Her eyes shone with the light of a soul in sorrow.
"Pray to your God now, my husband, that this war may be the last, for all time, in all the universe."
[ CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SIEGE OF THE LONE CITY.]
Our losses totaled nearly a hundred and fifty girls. We brought back with us on the platforms but six wounded. I shall never forget that hour we spent searching among the wreckage—those blackened, twisted forms of what had once been men and women. I shall not describe it.
Of all the boats which Tao had dispatched on this ill‑fated expedition, only one escaped to return with news of the disaster. I was glad now that one, at least, had survived, for the report it would give would, I felt sure, dissuade Tao from making any other similar attempt at invasion.
Our broken little army made its way slowly back to the Great City. We went, not in triumph, but indeed with all the aspect of defeat. The people received us in a frenzy of joy and gratitude to the girls for what they had done.
This first battle took place, as I have said, just after we four had returned from our tour of the Light Country, and before the recruiting of the young men was fairly under way. To this recruiting it proved an extraordinary stimulus. The girls, having been in successful action, stirred the young men of the nation as probably nothing else could, and all over the country they came forward faster than they could be enrolled.
It was two or three days after the battle that Miela came to me one morning with the wounded girl she and I had rescued in the air.
"We have a plan—Sela and I—my husband," she said.