“Of what I was when a child,” said the elder, “I know only this, that my father carried me over a broad river, and laid me under a bush whilst he returned to fetch my brother; but whilst he was gone a lion came, seized me by the clothes, and bore me into a wood hard by. My mother we lost on our journey nigh to a great sea, where she remained with a cruel captain who had seized her for his slave. As I was carried away by the lion, methought a wolf seized on my brother, whom my father had left on the other bank. The lion soon dropped me, for men with loud cries and stones pursued him and drove him from me. Then did they take me to the village where we have lived together so long.”
“My brother, O my brother!” exclaimed the other youth, hardly able to restrain his emotions during the recital, “I am he whom the wolf carried off, saved from his jaws by the shepherds, as thou wast from the jaws of the lion.”
The widow had listened to the wonderful story of the two young men. Much she marvelled at their preservation; on the morrow she sought the commander of the imperial forces; she found him in his tent; his officers were around him, and the two young men stood within the circle. The widow craved permission to return to her own country.
“Sir,” she said, “I am a stranger in these parts; fifteen years have passed since I left Rome with my husband, once high in power, and rich, but then poor and in misery; we reached yonder sea, our two sons were with us, we crossed in a shipman’s boat, but when we arrived on this side he demanded money of my husband, and when he had it not to give him he seized on me and carried me into slavery. Years lived I beneath his roof in sorrow and in pain; but it was in vain that he sought to do me evil, for God preserved me from his devices. At length my master died, and I became free; since then I have labored honestly, and would now return to Rome, if, perchance, I may find my husband and my children.”
“Theosbyta!” said the general, in a low voice, raising his helmet as he spoke.
“Eustace! my husband!”
The general raised his fainting wife, and kissed her gently on her forehead. “Our sons, Theosbyta, we shall see no more; a lion and a wolf carried them off before mine eyes, as we crossed the river not many leagues from hence.”
“Father! our father!” said the two youths, as they knelt before the general.
“Nay, doubt not, Eustace,” said his wife, “last night I overheard the tale of their adventures; this is he whom the lion took; this one did the shepherds rescue from the jaws of the wolf.”
The tale was soon retold, and Eustace convinced that he had recovered in one day his wife and his sons. Then loud blew the trumpets through the camp, and cheer upon cheer rang from the good soldiers, when their general came from his tent, leading his long-lost wife, and supported on either side by his sons. The enthusiasm aided them in obtaining the victory over the enemy. Every one loved their general, and rejoiced in his joy; and that day they fought for their home, their emperor, and their commander.