in spite of all that his rivals could do to pull him down. As for Vang
Khan himself, he was in part pleased with him and proud of him, and in
part he feared him. He was very unwilling to be so dependent upon a
subordinate chieftain, and yet he could not do without him. A king
never desires that any one of his subjects should become too
conspicuous or too great, and Vang Khan would have been very glad to
have diminished, in some way, the power and prestige which Temujin had
acquired, and which seemed to be increasing every day. He, however,
found no means of effecting this in any quiet and peaceful manner.
Temujin was at the head of his troops, generally away from Karakorom,
where Vang Khan resided, and he was, in a great measure, independent.
He raised his own recruits to keep the numbers of his army good, and
it was always easy to subsist if there chanced to be any failure in
the ordinary and regular supplies.

Besides, occasions were continually occurring in which Vang Khan
wished for Temujin's aid, and could not dispense with it. At one time,
while engaged in some important campaigns, far away among the
mountains, Yemuka contrived to awaken so much distrust of Temujin in
Vang Khan's mind, that Vang Khan secretly decamped in the night, and
marched away to a distant place to save himself from a plot which
Yemuka had told him that Temujin was contriving. Here, however, he was
attacked by a large body of his enemies, and was reduced to such
straits that he was obliged to send couriers off at once to Temujin to
come with his intrepids and save him. Temujin came. He rescued Vang
Khan from his danger, and drove his enemies away. Vang Khan was very
grateful for this service, so that the two friends became entirely
reconciled to each other, and were united more closely than ever,
greatly to Yemuka's disappointment and chagrin. They made a new league
of amity, and, to seal and confirm it, they agreed upon a double
marriage between their two families. A son of Temujin was to be
married to a daughter of Vang Khan, and a son of Vang Khan to a
daughter of Temujin.

This new compact did not, however, last long. As soon as Vang Khan
found that the danger from which Temujin had rescued him was passed,
he began again to listen to the representations of Yemuka and Sankum,
who still insisted that Temujin was a very dangerous man, and was by
no means to be trusted. They said that he was ambitious and
unprincipled, and that he was only