nearly everywhere, and there were a great many fierce tribes and
chiefs who lived by robbing their neighbors. So the towns and
castles in which there was much money or other valuable property
were not safe without high and strong walls.

Attila tried to take Orleans, but soon after he began to attack the
walls he saw a great army at a distance coming towards the city.
He quickly gathered his forces together, marched to the neighboring
plain of Champagne and halted at the place where the city of Chalons
(shah-lon') now stands.

The army which Attila saw was an army of 300,000 Romans and
Visigoths. It was led by a Roman general name Aetius (A-e'-ti-us)
and the Visigoth king Theodoric (The-od'-o-ric). The Visigoths
after the death of Alaric had settled in parts of Gaul, and their
king had now agreed to join the Romans against the common enemy--the
terrible Huns. So the great army of the Romans and Visigoths marched
up and attacked the Huns at Chalons. It was a fierce battle. Both
sides fought with the greatest bravery. At first the Huns seemed
to be winning. They drove back the Romans and Visigoths from the
field, and in the fight Theodoric was killed.

Aetius now began to fear that he would be beaten, but just at that
moment Thorismond (Thor'-is-mond), the son of Theodoric, made another
charge against the Huns. He had taken command of the Visigoths
when his father was killed, and now he led them on to fight. They
were all eager to have revenge for the death of their king, so they
fought like lions and swept across the plain with great fury. The
Huns were soon beaten on every side, and Attila himself fled to his
camp. It was the first time he had ever been defeated. Thorismond,