The sentries
walked up and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves,
or stood in a fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the
horizon, and their pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius
sheltered beneath a rag of canvas, supported by two sticks set in the
ground, his knee in his hands and his head cast down.
They remained for a long time without speaking.
At last Matho murmured: "Conquered!"
Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: "Yes, conquered!"
And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair.
Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened
the canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another
disaster on the same spot, and he ground his teeth: "Wretch! once
already--"
Spendius interrupted him: "You were not there either."
"It is a curse!" exclaimed Matho. "Nevertheless, in the end I will get
at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had been there!--"
The thought of having missed the battle rendered him even more desperate
than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and threw it upon the ground.
"But how did the Carthaginians beat you?"
The former slave began to describe the manoeuvres. Matho seemed to
see them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken
Hamilcar in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge.
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