He called us his children sometimes , and we were fond of him and his barbarians , though we never let them paint us Pict fashion . The marks endure till you die . ' ` How 's it done ? ' said Dan . ` Anything like tattooing ? ' ` They prick the skin till the blood runs , and rub in coloured juices . Allo was painted blue , green , and red from his forehead to his ankles . He said it was part of his religion . He told us about his religion -LRB- Pertinax was always interested in such things -RRB- , and as we came to know him well , he told us what was happening in Britain behind the Wall . Many things took place behind us in those days . And by the Light of the Sun , ' said Parnesius , earnestly , ` there was not much that those little people did not know ! He told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul , after he had made himself Emperor of Britain , and what troops and emigrants he had taken with him . We did not get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later . He told me what troops Maximus was taking out of Britain every month to help him to conquer Gaul ; and I always found the numbers were as he said . Wonderful ! And I tell another strange thing ! ' He joined his hands across his knees , and leaned his head on the curve of the shield behind him . ` Late in the summer , when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their bees , we three rode out after wolf with some new hounds . Rutilianus , our General , had given us ten days ' leave , and we had pushed beyond the Second Wall -- beyond the Province of Valentia -- into the higher hills , where there are not even any of old Rome 's ruins . We killed a she-wolf before noon , and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to me , `` When you are Captain of the Wall , my child , you wo n't be able to do this any more ! '' '
I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul , so I laughed and said , `` Wait till I am XXXXX . '' '
Allo Captain General Parnesius Pertinax Rome Valentia first month tattooing