from sinking.

Bissula, whose strength was completely exhausted, lay unconscious in
the bottom of the boat for a long, long time. Rignomer had rolled into
a bundle a fishing net which he found in the bow and put it under her
head for a pillow. Ausonius, sitting on a thwart, supported her lovely
little head and gazed anxiously down into her face, while the Batavian
rubbed her cold hands.

Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the rushes, rowed
first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide
circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did
not go far.

"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling from the
second boat as they rowed side by side.

"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance for this
unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the
Caesar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me
three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night."

"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley coming toward
us."

"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains Barbarians."

"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from
Constantia!"

"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; I
recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is
on board."

"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Caesar," remarked Saturninus.

The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept forward. It
must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with
Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and
now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer,
stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head,
"that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you
bring? I hope help, reenforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are
lost." He groaned aloud.

"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. "Nannienus,
whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has
told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you.
Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand
men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?"

"What has happened?" asked the Roman leader, startled.

"A second Cannae, Gratianus says."

"Oh, what a dreadful word is that!"

"The Emperor Valens and