“Yes, sir.”
As this staff officer departed at a run, another bolted out of the headquarters building.
“Sir, the kingmen are trying another crossing!”
Monnik stared. “Where?”
“Sir, that artillery they were moving south along the river—they’ve swung it off the road and opened fire on our observation posts along the opposite bank. We thought all the wagons they had with them were part of the ammunition train, but they’ve got a disassembled pontoon bridge on some of them. They’ve got a column of troops marching up the road toward them. We’ve got practically nothing on the opposite bank because we sent everything north to fight at that first bridgehead. We can’t pull those troops back yet because they’re still fighting, and they’re about worn out.”
“Where’s our artillery?”
“Coming south on the road. But, sir, they’re bogged down in a terrible stretch of road.”
“How long till they get to the new crossing-place?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
Monnik felt as if he had been hit over the head with a club.
“Sir,” cried the staff officer, “the kingmen will cross the river, go straight through us, and split the front in two halves. They’ll—”
“Shut up,” snarled Monnik. “Bring Karrif up from the south and block the crossing.”
“Sir, it was quiet on Karrif’s sector, so his transport was pulled out to help move the reserve. He has no transport.”
“Then he’ll have to do it on foot. Get moving.”
The staff officer sprinted away. Monnik considered the Earthman and his theory. He hoped there was something to it because the fight was getting to the point where the moves were forced, and there didn’t seem to be too many moves left.
* * *
For most of the day, the situation wavered and hung fire. Then a fierce attack opened up before his fortifications in the south. The kingmen in the original bridgehead tried hard to break out. As both these attacks were held, the enemy engineers assembling the new pontoon bridge lagged and bungled in a suspicious way. Meanwhile, on Monnik’s side of the river, General Karrif’s troops alternately marched and ran, marched and ran, the general himself at the head of the column, as they raced north toward the crossing.
As evening approached, Karrif’s troops, bone-tired but triumphant, marched up opposite the crossing-place.
The enemy artillery instantly swung onto the road and headed south again. With smooth efficiency, the engineers loaded the pontoon bridge back onto its wagons and followed the artillery.
“They’ll cross farther south, sir,” said a worn-looking staff officer. “We can’t move anything north because of the attack at the fortifications. Even the general reserve’s committed—what’s left of it.”
“Give Karrif two hours rest. Then start him south again.”
“Sir, the men will drop like flies.”
“It will be worse than that if the kingmen get across that river. How’s the artillery coming?”
“Axle-deep in mud, sir. The men are moving the guns but it’s hellish work.”
“How did this come about? That road was all right earlier.”
“Yes, sir, but some rubbish plugged up a culvert under the road. The water backed up, overflowed the ditch, and soaked the roadbed. The dirt turned into mud, and when the weight of those guns hit it, they ground it into bottomless slop.”
Monnik shook his head in weary disgust. “They’ve got the culvert unplugged by now, I hope.”
“Yes, sir, and they’re laying down planks, but it’s a mess.”
“All right. Get that order out to Karrif.”
“Yes, sir.”
Monnik stood still for a moment, considering how the fate of an army could rest on a few puny branches drifting into the mouth of a culvert and catching a pile of miscellaneous trash that could indirectly halt a whole column of artillery, without as much as a shot fired or a hand raised in anger.
He scowled suddenly, and sent one of his officers to find out what the Earthmen were doing. The officer came back with a blank look.
“Sir, they’re flying kites.”
“They’re what?”
“Flying kites, sir. The reports say they’re very pretty kites. And they’re also floating little rafts down the river.”
Monnik shook his head in disgust. There, he thought, went his last hope. Grimly, he braced himself for the morrow.
It was a bad night for Monnik. And then he woke to confront a gray-faced staff as the reports came in.
“Sir, Karrif is back in position.”
“Good.”
“And there’s about a third to a fourth of the enemy artillery opposite him.”
Monnik started. “Where’s the rest of it?”
“They apparently pulled it off the road soon after dark, sir. Now it’s back where it was yesterday. They’re putting the pontoon bridge together with record speed, and the first enemy troops are waiting to cross. We’re back where we were before, only now Karrif is too worn out to be able to intervene either in the north or the south. His troops are exhausted.”
Monnik made a hard effort to keep his equilibrium. “How’s the fighting elsewhere?”
“The enemy has made a little dent in the south, but it isn’t bad. The reserve has stopped them. Further north, they’ve been driven back into their bridgehead with heavy losses. We’ve stopped them elsewhere, but there’s nothing left to stop them at the crossing.” The officer managed a faint imitation of a smile. “Except the Earthmen, sir. They’re there.”
“What are they doing?”
“Flying kites, sir. And floating rafts.”
Monnik grunted. “Where are our guns?”
“They’re just dragging the first of them out onto the solid road. But they can’t get into position before this afternoon, and with no infantry support, we’ll just lose them to the kingmen.”
“Keep dragging them out,” said Monnik, “and move them south as fast as possible. Pull out Hossig and his best units and send them south.”
“Sir, they’ll never make it.”
“They’ve got to make it.”
“Sir, it just isn’t possible. If there were anything, of any size, to slow down the kingmen when they cross, it might work. But there’s nothing left there except the remnants of our observation posts. There’s just nothing to delay them, sir.”
“Then there will be,” said Monnik. “We’ll delay them ourselves. The Headquarters Guard is an elite unit. Assemble them outside.”
For the first part of the trip, over the miserable trails that wound around horseshoe curves and plunged up and down long steep grades, Monnik used what remained of his pool of headquarters transport. When they had delivered Monnik and the first section of the Headquarters Guard to a specified point, they went back for more. Monnik started off cross-country with the men he had.
On the map, it had looked to him like a possible thing. Monnik had thought he knew all about maps, and their little tricks, until he came to the third of the ravines that weren’t shown on the map. Sweating and furious, he led the men as they scrambled and slid down to the bottom, stumbled through the tumbled rocks and rushing water, and laboriously hauled themselves up the other side. In time, they emerged on an open hill, to see in the distance below them a pontoon bridge, with a steady stream of enemy soldiers crossing and fanning out on the near side of the river. To Monnik’s left, far down the road that wound along the base of the hill, his own guns were approaching.
Monnik looked over the ground carefully. He turned to the captain of the guard.
“You see that ridge above the road? If we spread out along it, and switch our men back and forth as we fire, we can give the impression of a much larger body of troops. Come on.”
The captain passed the orders back, and they spread out along the ridge. In the distance, the kingmen approached. From somewhere out of sight, the Earthmen drifted pretty kites over the battlefield. Monnik and his men began to fire.
The kingmen continued to advance.
Monnik braced himself for the unavoidable end. He hoped Hossig would make good use of the delay.
Suddenly, from the direction of the river came a white flash, followed by a terrific concussion.
From the drifting kites dropped little gray packets.
The captain put his hand on Monnik’s arm.
“Sir, their bridge is gone! And look there. Great hairy master of sin! Look at that!”
The kingmen were rushing in all directions, thrashing their arms wildly. Abruptly they all bolted for the river. The huge array dwindled into a mob that vanished headlong over the river bank.
Monnik said suddenly, “The Earthmen dropped something from those kites. But what could—”
From the distance came a faint whining sound that grew to a speeding little speck, and was joined by other whining little specks.
Monnik looked at the fleeing kingmen, then at the growing multitude of specks traveling in his direction. His mouth felt dry. He turned to the captain of the guard.
“We’ve done our duty here, captain. I don’t know what that is coming. We’d better withdraw.”