第75章

"As soon as it was known that Echama Naique had possession of the King's son,there went over to him four of Jaga Raya's captains with eight thousand men;so that he had in all sixteen thousand,and now had good hope of defending the rightful King.He took,therefore,measures for effecting the latter's escape.He selected from amongst all his soldiers twenty men,who promised to attempt to dig an underground passage which should reach to where the King lay in prison.In pursuance of this resolve they went to the fortress,offered themselves to the Dalavay as entering into his service,received pay,and after some days began to dig the passage so as to gain entrance to the King's prison.The King,seeing soldiers enter thus into his apartment,was amazed,and even more so when he saw them prostrate themselves on the ground and deliver him a palm-leaf letter from Echama Naique,in which he begged the King to trust himself to these men,as they would escort him out of the fortress.The King consented.He took off his robes hastily and covered himself with a single cloth;and bidding farewell to his wife,his sons,and his daughters,told them to have no fear,for that he,when free,would save them all.

"But it so happened that at this very moment one of the soldiers who were guarding the palace by night with torches fell into a hole,and at his cries the rest ran up,and on digging they discovered the underground passage.They entered it and got as far as the palace,arriving there just when the unhappy King was descending into it in order to escape.He was seized and the alarm given to Jaga Raya,who sent the King to another place more confined and narrower,and with more guards,so that the poor prisoner despaired of ever escaping.

"Echama Naique,seeing that this stratagem had failed,bribed heavily a captain of five hundred men who were in the fortress to slay the guards as soon as some good occasion offered,and to rescue the King.This man,who was called Iteobleza,[362]finding one day that Jaga Raya was leaving the palace with all his men in order to receive a certain chief who had proffered his submission,and that there only remained in the fortress about five thousand men,in less than an hour slew the guards,seized three gates,and sent a message to Echama Naique telling him to come at once and seize the fortress.But Jaga Raya was the more expeditious;he returned with all his forces,entered by a postern gate,of the existence of which Iteobleza had not been warned,and put to death the captain and his five hundred followers.

"Enraged at this attempt,Jaga Raya,to strengthen the party of his nephew,resolved to slay the King and all his family.He entrusted this business to a brother of his named Chinaobraya,[363]ordering him to go to the palace and tell the poor King that he must slay himself,and that if he would not he himself would kill him with stabs of his dagger.

"The prisoner attempted to excuse himself,saying that he knew nothing of the attempted revolt.But seeing the determination of Chinaobraya,who told him that he must necessarily die,either by his own hand or by that of another --a most pitiful case,and one that I relate full of sorrow!--the poor King called his wife,and after he had spoken to her awhile he beheaded her.Then he sent for his youngest son and did the same to him.He put to death similarly his little daughter.Afterwards he sent for his eldest son,who was already married,and commanded him to slay his wife,which he did by beheading her.This done,the King took a long sword of four fingers'breadth,and,throwing himself upon it,breathed his last;and his son,heir to the throne,did the same to himself in imitation of his father.There remained only a little daughter whom the King could not bring himself to slay;but Chinaobraya killed her,so that none of the family should remain alive of the blood royal,and the throne should be secured for his nephew.

"Some of the chiefs were struck with horror at this dreadful deed,and were so enraged at its cruelty that they went over to Echama Naique,resolved to defend the prince who had been rescued by the washerman,and who alone remained of all the royal family.Echama Naique,furious at this shameful barbarity and confident in the justice of his cause,selected ten thousand of his best soldiers,and with them offered battle to Jaga Raya,who had more than sixty thousand men and a number of elephants and horses.Echama sent him a message in this form:--'Now that thou hast murdered thy king and all his family,and there alone remains this boy whom I rescued from thee and have in my keeping,come out and take the field with all thy troops;kill him and me,and then thy nephew will be secure on the throne!'

"Jaga Raya tried to evade this for some time;but finding that Echama Naique insisted,he decided to fight him,trusting that with so great a number of men he would easily not only be victorious,but would be able to capture both Echama Naique and the prince.He took the field,therefore,with all his troops.Echama Naique entrusted the prince to a force of ten thousand men who remained a league away,and with the other ten thousand he not only offered battle,but was the first to attack;and that with such fury and violence that Jaga Raya,with all the people surrounding his nephew,was driven to one side,leaving gaps open to the enemy,and many met their deaths in the fight.Echama Naique entered in triumph the tents of Jaga Raya,finding in them all the royal insignia belonging to the old King and these he delivered to the young prince,the Son of Chica Raya,proclaiming him rightful heir and King of all the empire of Bisnaga.

"The spoil which he took was very large,for in precious stones alone they say that he found two millions worth.