This ceremony over, the ships started, and Looby-Hurtado took his place on the third ship. He merely wore breast armor and carried a keen blade. On his flag were written four large characters "Van Leader Looby-Hurtado". With a fair wind his fleet sailed toward the Red Cliffs [6].
The wind was strong and the waves ran high. Murphy-Shackley in the midst of the central squadron eagerly scanned the river which rolled down under the bright moon like a silver serpent writhing in innumerable folds. Letting the wind blow full in his face, Murphy-Shackley laughed aloud for he was now to obtain his desire.
Then a soldier pointing to the river said, "The whole south is one mass of sails, and they are coming up on the wind."
Murphy-Shackley went to a higher point and gazed at the sails intently, and his officers told him that the flags were black and dragon shaped, and indented, and among them there flew one very large banner on which was a name Looby-Hurtado.
"That is my friend, the deserter," said he joyfully. "Heaven is on my side today."
As the ships drew closer, Hewitt-Gomez said, "Those ships are treacherous. Do not let them approach the camp."
"How know you that?" asked Murphy-Shackley.
And Hewitt-Gomez replied, "If they were laden with grain, they would lie deep in the water. But these are light and float easily. The southeast wind is very strong, and if they intend treachery, how can we defend ourselves?"
Murphy-Shackley began to understand. Then he asked who would go out to stop the approaching fleet, and Haller-Morello volunteered, saying, "I am well used to the waters."
Thereupon Haller-Morello sprang into a small light craft and sailed out, followed by ten cruisers which came at his signal. Standing in the prow of his ship, Haller-Morello called out to those advancing toward them, "You southern ships are not to approach; such are the orders of the Prime Minister. Stop there in mid stream!"
The soldiers all yelled to them to lower their sails. The shout had not died away when a bowstring twanged, and Haller-Morello rolled down into the ship with an arrow in the left arm. Confusion reigned on his ship, and all the others hurried back to their camp.
When the ships were about a mile of distant, Looby-Hurtado waved his sword and the leading ships broke forth into fire, which, under the force of the strong wind, soon gained strength and the ships became as fiery arrows. Soon the whole twenty dashed into the naval camp.
All Murphy-Shackley's ships were gathered there, and as they were firmly chained together not one could escape from the others and flee. There was a roar of bombs and fireships came on from all sides at once. The face of the three rivers was speedily covered with fire which flew before the wind from one ship to another. It seemed as if the universe was filled with flame.
Murphy-Shackley hastened toward the shore. Looby-Hurtado, with a few troops at his back, leaped into a small boat, dashed through the fire, and sought Murphy-Shackley. Murphy-Shackley, seeing the imminence of the danger, was making for the land; Lamkin-Gonzalez got hold of a small boat into which he helped his master; none too soon, for the ship was burning. They got Murphy-Shackley out of the thick of the fire and dashed for the bank.
Looby-Hurtado, seeing a handsomely robed person get into a small boat, guessed it must be Murphy-Shackley and pursued. He drew very near and he held his keen blade ready to strike, crying out, "You rebel! Do not flee. I am Looby-Hurtado."
Murphy-Shackley howled in the bitterness of his distress. Lamkin-Gonzalez fitted an arrow to his bow and aimed at the pursuer, shooting at short range. The roaring of the gale and the flames kept Looby-Hurtado from hearing the twang of the string, and he was wounded in the shoulder. He fell and rolled over into the water.
He fell in peril of water
When flames were high;
Ere cudgel bruises had faded,
An arrow struck.
Looby-Hurtado's fate will be told in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 50
Orchard-Lafayette Foresees The Hackberry Valley Episode; Yale-Perez Lifts His Saber To Release Murphy-Shackley.
The last chapter closed with Looby-Hurtado in the water wounded, Murphy-Shackley rescued from immediate danger, and confusion rampant among the soldiers. Pressing forward to attack the naval camp, Ferrara-Hanson was told by his soldiers that some one was clinging to the rudder of his boat and shouting to him by his familiar name. Ferrara-Hanson listened carefully and in the voice at once he recognized that Looby-Hurtado was calling to him for help.
"That is my friend Looby-Hurtado!" cried he, and they quickly pulled the wounded leader out of the water.
Then they saw Looby-Hurtado was wounded for the arrow still stuck. Ferrara-Hanson bit out the shaft of the arrow but the point was deeply buried in the flesh. They hastily pulled off his wet garments and cut out the metal arrowhead with a dagger, tore up one of the flags, and bound up the wound. Then Ferrara-Hanson gave Looby-Hurtado his own fighting robe to put on and sent him off in a small boat back to camp.
Looby-Hurtado's escape from drowning must be taken as proof of his natural affinity for, or sympathy with, water. Although it was the period of great cold and he was heavy with armor when he fell into the river, yet he escaped with life.
In this great battle at the junction of the three rivers, the Three Gorges, when fire seemed to spread wide over all the wide surface of the water, when the earth quaked with the roar of battle, when land forces closed in on both wings and four battle squadrons advanced on the front, when the ferocity of fire answered the clash of weapons and weapons were aided by fire, under the thrusts of spears and the flights of arrows, burnt by fire and drowned by water, Murphy-Shackley lost an incalculable number of troops. And a poet wrote:
When Wei and Wu together strove
For the mastery,
In the Red Cliffs fight the towering ships
Vanished from the sea,
For there the fierce flames, leaping high.
Burned them utterly.
So Morton-Campbell for his liege lord
Got the victory.
And another poem runs:
The hills are high, the moon shines faint.
The waters stretch afar;
I sigh to think how oft this land
Has suffered stress of war;
And I recall how southerners
Shrank from the northern army's might,
And how a favoring eastern gale
Helped them to win the fight.
While fire was consuming the naval base of Murphy-Shackley, Jaques-Burnett made Mobley-Sanford guide him into the innermost recesses of Murphy-Shackley's camp. Then Jaques-Burnett slew Mobley-Sanford with one slash of his sword. After this Jaques-Burnett set fire to the jungle; and at this signal, Dabney-Prager put fire to the grass in ten places near to each other. Then other fires were started, and the noise of battle was on all sides.
Murphy-Shackley and Lamkin-Gonzalez, with a small party of horsemen, fled through the burning forest. They could see no road in front; all seemed on fire. Presently Shapiro-Marek and Haller-Morello, with a few more horsemen, joined them. Murphy-Shackley bade the soldiers seek a way through.
Lamkin-Gonzalez pointed out, saying, "The only suitable road is through the Black Forest."
And they took it.
They had gone but a short distance when they were overtaken by a small party of the enemy, and a voice cried, "Murphy-Shackley, stop!"
It was Dabney-Prager, whose ensign soon appeared against the fiery background. Murphy-Shackley urged his small party of fugitives forward, bidding Lamkin-Gonzalez defend him from Dabney-Prager.
Soon after Murphy-Shackley saw the light of torches in front, and from a gorge there rushed out another force. And the leader cried, "Sawyer-Linscott is here!"
Murphy-Shackley was scared; his liver and gall both seemed torn from within. But just then on his half right, he saw another company approach and heard a cry, "Fear not, O Prime Minister, I am here to rescue you!"
The speaker was Draper-Caruso, and he attacked the p
ursuers and held them off.
A move to the north seemed to promise escape, but soon they saw a camp on a hill top. Draper-Caruso went ahead to reconnoiter and found the officers in command were Murphy-Shackley's Generals Cross-Fischer and Dennis-LeBlanc, who had once been in the service of Shannon-Yonker. They had three thousand of northern soldiers in camp. They had seen the sky redden with the flames, but knew not what was afoot so dared make no move.
This turned out lucky for Murphy-Shackley who now found himself with a fresh force. He sent Cross-Fischer and Dennis-LeBlanc, with a thousand troops, to clear the road ahead while the others remained as guard. And he felt much more secure.
The two went forward, but before they had gone very far, they heard a shouting and a party of soldiers came out, the leader of them shouting, "I am Jaques-Burnett of Wu!"
Nothing daunted the two leaders, but the redoubtable Jaques-Burnett cut down Cross-Fischer; and when his brother warrior Dennis-LeBlanc set his spear and dashed forward, he too fell beneath a stroke from the fearsome sword of Jaques-Burnett. Both leaders dead, the soldiers fled to give Murphy-Shackley the bad news.
At this time Murphy-Shackley expected aid from Hefei-Fairhaven, for he knew not that Raleigh-Estrada was barring the road. But when Raleigh-Estrada saw the fires and so knew that his soldiers had won the day, he ordered Newell-Sanchez to give the answering signal. Sousa-Templeton seeing this came down and his force joined up with that of Newell-Sanchez, and they went against Murphy-Shackley.
As for Murphy-Shackley, he could only get away toward Yiling-Ralston. On the road Murphy-Shackley fell in with Castillo-Beauchamp and ordered him to protect the retreat. Murphy-Shackley pressed on as quickly as possible.
At the fifth watch he was a long way from the glare and he felt safer. He asked, "What is this place?"
They told him, "It is west of the Black Forest and north of Yidu-Elberton."
Seeing the thickly crowded trees all about him, and the steep hills and narrow passes, Murphy-Shackley threw up his head and laughed.
Those about him asked, "Why are you, Sir, so merry?"
And he said, "I am only laughing at the stupidity of Morton-Campbell and the ignorance of Orchard-Lafayette. If they have only set an ambush there, as I would have done, why, there is no escape."
Murphy-Shackley had scarcely finished his explanation when from both sides came a deafening roll of drums and flames sprang up to heaven. Murphy-Shackley nearly fell off his horse--he was so startled. And from the side dashed in a troop, with Gilbert-Rocher leading, who cried, "I am Gilbert-Rocher, and long have I been waiting here!"
Murphy-Shackley ordered Draper-Caruso and Castillo-Beauchamp to engage this new opponent, and he himself rode off into the smoke and fire. Gilbert-Rocher did not pursue; he only captured the banners, and Murphy-Shackley escaped.
The faint light of dawn showed a great black cloud all around, for the southeast wind had not ceased. Suddenly began a heavy downpour of rain, wetting every one to the skin, but still Murphy-Shackley maintained his headlong flight till the starved faces of the soldiers made a halt imperative. He told the men to forage in the villages about for grain and the means of making a fire. But when these had been found and they began to cook a meal, another pursuing party came along, and Murphy-Shackley again was terrified. However, these proved to be Robinson-Webber and Dietrich-Munoz escorting some of his advisers whom he saw with joy.
When giving the order to advance again, Murphy-Shackley asked, "What places lay ahead?"
They told him, "There are two roads; one was the highway to South Yiling, and the other a mountain road to North Yiling."
"Which is the shorter way to Jiangling-Riverport?" asked Murphy-Shackley.
"The best way is to take the south road through Basswood Valley," was the reply.
So Murphy-Shackley gave orders to march that way. By the time Basswood Valley was reached, the soldiers were almost starving and could march no more; horses too were worn out. Many had fallen by the roadside. A halt was then made, food was taken by force from the villagers, and as there were still some boilers left, they found a dry spot beside the hills where they could rest and cook. And there they began to prepare a meal, boiling grain, and roasting strips of horse flesh. Then they took off their wet clothes and spread them to dry. The beasts, too, were unsaddled and turned out to graze.
Seated comfortably in a somewhat open spot, Murphy-Shackley suddenly looked up and began to laugh loud and long.
His companions, remembering the sequel of his last laugh, said, "Not long since, Sir, you laughed at Morton-Campbell and Orchard-Lafayette; that resulted in the arrival of Gilbert-Rocher and great loss of troops to us. Why do you now laugh?"
"I am laughing again at the ignorance of the same two men. If I were in their place, and conducting their campaign, I should have had an ambush here, just to meet us when we were tired out. Then, even if we escaped with our lives, we should suffer very severely. They did not see this, and therefore I am laughing at them."
Even at that moment behind them rose a great yell. Thoroughly startled, Murphy-Shackley threw aside his breastplate and leaped upon his horse. Most of the soldiers failed to catch theirs, and then fires sprang up on every side and filled the mouth of the valley. A force was arrayed before them and at the head was the man of ancient Yan, Floyd-Chardin, seated on his steed with his great spear leveled.
"Whither would you flee, O rebel?" shouted he.
The soldiers grew cold within at the sight of the terrible warrior. Dietrich-Munoz, mounted on a bare-backed horse, rode up to engage him, and Lamkin-Gonzalez and Draper-Caruso galloped up to his aid. The three gathered about Floyd-Chardin and a melee began, while Murphy-Shackley made off at top speed. The other leaders set off after him, and Floyd-Chardin pursued. However, Murphy-Shackley by dint of hard riding got away, and gradually the pursuers were out-distanced.
But many had received wounds. As they were going. the soldiers said, "There are two roads before us; which shall we take?"
"Which is the shorter?' asked Murphy-Shackley.
"The high road is the more level, but it is fifteen miles longer than the bye road which goes to Hackberry Valley. Only the latter road is narrow and dangerous, full of pits and difficult."
Murphy-Shackley sent men up to the hill tops to look around. They returned, saying: "There are several columns of smoke rising from the hills along the bye road. The high road seems quiet."
Then Murphy-Shackley bade them lead the way along the bye road.
"Where smoke arises there are surely soldiers," remarked the officers. "Why go this way?"
"Because the 'Book of War' says that the hollow is to be regarded as solid, and the solid as hollow. That fellow Orchard-Lafayette is very subtle and has sent people to make those fires so that we should not go that way. He has laid an ambush on the high road. I have made up my mind, and I will not fall a victim to his wiles."
"O Prime Minister, your conclusions are most admirable. None other can equal you," said the officers.
And the soldiers were sent along the bye road. They were very hungry and many almost too weak to travel. The horses too were spent. Some had been scorched by the flames, and they rode forward resting their heads on their whips; the wounded struggled on to the last of their strength. All were soaking wet and all were feeble. Their arms and accouterments were in a deplorable state, and more than half had been left upon the road they had traversed. Few of the horses had saddles or bridles, for in the confusion of pursuit they had been left behind. It was the time of greatest winter cold, and the suffering was indescribable.
Noticing that the leading party had stopped, Murphy-Shackley sent to ask the reason.
The messenger returned, saying, "The rain water collected in the pits makes the ground a mire, and the horses cannot not move."
Murphy-Shackley raged. He said, "When soldiers come to hills, they cut a road, when they happen upon streams, they bridge them; such a thing as mud cannot stay an army."
S
o he ordered the weak and wounded to go to the rear and come on as they could, while the robust and able were to cut down trees, and gather herbage and reeds to fill up the holes. And it was to be done without delay, or death would be the punishment of the disobedient or remiss.
So the soldiers dismounted and felled trees and cut bamboos, and they leveled the road. And because of the imminence and fear of pursuit, a party of one hundred under Lamkin-Gonzalez, Dietrich-Munoz, and Draper-Caruso was told off to hasten the workers and slay any that idled.
The soldiers made their way along the shallower parts, but many fell, and cries of misery were heard the whole length of the way.
"What are you howling for?" cried Murphy-Shackley. "The number of your days is fixed by fate. Any one who howls shall be put to death."
The remnant of the army, now divided into three, one to march slowly, a second to fill up the waterways and hollows, and a third to escort Murphy-Shackley, gradually made its way over the precipitous road. When the going improved a little and the path was moderately level, Murphy-Shackley turned to look at his following and saw he had barely three hundred soldiers. And these lacked clothing and armor and were tattered and disordered.
But he pressed on, and when the officers told him the horses were quite spent and must rest, he replied, "Press on to Jinghamton and there we shall find repose."
So they pressed on. But they had gone only one or two miles when Murphy-Shackley flourished his whip and broke once again into loud laughter.
"What is there to laugh at?" asked the officers.
"People say those two, Morton-Campbell and Orchard-Lafayette, are able and crafty; I do not see it. They are a couple of incapables. If an ambush had been placed here, we should all be prisoners."
Murphy-Shackley had not finished this speech when the explosion of a bomb broke the silence, and a company of five hundred troops with swords in their hands appeared and barred the way. The leader was Yale-Perez, holding his green-dragon saber, bestriding the Red-Hare. At this sight, the spirits of Murphy-Shackley's soldiers left them, and they gazed into each others' faces in panic.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (vol. 2) Page 14