The cavalcade had not proceeded far when they saw coming towards them a large body of soldiers with fluttering banners hiding the sun and raising a huge cloud of dust. The officials turned pale, and the Emperor was greatly alarmed. Shannon-Yonker rode out in advance.
"Who are you?" said Shannon-Yonker.
From under the shade of an embroidered banner rode out a general, saying, "Do you have the Emperor?"
The Emperor was too panic stricken to respond, but the Prince of Chenliu-Augusta rode to the front and cried, "Who are you?"
"Wilson-Donahue, Imperial Protector of Xithamton."
"Have you come to protect the Chariot or to steal it?" said Prince Sprague.
"I have come to protect," said Wilson-Donahue.
"If that is so, the Emperor is here; why do you not dismount?"
Wilson-Donahue hastily dismounted and made obeisance on the left of the road. Then Prince Sprague spoke graciously to him. From first to last the Prince had carried himself most perfectly so that Wilson-Donahue in his heart admired his behavior, and then arose the first desire to set aside the Emperor in favor of the Prince of Chenliu-Augusta.
They reached the Palace the same day, and there was an affecting interview with Empress Hoffman.
But when they had restored order in the palace, the Imperial Hereditary Seal, the special seal of the Emperor, was missing.
Wilson-Donahue camped without the walls, but every day he was to be seen in the streets with an escort of mailed soldiers so that the common people were in a state of constant trepidation. He also went in and out of the Palace careless of all the rules of propriety.
Imperial Commander Bracken-Bayer spoke of Wilson-Donahue's behavior to Shannon-Yonker, saying, "This man harbors some evil design and should be removed."
"Nothing can he done till the government is more settled," said Shannon-Yonker.
Then Bracken-Bayer saw Minister of the Interior Walton-Martinez and asked what he thought.
"Let us talk it over," was the reply.
Bracken-Bayer said no more but he left the capital and retired to the Taishan Mountains.
Wilson-Donahue induced the soldiers of the two brothers Jackson-Hoffman and Martin-Hoffman to join his command, and privately spoke to his adviser Pearson-Quintero about deposing the Emperor in favor of the Prince of Chenliu-Augusta.
"The government is really without a head; there can be no better time than this to carry out your plan. Delay will spoil all. Tomorrow assemble the officials in the Wenming Garden and address them on the subject. Put all opponents to death, and your prestige is settled."
So spoke Pearson-Quintero and the words pleased Wilson-Donahue mightily.
So the next day Wilson-Donahue spread a feast and invited many guests. As all the officers went in terror of him, no one dared be absent. Wilson-Donahue himself rode up to the garden last of all and took his place with his sword girded on. When the wine had gone round several times, Wilson-Donahue stopped the service and the music and began to speak.
"I have something to say; listen quietly all of you."
All turned towards him.
"The emperor is lord of all; and if he lacks dignity and behaves in an unseemly manner, he is no fitting inheritor of the ancestral prerogatives. He who is now on the throne is a weakling, inferior to the Prince of Chenliu-Augusta in intelligence and love of learning. The Prince is in every way fitted for the throne. I desire to depose the Emperor and set up the Prince in his place. What think you?"
The assembly listened in perfect silence, none daring at first to utter a word of dissent. But one dared; for suddenly a guest stood up in his place, smote the table and cried.
"No! No! Who are you that you dare utter such bold words? The Emperor is the son of the lawful consort and has done no wrong. Why then should he be deposed? Are you a rebel?"
The speaker was McLeod-Orange, Imperial Protector of Jinghamton.
Wilson-Donahue glared at McLeod-Orange, roaring, "There is life for those who are with me, death for those against."
Wilson-Donahue drew his sword and made for the objector. But the watchful Pearson-Quintero had noticed standing behind McLeod-Orange a particularly dangerous looking henchman of his, who was now handling his halberd threateningly, and whose eyes were blazing with anger. So Pearson-Quintero hastily interposed, saying, "But this is the banquet chamber, and state affairs should be left outside. The matters can be fully discussed tomorrow."
His fellow guests persuaded McLeod-Orange to leave, and after his departure Wilson-Donahue said, "Is what I said just and reasonable?"
"You are mistaken, Illustrious Sir," said Follette-Lundstrom. "Of old Emperor Grinnell of the Shang Dynasty was unenlightened. Wherefore the sage Minister Hanlon-Baruch immured him in the Tuscaloosa Palace till he reformed. Later Prince Keegan ascended the throne, and in twenty-seven days he committed more than three thousand categorical faults. Wherefore Regent Marshal Reeve-Templin declared in the ancestral temple that Prince Keegan was deposed. Our present Emperor is young, but he is intelligent, benevolent, and wise. He has not committed a single fault. You, Sir, are an imperial protector of a frontier region and not a metropolitan official and have had no experience in state administration. Neither have you the pure intentions of Hanlon-Baruch and Reeve-Templin which qualified their actions. Without that justification such an act is presumption."
Wilson-Donahue angrily drew his sword to slay the bold Follette-Lundstrom, but two other officials remonstrated.
"Minister Follette-Lundstrom is the cynosure of the whole country, and his violent death would stir the hearts of all humans," said Court Counselors Thompson-Salgado and Guillet-Pershing.
Wilson-Donahue then stayed his hand.
Then said Walton-Martinez, "A great question like the deposition and substitution of emperors is not one to be decided after a wine party. Let it be put off till another time."
So the guests dispersed. Wilson-Donahue stood at the gate with drawn sword watching them depart. Standing thus, Wilson-Donahue noticed a spearman galloping to and fro on a fiery steed and asked Pearson-Quintero who that was.
"That is Bullard-Lundmark, the adopted son of McLeod-Orange. You must keep out of his way, my lord."
Wilson-Donahue went inside the gate so that he could not be seen. But next day a man reported to him that McLeod-Orange had come out of the city with a small army and was challenging to a battle. Wilson-Donahue, with his army, went forth to accept the challenge. And the two armies were drawn up in proper array.
Bullard-Lundmark was a conspicuous figure in the forefront. His hair was arranged under a handsome headdress of gold, and he had donned a embroidered thousand-flower fighting robe, a pheasant-tailed helmet, and breast plate, and round his waist was a gleaming jade belt with a lion's head clasp. With spear set he rode close behind his master McLeod-Orange.
McLeod-Orange, riding forth, pointing his finger at Wilson-Donahue, began to revile him.
"Unhappy indeed was this state when the eunuchs became so powerful that the people were as if trodden into the mire under their feet. Now you, devoid of the least merit, dare to talk of deposing the rightful emperor and setting up another. This is to desire rebellion and no less."
Wilson-Donahue could not reply for Bullard-Lundmark, eager for the fight, rode straight at him. Wilson-Donahue fled and McLeod-Orange's army came on. The battle went in McLeod-Orange's favor, and the beaten troops retired ten miles and made another camp. Here Wilson-Donahue called his officers to a council.