most determined advance upon the left wing of
Nutcracker's force, uttering loud and horrible queakings. But what a
reception they met with! Very slowly, as the nature the _terrain_
necessitated (for the ledge at the bottom of the cupboard had
to be passed), the regiment of motto-figures, commanded by two
Chinese Emperors, advanced, and formed square. These fine,
brilliantly-uniformed troops, consisting of gardeners, Tyrolese,
Tungooses, hairdressers, harlequins, Cupids, lions, tigers, unicorns,
and monkeys, fought with the utmost courage, coolness, and steady
endurance. This _bataillon d'elite_ would have wrested the victory from
the enemy had not one of his cavalry captains, pushing forward in a
rash and foolhardy manner, made a charge upon one of the Chinese
Emperors, and bitten off his head. This Chinese Emperor, in his fall,
knocked over and smothered a couple of Tungooses and a unicorn, and
this created a gap, through which the enemy effected a rush, which
resulted in the whole battalion being bitten to death. But the
enemy gained little advantage by this; for as soon as one of the
mouse-cavalry soldiers bit one of these brave adversaries to death, he
found that there was a small piece of printed paper sticking in his
throat, of which he died in a moment. Still, this was of small
advantage to Nutcracker's army, which, having once commenced a
retrograde movement, went on retreating farther and farther, suffering
greater and greater loss. So that the unfortunate Nutcracker found
himself driven back close to the front of the cupboard, with a very
small remnant of his army.

"'Bring up the reserves! Pantaloon! Scaramouch! Drummer! where the
devil have you got to?' shouted Nutcracker, who was still reckoning on
reinforcements from the cupboard. And there did, in fact, advance a
small contingent of brown gingerbread men and women, with gilt faces,
hats, and helmets; but they laid about them so clumsily that they
never hit any of the enemy, and soon knocked off the cap of their
commander-in-chief, Nutcracker, himself. And the enemy's chasseurs soon
bit their legs off, so that they tumbled topsy-turvy, and killed
several of Nutcracker's companions-in-arms into the bargain.

"Nutcracker was now hard pressed, and closely hemmed in by the enemy,
and in a position of extreme peril, He tried to jump the bottom ledge
of the cupboard, but his legs were not long enough. Clara and Gertrude
had fainted; so they could give him no