CHAPTER LIII.
VICTORY.
The wayleals rested and slept outstretched upon the air close to thescene of battle. Not having any weight as regarded external objects,they mutually attracted each other, and to obtain freedom and restwithout being crushed together into suffocating masses of men, theywere formed into companies of one hundred each, with their feetpressing against solid cylinders of spears. Mutual gravity wassufficient to hold them together, and each wayleal spread himself uponthe air, as upon a bed of down, enjoying luxurious repose.
I had slept I know not how long, in company with the leaders of ourarmy, when I was awakened by Flathootly, who informed me that a trustymessenger from Grasnagallipas, lord of invention and general of theking's bockhockids, desired to see me as bearer of an importantdespatch from his master.
The messenger, saluting, handed me the following document:
"_To His Excellency_ LEXINGTON WHITE, _Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Queen Lyone, from Grasnagallipas, General of the Royal Bockhockids, Greeting:_
"General Grasnagallipas begs to report that he and his bockhockids have ever been in sympathy with the late goddess, but were prevented from espousing her cause by the overwhelming presence of the royal army in Calnogor. To show his detestation of the horrible act of criminal cowardice on the part of his majesty, he offers his sword and command of bockhockids to the cause of the late adorable goddess and queen of Atvatabar, and on the acceptance of such assistance by your excellency will at once leave the ranks of the royal army and enter that of her late majesty, to fight for the sacred cause and assist in punishing a perfidious king.
GRASNAGALLIPAS."
The loss attending the withdrawal of the priests and priestesses toform a guard of honor to the illustrious dead was more thancompensated for by the re-enforcements under Grasnagallipas, to whom Isent a message of gracious acceptance of his services.
The army being fully aroused for conflict, had the satisfaction ofwelcoming re-enforcements from two opposite directions, viz., thefifty thousand bockhockids under Grasnagallipas and the terroritebattery under command of General Rackiron.
As was expected, the departure of the bravest general in the royalarmy was the signal for a renewal of hostilities, and Coltonobory, madat the serious defection of his troops, at once assumed the offensive.He had received a large recruitment of wayleals, and felt asformidable as ever. His army swept down upon us with warlike musicrolling like thunder, and cries of "Bhoolmakar!" The king himself,having dealt us his most terrible blow, was a witness to the onset ofhis hosts. He sat aloft in a golden palanquin, borne on the shouldersof his followers, with a body-guard on either side.
The advance guard of the enemy consisted of several regiments, armedwith our own hand mitrailleuses, taken from prisoners. These did aterrible execution among our wayleals.
Grasnagallipas, anxious to undo the injury he inflicted on us duringthe first battle, and emulous of the prowess of our own forty thousandbockhockids, plunged headlong amid the foe, creating a panic whereverhis gigantic birds descended. He fought like a demon, neither askingnor giving quarter.
General Rackiron, having got his terrorite battery in position, waseager to check the advance of the enemy by saluting him with a fewaerial torpedoes. There was some delay incidental to the first actualoperations of a hastily-constructed battery, but the daring ingenuityof the professor overcame every obstacle. Each gun, supported by fiftymen, possessed a solid foundation from which to direct its operations.
The enemy, though harassed by our bockhockids, had worked into thecentre of our army by sheer weight of numbers. Our wayleals, havingexhausted their ammunition, had to fall back on their electric spears,and at times were obliged to retire in confusion. At this juncture ashell of terrorite exploded among the foe with thrilling effect,destroying at least two hundred bockhockids.
Coltonobory, who evidently attributed the disaster to an explosion ofgunpowder in his own ranks, closed up the broken columns and renewedthe attack.
AT THIS JUNCTURE, A SHELL OF TERRORITE EXPLODED AMONGTHE FOE WITH THRILLING EFFECT, DESTROYING AT LEAST TWO HUNDREDBOCKHOCKIDS.]
Three explosions in rapid succession, right in the centre of theenemy, caused the greatest consternation, and produced a frightfulgap, where but a moment before the air was thick with an armed host.
Generals Yermoul, Gerolio, Ladalmir and Grasnagallipas plunged withtheir bockhockids into the living cavern produced by the torpedoes,and with their spears mowed down thousands of the panic-strickenwayleals.
Another terrorite shell, thrown in the direction of the king,destroyed a few hundred of his protectors and induced his majesty toseek safety in immediate flight.
Not wishing to lose so important an enemy, I ordered GeneralFlathootly and the second legion of fletyemings to start in hotpursuit of the royal party and bring me back the king, dead or alive.Flathootly, delighted with his mission, started off at once in pursuitof Bhoolmakar.
The terrorite battery proved our most effective weapon in castigatingthe enemy. I could not thank Professor Rackiron sufficiently for hisgreat genius and mechanical skill in so rapidly perfecting hisweapons, which were modelled on the plan of the guns belonging to the_Polar King_. Every discharge proved a blast of destruction to thefoe.
The deadly missiles wrought a fearful slaughter, steadily decimatingthe ranks of the royal army, which had no similar weapons with whichto retaliate upon us.
The frightened hosts, constantly changing their focus, left behindthem vast heaps of the dead and wounded and globes of floating blood.
On one occasion the first brigade of fletyemings, led by GeneralStarbottle, in eagerly pursuing the enemy dashed through a pool ofblood three feet in thickness, and every wayleal emerged dripping withgore.
Coltonobory, finding further resistance useless, at once surrenderedhimself and his army to our mercy.
My brave wayleals, flushed with victory, saluted me with cries of"Long live Lexington White, King of Atvatabar!"
But what was success now without the one priceless soul to share mytriumph?
Did ever glory so grand and defeat so terrible so mingle themselves inhuman experience?
My wayleals, now for the first time hearing of the death of theirqueen, would have torn Coltonobory to pieces had I not protected him.
I knew he was personally innocent, and my wayleals were already inpursuit of the king.
We entered Calnogor in triumph. I heard on all sides a wail oflamentation for Lyone, mingled with applause for the conqueror.
It was a scene in which conquest and misery, rapture and failure, lifeand death, were indissolubly united.