d fight; and that did
not amount to very much where neither of the combatants possessed guns
or other battering paraphernalia of any description.

The return of the triumphant army to Bethalia was a pageant exceeding in
gorgeousness of display and general enthusiasm anything that had ever
before occurred within the memory of any living inhabitant of the city.
The regular troops were comparatively few in number, every male
Izreelite being armed and liable to be called upon for active service,
should occasion for such service arise; but the paucity of numbers was
an altogether insignificant detail; the one thing that was of
importance, and counted, was that they had fought and signally defeated
a force of overwhelming numerical superiority, and inflicted upon their
immemorial enemy a blow of such crushing severity that a lasting peace
was now assured. Little wonder that the people so recently hag-ridden
with a perpetual fear, that often approached perilously close to panic,
scarcely knew how to give adequate expression to the feeling of joy and
relief that now possessed them, and were just a little inclined to
become extravagantly demonstrative.

The troops, conveyed across from the mainland in boats, and landed at
the one grand flight of steps which afforded the solitary means of
access to the island, were marched through the city to the palace and
the House of Legislature, where they received the thanks of the Queen
and the Elders for their gallantry; and at the last moment it was made
known to Dick--to his secret but profound annoyance and discomfiture--
that nothing would satisfy the populace but that he, as the one hero,
_par excellence_, of the brief but sanguinary war, must head the troops,
mounted on the horse that had carried him so gallantly and well in the
press of battle! He would willingly have avoided the distinction if it
had been possible, and had indeed fully intended to absent himself from
all active participation in the pageant; but a note from Grosvenor,
informing him that the idea had really originated with Queen Myra, and
that Her Majesty would be intensely disappointed if he refused, caused
him good-naturedly to set his own feelings on one side for the nonce and
consent to become a puppet for once in a way. Accordingly he was the
first warrior to pass through the gateway which gave access to the
interior of the town, and as he emerged from the shadow of the arch into
the dazzling sunshine that f