with the greatest pleasure, if they would show him in which
direction they expected Choo Hoo to come. So the hare, the squirrel, and
Cloctaw, with all the crowd following behind, took him to a gap in the
hedge round the copse on the western side, and pointed out to him the
way the enemy would come.

Indeed, Sir Bevis had hardly taken his stand and seen to the priming
than the van-guard of the barbarians appeared over the tops of the
trees. They were pushing on with all speed, for it seems that the
outposts had reported to the emperor that there was a division in the
copse, and that civil war had broken out, being deceived by the attack
delivered by Ah Kurroo upon the black pretender Kauc. Up then came the
mighty host in such vast and threatening numbers that the sun was
darkened as it had been on the day of the eclipse, and the crowd behind
Sir Bevis, overwhelmed with fear, could scarce stand their ground. But
Sir Bevis, not one whit daunted, dropped upon one knee, and levelling
his cannon-stick upon the other, applied his match. The fire and smoke
and sound of the report shook the confidence of the front ranks of the
enemy; they paused and wheeled to the right and left instead of
advancing.

In a minute Bevis had his cannon-stick charged again, and bang it went.
The second rank now turned and fell back and threw the host into
confusion; still the vast numbers behind pushed blindly on. Bevis, in a
state of excitement, now prepared for a grand effort. He filled his
cannon with powder nearly to the muzzle, he rammed it down tight, and
fearing lest it might kick and hurt him, he fixed his weapon on the
stump of an elm which had been thrown some winters since, and whose fall
had made the gap in the hedge. Then he cut a long, slender willow stick,
slit it at one end, and inserted his match in the cleft. He could thus
stand a long way back out of harm's way and ignite the priming. The
report that followed was so loud the very woods rang again, the birds
fluttered with fear, and even the fox, bold as he was, shrank back from
such a tremendous explosion.

Quite beside themselves with panic fear, the barbarian host turned and
fled in utter confusion, nor could Choo Hoo, with all his efforts, rally
them again, for having once suffered defeat in the battle of the
eclipse, they had lost confidence. Ah Kurroo Khan, just as he had driven
in the defenders and taken Kauc's camp (though Kauc himself, like the
coward he was, escaped b