A party of ten men took charge of the herd of swine, and the whole then started for the point they intended to make to in the heart of the mountains.  Before the end of the day a suitable camping place was selected in a watered valley.  The men then set to work to cut down boughs and erect arbours.  Fires were lighted and another pig being killed those who preferred it roasted his flesh over the fire, while others boiled their portions, the Roman shields being utilized as pans.

“What do you think of doing, Malchus?” Halco asked as they stretched themselves out on a grassy bank by the stream when they had finished their meal.  “We are safe here, and in these forests could defy the Romans to find us for months.  Food we can get from the villages at the foot of the hills, and there must be many swine in the forest beside this herd which we have captured.  The life will not be an unpleasant one, but —­ " and he stopped.

“But you don’t wish to end your days here,” Malchus put in for him, “nor do I. It is pleasant enough, but every day we spend here is a waste of our lives, and with Hannibal and our comrades combating the might of Rome we cannot be content to live like members of the savage tribes here.  I have no doubt that we shall excite such annoyance and alarm by our raids among the villages in the plains that the Romans will ere long make a great effort to capture us, and doubtless they will enlist the natives in their search.  Still, we may hope to escape them, and there are abundant points among these mountains where we may make a stand and inflict such heavy loss upon them that they will be glad to come to terms.  All I would ask is that they shall swear by their gods to treat us well and to convey us as prisoners of war to Rome, there to remain until exchanged.  In Rome we could await the course of events patiently.  Hannibal may capture the city.  The senate, urged by the relatives of the many prisoners we have taken, may agree to make an exchange, and we may see chances of our making our escape.  At any rate we shall be in the world and shall know what is going on.”

“But could we not hold out and make them agree to give us our freedom?”

“I do not think so,” Malchus said.  “It would be too much for Roman pride to allow a handful of escaped prisoners to defy them in that way, and even if the prefect of this island were to agree to the terms, I do not believe that the senate would ratify them.  We had better not ask too much.  For myself I own to a longing to see Rome.  As Carthage holds back and will send no aid to Hannibal, I have very little hope of ever entering it as a conqueror, and rather than not see it at all I would not mind entering it as a prisoner.  There are no mines to work there, and the Romans, with so vast a number of their own people in the hands of Hannibal, would not dare to treat us with any cruelty or severity.

“Here it is different.  No rumour of our fate will ever reach Hannibal, and had every one of us died in those stifling mines he would never have been the wiser.”