Caesar took the reins, smote the mules, and went off at so furious a pace that the worthy Antiochus was soon busy invoking first one, then another, member of the pantheon, to avert disaster.  Drusus speedily found that the general’s vision was far more keen than his own.  Indeed, although the road, he knew, was rough and crooked, they met with no mishaps.  Presently a light could be seen twinkling in the distance.

“We must get a guide,” remarked the Imperator decisively, and he struck the mules again.

They at last approached what the owl-like discernment of Caesar pronounced to be a small farmhouse with a few out-buildings.  But it was no easy matter to arouse the drowsy countrymen, and a still more difficult task to convince the good man of the house that his nocturnal visitors were not brigands.  At last it was explained that two gentlemen from Ravenna were bound for Ariminum, on urgent business, and he must furnish a guide for which he would be amply paid.  As a result, the German driver at last resumed the reins, and sped away with a fresh lantern, and at his side a stupid peasant boy, who was almost too shy to make himself useful.

But more misfortune was in store.  Barely a mile had they traversed, before an ominous crack proclaimed the splitting of an axletree.  The cheap hired vehicle could go no farther.

“’Tis a sure sign the gods are against our proceeding this night,” expostulated Antiochus; “let us walk back to the farmhouse, my lord.”

Caesar did not deign to give him an answer.  He deliberately descended, clasped his paenula over his shoulders, and bade the German make the best of his way back to Ravenna.  The peasant boy, he declared, could lead them on foot until dawn.

The freedman groaned, but he was helpless.  The guide, bearing the lantern, convoyed them out of the highroad, to strike what he assured them was a less circuitous route; and soon had his travellers, now plunged in quagmires that in daylight would have seemed impassable, now clambering over stocks and stones, now leaping broad ditches.  At last, after thoroughly exhausting the patience of his companions, the wretched fellow confessed that he had missed the by-path, and indeed did not know the way back.

Antiochus was now too frightened to declare his warnings confirmed.  Drusus liked the prospect of a halt on these swampy, miasmic fields little enough, But again the proconsul was all resources.  With almost omniscience he led his companions through blind mazes of fallow land and stubble fields:  came upon a brook at the only point where there appeared to be any stepping-stones; and at length, just as the murky clouds seemed about to lift, and the first beams of the moon struggled out into the black chaos, the wanderers saw a multitude of fires twinkling before them, and knew that they had come upon the rear cohort of the thirteenth legion, on its way to Ariminum.

The challenge of the sentry was met by a quick return of the watchword, but the effusively loyal soldier was bidden to hold his peace and not disturb his comrades.