“I’m sure of it, my lad. Yesterday and before there were thousands of them scattered in droves all about us; now the pass is so narrow that they are all squeezed up together; and so much the better for us.”
“Why?” asked Marcus.
“Because we’ve got such a narrow front to defend. Why, you know what a scrap of road there was where the captain halted his men.”
“Yes,” said Marcus; “just like a gash cut through the rock.”
“That’s right,” said the old soldier. “Well, a line of twenty men would have been sufficient to guard that bit.”
“More than enough,” said Marcus.
“Right, boy. Well, he has got six or seven hundred there, and no army that the enemy can bring up can drive our men from that stronghold. There are only two things that can master them.”
“What are they?” said Marcus, anxiously.
“Cold and hunger.”
“Ah!” sighed Marcus.