that they would do their duty, on which they all struck their swords
upon their shields so that the Britons on the beach could hear the
clang. Then, his eyes falling upon me, he asked me whether I was the
messenger from Vortigern, and on my answering, he bid me follow him into
his cabin, where Lanc and Hasta the other chiefs were waiting for a
council.

Picture me, then, my dear Crassus, in a very low-roofed cabin, with
these three huge Barbarians seated round me. Each was clad in some
sort of saffron tunic, with chain-mail shirts over it, and helmets
with the horns of oxen on either side, laid upon the table before them.
Like most of the Saxon chiefs, their beards were shaved, but they wore
their hair long and their huge light-coloured moustaches drooped down on
to their shoulders. They are gentle, slow, and somewhat heavy in their
bearing, but I can well fancy that their fury is the more terrible when
it does arise.

Their minds seem to be of a very practical and positive nature, for they
at once began to ask me a series of questions upon the numbers of the
Britons, the resources of the kingdom, the conditions of its trade, and
other such subjects. They then set to work arguing over the information
which I had given, and became so absorbed in their own contention that I
believe there were times when they forgot my presence. Everything,
after due discussion, was decided between them by vote, the one who
found himself in the minority always submitting, though sometimes with a
very bad grace. Indeed, on one occasion Lanc, who usually differed from
the others, threatened to refer the matter to the general vote of the
whole crew. There was a constant conflict in the point of view; for
whereas Kenna and Hasta were anxious to extend the Saxon power, and to
make it greater in the eyes of the world, Lanc was of opinion that they