"And of course they will fight," sneered Andrew Pozzo. "Did you think they would not? But shall we?" "Shall we not, then?" answered Napoleon. "And if you will but follow and obey me, we will conquer those hill boys, as you never could if Pozzo led you on. For I will show you the trick of mastery. Of mastery, do you hear? And those miserable boys of the sheep pastures shall never more play the victor over us boys of the town." It was worth trying, and the boys of that day and time were accustomed to give and take hard knocks. So Uncle Joey Fesch and big Tony Ilari, the bearers of the challenge, set off for the hill pastures; and while they were gone Napoleon directed the preparations of his forces. The heralds returned with an answer of defiance from the hill boys. "So! they boast, do they?" little Napoleon said. "We will show them how skill is better than strength. Remember my orders: stones in your pockets, the stick in your hand. Attention! In order! March!" In excellent order the little army set out for the hills. In the pastures where they had met defeat the day before they saw the straggling forces of the shepherd boys awaiting them. "Halt!" commanded the Captain Napoleon. "Let the challengers go forward again," he directed. "Summon them to surrender, and pass under the yoke. Tell them we will be masters in Ajaccio." The big boy challengers obeyed the little leader's command; and as they departed on their mission Napoleon ordered his soldiers to quietly drop the stones they carried in their pockets, in a line where they stood. Then he planted a stick in the ground as a guide-post. The challengers came rushing back, followed by the jeers and sticks of the hill boys. "So! they will not yield? Then will we conquer them," Napoleon cried. "In order! Charge!" And up the slope, brandishing their sticks, charged the town boys. The hill boys were ready for them. They were bigger and stronger than the town boys, and they expected to conquer by force. The two parties met. There was a brief rattle of stick against stick. But the hill boys were the stronger, and Napoleon gave the order to retreat. Down the hill rushed the town boys. After them, pell-mell, came the hill boys, flushed with victory and careless of consequences. Suddenly, as Napoleon reached his guide-post, he shouted in his shrill little voice, "Halt!" And his army, knowing his intentions, instantly obeyed. "Stones!" he cried, and they scooped up their supply of ammunition. "About!" They faced the oncoming foe. "Fire!" came his final order; and, so fast and furious fell the shower of stones upon the surprised and unprepared hill boys, that their victorious columns halted, wavered, turned, broke, and fled. "Now! upon them! follow them! drive them!" rang out the little Captain Napoleon's swiftly given orders.