midnight
Supper being ended , the young men of the tribe came in with trumpets and flutes , and began to play a bizarre air which combined the joy of the chase with the fury of their charge upon the enemy in battle . The guests were aroused , and the youngest among them , springing into the centre of the room , began to dance with gymnastic freedom . It was the dance with which the Celtiberians terminated their banquets , a violent exercise which put their muscles to the test , and caused them to regain their spirit even in moments of greatest depression . Long before midnight the warriors retired , leaving Alorcus and Actæon alone in the great smoke-filled room , where sputtered the torches , tingeing the barbaric decorations on the walls with a blood-like hue . They slept on couches of aromatic herbs , without removing their clothing , their weapons near them , as slept all the tribe , ever fearful of attack from neighbors tempted by the multitude of their flocks . At daybreak they went down to the meadow where the body of Endovellicus was exposed . The whole tribe was gathered on the plain near the river ; the young men on horseback with their lances , and in full armor ; the old men seated in the shade of the oak trees ; the women and children near the pyre of logs upon which lay the corpse of their chief .