"Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!"
He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from
his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming
when his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and
pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that
were among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long
rope, struck the stragglers with all his might, running right and left
alternately, in the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock.
At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame
hurried their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the
isthmus. The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised
by the Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the
point of touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great
gate of Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three
columns were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the
mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed
in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the
walls.
Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round
and shouted to his men to move aside.
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