He turned up a new list, but Pertinax laid his open hand there.
'"No, Cæsar," said he. "Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or engines, but not both; else we refuse."'
'Engines?' said Una.
'The catapults of the Wall—huge things forty feet high to the head—firing nets of raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left us our catapults at last, but he took a Cæsar's half of our men without pity. We were a shell when he rolled up the lists!
'"Hail, Cæsar! We, about to die, salute you!" said Pertinax, laughing. "If any enemy even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble."
'"Give me the three years Allo spoke of," he answered, "and you shall have twenty thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble—a game played against the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and perhaps Rome. You play on my side?"
'"We will play, Cæsar," I said, for I had never met a man like this man.
'"Good. Tomorrow," said he, "I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before the troops."
'So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after the Games. We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her helmet, and her spear pointed towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle of night-fires all along the guard towers, and the line of the black catapults growing smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we knew till we were