Meanwhile the two boats left their hiding-place among the rushes, rowed first directly southward out upon the lake, and then by making a wide circuit to avoid pursuit, intended to turn toward Arbor. But they did not go far.
"What have you determined, General?" asked Decius, calling from the second boat as they rowed side by side.
"To take vengeance," replied Saturninus savagely; "vengeance for this unprecedented disgrace. As soon as I reach Arbor, I shall beseech the Cæsar, if ever Saturninus deserved favor from the Empire, to give me three legions. The Barbarians shall be repaid this very night."
"Stay," cried Rignomer. "I have long seen a Roman galley coming toward us."
"Where? Whence?" asked Decius. "It probably contains Barbarians."
"No, no! It is coming from the southwest. Look yonder--from Constantia!"
"Yes," exclaimed Decius. "That is the Emperor's swiftest ship; I recognize it. It bears the great purple flag, so the Emperor himself is on board."
"Or a Magister Militum sent by the Cæsar," remarked Saturninus.
The two boats remained motionless; the swift galley swept forward. It must at first have been supposed that the boats were filled with Barbarians, but the crew soon discovered that the men were Romans; and now the ship reached them. On her deck, beside a richly armed officer, stood Nannienus. "O my friend," cried Saturninus, raising his head, "that we should meet again thus! And you, Andragathes, what do you bring? I hope help, reënforcements. We are defeated: army and ships are lost." He groaned aloud.
"I know it, my Saturninus," replied the imperial envoy. "Nannienus, whom I took on board, here on the lake, flying in a Barbarian boat, has told me all that he had himself experienced and what he feared for you. Alas! What is this little defeat? What are these two or three thousand men, compared to the terrible blow which has fallen upon us?"