“Captains of the Tribes, you follow, and woe be to that man who hangs back in the hour of battle, for death and eternal shame shall be his portion, but wealth and honour to those who bear them bravely.  Yes, I tell you, theirs shall be the fair land of Kaloon.  You have your orders for the passing of yonder river.  I, with the horsemen, take the central ford.  Let the wings advance.”

The chiefs answered with a cheer, for they were fierce men whose ancestors had loved war for generations.  Moreover, mad as seemed the enterprise, they trusted in their Oracle, the Hesea, and, like all hill peoples, were easily fired by the promise of rich plunder.

An hour’s steady march down the slopes brought the army to the edge of the marsh lands.  These, as it chanced, proved no obstacle to our progress, for in that season of great drought they were quite dry, and for the same reason the shrunken river was not so impassable a defence as I feared that it would be.  Still, because of its rocky bottom and steep, opposing banks, it looked formidable enough, while on the crests of those banks, in squadrons and companies of horse and foot, were gathered the regiments of Atene.

While the wings of footmen deployed to right and left, the cavalry halted in the marshes and let their horses fill themselves with the long grass, now a little browned by frost, that grew on this boggy soil, and afterwards drink some water.

All this time Ayesha stood silent, for she also had dismounted, that the mare she rode and her two led horses might graze with the others.  Indeed, she spoke but once, saying—­“Thou thinkest this adventure mad, my Holly?  Say, art afraid?”

“Not with thee for captain,” I answered.  “Still, that second army——­”

“Shall melt before me like mist before the gale,” she replied in a low and thrilling voice.  “Holly, I tell thee thou shalt see things such as no man upon the earth has ever seen.  Remember my words when I loose the Powers and thou followest the rent veil of Ayesha through the smitten squadrons of Kaloon.  Only—­what if Atene should dare to murder him?  Oh, if she should dare!”

“Be comforted,” I replied, wondering what she might mean by this loosing of the Powers.  “I think that she loves him too well.”

“I bless thee for the words, Holly, yet—­I know he will refuse her, and then her hate for me and her jealous rage may overcome her love for him.  Should this be so, what will avail my vengeance?  Eat and drink again, Holly—­nay, I touch no food until I sit in the palace of Kaloon—­and look well to girth and bridle, for thou ridest far and on a wild errand.  Mount thee on Leo’s horse, which is swift and sure; if it dies the guards will bring thee others.”

I obeyed her as best I could, and once more bathed my head in a pool, and with the help of Oros tied a rag soaked in the liniment on the bruise, after which I felt sound enough.  Indeed, the mad excitement of those minutes of waiting, and some foreshadowing of the terrible wonders that were about to befall, made me forget my hurts.