"Why should you not rule over the whole continent, for you are stronger than they?" he intimated.
The idea tickled the king's fancy, for though he reigned over mighty hosts, he had a vast respect for the Nephite laws and craftsmanship.
"Seize them now, while their power is divided, and they are yours. They have no head," urged the deserter.
The king remembered a certain General Moroni, but wisely held his counsel. "They have those liberty flags floating from the towers of every city," he suggested.
"Yes, and you will trample every one of them in the dust beneath your chariot wheels," prophesied Amalickiah with rising vindictiveness.
The king, dazzled by the glories pictured by this astute adviser, issued the mandate for war. Throughout the length and breadth of the land went the word that summoned the hosts.
Then a remarkable thing occurred. Many of the warriors had fought on the banks of the river Sidon and had taken an oath not to again take up arms against the Nephites, nor would they. These men fled to a place called Onidah, appointed a general and declared, "We will have peace, if we have to fight for it."
The king suggested to Amalickiah, since he was so much interested in the campaign, that he whip the insurgents into line. The latter gladly accepted the command of the troops that were still loyal, for he had already planned to dethrone the king and he counted that one step toward the accomplishment of his design.
The rebels who refused to fight for the king, under the command of Lehonti, occupied the hill Antipus. Amalickiah pitched his camp at its base.
At night, muffled in a zerape, Amalickiah passed the guard, and with sinister stride, made his way around the side of the mountain. When he was out of sight of the sentry, he stopped abruptly. The night was fitted for deeds of darkness, as it was so black one could not see the next step in advance. To the west the clouds were banked up and the wind was beginning to rise. The gaze of the man who stood amid the desolation was fastened on a moving object up the side of the mountain. A stone, becoming dislodged, rattled down and instinctively his hand sought his sword.