第62章

'Traitorous thieves!' muttered the old man in his beard, and went along the stalls, looking for his own black charger.Having found him, he returned to saddle first the king's.But the maid had already the saddle upon him, and so girt that the colonel could thrust no finger tip between girth and skin.He left her to finish what she had so well begun, and went and made ready his own.He then chose for the princess a great red horse, twenty years old, which he knew to possess every equine virtue.This and his own he led to the palace, and the maid led the king's.

The king and Curdie stood in the court, the king in full armour of silvered steel, with a circlet of rubies and diamonds round his helmet.He almost leaped for joy when he saw his great white charger come in, gentle as a child to the hand of the housemaid.

But when the horse saw his master in his armour, he reared and bounded in jubilation, yet did not break from the hand that held him.Then out came the princess attired and ready, with a hunting knife her father had given her by her side.They brought her mother's saddle, splendent with gems and gold, set it on the great red horse, and lifted her to it.But the saddle was so big, and the horse so tall, that the child found no comfort in them.

'Please, King Papa,' she said, 'can I not have my white pony?'

'I did not think of him, little one,' said the king.'Where is he?'

'In the stable,' answered the maid.'I found him half starved, the only horse within the gates, the day after the servants were driven out.He has been well fed since.'

'Go and fetch him,' said the king.

As the maid appeared with the pony, from a side door came Lina and the forty-nine, following Curdie.

'I will go with Curdie and the Uglies,' cried the princess; and as soon as she was mounted she got into the middle of the pack.

So out they set, the strangest force that ever went against an enemy.The king in silver armour sat stately on his white steed, with the stones flashing on his helmet; beside him the grim old colonel, armed in steel, rode his black charger; behind the king, a little to the right, Curdie walked afoot, his mattock shining in the sun; Lina followed at his heel; behind her came the wonderful company of Uglies; in the midst of them rode the gracious little Irene, dressed in blue, and mounted on the prettiest of white ponies; behind the colonel, a little to the left, walked the page, armed in a breastplate, headpiece, and trooper's sword he had found in the palace, all much too big for him, and carrying a huge brass trumpet which he did his best to blow; and the king smiled and seemed pleased with his music, although it was but the grunt of a brazen unrest.Alongside the beasts walked Derba carrying Barbara - their refuge the mountains, should the cause of the king be lost;as soon as they were over the river they turned aside to ascend the Cliff, and there awaited the forging of the day's history.Then first Curdie saw that the housemaid, whom they had all forgotten, was following, mounted on the great red horse, and seated in the royal saddle.

Many were the eyes unfriendly of women that had stared at them from door and window as they passed through the city; and low laughter and mockery and evil words from the lips of children had rippled about their ears; but the men were all gone to welcome the enemy, the butchers the first, the king's guard the last.And now on the heels of the king's army rushed out the women and children also, to gather flowers and branches, wherewith to welcome their conquerors.

About a mile down the river, Curdie, happening to look behind him, saw the maid, whom he had supposed gone with Derba, still following on the great red horse.The same moment the king, a few paces in front of him, caught sight of the enemy's tents, pitched where, the cliffs receding, the bank of the river widened to a little plain.