etire inward to the
next post, and so on; the various garrisons contesting every inch of
ground, cutting up the enemy as severely as possible, and gradually
retiring inward toward the lake and Bethalia if they could not maintain
their ground. These preparations did not take long to make, since it
was merely a matter of marching supplementary troops to the frontier,
and the provisioning of the various blockhouses, fortified farms,
castles, and strongholds generally; and as the preparations had all been
made beforehand, a week sufficed to place the entire nation on the
defensive.

Still the task was accomplished none too soon, for on the very day
succeeding that upon which the preparations for defence were completed,
news arrived in Bethalia that large bodies of savages had been seen
massing upon various parts of the border, while the next day brought
intelligence of attacks upon almost every one of the outlying
blockhouses, and of the retirement of their respective garrisons after
severe fighting in which heavy loss had been sustained by both sides.
The invasion of Izreel had begun, and was being prosecuted with
relentless determination and energy.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

VICTORY, TRIUMPH, AND--THE END.

This grave news created the utmost consternation and dismay among the
Elders and nobles of Bethalia; for they had, almost with one accord,
persisted in believing that at the last moment the savages had shrunk
from the contest. There was, however, one solitary crumb of comfort in
the news that now came almost hourly from the front, which was that,
severely as the Izreelites had suffered, the enemy had suffered ten
times more severely, having been kept completely at arm's length, so
long as the defenders' stock of arrows had lasted, and that it was only
when these had become exhausted that the savages had succeeded in
storming the blockhouses and driving out the defenders. This contained
a lesson that Grosvenor and Dick were quick to profit by, and no sooner
did the news come to hand than every available person was set to work
manufacturing arrows, thousands of which were daily dispatched to the
front.

Thus far the two Englishmen had remained at Bethalia, receiving news and
directing operations from there, at the urgent request of the Elders;
but as intelligence continued to arrive from the front reporting the
presence of the enemy in overwhelming numbers, and the retirement of
garrison after garrison, with det