Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/179

] I wished to die; for I despaired of victory. But it came, my love! It seemed as though lightnings of terror flashed from our lance-points. I saw Knodomar, that redoutable warrior—ah, you have seen him too—I saw him fleeing on foot from the battlefield, and with him his brother Vestralp, and the kings Hortar and Suomar, and all who had not fallen by our swords.

Oh, I can see it; I can see it! Blessed Saviour, 'twas thou that didst again send forth the destroying angels of the Milvian Bridge!

Never have I heard such shrieks of despair; never seen such gaping wounds as those we trampled on, as we waded through the slain. The river did the rest; the drowning men struggled among themselves until they rolled over, and went to the bottom. Most of the princes fell living into our hands; Knodomar himself had sought refuge in a bed of reeds; one of his attendants betrayed him, and our bowmen sent a shower of arrows into his hiding-place, but without hitting him. Then, of his own accord, he gave himself up.

And after such a victory do you not feel secure?

[Hesitatingly.] On the very evening of the victory an accident occurred, a trifle

An accident?