At last the leaders ordered a halt, and gathered together for consultation.
“I cannot imagine,” said the chief, “what this means. We must look out for some ambush or trap. By the way, has any one seen any of these Cabordmen?”
Careful inquiries were made, but no one had seen a Cabordman since they had entered the country,
“This is indeed remarkable,” said the chief of the Voldorites. “I cannot imagine what it means. No ambush has been discovered, no fortifications, no people. The houses are all open. Everything seems as if no enemy were expected. All their valuables are here. Where are they?”
Nobody knew, but just then a man who had been in the vicinity of the grave-yards came running to the place where the officers were gathered together, and he urged them to come back with him and see what he had seen.
They all followed him, and when they saw the boards at the entrance of the enclosures they were utterly astounded.
“What!” cried the chief, walking from one enclosure to another, “Here lie buried seventy-two thousand Cabordmen, and here forty-one thousand and three hundred Cabordwomen, and here thirteen thousand, six hundred and fifty-four unmarried Cabordmen and women! Comrades, we have found them! The whole nation lies buried here!”
A deep silence fell upon the group of officers, and upon the vast body of soldiers that had gathered around them.
At length the chief spoke again:
“It must have been a terrible pestilence,” he said. “The whole nation lies buried here. I have added up these figures. I know there were not more than one hundred and twenty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-four of them all put together. They are all dead and buried here. It must have been awful!”