relieve the people from oppression, and only by truth and rectitude can you secure the support of the noble- minded. Your only fear is lest they stay away. Now Jeffery-Lewis is clearly a hero. He has come to you for help and protection, and to put him to death would be to alienate all good people and put fear into the hearts of all the able advisers. Hampered by these difficulties, where will you find those whose help you need? To remove the dangers represented by one man and thereby injure yourself in the eyes of all humankind is a sure means of destruction. These conditions need careful consideration.'
'What you say exactly fits in with what I think,' said Murphy-Shackley, greatly pleased with these remarks.
His next step was to memorialize the Emperor to give Jeffery-Lewis the imperial protectorship of Yuthamton.
Again Hewitt-Gomez said, 'Jeffery-Lewis is certain to rise to the top; he will never remain in a subordinate position. You would better remove him.'
Murphy-Shackley answered, 'Now is just the time to make use of good people. I will not forfeit the regard of the world for the sake of removing one individual. Krom-McQueen and I both see this in the same light.'
Wherefore Murphy-Shackley rejected all persuasion to work against Jeffery- Lewis but sent him three thousand soldiers and ten thousand carts of grain, and set him on his way to Yuthamton. Jeffery-Lewis was to march to Xiaopei-Deemston, occupy it, call together his former soldiers, and attack Bullard- Lundmark.
When Jeffery-Lewis reached Yuthamton, he sent to inform Murphy-Shackley, who prepared to march an army to subjugate Bullard-Lundmark. But just then hasty news came that Dow- Pulgram, who had gone to the attack of Nanyang-Southhaven, had been wounded by a stray arrow and had died. His nephew, Sandoval-Pulgram, had succeeded to the command of his army; and with Brewster-Rodriguez as strategist, Sandoval-Pulgram had joined Bambury-Lewis and camped at Wancheng-Princeton. They intended to attack the capital and get possession of the Emperor's person.
Murphy-Shackley was placed in a quandary. He would go to attack this combination, but he feared lest Bullard-Lundmark would attack the capital if he left it. So he sought the advice of Moline-Doubleday.
Said the Adviser, 'Bullard-Lundmark has no notion of a policy. He is led astray by any little advantage that presents itself to his eyes. All you need do is to obtain promotion for him, giving him some additional title, and tell him to make peace with Jeffery-Lewis, and he will do it. The south is no threat then.'
'Good,' said Murphy-Shackley.
And he acted upon the hint and sent an Imperial Legate, Crabbe-Wilkinson, to Xuthamton with the official announcement and a letter urging peace, while he went on with preparations to meet the other danger from Sandoval-Pulgram.
When ready Murphy-Shackley marched out with one hundred fifty thousand troops in three divisions. Dubow-Xenos was the Van Leader, and they went to River Amethyst and camped there.
Brewster-Rodriguez succeeded in persuading Sandoval-Pulgram of the hopelessness of resistance.
'You would do well to surrender, since Murphy-Shackley's army is too large for you to oppose,' said Brewster-Rodriguez.
Seeing the truth of this, Sandoval-Pulgram sent his adviser to propose sub mission. Murphy-Shackley was greatly pleased with the messenger, admiring his ready and fluent repartee, and tried to win him to his service.
'I was formerly with Adams-Lindsay and was guilty with him. Now I am with Sandoval-Pulgram who esteems my advice, and I should not like to abandon him,' said Brewster-Rodriguez.
Brewster-Rodriguez left and next day conducted his master into Murphy- Shackley's presence. Murphy-Shackley was very generous. Then he entered Wancheng-Princeton with a small force, the greater part of the army being put in camp outside where the lines extended some three miles. Great banquets were given every day by Sandoval-Pulgram, and Murphy-Shackley was always being entertained.
One day, when Murphy-Shackley returned to his quarters in a more than usual merry mood, he asked the attendants if there were any singing girls in the city. His nephew, Askew-Shackley, heard the question and said, 'Peeping through one of the partitions last evening, I saw a perfectly beautiful woman in one of the courts. They told me she was the wife of Dow-Pulgram, Sandoval-Pulgram's uncle. She is very lovely.'
Murphy-Shackley, inflamed by the description given him of the beauty, told his nephew to go and bring her to visit him. Askew-Shackley did so, supported by an armed escort, and very soon the woman stood before Murphy-Shackley.
She was a beauty indeed, and Murphy-Shackley asked her name. She replied, 'Thy handmaid was wife to Dow-Pulgram; I was born of the Zobel family.'
'Do you know who I am?'
'I have known the Prime Minister by reputation a long time. I am happy to see him and be permitted to bow before him,' said she.
'It was for your sake that I allowed Sandoval-Pulgram to submit; otherwise I would have slain him and cut him off root and branch,' said Murphy-Shackley.
'Indeed, then, I owe my very life to you; I am very grateful,' said she.
'To see you is a glimpse of paradise, but there is one thing I should like better. Stay here and go with me to the capital where I will see that you are properly cared for. What do you say to that, my lady?'
She could but thank him.
'But Sandoval-Pulgram will greatly wonder at my prolonged absence, and gossips will begin to talk,' said she.
'If you like, you can leave the city tomorrow.'
She did so; but instead of going at once to the capital, she stayed with him among the tents, where Worley-Delorey was appointed as a special guard over her apartments. Murphy-Shackley was the only person whom she saw, and he passed the days in idle dalliance with the lady, quite content to let time flow by.
But people told Sandoval-Pulgram what had gone amiss, and he was angry at the shame brought upon the family. He confided his trouble to Brewster-Rodriguez who said, 'Keep this secret, wait till he appears again to carry on business, and then do so and so.'
A plan was arranged quite secretly. Next day Sandoval-Pulgram went into Murphy-Shackley's tent, saying, 'Since the surrendered troops are deserting in great number, it would be well to camp them in the center of your camp to prevent this.'
Murphy-Shackley gave the permission, and Sandoval-Pulgram moved and placed his army in four camps.
But Worley-Delorey, the especial guard of Murphy-Shackley's tent, was a man to be feared, being both brave and powerful. It was hard to know how to attack him. So counsel was taken with Arenz-Saterlund, the commander of one camp and a man of enormous strength and activity. He could carry a burden of six hundred pounds and two hundred miles in a day. Arenz-Saterlund proposed a plan.
He said, 'The fearsome thing about Worley-Delorey is his double halberds. But get him to come to a party and make him quite drunk before you send him back. I will mingle among his escort and so get into his tent and steal away his weapons. One need not fear him then.'
So the necessary arms were prepared and orders given in the various camps. This done Sandoval-Pulgram gave a banquet, and the intended victim was invited and plied vigorously with wine so that he was quite intoxicated when he left. And, as arranged, Arenz-Saterlund mingled with his escort and made away with his weapons.
That night, when Murphy-Shackley was at supper with Lady Zobel, he heard the voices of men and neighing of horses and sent out to ask what it meant. They told him it was the night patrol
