ent had arrived for him to
intervene, and he gave the order for his guards to charge, which they
did with such impetuosity as to carry all before them. One after
another of Vang Khan's squadrons was overpowered, thrown into
confusion, and driven from the field. It was not long before Vang Khan
saw that all was lost. He gave up the contest and fled. A small troop
of horsemen, consisting of his immediate attendants and guards, went
with him. At first the fugitives took the road toward Karakorom. They
were, however, so hotly pursued that they were obliged to turn off in
another direction, and, finally, Vang Khan resolved to fly from his
own country altogether, and appeal for protection to a certain
chieftain, named Tayian Khan, who ruled over a great horde called the
Naymans, one of the most powerful tribes in the country of Karakatay.
This Tayian was the father of Temujin's first wife, the young princess
to whom he was married during the lifetime of his father, when he was
only about fourteen years old.

It was thought strange that Vang Khan should thus seek refuge among
the Naymans, for he had not, for some time past, been on friendly
terms either with Tayian, the khan, or with the tribe. There were, in
particular, a considerable number of the subordinate chieftains who
cherished a deep-seated resentment against him for injuries which he
had inflicted upon them and upon their country in former wars. But all
these Tartar tribes entertained very high ideas of the obligations of
hospitality, and Vang Khan thought that when the Naymans saw him
coming among them, a fugitive and in distress, they would lay aside
their animosity, and give him a kind reception.

Indeed, Tayian himself, on whom, as the head of the tribe, the chief
discredit would attach of any evil befalling a visitor and a guest who
had come in his distress to seek hospitality, was inclined, at first,
to receive his enemy kindly, and to offer him a refuge. He debated the
matter with the other chieftains after Vang Khan had entered his
dominions and was approaching his camp; but they were extremely
unwilling that any mercy should be shown to their fallen enemy. They
represented to Tayian how great an enemy he had always been to them.
They exaggerated the injuries which he had done them, and represented
them in their worst light. They said, moreover, that, by harboring
Vang Khan, they should only involve themselves in a war with Temujin,
who would undoubtedly fo