Now, when night had
fallen on the camps, the common soldiers on each side began to
discuss, over their evening meal, the position in which they found
themselves. The men of Duroba, having drunk well, as their habit
was, fell into an odd state of mind. "What!" they exclaimed to one
another. "After all these years of tranquillity, are we really going
to fight with the Kalayans, and to slaughter them and be ourselves
slaughtered! Pray, what is it all about? Who can tell us?" Not a man
could answer, save with the vaguest generalities. And so, the debate
continuing, the wonder growing from moment to moment, at length, and
all of a sudden, the Duroban camp echoed with huge peals of
laughter. "Why, if we soldiers have no cause of quarrel, what are we
doing here? Shall we be mangled and killed to please our General
with the turn for chemistry? That were a joke, indeed!" And, as soon
as mirth permitted, the army rose as one man, threw together their
belongings, and with jovial songs trooped off to sleep comfortably
in a town a couple of miles away.
"'The Kalayans, meanwhile, had been occupied with the very same
question. They were anything but martial of mood, and the soldiery,
ill at ease in their camp, grumbled and protested. "After all, why
are we here?" cried one to the other. "Who wants to injure the
Durobans? And what man among us desires to be blown to pieces by
their new instruments of war? Pray, why should we fight? If the
great officials are angry, as the news-sheets tell us, e'en let them
do the fighting themselves.
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