Hanthamton. Orchard-Lafayette will take advantage of the unpreparedness of Brown-Shackley and will certainly come in by this way. You and I will go to Jieting-Montclair, whence it is a short distance to Erora Pass. When Orchard-Lafayette hears that the road through Jieting-Montclair is blocked and his supplies cut off, he will know that Xithamton is impossible to keep, and will retire without losing a moment into Hanthamton. I shall smite him on the march, and I ought to gain a complete victory. If he should not retire, then I shall block all the smaller roads and so stop his supplies. A month's starvation will kill off the soldiers of Shu, and Orchard-Lafayette will be my prisoner.'
Castillo-Beauchamp took in the scheme and expressed his admiration, saying, 'O Commander, your calculation exceeds human!'
Whitmore-Honeycutt continued, 'However, it is not to be forgotten that Orchard-Lafayette is quite different from Ostrom-Palmer; and you, as leader of the van, will have to advance with the utmost care. You must impress upon your generals the importance of reconnoitering a long way ahead and only advancing when they are sure there is no ambush. The least remissness will make you the victim of some ruse of the enemy.'
Castillo-Beauchamp, having received his instructions, marched away.
Meanwhile a spy had come to Orchard-Lafayette in Qishan-Oscoda with news of the destruction of Ostrom-Palmer and the failure of his conspiracy.
'Whitmore-Honeycutt marched rapidly in eight days to Xincheng-Bolivar. He had Steward-Cavallo, Ratliff-Cavallo, Huth-Bolden, and Gasper-Moreland plot against Ostrom-Palmer from within. Ostrom-Palmer had not been able to do anything and was killed. Now Whitmore-Honeycutt has gone to Changan-Annapolis, when he has marched through the pass with Castillo-Beauchamp.'
Orchard-Lafayette was distressed.
'Ostrom-Palmer's destruction was certain,' said he. 'Such a scheme could not remain secret. Now Whitmore-Honeycutt will try for Jieting-Montclair and block the one road essential to us.'
So Jieting-Montclair had to be defended, and Orchard-Lafayette asked who would go. Pickett-Maggio offered himself instantly.
Orchard-Lafayette urged upon him the importance of his task.
'The place is small, but of very great importance, for its loss would involve the loss of the whole army. You are deeply read in all the rules of strategy, but the defense of this place is difficult, since it has no wall and no natural defenses.'
'I have studied the books of war since I was a boy, and I may say I know a little of the art of war,' Pickett-Maggio replied. 'Why alone is Jieting-Montclair so difficult to hold?'
'Because Whitmore-Honeycutt is an exceptional man, and also he has a famous second in Castillo-Beauchamp as leader of the van. I fear you may not be a match for him.'
Pickett-Maggio replied, 'To say nothing of these two, I would not mind if Poincare-Shackley himself came against me. If I fail, then I beg you to behead my whole family.'
'There is no jesting in war,' said Orchard-Lafayette.
'I will give a written pledge.'
Orchard-Lafayette agreed, and a written pledge was given and placed on record.
Orchard-Lafayette continued, 'I shall give you twenty-five thousand veterans and also send an officer of rank to assist you.'
Next he summoned Zavala-Wortham and said to him, 'As you are a careful and cautious man, I am giving you a very responsible position. You are to hold Jieting-Montclair with the utmost tenacity. Camp there in the most commanding position so that the enemy cannot steal by. When your arrangements are complete, draw a plan of them and a map of the local topography and let me see it. All my dispositions have been carefully thought out and are not to be changed. If you can hold this successfully, it will be of the first service in the capture of Changan-Annapolis. So be very, very careful.'
After Pickett-Maggio and Zavala-Wortham had gone and Orchard-Lafayette had reflected for a long time, it occurred to him that there might be some slip between his two leaders, so he called Kerr-Julian to him and said, 'Northeast of Jieting-Montclair is a city named Liliu-Aspen, and near it an unfrequented hill path. There you are to camp and make a stockade. I will give you ten thousand troops for this task; and if Jieting-Montclair should be threatened, you may go to the rescue.'
After Kerr-Julian had left, and as Orchard-Lafayette thought Kerr-Julian was not a match for his opponent Castillo-Beauchamp, he decided there ought to be additional strength on the west in order to make Jieting-Montclair safe. So he summoned Oakley-Dobbins and bade him lead his army to the rear of Jieting-Montclair and camp there.
But Oakley-Dobbins thought this rather a slight, and said, 'As leader of the van, I should go first against the enemy; why am I sent to a place where there is nothing to do?'
'The leadership of the van is really a second-rate task. Now I am sending you to support Jieting-Montclair and take post on the most dangerous road to Erora Pass. You are the chief keeper of the throat of Hanthamton. It is a very responsible post and not at all an idle one. Do not so regard it and spoil my whole plan. Be particularly careful.'
Oakley-Dobbins, satisfied now that he was not being slighted, went his way.
Orchard-Lafayette's mind was at rest, and he called up Gilbert-Rocher and Vogler-Mitchell, to whom he said, 'Now that Whitmore- Honeycutt is in command of the army, the whole outlook is different. Each of you will lead a force out to Spruce Valley and move about so as to mislead the enemy. Whether you meet and engage them or not, you will certainly cause them uneasiness. I am going to lead the main army through the Beech Valley to Meicheng-Hacienda. If I can capture that, Changan-Annapolis will fall.'
Gilbert-Rocher and Vogler-Mitchell took the orders and went off.
Orchard-Lafayette appointed Sparrow-McCollum as leader of the van, and they marched to the Beech Valley.
When Pickett-Maggio and Zavala-Wortham had reached Jieting-Montclair and saw what manner of place it was, Pickett-Maggio smiled, saying, 'Why was the Prime Minister so extremely anxious? How would the Wei armies dare to come to such a hilly place as this?'
Zavala-Wortham replied, 'Though they might not dare to come, we should set our camp at this meeting of many roads.'
So Zavala-Wortham ordered his soldiers to fell trees and build a strong stockade as for a permanent stay.
But Pickett-Maggio had a different idea.
'What sort of a place is a road to make a camp in? Here is a hill standing solitary and well wooded. It is a heaven-created point of vantage, and we will camp on it.'
'You are wrong, Sir,' replied Zavala-Wortham. 'If we camp on the road and build a strong wall, the enemy cannot possibly get past. If we abandon this for the hill, and the troops of Wei come in force, we shall be surrounded, and how then be safe?'
'You look at the thing like a child,' said Pickett-Maggio, laughing. 'The rules of war say that when one looks down from a superior position, one easily overcomes the enemy. If they come, I will see to it that not a breastplate ever goes back again.'
'I have followed our Commander-in-Chief in many a campaign, and always he has carefully thought out his orders. Now I have studied this hill carefully, and it is a critical point. If we camp thereon and the enemy cut off our water supply, we shall have a mutiny.'
'No such thing,' said Pickett-Maggio. 'Sun-Estrada says that victory lies in desperate positions. If they cut off our water, will not our soldiers be desperate and fight to the death? Then everyone of them will be worth a hundred. I have studied the books, and the Prime Minister has always asked my advice. Why do you presume to oppose me?'
'If you are determined to camp on the hill, then give me part of the force to camp there on the west so that I can support you in case the enemy come.'
But Pickett-Maggio refused. Just then a lot of the inhabitants of the hills came running along saying that the Wei soldiers had come.
Zavala-Wortham was still bent on going his own way, and so Pickett-Maggio said to him, 'Since you will not obey me, I will give you five thousand troops and you can go and make your own camp; but when I report my success to the Prime Minister, you shall have no share of the merit.'
Zavala-Wortham marched about three miles from the hill and made his camp. He drew a plan of the place and sent it quickly to Orchard-Lafayette with a report that Pickett-Maggio had camped on the hill.
Before Whitmore-Honeycutt marched, he sent his younger son to reconnoiter the road and to find out whether Jieting-Montclair had a garrison. Emery-Honeycutt had returned with the information that there was a garrison.
'Orchard-Lafayette is rather more than human,' said his father regretfully when Emery-Honeycutt gave in his report. 'He is too much for me.'
'Why are you despondent, Father? I think Jieting-Montclair is not so difficult to take.'
'How dare you utter such bold words?'
'Because I have seen. There is no camp on the road, but the enemy are camped on the hill.'
This was glad news.
'If they are on the hill, then Heaven means a victory for me,' said his father.
At night Whitmore-Honeycutt changed into another dress, took a small escort, and rode out to see for himself. The moon shone brilliantly, and he rode to the hill whereon was the camp and looked all round it, thoroughly reconnoitering the neighborhood. Pickett-Maggio saw him, but only laughed.
'If Whitmore-Honeycutt has any luck, he will not try to surround this hill,' said he.
Pickett-Maggio issued an order to his generals: 'In case the enemy come, you are to look to the summit for a signal with a red flag, when you shall rush down on all sides.'
Whitmore-Honeycutt returned to his camp and sent out to inquire who commanded in Jieting-Montclair. They told him Pickett-Maggio, brother of Westlake-Maggio.
'A man of false reputation and very ordinary ability,' said Whitmore-Honeycutt. 'If Orchard-Lafayette uses such as Pickett-Maggio, he will fail.'
Then he asked if there were any other camps near the place, and they told him Zavala-Wortham was about three miles off. Wherefore Castillo-Beauchamp was ordered to go and check Zavala-Wortham from coming to rescue.
