The Inevitable Conflict by H. P. Lovecraft

Author:H. P. Lovecraft [Lovecraft, H. P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-12T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter VIII

The Mongolian encampment had been pitched on a mountain plateau, overlooking the road to the American capital, a broad thoroughfare which followed the windings of a racing stream that, in countless centuries, had carved a course through high, rocky canyons. At times, the river meandered sedately amid mountain meadows, rich. and populous until the coming of the invaders, but now deserted by their inhabitants. Again, it stormed through narrow gorges rising up abruptly by almost unscalable walls. The Emperor's banner floated arrogantly over a huge radiomotor in the center of the array, where he held council with a half-score hawk-visaged officers.

"Victory is in my grasp," he observed, exultantly.

"It is, your serene majesty," assented a hard-bitten commander.

"This government, grown soft by generations of peace, cannot withstand attack. Its Amazons are sufficient to hold the masses in subjection, but will find another problem when they face my veterans of a hundred victorious fields."

"America is doomed," the officer agreed.

"What of the clash in the city last night, observed by our air scouts?" asked a moody youth, the Emperor's heir. "They said it seemed a division of male troops had exterminated a revolting force of Amazons."

For a moment, the conqueror's brow blackened ominously. Then he smiled and the assembly relaxed with obvious relief.

"My son, division in the enemy's camp always is good news for Mongolia. Let the Amazons and this rabble of Stephen Mowbray, the mad young rebel, weaken each other by attacks upon each other.

There will be the fewer troops to face us when we advance."

"Why delay?" the heir apparent asked, with unwonted hardihood. "If they are divided, let us bombard the city tonight and throw the army into it at once. Mongolia's flag will be floating over it by dawn tomorrow."

"Not bad counsel," the ruler conceded, genially. "However, it is the thought of youth and not the seasoned view of one who holds the world in his grasp. Know this, my son, that Mongolia needs the wealth of this land. What would it profit me if I gained America and its rebellious people made it a wilderness?"

His brow clouded irritably.

"Remember, in the European Alps the seeds of revolt still linger. Thibet remains only half-conquered.

From the Australian deserts miserable rebels defy my authority. In the Mountains of the Moon, a fragment of hostility persists. We have been campaigning against these centers of discontent for years, but without complete success. Would you add another and greater peril to these in a desperately rebellious America?"

He shook a humorous head in mock reproval.

"Even a decadent nation, such as this, has some devoted souls who prate of liberty and the traditional independence of the white race. This man, Mowbray, is one of them. No one may know how strongly he is supported. Imagine a half-dozen leaders, such as he, scattered through the Alleghenies, the Rockies and the Cascades, perhaps hiding in caves, sneaking through forests and warring upon conquering Mongolia. We would hold the country, it is true, but at the cost of an interminable guerilla war, which would exhaust our troops and sap the resources of both Mongolia and America.

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