His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would
lie flat on the ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the
throbbing of his arteries.
He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would
go with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days
elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he
departed.
The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians.
In tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress;
all were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar.
From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun
beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind.
One day--it was the third of the month of Tibby--they saw him descending
from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose in the
Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers were
everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then they ran
quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the ranks. No
one was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to approach
the ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a great
tomb. The soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, and the
others in the houses were sighing.
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