In the morning they agreed that before proceeding further it was absolutely necessary to obtain some food.  Malchus had been fed when among the Romans, but Nessus had had nothing from the morning when he had been upset in the Rhone four days before, save a manchet of bread which he had found in one of the tents he had entered.  Surveying the country round carefully, the keen eye of the Arab perceived some light smoke curling up at the foot of the hills on their right, and they at once directed their course towards it.  An hour’s walking brought them within sight of a native village.

As soon as they perceived it they dropped on their hands and knees and proceeded with caution until within a short distance of it.  They were not long in discovering a flock of goats browsing on the verdure in some broken ground a few hundred yards from the village.  They were under the charge of a native boy, who was seated on a rock near them.  They made their way round among the brushwood until they were close to the spot.

“Shall I shoot him?” Nessus asked, for he had carried his bow and arrows concealed in his attire as a Roman soldier.

“No, no,” Malchus replied, “the lad has done us no harm; but we must have one of his goats.  His back is towards us, and, if we wait, one of them is sure to come close to us presently.”

They lay quiet among the bushes until, after a delay of a quarter of an hour, a goat, browsing upon the bushes, passed within a yard or two of them.

Nessus let fly his arrow, it passed almost through the animal, right behind its shoulder, and it fell among the bushes.  In an instant Nessus was upon it, and, grasping its mouth tightly to prevent it from bleating, cut its throat.  They dragged it away until a fall in the ground hid them from the sight of the natives, then they quickly skinned and cut it up, devoured some of the meat raw, and then, each taking a leg of the animal, proceeded upon their way.

They now walked without a halt until, late in the evening, they came down upon the spot where the Carthaginian army had crossed.  It was deserted.  Going down to the edge of the river they saw the great rafts upon which the elephants had crossed.

“We had best go on a mile or two ahead,” Nessus said, “the Roman cavalry may be here in the morning, though the column will be still a day’s march away.  By daylight we shall have no difficulty in finding the traces of the army.”

Malchus took the Arab’s advice, and the next morning followed on the traces of the army, which were plainly enough to be seen in the broken bushes, the trampled ground, and in various useless articles dropped or thrown away by the troops.  They were forced to advance with caution, for they feared meeting any of the natives who might be hanging on the rear of the army.