Hermanric replied in the
negative; and they then proceeded in perfect silence.
Their way lay through the line of encampment to the westward, and was
imperfectly lighted by the flame of an occasional torch or the glow of a
distant watch-fire. The thunder had diminished in frequency, but had
increased in volume; faint breaths of wind soared up fitfully from the
west, and already a few raindrops fell slowly to the thirsty earth. The
warriors not actually on duty at the different posts of observation had
retired to the shelter of their tents; none of the thousand idlers and
attendants attached to the great army appeared at their usual haunts;
even the few voices that were audible sounded distant and low. The
night-scene here, among the ranks of the invaders of Italy, was as
gloomy and repelling as on the solitary plains before the walls of Rome.
Ere long the stranger perceived that they had reached a part of the camp
more thickly peopled, more carefully illuminated, more strongly
fortified, than that through which they had already passed; and the
liquid, rushing sound of the waters of the rapid Tiber now caught his
suspicious and attentive ear.
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