Part 12

"Ah, Colonel," I said, as he saluted, "I wish you to become acquainted with a man you may have heard of. You may even have sought his company. His name is Piotr, and under Ivan's beneficent rule he lived in a way that might have incurred your displeasure. He is now, however, one of my friends."

"I know him by sight, your Majesty, also by reputation. I believe we once exchanged slight courtesies with one another."

Here Piotr grinned.

"I trust neither of you were hurt," I said.

"I don't know about Piotr, your Majesty, but I had an inch of skin taken off my arm."

"And you, Piotr?" I asked.

For answer he lifted the thick hair from the side of his face--part of an ear was missing.

"That I consider highly satisfactory, you both need bear no grudge; neither of you owes the other anything, and you must both have made excellent shooting."

I laughed, and my two companions did likewise, quite heartily.

"And now, Colonel, sit down, and you too, Piotr. I have something of the utmost importance to say to you, and which must be kept absolutely to yourselves. It is this: in all probability we shall be at war with Bornia before the month is out."

A gleam lit up Quarovitch's face. Piotr sat silent.

"You have no doubt heard," I continued, "that Bornia has mobilised for manoeuvres. I have information that they are extremely busy at their arsenals, that ammunition is being hastened to the frontiers--and it is not blank shell. The time has passed when due warning was given before going to war. It is therefore necessary to prepare in peace time. Of course the whole affair may be nothing, or it may be as we surmise: that Bornia thinks that she is strong enough to crush us, and place Prince Alexis on the throne in my place. If that indeed be their plan, some small incident will serve as an excuse for an ultimatum. In any case, if it does not come now, it will in the near future. I think myself, and the Ministers think with me, that they mean war now."

"It were better so, your Majesty, if we are ready too," said Colonel von Quarovitch.

"And what say you, Piotr?"

"That we farmers do not want war, but if it comes we shall know when to fight, and how to fight, but not when to stop fighting, especially when you say they wish to dethrone your Majesty."

"Piotr speaks well," said Quarovitch.

"Good! You in the army will fight, because it is your duty; you of the farms, in self-protection; and both for Rudarlia."

"And the King," said Quarovitch. "Don't forget that, your Majesty; Piotr, here, would not have raised a hand if Ivan had been still reigning; and I should have hated doing so."

"It is lucky you are seldom at Court, Colonel, because I can see that you would forget your soldierly habits for those of the courtier."

"God forbid, your Majesty!" he cried, and then we all three laughed again.

I took a map from my desk, spreading it out before me.

"Come closer, and look. Here is Melanov, Piotr. I wish you to point out to the Colonel the exact spot of which we were talking."

"It is there, your Majesty."

"You see, Colonel, there?"

"I see nothing except that small road which you have traced in red ink."

"You know it?"

"Surely, as I know every inch of the country round, with the exception of one place."

"And that?"

"Where Piotr used to hide himself, that I never could discover."

"He will show it to you, Colonel."

"For a purpose, your Majesty?"

"For a purpose. I wish you to go there, without anyone knowing, and see how best it can be adapted quickly to accommodate at least ten thousand troops, for some days."

"Aha!"

"You will also determine the best way for the said troops to arrive there, and whether it will be possible to remove the traces of their progress. When you have all the information required, return to me here."

"It shall be done, your Majesty."

"You, Piotr, will accompany Colonel von Quarovitch. If help is needed select from your friends the necessary number of men. They will work under the Colonel's directions, and you will be in charge, and will pay them for their time, at twice the ordinary rates. For your own trouble, I promise that you shall be satisfied."

"I want nothing, your Majesty, my life is yours."

"Then return with Colonel von Quarovitch, we shall perhaps need you."

*CHAPTER XII*

It was three days before Quarovitch returned with the details which I had desired him to obtain. He was in a state of mind bordering upon dismay, that such a place should have existed without his knowledge. He was amazed, disgusted, and yet pleased, for the report he brought back showed that he had a fair inkling of what I intended to do.

Silently we prepared for war, mobilising quietly and quickly, without any undue haste, but with careful attention to details.

I interviewed the Press. Thank God they were all loyal, and were only too pleased to fall in with the scheme I proposed to them: which was to refrain from mentioning any movements of troops, or details of military import. I promised them that, whenever it was possible, news that they could print should be given to them; they also agreed to write articles, strongly advocating Peace.

As soon as I had Quarovitch's report, I called a Council of War. It was composed of Count von Belen, Prince von Zeula, Prince von Venoff, General von Vorkovitch, Prince Kleber, General Avilinoff, General von Scutane, and Colonel von Quarovitch. Mr. Neville was there to act as secretary, for we wished to keep our plans known to as few people as possible.

I am sure there was a strong current of excitement running through us as we settled ourselves down to examine the large maps of Rudarlia, which were spread on the table.

"Gentlemen," I said, "we all know the strained feeling now existing between this country and our neighbour Bornia; their mobilisation points to serious possibilities, I may say probabilities. I have therefore called this Council to deliberate upon the steps we must take to prepare for war.

"I may tell those of you who are not in the Ministry that we have received information that the great Powers will not interfere in this war--if it should come to war. With this assurance, which as you know is of vast importance, we can rest satisfied. The main issue will therefore rest upon the skill with which we meet the enemy. If our strategy is superior to that of the Bornians, all will be well. I refuse to allow for one moment the idea that it may be inferior, therefore we will not waste time in discussing that eventuality.

"In the Councils we have held in the past, it has been generally concluded that any invasion by Bornia would come from the west, as it did before; and certainly the number of troops massed there point to the probability of the suggestion.

"The military experts among us point out that the Ruln, Agrade, and Karena line is the only possible means of conveying heavy guns to attack our fortified capital, which is most likely the correct opinion; but it must be remembered that there are other ways of reaching Karena. Prince Kleber is the only one who suggests that the attack may be made through Soctia, but I am afraid that there the wish is father to the thought."

"That is so," said the Prince, so glibly that we all smiled.

"That being so, I think we can trust our troops in Soctia to repulse any raid through Garace, which, on account of the nature of the ground to the north, would be of no real import to the general plan of the Bornians, save as the means to create a panic, and draw troops from more important places.

"Now, there is another way into Karena which has not as yet been hinted at as a possible line of attack. All of you, with courteous consideration for my feelings, have refrained from any adverse criticism regarding certain fortified places to the north of Karena. But I have no doubt that you have often considered the money spent as so much waste; it may be so, but it was spent with the idea of preventing an attack in that direction. The road from Melanov to Karena is the shortest way from Bornian frontiers to our capital."

"Does your Majesty know the road from Melanov to Karena?" asked Vorkovitch.

"Very well, General. I have walked it twice with my eyes open."

"Would your Majesty consider that an attack could be made from there?"

"I trust so, since I have counted upon such an attack being attempted."

"But it would be madness to advance that way, there are no roads to speak of; we could mass our men, so that the enemy would not be able to advance half a dozen miles. The Bornians must know that and they are not mad."

"And yet it is the shortest way to Karena from the frontier."

"It would not be if we were in between."

"Perhaps not; but did you intend being in between? I have not heard the suggestion made."

"No, your Majesty, I did not mention it, as it would be absurd to waste troops in that direction, when the frontier guard would be sufficient."

"Very well, is that the general opinion?"

"It appears to be, your Majesty," said Prince Zeula.

"Are there no dissentients?"

"Three, your Majesty: Count Belen, Colonel von Quarovitch, and myself."

"You agree with me then, Colonel von Quarovitch?"

"I do, your Majesty, and should like to mention that some years ago I sent in a report to that effect. At that time, I am convinced, they could have marched through, that is, if they had taken us by surprise."

"You think then they will try a surprise to the north; on what grounds do you base your supposition?"

"The south and west have been fortified since the last invasion. They know that, therefore it must strike them that they will meet with great opposition in those quarters. This opposition, however, would be tremendously lessened, if not completely upset, by a striking success to the north."

"Then what do you imagine would be their plan of attack?"

"I think, your Majesty, that their main forces will strike along the Ruln-Agrade line, and at the same time they will throw a column through Melanov."

"Pshaw!" said Vorkovitch.

"What is your objection to Colonel von Quarovitch's argument?"

"My chief objection is that he takes the Bornians for fools, and argues on that premise. I maintain that no sane general would try to deliver a main attack through such country as that between Melanov and Karena."

"Colonel von Quarovitch did not suggest a main attack by the north, but a flying column; personally, I should be inclined to think that they would send a larger force than that."

With the exception of Quarovitch, the military element were against me. It was easy to see that their thoughts ran along preconceived lines of strategy, which I think is rather a failing among military men. It seems to me that they go too much to the great generals of past times, whereas no two battles have ever been exactly similar.

On former occasions, when we had held a Council, the soldiers had agreed most easily, but then we had not discussed the prospect of immediate warfare. Now, when we should all have been eager to find the best possible defence, each of these same Generals wanted his own plan to be adopted.

I listened to each proposition, carefully weighing it; I did not criticise, there was no need, with the other Generals there.

More than once I introduced the subject of Melanov, but each time it met with almost unveiled scorn. So finally I said no more; but I had my own ideas, and I intended to carry them out.

The advance from Ruln was the great topic of discussion, it was there that the opinions differed: one proposed this, another that, until I was weary listening to their wrangling.

Quarovitch said little, being only a Colonel, and I almost regretted not having raised him in rank before this.

The result of this Council was nil. We sat again that evening, also the next morning; and still they argued, and argued.

At this meeting General von Vorkovitch fell ill; he was a very old man, and the strain had proved too much for him. He retired from the Council, and I sent a car to take him to his home near Damretch.

When he had gone I decided to take matters into my own hands, for time was flying, and we were hardly any nearer the solution of our problem. We were receiving reports continually from the border of fresh troops arriving in the neighbourhood of Ruln; it was evident that their main attack would come that way. I had my spies, too, on the Melanov border, but so far nothing was reported save a certain restlessness at Nerane, and certain tracks which could not be accounted for by ordinary traffic. I sent Piotr to try his luck, and see what he could discover.

Now we had decided that the Ruln-Karena line was where our chief fighting must be done, and upon this point General Avilinoff and I agreed. General von Scutane had sided with General von Vorkovitch. They wished to offer a tremendous defence at Ruln itself, even to advance into Bornia, their reasons being that in that way we should be fighting upon the enemy's soil, which is always encouraging to the soldiers. This was not at all what I wished. It was too much like stalemate, that is, granting that we could hold Ruln. It seemed to me that, even if we could, nothing decisive could result, for we were not in a position to invade Bornia. On the other hand, if we allowed them to force a way slowly into Rudarlia, there would be more chance of victory. With our small army we could wage a defensive campaign, where we could hope for nothing from the offensive. We should be fighting on our own territory, of which we should know every inch; and, as to the morale of our troops, well, I had always understood that men would fight to the death in defence of their own.

It was then decided that our policy should be a slow strategic retreat to our own chosen positions.

We were just about to adjourn for an hour, when an urgent message was brought to me by Woolgast; it ran:

"I have news of the utmost importance to your Majesty, and to the Council now sitting. I await your Majesty's orders.--RUPERT CARRUTHERS."

"Admit him, please," I said, and waited.

There must be something serious afoot, or he would never have been so formal, nor would he have interrupted our Council. He had not wasted much time in coming over, and, perhaps, on his way he had gathered news. I wondered whether he had come through Nerane.

He entered the room and saluted.

I felt inclined to jump up and seize his hand, and laugh with pleasure at sight of him, but of course I could not, so had to content myself with a good look at him. He really was a splendid looking man, the ideal soldier; and it was strange that at that moment I wondered whether he was ever going to be married, and whether there was no Rudarlian girl to tempt him to matrimony.

"Ah, Monsieur Carruthers, you have news, you say, of importance to us. I shall be pleased to hear you."

"I come from Nerane, sir"--it was almost ludicrous to see the start which nearly every one gave, the word "Nerane" seemed to act as a spur--"being desirous of arriving here as soon as possible, I hired a horse and, in trying a short cut, lost my way; in seeking the road again I blundered upon a body of Bornian troops not more than seven miles from Melanov."

"What's that?" I cried, and I saw General von Soutane's hands clench, as they rested on the table. "Bornian troops, sir. I estimated their number to be about ten to fifteen thousand. They are bivouacked in a defile to the east of the road, well hidden from any ordinary passer-by."

"Ah! did you observe any details, monsieur? Had they guns?"

"Only horse artillery, but in Nerane I saw heavier weapons."

"Openly displayed?"

"No, sir, they were hidden in a small farm to the south of the town; observing heavy tracks, I walked up to the house to ask for a drink of water. The guns were covered with masses of hay."

"And what made you suppose them to be guns?"

"At first it was a surmise on my part, as, in England, haystacks are not guarded by armed soldiers. Afterwards I made sure, as one of them was carelessly covered."

I smiled at this, knowing Rupert's inordinate curiosity, and almost superhuman dexterity in ferreting out what he wished to know.

"Was there not considerable risk in walking to the house as you did? Surely it would have been better to have ridden up as any traveller would?"

"I had not my horse then, sir."

"I thought you said you had hired a horse."

"It was at the farm that I obtained my horse, sir."

Rupert allowed a grin to twist his lips, so I said no more about the horse, but I knew there was a story attached to the possession of it. I turned to Avilinoff.

"What do you say now, General?"

"Can Monsieur Carruthers give any reason for supposing that the intentions of these troops were other than pacific?"

"They were carrying ball cartridges, General."

"Then, your Majesty, I say that I was wrong about the north."

"You mean that Colonel von Quarovitch may be right?"

"More than that, I say that he _is_ right. They evidently propose a raid; how big, of course it is impossible to say until we know more. Could Monsieur Carruthers give us more details?"

"I had not much time, General, but I saw an aeroplane with the troops, and there were signs of great activity in Nerane. I only got through by pretending to be the nephew of Sir George Curtiss."

We adjourned after this for an hour, Rupert breakfasted with me, and told me the truth about his horse. It appeared that as he was leaving the farm, he met an officer leading his horse; this officer stopped him, and asked his business. Carruthers had calmly knocked him down, placed a thousand franc note in his pocket, and confiscated his horse. The money he had left was what he described as payment for the hire of the animal. He also described the payment as: "A d--d sight more than the beast was worth."

That same day we worked out the full scheme of our south-eastern defence, and I appointed Avilinoff as Commander-in-Chief. The north I reserved. I had made up my mind to conduct that campaign myself. It was perhaps conceited, idiotic, even criminal, that I, a ridiculously young King, should take into my own hands the leadership of an army, but I had faith in myself, and in my soldiers. I did not presume to pose as a tactician, but the strategy should be mine, for I felt it. Perhaps it was some spark inherited from a soldier ancestor, I do not know.

We had, when fully mobilised, an army of one hundred and thirty thousand men; this number did not include the garrisons of such places as Soctia, Poiska, or Orvlov. It was the actual fighting force that reached that number. Of these I retained forty thousand; the other ninety thousand were under the command of Avilinoff.

Our railways were never idle, and in order to confuse the enemy's spies very few people knew of the ultimate destination of the troops, these being moved backwards and forwards; but gradually they were drafted off to the frontier, or as near to it as Avilinoff wished.

I made Quarovitch a General, for I intended giving him a large command in the north, and he and I worked hard together concocting our plan, and deciding on the composition of the forces necessary to carry it out.

Forty thousand men may have seemed a large proportion of our fighting force to have kept for the north, and I believe it was greatly criticised, but my reasons were these: we did not know how many of the enemy would be opposed to us, I wished to have the numerical superiority over any probable force.

I wanted to gain a victory, of a decisive kind, quickly, and also I thought that, after a victory in the north, the troops, when they did reach the southern army, would leaven that in a most satisfactory way, especially as Avilinoff's army would have been retreating for some time.

For some days small bodies of troops left Karena, after dark, for a destination known only to the officer in charge, and Quarovitch. Of course, I was aware that they went, and where; but, then, I was supposed to know everything.

A shooting affray in which a Bornian officer was wounded, a fishing boat seized by our coast guard, were the two excuses our enemy needed; these two things happened simultaneously, and within twenty-four hours they had presented an ultimatum.

That same night Piotr returned. He had ample information, and of such a nature that I blessed the thought that had induced me to retain so many troops in the north. He left again some hours later with Quarovitch.

Between Prince Venoff and the Bornian Minister, there was a great deal of going to and fro. Our Foreign Minister, full of wiles, played his part to perfection. He asked for more time, appeared to meditate compliance with the terms of the ultimatum, suggested compromises with every sign of nervousness; but all to no avail, the Bornian was relentless.

I cannot remember meeting a man so born to be duped. He was enormously conceited, overbearing, and haughty. He only possessed a modicum of those qualities a Minister needs.

Had he been a wiser man, our course of procedure would have been very different, but as it was he was fooled completely, and the more fooled he was the more pressing he became in his demands.

At last we could hold him off no longer, even if we had wished to; and he was recalled upon war being declared.

*CHAPTER XIII*

So war had come, and I, for one, thanked God that it had not found us unprepared.

The first shot of the war was fired at Ruln. It took the enemy three days, and cost them many lives, to drive our small force out of that place. It was on that day that they made their first move from the north, and it is with this attack that I will deal first.

A thousand men seized Melanov, driving out a small force of ill-equipped Rudarlians. These retired with every appearance of panic and surprise. It was Captain von Essens who was responsible for this move, and he had chosen his men for their intelligence; they must have acted their part extremely well.

The enemy advanced rapidly, their cavalry reached Nardal and occupied that place without resistance. On the other flank they reached half-way to Villatov. The ground, however, in that direction was eminently unsuited for cavalry work, and a small body of Rudarlians held them there successfully.

At Viritz, their main force met with considerable resistance, as we determined to make them bring up as large a number of troops as possible. Our old guns were conspicuous, and in spite of their age did considerable damage. Again we lost ground, retiring, before an overwhelming force, some seven miles, to a range of hills where we were heavily entrenched. We left Viritz in a hurry, leaving behind us a number of obsolete guns carefully rendered useless; I had given them to the Bornians as I had promised.

They occupied Viritz, and I heard with great satisfaction that they were congratulating themselves on the easiness with which they were progressing. They made the fatal blunder of under-estimating an adversary. It was what I had wished and schemed for. The concentration of their troops at Viritz, preparatory to a final rush through to Karena, gave us time to complete our defences on the hills, and there we sat and waited.

The three roads which led from Viritz to Karena, Romlitz, and Kelbna ran through the hills at places where, strangely enough, minerals had been found; between these roads, linking them up, were our troops. The roads were also joined by a military road, on the side nearest to Karena. This had been built especially for the movements of troops.