to sulk over his scratches. Well, it appears that he walked

right past the Temple to the Sun, down the wide road on the further
side of the slope it crowns, and thence on into the beautiful

park, or pleasure gardens, which are laid out just beyond the
outer wall. After wandering about there for a little he started

to return, but was met near the outer gate by Sorais' train of
chariots, which were galloping furiously along the great northern

road. When she caught sight of Alphonse, Sorais halted her train
and called to him. On approaching he was instantly seized and

dragged into one of the chariots and carried off, 'crying out
loudly', as our informant said, and as from my general knowledge

of him I can well believe.
At first I was much puzzled to know what object Sorais could

have had in carrying off the poor little Frenchman. She could
hardly stoop so low as to try to wreak her fury on one whom she

knew was only a servant. At last, however, an idea occurred
to me. We three were, as I think I have said, much revered by

the people of Zu-Vendis at large, both because we were the first
strangers they had ever seen, and because we were supposed to

be the possessors of almost supernatural wisdom. Indeed, though
Sorais' cry against the 'foreign wolves' -- or, to translate

it more accurately, 'foreign hyenas' -- was sure to go down very
well with the nobles and the priests, it was not as we learnt,

likely to be particularly effectual amongst the bulk of the population.
The Zu-Vendi people, like the Athenians of old, are ever seeking

for some new thing, and just because we were so new our presence
was on the whole acceptable to them. Again, Sir Henry's magnificent

personal appearance made a deep impression upon a race who possess
a greater love of beauty than any other I have ever been acquainted

with. Beauty may be prized in other countries, but in Zu-Vendis
it is almost worshipped, as indeed the national love of statuary

shows. The people said openly in the market-places that there
was not a man in the country to touch Curtis in personal appearance,

as with the exception of Sorais there was no woman who could
compete with Nyleptha, and that therefore it was meet that they

should marry; and that he had been sent by the Sun as a husband
for their Queen. Now, from all this it will be seen that the

outcry against us was to a considerableextent fictitious, and
nobody knew it better than Sorais herself. Consequently it struck

me that it might have occurred to her that down in the country
and among the country people, it would be better to place the

reason of her conflict with her sister upon other and more general
grounds than Nyleptha's marriage with the stranger. It would

be easy in a land where there had been so many civil wars to
rake out some old cry that would stir up the recollection of

buried feuds, and, indeed, she soon found an effectual one.
This being so, it was of great importance to her to have one

of the strangers with her whom she could show to the common people
as a great Outlander, who had been so struck by the justice of

her cause that he had elected to leave his companions and follow
her standard.

This, no doubt, was the cause of her anxiety to get a hold of
Good, whom she would have used till he ceased to be of service

and then cast off. But Good having drawn back she grasped at
the opportunity of securing Alphonse, who was not unlike him

in personal appearance though smaller, no doubt with the object
of showing him off in the cities and country as the great Bougwan

himself. I told Good that I thought that that was her plan,
and his face was a sight to see -- he was so horrified at the

idea.
'What,' he said, 'dress up that little wretch to represent me?

Why, I shall have to get out of the country! My reputation
will be ruined for ever.'

I consoled him as well as I could, but it is not pleasant to
be personated all over a strange country by an arrant little

coward, and I can quite sympathize with his vexation.
Well, that night Good and I messed as I have said in solitary

grandeur, feeling very much as though we had just returned from
burying a friend instead of marrying one, and next morning the

work began in good earnest. The messages and orders which had
been despatched by Nyleptha two days before now began to take

effect, and multitudes of armed men came pouring into the city.
We saw, as may be imagined, but very little of Nyleptha and

not too much of Curtis during those next few days, but Good and
I sat daily with the council of generals and loyal lords, drawing

up plans of action, arranging commissariat matters, the distribution
of commands, and a hundred and one other things. Men came in

freely, and all the day long the great roads leading to Milosis
were spotted with the banners of lords arriving from their distant

places to rally round Nyleptha.
After the first few days it became clear that we should be able

to take the field with about forty thousand infantry and twenty
thousand cavalry, a very respectable force considering how short

was the time we had to collect it, and that about half the regular
army had elected to follow Sorais.

But if our force was large, Sorais' was, according to the reports
brought in day by day by our spies, much larger. She had taken

up her headquarters at a very strong town called M'Arstuna, situated,
as I have said, to the north of Milosis, and all the countryside

was flocking to her standard. Nasta had poured down from his
highlands and was on his way to join her with no less than twenty-five

thousand of his mountaineers, the most terrible soldiers to face
in all Zu-Vendis. Another mighty lord, named Belusha, who lived

in the great horse-breeding district, had come in with twelve
thousand cavalry, and so on. Indeed, what between one thing

and another, it seemed certain that she would gather a fully
armed host of nearly one hundred thousand men.

And then came news that Sorais was proposing to break up her
camp and march on the Frowning City itself, desolating the country

as she came. Thereon arose the question whether it would be
best to meet her at Milosis or to go out and give her battle.

When our opinion was asked upon the subject, Good and I unhesitatingly
gave it in favour of an advance. If we were to shut ourselves

up in the city and wait to be attacked, it seemed to us that
our inaction would be set down to fear. It is so important,

especially on an occasion of this sort, when a very little will
suffice to turn men's opinions one way or the other, to be up

and doing something. Ardour for a cause will soon evaporate
if the cause does not move but sits down to conquer. Therefore

we cast our vote for moving out and giving battle in the open,
instead of waiting till we were drawn from our walls like a badger

from a hole.
Sir Henry's opinion coincided with ours, and so, needless" target="_blank" title="a.不必要的；无用的">needless to

say, did that of Nyleptha, who, like a flint, was always ready
to flash out fire. A great map of the country was brought and

spread out before her. About thirty miles this side of M'Arstuna,
where Sorais lay, and ninety odd miles from Milosis, the road

ran over a neck of land some two and a half miles in width, and
flanked on either side by forest-clad hills which, without being

lofty, would, if the road were blocked, be quite impracticable
for a great baggage-laden army to cross. She looked earnestly

at the map, and then, with a quickness of perception that in
some women amounts almost to an instinct, she laid her finger

upon this neck of rising ground, and turning to her husband,
said, with a proud air of confidence and a toss of the golden