WAR

From the quarters of Vay Thon slaves were despatched into the jungle

for many strange herbs and roots, and from these King compounded three

prescriptions, but the basis of each was a mild laxative. The purpose

of the other ingredients was chiefly to add impressiveness and mystery

to the compounds, for however much King might deplore this charlatanism

he was keenly aware that he must not permit the cure to appear too

simple. He was dealing with a primitive mind, and he was waging a

battle of wits for his life--conditions which seemed to warrant the

adoption of means that are not altogether frowned upon by the most

ethical of modern practitioners.

Three times a day he went in person to a small audience chamber off

the bedroom of Lodivarman, and there, in the presence of Vay Thon and

officers of the royal household, he tasted the medicine himself before

administering it to Lodivarman. Upon the third day it became apparent

that the sores upon the body of the King were drying up. Exsiccation

was so manifest that Lodivarman was jubilant. He laughed and joked

with those about him and renewed his assurances to the American that

no reward within the power of his giving would be denied him when

Lodivarman was again a whole man. Each day thereafter the improvement

was marked and rapid, until, at the end of three weeks, no trace

remained of the hideous sores that had so horribly disfigured the

monarch for so many years.

Gradually King had been diminishing the dosages that he had been

administering and had tapered off the treatment from three to two a day

and finally to one. Upon the twenty-first day King ordered Lodivarman

to his bedroom; and there, in the presence of Vay Thon and three of the

highest officers of the kingdom, he examined the King's entire body and

found the skin clear, healthy, and without blemish.

"Well?" demanded Lodivarman, when the examination had been completed.

"Your Majesty is cured," said King.

The King arose from his bed and threw a robe about him. "Life and

liberty are yours, Gordon King," he said. "A palace, slaves, riches are

at your disposal. You have proven yourself a great warrior and a great

physician. If you will remain here you shall be an officer in the

royal guard and the private physician of Lodivarman, the King."

"There is but one reason why I care to remain in the land of the

Khmers," replied King, "and that reason you must know, Lodivarman,

before I can accept the honours that you would bestow upon me."

"And what is that?" demanded Lodivarman.

"To be as near as possible to the Princess Fou-tan of Pnom Dhek in the

hope that some day I may claim her hand in marriage as already I have

won her love."

"Already have I forgiven you for that act of yours which deprived me

of the girl," said Lodivarman, without an instant's hesitation. "If

you can win her, I shall place no obstacles in your path, but on the

contrary I shall assist you in every way within my power. Let no man

say that the gratitude of Lodivarman is tinged with selfishness or with

revenge."

Lodivarman did even more than he had promised, for he created Gordon

King a prince of Khmer, and so it was that the American found himself

elevated from the position of the condemned criminal to that of the

titled master of a palace--a lord over many slaves and the commander of

five hundred Khmer warriors.

Great was the rejoicing in Lodidhapura when the King's cure became

known; and for a week the city was given over to dancing, to pageants,

and to celebration. In the howdah of the royal elephant at Lodivarman's

side, King rode along the avenues of Lodidhapura in the van of a

procession of a thousand elephants trapped in gorgeous silks and gold

and jewels.

And then upon the last day, when the rejoicing was at its height,

all was changed in the brief span of an instant. A sweat-streaked,

exhausted messenger staggered to the gates of Lodidhapura; and ere he

swooned from fatigue he gasped out his brief message to the captain of

the gates.

"Beng Kher comes with a great army to avenge the insult to his

Princess," and then he fell unconscious at the feet of the officer.

Quickly was the word carried to Lodivarman and quickly did it spread

through the city of Lodidhapura. The gay trappings of a fête vanished

like magic to be replaced by the grim trappings of war. Well worn and

darkened with age were the housings and harnesses of the elephants as a

thousand strong they filed from the north gates of Lodidhapura, bearing

upon their backs the sturdy archers and spearmen of Lodivarman; and

with them rode Gordon King, the prince, at the head of his new command.

Alone upon a swift elephant he rode with only the mahout seated before

him on the head of the great beast.

Little or nothing did the American know of the tactics of Khmer

warfare, except that which he had derived from fellow warriors while

he served among them and from other officers since his appointment. He

had learned that the battles consisted principally of individual combat

between elephant crews and that the duties of an officer did little

more than constitute him a focal point upon which his men might rally

for the pursuit if the enemy broke and retreated.

With long, rolling strides the elephants of war swung along the avenue

into the jungle. Here and there were bits of colour or a glint of

sunlight on a shining buckle, but for the most part the beasts were

caparisoned with stern simplicity for the business of war. From the

howdahs the burnished cuirasses of the warriors gave back the sunlight,

and from the shaft of many a spear floated a coloured ribbon. The men

themselves were grim and silent, or moved to coarse jokes and oaths as

suited the individuality of each; and the music was from rough-throated

trumpets and booming drums.

Toward a great clearing the army made its way and there awaited the

coming of Beng Kher, for wars between Lodidhapura and Pnom Dhek were

governed by age-old custom. Here for a thousand years their armies had

met whenever Pnom Dhek attacked Lodidhapura. Here the first engagement

must take place; and if the soldiers of Beng Kher could not pass the

forces of Lodivarman, they must turn back in defeat. It was a game of

war governed by strict rules up to the point where one side broke and

fled. If the troops of Lodivarman broke here they would be pursued to

the gates of Lodidhapura; and there, within the walls of the city,

they would make their final stand. But if Beng Kher's troops broke

first, Lodivarman could take credit for a victory and might pursue

them or not as he chose. To elude one another by strategy, to attempt

to gain the rear of an enemy were not to be countenanced, largely so,

perhaps, from the fact that flanking and enveloping movements were

impossible with elephant troops in a dense forest, where the only

avenues of advance or retreat were the well-marked trails that were

known to all.

The clearing, along the south side of which the troops of Lodivarman

were drawn up, was some two miles in length by a half or three-quarters

of a mile in width. The ground was slightly rolling and almost entirely

denuded of vegetation, since it was in almost constant use for the

training and drilling of elephant troops.

As the last of the great pachyderms wheeled into place, the drums and

the trumpets were silent; and from out of the north, to the listening

ears of the warriors, came faintly the booming of Pnom Dhek's war

drums. The enemy was approaching. The men looked to arrows and

bowstrings. The mahouts spoke soothingly and encouragingly to their

mighty charges. The officers rode slowly up and down the line in front

of their men, exhorting them to deeds of courage. As the sound of the

enemy drums and trumpets drew nearer, the elephants became noticeably

nervous. They swayed from side to side, raising and lowering their

trunks and flapping their great ears.

In each howdah were many extra spears and great quantities of arrows.

King, alone, had twenty spears in his howdah and fully a hundred

arrows. When he had first seen them loaded upon his elephant it had

not seemed possible that he was to use them against other men, and he

had found himself rather shrinking from contemplation of the thought;

but now with the sound of the war drums in his ears and the smell of

leather and the stink of the war elephants in his nostrils and with

that long line of grim faces and burnished cuirasses at his back, he

felt a sudden mad blood lust that thrilled him to the depths of his

being. No longer was he the learned and cultured gentleman of the

twentieth century, but as much a Khmer warrior as ever drew a bow for

ancient Yacovarman, The King of Glory.

The enemy is coming. The blare of his trumpets resounds across the

field of battle, and now the head of the enemy column emerges on to

the field. The trumpets of Lodidhapura blare and her drums boom. An

elephant lifts his trunk and trumpets shrilly. It is with difficulty

now that the mahouts hold their charges in line.

The enemy line is finally formed upon the opposite side of the great

field. For a moment drums and trumpets are stilled, and then a hoarse

fanfare rolls across the clearing from the trumpeters of Beng Kher.

"We are ready," it seems to say, and instantly it is answered from

Lodivarman's side. Simultaneously now the two lines advance upon one

another; and for a moment there is a semblance of order and discipline,

but presently here and there an elephant forges ahead of his fellows.

They break into a trot. King is almost run down by his own men.

"Forward!" he shouts to his mahout.

Pandemonium has broken loose. Trumpets and drums merge with the battle

cries of ten thousand warriors. The elephants, goaded to anger, scream

and trumpet in their rage. As the two lines converge, the bowmen loose

a shower of arrows from either side; and now the curses and cries of

wounded men and the shrill screaming of hurt elephants mingle with the

trumpets and the bugles and the war cries in the mad diapason of war.

King found himself carried forward on the crest of battle straight

toward a lone officer of the enemy forces. He was riding the swaying

howdah now like a sailor on the deck of a storm-tossed ship. The

antagonist approaching him was balancing his javelin, waiting until

they should come within surer range; but King did not wait. He was

master of his weapon, and he had no doubts. Behind him were his men. He

did not know that they were watching him; but they were, for he was a

new officer and this his first engagement. His standing with them would

be determined now for ever. All of them had heard of his prowess and

many of them had doubted the truth of the stories they had heard. They

saw his spear-arm come back, they saw the heavy weapon flying through

the air and a hoarse cheer broke from their throats as the point

crashed through the burnished cuirass of the enemy.

An instant later the two lines came together with such terrific force

that a score of elephants were overthrown. King was almost pitched

from his howdah; and an instant later he was fighting hand to hand,

surrounded by the warriors of Beng Kher. The battle now resolved

itself into a slow milling of elephants as the mahouts sought to gain

advantageous positions for the crews in their howdahs. Here and there

a young elephant, or one sorely wounded and driven mad by pain, broke

from the mêlée and bolted for the jungle. Warriors leaped from their

howdahs, risking injury rather than the almost certain death that would

await them as the frightened beasts stampeded through the forest. Only

the mahouts clung to their posts, facing death rather than the disgrace

of abandoning their charges. The hot sun blazed down upon the stinking,

sweating mass of war. The feet of the milling elephants raised clouds

of dust through which it was sometimes difficult to see more than a few

yards.

In the moment that King was surrounded an arrow grazed his arm, while

a dozen glanced from his helmet and his cuirass. His impressions were

confused. He saw savage, distorted faces before him, at which he lunged

with a long javelin. He was choked with dust and blinded by sweat. He

heard the savage trumpeting of his own elephant and the shouts and

curses of his mahout. It seemed impossible that he could extricate

himself from such a position, or that he could long survive the vicious

attack that was being directed upon him by the men of the officer he

had slain; and then some of his own elephants came charging in, and a

moment later he was surrounded by the warriors of his own command.

Ever forward they pushed. What was happening elsewhere in the line they

did not know, for obscuring dust hid all but those close to them. The

line before them gave; and then it held and pushed them back again,

and so the battle surged to and fro and back and forth. But always

it seemed to King that his side gained a little more at each advance

than it lost. Presently the enemy line gave way entirely. King saw

the elephants of Pnom Dhek turn in the murky dust and race toward the

north. Just what the rest of the line was doing he did not know; and

for the moment none of his own men was visible, so thick and heavy hung

the pall of dust upon the field of battle.

Perhaps King forgot what little of the rules of Khmer warfare he had

ever learned. Perhaps he thought only of following up an advantage

already gained; but be that as it may, he shouted to his men to follow

and ordered his mahout to pursue the fleeing warriors to Pnom Dhek.

Amid the din of battle his men did not hear him, and so it was that,

alone, Gordon King pursued that part of the enemy line that had broken

directly in front of him.

Presently, as they drew away from the centre of the field and the dust

clouds became less impenetrable, King saw the grey bulk of an elephant

moving just ahead of him; and then as the visibility increased he saw

still other enemy elephants farther in advance. Now he could see that

there were two men in the howdah of the elephant just in front of him;

but as he raised his javelin to cast it, he suddenly recognised the

man at whom his weapon was to be directed--it was Beng Kher, King of

Pnom Dhek and father of Fou-tan. King lowered his spear-arm; he could

not slay the father of the girl he loved. But who was his companion?

Through the lessening dust King sensed a vague familiarity in that

figure. It occurred to him that he might take Beng Kher prisoner and

thus force him to sanction his marriage with Fou-tan. Other mad schemes

passed through his head as the two swift elephants raced across the

clearing.

Neither Beng Kher nor his companion appeared to be paying any attention

to the warrior pursuing them, which convinced King that they believed

him to be one of their own men. King saw Beng Kher's companion lean

forward over the front of the howdah as though issuing instructions

to the mahout; and almost immediately their course was changed to

the right, while ahead of them King saw the other elephants that had

accompanied Beng Kher disappearing into the forest to the north.

The air about them was comparatively free from dust now, so that King

could see all that transpired about him. He glanced behind; and from

the clouds of dust arising from the centre of the field he knew that

the battle was still raging, but he kept on in pursuit of the King of

Pnom Dhek.

To his dismay he saw that the royal elephant was drawing away from him,

being swifter than his own. He saw something else, too--he saw Beng

Kher remonstrating with his companion, and then for the first time he

recognised the other man in the howdah as Bharata Rahon.

King was exhorting his mahout to urge the elephant to greater speed;

and when he glanced up again at the two men in the howdah ahead of him,

he saw Bharata Rahon suddenly raise a knife and plunge it into the neck

of Beng Kher. The King staggered backward; and before he could regain

his equilibrium Bharata Rahon leaped forward and gave him a tremendous

shove, and King saw Beng Kher, the ruler of Pnom Dhek, topple backward

out of the howdah and plunge to the ground below.

Horrified by the ruthless crime he had witnessed and moved by the

thought of Fou-tan's love for her father, King ordered his mahout to

bring their elephant to a stop; and then sliding quickly from the

howdah, he ran to where Beng Kher lay. The King was half stunned and

blood was gushing from the wound in his neck. As best he could and as

quickly, King stanched the flow; but what was he to do? Beng Kher was

indeed his prisoner, but what would it profit him now?

He signalled his mahout to bring the elephant closer and make it lie

down, and then the two men lifted the wounded Beng Kher into the howdah.

"What do you want with a wounded enemy?" demanded the mahout, and it

was evident to King that the fellow had not recognised Beng Kher as

King of Pnom Dhek. "Why do you not kill him?" continued the man.

"You were detailed to drive my elephant and not to question my acts,"

snapped King shortly, and whatever thoughts concerning the matter the

mahout had thereafter he kept to himself.

"Whither, my lord?" he asked presently.

That was the very question that was bothering King--whither! Were he to

take Beng Kher back to Lodidhapura, he did not know but that Lodivarman

might destroy him. If he tried to take him back to Pnom Dhek, Beng Kher

might die before they reached the city, or if he lived, doubtless he

would see that King died shortly thereafter. The American had no love

for Beng Kher, but if he could protect Fou-tan from grief by saving the

life of her father, he would do so if he could but find the means; and

presently a possible solution of his problem occurred to him.

He turned to his mahout. "I wish to go to the jungle south of

Lodidhapura, avoiding the city and all men upon the way. Do you

understand?"

"Yes, my lord," replied the man.

"Then make haste. I must reach a certain spot before dark. When we have

passed Lodidhapura I will give you further directions."

Little Uda was playing before the dwelling of Che and Kangrey when he

heard a sound that was familiar to him--the approach of an elephant

along the jungle trail that passed not far from where he played. Now

and then elephants passed that way and sometimes little Uda saw them,

but more often he did not. Uda and Che and Kangrey had no fear of these

passing elephants, for the massive stone ruin in which they lived was

off the beaten trail among a jumble of fallen ruins that was little

likely to tempt the feet of the great pachyderms; so little Uda played

on, giving scant heed to the approaching footsteps, but presently his

keen ears noted what his eyes could not see; and leaping to his feet,

he ran quickly into the dwelling, where Kangrey was preparing food for

the evening meal before the return of Che.

"Mamma," cried Uda, "an elephant is coming. He has left the trail and

is coming here."

Kangrey stepped to the doorway. To her astonishment she saw an

elephant coming straight toward her dwelling. She only saw his feet

and legs at first; and then, as he emerged from behind a tree that had

hidden the upper part of his body, the woman gave a cry of alarm, for

she saw that the elephant was driven by a mahout and that there was

a warrior in the howdah upon its back. Grasping Uda by the hand, she

sprang from her dwelling, bent upon escaping from the feared power of

Lodivarman; but a familiar voice halted her, calling her by name.

"Do not be afraid, Kangrey," came the reassuring voice. "It is I,

Gordon King."

The woman stopped and turned back, a smile of welcome upon her face.

"Thanks be to the gods that it is you, Gordon King, and not another,"

she exclaimed. "But what brings you thus upon a great elephant and in

the livery of Lodivarman to the poor dwelling of Kangrey?"

The mahout had brought the elephant to a stop now before Kangrey's

doorway, and at his command the great beast lowered its huge body to

the ground.

"I have brought a wounded warrior to you, Kangrey," said King, "to be

nursed back to life and health as once you nursed me," and with the

help of the mahout he lifted Beng Kher from the howdah.

"For you, Gordon King, Kangrey would nurse Lodivarman himself," said

the woman.

They carried Beng Kher into the dwelling and laid him upon a pallet of

dry grasses and leaves covered with the pelts of wild animals. Together

King and Kangrey removed the golden cuirass from the fallen monarch.

Taking off the rough bandages with which the American had stanched the

flow of blood and covered the wounds, the woman bathed the gashes with

water brought by Uda. Her deft fingers worked lightly and quickly; and

while she prepared new bandages she sent Uda into the jungle to fetch

certain leaves, which she laid upon the wounds beneath the bandages.

The mahout had returned to his elephant; and as Kangrey and King were

kneeling upon opposite sides of the wounded man, Beng Kher opened his

eyes. For a moment they roved without comprehension about the interior

of the rude dwelling and from the face of the woman leaning above him

to that of the man, upon whom he noted the harness of Lodivarman, and

King saw that Beng Kher did not recognise him.

"Where am I?" asked the wounded man. "What has happened? But I need not

ask. I fell in battle and I am a prisoner in the hands of my enemy."

"No," replied King, "you are in the hands of friends, Beng Kher. This

woman will nurse you back to health; after that we shall decide what is

to be done."

"Who are you?" demanded Beng Kher, scrutinising the features of his

captor.

From beneath his cuirass and his leather tunic the American withdrew a

tiny ring that was suspended about his neck on a golden chain, and when

Beng Kher saw it he voiced an exclamation of surprise.

"It is Fou-tan's," he said. "How came you by it, man?"

"Do you not recognise me?" demanded the American.

"By Siva, you are the strange warrior who dared aspire to the love of

the Princess of Pnom Dhek. The gods have deserted me."

"Why do you say that?" demanded King. "I think they have been damn

good to you."

"They have delivered me into the hands of one who may profit most by

destroying me," replied Beng Kher.

"On the contrary, they have been kind to you, for they have given you

into the keeping of the man who loves your daughter. That love, Beng

Kher, is your shield and your buckler. It has saved you from death, and

it will see that you are brought back to health."

For a while the King of Pnom Dhek lay silent, lost in meditation, but

presently he spoke again. "How came I to this sorry pass?" he asked.

"We were well out of the battle, Bharata Rahon and I--by Siva, I

remember now!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"I saw what happened, Beng Kher," said King. "I was pursuing you and

was but a short distance behind when I saw Bharata Rahon suddenly stab

you and then throw you from the howdah of your elephant."

Beng Kher nodded. "I remember it all now," he said. "The traitorous

scoundrel! Fou-tan warned me against him, but I would not believe her.

There were others who warned me, but I was stubborn. He thought he had

killed me, eh? but he has not. I shall recover and have my revenge, but

it will be too late to save Fou-tan."

"What do you mean?" demanded Gordon King.

"I can see his plan now as plainly as though he had told me in his own

words," said Beng Kher. "By now he is on his way to Pnom Dhek. He will

tell them that I fell in battle. He will force Fou-tan to marry him,

and thus he will become King of Pnom Dhek. Ah, if I had but one of my

own people here I could thwart him yet."

"I am here," said Gordon King, "and it means more to me to prevent

Bharata Rahon from carrying out his design than it could to any other

man." He rose to his feet.

"Where are you going?" demanded Beng Kher.

"I am going to Pnom Dhek," replied King, "and if I am not too late I

shall save Fou-tan; and if I am, I shall make her a widow."

"Wait," said Beng Kher. He slipped a massive ring from one of his

fingers and held it out to the American. "Take this," he said. "In Pnom

Dhek it will confer upon you the authority of Beng Kher, the King.

Use it as you see fit to save Fou-tan and to bring Bharata Rahon to

justice. Farewell, Gordon King, and may the gods protect you and give

you strength."

Gordon King ran from the dwelling and leaped into the howdah of his

elephant. "Back to Lodidhapura," he commanded the mahout, "and by the

shortest route as fast as the beast can travel."