"Ye have dared to murmur at the will of Attila!" he said "Ye have dared to think that ye knew better than he did! Ye have dared to call his wisdom weakness, because he led you away from Rome, whose treasures were exhausted to buy your absence; and while ye thus complained, ye knew not whither he was leading you! It is time that ye should hear, in order that shame may glow like a burning spot upon your brows. I lead ye to Constantinople, to the city of the Cæsars, to the plunder of the richest capital in the universe! I swear," he continued, drawing his sword, as if moved by some sudden impulse, and holding it up on high before his eyes as he addressed to it his vow--"I swear that I will not leave one blade of grass in Thrace, nor one city standing, nor the wall of one fortress not cast down, nor one living enemy to oppose my path! This sword will I not sheath till I sheath it in the capital of the East. The feet of my horse shall never pause for more than one rising and setting of the sun, till I tighten the bridle in his mouth on the shores of the Thracian Bosphorus. I go forth to smite and to destroy, and I will make the land like unto one which has never been inhabited. I will cast down everything in my way; and the vulture which follows me, to eat the dead bodies of mine enemies, shall not have to raise his wings when he snuffs their carcasses from afar. Ye have heard the will of Attila! Get ye gone! Sharpen your arrows, but restrain your tongues!"
"Boaster," cried a shrill voice from the crowd, speaking in the Greek tongue, "thou shalt die even in thy pride!" But the crowd had already begun to move, and the noise of their innumerable feet drowned the sounds of that warning voice. The multitude separated slowly; Attila re-entered his tent; and Mizetus, with his hands clasped, and his eyes full of wandering fire, bent down upon the ground, strayed away with a slow irregular pace along the course of a little rivulet that streamed down from the higher hills. He muttered to himself as he went, and little note did he take of the various groups of Huns that passed him.
"Is it not so?" he said, as he wandered on--"is it not clearly so? Is it not the will of Heaven, distinctly revealing unto me the way to save the people of the Lord? Shall this pagan barbarian smite the faithful and the just? Heaven forbid! God has provided a remedy. The Lord has found a means of deliverance! I will do his will! I will work under the guidance of his spirit! I will not delay, no, not an hour, but I will gird up my loins and be doing!"
Long he wandered on, and long he continued thus muttering to himself; but at length he stopped suddenly, and exclaiming, "God strengthen me!" he turned and took his way straight to the tent of Ildica. Her attendants in the outer apartment sought to prevent his entrance; but he said, "I must see the Roman maiden; I come to bring her consolation." And, after some delay and inquiry within, he was admitted. Neva was with her still, and the wife of Ardaric, with some other women of high station among the Huns, were also present, striving to give her consolation; but Ildica, with her eye all tearless and fixed upon the ground, sat in the midst, her hands clasped together, her lip silent, her features motionless, as if she heard not one word of all that was addressed to her.
"Daughter," said Mizetus, in the pure harmonious tongue of her own land--"daughter, listen to me!"
There was something in the sweet tone of the melodious Greek--there was something in it associated with home, and happiness, and early years, and the bright images of joys for ever gone, that seemed to startle her, and for a moment she looked up with a thoughtful gaze upon his countenance; but the next moment she dropped her eyes again, and remained as silent as before.
"Daughter, listen to me," continued the enthusiast, in that wild but elevated tone which will command attention if aught on earth can awaken it--"listen, for I bring thee consolation! I bring thee consolation from on high! It is revealed unto me that thou art reserved for great things, and destined to work the deliverance of people and of nations! It is revealed unto me that by thy hand shall the faithful of the Lord be delivered, and that thou, in thy beauty and in thy wisdom, shall do more than the mighty and the great have been able to accomplish!"
Still Ildica gave no sign of attention. Not a feature in her face was moved, and she remained gazing with the same fixed, meditative look on one spot of the ground, as if utterly absorbed in deep and unbroken thought. The enthusiast paused to see whether she heard or not, and for a moment all was silence. But the next instant, to the surprise of all, the lips of the fair unhappy girl were seen to move; and, as if the Greek accent of Mizetus had touched the thrilling cord of association between her present misery and the moment when misfortunes first began to fall upon her, recalling the dark and painful moment when she left Dalmatia, her voice was heard singing snatches of the song that her mother's slaves had poured forth when they left behind them Aspalathos for ever:--
"We leave you behind us, sweet things of the earth;
Our life is a race to the death from the birth;
We pause not to gather the flowers as they grow,
The goal is before us, and on we must go!
"Fair scenes of our childhood! dear homes of our youth
Memorials of innocence, virtue, and truth!
The land of our birth, the dear mother that bore,
We leave you behind us, we see you no more!