flashing sword toward the first man who boarded
the galley. But the desperate fellow did not seem to care for his own
life. Without heeding or attempting to parry the blow, which came
within a hair's breadth of his unprotected head, he thrust a sort of
harpoon (that is, a spear eight feet long with a sharp point and a hook
curving backward, such as the men threw through holes in the ice on the
lake in winter to catch the largest sheatfish) into the Roman's bronze
belt, jerked him forward with tremendous force and hurled him
overboard.

Nannienus fell into one of the boats of the Alemanni, at the starboard
side of his bireme, and striking his head against a thwart, lay stunned
for a considerable time. The skiff was empty, all its occupants had
boarded the galley. When he regained consciousness, he saw his own ship
and most of the other vessels in flames; while his camp on the shore,
and even that of Saturninus, high up on the Idisenhang, were burning.
Then he perceived that all was lost. Everywhere the remnant of his
armada which had escaped the flames was in full flight, pursued by the
Barbarians.

He resolved to make his escape to Arbor, and hastily unbuckled the
Roman armor that would have betrayed him; his helmet he had lost in his
fall. Then, seeing a German mantle lying among the rubbish in the boat,
he threw it on, placed himself at the helm (these boats were rowed and
steered standing), trimmed the coarse square sail to catch the wind,
and was soon flying, unnoticed by the Germans, who recognized the boat
as one of their own, across the lake toward Arbor.

Once only, the utmost peril threatened him. He had overtaken a lofty
Roman ship whose sails were partly burned, but the fire was evidently
being extinguished by the crew. He was on the point of hailing it and
ordering the men to take him on board when, to his horror, he perceived
that the galley was filled with Alemanni. As he had taken possession of
the German boat, they were pursuing on the captured bireme other Roman
ships that were flying to Arbor.

He hastily rowed the skiff away from the great vessel, and now
perceived that in Arbor, too, a terrible conflagration was rising
toward heaven. It was the funeral pyre of Roman rule in the fortress on
the lake. Nannienus saw it with terror, turned his boat west southwest,
and tried to gain, instead of the lost Arbor, the distant but safe
harbor citadel of Constantia.

CHA