him, child; he only shows his regard for you, by wishing you back
safely in Rome before trouble arises."

"You are just in time, Beric," Boduoc said as the young chief
joined him. "The sun is but a hand's breadth above that hill. Here
are your spear and sword where you hid them, though why you should
have done it I know not, seeing that they have not yet ventured to
order us to disarm."

"And if they did we should not obey them, Boduoc; but as the
Trinobantes have long been forbidden to carry arms, it might have
caused trouble had I gone armed into the town, and we don't want
trouble at present. I went on a peaceful visit, and there was no
occasion for me to carry my weapons. But give me a piece of that
deer flesh and an oaten cake; we have a long march before us."

"Why, did you not eat with them?"

"No. I was, of course, invited, but I had but a short time to stop
and did not wish it to seem as if I had come for a taste of Roman
dainties again."

As soon as the meal was eaten they set out. It was but a track
through the forest, for although the trees had been cleared away for
a width of twenty feet there was but little traffic, for the road
was seldom traversed, save by an occasional messenger from Prasutagus.
It had been used by the legions at the time that Ostorius had
built a line of forts stretching from the Nen to the Severn, and by
it they had advanced when the Iceni had risen; but from that time
it had been unused by them, as the Iceni had paid their tribute