When the army of Ix had climbed the mountain and was marching down again toward Nole, the lord high steward sent his dog Ruffles to them to make more mischief. Ruffles trotted soberly among the soldiers of Ix, and once in a while he would pause and say in a loud voice:
“The army of Noland will conquer you.”
Then all the soldiers would look around to see who had spoken these fearful words, but could see nothing but a little dog; and Ruffles would pretend to be scratching his nose with his left hind foot, and would look so innocent that they never for a moment suspected he could speak.
“AND RUFFLES WOULD PRETEND TO BE SCRATCHING HIS NOSE WITH HIS LEFT HIND FOOT.”
“We are surrounded by invisible foes!” cried the soldiers; and they would have fled even then had not Queen Zixi called them cowards and stubbornly declared that they only fancied they had heard the voices speak. Some of them believed her, and some did not; but they decided to remain and fight, since they had come so far to do so.
Then they formed in line of battle again and marched boldly toward the army of Noland.
While they were still a good way off, and the generals were riding in front of their soldiers, the lord high executioner suddenly stretched out his long arm and pulled another general of Ix from his horse, as he had done the day before, dragging him swiftly over the ground between the opposing armies until he was seized by the men of Nole and tightly bound with cords.
The soldiers of Ix uttered murmurs of horror at this sight, and stopped again.
Immediately the long arm shot out, and pulled another general from their ranks, and made him prisoner.