Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman InvasionHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman Invasion
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Britons -- Fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D. -- Fiction; Historical fiction
That evening, indeed, the women began to arrive, and said that
they believed all would be in on the following day. Among them
was Boduoc's mother, who told Beric that her eldest daughter had
started with Berenice and Cneius to meet the Romans as soon as the
news of the defeat reached them. When day broke, Beric's command,
with the women who had arrived, set off laden with as much grain
in baskets or cloths as they could carry, and driving the cattle
and pigs before them. The country soon became swampy, but their
guide knew the ground well, and by a winding path led them dry
footed through the bushes, though they could see water among the
roots and grass on either side of them. They had, however, great
difficulty with the cattle and pigs, but after several attempts to
break away, and being nearly lost in the swamps, from which many
of them had to be dragged out by sheer force, the whole reached
the river. The men of the rear guard in charge of the main body of
the swine and cattle did not arrive there until midday.
The spot to which the guide led them was on the river flowing east
and west, a mile from its junction with the main stream, as he told
them that the swamps were too deep near the junction of the river
for them to penetrate there.
Some of the boats were already at the spot. When they reached
it Aska and Beric at once began to mark out a semicircle, with a
radius of some fifty yards, on the river bank. Ten of the cattle
were killed and skinned, and as others of the party came up they
were set to work to cut down the trees and undergrowth within the
semicircle, and drag them to its edge, casting them down with their
heads outwards so as to form a formidable abbatis. Within half an
hour of the appointed time the twenty boats had arrived together
with as many more, in which the grain, hides, and other articles
agreed to be paid were to be carried off. Three of the cattle were
cut up, and their flesh divided among the twenty boats, in which
a quantity of grain was also placed. The seven remaining carcasses
were for the use of the camp, the ten hides, half the grain, swords,
spears, and arrowheads agreed upon, were handed over to the natives,
and Beric, as an extra gift, presented each of the three chiefs
who had come with the boats with one of the Roman shields, picked
up on the field of battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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