uing. At the same time he sent
for his left to come up at the double in extended order, so as to
outflank Ah Kurroo's column, and then to push it, before it could
deploy, bodily, and by mere force of numbers, against the beeches, where
their wings entangled and their ranks broken by the boughs they must
become confused. Then his right, coming up swiftly, would pass over, and
sweep the Khan's disordered army before it.

This manoeuvre, so well-conceived, was at once begun. The barbarian
centre slackened over the hill, and their left, rushing forward,
enclosed Ah Kurroo's column, and already bore down towards it, while the
noise of their right could be heard advancing towards the beeches above,
and on the other side of which it would pass. Ah Kurroo saw his
danger--he could discover no possible escape from the trap in which he
was caught, except in the desperate valour of his warriors. He shouted
to them to increase their speed, and slightly swerving to his right,
directed his course straight towards Choo Hoo himself. Seeing his
design--to bear down the rebel emperor, or destroy him before the battle
could well begin--Kapchack shouted with joy, and hurried forward to be
the first to assail his rival.

Already the advancing hosts seemed to feel the shock of the combat, when
a shadow fell upon them, and they observed the eclipse of the sun. Till
that moment, absorbed in the terrible work they were about, neither the
rank and file nor the leaders had noticed the gradual progress of the
dark semicircle over the sun's disk. The ominous shadow fell upon them,
still more awful from its suddenness. A great horror seized the serried
hosts. The prodigy in the heavens struck the conscience of each
individual; with one consent they hesitated to engage in carnage with so
terrible a sign above them.

In the silence of the pause they heard the pheasants crow, and the fowls
fly up to roost; the lesser birds hastened to the thickets. A strange
dulness stole over their senses, they drooped, as it were; the
barbarians sank to the lower atmosphere; the rooks, likewise overcome
with this mysterious lassitude, ceased to keep their regular ranks, and
some even settled on the beeches.

Choo Hoo himself struggled in vain against the omen; his mighty mind
refused to succumb to an accident like this; but his host was not so
bold of thought. With desperate efforts he managed indeed to shake off
the physical torpor which endeavoured to master him