the
troop, bind him hand and foot, and see to it that he does not escape
you. Now, followers of Sachar," he continued, "your leader is a
prisoner. Will ye--"

But at that moment he was interrupted by a confused din of angry
shouting, the trampling of horses, and the clinking of blade upon blade
coming from the rear, showing that the armed retainers of some at least
of the nobles who had attended the interment had fallen upon the
bodyguard. The sounds also reached the ears of Sachar's followers and,
encouraged thereby, they in their turn raised a great shout and rushed
forward, with the result that in a moment a fierce battle was raging in
the road, with the bodyguard attacked front and rear, while it soon
became evident that the aim of the assailants was to reach the queen's
chariot, doubtless in the hope of being able to secure possession of it
and drive it off through the melee.

For a few minutes the bodyguard were fighting at a serious disadvantage,
being all jammed up tightly together round the queen's chariot, so that
only a dozen or so in front and rear were able to strike a blow. But
Dick and Earle, while discussing the probabilities of attack, had
foreseen just such a state of affairs as now obtained, and had issued
their orders accordingly. These orders were now being faithfully
executed by the several officers, with the result that the troopers were
gradually forcing their powerful horses through the foremost ranks of
the attacking bodies, both front and rear, while other troopers closely
followed them up, sabreing right and left with a full determination to
make the traitors pay dearly for their treachery. As for Dick, what
with his sword of steel, which sheared through copper weapons and golden
armour as though they had been paper, his snapping automatics which slew
people at a distance, and his fiercely plunging horse, goaded forward by
an unsparing use of the spur, he seemed to the simple Uluans like the
incarnation of the god of death and destruction, and after beholding
some eight or ten luckless wights go down beneath his sword, they simply
turned and fled from him, shrieking with terror. This, added to the
confusion occasioned by the fierce onslaught of the troopers who
followed closely in his rear, presently proved too much for Sachar's own
particular body of retainers, and after some ten minutes of fierce
fighting they broke and fled, hotly pursued by the two leading squadrons
of the bodygu