of the column.

And all this had necessitated careful scouting and watchfulness on the
part of the leader. But at last it seemed as if they had ridden out
into safety, a wide, open plain stretching before them, suitable for
forming camp for the night, where there was no risk of ambush or
surprise.

A murmur of satisfaction ran through the column as posts were set, fires
lit, and the men began settling down. Marcus' horses had given up a
good deal of their wildness and begun to form a kind of friendship with
Lupe, who had narrowly escaped execution, consequent upon the effect
that he had had upon Marcus' chariot pair, who, whenever he came near,
had exhibited a frantic determination to tear off at full speed, and
this generally where the ground was of the very roughest character and
the destruction of the chariot would have been certain.

It had been a difficulty, but, like other difficulties better or worse,
it had been mastered, and, instead of meeting his death, the constant
training, through which the chariots and horsemen had passed, resulted
in the above-named friendly feeling, and now, at an advance, the dog
took his place just in front of the fiery little steeds and trotted
before them, while when they halted, he took it as a matter of course
that one or other of the beautiful little animals should stretch out its
arched neck, nuzzle among his bristly hairs, and at times close its
teeth upon the back of the dog's neck and attempt to raise him from the
ground.

"I should never have thought he would have stood it, my lad," said
Serge; "but he has found out it means friendly, or else he'd bark and
let them have his teeth in turn."

This was said as the sturdy driver was freeing the pair from their place
on each side of the chariot pole and twisting up their traces, for night
was falling fast, and the men's fires were beginning to twinkle here and
there.

"Tired, boy?" said the old soldier, who was carefully removing the dust
from his armour.

"Horribly," replied Marcus. "I want to lie down and sleep. Oh, how I
can sleep to-night!"

The words had hardly passed his lips when there was the blare of a
trumpet, followed by another and another, with the result that it seemed
as if a nest of hornets had been disturbed, for a loud buzzing filled
the darkening air, leaders' voices rose giving orders, and there was a
murmur punctuated, so to speak, by the clinking of armour, the rattle of
weapons against shield