ollowed their renowned commander.

The noise of their wings resounded, the air was oppressed with their
weight and the mighty mass in motion. Then did Kapchack indeed feel
himself every feather a king. He glanced back--he could not see the
rear-guard, so far did the host extend. His heart swelled with pride and
eagerness for the fight. Now quitting the plain, they wound by a devious
route through the hills--the general's object being to so manage the
march that none of them should appear above the ridges. The woods upon
the slopes concealed their motions, and the advance was executed without
the least delay, though so great was their length in this extended order
that when the head of the column entered the plain beyond, the
rear-guard had not reached the hills behind. This rendered their front
extremely narrow, but Ah Kurroo, pausing when he had gone half-a-mile
into the plain, and when the enemy were already in sight, and actually
beneath them, ordered the leading ranks to beat time with their wings,
while their comrades came up.

Thus, in a few minutes, the place where the narrow valley debouched into
the hill-surrounded plain, was darkened with the deploying rooks.
Kapchack, while waiting, saw beneath him the hurrying squadrons of Tu
Kiu. From the cut corn, from the stubble, from the furrows (where
already the plough had begun its work), from the green roots and second
crops of clover, from the slopes of the hills around, and the distant
ridges, the alarmed warriors were crowding to their standards.

While peacefully foraging, happy in the sunshine and the abundance of
food, without a thought of war and war's hazards, they suddenly found
themselves exposed, all unprepared, to the fell assault of their black
and mortal enemies. The sky above them seemed darkened with the legions,
the hoarse shouts of command as the officers deployed their ranks, the
beating of the air, struck them with terror. Some, indeed, overwhelmed
with affright, cowered on the earth; a few of the outlying bands, who
had wandered farthest, turned tail and fled over the ridges. But the
majority, veterans in fight, though taken aback, and fully recognising
the desperate circumstances under which they found themselves, hastened
with all speed towards Tu Kiu, whose post was in a hedge, in which stood
three low ash-trees by a barn. This was about the centre of the plain,
and thither the squadrons and companies hurried, hoarsely shouting for
their ge