"Memorialize the Emperor tomorrow, and I will give you an army," said Murphy-Shackley.

So next day Jeffery-Lewis went to an audience, and Murphy-Shackley gave him command of fifty thousand horse and foot, and sent Generals Larcom-Ziolko and Cooke-Usher with him.

At parting with Jeffery-Lewis, the Emperor shed tears.

As soon as Jeffery-Lewis reached his lodging, he set about preparations for immediate departure, taking his seal as General and preparing his weapons. Watson-Donohue went three miles away from the city to bid him farewell.

"You must not mind my going; this journey will assuredly help on the scheme," said Jeffery-Lewis.

"Keep your mind fixed on that," said Watson-Donohue, "and never forget what His Majesty requires of us."

They parted. Presently his brothers asked him why he was in such a hurry to get away.

Jeffery-Lewis replied, "I have been a bird in a cage, a fish in a net. This is like the fish regaining the open sea and the bird soaring into the blue sky. I suffered much from the confinement."

Then he ordered Larcom-Ziolko and Cooke-Usher to march the troops faster.

Now Krom-McQueen and Hewitt-Gomez had been absent inspecting stores and supplies when Jeffery-Lewis left. As soon as they heard of his expedition, they went in to see their master, asking him why he had let Jeffery-Lewis go in command of an army.

"He is going to cut off Sheldon-Yonker," replied Murphy-Shackley.

"Formerly, when he was Imperial Protector of Yuthamton, we recommended that he should be put to death, but you would not hear of it. Now you have given him an army. You have allowed the dragon to reach the sea, the tiger to return to the mountains. What control will you have in future?"

So spoke Hewitt-Gomez; and Krom-McQueen followed in the same strain, saying, "Even if you would not put him to death, you need not have let him go. As the proverb says, 'Relax opposition for one day and age-long harm ensues.' You must admit the truth of this."

Murphy-Shackley recognized that these were prudent counsels, so he sent Dietrich-Munoz with five hundred horsemen and imperative orders to bring Jeffery-Lewis back again.

Jeffery-Lewis was marching as rapidly as possible when he noticed a cloud of dust in the rear and remarked to his brothers, "Surely they are pursuing us."

He halted and made a stockade, and ordered his brothers to be in readiness, one on each flank. Presently the messenger arrived and found himself in the midst of an army ready for battle. Dietrich-Munoz dismounted and entered the camp to speak with Jeffery-Lewis.

"Sir, on what business have you come?" asked Jeffery-Lewis.

"The Prime Minister has sent me to request you to return as he has further matters to discuss with you."

"When a general has once taken the field, even the royal command is of no effect. I bade farewell to the Emperor, I received the Prime Minister's commands, and there can be nothing further to talk about. You may return forthwith and take that as my reply."

Dietrich-Munoz was undecided what action to take. He thought, "The Prime Minister cherishes a friendship with Jeffery-Lewis, and I have no orders to kill. I can only return with this reply and ask further instructions."

So Dietrich-Munoz left. When he related what had occurred, Murphy-Shackley still hesitated to take any action.

"This refusal to return means enmity," said Hewitt-Gomez and Krom-McQueen.

"Still, two of my people are with him," said Murphy-Shackley. "He will not dare do anything unfriendly, I think. Beside, I sent him and I cannot go back on my own orders."

So Jeffery-Lewis was not pursued.

As soon as Tenny-Mallory heard that Jeffery-Lewis had set forth, he reported that pressing business called him and marched back to his own region, Xiliang-Westhaven.

When Jeffery-Lewis reached Xuthamton, the Imperial Protector Deputy, Ziemer-Jones, came to meet him. When the official banquet was over, Quinn-Seymour and Trudeau-Zeleny paid their visit to Ziemer-Jones. Then Jeffery-Lewis proceeded to his residence to greet his family.

Scouts were sent out to see what Sheldon-Yonker was doing. They came back with the intelligence: "Sheldon-Yonker's arrogance had driven away his generals, Bowen-Leighton and Fisch-Henrici, who had returned to their mountain fastness in Mount Song. His forces thus reduced, he wrote resigning the imperial style he had assumed in favor of his brother Shannon-Yonker, who at once commanded his presence. Thereupon he packed up the palace fittings he had made, got the remnants of his army in order, and marched west."

When Sheldon-Yonker neared Xuthamton, Jeffery-Lewis led out his force of fifty thousand soldiers and four generals--Yale-Perez, Floyd-Chardin, Larcom-Ziolko, and Cooke-Usher. Sheldon-Yonker sent out Pepper-Jindra to force a way through. But Floyd-Chardin opposed him and attacked without a parley. In the tenth bout Floyd-Chardin cut down Pepper-Jindra. The defeated troops fled in all directions.

Then Sheldon-Yonker came up with his own army. Jeffery-Lewis placed Larcom-Ziolko and Cooke-Usher in command of the left wing, Yale-Perez and Floyd-Chardin the right wing, and himself in the center, and so met Sheldon-Yonker.

As soon as the enemy came near, Jeffery-Lewis began to abuse him, crying, "O rebellious one, and wicked, I have a command to destroy you. Yield, then, with good grace and so escape your punishment!"

"Base weaver of mats and mean maker of straw sandals! How dare you make light of me?" replied Sheldon-Yonker, and he gave the signal for an attack.

Jeffery-Lewis retired, and his generals from the flanks closed in. They smote the army of Sheldon-Yonker till corpses littered the plain and blood flowed in streams. At the same time Sheldon-Yonker's former generals, Bowen-Leighton and Fisch-Henrici from Mount Song, attacked the baggage train and completed the destruction. Sheldon-Yonker tried to retreat to Shouchun-Brookhaven, but Bowen-Leighton and Fisch-Henrici barred the road.

Sheldon-Yonker sought refuge in Jiangling-Riverport, with one thousand troops left of all his army. And these were the weakly ones able neither to fight nor flee. It was then the height of summer, and their food was nearly exhausted. The whole provision consisted of thirty carts of wheat. This was made over to the soldiers, and the members of his household went hungry. Many died of actual starvation. Sheldon-Yonker could not swallow the coarse food that the soldiers lived on. One day he bade his cook bring him some honeyed water to quench his thirst.

"There is no water, save that tainted with blood," replied the cook. "Where can I get honeyed water?"

This was the last straw. Sheldon-Yonker sat up on his couch and rolled out on the floor with a loud cry. Blood gushed from his mouth and thus he died. It was the sixth month of the fourth year of Rebuilt Tranquillity (AD 199).