"We are the Lantern Bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind."—so, at the end of the latest and one of the finest of Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels ["The Lantern Bearers"], does Ambrosius, who had held off the Saxon hordes for a time, speak to his young aid Aquila, adding that "morning always grows again out of the darkness, though maybe not for the people who saw the sun go down." Aquila, the hero of the story, had let his troop sail without him when the Romans abandoned Briton forever, and great had been his subsequent sufferings…. His story, exciting, thoughtful, mature, the story of a man's steadfast adherence to a difficult choice that brought both bitterness and satisfaction, is for young people ready for adult books. The characterizations are vivid, varied and...