"
Then, with their shields before them, and their long spears in their
hands, the three brave men stood in the road, and kept back the
horsemen whom Porsena had sent to take the bridge.
On the bridge the Romans hewed away at the beams and posts. Their axes
rang, the chips flew fast; and soon it trembled, and was ready to
fall.
"Come back! come back, and save your lives!" they cried to Ho-ra-ti-us
and the two who were with him.
But just then Porsena's horsemen dashed toward them again.
"Run for your lives!" said Horatius to his friends. "I will keep the
road."
They turned, and ran back across the bridge. They had hardly reached
the other side when there was a crashing of beams and timbers. The
bridge toppled over to one side, and then fell with a great splash
into the water.
When Horatius heard the sound, he knew that the city was safe. With
his face still toward Porsena's men, he moved slowly back-ward till he
stood on the river's bank. A dart thrown by one of Porsena's soldiers
put out his left eye; but he did not falter. He cast his spear at the
fore-most horseman, and then he turned quickly around. He saw the
white porch of his own home among the trees on the other side of the
stream;
"And he spake to the noble river
That rolls by the walls of Rome:
'O Tiber! father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge to-day.
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