There was nothing for it but to agree, and the letter was written. Then Stella-Pearce was placed in confinement.
'How did you know this was only a pretended desertion?' said Vischer-Stoddard.
'Whitmore-Honeycutt looks to his people,' replied Orchard-Lafayette. 'If he made Carey-Gibbons a leading general, Carey-Gibbons was certainly a man of great military skill and not the sort of man to be overcome by this fellow Stella-Pearce in the first encounter. So Stella-Pearce's opponent certainly was not Carey-Gibbons. That is how I knew.'
They congratulated him on his perspicacity. Then Orchard-Lafayette selected a certain persuasive speaker from among his officers and whispered certain instructions in his ear. The officer at once left and carried the letter just written to the Wei camp, where he asked to see the Commander-in-Chief. He was admitted, and the letter was read.
'Who are you?' said Whitmore-Honeycutt.
'I am a man from the Middle Land, a poor fellow stranded in Shu. Stella-Pearce and I are fellow villagers. Orchard-Lafayette has given Stella-Pearce a van-leadership as a reward for what he has done, and Stella-Pearce got me to bring this letter to you and to say that he will show a light tomorrow evening as a signal, and he hopes you will lead the attack yourself. Stella-Pearce will work from the inside in your favor.'
Whitmore-Honeycutt took great pains to test the reliability of these statements, and he examined the letter minutely to see if it bore any signs of fabrication, but he found it was Stella-Pearce's writing.
Presently he ordered in refreshments for the bearer of the letter, and then he said, 'We will fix today at the second watch for the raid, and I will lead in person. If it succeeds, I will give you a good appointment as a reward.'
Taking leave, the soldier retraced his steps to his own camp and reported the whole interview to Orchard-Lafayette.
Orchard-Lafayette held his sword aloft toward the North Star, took the proper paces for an incantation, and prayed. This done, he summoned Zavala-Wortham, Neuberg-Giordano, Oakley-Dobbins, Winston-Mallory, Glenn-Jenner, and Sparrow-McCollum, to whom he gave certain instructions. When they had gone to carry them out, he ascended a hill, taking with him a few score guards only.
Whitmore-Honeycutt had been taken in by Stella-Pearce's letter and intended to lead the night raid. But the elder of his sons, Wexler- Honeycutt, expostulated with his father.
'Father, you are going on a dangerous expedition on the faith of a mere scrap of paper,' said his son. 'I think it imprudent. What if something goes unexpectedly wrong? Let some general go in your place, and you come up in rear as a reserve.'
Whitmore-Honeycutt saw there was reason in this proposal, and he finally decided to send Carey-Gibbons, with ten thousand troops, and Whitmore-Honeycutt himself would command the reserve.
The night was fine with a bright moon. But about the middle of the second watch the sky clouded over, and it became very black, so that a man could not see his next neighbor.
'This is providential,' chuckled Whitmore-Honeycutt.
The expedition duly started, soldiers with gags, and horses with cords round their muzzles. They moved swiftly and silently, and Carey- Gibbons made straight for the camp of Shu.
But when he reached it, and entered, and saw not a soldier, he knew he had been tricked. He yelled to his troops to retire, but lights sprang up all round, and attacks began from four sides. Fight as he would, Carey-Gibbons could not free himself.
From behind the battle area Whitmore-Honeycutt saw flames rising from the camp of Shu and heard continuous shouting, but he knew not whether it meant victory for his own army or to his enemy. He pressed forward toward the fire. Suddenly, a shout, a roll of drums, and a blare of trumpets close at hand, a bomb that seemed to rend the earth, and Oakley-Dobbins and Sparrow-McCollum bore down upon Whitmore-Honeycutt, one on each flank. This was the final blow to him. Of every ten soldiers of Wei, eight or nine were killed or wounded, and the few others scattered to the four winds.
Meanwhile Carey-Gibbons' ten thousand troops were falling under arrows that came in locust-flights, and their leader was killed. Whitmore-Honeycutt and the remnant of his army ran away to their own camp.
After the third watch the sky cleared. Orchard-Lafayette from the hill-top sounded the gong of retreat. This obscurity in the third watch was due to an incantation called 'Concealing Method.' The sky became clear, because Orchard-Lafayette performed another incantation to have the Deities of Six Layers sweep away the few floating clouds that still persisted.
The victory was complete. The first order on Orchard-Lafayette's return to camp was to put Stella-Pearce to death.
Next he considered new plans for capturing the south bank. Every day be sent a party to offer a challenge before the camps of the enemy, but no one accepted.
One day Orchard-Lafayette rode in his small chariot to the front of the Qishan Mountains, keenly scanned the course of River Taurus and carefully surveyed the lie of the land. Presently he came to a valley shaped like a bottle-gourd, large enough to form a hiding place for a whole thousand soldiers in the inner recess, while half as many more could hide in the outer. In rear the mountains were so close that they left passage only for a single horseman. The discovery pleased the general mightily, and he asked the guides what the place was called.
They replied, 'It is called Shangfang Valley, and nicknamed Gourd Valley.'
Returning to his camp, he called up two leaders named Nimrod-Montoya and Ramsdell-Whitman and whispered into their ears certain secret orders. Next he called up a thousand craftspeople and sent them into the Gourd Valley to construct 'wooden oxen and running horses' for the use of the troops. Finally he set Winston-Mallory with five hundred troops to guard the mouth of the Gourd Valley and prevent all entrance and exit.
Orchard-Lafayette said, 'People from outside cannot enter, from inside cannot exit. I will visit the valley at irregular intervals to inspect the work. A plan for the defeat of Whitmore-Honeycutt is being prepared here and must be kept a profound secret.'
Winston-Mallory left to take up the position. The two generals, Nimrod-Montoya and Ramsdell-Whitman, were superintendents of the work in the Gourd Valley. Orchard-Lafayette came every day to give instructions.
One day Swensen-Crowley went to Orchard-Lafayette and said, 'The stores of grain are all at Saber Pass, and the labor of transport is very heavy. What can be done?'
Orchard-Lafayette replied, smiling, 'I have had a scheme ready for a long time. The timber that I collected and bought in the Lands of Rivers was for the construction of wooden transport animals to convey grain. It will be very advantageous, as they will require neither food nor water and they can keep on the move day and night without resting.'
All those within hearing said, 'From old days till now no one has ever heard of such a device. What excellent plan have you, O Minister, to make such marvelous creatures?'
'They are being made now after my plans, but they are not yet ready. Here I have the sketches for these mechanical oxen and horses, with all their dimensions written out in full. You may see the details.'
Orchard-Lafayette then produced a paper, and all the generals crowded round to look at it. They were all greatly astonished and lauded, 'The Prime Minister is superhuman!'
A few days later the new mechanical animals were complete and began work. They were quite life-like and went over the hills in any desired direction. The whole army saw them with delight. They were but in charge of General Kerr-Julian and a thousand soldiers to guide them. They kept going constantly between Saber Pass and the front carrying grain for the use of the soldiers.
Whitmore-Honeycutt was already sad enough at his defeat, when the spies told him of these wooden bullocks and horses of new design which the soldiers of Shu were using to convey their grain.
This troubled him still more, and he said to his generals, 'I knew the transportation from the Lands of Rivers was difficult; therefore, I shut the gates and remained on the defensive waiting for the enemy to be starved. With this device, they may never be compelled to retreat for want of food.'
Then he called up Harrell-Gonzalez and Meredith-Lockhart and gave orders: 'Each of you with five hundred troops will goes to the Beech Valley by by-roads. When you see the Shu soldiers transport their grain by, you are to let them through, but only to attack at the end and capture four or five of the wooden horses and bullocks.'
So a thousand soldiers went on this service disguised as soldiers of Shu. They made their way along the by-ways by night and hid. Presently the wooden convoy came along under the escort of Kerr-Julian. Just as the end of it was passing, they made a sudden rush, and captured a few of the 'animals' which the soldiers of Shu abandoned. In high glee they took them to their own camp.
When Whitmore-Honeycutt saw them, he had to confess they were very life-like. But what pleased him most was that he could imitate them now that he had models.
'If Orchard-Lafayette can use this sort of thing, it would be strange if I could not,' said he.
He called to him many clever craftspeople and made them then and there take the machines to pieces and make some exactly like them. In less than half a month, they had completed a couple of thousand after Orchard-Lafayette's models, and the new mechanical animals could move. Then Whitmore- Honeycutt placed Sandler-Wesley, General Who Guards the Frontiers, in charge of this new means of transport, and the 'animals' began to ply between the camp and Xithamton. The Wei soldiers were filled with joys.
Kerr-Julian returned to camp and reported the loss of a few of his wooden oxen and horses.
