CHAPTER XII.A MIGHTY BATTLE.
When the King of the Gnomes had gone, the new servants hurried away to the kitchen to help the cooks in the preparation of a second meal. As soon as the door closed behind them, Harry sprang into the room, shut the trap-door, and stealthily made his way to the door of the antechamber. Quietly slipping back the bolts, he opened it and beckoned the Pin Elves to enter the Hall.
“Don’t make a noise!” he cautioned, as they swarmed in. “Those of you armed with spears take your station on each side of the main door opposite. Smithkin, you take command of them. A couple of you others run to the door leading to the kitchen, and bolt it so that the servants cannot return. And you, Kitey, see if there are any weapons in thatwardrobe, and if you find any, distribute them as far as they will go.”
There were only about a hundred spears in the wardrobe, and Kitey distributed them among a hundred picked elves. These Harry placed in a line at the foot of the steps leading up to the dais. Then he seated Wamby on the throne, and directed the great body of unarmed elves to stand upon the raised dais on each side of and behind the throne.
Having thus disposed his forces, Harry said: “You hundred men are King Wamby’s body-guard. Under no consideration are you to leave him. You must protect his person, and also do what you can to protect your unarmed comrades on the dais. Now, Kitey, you and I will go to help Smithkin.”
Brave little Kitey had selected a terrible-looking spear about twice as long as himself, and with this resting upon his shoulder he trotted gleefully beside Harry down the long Hall.
The boy took his stand by the side of the door where the hinges were, so that he would be behind the door when it opened, and having placed Smithkin upon the other side, and directed the elves to keep close to the wall and to donothing till he gave the word, he awaited the coming of the Gnomes.
Thus there were ranged close to the wall on one side of the doorway, Smithkin and five hundred elves; and on the other side, Harry and Kitey with five hundred elves.
Presently the door swung open, and the advance body-guard of the King of the Gnomes marched into the Hall without looking to the right or left. The elfin soldiers remained like statues; no one moved a muscle. Harry waited, every nerve in his body quivering with suppressed excitement, until the advance-guard had passed and the King of the Gnomes himself stepped into the Hall. Then he slammed to the door, slipped the bolts into place, and shouted to the elves, “Now, capture them!”
Harry’s plan had been to admit the King of the Gnomes and take him prisoner, and shut out the main body of the Gnomes themselves. Then, with the King in his power, he could bring them speedily to terms. But his plan only partly succeeded.
The Gnoman soldiers marched as soldiers should, with “eyes front,” and failed to see the ambuscade laid for them. But the twolittle attendants, who were bearing the King of the Gnomes’ beard, were darting their sharp, black eyes in all directions, and the moment they stepped into the Hall they espied Smithkin and his men. Instantly they dropped the King’s beard and rushed back into the passageway. That warned the King that something was wrong, and he hastily stepped back into the passage, just as Harry slammed the door shut. But, though the King had escaped being taken prisoner in the Hall, he was captured in another way; for the door shut upon his long, gray beard, and thus he was securely held fast.
Harry, however, did not know about that, but supposed the King had escaped entirely. The boy, therefore, turned his attention to the Gnoman soldiers in the Hall.
There were some two hundred of them, the flower of the Gnoman army, but of course they stood no chance against a thousand spry Pin Elves. Before they had time to recover from their surprise at discovering the trap they had walked into, they were surrounded by the elves, who, disdaining to use their spear-points, laid about them with the shafts of their weapons, and knocked them right and left without mercy,and in short order had them overcome and disarmed.
“Bind them,” commanded Harry, “and carry them over to yonder corner.”
While they were thus engaged, a terrible shout arose from the elves upon the dais. Harry turned about and beheld Cattisack and Grumpy leading the main body of the Gnomes into the Hall, through the secret door by the wardrobe.
“Mercy on us!” cried the boy. “I forgot all about that door! Quick, Smithkin, get your men in order!”
That was easier said than done, for the elves had dropped their spears while binding the Gnoman body-guards, and before they had all recovered their weapons, the foremost of the enemy was upon them.
Harry in his excitement felt in the wrong pocket for his pop-pistol, and not finding that useful weapon, grabbed up a small table standing near, and tilting it up on edge with the top in front of him, he ran forward, pushing it along the floor, and mowed down a wide swath through the ranks of the advancing Gnomes. Again he turned, and levelled another row of them, andyet again, sweeping another hundred of them down.
But now they began scattering over the Hall, and adroitly dodging to the right and left as he charged impetuously back and forth, and his breath also began giving out, and he found himself obliged to rest a moment.
The instant he paused, a vast swarm of the Gnomes was about him, pricking his legs with their sharp spears, clinging by scores to his feet and ankles, and some of the bolder ones even starting to climb up his legs. Two or three times the boy shook them off, and by vigorous kicking managed to clear a little space about him. But finally he could endure the torment no longer, and with a whoop and yell he dashed through the dense mass and ran madly up the Hall.
Right in his path stood Cattisack and Grumpy, grinning maliciously at his discomfiture and defeat. That was more than any boy could stand. He made straight for them, and with a tremendous kick sent them flying through the air. Then he turned aside and vaulted upon the top of the wardrobe and sat down, out of breath, his legs smarting from a hundred spear-pricks.
It gave him no little satisfaction, however, ashe looked around, to observe that Cattisack and Grumpy were lying motionless where he had kicked them. They were not killed, however, but only disabled.
Meanwhile, Smithkin and Kitey, with their companions, had been having their hands full. Two or three of them had failed to find their weapons, and had been immediately captured by the enemy; the remainder formed themselves in a circle, and for a while bravely repelled the charges of the Gnomes; but one after another went down before the repeated assaults, and at length the Gnomes broke the circle and caused a large number to seek safety in flight.
This disheartened the remainder, and they, too, were on the point of fleeing, when Smithkin thought of the two hundred and fifty Pin Elves of the old King’s body-guard, who had gone over to the Gnomes with him in the last battle. They were standing together in a body not far off, taking no part in the struggle. Smithkin knew they had turned traitors chiefly because of their personal attachment to himself, and thinking he might win them back again, he waved his spear at them and gave the old battle-cry of the body-guard.
The fellows were really longing to help their old commander, and upon hearing his familiar war-cry they charged the Gnomes madly and were soon beside Smithkin, fighting like tigers.
Thus far the battle had been confined to the lower part of the Hall. But when the Gnomes found they made little impression upon Smithkin’s band, a large body of them quietly withdrew, marched to the upper end of the Hall, and charged the line of men at the foot of the dais. These were, as I have said, picked elves, and being perfectly fresh, they repelled each charge without losing a man or giving way an inch.
The Gnomes then tried a new mode of attack. They retreated a little distance, and forming themselves into a wedge-shaped mass, charged straight for the throne.
Harry saw in a moment what they were about to do, and roared at the top of his voice, “Smithkin! run to help Wamby! he’s in danger!”
With a yell to his men to follow, the brave commander broke through the line of Gnomes in front of him, dashed up the Hall, and reached the attacking party just as they were forcing their way up the steps of the throne. Hearinghis terrible battle-cry behind them, the Gnomes turned about and paused an instant. That brief pause saved Wamby from capture, for ere the Gnomes could turn again, Smithkin’s men in two bodies were attacking them on each flank.
Boy with hand out
Smithkin himself forced his way to the commander of the Gnomes, who was standing on the lower step of the dais, directly in front of the throne. The Pin Elf commander, grasping his stout spear by the shaft, used it as a club or battle-ax, and every time he swung it backand forth a number of Gnomes dropped senseless to the floor. Quickly he hewed a path before him, until he was face to face with the Gnoman commander. Then with a triumphant cry he raised the spear aloft and aimed a mighty blow at the fellow’s head. But the commander of the Gnomes at the same time raised his own spear in both hands horizontally above his head and caught the blow upon it, and Smithkin’s weapon was broken in twain.
Harry groaned aloud as he saw the defenceless plight of the Pin Elf champion.
King Wamby had been sitting on the edge of the throne, watching the conflict with breathless interest. In his hand he held the sceptre, or golden pickax, which the King of the Gnomes had left by the throne. As soon as the accident happened to Smithkin’s spear, he cried out, “Here, Smithkin, take this!” and tossed the golden pickax to him.
Smithkin deftly caught the implement by the handle, leaped upon the lower step of the dais, and smote the commander of the Gnomes such a terrible blow that he dropped senseless upon the floor.
At the sight Harry was beside himself withjoy, and impetuously catching the elfin hat from his head, he threw it high in the air with a loud hurrah. Instantly he realized what he had done, for as soon as the hat was off, Pin Elves and Gnomes disappeared from view.