"This is life," Brand said, blithely, as he leaped from his steaming
horse.
"And death," Ughtred answered, gravely. "God grant that Theos may not
know many days such as this."
Brand fixed his field-glasses and swept the scene below.
"Enemy advancing crescent shape in loose formation," he remarked.
"Your men capitally entrenched. Masked guns, too, and cavalry in
reserve. Your Majesty, how long have they been shelling the trenches?"
"All day," Ughtred answered, with a faint smile. "Our losses are less
than fifty wounded. This is their second advance. The first cost them
a thousand men."
An A. D. C. galloped up the hill with a report. Ughtred gave a few
rapid orders and retired for a few minutes to consult with his
officers. Below, the din of battle grew louder. Through the films of
smoke multitudes of grey uniformed men could be seen creeping across
the plain like ants, now hesitating and dropping, now running on from
shelter to shelter. To Brand they seemed as numberless as the pebbles
on the seashore. His face grew grave as he saw how near they were to
the long zigzag line of entrenchments. The Thetian firing, too, had
certainly slackened. A horrible idea flashed into his brain. If the
weakening fire were due to lack of ammunition Theos was doomed.
He looked around. Ughtred and his staff were specks in the distance.
They were hastening down to be nearer the scene of action. Brand
caught his horse, and galloped after them. The battle fever seemed to
be in the atmosphere. The afternoon heat was rendered more oppressive
by a murky vapour rising from the valley. Below, it was difficult to
see anything save the swarm of Turks creeping steadily on across the
plain. Above their heads screamed the shells which were to pave the
way for their advance. Brand hastened on, filled with misgivings.
At last he reached a spur of the hill from which an easy descent led
down into the valley. From here he could see into the trenches, and
his spirits revived. They were swarming with men, there were no signs
of any panic. The King and his staff had halted almost within shouting
distance, and protected from the enemy's fire only by a little clump
of trees. Then Brand knew that there was method in this silence.
A long, clarion-like bugle-call, and then--a sudden upheaval of all
the forces of destruction. From the heights above the pom-poms and
Maxims sent down a murderous rain, the trenches from end to end
belched forth red fire. Brand held his breath, it was an epoch--for a
looker-on a marvellous experience--a page in the chapter of his life.
The firing-line of the Turks was within four hundred yards of the
trenches, and in thirty seconds they were wiped out of existence. The
next line and the next shared the same fate. The Turkish officers
galloped to the front with drawn sabres, the Mohammedan battle-cry,
solemn and inspiring, rang fiercely out. It was useless. No living
thing could face that zone of destruction. A dust rose from the
bullet-riven ground. It was like a hail-storm upon an ocean. The Turks
wavered and broke, and the Thetian cavalry rode them through and
through, passing out of their broken ranks with blood-stained sabres
and hearts aflame.
Ughtred, watching, saw the first signs of danger, and signalled for
their withdrawal. But the lust of blood was awake in them, and they
were drunk with the joy of fighting. They followed and followed till
the Turks, out of that awful avalanche of death, became conscious that
a thousand Thetian horsemen were not an invincible force. Their fight
was checked, they were almost immediately surrounded, their leader
fell shot through the heart, and a miracle was required to save the
flower of the Thetian army.
A miracle which happened. For of a sudden a horseman, who had ridden
in the ranks, his face shaded by a helmet, leaped to the front.
"A Reist! A Reist!" he cried, "for God and Theos," and once more the
fear of numbers passed away. They fought like heroes, and in the melee
without serious loss. They fought their way almost to the open, and
their path was an avenue of blood. But how it might have gone with
them no man could tell, for at the critical moment the whole cavalry
reserve, with Ughtred himself at their head, fell upon the enemy's
right flank, and the triumph of the day was assured. The Turks fled,
and no further pursuit was attempted.
The man who had led that wonderful rally rode slowly back to his place
in the ranks. But Ughtred, from whose left temple the blood was
streaming, and whose arm was helpless, put his horse to the gallop and
intercepted him.
"It was well done, Duke of Reist," he said. "Will you shake hands with
me?"
For a moment Reist hesitated, and in that moment the King, stung by
his indecision, withdrew his appeal.
"I will not have a grudging reconciliation," he said. "As we are, so
we will remain until your apology is ready. But I am glad at least to
see that you are still a patriot. I cannot have you fighting in the
ranks, Duke of Reist. What post will you have?"
Reist stood very still for a moment, and the pallor on his cheeks was
more than the pallor of exhaustion.
"Your Majesty," he said, "there is a report that General Kolashin is
wounded. Send me to Althea."
The King turned his horse.
"As you will," he answered. "Captain Hartzan, ride with the Duke of
Reist to Althea, and take this ring to General Kolashin, whose command
the Duke of Reist will take over."
Then the King, flushed with fighting, the blood indeed still upon his
face from a wound on the temple, rode slowly down the lines of his
army. From far and near the men of Theos greeted him lustily. This was
indeed a born leader, whose dispositions had prevailed against the
wily Turkish generals, and whose personal valour they had, with their
own eyes, beheld. Even from Solika, far in the background, came an
answering echo to that strange thunder of men's rapturous voices.
Brand touched him on the arm.
"Your Majesty," he said, "you have won a victory to-day which will
amaze all Europe. Be careful that you do not lose what you have gained
by treachery!"
The King looked into Brand's grave face, and beckoned him on one side.
"Well?"
"Domiloff has got hold of Reist," he said. "He is a traitor. There is
something going on in the city even now, which I do not understand."
The King shook his head gravely.
"Reist is my personal enemy," he said, "but Theos has no more faithful
son. It is he who has just saved our victory from being turned into
disaster."
"Nevertheless," Brand answered, "he is Domiloff's man, and there is
treachery afoot. I will tell you what happened to me in the city."
The King listened with darkening face. But when Brand had finished his
story he shook his head again.
"Domiloff is my enemy," he said, "and it may be the Countess of Reist.
But of Reist himself I will believe no such thing."
"Your Majesty will regret it," Brand remarked, dryly.
"If you are right, I certainly shall," the King answered, "for I have
appointed Reist to the command at Althea."
Brand wheeled his horse round.
"I wish you good fortune--and good-bye," he said.
The King looked at him in amazement.
"Where are you going, Brand?" he asked.
"Home."
"Home! Why?"
"The war is over," Brand answered. "The Turks will occupy Theos
to-morrow."
"You are talking nonsense," Ughtred declared, hotly.
Brand shook his head.
"Your Majesty," he said, "you will admit that a traitor at Althea can
let the Turks into Theos."
The King frowned.
"It is true," he admitted, "but Reist is no traitor."
"If you will come with me to the city," Brand answered, "I will prove
to you that he is!"