He raised the arm that bore the Signet, and looked at me with the calm commanding glance that never failed to enforce his will.  “Take your place,” he said; and recalled to the instincts of the camp, I raised my hand in the military salute so long disused, and obeyed in silence.

“Strike promptly, strike hard, and strike home,” said Esmo to his little party.  “The danger that may threaten us is not from the law or from the State, but from an attempt at murder through a perversion of the law and in the name of the Sovereign.  Those who threaten us aim also at the Campta’s life, and those we may meet are his foes as well as ours.  Conquered here, they can hardly assail us again.  Victorious, they will destroy us, not leave us an appeal to the law or to the throne.”

Placing himself a little in front of the troop, our Chief gave the signal to advance, and we moved forward.  It seemed to me a fatal error that no scout preceded us, no flanking party was thrown out.  This neglect reminded me that, my comrades and commander were devoid of military experience, and I was about to remonstrate when, suddenly wheeling on the rocky platform on which I had first paused in my descent from the summit, and facing towards the latter, we encountered a force outnumbering our own as two to one and wearing the colours of the Regent.  The front ranks quailed, as men always quailed under Esmo’s steady gaze, and lost nerve and order as they fell back to right and left; a movement intended to give play to the asphyxiator they had brought with them.  Their strategy was no less ridiculous than our own.  Devoid for ages of all experience in conflict, both leaders might have learned better from the conduct of the theme at bay.  The enemy were drawn up so near the turn that there was no room for the use of their most destructive engine; and, had we been better prepared, neither this nor their lightning guns would have been quick enough to anticipate a charge that would have brought us hand to hand.  Even had they been steady and prompt, the suffocating shell would probably have annihilated both parties, and the discharge would certainly have been as dangerous to them as to us.  In another instant a flash from several of our weapons, simultaneously levelled, shattered the instrument to fragments.  We advanced at a run, and the enemy would have given way at once but that their retreat lay up so steep an incline, and neither to right nor left could they well disperse, being hemmed in by a rocky wall on one side and a precipitous descent on the other.  From our right rear, however, where the ground would have concealed a numerous ambush, I apprehended an attack which must have been fatal; but even so simple and decisive a measure had never occurred to the Regent’s military ignorance.