Well, we took the horse, and a beauty he was; it was a perfect pleasure to see him move; and Curtis having sent back his greetings and thanks, we proceeded on our journey.
By midday we overtook the rearguard of the great army, of which Sir Henry formally took over the command. It was a heavy responsibility, and it oppressed him very much, but the Queen’s injunctions on the point were such as did not admit of being trifled with. He was beginning to find out that greatness has its responsibilities as well as its glories.
Then we marched on without meeting with any opposition, almost indeed without seeing anybody, for the populations of the towns and villages along our route had for the most part fled, fearing lest they should be caught between the two rival armies and ground to powder like grain between the upper and the nether stones.
On the evening of the fourth day—for the progress of so great a multitude was necessarily slow—we camped two miles this side of the neck or ridge I have spoken of, and our outposts brought us word that Sorais, with all her power, was rolling down upon us, and had camped that night ten miles the farther side of the neck.
Accordingly, before dawn we sent forward fifteen hundred cavalry to seize the position. Scarcely had they occupied it, however, before they were attacked by about as many of Sorais’s horsemen, and a very smart little cavalry fight ensued, with a loss to us of about thirty men killed. On the advance of our supports, however, Sorais’s force drew off, carrying their dead and wounded with them.
The main body of the army reached the neck about dinnertime, and I must say that Nyleptha’s judgment had not failed her; it was an admirable place to give battle in, especially to a superior force.
The road ran down a mile or more, through ground too broken to admit of the handling of any considerable force, till it reached the crest of a great green wave of land that rolled down a gentle slope to the banks of a little stream, and then rolled away again up a still gentler slope to the plain beyond, the distance from the crest of the land-wave down to the stream being a little over half a mile, and from the stream up to the plain beyond a trifle less. The length of this wave of land at its highest point, which corresponded exactly with the width of the neck of the land between the wooded hills, was about two miles and a quarter, and it was protected on either side by dense, rocky, bush-clad ground, that afforded a most valuable cover to the flanks of the army, and rendered it almost impossible for them to be turned.
It was on the hither slope of this neck of land that Curtis encamped his army in the same formation that he had, after consultation with the various generals, Good, and myself, determined that they should occupy in the great pitched battle which now appeared to be imminent.
Our force of sixty thousand men was, roughly speaking, divided as follows: in the centre was a dense body of twenty thousand foot-soldiers, armed with spears, swords, and hippopotamus-hide shields, breast and back plates.21 These formed the chest of the army, and were supported by five thousand foot, and three thousand horse in reserve. On either side of this chest were stationed seven thousand horse, arranged in deep, majestic squadrons; and beyond, and on either side, but slightly in front of them, again were two bodies, numbering about seven thousand five hundred spearmen each, forming the right and left wings of the army, and each supported by a contingent of some fifteen hundred cavalry. This makes in all sixty thousand men.
Curtis commanded in chief, I was in command of the seven thousand horse between the chest and right wing, which was commanded by Good, and the other battalions and squadrons were entrusted to Zu-Vendi generals.
Scarcely had we taken up our positions before Sorais’s vast army began to swarm on the opposite slope about a mile in front of us, till the whole place seemed alive with the multitude of her spearpoints, and the ground shook with the tramp of her battalions. It was evident that the spies had not exaggerated; we were outnumbered by at least a third. At first we expected that Sorais was going to attack us at once, as the clouds of cavalry which hung upon her flanks executed some threatening demonstrations, but she thought better of it, and there was no fight that day. As for the formation of her great forces I cannot now describe it with accuracy, and it would only serve to bewilder if I did, but I may say, generally, that in its leading features it resembled our own, only her reserve was much greater.
Opposite our right wing, and forming Sorais’s left wing, was a great army of dark, wild-looking men, armed with sword and shield only, which, I was informed, was composed of Nasta’s twenty-five thousand savage hillsmen.
“My word, Good,” said I, when I saw them, “you will catch it tomorrow when those gentlemen charge!” whereat Good not unnaturally looked rather anxious.
All day we watched and waited, but nothing happened, and at last night fell, and a thousand watch-fires twinkled brightly on the slopes, to wane and die one by one like the stars they resembled, as the hours wore on and the silence gradually gathered more deeply over the opposing hosts.
It was a very wearying night, for in addition to the endless things
