- ceiving themselves to be deserted by their King, had dispersed,
eager only to preserve their lives. Thus the derelict camp, with its whole contents, became the immediate prize of the victors. It was found to be replete with wealth, the accumulated treasures of the Vandal nation, which had been amassed during the raids of Genseric on every part of the Roman dominions. Such an immense hoard of money, it seemed, could never before have been brought together into one repository. Pillage now became the sole object of the Byzantine soldiery, all discipline was ignored, and the army was only discernible in the form of numerous pairs of companions who overran the district engaged in rapine. This abandonment continued throughout the night, and at dawn Belisarius, with great difficulty, collected his men, when all returned to Carthage laden with immense booty. Besides valuables, the seizures comprised women and boys, all men who seemed to belong to the hostile nation being butchered. It was now the middle of December, and just three months since the Byzantines had entered the African capital.
To secure the person of Gelimer was a matter of prime importance, and John, the Armenian, with a company of two hundred, had been despatched in pursuit of the fugitive. For five days they hurried after him on his track, and then, by a deplorable mischance, the leader was transfixed and mortally wounded by an arrow discharged from the hand of one of his own men. Belisarius was at once informed, and hastened to the locality, but the unavoidable delay enabled the flying King to make good his escape. On inquiry, it was elicited that he had taken refuge among the Moors of Pappua, a rugged and almost inaccessible mountain in a remote corner of Numidia. Belisarius followed on, and,
