Pagina:A First Latin Reader.pdf/89

Sīc postrēmō perventum est ad sēdēs hostium, quī, ratī^[1] propter timōrem colōnōs praetervectōs esse, iam minus dīligenter castra sua custōdiēbant.

LESSON 67

The End of the Pequots (Continued)

Noctū castrīs appropinquāvērunt colōnī. Intus erant uxōrēs quoque līberīque Indōrum, intusque audīrī poterat cantus barbarōrum, quī, circum ignīs saltantēs^[2], victōriās superiōrēs^[3] celebrābant. Colōnī aliquamdiū tacitī exspectāvērunt^[4]; tum, cum diēs iam illūcēsceret Indīque saltandō^[5] dēfessī somnō quiēscerent gravī^[6], subitō in castra portīs^[7] duābus inrūpērunt.

Quō impetū repentīnō commōtī, hostēs tamen celeriter ē lectīs exsiluērunt, tabernāculīsque interpositīs, tēla in mīlitēs conicere fortiter coepērunt plūrima. Quō animadversō, dux colōnōrum statim intellēxit cōnsilium sibi mūtandum esse, suōsque tabernāculīs ignēs admovēre iussit, deinde celeriter ēgressōs undique castra circumstāre. Quō modō Indī miserī, ignī ē castrīs fugere coāctī, ā colōnīs paene ad ūnum interfectī sunt; et sī quī forte aciem perrūperant, eōs^[8] sociī Indī^[9] libenter occīdērunt^[10].

In proeliō multī quoque ē colōnīs sunt vulnerātī, atque exercitus statim Novum Londīnium^[11] sē recipere coāctus est;

1. ratī: i.e. arbitrātī.
2. saltantēs: cf. saltābant, p. 57, l. 1.
3. superiōrēs: here, of time.
4. exspectāvērunt: waited.
5. saltandō: for syntax, cf. nandō, p. 12, l. 17.
6. somnō . . . gravī: cf. p. 72, l. 10.
7. portīs: cf. the note on fenestrā, p. 76, l. 3.
8. sī quī . . . eōs: lit. if any . . . , them (cf. the note on quid, p. 56, l. 1).
9. Indī: as adj..
10. libenter occīdērunt: freely, were glad to kill.
11. Novum Londīnium: town.