And, wheeling to the left, he disappeared.
Cethegus ordered the rest of the horsemen to follow him, speaking in the Persian language.
Then he rode up to Liberius and said:
"I will take the Gothic King prisoner."
"What? He still lives? Then make haste!"
"Meanwhile you can take this Taginæ," continued Cethegus; "I will leave you my Isaurians."
And he galloped away with Syphax and three hundred Persians.
Meantime the wounded King had been taken by his friends out of Taginæ into a little pine-wood near the road, where he drank from a spring and gradually revived.
"Julius," he said, "ride on to Valeria; tell her that the battle is lost, but not the kingdom. That I am alive and still hope. As soon as I feel a little stronger I shall ride up to the Spes Bonorum. I ordered Teja and Hildebrand there when they had finished their tasks. It is a high and safe position. Go, I beg thee; comfort Valeria and take her also from the cloister to Spes Bonorum. Thou wilt not? Then I must myself ride up the difficult road--surely thou wilt spare me that?"
Julius was reluctant to leave the wounded man.