"Let me out, O general! Help me down, and with the spear I will thank thee!"
"Severus," said Crispus eagerly to the astonished general, "order the gaoler--there he stands, in the doorway--to release him; Zeno the usurer has caused him to be imprisoned."
"Bring the man out, Carcerarius!" commanded Severus. "I need such a strong youthful arm. Let him pay first his debt to the Fatherland. Should he fall, he will be free from every debt; should he survive, he will return to the tower."
The gaoler hesitated; but a blow in the ribs which Cornelius impatiently dealt him altered his opinion.
"I yield to force!" cried he, rubbing the assaulted spot.
"What an iron, strictly obedient Roman soul!" exclaimed Cornelius.
Immediately afterwards Fulvius sprang over the threshold, seized the shield and spear which were brought to him from the store of arms on the ramparts, and cried:
Well pleased, the eye of the general rested on him.
"I praise such zeal! Thou longest for the battle?"
"Ah, no, sir," answered the young man ingenuously, "only for Felicitas."
While Severus turned away vexed, Crispus comforted his nephew.
"I have been watching thy house from the wall. Compose thyself, no barbarian has yet crossed the river."
"And the Tribune?" whispered the young husband.
"Is fully occupied in bringing his treasures into the town and hiding them."
Then the tuba-blowers returned from their rounds the last citizens from the most distant houses arrived.
Severus and Cornelius drew them up in two companies, each of about three hundred men. Then the old hero stood before them and said:
"Romans! Men of Juvavum! Follow me! Out before the gate, and woe to the barbarians!"
He expected loud applause, but all were silent.
One man alone stepped from the ranks, and said anxiously:
"How many barbarians may there be out there?"
"And we are six hundred!" said this bold one, smiling comfortably and turning to his fellow-citizens. "To the gate!" cried he suddenly, striking his sword on the shield. "To the gate! And woe to the barbarians!"
"Woe to the barbarians!" cried now the whole troop.
The gate was drawn up, and over the drawbridge, which at the same time fell across the moat, the men hastened out of the town.
Very few guards were left on the walls. Women and children now hurried from their houses, mounted the ramparts, and looked after their dear ones, who at a quick march were advancing towards the bridge below the town, the west end of which, as we have seen, had been in the morning barricaded and occupied by a small troop.