`` Follow it , then , '' said my Father , pulling up a fern root ; `` and die as Theodosius died . '' ' `` Ah ! '' said Maximus . `` My old General was killed because he served the Empire too well . I may be killed , but not for that reason , '' and he smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold . ' `` Then I had better follow my destiny , '' I said , `` and take my men to the Wall . '' ` He looked at me a long time , and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard . `` Follow it , boy , '' he said . That was all . I was only too glad to get away , though I had many messages for home . I found my men standing as they had been put -- they had not even shifted their feet in the dust , and off I marched , still feeling that terrific smile like an east wind up my back . I never halted them till sunset , and ' -- he turned about and looked at Pook 's Hill below him -- ` then I halted yonder . ' He pointed to the broken , bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden 's cottage . ` There ? Why , that 's only the old Forge -- where they made iron once , ' said Dan . ` Very good stuff it was too , ' said Parnesius calmly . ` We mended three shoulder-straps here and had a spear-head riveted . The Forge was rented from the Government by a one-eyed smith from Carthage . I remember we called him Cyclops . He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister 's room . '
` But it could n't have been here , ' XXXXX insisted .
Cyclops Dan Father Hill Hobden Maximus Parnesius Spaniard Theodosius shoulder-straps