t of the
foe, tearing a yawning chasm, half a mile in diameter, in his ranks!

We lost fully two thousand men in this movement, and the foe over ten
thousand in killed and wounded.

The enemy, paralyzed by the onset, became consolidated into three or
four immense globes. In front of these they placed their bockhockids,
whose monstrous limbs alone could keep our spears at a safe distance.
It was the intention of Coltonobory to ram us with the cohorts led by
Grasnagallipas and his bockhockids.

Hastily re-forming our broken ranks as before, I ordered a flank
movement, rapid and decisive. Our bockhockids plunged into a
tremendous mass of wayleals. Into the chasm thus made in the ranks of
the enemy General Zooly-Soase threw her amazons, protected on either
side by the legion of priests of Egyplosis under Gerolio. The
priestesses, whose spears were particularly long and powerful, did
terrible execution. The enemy was for a time panic-stricken as the
glorious girls made their successful onset. Their dramatic beauty and
the flash of their spears made a scene of imposing grandeur.
Coltonobory, recovering from his surprise, ordered his bockhockids to
the centre of the fight. To prevent the sacrifice of the priestesses
by overwhelming odds I sent the bockhockids of art to their
assistance. These swept to the rescue like a flight of eagles, and the
empyrean echoed to the roar of the combat.

The fighting now became general. The sunlit heavens seemed filled with
the ferocity of war. The discharge of guns, the yells of wayleals, the
trumpet signals of the commanders, the crash of swords and spears, the
ceaseless motion of wings, and the long trail of dead and wounded
combatants that followed the fight like the _debris_ of a comet, was a
sight but rarely beheld by human eyes.

Each army seemed so equally balanced--the king's army had the
advantage in numbers and our own the advantage in weapons--that
neither party could yet claim a victory. Further fighting seemed
useless until some new tactics were employed; therefore I gave orders
for a cessation of the battle, and caused flags of truce to be
hoisted.

Both armies indeed required food and repose, and the wounded required
immediate attention. The enemy was no less anxious for a truce than
ourselves, consequently all fighting ceased and both armies withdrew.
Several miles apart sentinels were placed on guard on outposts in the
atmosphere, and our wayleals threw themselves upo