said Una . ` The catapults of the Wall -- huge things forty feet high to the head -- firing nets of raw stone or forged bolts . Nothing can stand against them . He left us our catapults at last , but he took a Cæsar 's half of our men without pity . We were a shell when he rolled up the lists ! ' `` Hail , Cæsar ! We , about to die , salute you ! '' said Pertinax , laughing . `` If any enemy even leans against the Wall now , it will tumble . '' ' `` Give me the three years Allo spoke of , '' he answered , `` and you shall have twenty thousand men of your own choosing up here . But now it is a gamble -- a game played against the Gods , and the stakes are Britain , Gaul , and perhaps Rome . You play on my side ? '' ' `` We will play , Cæsar , '' I said , for I had never met a man like this man . ' `` Good . Tomorrow , '' said he , `` I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before the troops . '' ` So we went into the moonlight , where they were cleaning the ground after the Games . We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall , the frost on her helmet , and her spear pointed towards the North Star . We saw the twinkle of night-fires all along the guard towers , and the line of the black catapults growing smaller and smaller in the distance . All these things we knew till we were weary ; but that night they seemed very strange to us , because the next day we knew we were to be their masters . ` The men took the news well ; but when Maximus went away with half our strength , and we had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers , and the townspeople complained that trade would be ruined , and the autumn gales blew -- it was dark days for us two .
Here XXXXX was more than my right hand .
Cæsar Games Gods Pertinax Rome Star days gales left night