"Woe--woe!" cried Syphax, so loudly, that it struck Cethegus--who knew the Moor's usual self-control--strangely.
"What has happened?"
"A great misfortune! Constantinus is severely wounded. He led a sortie from the Salarian Gate, and at once stumbled upon the Gothic ranks. A stone from a sling hit him on the brow. With difficulty his people saved him, and bore him back within the walls. There I received the fainting man--he named you, the Prefect, as his successor. Here is his general's staff."
"That is not possible!" shouted Bessas, who had followed at Syphax's heels. He had come in person to demand reinforcements from the Prefect, and arrived just in time to hear this news. "That is not possible," he repeated, "or Constantinus was raving when he said it."
"If he had appointed you he might have been so," said Cethegus quietly, taking the staff, and thanking the cunning slave with a rapid motion of his hand.
With a furious look Bessas left the ramparts and hurried away.
"Follow him, and watch him carefully, Syphax," whispered the Prefect.
An Isaurian mercenary hastily approached.
"Reinforcements, Prefect, for the Porta Portuensis! Duke Guntharis has stormed the wall!"
He was followed by Cabao, the leader of the Moorish mounted archers, who cried: