“Let your general give it to you!”

He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes, and his long face that was paler than his beard.  An arrow, held by its feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of blood was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder.

At a gesture from Matho all advanced.  Gisco held out his arms; Spendius tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the knapsacks.

They sacked his tent.  Nothing was found in it except things indispensable to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, and, wrapped up in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from the moon.  Many Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were eminent men, and all belonged to the war party.

They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the reception of filth.  They were tied with iron chains around the body to solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin.

Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but being quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul from time to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out.

The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army.  Now that their anger was over they were seized with anxiety.  Matho was suffering from vague melancholy.  It seemed to him that Salammbo had indirectly been insulted.  These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person.  He sat down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full.

All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid.  But while national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was felt that it would be perilous to give way to them.  Reprisals after such an outrage would be formidable.  It was necessary, therefore, to anticipate the vengeance of Carthage.  Conventions and harangues never ceased.  Every one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so loquacious, shook his head at every proposal.

One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in the interior of the town.

“Not one!” replied Matho.

The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake.

“Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is dauntless, I will bring you into Carthage.”

“How?” repeated the other, panting.

“Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!”

Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: 

“By Tanith, I swear!”

Spendius resumed: 

“To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades.  Bring with you an iron pick, a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.”