instant to his feet, as did the other occupants of the tent.

"To arms!" Hamilcar cried; "the enemy are upon us."

Malchus caught up his shield and sword, threw his helmet on his
head, and rushed out of the tent with his father.

A tremendous din had succeeded the silence which had just before
reigned in the desert, and the yells of the barbarians rose high
in the air, answered by shouts and loud words of command from the
soldiers in the other grove. The elephants in their excitement
were trumpeting loudly; the horses stamped the ground; the draught
cattle, terrified by the din, strove to break away.

Large numbers of dark figures occupied the space some two hundred
yards wide between the groves. The general's guards, twenty in
number, had already sprung to their feet and stood to arms; the
slaves and attendants, panic stricken at the sudden attack, were
giving vent to screams and cries and were running about in confusion.

Hamilcar sternly ordered silence.

"Let each man," he said, "take a weapon of some kind and stand
steady. We are cut off from the main body and shall have to fight
for our lives. Do you," he said to the soldiers, "lay aside your
spears and shoot quickly among them. Fire fast. The great object
is to conceal from them the smallness of our number."

Moving round the little grove Hamilcar posted the slaves at short
distances apart, to give warning should the enemy be attempting an