A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT

 by

 MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens)

 Part 9. 

CHAPTER XLI

THE INTERDICT

However, my attention was suddenly snatched from such matters;our child began to lose ground again, and we had to go to sittingup with her, her case became so serious. We couldn't bear to allowanybody to help in this service, so we two stood watch-and-watch, day in and day out. Ah, Sandy, what a right heart she had, howsimple, and genuine, and good she was! She was a flawless wifeand mother; and yet I had married her for no other particularreasons, except that by the customs of chivalry she was my propertyuntil some knight should win her from me in the field. She hadhunted Britain over for me; had found me at the hanging-boutoutside of London, and had straightway resumed her old place atmy side in the placidest way and as of right. I was a New Englander, and in my opinion this sort of partnership would compromise her, sooner or later. She couldn't see how, but I cut argument shortand we had a wedding. 

Now I didn't know I was drawing a prize, yet that was what I diddraw. Within the twelvemonth I became her worshiper; and ourswas the dearest and perfectest comradeship that ever was. Peopletalk about beautiful friendships between two persons of the samesex. What is the best of that sort, as compared with the friendshipof man and wife, where the best impulses and highest ideals ofboth are the same? There is no place for comparison betweenthe two friendships; the one is earthly, the other divine. 

In my dreams, along at first, I still wandered thirteen centuriesaway, and my unsatisfied spirit went calling and harking all upand down the unreplying vacancies of a vanished world. Many atime Sandy heard that imploring cry come from my lips in my sleep. With a grand magnanimity she saddled that cry of mine upon ourchild, conceiving it to be the name of some lost darling of mine. It touched me to tears, and it also nearly knocked me off my feet, too, when she smiled up in my face for an earned reward, and playedher quaint and pretty surprise upon me:

"The name of one who was dear to thee is here preserved, here madeholy, and the music of it will abide alway in our ears. Nowthou'lt kiss me, as knowing the name I have given the child. "

But I didn't know it, all the same. I hadn't an idea in theworld; but it would have been cruel to confess it and spoil herpretty game; so I never let on, but said:

"Yes, I know, sweetheart--how dear and good it is of you, too!But I want to hear these lips of yours, which are also mine, utterit first--then its music will be perfect. "

Pleased to the marrow, she murmured:

"HELLO-CENTRAL!"

I didn't laugh--I am always thankful for that--but the strainruptured every cartilage in me, and for weeks afterward I couldhear my bones clack when I walked. She never found out her mistake. The first time she heard that form of salute used at the telephoneshe was surprised, and not pleased; but I told her I had givenorder for it: that henceforth and forever the telephone mustalways be invoked with that reverent formality, in perpetual honorand remembrance of my lost friend and her small namesake. Thiswas not true. But it answered. 

Well, during two weeks and a half we watched by the crib, and inour deep solicitude we were unconscious of any world outside ofthat sick-room. Then our reward came: the center of the universeturned the corner and began to mend. Grateful? It isn't the term. There _isn't_ any term for it. You know that yourself, if you'vewatched your child through the Valley of the Shadow and seen itcome back to life and sweep night out of the earth with oneall-illuminating smile that you could cover with your hand. 

Why, we were back in this world in one instant! Then we lookedthe same startled thought into each other's eyes at the samemoment; more than two weeks gone, and that ship not back yet!

In another minute I appeared in the presence of my train. Theyhad been steeped in troubled bodings all this time--their facesshowed it. I called an escort and we galloped five miles to ahilltop overlooking the sea. Where was my great commerce thatso lately had made these glistening expanses populous and beautifulwith its white-winged flocks? Vanished, every one! Not a sail, from verge to verge, not a smoke-bank--just a dead and emptysolitude, in place of all that brisk and breezy life. 

I went swiftly back, saying not a word to anybody. I told Sandythis ghastly news. We could imagine no explanation that wouldbegin to explain. Had there been an invasion? an earthquake?a pestilence? Had the nation been swept out of existence? Butguessing was profitless. I must go--at once. I borrowed the king'snavy--a "ship" no bigger than a steam launch--and was soon ready. 

The parting--ah, yes, that was hard. As I was devouring the childwith last kisses, it brisked up and jabbered out its vocabulary!--the first time in more than two weeks, and it made fools of usfor joy. The darling mispronunciations of childhood!--dear me, there's no music that can touch it; and how one grieves when itwastes away and dissolves into correctness, knowing it will nevervisit his bereaved ear again. Well, how good it was to be ableto carry that gracious memory away with me!

I approached England the next morning, with the wide highway ofsalt water all to myself. There were ships in the harbor, atDover, but they were naked as to sails, and there was no signof life about them. It was Sunday; yet at Canterbury the streetswere empty; strangest of all, there was not even a priest in sight, and no stroke of a bell fell upon my ear. The mournfulness ofdeath was everywhere. I couldn't understand it. At last, inthe further edge of that town I saw a small funeral procession--just a family and a few friends following a coffin--no priest;a funeral without bell, book, or candle; there was a church thereclose at hand, but they passed it by weeping, and did not enter it;I glanced up at the belfry, and there hung the bell, shrouded inblack, and its tongue tied back. Now I knew! Now I understoodthe stupendous calamity that had overtaken England. Invasion?Invasion is a triviality to it. It was the INTERDICT!

I asked no questions; I didn't need to ask any. The Church hadstruck; the thing for me to do was to get into a disguise, andgo warily. One of my servants gave me a suit of clothes, andwhen we were safe beyond the town I put them on, and from that timeI traveled alone; I could not risk the embarrassment of company. 

A miserable journey. A desolate silence everywhere. Even inLondon itself. Traffic had ceased; men did not talk or laugh, orgo in groups, or even in couples; they moved aimlessly about, eachman by himself, with his head down, and woe and terror at his heart. The Tower showed recent war-scars. Verily, much had been happening. 

Of course, I meant to take the train for Camelot. Train! Why, the station was as vacant as a cavern. I moved on. The journeyto Camelot was a repetition of what I had already seen. The Mondayand the Tuesday differed in no way from the Sunday. I arrivedfar in the night. From being the best electric-lighted town inthe kingdom and the most like a recumbent sun of anything you eversaw, it was become simply a blot--a blot upon darkness--that isto say, it was darker and solider than the rest of the darkness, and so you could see it a little better; it made me feel as ifmaybe it was symbolical--a sort of sign that the Church was going to_keep_ the upper hand now, and snuff out all my beautiful civilizationjust like that. I found no life stirring in the somber streets. I groped my way with a heavy heart. The vast castle loomed blackupon the hilltop, not a spark visible about it. The drawbridgewas down, the great gate stood wide, I entered without challenge, my own heels making the only sound I heard--and it was sepulchralenough, in those huge vacant courts. 

CHAPTER XLII

WAR!

I found Clarence alone in his quarters, drowned in melancholy;and in place of the electric light, he had reinstituted the ancientrag-lamp, and sat there in a grisly twilight with all curtainsdrawn tight. He sprang up and rushed for me eagerly, saying:

"Oh, it's worth a billion milrays to look upon a live person again!"

He knew me as easily as if I hadn't been disguised at all. Whichfrightened me; one may easily believe that. 

"Quick, now, tell me the meaning of this fearful disaster, " I said. "How did it come about?"

"Well, if there hadn't been any Queen Guenever, it wouldn't havecome so early; but it would have come, anyway. It would havecome on your own account by and by; by luck, it happened to comeon the queen's. "

"_And_ Sir Launcelot's?"

"Just so. "

"Give me the details. "

"I reckon you will grant that during some years there has beenonly one pair of eyes in these kingdoms that has not been lookingsteadily askance at the queen and Sir Launcelot--"

"Yes, King Arthur's. "

"--and only one heart that was without suspicion--"

"Yes--the king's; a heart that isn't capable of thinking evilof a friend. "

"Well, the king might have gone on, still happy and unsuspecting, to the end of his days, but for one of your modern improvements--the stock-board. When you left, three miles of the London, Canterbury and Dover were ready for the rails, and also ready andripe for manipulation in the stock-market. It was wildcat, andeverybody knew it. The stock was for sale at a give-away. Whatdoes Sir Launcelot do, but--"

"Yes, I know; he quietly picked up nearly all of it for a song;then he bought about twice as much more, deliverable upon call;and he was about to call when I left. "

"Very well, he did call. The boys couldn't deliver. Oh, he hadthem--and he just settled his grip and squeezed them. They werelaughing in their sleeves over their smartness in selling stockto him at 15 and 16 and along there that wasn't worth 10. Well, when they had laughed long enough on that side of their mouths, they rested-up that side by shifting the laugh to the other side. That was when they compromised with the Invincible at 283!"

"Good land!"

"He skinned them alive, and they deserved it--anyway, the wholekingdom rejoiced. Well, among the flayed were Sir Agravaine andSir Mordred, nephews to the king. End of the first act. Actsecond, scene first, an apartment in Carlisle castle, where thecourt had gone for a few days' hunting. Persons present, thewhole tribe of the king's nephews. Mordred and Agravaine proposeto call the guileless Arthur's attention to Guenever and SirLauncelot. Sir Gawaine, Sir Gareth, and Sir Gaheris will havenothing to do with it. A dispute ensues, with loud talk; in themidst of it enter the king. Mordred and Agravaine spring theirdevastating tale upon him. _Tableau_. A trap is laid for Launcelot, by the king's command, and Sir Launcelot walks into it. He madeit sufficiently uncomfortable for the ambushed witnesses--to wit, Mordred, Agravaine, and twelve knights of lesser rank, for hekilled every one of them but Mordred; but of course that couldn'tstraighten matters between Launcelot and the king, and didn't. "

"Oh, dear, only one thing could result--I see that. War, andthe knights of the realm divided into a king's party and aSir Launcelot's party. "

"Yes--that was the way of it. The king sent the queen to thestake, proposing to purify her with fire. Launcelot and hisknights rescued her, and in doing it slew certain good old friendsof yours and mine--in fact, some of the best we ever had; to wit, Sir Belias le Orgulous, Sir Segwarides, Sir Griflet le Fils de Dieu, Sir Brandiles, Sir Aglovale--"

"Oh, you tear out my heartstrings. "

"--wait, I'm not done yet--Sir Tor, Sir Gauter, Sir Gillimer--"

"The very best man in my subordinate nine. What a handy right-fielderhe was!"

"--Sir Reynold's three brothers, Sir Damus, Sir Priamus, Sir Kaythe Stranger--"

"My peerless short-stop! I've seen him catch a daisy-cutter inhis teeth. Come, I can't stand this!"

"--Sir Driant, Sir Lambegus, Sir Herminde, Sir Pertilope, Sir Perimones, and--whom do you think?"

"Rush! Go on. "

"Sir Gaheris, and Sir Gareth--both!"

"Oh, incredible! Their love for Launcelot was indestructible. "

"Well, it was an accident. They were simply onlookers; they wereunarmed, and were merely there to witness the queen's punishment. Sir Launcelot smote down whoever came in the way of his blind fury, and he killed these without noticing who they were. Here is aninstantaneous photograph one of our boys got of the battle; it'sfor sale on every news-stand. There--the figures nearest the queenare Sir Launcelot with his sword up, and Sir Gareth gasping hislatest breath. You can catch the agony in the queen's face throughthe curling smoke. It's a rattling battle-picture. "

"Indeed, it is. We must take good care of it; its historical valueis incalculable. Go on. "

"Well, the rest of the tale is just war, pure and simple. Launcelotretreated to his town and castle of Joyous Gard, and gatheredthere a great following of knights. The king, with a great host, went there, and there was desperate fighting during several days, and, as a result, all the plain around was paved with corpsesand cast-iron. Then the Church patched up a peace between Arthurand Launcelot and the queen and everybody--everybody but Sir Gawaine. He was bitter about the slaying of his brothers, Gareth and Gaheris, and would not be appeased. He notified Launcelot to get himthence, and make swift preparation, and look to be soon attacked. So Launcelot sailed to his Duchy of Guienne with his following, andGawaine soon followed with an army, and he beguiled Arthur to gowith him. Arthur left the kingdom in Sir Mordred's hands untilyou should return--"

"Ah--a king's customary wisdom!"

"Yes. Sir Mordred set himself at once to work to make his kingshippermanent. He was going to marry Guenever, as a first move; butshe fled and shut herself up in the Tower of London. Mordredattacked; the Bishop of Canterbury dropped down on him with theInterdict. The king returned; Mordred fought him at Dover, atCanterbury, and again at Barham Down. Then there was talk of peaceand a composition. Terms, Mordred to have Cornwall and Kent duringArthur's life, and the whole kingdom afterward. "

"Well, upon my word! My dream of a republic to _be_ a dream, andso remain. "

"Yes. The two armies lay near Salisbury. Gawaine--Gawaine's headis at Dover Castle, he fell in the fight there--Gawaine appeared toArthur in a dream, at least his ghost did, and warned him torefrain from conflict for a month, let the delay cost what it might. But battle was precipitated by an accident. Arthur had givenorder that if a sword was raised during the consultation overthe proposed treaty with Mordred, sound the trumpet and fall on!for he had no confidence in Mordred. Mordred had given a similarorder to _his_ people. Well, by and by an adder bit a knight's heel;the knight forgot all about the order, and made a slash at theadder with his sword. Inside of half a minute those two prodigioushosts came together with a crash! They butchered away all day. Then the king--however, we have started something fresh sinceyou left--our paper has. "

"No? What is that?"

"War correspondence!"

"Why, that's good. "

"Yes, the paper was booming right along, for the Interdict madeno impression, got no grip, while the war lasted. I had warcorrespondents with both armies. I will finish that battle byreading you what one of the boys says:

 'Then the king looked about him, and then was he ware of all his host and of all his good knights were left no more on live but two knights, that was Sir Lucan de Butlere, and his brother Sir Bedivere: and they were full sore wounded. Jesu mercy, said the king, where are all my noble knights becomen? Alas that ever I should see this doleful day. For now, said Arthur, I am come to mine end. But would to God that I wist where were that traitor Sir Mordred, that hath caused all this mischief. Then was King Arthur ware where Sir Mordred leaned upon his sword among a great heap of dead men. Now give me my spear, said Arthur unto Sir Lucan, for yonder I have espied the traitor that all this woe hath wrought. Sir, let him be, said Sir Lucan, for he is unhappy; and if ye pass this unhappy day, ye shall be right well revenged upon him. Good lord, remember ye of your night's dream, and what the spirit of Sir Gawaine told you this night, yet God of his great goodness hath preserved you hitherto. Therefore, for God's sake, my lord, leave off by this. For blessed be God ye have won the field: for here we be three on live, and with Sir Mordred is none on live. And if ye leave off now, this wicked day of destiny is past. Tide me death, betide me life, saith the king, now I see him yonder alone, he shall never escape mine hands, for at a better avail shall I never have him. God speed you well, said Sir Bedivere. Then the king gat his spear in both his hands, and ran toward Sir Mordred crying, Traitor, now is thy death day come. And when Sir Mordred heard Sir Arthur, he ran until him with his sword drawn in his hand. And then King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, with a foin of his spear throughout the body more than a fathom. And when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death's wound, he thrust himself, with the might that he had, up to the butt of King Arthur's spear. And right so he smote his father Arthur with his sword holden in both his hands, on the side of the head, that the sword pierced the helmet and the brain-pan, and therewithal Sir Mordred fell stark dead to the earth. And the noble Arthur fell in a swoon to the earth, and there he swooned oft-times--'"

"That is a good piece of war correspondence, Clarence; you area first-rate newspaper man. Well--is the king all right? Didhe get well?"

"Poor soul, no. He is dead. "

I was utterly stunned; it had not seemed to me that any woundcould be mortal to him. 

"And the queen, Clarence?"

"She is a nun, in Almesbury. "

"What changes! and in such a short while. It is inconceivable. What next, I wonder?"

"I can tell you what next. "

"Well?"

"Stake our lives and stand by them!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"The Church is master now. The Interdict included you with Mordred;it is not to be removed while you remain alive. The clans aregathering. The Church has gathered all the knights that are leftalive, and as soon as you are discovered we shall have businesson our hands. "

"Stuff! With our deadly scientific war-material; with our hostsof trained--"

"Save your breath--we haven't sixty faithful left!"

"What are you saying? Our schools, our colleges, our vastworkshops, our--"

"When those knights come, those establishments will empty themselvesand go over to the enemy. Did you think you had educated thesuperstition out of those people?"

"I certainly did think it. "

"Well, then, you may unthink it. They stood every strain easily--until the Interdict. Since then, they merely put on a boldoutside--at heart they are quaking. Make up your mind to it--when the armies come, the mask will fall. "

"It's hard news. We are lost. They will turn our own scienceagainst us. "

"No they won't. "

"Why?"

"Because I and a handful of the faithful have blocked that game. I'll tell you what I've done, and what moved me to it. Smart asyou are, the Church was smarter. It was the Church that sentyou cruising--through her servants, the doctors. "

"Clarence!"

"It is the truth. I know it. Every officer of your ship wasthe Church's picked servant, and so was every man of the crew. "

"Oh, come!"

"It is just as I tell you. I did not find out these things at once, but I found them out finally. Did you send me verbal information, by the commander of the ship, to the effect that upon his returnto you, with supplies, you were going to leave Cadiz--"

"Cadiz! I haven't been at Cadiz at all!"

"--going to leave Cadiz and cruise in distant seas indefinitely, for the health of your family? Did you send me that word?"

"Of course not. I would have written, wouldn't I?"

"Naturally. I was troubled and suspicious. When the commandersailed again I managed to ship a spy with him. I have neverheard of vessel or spy since. I gave myself two weeks to hearfrom you in. Then I resolved to send a ship to Cadiz. There wasa reason why I didn't. "

"What was that?"

"Our navy had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared! Also, assuddenly and as mysteriously, the railway and telegraph andtelephone service ceased, the men all deserted, poles were cutdown, the Church laid a ban upon the electric light! I had to beup and doing--and straight off. Your life was safe--nobody inthese kingdoms but Merlin would venture to touch such a magicianas you without ten thousand men at his back--I had nothing tothink of but how to put preparations in the best trim against yourcoming. I felt safe myself--nobody would be anxious to toucha pet of yours. So this is what I did. From our various worksI selected all the men--boys I mean--whose faithfulness underwhatsoever pressure I could swear to, and I called them togethersecretly and gave them their instructions. There are fifty-two ofthem; none younger than fourteen, and none above seventeen years old. "

"Why did you select boys?"

"Because all the others were born in an atmosphere of superstitionand reared in it. It is in their blood and bones. We imaginedwe had educated it out of them; they thought so, too; the Interdictwoke them up like a thunderclap! It revealed them to themselves, and it revealed them to me, too. With boys it was different. Suchas have been under our training from seven to ten years have hadno acquaintance with the Church's terrors, and it was among thesethat I found my fifty-two. As a next move, I paid a private visitto that old cave of Merlin's--not the small one--the big one--"

"Yes, the one where we secretly established our first great electricplant when I was projecting a miracle. "

"Just so. And as that miracle hadn't become necessary then, I thought it might be a good idea to utilize the plant now. I'veprovisioned the cave for a siege--"

"A good idea, a first-rate idea. "

"I think so. I placed four of my boys there as a guard--inside, and out of sight. Nobody was to be hurt--while outside; but anyattempt to enter--well, we said just let anybody try it! ThenI went out into the hills and uncovered and cut the secret wireswhich connected your bedroom with the wires that go to the dynamitedeposits under all our vast factories, mills, workshops, magazines, etc. , and about midnight I and my boys turned out and connectedthat wire with the cave, and nobody but you and I suspects wherethe other end of it goes to. We laid it under ground, of course, andit was all finished in a couple of hours or so. We sha'n't haveto leave our fortress now when we want to blow up our civilization. "

"It was the right move--and the natural one; military necessity, in the changed condition of things. Well, what changes _have_ come!We expected to be besieged in the palace some time or other, but--however, go on. "

"Next, we built a wire fence. "

"Wire fence?"

"Yes. You dropped the hint of it yourself, two or three years ago. "

"Oh, I remember--the time the Church tried her strength againstus the first time, and presently thought it wise to wait for ahopefuler season. Well, how have you arranged the fence?"

"I start twelve immensely strong wires--naked, not insulated--from a big dynamo in the cave--dynamo with no brushes excepta positive and a negative one--"

"Yes, that's right. "

"The wires go out from the cave and fence in a circle of levelground a hundred yards in diameter; they make twelve independentfences, ten feet apart--that is to say, twelve circles withincircles--and their ends come into the cave again. "

"Right; go on. "

"The fences are fastened to heavy oaken posts only three feet apart, and these posts are sunk five feet in the ground. "

"That is good and strong. "

"Yes. The wires have no ground-connection outside of the cave. They go out from the positive brush of the dynamo; there is aground-connection through the negative brush; the other ends ofthe wire return to the cave, and each is grounded independently. "

"No, no, that won't do!"

"Why?"

"It's too expensive--uses up force for nothing. You don't wantany ground-connection except the one through the negative brush. The other end of every wire must be brought back into the caveand fastened independently, and _without_ any ground-connection. Now, then, observe the economy of it. A cavalry charge hurlsitself against the fence; you are using no power, you are spendingno money, for there is only one ground-connection till those horsescome against the wire; the moment they touch it they form aconnection with the negative brush _through the ground_, and dropdead. Don't you see?--you are using no energy until it is needed;your lightning is there, and ready, like the load in a gun; butit isn't costing you a cent till you touch it off. Oh, yes, thesingle ground-connection--"

"Of course! I don't know how I overlooked that. It's not onlycheaper, but it's more effectual than the other way, for if wiresbreak or get tangled, no harm is done. "

"No, especially if we have a tell-tale in the cave and disconnectthe broken wire. Well, go on. The gatlings?"

"Yes--that's arranged. In the center of the inner circle, on aspacious platform six feet high, I've grouped a battery of thirteengatling guns, and provided plenty of ammunition. "

"That's it. They command every approach, and when the Church'sknights arrive, there's going to be music. The brow of theprecipice over the cave--"

"I've got a wire fence there, and a gatling. They won't drop anyrocks down on us. "

"Well, and the glass-cylinder dynamite torpedoes?"

"That's attended to. It's the prettiest garden that was everplanted. It's a belt forty feet wide, and goes around the outerfence--distance between it and the fence one hundred yards--kind ofneutral ground that space is. There isn't a single square yardof that whole belt but is equipped with a torpedo. We laid themon the surface of the ground, and sprinkled a layer of sand overthem. It's an innocent looking garden, but you let a man startin to hoe it once, and you'll see. "

"You tested the torpedoes?"

"Well, I was going to, but--"

"But what? Why, it's an immense oversight not to apply a--"

"Test? Yes, I know; but they're all right; I laid a few in thepublic road beyond our lines and they've been tested. "

"Oh, that alters the case. Who did it?"

"A Church committee. "

"How kind!"

"Yes. They came to command us to make submission. You see theydidn't really come to test the torpedoes; that was merely an incident. "

"Did the committee make a report?"

"Yes, they made one. You could have heard it a mile. "

"Unanimous?"

"That was the nature of it. After that I put up some signs, for theprotection of future committees, and we have had no intruders since. "

"Clarence, you've done a world of work, and done it perfectly. "

"We had plenty of time for it; there wasn't any occasion for hurry. "

We sat silent awhile, thinking. Then my mind was made up, andI said:

"Yes, everything is ready; everything is shipshape, no detail iswanting. I know what to do now. "

"So do I; sit down and wait. "

"No, _sir_! rise up and _strike_!"

"Do you mean it?"

"Yes, indeed! The _de_fensive isn't in my line, and the _of_fensiveis. That is, when I hold a fair hand--two-thirds as good a handas the enemy. Oh, yes, we'll rise up and strike; that's our game. "

"A hundred to one you are right. When does the performance begin?"

"_Now!_ We'll proclaim the Republic. "

"Well, that _will_ precipitate things, sure enough!"

"It will make them buzz, I tell you! England will be a hornets'nest before noon to-morrow, if the Church's hand hasn't lost itscunning--and we know it hasn't. Now you write and I'll dictate thus:

 "PROCLAMATION

 ---

 "BE IT KNOWN UNTO ALL. Whereas the king having died and left no heir, it becomes my duty to continue the executive authority vested in me, until a government shall have been created and set in motion. The monarchy has lapsed, it no longer exists. By consequence, all political power has reverted to its original source, the people of the nation. With the monarchy, its several adjuncts died also; wherefore there is no longer a nobility, no longer a privileged class, no longer an Established Church; all men are become exactly equal; they are upon one common level, and religion is free. _A Republic is hereby proclaimed_, as being the natural estate of a nation when other authority has ceased. It is the duty of the British people to meet together immediately, and by their votes elect representatives and deliver into their hands the government. "

I signed it "The Boss, " and dated it from Merlin's Cave. Clarence said--

"Why, that tells where we are, and invites them to call right away. "

"That is the idea. We _strike_--by the Proclamation--then it'stheir innings. Now have the thing set up and printed and posted, right off; that is, give the order; then, if you've got a coupleof bicycles handy at the foot of the hill, ho for Merlin's Cave!"

"I shall be ready in ten minutes. What a cyclone there is goingto be to-morrow when this piece of paper gets to work!... It's apleasant old palace, this is; I wonder if we shall ever again--but never mind about that. "

CHAPTER XLIII

THE BATTLE OF THE SAND BELT

In Merlin's Cave-- Clarence and I and fifty-two fresh, bright, well-educated, clean-minded young British boys. At dawn I sentan order to the factories and to all our great works to stopoperations and remove all life to a safe distance, as everythingwas going to be blown up by secret mines, "_and no telling at whatmoment--therefore, vacate at once_. " These people knew me, andhad confidence in my word. They would clear out without waitingto part their hair, and I could take my own time about dating theexplosion. You couldn't hire one of them to go back during thecentury, if the explosion was still impending. 

We had a week of waiting. It was not dull for me, because I waswriting all the time. During the first three days, I finishedturning my old diary into this narrative form; it only requireda chapter or so to bring it down to date. The rest of the weekI took up in writing letters to my wife. It was always my habitto write to Sandy every day, whenever we were separate, and nowI kept up the habit for love of it, and of her, though I couldn'tdo anything with the letters, of course, after I had written them. But it put in the time, you see, and was almost like talking;it was almost as if I was saying, "Sandy, if you and Hello-Centralwere here in the cave, instead of only your photographs, whatgood times we could have!" And then, you know, I could imaginethe baby goo-gooing something out in reply, with its fists in itsmouth and itself stretched across its mother's lap on its back, and she a-laughing and admiring and worshipping, and now and thentickling under the baby's chin to set it cackling, and then maybethrowing in a word of answer to me herself--and so on and so on--well, don't you know, I could sit there in the cave with my pen, and keep it up, that way, by the hour with them. Why, it wasalmost like having us all together again. 

I had spies out every night, of course, to get news. Every reportmade things look more and more impressive. The hosts were gathering, gathering; down all the roads and paths of England the knights wereriding, and priests rode with them, to hearten these originalCrusaders, this being the Church's war. All the nobilities, bigand little, were on their way, and all the gentry. This was allas was expected. We should thin out this sort of folk to sucha degree that the people would have nothing to do but just stepto the front with their republic and--

Ah, what a donkey I was! Toward the end of the week I began to getthis large and disenchanting fact through my head: that the massof the nation had swung their caps and shouted for the republic forabout one day, and there an end! The Church, the nobles, andthe gentry then turned one grand, all-disapproving frown upon themand shriveled them into sheep! From that moment the sheep hadbegun to gather to the fold--that is to say, the camps--and offertheir valueless lives and their valuable wool to the "righteouscause. " Why, even the very men who had lately been slaves werein the "righteous cause, " and glorifying it, praying for it, sentimentally slabbering over it, just like all the other commoners. Imagine such human muck as this; conceive of this folly!

Yes, it was now "Death to the Republic!" everywhere--not a dissentingvoice. All England was marching against us! Truly, this was morethan I had bargained for. 

I watched my fifty-two boys narrowly; watched their faces, theirwalk, their unconscious attitudes: for all these are a language--a language given us purposely that it may betray us in times ofemergency, when we have secrets which we want to keep. I knewthat that thought would keep saying itself over and over againin their minds and hearts, _All England is marching against us!_and ever more strenuously imploring attention with each repetition, ever more sharply realizing itself to their imaginations, untileven in their sleep they would find no rest from it, but hearthe vague and flitting creatures of the dreams say, _All England_--ALL ENGLAND!--_is marching against you_! I knew all this wouldhappen; I knew that ultimately the pressure would become so greatthat it would compel utterance; therefore, I must be ready with ananswer at that time--an answer well chosen and tranquilizing. 

I was right. The time came. They HAD to speak. Poor lads, itwas pitiful to see, they were so pale, so worn, so troubled. Atfirst their spokesman could hardly find voice or words; but hepresently got both. This is what he said--and he put it in theneat modern English taught him in my schools:

"We have tried to forget what we are--English boys! We have triedto put reason before sentiment, duty before love; our mindsapprove, but our hearts reproach us. While apparently it wasonly the nobility, only the gentry, only the twenty-five or thirtythousand knights left alive out of the late wars, we were of onemind, and undisturbed by any troubling doubt; each and every oneof these fifty-two lads who stand here before you, said, 'Theyhave chosen--it is their affair. ' But think!--the matter isaltered--_All England is marching against us_! Oh, sir, consider!--reflect!--these people are our people, they are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, we love them--do not ask us to destroy our nation!"

Well, it shows the value of looking ahead, and being ready fora thing when it happens. If I hadn't foreseen this thing and beenfixed, that boy would have had me!--I couldn't have said a word. But I was fixed. I said:

"My boys, your hearts are in the right place, you have thought theworthy thought, you have done the worthy thing. You are Englishboys, you will remain English boys, and you will keep that nameunsmirched. Give yourselves no further concern, let your minds beat peace. Consider this: while all England is marching againstus, who is in the van? Who, by the commonest rules of war, willmarch in the front? Answer me. "

"The mounted host of mailed knights. "

"True. They are thirty thousand strong. Acres deep they will march. Now, observe: none but _they_ will ever strike the sand-belt! Thenthere will be an episode! Immediately after, the civilian multitudein the rear will retire, to meet business engagements elsewhere. None but nobles and gentry are knights, and _none but these_ willremain to dance to our music after that episode. It is absolutelytrue that we shall have to fight nobody but these thirty thousandknights. Now speak, and it shall be as you decide. Shall weavoid the battle, retire from the field?"

"NO!!!"

The shout was unanimous and hearty. 

"Are you--are you--well, afraid of these thirty thousand knights?"

That joke brought out a good laugh, the boys' troubles vanishedaway, and they went gaily to their posts. Ah, they were a darlingfifty-two! As pretty as girls, too. 

I was ready for the enemy now. Let the approaching big day comealong--it would find us on deck. 

The big day arrived on time. At dawn the sentry on watch in thecorral came into the cave and reported a moving black mass underthe horizon, and a faint sound which he thought to be militarymusic. Breakfast was just ready; we sat down and ate it. 

This over, I made the boys a little speech, and then sent outa detail to man the battery, with Clarence in command of it. 

The sun rose presently and sent its unobstructed splendors overthe land, and we saw a prodigious host moving slowly toward us, with the steady drift and aligned front of a wave of the sea. Nearer and nearer it came, and more and more sublimely imposingbecame its aspect; yes, all England was there, apparently. Soonwe could see the innumerable banners fluttering, and then the sunstruck the sea of armor and set it all aflash. Yes, it was a finesight; I hadn't ever seen anything to beat it. 

At last we could make out details. All the front ranks, no tellinghow many acres deep, were horsemen--plumed knights in armor. Suddenly we heard the blare of trumpets; the slow walk burst intoa gallop, and then--well, it was wonderful to see! Down sweptthat vast horse-shoe wave--it approached the sand-belt--my breathstood still; nearer, nearer--the strip of green turf beyond theyellow belt grew narrow--narrower still--became a mere ribbon infront of the horses--then disappeared under their hoofs. GreatScott! Why, the whole front of that host shot into the sky witha thunder-crash, and became a whirling tempest of rags and fragments;and along the ground lay a thick wall of smoke that hid what wasleft of the multitude from our sight. 

Time for the second step in the plan of campaign! I toucheda button, and shook the bones of England loose from her spine!

In that explosion all our noble civilization-factories went up inthe air and disappeared from the earth. It was a pity, but itwas necessary. We could not afford to let the enemy turn our ownweapons against us. 

Now ensued one of the dullest quarter-hours I had ever endured. We waited in a silent solitude enclosed by our circles of wire, and by a circle of heavy smoke outside of these. We couldn'tsee over the wall of smoke, and we couldn't see through it. Butat last it began to shred away lazily, and by the end of anotherquarter-hour the land was clear and our curiosity was enabledto satisfy itself. No living creature was in sight! We nowperceived that additions had been made to our defenses. Thedynamite had dug a ditch more than a hundred feet wide, all aroundus, and cast up an embankment some twenty-five feet high on bothborders of it. As to destruction of life, it was amazing. Moreover, it was beyond estimate. Of course, we could not _count_ the dead, because they did not exist as individuals, but merely as homogeneousprotoplasm, with alloys of iron and buttons. 

No life was in sight, but necessarily there must have been somewounded in the rear ranks, who were carried off the field undercover of the wall of smoke; there would be sickness among theothers--there always is, after an episode like that. But therewould be no reinforcements; this was the last stand of the chivalryof England; it was all that was left of the order, after the recentannihilating wars. So I felt quite safe in believing that theutmost force that could for the future be brought against uswould be but small; that is, of knights. I therefore issued acongratulatory proclamation to my army in these words:

 SOLDIERS, CHAMPIONS OF HUMAN LIBERTY AND EQUALITY: Your General congratulates you! In the pride of his strength and the vanity of his renown, an arrogant enemy came against you. You were ready. The conflict was brief; on your side, glorious. This mighty victory, having been achieved utterly without loss, stands without example in history. So long as the planets shall continue to move in their orbits, the BATTLE OF THE SAND-BELT will not perish out of the memories of men. 

 THE BOSS. 

I read it well, and the applause I got was very gratifying to me. I then wound up with these remarks:

"The war with the English nation, as a nation, is at an end. The nation has retired from the field and the war. Before it canbe persuaded to return, war will have ceased. This campaign isthe only one that is going to be fought. It will be brief--the briefest in history. Also the most destructive to life, considered from the standpoint of proportion of casualties tonumbers engaged. We are done with the nation; henceforth we dealonly with the knights. English knights can be killed, but theycannot be conquered. We know what is before us. While one ofthese men remains alive, our task is not finished, the war is notended. We will kill them all. " [Loud and long continued applause. ]

I picketed the great embankments thrown up around our lines bythe dynamite explosion--merely a lookout of a couple of boysto announce the enemy when he should appear again. 

Next, I sent an engineer and forty men to a point just beyondour lines on the south, to turn a mountain brook that was there, and bring it within our lines and under our command, arrangingit in such a way that I could make instant use of it in an emergency. The forty men were divided into two shifts of twenty each, andwere to relieve each other every two hours. In ten hours thework was accomplished. 

It was nightfall now, and I withdrew my pickets. The one whohad had the northern outlook reported a camp in sight, but visiblewith the glass only. He also reported that a few knights had beenfeeling their way toward us, and had driven some cattle across ourlines, but that the knights themselves had not come very near. That was what I had been expecting. They were feeling us, yousee; they wanted to know if we were going to play that red terroron them again. They would grow bolder in the night, perhaps. I believed I knew what project they would attempt, because it wasplainly the thing I would attempt myself if I were in their placesand as ignorant as they were. I mentioned it to Clarence. 

"I think you are right, " said he; "it is the obvious thing forthem to try. "

"Well, then, " I said, "if they do it they are doomed. "

"Certainly. "

"They won't have the slightest show in the world. "

"Of course they won't. "

"It's dreadful, Clarence. It seems an awful pity. "

The thing disturbed me so that I couldn't get any peace of mindfor thinking of it and worrying over it. So, at last, to quietmy conscience, I framed this message to the knights:

 TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMANDER OF THE INSURGENT CHIVALRY OF ENGLAND: YOU fight in vain. We know your strength--if one may call it by that name. We know that at the utmost you cannot bring against us above five and twenty thousand knights. Therefore, you have no chance--none whatever. Reflect: we are well equipped, well fortified, we number 54. Fifty-four what? Men? No, MINDS--the capablest in the world; a force against which mere animal might may no more hope to prevail than may the idle waves of the sea hope to prevail against the granite barriers of England. Be advised. We offer you your lives; for the sake of your families, do not reject the gift. We offer you this chance, and it is the last: throw down your arms; surrender unconditionally to the Republic, and all will be forgiven. 

 (Signed) THE BOSS. 

I read it to Clarence, and said I proposed to send it by a flagof truce. He laughed the sarcastic laugh he was born with, and said:

"Somehow it seems impossible for you to ever fully realize whatthese nobilities are. Now let us save a little time and trouble. Consider me the commander of the knights yonder. Now, then, you are the flag of truce; approach and deliver me your message, and I will give you your answer. "

I humored the idea. I came forward under an imaginary guard ofthe enemy's soldiers, produced my paper, and read it through. For answer, Clarence struck the paper out of my hand, pursed upa scornful lip and said with lofty disdain:

"Dismember me this animal, and return him in a basket to thebase-born knave who sent him; other answer have I none!"

How empty is theory in presence of fact! And this was just fact, and nothing else. It was the thing that would have happened, there was no getting around that. I tore up the paper and grantedmy mistimed sentimentalities a permanent rest. 

Then, to business. I tested the electric signals from the gatlingplatform to the cave, and made sure that they were all right;I tested and retested those which commanded the fences--thesewere signals whereby I could break and renew the electric currentin each fence independently of the others at will. I placed thebrook-connection under the guard and authority of three of mybest boys, who would alternate in two-hour watches all night andpromptly obey my signal, if I should have occasion to give it--three revolver-shots in quick succession. Sentry-duty was discardedfor the night, and the corral left empty of life; I ordered thatquiet be maintained in the cave, and the electric lights turneddown to a glimmer. 

As soon as it was good and dark, I shut off the current from allthe fences, and then groped my way out to the embankment borderingour side of the great dynamite ditch. I crept to the top of itand lay there on the slant of the muck to watch. But it wastoo dark to see anything. As for sounds, there were none. Thestillness was deathlike. True, there were the usual night-soundsof the country--the whir of night-birds, the buzzing of insects, the barking of distant dogs, the mellow lowing of far-off kine--but these didn't seem to break the stillness, they only intensifiedit, and added a grewsome melancholy to it into the bargain. 

I presently gave up looking, the night shut down so black, butI kept my ears strained to catch the least suspicious sound, forI judged I had only to wait, and I shouldn't be disappointed. However, I had to wait a long time. At last I caught what youmay call in distinct glimpses of sound dulled metallic sound. I pricked up my ears, then, and held my breath, for this was thesort of thing I had been waiting for. This sound thickened, andapproached--from toward the north. Presently, I heard it at myown level--the ridge-top of the opposite embankment, a hundredfeet or more away. Then I seemed to see a row of black dots appearalong that ridge--human heads? I couldn't tell; it mightn't beanything at all; you can't depend on your eyes when your imaginationis out of focus. However, the question was soon settled. I heardthat metallic noise descending into the great ditch. It augmentedfast, it spread all along, and it unmistakably furnished me thisfact: an armed host was taking up its quarters in the ditch. Yes, these people were arranging a little surprise party for us. Wecould expect entertainment about dawn, possibly earlier. 

I groped my way back to the corral now; I had seen enough. I wentto the platform and signaled to turn the current on to the twoinner fences. Then I went into the cave, and found everythingsatisfactory there--nobody awake but the working-watch. I wokeClarence and told him the great ditch was filling up with men, and that I believed all the knights were coming for us in a body. It was my notion that as soon as dawn approached we could expectthe ditch's ambuscaded thousands to swarm up over the embankmentand make an assault, and be followed immediately by the restof their army. 

Clarence said:

"They will be wanting to send a scout or two in the dark to makepreliminary observations. Why not take the lightning off theouter fences, and give them a chance?"

"I've already done it, Clarence. Did you ever know me to beinhospitable?"

"No, you are a good heart. I want to go and--"

"Be a reception committee? I will go, too. "

We crossed the corral and lay down together between the two insidefences. Even the dim light of the cave had disordered our eyesightsomewhat, but the focus straightway began to regulate itself andsoon it was adjusted for present circumstances. We had had to feelour way before, but we could make out to see the fence posts now. We started a whispered conversation, but suddenly Clarence brokeoff and said:

"What is that?"

"What is what?"

"That thing yonder. "

"What thing--where?"

"There beyond you a little piece--dark something--a dull shapeof some kind--against the second fence. "

I gazed and he gazed. I said:

"Could it be a man, Clarence?"

"No, I think not. If you notice, it looks a lit--why, it _is_a man!--leaning on the fence. "

"I certainly believe it is; let us go and see. "

We crept along on our hands and knees until we were pretty close, and then looked up. Yes, it was a man--a dim great figure in armor, standing erect, with both hands on the upper wire--and, of course, there was a smell of burning flesh. Poor fellow, dead as adoor-nail, and never knew what hurt him. He stood there like astatue--no motion about him, except that his plumes swished abouta little in the night wind. We rose up and looked in throughthe bars of his visor, but couldn't make out whether we knew himor not--features too dim and shadowed. 

We heard muffled sounds approaching, and we sank down to the groundwhere we were. We made out another knight vaguely; he was comingvery stealthily, and feeling his way. He was near enough now forus to see him put out a hand, find an upper wire, then bend andstep under it and over the lower one. Now he arrived at thefirst knight--and started slightly when he discovered him. Hestood a moment--no doubt wondering why the other one didn't moveon; then he said, in a low voice, "Why dreamest thou here, goodSir Mar--" then he laid his hand on the corpse's shoulder--and justuttered a little soft moan and sunk down dead. Killed by a deadman, you see--killed by a dead friend, in fact. There was somethingawful about it. 

These early birds came scattering along after each other, aboutone every five minutes in our vicinity, during half an hour. They brought no armor of offense but their swords; as a rule, they carried the sword ready in the hand, and put it forward andfound the wires with it. We would now and then see a blue sparkwhen the knight that caused it was so far away as to be invisibleto us; but we knew what had happened, all the same; poor fellow, he had touched a charged wire with his sword and been elected. We had brief intervals of grim stillness, interrupted with piteousregularity by the clash made by the falling of an iron-clad; andthis sort of thing was going on, right along, and was very creepythere in the dark and lonesomeness. 

We concluded to make a tour between the inner fences. We electedto walk upright, for convenience's sake; we argued that if discerned, we should be taken for friends rather than enemies, and in any casewe should be out of reach of swords, and these gentry did not seemto have any spears along. Well, it was a curious trip. Everywheredead men were lying outside the second fence--not plainly visible, but still visible; and we counted fifteen of those patheticstatues--dead knights standing with their hands on the upper wire. 

One thing seemed to be sufficiently demonstrated: our currentwas so tremendous that it killed before the victim could cry out. Pretty soon we detected a muffled and heavy sound, and next momentwe guessed what it was. It was a surprise in force coming! whisperedClarence to go and wake the army, and notify it to wait in silencein the cave for further orders. He was soon back, and we stoodby the inner fence and watched the silent lightning do its awfulwork upon that swarming host. One could make out but little ofdetail; but he could note that a black mass was piling itself upbeyond the second fence. That swelling bulk was dead men! Ourcamp was enclosed with a solid wall of the dead--a bulwark, a breastwork, of corpses, you may say. One terrible thing aboutthis thing was the absence of human voices; there were no cheers, no war cries; being intent upon a surprise, these men moved asnoiselessly as they could; and always when the front rank was nearenough to their goal to make it proper for them to begin to geta shout ready, of course they struck the fatal line and went downwithout testifying. 

I sent a current through the third fence now; and almost immediatelythrough the fourth and fifth, so quickly were the gaps filled up. I believed the time was come now for my climax; I believed thatthat whole army was in our trap. Anyway, it was high time to findout. So I touched a button and set fifty electric suns aflameon the top of our precipice. 

Land, what a sight! We were enclosed in three walls of dead men!All the other fences were pretty nearly filled with the living, who were stealthily working their way forward through the wires. The sudden glare paralyzed this host, petrified them, you may say, with astonishment; there was just one instant for me to utilizetheir immobility in, and I didn't lose the chance. You see, inanother instant they would have recovered their faculties, thenthey'd have burst into a cheer and made a rush, and my wireswould have gone down before it; but that lost instant lost themtheir opportunity forever; while even that slight fragment of timewas still unspent, I shot the current through all the fences andstruck the whole host dead in their tracks! _There_ was a groanyou could _hear_! It voiced the death-pang of eleven thousand men. It swelled out on the night with awful pathos. 

A glance showed that the rest of the enemy--perhaps ten thousandstrong--were between us and the encircling ditch, and pressingforward to the assault. Consequently we had them _all!_ and hadthem past help. Time for the last act of the tragedy. I firedthe three appointed revolver shots--which meant:

"Turn on the water!"

There was a sudden rush and roar, and in a minute the mountainbrook was raging through the big ditch and creating a river ahundred feet wide and twenty-five deep. 

"Stand to your guns, men! Open fire!"

The thirteen gatlings began to vomit death into the fated tenthousand. They halted, they stood their ground a moment againstthat withering deluge of fire, then they broke, faced about andswept toward the ditch like chaff before a gale. A full fourthpart of their force never reached the top of the lofty embankment;the three-fourths reached it and plunged over--to death by drowning. 

Within ten short minutes after we had opened fire, armed resistancewas totally annihilated, the campaign was ended, we fifty-four weremasters of England. Twenty-five thousand men lay dead around us. 

But how treacherous is fortune! In a little while--say an hour--happened a thing, by my own fault, which--but I have no heartto write that. Let the record end here. 

CHAPTER XLIV

A POSTSCRIPT BY CLARENCE

I, Clarence, must write it for him. He proposed that we twogo out and see if any help could be accorded the wounded. I wasstrenuous against the project. I said that if there were many, we could do but little for them; and it would not be wise for us totrust ourselves among them, anyway. But he could seldom be turnedfrom a purpose once formed; so we shut off the electric currentfrom the fences, took an escort along, climbed over the enclosingramparts of dead knights, and moved out upon the field. The firstwounded mall who appealed for help was sitting with his backagainst a dead comrade. When The Boss bent over him and spoketo him, the man recognized him and stabbed him. That knight wasSir Meliagraunce, as I found out by tearing off his helmet. Hewill not ask for help any more. 

We carried The Boss to the cave and gave his wound, which wasnot very serious, the best care we could. In this service we hadthe help of Merlin, though we did not know it. He was disguisedas a woman, and appeared to be a simple old peasant goodwife. In this disguise, with brown-stained face and smooth shaven, hehad appeared a few days after The Boss was hurt and offered to cookfor us, saying her people had gone off to join certain new campswhich the enemy were forming, and that she was starving. The Bosshad been getting along very well, and had amused himself withfinishing up his record. 

We were glad to have this woman, for we were short handed. Wewere in a trap, you see--a trap of our own making. If we stayedwhere we were, our dead would kill us; if we moved out of ourdefenses, we should no longer be invincible. We had conquered;in turn we were conquered. The Boss recognized this; we allrecognized it. If we could go to one of those new camps andpatch up some kind of terms with the enemy--yes, but The Bosscould not go, and neither could I, for I was among the first thatwere made sick by the poisonous air bred by those dead thousands. Others were taken down, and still others. To-morrow--

_To-morrow. _ It is here. And with it the end. About midnightI awoke, and saw that hag making curious passes in the air aboutThe Boss's head and face, and wondered what it meant. Everybodybut the dynamo-watch lay steeped in sleep; there was no sound. The woman ceased from her mysterious foolery, and started tip-toeingtoward the door. I called out:

"Stop! What have you been doing?"

She halted, and said with an accent of malicious satisfaction:

"Ye were conquerors; ye are conquered! These others are perishing--you also. Ye shall all die in this place--every one--except _him_. He sleepeth now--and shall sleep thirteen centuries. I am Merlin!"

Then such a delirium of silly laughter overtook him that he reeledabout like a drunken man, and presently fetched up against oneof our wires. His mouth is spread open yet; apparently he is stilllaughing. I suppose the face will retain that petrified laugh untilthe corpse turns to dust. 

The Boss has never stirred--sleeps like a stone. If he does notwake to-day we shall understand what kind of a sleep it is, andhis body will then be borne to a place in one of the remote recessesof the cave where none will ever find it to desecrate it. As forthe rest of us--well, it is agreed that if any one of us everescapes alive from this place, he will write the fact here, andloyally hide this Manuscript with The Boss, our dear good chief, whose property it is, be he alive or dead. 

THE END OF THE MANUSCRIPT

FINAL P. S. BY M. T. 

The dawn was come when I laid the Manuscript aside. The rainhad almost ceased, the world was gray and sad, the exhausted stormwas sighing and sobbing itself to rest. I went to the stranger'sroom, and listened at his door, which was slightly ajar. I couldhear his voice, and so I knocked. There was no answer, but I stillheard the voice. I peeped in. The man lay on his back in bed, talking brokenly but with spirit, and punctuating with his arms, which he thrashed about, restlessly, as sick people do in delirium. I slipped in softly and bent over him. His mutterings andejaculations went on. I spoke--merely a word, to call his attention. His glassy eyes and his ashy face were alight in an instant withpleasure, gratitude, gladness, welcome:

"Oh, Sandy, you are come at last--how I have longed for you! Sitby me--do not leave me--never leave me again, Sandy, never again. Where is your hand?--give it me, dear, let me hold it--there--now all is well, all is peace, and I am happy again--_we_ are happyagain, isn't it so, Sandy? You are so dim, so vague, you are buta mist, a cloud, but you are _here_, and that is blessedness sufficient;and I have your hand; don't take it away--it is for only a littlewhile, I shall not require it long.... Was that the child?... Hello-Central!... She doesn't answer. Asleep, perhaps? Bring herwhen she wakes, and let me touch her hands, her face, her hair, and tell her good-bye.... Sandy! Yes, you are there. I lostmyself a moment, and I thought you were gone.... Have I beensick long? It must be so; it seems months to me. And such dreams!such strange and awful dreams, Sandy! Dreams that were as realas reality--delirium, of course, but _so_ real! Why, I thoughtthe king was dead, I thought you were in Gaul and couldn't gethome, I thought there was a revolution; in the fantastic frenzyof these dreams, I thought that Clarence and I and a handful ofmy cadets fought and exterminated the whole chivalry of England!But even that was not the strangest. I seemed to be a creatureout of a remote unborn age, centuries hence, and even _that_ wasas real as the rest! Yes, I seemed to have flown back out of thatage into this of ours, and then forward to it again, and was setdown, a stranger and forlorn in that strange England, with anabyss of thirteen centuries yawning between me and you! betweenme and my home and my friends! between me and all that is dearto me, all that could make life worth the living! It was awful--awfuler than you can ever imagine, Sandy. Ah, watch by me, Sandy--stay by me every moment--_don't_ let me go out of my mind again;death is nothing, let it come, but not with those dreams, not withthe torture of those hideous dreams--I cannot endure _that_ again.... Sandy?... "

He lay muttering incoherently some little time; then for a time helay silent, and apparently sinking away toward death. Presentlyhis fingers began to pick busily at the coverlet, and by that signI knew that his end was at hand with the first suggestion of thedeath-rattle in his throat he started up slightly, and seemedto listen: then he said:

"A bugle?... It is the king! The drawbridge, there! Man thebattlements!--turn out the--"

He was getting up his last "effect"; but he never finished it.