mmander Ling will lead us! He has promised, and assuredly
he will not depart from his word. Shielded by his broad and sacred body,
from which the bullets glance aside harmlessly, we will advance upon the
enemy in the stealthy manner affected by ducks when crossing the swamp.
How altogether superior a person our Commander is when likened unto the
leaders of the foemen--they who go into battle completely surrounded by
their archers!"

Upon this, perceiving the clear direction in which matters were turning,
the Chief of Bowmen again approached Ling.

"Doubtless the highly-favoured person whom I am now addressing has been
endowed with exceptional authority direct from Peking," he remarked with
insidious politeness. "Otherwise this narrow-minded individual would
suggest that such a decision does not come within the judgment of a
Commander."

In his ignorance of military matters it had not entered the mind of
Ling that his authority did not give him the power to commence an
attack without consulting other and more distinguished persons. At the
suggestion, which he accepted as being composed of truth, he paused, the
enlightened zeal with which he had been inspired dying out as he plainly
understood the difficulties by which he was enclosed. There seemed a
single expedient path for him in the matter; so, directing a person
of exceptional trustworthiness to prepare himself for a journey, he
inscribed a communication to the Mandarin Li Keen, in which he narrated
the facts and asked for speedy directions, and then despatched it with
great urgency to Si-chow.

VI

When these matters were arranged, Ling returned to his tent, a victim
to feelings of a deep and confused doubt, for all courses seemed to
be surrounded by extreme danger, with the strong possibility of final
disaster. While he was considering these things attentively, the spy who
had brought word of the presence of the enemy again sought him. As he
entered, Ling perceived that his face was the colour of a bleached linen
garment, while there came with him the odour of sickness.

"There are certain matters which this person has not made known," he
said, having first expressed a request that he might not be compelled to
stand while he conversed. "The bowmen are as an inferior kind of jackal,
and they who lead them are pigs, but this person has observed that the
Heaven-sent Commander has internal organs like steel hardened in a white
fire and polished by running wa