Thirty feet high is the Wall , and on the Picts ' side , the North , is a ditch , strewn with blades of old swords and spear-heads set in wood , and tyres of wheels joined by chains . The Little People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads . ` But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it . Long ago there were great ramparts and ditches on the South side , and no one was allowed to build there . Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and built over , from end to end of the Wall ; making a thin town eighty miles long . Think of it ! One roaring , rioting , cock-fighting , wolf-baiting , horse-racing town , from Ituna on the West to Segedunum on the cold eastern beach ! On one side heather , woods and ruins where Picts hide , and on the other , a vast town -- long like a snake , and wicked like a snake . Yes , a snake basking beside a warm wall ! ` My Cohort , I was told , lay at Hunno , where the Great North Road runs through the Wall into the Province of Valentia . ' Parnesius laughed scornfully . ` The Province of Valentia ! We followed the road , therefore , into Hunno town , and stood astonished . The place was a fair -- a fair of peoples from every corner of the Empire . Some were racing horses : some sat in wine-shops : some watched dogs baiting bears , and many gathered in a ditch to see cocks fight . A boy not much older than myself , but I could see he was an officer , reined up before me and asked what I wanted . ' `` My station , '' I said , and showed him my shield . ' Parnesius held up his broad shield with its three X 's like letters on a beer-cask . ' `` Lucky omen ! '' said he .
`` Your XXXXX 's the next tower to us , but they 're all at the cock-fight .
Cohort Ituna North Parnesius Segedunum arrow-heads beer-cask cocks ramparts wine-shops