“Yes, sir, I have seen as much of them as ever I want to see. I came to this island thirty-nine years ago with Theodosius, grandfather, you know, of the Augustus;” and the old man, who was steadfastly loyal to the Emperor, bared his head as he spoke. “I am a Batavian from the island of the Rhine, and was then a deputy-centurion in Theodosius’ army. We found Britain full of the savages. They had positively over-run the whole country as far as the southern sea, and only the walled towns had escaped them, and these were almost in despair. I shall never forget how the people at Londinium crowded about the general, kissing his hands and feet, when he rode into the town. But I must not tire you with an old soldier’s stories. You ask me about the Picts. They are the worst savages I ever saw, and I have had some experience too. They go naked but for some kind of a skin girdle about their loins, and they are hideously painted, and their hair is more like a beast’s than a man’s, and then they eat human flesh. Ah, sir, you may shake your head, but I know it. We used to find dead bodies with the fleshy parts cut off where they had been. I shudder to think of what I saw in those days. Well, we gave them a good lesson, drove them back to their own country, and an awful country it is, all lakes and mountains, with not so much as a blade of corn from one end to the other. But now they will be as bad as ever.” “But you are safe here in Venta, I suppose?” “Safe! I wish we were. If we had a proper garrison here, there is no one to command them. You have seen the _Princeps_?” The Count said nothing, but his silence was significant. “But there is no garrison. There are not more than fifty men in the place who have ever carried arms.” “But surely the people will defend themselves. You, as an old soldier, know very well that civilians, who would be quite useless in the field, may do good service behind walls.” “True, sir, if they have two things—a spirit and a leader; and these people, as far as I can tell, have neither.” “That is a bad look out. But tell me—how soon do you think the enemy will be here?” “Not to-night, certainly; perhaps not to-morrow. And indeed it is just possible that they may not come at all. You see that they get a great quantity of plunder in the country without much trouble or danger, and they may leave the towns alone. Barbarians mostly don’t care to knock their heads against stone walls, and of course they think us a great deal stronger than we are.” After making an appointment with his new acquaintance for a meeting on the following day, the Count rejoined his party.