Barely a mile had they traversed, before an ominous crack proclaimed the splitting of an axletree.

The cheap hired vehicle could go no farther.
"'Tis a sure sign the gods are against our proceeding this night," expostulated Antiochus; "let us walk back to the farmhouse, my lord." Caesar did not deign to give him an answer.

He deliberately descended, clasped his paenula over his shoulders, and bade the German make the best of his way back to Ravenna.

The peasant boy, he declared, could lead them on foot until dawn.
The freedman groaned, but he was helpless.

The guide, bearing the lantern, convoyed them out of the highroad, to strike what he assured them was a less circuitous route; and soon had his travellers, now plunged in quagmires that in daylight would have seemed impassable, now clambering over stocks and stones, now leaping broad ditches.