REALMAH’S PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE. HIS PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN.

Realmah lost no time in making his preparations for resisting the siege of Abibah. He felt sure that the Northern tribes would ask who was the greatest king in those parts, and would direct their energies, in the first instance, to the reduction of his power.

What he most feared was fire; and his first efforts were directed to meet that danger. All those parts of the town which lay near the drawbridges he protected with thin plates of iron. The neighbouring parts to them he covered with a coating of clay and small stones; and the more remote parts of the town with the hides of animals.

Fortunately, the supply of water was inexhaustible; but the provisioning of the town for a protracted siege was a matter of anxious thought for Realmah.

As amongst the ancient Peruvians, so amongst the Sheviri, their laws and customs provided for considerable public storages of corn to meet the claims of the widows, the orphans, and the sick. And, as it was spring-time, there was nothing further to be done in the storing of grain.

Much, however, might be accomplished by slaughtering the principal part of their flocks and herds, and drying the flesh in the sun. This was done; and, after great exertions, Realmah found himself in a position to endure a siege of three months, without being in the least degree liable to suffer from famine. He was enabled to persuade his people to consent to the sacrifice of the best of their flocks and herds, by showing them that when the enemy came to invest the city they must be masters of the plains and the woodlands near, and the only question would be whether the Sheviri, or the enemy, should feed upon their flocks and herds.

The people were thoroughly docile to their king; and, on this memorable occasion, all private interests were merged in a great effort to meet, and if possible to defeat, the public enemy.

The name of the king who led the Northern forces was Lockmar; and the epithet that well described him was Dansta-Ramah--“the All-destroying Flame.” Like Attila, or Genghis-Khan, or any of the fearful scourges who have devastated the fairest regions of the earth, he was simply a brute kind of a man, who loved carnage, and had gained the superiority amongst his fellows by being, if possible, a lower and more ferocious animal than any of them. Remorseless as a tiger, subtle as a serpent, and brave as a lion, Lockmar had all the sway which belongs to a supreme pre-eminence in badness.

Against this man the gentle, kind-hearted Realmah was pitted; and it remained to be seen whether brute force was always to be predominant in this world.

The plan of the campaign, as it had long been matured in the mind of Realmah, was very simple. There were to be three armies in the field. The Phelatahs and the Doolmen were to form the bulk of one of these armies. The subject provinces were to furnish a second army; and the third, upon which Realmah placed the greatest reliance, was to consist of Sheviri, and to operate in the plain south of the city, through which the great river Ramassa runs.

A small body of the troops of the Sheviri was to be attached to the first and second armies. The brunt of the war was to be borne by the army of the Ramassa, as it was called. This army was to be commanded by Athlah.

The relations between that chieftain and Realmah had been greatly changed since the beginning of this story. Athlah was a man who always believed in power, and was very submissive to it. Besides, he had learnt to appreciate fully the great qualities of the King; and on no one’s could Realmah have placed a firmer reliance than he did on that of Athlah.

Realmah resolved to remain in the town of Abibah, for he had many devices in his mind to prepare it for a state of siege, and he was determined to fight the invaders street by street, and not to yield as long as a single vestige of the town remained upon the waters.

He intended to be present at the battle in the plain, but he had resolved to come away from it alive, and to reserve all his energies for the siege. He did not hesitate to let this intention be known to his principal friends and councillors. He felt that the knowledge of this intention (which was sure to leak out) would give great comfort to the inhabitants of the town, and induce them to bear without murmuring the great labours and sacrifices which he was about to impose upon them for the defence of the town.

He had in his own mind come to the conclusion that each one of these three armies would be worsted, but not without inflicting considerable loss upon the enemy; that they would then commence a siege; that this siege would be very impetuously maintained for a short time; that it would then languish; that he could direct a guerilla warfare against the southern divisions of the enemy’s army; and, in fine, that he could protract matters until the rainy season should come on. By that time, he would have collected the scattered remnants of these three armies, and would make a final grand attack.

The reasons which had led Realmah to form and to rely upon this plan of campaign were these:--Though he had armed his own troops and some of his allies with iron weapons, he was well aware that every man of the Northern tribes would be well armed. He was also aware that they had much more practice in war than the nations of the South. He, therefore, concluded that his people and his allies would inevitably be beaten in pitched battles until he had called in pestilence and famine to his aid. He also concluded that if he could withstand the first great attack upon the town, these Northern barbarians, who, he had heard, were very capricious and unstable beings, accustomed to rapid victories, would become tired of a protracted siege. They would then either retire, or be defeated upon his striking a great blow, in concert with his allies, upon the forces of the enemy diminished and disheartened by pestilence and famine.