Totila set down his cup and asked, turning pale:
"What has happened?"
"Thy despatch-boat has brought news from Ancona. The Emperor has broken the armistice--he has----"
Teja had now drawn near. He was pale with fury.
"Up, King Totila!" he cried. "Exchange the wreath for the helmet! Off Senogallia, near Ancona, a Byzantine fleet suddenly attacked our squadron which lay under the protection of the armistice. Our ships no more exist. A powerful army of the enemy has landed. And the commander-in-chief is--Cethegus the Prefect!"
CHAPTER XV.
In the camp of Cethegus the Prefect at Setinum, at the foot of the Apennines, a few miles north of Taginæ, Lucius Licinius, who had just arrived by sea from Epidamnus, was walking up and down, in eager conversation with Syphax, before the tent of the commander-in-chief.
"My master has been anxiously expecting you, tribune, for many days," said the Moor; "he will be rejoiced to find you in the camp when he returns. He has ridden out to reconnoitre."
"Whither rode he?"
"Towards Taginæ, with Piso and the other tribunes."