When all had been posted, the ends of the line were to descend until they met in the middle of the valley, thus forming a circle.  A shout was to tell the rest that this was done, and then all were to move down until they met in the centre.  One officer went with each party, Malchus remained at the spot where he was standing.  In ten minutes the signal was heard, and then all moved forward, shouting as they went, and keeping a sharp lookout between the trees to see that nothing passed them.  As the narrowing circle issued into the open ground at the bottom of the valley there was a general shout of delight, for, huddled down by a stream, grunting and screaming with fright, was a herd of forty or fifty pigs, with a peasant, who appeared stupefied with alarm at the sudden uproar.

On seeing the men burst out with their levelled spears from the wood, the Sard gave a scream of terror and threw himself upon his face.  When the Carthaginians came up to him Malchus stirred him with his foot, but he refused to move; he then pricked him with the Roman spear he held, and the man leaped to his feet with a shout.  Malchus told him in Italian that he was free to go, but that the swine must be confiscated for the use of his followers.  The man did not understand his words, but, seeing by his gestures that he was free to go, set off at the top of his speed, hardly believing that he could have escaped with his life, and in no way concerned at the loss of the herd.  This was, indeed, the property of various individuals in one of the villages at the foot of the hills —­ it being then, as now, the custom for several men owning swine to send them together under the charge of a herdsman into the mountains, where for months together they live in a half wild state on acorns and roots, a villager going up occasionally with supplies of food for the swineherd.

No sooner had the peasant disappeared than a shout from one of the men some fifty yards away called the attention of Malchus.

“Here is the man’s fire, my lord.”

A joyous exclamation rose from the soldiers, for, the thought of all this meat and no means of cooking it was tantalizing every one.  Malchus hurried to the spot, where, indeed, was a heap of still glowing embers.  Some of the men at once set to work to collect dried sticks, and in a few minutes a great fire was blazing.  One of the pigs was slaughtered and cut up into rations, and in a short time each man was cooking his portion stuck on a stick over the fire.

A smaller fire was lit for the use of the officers a short distance away, and here Nessus prepared their share of the food for Malchus and his two companions.  After the meal the spears were improved by the points being hardened in the fire.  When they were in readiness to march two of the men were told off as fire keepers, and each of these took two blazing brands from the fire, which, as they walked, they kept crossed before them, the burning points keeping each other alight.  Even with one man there would be little chance of losing the fire, but with two such a misfortune could scarcely befall them.