon her ear, followed by a low,
angry growl. Turning her head, she saw Herculanus sinking in the arms
of a huge blackish-brown beast.

"Bruna!" she called again; then her senses seemed to fail. There was a
strange roaring in her ears; the water filled her nose, mouth, and
ears, and she sank.

Just at that moment four strong arms seized her by the shoulders, and
the white hands flung high out of the waves for the last time. With
great, but tender strength she was lifted into the boat. Then she
opened her eyes: Ausonius and Saturninus stood before her. She shrieked
aloud in the anguish of the keenest disappointment; her eyelids closed,
her senses failed, and faintness overwhelmed her.

CHAPTER LV.

Even the reenforcements of Saturninus's troops could not have changed
the result of the battle around the ships and the camp on the
lake-shore: the die had fallen long before, nay, almost at the moment
the conflict began; for the surprise here had been almost more complete
than in the assault upon the Idisenhang.

In spite of the chill of the September night, the brave Commander,
Nannienus, had had his couch prepared on the high quarter-deck, above
the second bank of oars of his bireme; a very simple bed, consisting of
a woolen blanket spread over the planks, a coil of rope under his neck
a