"Why, it's unheard of! The leaders of the country never go forth to fight!" pleaded Loa, beginning to pout a little. "Their place is to make others fight! Their own lives are too valuable to risk being—being turned over!"
"What do I care for the risk, when my country's welfare is at stake?" I demanded, vaingloriously.
And then, firmly entrenched in my new decision, I repeated, "Tomorrow I go forth to the field of honor! Upon my return I shall send for you both. Meanwhile kindly give my regards to Tan Tal, Moa, and Noa."
As the tall form of the Professor, drooping a little gloomily, left the audience chamber side by side with the rotund figure of his daughter, I still did not know that I had done more than to postpone the inevitable; nor had I any intimation of that whirlwind of events which was to make this my last meeting with Tan Trum and his family.
CHAPTER XXX
News from Zu
Anxious as I had been to avoid complications with Loa, her coming had not been the only reason for my sudden decision. For a long while, the difficulties occasioned by my reform measures had been growing more serious and the voices of popular complaint more menacing; hence I was anxious to find some way of diverting public attention. Moreover, the war with Zu, which dragged on interminably, was daily becoming more vexing; I still did not dare to antagonize public opinion by ending the conflict, as I had originally planned; and, to make matters worse, the enemy had lately attacked with new energy and resourcefulness. Already they had wrested from us a stretch of Nullnull seven yards deep and fifty-nine yards wide—a defeat which, though our papers did their best to conceal it, had somehow become public knowledge, vastly weakening my prestige.
I therefore realized that, in order to regain the ground I had lost, Wu must retake the ground it had lost; and I understood that, in attaining this objective, my presence on the field would be the best stimulus to the troops. Not that I actually cared a pin for Nullnull; but, knowing my reputation to be at stake, I was willing to risk all for the sake of a little of this barren land. As to whether I was competent to lead the troops, I felt no doubt at all; all our generals were so thoroughly versed in thoughtlessness that they did not seem hard to surpass; and, besides, had I not had six months' experience during the World War, as a lieutenant in the Commissary Department?
No action since I had become Dictator evoked such enthusiastic response as the announcement that I was about to command the army. The Blare and the Screamer, commending me in full-page editorials, expressed their thanks that I was ready to bring my people to "the most glorious turnover in history"; the masses, acclaiming me in wild demonstrations, cheered and celebrated until one would have thought I had already achieved a victory, instead of merely having promised one; a delegation of generals did me the honor of a personal visit and embarrassed me by presenting their plans, which were featured by an attack on the babes of Zu, whom they intended to slay in the cradle, in order to avoid having to slay them later on the battlefield.