Alaric was seated alone on the wooden chest already described,
contemplating with bent brow and abstracted gaze some old Runic
characters, traced upon the carved surface of a brass and silver shield,
full five feet high, which rested against the side of the tent. The
light of the lamp falling upon the polished surface of the weapon--
rendered doubly bright by the dark skins behind it--was reflected back
upon the figure of the Goth chief. It glowed upon his ample cuirass; it
revealed his firm lips, slightly curled by an expression of scornful
triumph; it displayed the grand, muscular formation of his arm, which
rested--clothed in tightly-fitting leather--upon his knee; it partly
brightened over his short, light hair, and glittered steadily in his
fixed, thoughtful, manly eyes, which were just perceptible beneath the
partial shadow of his contracted brow; while it left the lower part of
his body and his right hand, which was supported on the head of a huge,
shaggy dog couching at his side, shadowed almost completely by the thick
skins heaped confusedly against the sides of the wooden chest.
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