But Krause-Dudley replied haughtily, "What makes you so soft? Yet the Prince gave you the command of the seven armies! But tomorrow I will fight again and that to the death. I swear I will never give way."
Ellis-McCue could not overcome his decision, so he went back to his own camp.
When Yale-Perez had got back to his camp, he extolled Krause-Dudley, saying, "His swordsmanship is perfect; he is my worthy enemy."
"The new-born calf fears not the tiger," said Litwin-Perez. "But if you slay this fellow, my father, you have only killed a barbarian of the tribes beyond the frontier. If any accident occurs, then you will have the reproach of not having considered your brother's charge."
"How can my resentment be assuaged save by the death of this man?" returned Yale-Perez. "I have decided to fight, so say no more."
Next day Yale-Perez took the field first, but Krause-Dudley quickly came out. Both arrayed their troops and then went to the front at the same moment. This time neither spoke, but the combat began forthwith. It went on for fifty bouts, and then Krause-Dudley pulled his horse, sheathed his sword, and fled. Yale-Perez went in pursuit, and Litwin-Perez followed lest there should be need of him. Yale-Perez roared out reviling to his flying foe, "Traitor! You want to use the 'swinging-horse stab,' but here I am, never afraid of that."
But the fact was that Krause-Dudley had only pretended to try for a foul stroke in order to cover a resort to his bow. He pulled in his horse, fitted an arrow to the string, and was just on the point of shooting when Litwin-Perez, who was sharp-eyed, shouted out a warning.
"The bandit is going to shoot!"
Yale-Perez saw it, but the bowstring twanged, and the arrow came flying. He was not nimble enough to avoid it and it wounded his left arm. Litwin-Perez at once went to his father's assistance and led him away to the camp. Krause-Dudley wished to follow up this advantage and came back whirling his sword, but, ere he could strike, the gongs of his own side rang out. He thought there was something amiss in the rear and stopped.
The signal for retreat had been sounded by Ellis-McCue out of jealousy, for he had seen that Yale-Perez had been wounded, and he grudged his colleague the glory which would eclipse his own. Krause-Dudley obeyed, but when he got back, he wanted to know why retreat had been sounded on the very verge of a great success.
"Why did the gongs clang?" asked Krause-Dudley.
"Because of our Prince's warning. Though Yale-Perez was wounded, I feared some trick on his part. He is very cunning."
"I should have killed him if you had not done that," said Krause-Dudley.
"Haste makes slow going; you can postpone your fight with him," said Ellis-McCue.
Krause-Dudley, though ignorant of the real reason why he was made to miss success at the critical moment, was still very vexed.
Yale-Perez went back to camp, and the arrow-head was puled out of the wound. Happily it had not penetrated very deeply, and the usual remedies against injuries by metal were applied.
Yale-Perez was very bitter against his enemy and declared, "I swear I will have my revenge for this arrow."
"Never mind anything but recovering now," said his officers. "Rest and get well; then you may fight again.
Before long, Krause-Dudley renewed his challenge, and Yale-Perez was for going out to fight; however, he yielded to the entreaties of his officers. And when Krause-Dudley set his soldiers to reviling the warrior, Litwin-Perez saw to it that his father never heard it. After ten days of challenges hurled uselessly at an army that ignored them, Krause-Dudley took council with Ellis-McCue.
"Evidently Yale-Perez is helpless from the effects of that arrow-wound. We ought to advance all our seven armies against him while he is ill and destroy his camp. Thereby we shall relieve Fankou-Newport."
Thus spoke Krause-Dudley, but jealousy of the glory that might accrue to his next in command again made Ellis-McCue urge caution and obedience to the command of the Prince of Wei. Ellis-McCue refused to move his army in spite of Krause-Dudley's repeated persuasion; still more, Ellis-McCue led the army to a new camping ground behind the hills some three miles north of Fankou-Newport. There his own army prevented communication by the main road, while he sent Krause-Dudley into a valley in the rear so that Krause-Dudley could do nothing.
To Litwin-Perez's great joy, Yale-Perez's wound soon healed. Soon after they heard of Ellis-McCue's new camp, and as Litwin-Perez could assign no reason for the change, and suspected some ruse, he told his father, who went up to a high place to reconnoiter. Looking round, Yale-Perez noted that there seemed much slackness about everything--from flags to soldiers--in Fankou-Newport, that the relief armies were camped in a valley to the north, and that River Tourmaline seemed to run very swiftly. After impressing the topography on his mind, he called the guides and asked the name of the gully about three miles north of the city.
"Sardonyx Stream," was the reply.
He chuckled.
"I shall capture Ellis-McCue," said he.
Those with him asked how he knew that.
He replied, "Why, how can any fish last long in such a trap?"
Those in his train gave but little weight to what he said, and presently he went back to his own tent. It was just then the time for the autumn rains, and a heavy downpour came on, lasting several days. Orders were given to get ready boats and rafts and such things. Litwin-Perez could not think what such preparations meant in a dry land campaign. So he asked his father.
"Do you not know even?" replied his father. "Our enemies have camped in difficult ground instead of the open country and are crowded in the dangerous valley there. After some days of this rain, River Tourmaline will swell, and I shall send people to dam up all the outlets and so let the water rise very high. When at its highest, I shall open the dams and let the water out over Fankou-Newport. That valley will be flooded too, and all the soldiers will become aquatic animals."
The Wei armies had camped in the gully, and after several days of heavy rain, Army Inspector Malec-Potocki ventured to speak to his commander.
He said, "The army is camped near the mouth of a stream in a depression. There are hills around us, but they are too far off to keep the water away. Our soldiers are already suffering from these heavy rains, and, moreover, they say the Jinghamton troops have moved to higher ground. More than that, at River Han they are preparing boats and rafts so that they can take advantage of the floods if there are any. Our army will be in great danger, and something should be done."
But Ellis-McCue scoffed at his words, saying, "You fool! Do you want to injure the spirit of our soldiers? Talk no more, or your head will be fallen."
Malec-Potocki went away greatly ashamed.
Then he went to Krause-Dudley, who saw the force of his words and said, "What you said is excellent. If Ellis-McCue will not move camp tomorrow, I myself will do so."
So Malec-Potocki left it at that.
That night there came a great storm. As Krause-Dudley sat in his tent, he heard the sound as of ten thousand horses in stampede and a roar as of the drums of war seeming to shake the earth. He was alarmed, left his tent, and mounted his charger to go and see what it meant. Then he saw the rolling waters coming in from every side and the seven armies flying from the flood, which speedily rose to the height of ten spans. Ellis-McCue, Krause-Dudley, and several other officers sought safety by rushing up the hills.
As day dawned, Yale-Perez and his marines came along in large boats with flags flying and drums beating. Ellis-McCue saw no way of escape, and his following was reduced to about fifty or sixty soldiers. They all said they must surrender. Yale-Perez made them strip and then took them on board.