Page:The Elene of Cynewulf.djvu/16

 war-song, and hid not his secret hopes of carnage; and at the rear of the foe the dewy-feathered eagle shrieked his note on high.

A mighty host hastened to war through the cities, gleaned from all the men the Hunnish king could summon from the near-lying towns. A vast army sallied forth—bands of picked horsemen strengthened the force of the foot-soldiers—until within a foreign land upon the bank of the Danube these stout-souled brandishers of the spear pitched their camp near the water’s flow, amid the tumult of the army. They longed to overrun the realm of the Romans, and lay it waste with their hordes.

Then were the dwellers in the cities aware of the Huns’ coming. And the emperor straightway bade summon with the greatest speed by dispatch of the arrow his heroes to war against the foes; bade lead out to battle the warriors beneath the heavens. Their hearts inspired by victory, the Roman heroes were soon girt with weapons for the fight, though they had a lesser host for battle than circled about the proud king of the Huns. Then the shields rang, the wood of war clashed; the king with the host, his army, marched forth to strife, and over their heads the raven wailed, dark, and thirsting for the slaughter. The army was moving—trumpeters leaped, heralds shouted commands, and horses stamped the earth. Hastily the multitude enranked itself for strife.

But the king was fear-smitten, awed with terror, as he looked upon the hostile host, the army of the Huns and Goths, that upon the river's bank at the boundary of the Roman realm was massing its strength, an uncounted multitude. The king of the