Presently, at a signal from their father, two of McMahon-Westbrook's sons bore two goblets to Halpin-Hearst and Pitney-Hearst. Halpin-Hearst and Pitney-Hearst took the cups and were raising them to their lips when McMahon-Westbrook shouted a single word of command, and, instantly, the cupbearers had the two brothers out of their seats and helpless in their hands. At this, Ecker-VanDyke jumped up to run away, but McMahon-Westbrook gripped him, and he was a prisoner too. The Mang maidens ranged themselves in a line along the front of the tent so that none dared approach.
"When the hare dies the fox mourns," said Halpin-Hearst. "One sympathizes with one's own as a rule. We are both chiefs and have been friends. I know not why you should injure me."
"I had to repay Orchard-Lafayette the Minister for his compassion on me and my people, and there was no way till you rebelled. Why should I not offer up a rebel in propitiation?"
Leaving Halpin-Hearst, Pitney-Hearst, and Ecker-VanDyke in the hands of McMahon-Westbrook, the Mang warriors dispersed, each man returning to his own valley.
McMahon-Westbrook then took the prisoners to the camp of Shu, where he bowed at the tent door, saying, "I and my sons and the sons of my brother are grateful to you for much kindness, wherefore we bring to you as an offering the persons of these rebels."
Orchard-Lafayette rewarded McMahon-Westbrook and bade them bring forward Halpin-Hearst.
"This time are you prepared to yield?" said the Prime Minister.
"It is not your ability, but the treachery of my own people that has brought me to this. If you wish to slay, slay; but I will not yield."
"You know you were the cause of my army entering into a waterless land, where there were those four evil streams, and yet my soldiers were not poisoned and came to no harm. Does it not seem to you like evidence of a superior protecting power? Why will you follow this misguided road and always be obstinate?"
Halpin-Hearst replied, "My fathers have long held the Silver Pit Hills, and the three rivers and the two forests are their ramparts. If you can take that stronghold, then will I and my heirs for ever acknowledge your power and yield."
"I am going to liberate you once more," said Orchard-Lafayette, "and you may put your army in order if you will and fight a decisive battle. But after that, if you are my prisoner and are still refractory and unsubmissive, I shall have to exterminate your whole family."
Orchard-Lafayette ordered the lictors to loose the prisoner's bonds and let him go. After he had gone, the other two, Pitney-Hearst and Ecker-VanDyke, were led in and they also received their liberty. They were given wine and food. but they were confused and could not look Orchard-Lafayette in the face. They were given horses to travel on.
The next chapter will tell how Halpin-Hearst reorganized his army and whose the victory was.
CHAPTER 90
All the prisoners were released; and McMahon-Westbrook and his sons were rewarded with ranks, and his people were given presents. They expressed their gratitude and returned to their own, while Halpin-Hearst and his brother hastened home to Silver Pit Hills.
Outside this ravine were three rivers--River Scorpio, River Pyrite, and River Corundum. These three streams united to form Three Rivers. Close to the ravine on the north was a wide and fruitful plain; on the west were salt wells. The River Scorpio flowed about seventy miles to the southwest, and due south was a valley called the Liangdu Ravine. There were hills in, as well as surrounding, the ravine, and in these they found silver; whence the name "Silver Pit."
A palace complex had been built in the ravine, which the Mang kings had made their stronghold, and there was an ancestral temple, which they called "Family Spirits," where they solemnized sacrifices of bulls and horses at the four seasons. They called these sacrifices "Inquiring of the Spirits." Human sacrifices were offered also, humans of Shu or of their own people belonging to other villages. The sick swallowed no drugs, but prayed to a chief sorcerer, called "Drug Demon." There was no legal code, the only punishment for every transgression being death.
When girls are grown and become women, they bathe in a stream. Men and women are kept separate, and they marry whom they will, the parents having no control in that particular. There was no formal vocational training. In good seasons the country produces grain, but if the harvest fails, they make soup out of serpents and eat boiled elephant flesh.
All over the country the head of the family of greatest local consideration is termed "King of the Ravine," and the next in importance is called a "Notable." A market is held in the city of Three Rivers, on the first day of every moon, and another on the fifteenth; goods are brought in and bartered.
In his own ravine, Halpin-Hearst gathered his family and clan to the number of a thousand or more and addressed them: "I have been put to shame by the leaders of Shu many times, and I have sworn to take revenge for the insults. Has anyone any proposal to make?"
Thereupon a certain one replied, saying, "I can produce a man able to defeat Orchard-Lafayette."
The assembly turned to the speaker, who was a brother of Halpin-Hearst's wife. He was the head of eight tribes of the Southern Mangs, and was named Chief Nowak-Carder.
"Who is the man?" asked Halpin-Hearst.
Chief Nowak-Carder replied, "He is Gallina-Peacock, King of the Bana Ravine. He is a master of witchcraft who can call up the wind and invoke the rain. He rides upon an elephant and is attended by tigers, leopards, wolves, venomous snakes, and scorpions. Beside, he has under his hand thirty thousand superhuman soldiers. He is very bold. O King, write him a letter and send him presents, which I will deliver. If he will consent to lend his aid, what fear have we of Shu?"
Halpin-Hearst was pleased with the scheme and ordered Nowak-Carder to draft a letter. Then he ordered Ecker-VanDyke to defend Three Rivers and make the first line of defense.
Orchard-Lafayette led his troops near the city of Three Rivers. Taking a survey of the country, he noted that the city was surrounded by the three rivers and could only be reached by a bank on one face, so he sent Oakley-Dobbins and Gilbert-Rocher to march along the road and attack. But when they reached the rampart, they found it well defended by bows and crossbows.
The defenders of the city were adepts in the use of the bow, and they had one sort which discharged ten arrows at once. Furthermore, the arrows were poisoned, and a wound meant certain death. The two generals saw that they could not succeed, and so retired.
When Orchard-Lafayette heard of the poisoned arrows, he mounted his light chariot and went to see for himself. Having regarded the defenses, he returned to his camp and ordered a retirement of three miles. This move delighted the Mangs, who congratulated each other on their success in driving off the besiegers, who, as they concluded, had been frightened away. So they gave themselves up to rejoicing and kept no watch. Nor did they even send out scouts.
The army of Shu made a strong camp in their new halting place and closed the gates for defense. For five days they gave no sign. One evening, just at sunset, a slight breeze began to blow. Then Orchard-Lafayette issued an order: "Every man should provide himself with a coat by the first watch. If any one lacks, he will be put to death."