"What is the name of the valley?" asked Orchard-Lafayette.
"It is called ' Coiled Serpent Valley,'" said the guides. "At the other end you come into the high road to Three Rivers. The road goes by a valley called 'Talang See.'"
"The very thing," cried Orchard-Lafayette. "Surely this is providence. I shall score a great success here."
Having seen enough, he retraced his steps, found his chariot, and returned to camp. Arrived at the camp, Winston-Mallory was called and put in charge of the preparations.
Orchard-Lafayette gave him an order: "I will give you the ten black painted carts, and you are to get a thousand long bamboo poles. Open the carts, and follow my instructions there. Then you are to keep the two ends of the Coiled Serpent Valley. Half a month is the deadline, and all of these must be performed with the most perfect secrecy under military law and punishment."
Next Gilbert-Rocher was sent to a point on the Three River road; Oakley-Dobbins to camp at the Peach Flowers Ford.
Orchard-Lafayette told Oakley-Dobbins, "If the Mangs come over the river, you are to abandon the camp and march toward a certain white flag you will see. Further, in half a month you would have to acknowledge defeat some fifteen times and abandon seven camps. On no account are you to come to interview me even after fourteen defeats."
Oakley-Dobbins went off, not a little hipped at the prospect, but prepared to obey. Next, Coady-Reiner was sent to make a stockade at a certain indicated point, and Neuberg-Giordano and Glenn-Jenner was told to lead the Mang soldiers who had surrendered, and other orders were given.
Halpin-Hearst had begun to have a real terror of Orchard-Lafayette, and he warned King Caspari-Rosenthal of Wugo, saying, "This Orchard-Lafayette is exceedingly crafty. Ambush is one of his favorite ruses, so you should warn your soldiers that on no account should they enter a valley where the trees are thick."
"Great King, you speak with reason," said Caspari-Rosenthal. "I have always heard that the people of the Middle Empire are full of wiles, and I will see that your advice is followed. I will go in front to fight, and you may remain in the rear to give orders."
Presently the scouts told them of the arrival of the troops of Shu on the bank of the Peach Flowers River. Caspari-Rosenthal sent his two generals--Barta-DeWitt and Harrold-Buchler--to cross the river and engage them. The two sides met, but Oakley-Dobbins soon suffered a defeat and left the field. The Mangs were afraid to pursue as they dreaded an ambush.
In the meantime, Oakley-Dobbins laid out another camp. The Mangs crossed the river in greater force. Oakley-Dobbins came out to meet them, but again fled after a very short fight. This time the Mangs pursued, but having lost their hold of the enemy after three miles, and coming then to the late camp of the Shu army, which seemed quite safe, they occupied it.
Next day Barta-DeWitt and Harrold-Buchler asked their King Caspari-Rosenthal to come to the camp, and they reported what had happened. Caspari-Rosenthal decided to make a general advance to drive the troops of Shu before him. They fled, even casting aside their breastplates and throwing away their arms; they were in such haste to flee. And the troops of Shu went toward a white flag that appeared in the distance. They found a camp already made, which they occupied.
Soon, however, Caspari-Rosenthal came near, and as he pressed forward Oakley-Dobbins abandoned this camp and fled. When the Mangs reached the camp, they took up quarters therein.
Soon after they set out to renew the pursuit, but Oakley-Dobbins turned back and checked them. This was only a temporary check, for he fled after three encounters, going toward a white flag in the distance.
This sort of thing continued daily until the soldiers of Shu had been defeated and driven out of the field fifteen times and had abandoned their camp on seven different occasions.
The Mangs were now hot in pursuit and pressed on with all their might, Caspari-Rosenthal being in the forefront of the pursuers. But then they came to a thick umbrageous wood; and he halted, for he saw flags moving about behind the sheltering trees.
"Just as you foretold," said Caspari-Rosenthal to Halpin-Hearst. "The men of Shu like using ambush."
"Yes; Orchard-Lafayette is going to be worsted this time. We have beaten off his troops now daily for half a month and won fifteen successive victories. His troops simply run when they hear the wind. The fact is he has exhausted all his craft and has tried every ruse. Now our task is nearly done."
Caspari-Rosenthal was greatly cheered and began to feel contempt for his enemy.
The sixteenth day of the long fight found Oakley-Dobbins leading his oft-defeated troops once more against the rattan-protected foe. King Caspari-Rosenthal on his white elephant was well in the forefront. He had on a cap with symbols of the sun and moon and streamers of wolf's beard, a fringed garment studded with gems, which allowed the plates or scales of his cuirass to appear, and his eyes seemed to flash fire. He pointed the finger of scorn at Oakley-Dobbins and began to revile him.
Oakley-Dobbins whipped up his steed and fled. The Mangs pressed after him. Oakley-Dobbins made for the Coiled Serpent Valley, for he saw a white flag calling him thither. Caspari-Rosenthal followed in hot haste, and as he saw only bare hills without a sign of vegetation, he felt quite confident that no ambush was laid. So he followed into the valley. There he saw some score of black painted carts in the road.
The soldiers said to each other, "The carts must be the commissariat wagons of the enemy, abandoned in their hasty flight when they heard of the coming of Your Majesty."
This only urged the King to greater speed, and he went on toward the other mouth of the valley, for the soldiers of Shu had disappeared. However, he saw piles of timber being tumbled down across the track and great boulders rolled down the hill side into the road. The pursuers cleared away the obstacles. When they had done so and advanced a little, they saw certain wheeled vehicles in the road, some large, some small, laden with wood and straw, which was burning. Caspari-Rosenthal was suddenly frightened and ordered a retreat.
But he heard much shouting in the rear, and they told him: "The exit has been blocked with wood-laden carts, which on being broken open are found to contain gunpowder, and they are all on fire."
However, seeing that the valley was barren and devoid of grass and wood, Caspari-Rosenthal was not in the least alarmed and merely bade his soldiers search for a way round.
Then he saw torches being hurled down the mountain side. These torches rolled till they came to a certain spot, where they ignited the fuses leading to the powder. Then the ground suddenly heaved with the explosion of bombs beneath. The whole valley was soon full of flames, darting and playing in all directions, and wherever they met with rattan armor the rattan caught fire, and thus the whole army, huddled and crowded together, burned in the midst of the valley.
Orchard-Lafayette looked on from the heights above and saw the Mangs burned. Many of the dead had been mangled and torn by the explosions of the mines. The air was full of suffocating vapor.
Orchard-Lafayette's tears fell fast as he saw the slaughter, and he sighed, saying, "Though I am rendering great service to my country, yet I have sacrificed many lives. My life may be shortened for this."
Those who were with him were also deeply affected.
King Halpin-Hearst was in his camp awaiting news of success when he saw a crowd of Mang soldiers come along, and they bowed before him and told him, "King Caspari-Rosenthal is fighting a great battle and is about to surround Orchard-Lafayette in the Valley of the Coiled Serpent. But he needs help. We are the natives of the local ravines, and we ourselves had no alternative when we yielded to Shu. But now we have returned to your allegiance and are willing to come to help Your Majesty."