Page:Biagi - The Centaurians.djvu/233

 This led over the battle-ground of the Octrogonas and Potolilis, and for three mortal hours we dipped, circled, fluttering like a great buzzard, watching an engagement between the warring tribes. Our captain, a most obliging fellow, slyly detached his ship from the others, which unaware, sailed peacefully on, but our traveling companions when learning the cause of delay immediately secluded themselves. The Centaurians, ahem! are cultured above war—and we had the whole deck to ourselves, occupying railing seats. It was a magnificent sight, Virgillius, magnificent! But warfare is pretty even on both sides of the globe. Here the chiefs, generals, lead in battle; their great armies are drilled to mechanical perfection, in action compact, a gigantic unit; and, boy, every last blessed one of them aimed and shot to kill."

Saxe. wondered how the principals escaped.

"Looks bad for the aiming," murmured Sheldon.

The Octrogonas were the fiercest, but the Potolilis, more numerous, and though the young chief was superb, daring, he was gradually forced to retreat, which so enraged his army, discipline was trampled under. They rushed the enemy and both sides fought like beasts.

"It was slaughter, horrible, yet differs not at all from what is going on continually in some portion of our world," Saxe. growled. He scored those "high-sniffing Centaurians," for their "dastardly indifference," and declared the extermination of the magnificent savage a crime.

"For they're killing each other off as fast as