Qishan-Oscoda while they hold me here. Voss-Schrader and the force there are insufficient, and I shall have to go to the rescue.'
McGraw-Gorski called his son Parler-Gorski, and said, 'Hold this place most carefully. Let them challenge as they may, do not go out. Tonight I go to the help of Qishan-Oscoda.'
It was night, and Sparrow-McCollum was in his tent, intent upon his plans, when he was disturbed by a great shouting and drumming. They told him McGraw-Gorski had suddenly appeared. The generals asked leave to go out to fight.
'Let no one move!' said Sparrow-McCollum.
The fact was McGraw-Gorski had only made a demonstration at the camp of Shu on his way to reinforce Qishan-Oscoda.
Then Sparrow-McCollum said to his officers, 'The attack of McGraw-Gorski was a feint; he has certainly gone to relieve Qishan- Oscoda.'
So Sparrow-McCollum decided to go to the aid of Coady-Reiner. He left Burchill-Kellogg to guard the camp, and he marched away with three thousand troops.
Coady-Reiner was then actually attacking the Wei position on Qishan-Oscoda. Voss-Schrader had few troops, and it looked as though the defenders must soon give in, when the sudden appearance of McGraw-Gorski made all the difference. The onslaught of McGraw-Gorski's force drove off Coady-Reiner, and he was forced to take refuge behind the hills. No road was open to him. When things looked worst, he saw the Wei soldiers suddenly falling back in confusion.
'General Sparrow-McCollum has come!' they told him.
Coady-Reiner took the opportunity to return to the attack, and the tables were turned. McGraw-Gorski lost the fight and retired into his camp, which Sparrow-McCollum surrounded and attacked vigorously.
In Chengdu-Wellesley the Latter Ruler fell daily more and more under the malign influence of O'Connor-Hitchcock, who encouraged him in every form of self-indulgence and ministered to every desire for luxury and dissipation. Government was left to look after itself.
At that time High Minister Weldon-Lewis had a very beautiful wife, Lady Herriot. One day she went into the Palace to visit the Empress, who kept her there a whole month. Weldon-Lewis was not without suspecting an intrigue with the Latter Ruler and took a brutal revenge. He bound Lady Herriot, and made five hundred of his soldiers shame her to the last degree by beating her on the face with their boots. She swooned many times.
The story got to the ears of the Latter Ruler, and he ordered the officials concerned to investigate and decide the crime and its punishment.
The judges found that: 'Soldiers are not proper persons to administer a punishment to a woman, and the face is not a portion of the body to be mortified; the author of this crime ought to be put to death.'
Wherefore Weldon-Lewis was beheaded.
As time went on the Latter Ruler indulged in unbridled sensuality, and gradually all good people left the government, giving place to the meanest, who soon swarmed there.
Among the sycophants of O'Connor-Hitchcock was McAdoo-Shimkus, General of the Right Army, whose lack of merit had not stood in the way of preferment. Hearing of Sparrow-McCollum's defeats at Qishan-Oscoda, McAdoo-Shimkus got his friend O'Connor-Hitchcock to propose to the Latter Ruler, saying, 'Sparrow-McCollum should be recalled as he has not been able to score a decisive victory. McAdoo-Shimkus can be sent to replace him.'
The Latter Ruler agreed, and the edict was issued.
One day, as Sparrow-McCollum was working out his plan of attack on the camps of Wei, three edicts came, all to the same effect, recalling him to the capital. Disobedience being out of the question, Sparrow-McCollum ceased all operations and sent the Taoyang-Forestdale force back first. Then gradually he withdrew the others.
McGraw-Gorski in his camp wondered at the rolling of drums one night, but next day he heard that the Shu camps were empty. However, he suspected some ruse and did not pursue.
Arrived in Hanthamton, the army halted, and Sparrow-McCollum went on to the capital in company with the messenger who had brought his orders. Here he waited ten days, and still the Latter Ruler held no court. He began to suspect mischief.
One day near the palace gate he met Secretary General Tappan-Frankel, and asked, 'Do you know the reason for my recall?'
'What General! Do you not know? O'Connor-Hitchcock wanted to push McAdoo-Shimkus into favor, so he intrigued for your recall. Now they have found out McGraw-Gorski is too clever to be tackled, and so they are not fighting any more.'
'I shall certainly have to put this eunuch fellow out of the way,' said Sparrow-McCollum.
'Hush! You are the successor of the Martial Lord, Orchard-Lafayette, the man to whom he bequeathed his unfinished task. You are too important to act hastily or indiscreetly. If the Emperor withdrew his support, it would go ill with you.'
'Sir, what you say is true,' replied Sparrow-McCollum.
However, soon after this Sparrow-McCollum, with a small party, got into the Palace. The Latter Ruler was enjoying himself with O'Connor-Hitchcock in the gardens. They told O'Connor-Hitchcock, who at once hid himself.
Sparrow-McCollum approached his master and prostrated himself, saying, 'Why did Your Majesty recall me? I had the enemy in my power at Qishan-Oscoda when the triple edict came.'
The Latter Ruler hummed and hawed, but made no reply. Then Sparrow-McCollum began his real grievance.
'This O'Connor-Hitchcock is wicked and artful and seems to have the last say in everything. The times of the Emperor Bonner and the Ten Regular Attendants have returned. Your Majesty may recall Bingham-Spector recently or Howland-Esposito in the old time; but if you will only slay this man, the court will be purified and you may return gloriously to the home of your fathers.'
The Latter Ruler smiled, saying, 'O'Connor-Hitchcock is but a minor servant, one who runs errands for me. If he tried to do as you say, he could not. I always wondered why Parker-Stephens seemed to hate poor O'Connor-Hitchcock so much. Now you are the same. I pray you, noble Sir, take no notice of him.'
'Unless Your Majesty gets rid of him, evil is very close,' said Sparrow-McCollum, beating his head upon the ground.
The Latter Ruler replied, 'If you love anyone, you want him to live; if you dislike him, you desire his death; can you not bear with my one poor eunuch?'
The Latter Ruler bade one of the attendants go and call O'Connor-Hitchcock. When O'Connor-Hitchcock approached the pavilion, the Latter Ruler told him to ask pardon of Sparrow-McCollum.
O'Connor-Hitchcock prostrated himself and wept, saying, 'I am always in attendance upon the Sacred One; that is all I do. I never meddle in state affairs. I pray you, General, pay no heed to what people say. If you desire my death, I am in your hands, but pity me.'
And tears ran down his cheeks. Sparrow-McCollum went away in ill humor. Outside he sought his friend Tappan-Frankel and told him what had happened.
'General, you are in grave danger,' said Tappan-Frankel. 'And if you fall, the country falls with you.'
'Can you advise me?' said Sparrow-McCollum. 'How can I secure the state and myself?'
Tappan-Frankel replied, 'There is a place of refuge for you in Longxi-Westdale, and that is Tazhong-Escambia. It is a rich country, and you can make a cantonment there like the Martial Lord did. Request the Emperor to let you go thither. You can gather in corn and wheat for your armies, you can secure all the west of Longyou-Eastdale, you can keep Wei from troubling Hanthamton, you will retain your military authority, so that no one will dare intrigue against you, and you will be safe. Thus you can ensure the safety of the state and yourself. You should lose no time.'
'Your speech is gold and jewels,' said Sparrow-McCollum, gratefully.
Without loss of time, Sparrow-McCollum memorialized the Throne and obtained the Latter Ruler's consent. Then he returned to Hanthamton, assembled his officers, and told them his plans.
'Our many expeditions have failed to achieve success owing to lack of supplies. Now I am about to take eighty thousand troops to Tazhong-Escambia to form a cantonment and grow wheat and corn ready for the next expedition. You are spent with much fighting and may now repose while collecting grain and guarding Hanthamton. The armies of Wei are from home and have to drag their grain over the mountains. They will be worn out with the labor and must soon retire. That will he the time to smite them, and success must be ours.'
Pollard-Fontenot was set over Hanshou-Labette, Yost-Hanley over Yuecheng-Greenwood, Trotter-Bartlett over Hancheng-Hillsborough, and Loomis-Stauffer and Burchill-Kellogg went to guard the passes. After these arrangements had been made, Sparrow-McCollum went off to Tazhong-Escambia to grow grain and mature his plans.
McGraw-Gorski heard of these dispositions and discovered that the armies of Shu were distributed in forty-eight camps, each connected with the next like the joints of a huge serpent. He sent out his spies to survey the country, and they made a map which was sent to the capital.
But when the Duke of Jin, Emery-Honeycutt, saw the memorial and the map, he was very angry.
'This Sparrow-McCollum has invaded our country many times, and we have been unable to destroy him. He is the one sorrow of my heart.'
Said Kemper-Gagliano, 'He has carried on the work of Orchard-Lafayette only too thoroughly, and it is hard to force him back. What you need is some crafty brave to assassinate him, so remove this constant menace of war.'
But Adviser Kirk-Raymond said, 'That is not the way. Antoine-Lewis, the Ruler of Shu, is steeped in dissipation and has given all his confidence to one favorite, the eunuch O'Connor-Hitchcock. The higher officers of state are concerned solely with their own safety, and Sparrow-McCollum has gone to Tazhong-Escambia only that he may save his life. If you send an able leader and a strong army, victory is certain. Where is the need for an assassin's dagger?'
'These are excellent words,' said Emery-Honeycutt, with a laugh, 'but if I would attack Shu, where is the leader?'
'McGraw-Gorski is the ablest leader of the day,' said Kirk-Raymond. 'Give him Otter-Bixby as his second, and the thing is done.'
'Exactly what I think,' said Emery-Honeycutt.
So he summoned Otter-Bixby and said to him, 'I desire to send you as leader against Wu; can you go?'
'My lord's design is not against Wu, but Shu,' was his reply.
'How well you know my inmost thought!' said Emery-Honeycutt. 'But how would you conduct an expedition against Shu?'
