ALADDIN O'BRIEN

BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS

BOOK I

 "It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee. And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child and she was a child"--

ALADDIN O'BRIEN

I

It was on the way home from Sunday-school that Aladdin had enticedMargaret to the forbidden river. She was not sure that he knew how torow, for he was prone to exaggerate his prowess at this and that, and she went because of the fine defiance of it, and because Aladdinexercised an irresistible fascination. He it was who could whistle themost engagingly through his front teeth; and he it was, when sad dogs ofboys of the world were met behind the barn, who could blow the smoke ofthe fragrant grapevine through his nose, and swallow the same withoutalarm to himself or to his admirers. To be with him was in itself asoulful wickedness, a delicious and elevating lesson in corruption. Butto be with him when he had done wrong, and was sorry for it (as alwayswhen found out), that was enough to give one visions of freckled angels, and the sweetness of Paradise in May. 

Aladdin brought the skiff into the float, stern first, with a bump. Pride sat high upon his freckled brow, and he whistled piercing notes. 

"I can do it, " he said. "Now get in. "

Margaret embarked very gingerly and smoothed her dress carefully, beforeand after sitting down. It was a white and starchy dress of price, withlittle blue ribbons at the throat and wrists--such a dress as the littlegirl of a very poor papa will find laid out on the gilt and brocadechair beside her bed if she goes to sleep and wakes up in heaven. 

"Only a little way, 'Laddin, please. "

The boy made half a dozen circular, jabbing strokes, and the skiffzigzagged out from the float. It was a fine blue day, cool as acucumber, and across the river from the deserted shipyards, where, uponlofty beamings, stood all sorts of ships in all stages of composition, the frequent beeches and maples showed pink and red and yellow againstthe evergreen pines. 

"It's easy 'nough, " said Aladdin. And Margaret agreed in her mind, forit is the splash of deeds rather than the skill or power which impressesa lady. The little lady sat primly in the stern, her mitted paws folded;her eyes, innocent and immense, fastened admiringly upon the rowing boy. 

"Only 'bout's far's the cat-boat, 'Laddin, please, " she said. "Ioughtn't to of come 't all. "

Somehow the cat-boat, anchored fifty yards out and straining back fromher moorings, would not allow herself to be approached. For althoughAladdin maintained a proper direction (at times), the ocean tide, setting rigidly in and overbearing the current of the river, wasbeginning to carry the skiff to some haven where she would not be. 

Aladdin saw this and tried to go back, catching many crabs in theearnestness of his endeavor. Then the little girl, without being told, perceived that matters were not entirely in the hands of man, and beganto look wistfully from Aladdin to the shore. After a while he stoppedgrinning, and then rowing. 

"Can't you get back, 'Laddin?" said the little girl. 

"No, " said the boy, "I can't. " He was all angel now, for he was beingvisited for wrong. 

The little girl's lips trembled and got white. 

"I'm awful sorry, Margaret. "

"What'll we do, 'Laddin?"

"Just sit still, 'n' whatever happens I'll take care of you, Margaret. "

They were passing the shipyards with a steady sweep, but the officeswere closed, the men at home, and no one saw the distressed expedition. The last yard of all was conspicuous by a three-master, finished, painted, sparred, ready for the fragrant bottle to be cracked on hernose, and the long shivering slide into the river. Then came a finesquare, chimneyed house with sherry-glass-shaped elm-trees about it. Theboy shouted to a man contorted under a load of wood. The man looked upand grinned vacantly, for he was not even half-witted. And they wereswept on. Presently woods drew between them and the last traces ofhabitation, --gorgeous woods with intense splashes of color, standingupon clean rocks that emphatically divided the water from the land, --andthey scurried into a region as untroubled by man as was Eden on thefirst morning. The little boy was not afraid, but so sorry and ashamedthat he could have cried. The little girl, however, was even deeper downthe throat of remorse, for she had sinned three times on Sunday, --first, she had spoken to the "inventor's boy"; second, she had not "comestraight home"; third, she had been seduced into a forbidden boat, --andthere was no balm in Gilead; nor any forgiveness forever. She picturedher grand, dark father standing like a biblical allegory of "Hell andDamnation" within the somber leathern cube of his books, the fiercelywhite, whalebone cane upon which he and old brother gout leaned, and thevast gloomy centers at the bases of which glowed his savage eyes. Shethought of the rolling bitter voice with which she had once heard himstiffen the backs of his constituents, and she was sore afraid. She didnot remember how much he loved her, or the impotence of his principleswhere she was concerned. And she did not recollect, for she had not beenold enough to know, that the great bitter voice, with its heavy, tellingsarcasm, had been lifted for humanity--for more humanity upon earth. 

"Oh, 'Laddin, " she said suddenly, "I daren't go home now. "

"Maybe we can get her in farther up, " said Aladdin, "and go home throughthe woods. That'll be something, anyhow. "

Margaret shuddered. She thought of the thin aunt who gave her lessonsupon the pianoforte--one of the elect, that aunt, who had never donewrong, and whom any halo would fit; who gave her to understand that theAlmighty would raise Cain with any little girl who did not practise anhour every day, and pray Him, night and morning, to help her keep offthe black notes when the white notes were intended. First there wouldbe a reckoning with papa, then one with Aunt Marion, last with AlmightyGod, and afterward, horribile dictu, pitchforks for little Margaret, and a vivid incandescent state to be maintained through eternity at vastcost of pit-coal to a gentleman who carried over his arm, so as not tostep on it, a long snaky tail with a point like a harpoon's. 

Meanwhile, Aladdin made sundry attempts to get the boat ashore, andfailed signally. The current was as saucy as strong. Now it swept theminto the very shade of the trees, and as hope rose hot in the boy'sheart and he began to stab the water with the oars, sent them skippingfor the midriver. Occasionally a fish jumped to show how easy it was, and high overhead an eagle passed statelily in the wake of a cloud. After the eagle came a V of geese flying south, moving through thetreacherous currents and whirlpools of the upper air as steadily anddirectly as a train upon its track. It seemed as if nature had conspiredwith her children to demonstrate to Margaret and Aladdin the facility ofprecise locomotion. The narrow deeps of the river ended where the shorerolled into a high knob of trees; above this it spread over the lowerland into a great, shallow, swiftly currented lake, having in itsmidst a long turtlebacked island of dense woods and abrupt shores. Twocurrents met off the knob and formed in the direction of the island along curve of spitting white. Aladdin rowed with great fervor. 

"Do it if you can, 'Laddin, " said the little girl. 

It seemed for one moment as if success were about to crown the boy'seffort, for he brought the boat to an exciting nearness to the shore;but that was all. The current said: "No, Aladdin, that is not just theplace to land; come with me, and bring the boat and the young lady. " AndAladdin at once went with the current. 

"Margaret, " he said, "I done my best. " He crossed his heart. 

"I know you done your best, 'Laddin. " Margaret's cheeks were on thebrink of tears. "I know you done it. "

They were dancing sportively farther and farther from the shore. Thewater broke, now and again, and slapped the boat playfully. 

"We 've come 'most three miles, " said Aladdin. 

"I daren't go back if I could now, " said Margaret. 

Meanwhile Aladdin scanned the horizon far and wide to see if he couldsee anything of Antheus, tossed by the winds, or the Phrygian triremes, or Capys, or the ships having upon their lofty poops the arms of Caicus. There was no help in sight. Far and wide was the bubbling ruffled river, behind the mainland, and ahead the leafy island. 

"What'll your father do, 'Laddin?"

Aladdin merely grinned, less by way of explaining what his father woulddo than of expressing to Margaret this: "Have courage; I am still withyou. "

"'Laddin, we're not going so fast. "

They had run into nominally still water, and the skiff was losingmomentum. 

"Maybe we'd better land on the island, " said Aladdin, "if we can, andwait till the tide turns; won't be long now. "

Again he plied the oars, and this time with success. For after a littlethey came into the shadow of the island, the keel grunted upon sand, and they got out. There was a little crescent of white beach, with anoccasional exclamatory green reed sticking from it, and above was a finearch of birch and pine. They hauled up the boat as far as they could, and sat down to wait for the tide to turn. Firm earth, in spite ofher awful spiritual forebodings, put Margaret in a more cheerful mood. Furthermore, the woods and the general mystery of islands were asinviting as Punch. 

"It's not much fun watching the tide come in, " she said after a time. 

Aladdin got up. 

"Let's go away, " he said, "and come back. It never comes in if you watchfor it to. "

Margaret arose, and they went into the woods. 

A devil's darning-needle came and buzzed for an instant on the bow ofthe skiff. A belated sandpiper flew into the cove, peeped, and flew out. 

The tide rose a little and said:

"What is this heavy thing upon my back?"

Then it rose a little more. 

"Why, it's poor little sister boat stuck in the mud, " said the tide. 

From far off came joyful crackling of twigs and the sounds of childrenat play. 

The tide rose a little more and freed an end of the boat. 

"That's better, " said the boat, "ever so much better. I can almostfloat. "

Again the tide raised its broad shoulders a hair's-breadth. 

"Great!" said the boat. "Once more, Old Party!"

When the children came back, they found that poor little sister boat wasgone, and in her stead all of their forgotten troubles had returned andwere waiting for them, and looking them in the face. 

II

It is absurdly difficult to get help in this world. If a lady puts herhead out of a window and yells "Police, " she is considered funny, or ifa man from the very bottom of his soul calls for help, he is commonlysupposed to be drunk. Thus if, cast away upon an island, you should waveyour handkerchief to people passing in a boat, they would imagine thatyou wanted to be friendly, and wave back; or, if they were New Yorkaldermen out for a day's fishing in the Sound, call you names. And soit was with Margaret and Aladdin. With shrill piping voices they calledtearfully to a party sailing up the river from church, waved and waved, were answered in kind, and tasted the bitterest cup possible to theCrusoed. 

Then after much wandering in search of the boat it got to behunger-time, and two small stomachs calling lustily for food did not addto the felicity of the situation. 

With hunger-time came dusk, and afterward darkness, blacker than thetall hat of Margaret's father. For at the last moment nature had thoughtbetter of the fine weather which man had been enjoying for the pastmonth, and drawn a vast curtain of inkiness over the luminaries fromone horizon even unto the other, and sent a great puff of wet fog up thevalley of the river from the ocean, so that teeth chattered and the endsof fingers became shriveled and bloodless. And had not vanity gone outwith the entrance of sin, Margaret would have noticed that her tightlittle curls were looser and the once stately ostrich feather upon herSunday hat, the envy of little girls whom the green monster possessed, as flabby as a long sermon. 

Meanwhile the tide having turned, little sister boat made fine way ofit down the river, and, burrowing in the fog, holding her breath as itwere, and greatly assisted by the tide, slipped past the town unseen, and put for open sea, where it is to be supposed she enjoyed herselfhugely and, finally, becoming a little skeleton of herself on unknownshores, was gathered up by somebody who wanted a pretty fire withgreen lights in it. The main point is that she went her selfish wayundetected, so that the wide-lanterned search which presently arose forlittle Margaret tumbled and stumbled about clueless, and halted to takedrinks, and came back about morning and lay down all day, and said itnever did, which it certainly hadn't. All the to-do was over Margaret, for Aladdin had not been missed, and, even if he had, nobody would havelooked for him. His father was at home bending over the model of thewonderful lamp which was to make his fortune, and over which he had beenbending for fifteen rolling years. It had come to him, at about the timethat he fell in love with Aladdin's mother, that a certain worthlessbiproduct of something would, if combined with something else andsteeped in water, generate a certain gas, which, though desperatelyexplosive, would burn with a flame as white as day. Over the perfectionof this invention, with a brief honeymoon for vacation, he had spentfifteen years, a small fortune, --till he had nothing left, --the mostof his health, and indeed everything but his conviction that it was abeautiful invention and sure of success. When Aladdin arrived, he wasred and wrinkled, after the everlasting fashion of the human babe, andhad no name, so because of the wonderful lamp they called him Aladdin. And that rendered his first school-days wretched and had nothing to dowith the rest of his life, after the everlasting fashion of wonderfulnames. Aladdin's mother went out of the world in the very natural actof ushering his young brother into it, and he remembered her as a thinperson who was not strictly honorable (for, having betrayed him witha kiss, she punished him for smoking) and had a headache. So there wasnobody to miss Aladdin or to waste the valuable night in looking forhim. 

About this time Margaret began to cry and Aladdin to comfort her, andthey stumbled about in the woods trying to find--anything. After awhilethey happened into a grassy glade between two steep rocks, and thereagreeing to rest, scrunched into a depression of the rock on the right. And Margaret, her nose very red, her hat at an angle, and her head onAladdin's shoulder, sobbed herself to sleep. And then, because beingtrusted is next to being God, and the most moving and gentlest conditionpossible, Aladdin, for the first time, felt the full measure of hiscrime in leading Margaret from the straight way home, and he pressed herclose to him and stroked her draggled hair with his cold little handsand cried. Whenever she moved in sleep, his heart went out to her, andbefore the night was old he loved her forever. 

Sleep did not come to Aladdin, who had suddenly become a father and amother and a nurse and a brother and a lover and a man who must not beafraid. His coat was wrapped about Margaret, and his arms were wrappedabout his coat, and the body of him shivered against the damp, coldshirt, which would come open in front because there was a button gone. The fog came in thicker and colder, and night with her strange noisesmoved slower and slower. There was an old loon out on the river, whowould suddenly throw back his head and laugh for no reason at all. Andonce a great strange bird went rushing past, squeaking like a mouse; andonce two bright eyes came, flashing out of the night and swung this wayand that like signal-lanterns and disappeared. Aladdin gave himself upfor lost and would have screamed if he had been alone. 

Presently his throat began to tickle, then the base of his nose, thenthe bridge thereof, and then he felt for a handkerchief and found none. For a little while he maintained the proprieties by a gentle sniffling, finally by one great agonized snuff. It seemed after that as if he wereto be left in peace. But no. His lips parted, his chin went up alittle, his eyes closed, the tickling gave place to a sudden imperativeultimatum, and, when all was over, Margaret had waked. 

They talked for a long time, for she could not go to sleep again, andAladdin told her many things and kept her from crying, but he did nottell her about the awful bird or the more awful eyes. He told her abouthis little brother, and the yellow cat they had, and about the greatcity where he had once lived, and why he was called Aladdin. And whenthe real began to grow dim, he told her stories out of strange booksthat he had read, as he remembered them--first the story of Aladdin andthen others. 

"Once, " began Aladdin, though his teeth were knocking together and hisarms aching and his nose running--"once there was a man named Ali Baba, and he had forty thieves--"

III

Even in the good north country, where the white breath of the meltingicebergs takes turn and turn with diamond nights and days, people didnot remember so thick a fog; nor was there a thicker recorded in anychapter of tradition. Indeed, if the expression be endurable, so blackwas the whiteness that it was difficult to know when morning came. Therewas a fresher shiver in the cold, the sensibility that tree-topswere stirring, a filmy distinction of objects near at hand, and thepossibility that somewhere 'way back in the east the rosy fingers ofdawn were spread upon a clear horizon. Collisions between ships at seawere reported, and many a good sailorman went down full fathom five towait for the whistle of the Great Boatswain. 

The little children on the island roused themselves and groped aboutamong the chilled, dripping stems of the trees; they had no end in view, and no place to go, but motion was necessary for the lame legs and arms. Margaret had caught a frightful cold and Aladdin a worse, and they werehungrier than should be allowed. Now a jarred tree rained water downtheir necks, and now their faces went with a splash and sting intolow-hanging plumes of leaves; often there would be a slip and ascrambling fall. And by the time Aladdin had done grimacing over abanged shin, Margaret would have a bruised anklebone to cry about. The poor little soul was very tired and penitent and cold and hurt andhungry, and she cried most of the time and was not to be comforted. ButAladdin bit his lips and held his head up and said it all would be wellsometime. Perhaps, though he still had a little courage left, Aladdinwas the more to be pitied of the two: he was not only desperatelyresponsible for it all, but full of imagination and the horriblethings he had read. Margaret, like most women, suffered a little fromself-centration, and to her the trunk of a birch was just a nasty oldwet tree, but to Aladdin it was the clammy limb of one drowned, and drawn from the waters to stand in eternal unrest. At length thestumbling progress brought them to a shore of the island: a slipperyledge of rock, past whose feet the water slipped hurriedly, steamingwith fog as if it had been hot, two big leaning birches, and a ruddymink that slipped like winking into a hole. The river, evident for onlya few yards, became lost in the fog, and where they were could only beguessed, and which way the tide was setting could only be learned byexperiment. Aladdin planted a twig at the precise edge of the water, and they sat down to watch. Stubbornly and unwillingly the water recededfrom the twig, and they knew that the tide was running out. 

"That's the way home, " said Aladdin. Margaret looked wistfullydown-stream, her eyes as misty as the fog. 

"If we had the boat we could go now, " said Aladdin. 

Then he sat moody, evolving enterprise, and neither spoke for a longtime. 

"Marg'ret, " said Aladdin, at length, "help me find a big log near thewater. "

"What you going to do, 'Laddin?"

"You 'll see. Help look. "

They crept along the edge of the island, now among the close-growingtrees and now on the bare strip between them and the water, until atlength they came upon a big log, lying like some gnarled amphibian halfin the river and half on the dry land. 

"Help push, " said Aladdin. 

They could move it only a little, not enough. 

"Wait till I get a lever, " said Aladdin. He went, and came back with along, stiff little birch, that, growing recklessly in the thin soil overa rock, had been willing to yield to the persuasion of a child and comeup by the roots. And then, Margaret pushing her best, and Aladdin pryingand grunting, the log was moved to within an ace of launching. Untilnow, for she was too young to understand about daring and unselfishness, Margaret had considered the log-launching as a game invented by Aladdinto while away the dreary time; but now she realized, from the look inthe pale, set, freckly, almost comical face of the boy, that deeds moreserious were afoot, and when he said, "Somebody'll pick me up, sure, Marg'ret, and help me come back and get you, " she broke out cryingafresh and said, "Don't, 'Laddin! Doo-on't, 'Laddin!"

"Don't cry, Marg'ret, " said Aladdin, with a gulp. "I'd do more'n thatfor you, and I can swim a little, too--b-better'n I can row. "

"Oh, 'Laddin, " said Margaret, "it's so cold in the water. "

"Shucks!" said Aladdin, whose teeth had been knocking all night. "She'sthe stanch little craft" (he had the phrase of a book) "Good Luck. I'm the captain and you're the builder's daughter"--and so she was. "Chrissen 'er, Marg'et. Kiss her on the bow an' say she's the GoodLuck. "

Then Margaret, her hat over one ear, and the draggled ostrich feathergreatly in the way, knelt, and putting her arms about the shoreward endof the log, kissed it, and said in a drawn little voice

"The Good Luck. "

"And now, Margaret, " said Aladdin, "you must stay right here' n' notgo 'way from the shore, so's I can find you when I come back. Butdon't just sit still all the time, --keep moving, so's not to get anycolder, --'n I'll come back for you sure. "

Then, because he felt his courage failing, he said, "Good-by, Marg'ret, "and turning abruptly, waded in to his ankles and bent over the log togive it that final impetus which was to set it adrift. In his heartwere several things: the desire to make good, fear of the river, and, poignant and bitter, the feeling that Margaret did not understand. Hewas too young to believe that death might really be near him (almostreckless enough not to care if he had), but keenly aware that hisundertaking was perilous enough to warrant a more adequate farewell. Sohe bent bitterly over the log and stiffened his back for the heave. Itmust be owned that Aladdin wanted more of a scene. 

"'Laddin, I forgot something. Come back. "

He came, his white lips drawn into a sort of smile. Then they kissedeach other on the mouth with the loud, innocent kiss of little children, and after that Aladdin felt that the river was only a river, the coldonly cold, the danger only danger and flowers--more than flowers. 

He moved the log easily and waded with it into the icy waters, until hisfeet were dragged from the bottom, and after one awful instant oftotal submersion the stanch little ship Good Luck and valiant CaptainKissed-by-Margaret were embarked on the voyage perilous. His left armover and about the log, his legs kicking lustily like the legs ofa frog, his right hand paddling desperately for stability, Aladdindisappeared into the fog. After a few minutes he became so freezing coldthat he would have let go and drowned gladly if it had not been for thewonderful lamp which had been lighted in his heart. 

Margaret, when she saw him borne from her by the irresistible current, cried out with all the illogic of her womanly little soul, "Come back, 'Laddin, come back!" and sank sobbing upon the empty shore. 

IV

However imminent the peril of the man, it is the better part ofchivalry to remain by the distressed lady, and though impotent to be ofassistance, we must linger near Margaret, and watch her gradually risefrom prone sobbing to a sitting attitude of tears. For a long time shesat crying on the empty shore, regarding for the most part black lifeand not at all the signs of cheerful change which were becoming evidentin the atmosphere about her. The cold breath across her face and handsand needling through her shivering body, the increasing sounds oftreetops in commotion, the recurring appearance of branches where beforehad been only an opaque vault, did little to inform her that the fog wasabout to lift. The rising wind merely made her the more miserable andalone. Nor was it until a disk of gold smote suddenly on the rock beforeher that she looked up and beheld a twinkle of blue sky. The fogpuffed across the blue, the blue looked down again, --a bigger eye thanbefore, --a wisp of fog filmed it again, and again it gleamed out, everlarger and always more blue. The good wind living far to the south hadheard that in a few days a little girl was to be alone and comfortlessupon a foggy island, and, hearing, had filled his vast chest with warmthand sunshine, and puffed out his merry cheeks and blown. The greatbreath sent the blue waves thundering upon the coral beaches of Florida, tore across the forests of palm and set them all waving hilariously, shook the merry orange-trees till they rattled, whistled through thedismal swamps of Georgia, swept, calling and shouting to itself, overthe Carolinas, where clouds were hatching in men's minds, banked up thewaters of the Chesapeake so that there was a great high tide and theducks were sent scudding to the decoys of the nearest gunner, wentroaring into the oaks and hickories of New York, warmed the veins of NewEngland fruit-trees, and finally coming to the giant fog, rent it apartby handfuls as you pluck feathers from a goose, and hurled it this wayand that, until once more the sky and land could look each other in theface. Then the great wind laughed and ceased. For a long time Margaretlooked down the cleared face of the river, but there was no traceof Aladdin, and in life but one comfort: the sun was hot and she wasgetting warm. 

After a time, in the woods directly behind where she sat hoping andfearing and trying to dry her tears, a gun sounded like an exclamationof hope. Had Aladdin by any incredible circumstance returned so soon?Mindful of his warning not to stray from where she was, Margaret stoodup and called in a shrill little voice

"Here I am! Here I am!"

Silence in the woods immediately behind where Margaret stood hoping andfearing!

"Here I am!" she cried. And it had been piteous to hear, so small andshrill was the voice. 

Presently, though much farther off, sounded the merry yapping bark ofa little dog, and again, but this time like an echo of itself, theexclamation of hope--hope deferred. 

"Here I am! Here--I--am!" called Margaret. 

Then there was a long silence--so long that it seemed as if nothing inthe world could have been so long. Margaret sat down gasping. The sunrose higher, the river ran on, and hope flew away. And just as hopehad gone for good, the merry yapping of the dog broke out so near thatMargaret jumped, and bang went the gun--like a promise of salvation. Instantly she was on her feet with her shrill, "Here I am! Here I am!"

And this time came back a lusty young voice crying:

"I'm coming!"

And hard behind the voice leaves shook, and a boy came striding intothe sunlight. In one hand he trailed a gun, and at his heels trotteda waggish spaniel of immense importance and infinitesimal size. In hisother hand the boy carried by the legs a splendid cock-grouse, ruffledand hunger-compelling. The boy, perhaps two years older than Aladdin, was big and strong for his age, and bore his shining head like a youngwood-god. 

Margaret ran to him, telling her story as she went, but so incoherentlythat when she reached him she had to stop and begin over again. 

"Then Senator St. John is your father?" said the boy at length. "Youknow, he's a great friend of my father's. My father's name is PeterManners, and he used to be a congressman for New York. Are you hungry?"

Margaret could only look it. 

They sat down, and the boy took wonderful things out of his wonderfulpockets--sandwiches of egg and sandwiches of jam; and Margaret fell to. 

"I live in New York, " said the boy, "but I'm staying with my cousinsup the river. They told me there were partridges on this island, and Irowed down to try and get some, but I missed two. " The boy blushed mostbecomingly whenever he spoke, and his voice, and the way he said words, were different from anything Margaret had ever heard. And she admiredhim tremendously. And the boy, because she had spent a night on a desertisland, which he never had, admired her in turn. 

"Maybe we'll find 'Laddin on the way, " said Margaret, cheerfully, andshe looked up with great eyes at her godlike young friend. 

V

Meanwhile to Aladdin and his log divers things had occurred, but thewonderful lamp, burning low or high at the will of the river, hadnot gone out. Sliding through the smoking fog at three miles an hour, kicking and paddling, all had gone well for a while. Then, for he wasmore keen than Margaret to note the fog's promise to lift, at the verymoment when the shores began to appear and mark his course as favorable, at the very moment when the sun struck one end of the log, an eddy ofthe current struck the other, and sent the stanch little craft Good Luckand her captain by a wide curve back up the river. The backward journeywas slow and tortuous, and twice when the Good Luck turned turtle, submerging Aladdin, he gave himself up for lost; but amidships of theisland, fairly opposite to the spot where he had left Margaret, the logwas again seized by the right current, and the voyage recommenced. But the same eddy seized them, and back they came, with only an armstiffened by cold between Aladdin and death. The third descent of theriver, however, was more propitious. The eddy, it is true, made a finalsnatch, but its fingers were weakened and its murderous intentionsthwarted. They passed by the knob of trees at the narrowing of theriver, and swept grandly toward the town. Past the first shipyard theytore unnoticed, but at the second a shouting arose, and a boat wasslipped overboard and put after them. Strong hands dragged Aladdin fromthe water, and, gulp after gulp, water gushed from his mouth. Then theyrowed him quickly to land, and the Good Luck, having done her duty, wentdown the river alone. Years after, could Aladdin have met with that log, he would have recognized it like the face of a friend, and would haveembraced and kissed it, painted it white to stave off the decay of oldage, and set it foremost among his Lares and Penates. 

For the present he was insensible. They put him naked into coarse, warmhorse-blankets, and laid him before the great fire in the blacksmith'sshop across the road from the shipyard. And at the same time they sentone flying with a horse and buggy to the house of Hannibal St. John, forAladdin had not passed into unconsciousness without partly completinghis mission. 

"Margaret--is--up--at--" he said, and darkness came. 

At the moment when Aladdin came to, the door of the smithy was darkenedby the tremendous figure of Hannibal St. John. Wrapped in his long blackcloak, fastened at the throat by three links of steel chain, his faceglowering and cavernous, the great man strode like a controlled stormthrough the awed underlings and stopped rigid at Aladdin's side. 

"Can the boy speak?" he said. 

To Aladdin, looking up, there was neither pity nor mercy apparent in thesenator's face, and a great fear shook him. Would the wrath descend?

"Do you know where my daughter is?"

The great rolling voice nearly broke between the "my" and the"daughter, " and the fear left Aladdin. 

"Mister St. John, " he said, "she's up at one of the islands. We went ina boat and couldn't get back. If you'll only get a boat and some oneto row, I can take you right to her. " Then Aladdin knew that he had notsaid all there was to say. "Mister St. John, " said Aladdin, "I done itall. "

Men ran out of the smithy to prepare a boat. 

"Who is this boy?" said St. John. 

"It's Aladdin O'Brien, the inventor's boy, " said the smith. 

"Are you strong enough to go with me, O'Brien?" said the senator. 

"Yes, sir; I've got to go, " said Aladdin. "I said I'd come back forher. "

"Give him some whisky, " said St. John, in the voice of Jupiter saying"Poison him, " "and wrap him up warm, and bring him along. "

They embarked. Aladdin, cuddled in blankets, was laid in the bow, St. John, not deigning to sit, stood like a black tree-trunk in the stern, and amidships were four men to row. 

A little distance up the river they met a boat coming down. In the sternsat Margaret, and at the oars her godlike young friend. Just overthe bow appeared the snout and merry eyes of the spaniel, one of hisdelightful ears hanging over on each side. 

"I am glad to see you alive, " said St. John to Margaret when the boatswere within hailing distance, and to her friend he said, "Since you havebrought her so far, be good enough to bring her the rest of the way. "And to his own rowers he said, "Go back. " When the boats came to landat the shipyard, Margaret's father lifted her out and kissed her onceon each cheek. Of the godlike boy he asked his name, and when he learnedthat it was Peter Manners and that his father was Peter Manners, healmost smiled, and he shook the boy's hand. 

"I will send word to your cousins up the river that you are with me, " hesaid, and thus was the invitation extended and accepted. 

"O'Brien, " said the great man to Aladdin, "when you feel able, come tomy house; I have something to say to you. "

Then Senator St. John, and Margaret, and Margaret's godlike youngfriend, and the spaniel got into the carriage that was waiting for them, and drove off. But Margaret turned and waved to Aladdin. 

"Good-by, Aladdin!" she called. 

VI

They helped Aladdin back to the smithy, for his only covering wasa clumsy blanket; and there he put on his shrunken clothes, whichmeanwhile had dried. The kindly men pressed food on him, but he couldnot eat. He could only sit blankly by the fire and nurse the numb, overpowering pain in his heart. Another had succeeded where he hadfailed. Even at parting, just now, Margaret's eyes had not been for him, but for the stranger who had done so easily what he had not been able todo at all. The voyage down the river had been mere foolishness withoutresult. He had not rescued his fair lady, but deserted her upon a desertisland. For him no bouquets were flung, nor was there to be any clappingof hands. After a time he rose like one dreaming, and went slowly, forhe was sick and weak, up to the great pillared house of Hannibal St. John. The senator in that stern voice of his had bade him come; nothingcould be any worse than it was. He would go. He knocked, and they showedhim into the library. It was four walls of leather books, an oak tableneater than a pin, a huge chair covered with horsehair much worn, anda blazing fire of birch logs. Before the fire, one hand thrust into hiscoat, the other resting somewhat heavily upon the head of a whalebonecane, stood the senator. Far off Aladdin heard Margaret's laugh and withit another young laugh. Then he looked up like a little hunted thinginto the senator's smoldering eyes. 

"Sit down in that chair, " said the senator, pointing with his caneto the only chair in the room. His voice had the effect of a strongmuscular compulsion to which men at once yielded. Aladdin sat into thebig chair, his toes swinging just clear of the ground. Then there wassilence. Aladdin broke it. 

"Is Margaret all right?" he gulped. 

The senator disregarded the question. Having chosen his words, he saidthem. 

"I do not know, " he began, "what my daughter was doing in a boat withyou. I do not object to her enjoying the society at proper times ofsuitable companions of her own age, but the society of those who leadher into temptation is not suitable. " Aladdin fairly wilted under theglowering voice. "You will not be allowed to associate with her anymore, " said the senator. "I will speak to your father and see that heforbids it. "

Aladdin climbed out of the chair, and stumbled blindly into the table. He had meant to find the door and go. 

"Wait; I have not done, " said the senator. 

Aladdin turned and faced the enemy who was taking away the joy of lifefrom him. 

"In trying to atone for your fault, " said the senator, "by imperilingyour life, you did at once a foolhardy and a fine thing--one which Iwill do my best to repay at any time that you may see fit to call uponme. For the present you may find this of use. " He held forward betweenhis thumb and forefinger a twenty-dollar gold piece. Aladdin groped forwords, and remembered a phrase which he had heard his own father returnto a tormentor. He thrust his red hands into his tight pockets, and withtrembling lips looked up. 

"It's a matter of pride, " he said, and walked out of the room. When hehad gone the senator took from his pocket a leather purse, opened it, put back the gold piece, and carefully tied the string. Then far fromany known key or tune the great man whistled a few notes. Could hisconstituents have heard, they would have known--and often had thesubject been debated--that Hannibal St. John was human. 

Aladdin stood for a while upon the lofty pillared portico of thesenator's house, and with a mist in his eyes looked away and away towhere the cause of all his troubles flowed like a ribbon of silverthrough the bright-colored land. Grown men, having, in their wholelives, suffered less than Aladdin was at that moment suffering, haveconsidered themselves heartbroken. The little boy shivered and toileddown the steps, between the tall box hedges lining the path, and outinto the road. A late rose leaning over the garden fence gave up herleaves in a pink shower as he passed, and at the same instant all theglass in a window of the house opposite fell out with a smash. Theseevents seemed perfectly natural to Aladdin, but when people, talking atthe tops of their voices and gesticulating, began to run out of housesand make down the hill toward the town, he remembered that, just as therose-leaves fell and just as the glass came out of the window-frame, he had been conscious of a distant thudding boom, and a jarring of theground under his feet. So he joined in the stream of his neighbors, andran with them down the hill to see what had happened. 

Aladdin remembered little of that breathless run, and one thing onlystood ever afterward vivid among his recollections. All the people wereheaded eagerly in one direction, but at the corner of the street inwhich Aladdin lived, an awkish, half-grown girl, her face contortedwith terror, struggled against the tugging of two younger companions andscreamed in a terrible voice:

"I don't wahnt to go! I don't wahnt to go!"

But they dragged her along. That girl had no father, and her motherwalked the streets. She would never have any beauty nor any grace; shewas dirt of the dirt, dirty, but she had a heart of mercy and could notbear to look upon suffering. 

"I don't wahnt to go! I don't wahnt to go!" and now the scream was ashudder. 

Aladdin's street was crowded to suffocation, and the front of the housewhere Aladdin lived was blown out, and men with grave faces were goingabout among the ruins looking for what was left of Aladdin's father. 

A much littler boy than Aladdin stood in the yard of the house. In hisarms folded high he clutched a yellow cat, who licked his cheek with herrough tongue. The littler boy kept crying, "'Laddin, 'Laddin!"

Aladdin took the little boy and the yellow cat all into one embrace, andpeople turned away their heads. 

VII

In the ensuing two days Aladdin matured enormously, for though a kindneighbor took him in, together with his brother Jack and the yellow cat, he had suffered many things and already sniffed the wolf at the door. The kind neighbor was a widow lady, whose husband, having been a mastercarpenter of retentive habits, had left her independently rich. Sheowned the white-and-green house in which she lived, the plot of ground, including a small front and a small back yard, upon which it stood, and she spent with some splendor a certain income of three hundred andeighty-two dollars a year. Every picture, every chair, every mantelpiecein the Widow Brackett's house was draped with a silk scarf. The parlorlamp had a glass shade upon which, painted in oils, by hand, werecrimson moss-roses and scarlet poppies. A crushed plush spring rockerhad goldenrod painted on back and seat, while two white-and-gold vasesin precise positions on the mantel were filled with tight roundbunches of immortelles, stained pink. Upon the marble-topped, carved-by-machine-walnut-legged table in the bay-window were things tobe taken up by a visitor and examined. A white plate with a spreading offoreign postage-stamps, such as any boy collector has in quantities forexchange, was the first surprise: you were supposed to discover that thestamps were not real, but painted on the plate, and exclaim about it. Achina basket contained most edible-looking fruit of the same material, and a huge album, not to be confounded with the family Bible upon whichit rested, was filled with speaking likenesses of the Widow Brackett'srelatives. The Bible beneath could have told when each was born, whenmany had died, and where many were buried. But nobody was ever allowedto look into the Widow Brackett's Bible for information mundane orspiritual, since the only result would have been showers of pressedferns and flowers upon the carpet, which was not without well-pressedflowers and ferns of its own. 

Very soon after the explosion of the wonderful lamp the Widow Bracketthad taken Aladdin and Jack and the cat into her house and seen to itthat they had a square meal. Early on the second day she came to theconclusion that if it could in any way be made worth her while, shewould like to keep them until they grew up. And when the ground uponwhich Aladdin's father's house had stood was sold at auction for threehundred and eight dollars, she let it be known that if she could getthat she would board the two little waifs until Aladdin was old enoughto work. The court appointed two guardians. The guardians consulted fora few minutes over something brown in a glass, and promptly turned overthe three hundred and eight dollars to the Widow Brackett; and the WidowBrackett almost as promptly made a few alterations in the up-stairsof her house the better to accommodate the orphans, tied a dirty whiteribbon about the yellow cat's neck, and bought a derelict piano uponwhich her heart had been set for many months. She was no musician, butshe loved a tightly closed piano with a scarf draped over the top, andthought that no parlor should be without one. Up to middle C, asAladdin in time found out, the piano in question was not without musicalpretensions, but above that any chord sounded like a nest of tin platesdropped on a wooden floor, and the intervals were those of no knownscale nor fragment thereof. But in time he learned to draw pleasantthings from the old piano and to accompany his shrill voice in song. Asa matter of fact, he had no voice and never would have, but almost fromthe first he knew how to sing. It so happened that he was drawn to thepiano by a singular thing: a note from his beloved. 

It came one morning thumb-marked about the sealing, and covered with thegenerous sprawl of her writing. It said:

DEAR ALADDIN: Do not say anything about this because I do not know if myfather would like it but I am so sorry about your father blowing up andall your troubles and I want you to know how sory I am. I must stop nowbecause I have to practis. 

 Your loving friend

 MARGARET ST. JOHN. 

Aladdin was an exquisite speller, and the first thing he noticed aboutthe letter was that it contained two words spelled wrong, and that heloved Margaret the better by two misspelled words, and that he had alump in his throat. 

He had found the letter by his plate at breakfast, and the eyes of Mrs. Brackett fastened upon it. 

"I don't know who ken have been writin' to you, " she said. 

"Neither do I, " said Aladdin, giving, as is proper, the direct lie tothe remark inquisitive. He had put the letter in his pocket. 

"Why don't you open it and see?"

Aladdin blushed. 

"Time enough after breakfast, " he said. 

There was a silence. 

"Jack's eatin' his breakfast; why ain't you eatin' yours?"

Aladdin fell upon his breakfast for the sake of peace. And Mrs. Brackettsaid no more. Some days later, for she was not to be denied in littlematters or great, Mrs. Brackett found where Aladdin had hidden theletter, took it up, read it, sniffed, and put it back, with the remarkthat she never "see such carryin's-on. "

Aladdin hid, and read his letter over and over; then an ominous silencehaving informed him that Mrs. Brackett had gone abroad, he stole intothe parlor, perched on the piano-stool, and, like a second Columbus, began to discover things which other people have to be shown. The joy ofhis soul had to find expression, as often afterward the sorrow of it. 

That winter Jack entered school in the lowest class, and the two littleboys were to be seen going or coming in close comradeship, fair weatheror foul. The yellow cat had affairs of gallantry, and bore to thefamily, at about Christmas-time, five yellow kittens, which nobody hadthe heart to drown, and about whose necks, at the age of eye-opening, the Widow Brackett tied little white ribbons in large bows. 

Sometimes Aladdin saw Margaret, but only for a little. 

So the years passed, and Aladdin turned his sixteenth year. He was verytall and very thin, energetic but not strong, very clever, but with lessapplication than an uncoerced camel. To single him from other boys, hewas full of music and visions. And rhymes were beginning to ring in hishead. 

A week came when the rhymes and the music went clean out of his head, which became as heavy as a scuttle full of coal, and he walked aboutheavily like an old man. 

VIII

One day, during the morning session of school, Aladdin's head got soheavy that he could hardly see, and he felt hot all over. He spoke tothe teacher and was allowed to go home. Mrs. Brackett, when she saw himenter the yard, was in great alarm, for she at once supposed that he haddone something awful, which was not out of the question, and sufferedexpulsion. 

"What have you done?" she said. 

"Nothing, " said Aladdin. "I think I'm going to be sick. "

Mrs. Brackett tossed her hands heavenward. 

"What is the matter?" she cried. 

"I don't know, " said Aladdin. She followed him into the house and up thestairs, which he climbed heavily. 

"Where do you feel bad, 'Laddin O'Brien?" she said sharply. 

"It's my head, ma'am, " said Aladdin. He went into his room and lay facedown on the bed, having first dropped his schoolbooks on the floor, andbegan to talk fluently of kings' daughters and genii and copper bottles. 

The Widow Brackett was an active woman of action. Flat-footed andhatless, but with incredible speed, she dashed down the stairs, outof the house, and up the street. She returned in five minutes with thedoctor. 

The doctor said, "Fever. " It was quite evident that it was fever; buta doctor's word for it put everything on a comfortable and satisfactoryfooting. 

"We must get him to bed, " said the doctor. He made the attempt alone, but Aladdin struggled, and the doctor was old. Mrs. Brackett came to therescue and, finally, they got Aladdin, no longer violent, into his bed, while the doctor, in a soft voice, said what maybe it was and what maybeit wasn't, --he leaned to a bilious fever, --and prescribed this and thatas sovereign in any case. They darkened the room, and Aladdin was sickwith typhoid fever for many weeks. He was delirious much too much, andMrs. Brackett got thin with watching. Occasionally it seemed as if hemight possibly live, but oftenest as if he would surely die. 

In his delirium for the most part Aladdin dwelt upon Margaret, so thathis love for her was an old story to Mrs. Brackett. One gay springmorning, after a terrible night, Aladdin's fever cooled a little, and hewas able to talk in whispers. 

"Mrs. Brackett, " he said, "Mrs. Brackett. "

She came hurriedly to the bed. 

"I know you're feelin' better, 'Laddin O'Brien. "

He smiled up at her. 

"Mrs. Brackett, " he said, "I dreamed that Margaret St. John came here toask how I was--did she?"

Margaret hadn't. She had not, so hedged was her life, even heard thatAladdin lay sick. 

Mrs. Brackett lied nobly. 

"She was here yesterday, " she said, "and that anxious to know all aboutyou. "

Aladdin looked like one that had found peace. 

"Thank you, " he said. 

Mrs. Brackett raised his head, pillow and all, very gently, and gave himhis medicine. 

"How's Jack?" said Aladdin. 

"He comes twice every day to ask about you, " said Mrs. Brackett. "He'slivin' with my brother-in-law. "

"That's good, " said Aladdin. He lay back and dozed. After a while heopened his eyes. 

"Mrs. Brackett-"

"What is it, deary?" The good woman had been herself on the point ofdozing, but was instantly alert. 

"Am I going to die?"

"You goin' to die!" She tried to make her voice indignant, but it broke. 

"I want to know. "

"He wants to know, good land!" exclaimed Mrs. Brackett. 

"If a man's going to die, " said Aladdin, aeat-sixteen, "he wants toknow, because he has things that have to be done. "

"Doctor said you wasn't to talk much, " said Mrs. Brackett. 

"If I've got to die, " said Aladdin, abruptly, "I've got to seeMargaret. "

A woman in a blue wrapper, muddy slippers, her gray hair disheveled, hatless, her eyes bright and wild, burst suddenly upon Hannibal St. Johnwhere he sat in his library reading in the book called "Hesperides. "

"Senator St. John, " she began rapidly, "Aladdin O'Brien's sick in myhouse, and the last thing he said was, 'I've got to see Margaret'; andhe's dyin' wantin' to see her, and I've come for her, and she's got tocome. "

It was a tribute to St. John's genius that in spite of her incoherentutterance he understood precisely what the woman was driving at. 

"You say he's dying?" he said. 

"Doctor's given up hope. He's had a relapse since this mornin', andshe's got to come right now if she's to see him at all. "

The senator hesitated for once. 

"It's got nothin' to do with the proprieties, " said Mrs. Brackett, sternly, "nor what he was to her, nor her to him; it's a plain case ofhumanity and--"

"What is the nature of the sickness?" asked the senator. 

"It's fever--"

"Is it contagious?" asked the senator. 

"No, it ain't!" almost shrieked the old lady. "And what if it was?"

"Of course if it were contagious she couldn't go, " said the senator. 

"It ain't contagious, and, what's more, he once laid down his life forher on the log, that time. "

"If you assure me the fever is not contagious--"

"You'll let her come--"

"It seems nonsense, " said the senator. "They are only children, and Idon't want her to get silly ideas. "

"Only children!" exclaimed Mrs. Brackett. "Senator, give me the troublesof the grown-ups, childbirth, and losing the first-born with noneto follow, the losing of husband and mother, and the approach of oldage, --give me them and I'll bear them, but spare me the sorrows andtrials of little children which we grown-ups ain't strong enough tobear. You can say I said so, " she finished defiantly. 

The senator bowed in agreement. 

"I believe you are right, " he said. "I will take you home in mycarriage, Mrs. --"

"Brackett, " said she, with pride. 

The senator stepped into the hall and raised his voice the least trifle. 

"Daughter!"

She answered from several rooms away, and came running. Her hands wereinky, and she held a letter. She was no longer the timid little girlof the island, for somehow that escapade had emancipated her. She hadwaited for a few days in expectation of damnation, but, that failing tomaterialize, had turned over a leaf in her character, and became such abully at home that the family and servants loved her more and more fromday to day. She was fourteen at this time; altogether exquisite andcharming and wayward. 

"Aladdin O'Brien is very sick, daughter, " said the senator, "and we aregoing to see him. "

"And don't tell him that you didn't come to ask after him yesterday, "said Mrs. Brackett, defiantly, "because I said you did. I had myreasons, " she went on, "and you can say I said so. "

Margaret ran up-stairs to get her hat. She was almost wild withexcitement and foreboding of she knew not what. 

The letter which she had been writing fell from her hand. She picked itup, looked hastily at the superscription, "Mr. Peter Manners, Jr. , " andtore it into pieces. 

IX

There is no doubt that Aladdin's recovery dated from Margaret's visit. The poor boy was too sick to say what he had planned, but Margaretsat by his bed for a while and held his hand, and said little abruptconventional things that meant much more to them both, and that wasenough. Besides, and under the guns of her father's eyes, just beforeshe went away she stooped and kissed him on the forehead, and that wasmore than enough to make anybody get over anything, Aladdin thought. So he slept a long cool sleep after Margaret had gone, and woke free offever. As he lay gathering strength to sit up in bed, which treat hadbeen promised him in ten days, Aladdin's mind worked hard over thefuture, and what he could machinate in order one day to be almost worthyto kiss the dust under Margaret's feet. She sent him flowers twice, butwas not allowed to come and see him again. 

Aladdin had awful struggles with the boredom of convalescence. He feltperfectly well, and they wouldn't let him get up and out; everythingforbidden he wanted to eat. And his one solace was the Brackett library. This was an extraordinary collection of books. They were seven, and howthey got there nobody knows. The most important in the collection was, in Mrs. Brackett's estimation, an odd volume of an encyclopedia, boundin tree-calf and labeled, "Safety-lamps to Stranglers. " Next were fourfat tomes in the German language on scientific subjects; these, providedthat anybody had ever wanted to read them, had never succeededin getting themselves read, but they had cuts and cuts which werefascinating to surmise about. The sixth book was the second volume ofa romance called "The Headsman, " by "the author of 'The Spy, '" and theseventh was a back-split edition of Poe's poems. 

The second volume of "The Headsman" went like cakes and syrup on a coldmorning, for it was narrative, and then it was laid aside, because itwas dull. The four German books had their cuts almost examined out ofthem, and the encyclopedia book, from "Safety-lamps to Stranglers, "practically had its contents torn out and devoured. In after lifeAladdin could always speak with extraordinary fluency, feeling, andunderstanding on anything that began with S, such as Simeon Stylites andSenegambia. But the poems of Poe were what made his sickness worth whileand put the call upon all his after life. We learn of the critics andprofessors of English that there are greater lyric poets than Poe. Theywill base this on technicalities and theories of what poetry has beenand what poetry ought to be, and will not take into account the factthat of all of them--Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth when he is a poetat all, Heine, and the lyric body of Goethe and the rest--not one inproportion to the mass of his production so often leaves the ground andspreads wings as Poe, --

 If I might dwell Where Israfel Hath dwelt, and he where I, He might not sing so wildly well A mortal melody, While a bolder note than his might swell From my lyre within the sky, --

and that where they have, they have perhaps risen a little higher, butnever have sung more hauntingly and clear. The wonderful sounds andthe unearthly purity--the purity of a little child that has died--tookAladdin by the throat and shook up the imagination and music that hadlain dormant within him; his father's bent for invention clarified intoa passion for creation. The first thing he read was three stanzas on theleft-hand page where the book opened to his uneager hands, and his eyes, expectant of disappointment, --for up to that time, never having readany, he hated poetry, --fell on one of the five or six perfect poems inthe world:

 Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore That gently o'er a perfumed sea The weary, wayworn wanderer bore To his own native shore. 

 On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome. 

 Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand! Ah, Psyche! From the regions which Are holy land. 

And he knew that he had read the most exquisite, the most insouciant, and the most universal account of every man's heart's desire--Margaretas she would be when she grew tall. He knew little of the glory that wasGreece or the grandeur that was Rome, but whatever they were, Margarethad all of them, and the hyacinth hair, very thick and clustery andbeautiful, and the naiad airs. Ah, Psyche!

And he read forward and back in the book, and after a little he knewthat he had a soul, and that the only beautiful thing in the world isbeauty, and the only sad thing, and that beauty is truth. 

Open at the lines to Helen he laid the book face down upon his heart, with his hands clasped over it, and shut his eyes. 

"Now I know what I've got to do, " he said. "Now I know what I've got todo. "

He dreamed away hours until suddenly the need of deeds set him boltupright in bed, and he called to Mrs. Brackett to bring him penciland paper. From that time on he was seldom without them, and, byturns reading and writing, entered with hope and fortitude into thechallenging field of literature. And from the first, however ignorantand unkempt the effort, he wrote a kind of literature, for he buckled tono work that he knew, and was forever striving after an ideal (nebulous, indescribable, and far) of his own, and that is literature. Go to thosewho have wrought for--forever (without, of course, knowing it) and thosewho have wrought earnestly for the day, and these things you will findmade the god in their machine: Raphael's sonnets and Dante's picture!Aladdin had no message, that he knew of, for the world, but the callof one of the arts was upon him; and he knew that willy-nilly he mustanswer that call as long as eyes could see, or hands hold pen, or tonguecall for pencil and paper, money buy them, or theft procure them. He sethimself stubbornly and courageously to the bitter-sweet task of learningto write. 

"It must be like learning anything else, " he said, his eyes on a sheetof seemingly uncorrectable misbalances, "and just because I'm rotten atit now doesn't prove that if I practise and practise, and try and try, and hope and hope, I won't be some good sometime. "

He saw very clearly the squat dark tower itself in the midst of thechin-upon-hand hills, and the world and his friends sitting about tosee him fail. He saw them, and he knew them all, and yet, with ChildeRoland, Dauntless the slughorn to his lips he set, And blew. 

And incidentally, when he got well and returned to school, he enteredon a period of learning his lessons, for he thought that these might oneday be of use to him in his chosen line. 

X

Senator St. John, for he was at heart democratic, and heard little ofAladdin that was not to Aladdin's credit, derigorized the taboo which hehad once placed on Aladdin's and Margaret's friendship, and allowed theyoung man to come occasionally to the house, and occasionally loanedhim books. Margaret was really at the bottom of this, but she stayedcomfortably at the bottom, and teased her father to do the needful, andhe, wrapped up in the great issues which were threatening to divide thecountry, complied. In those days the senator's interests extendedfar beyond his family, Margaret and the three powerful sons who werebuilding a reputation for the firm of John St. John & Brothers, lawyersin Portland. He gave Aladdin leave to come and go, even smiled grimlyas he did so, and, except at those moments when he met him face toface, forgot that Aladdin existed. Margaret enjoyed Aladdin hugely, and unconsciously sat for the heroine of every novel he began, andthe inspiration of every verse that he wrote. When Aladdin reached hiseighteenth year and Margaret her sixteenth there was such a delightfuland strong friendship between them that the other young people of thetown talked. Margaret in her heart of hearts was fonder of Aladdin thanof anybody else--when she was with him, or under the immediate influenceof having been with him, for nobody else had such extraordinary ideas, or such a fund of amusing vitality, or such fascinating moods. Likeevery one with a touch of the Celt in him, Aladdin was by turnsgloomiest and most unfortunate of all mortals upon whom the sunpositively would not shine, or the gayest of the gay. From his drollmanner of singing a song, to the seriousness with which he sometimesbore all the sufferings of all the world, he seemed to her a mostcomplex and unusual individual. But his spells were of the instant, andher thoughts were very often on that beautiful young man, Manners, who, having completed his course at the law school, was coming to spend amonth before he should begin to practise. Since his first visit yearsago, Manners, now a grown man of twenty, had spent much of many of hisvacations with the St. Johns. The senator was obliged, as well as hislimitations would allow, to take the place of a mother to Margaret, andthough it was barely guessable from his words or actions, he loved PeterManners like a son, and had resolved, almost since the beginning, to endby having him for one. And the last time that Manners had visited themin Washington, St. John had seen to it that he shook hands with all thegreat men who were making history. Once the senator and Margarethad visited the Manners in New York. That had been a bitter time forAladdin, for while all the others of his age were sniffing timidly atlove and life, he had found his grand passion early and stuck to it, andwas now blissful with hope and now acrid with jealousy. Peter Manners hehated with a green and jealous hatred. And if Peter Manners had any ofthe baser passions, he divined this, and hated Aladdin back, but rathercontemptuously. They met occasionally, and the meetings, always in thepresence of Margaret, were never very happy. She was woman enough torejoice at being a bone of contention, and angel enough to hate seeinggood times spoiled. 

But it was hard on Aladdin. He could go to her house almost when heliked, and be welcomed by her, but to her father and the rest of thehousehold he was not especially welcome. They were always polite to him, and always considerate, and he felt--quite rightly--that he was merelytolerated, as a more or less presentable acquaintance of Margaret's. Manners, on the other hand, and it took less intuition to know it, wasnot only greatly welcome to Margaret, but to all the others--fromthe gardener up to the senator. Manners' distinction of manner, hiswellbred, easy ways, his charmingly enunciative and gracious voice, together with his naive and simple nature, went far with people'shearts. Aladdin bitterly conceded every advantage to his rival exceptthat of mind. To this, for he knew even in his humble moments that hehimself had it, he clung tenaciously. Mrs. Brackett, with a sneakingadmiration for Peter Manners, whom she had once seen on the street, hadAladdin's interests well in heart, and the lay of the matter well inhand. She put it like this to a friendly gossip:

"I guess' Laddin O'Brien's 'bout smaht enough to go a long ways furtherthan fine clothes and money and a genealogical past will carry a body. He writes sometimes six and eight big sides of paper up in a day, andif he ain't content with that he just tears it up and goes at it again. There won't be anybody'll go further in this world than 'Laddin O'Brien, and you can say I said so--"

Here under oath of secrecy Mrs. Brackett lowered her voice and divulgeda secret:

"He got a letter this mornin' sayin' that the Portland'spy' is goin' toprint three poems he sent 'em, and enclosin' three dollars to pay for'em. I guess beginnin' right now he could go along at that rate and makemebbe five or six hundred dollars a year. Poetry's nothin' to him; hecan write it faster than you and I can baste. "

At the very moment of this adoring act of divulgence Aladdin was inthe parlor, giving his first taste of success a musical soul, andwaiting--waiting--waiting until it should be late enough in the day forhim to climb the hill to the St. Johns' and hand over the Big News toMargaret. And as he sat before the piano, demipatient and wholly joyful, his fingers twinkled the yellowed and black keys into fits of merriment, or, after an abrupt pause, built heap upon heap of bass chords. Thenthe mood would change and, to a whanging accompaniment, he would chant, recitative fashion, the three poems which alone he had made. 

The day waned, and it was time to go and tell Margaret. His way laypast the railway-station, under the "Look out for the locomotive" sign, across the track, and up the hill. In the air was the exhilaratingevening cool of June, and the fragrance of flowers, which in the northcountry, to make up for the shorter tale of their days, bloom biggerand smell sweeter than any other flowers in the world. Even in the dirtypaved square fronting the station was a smell of summer and flowers. Youcould see people's faces lighten and sniff it, as they got out of thehot, cindery coaches of the five-forty, which had just rolled in. 

The St. Johns' fine pair of bays and their open carriage were drawn upbeside the station. The horses were entering a spirited, ground-pawingprotest against the vicinity of that alway inexplicable and snortingmonster on wheels. On the platform, evidently waiting for some one toget off the train, stood St. John and Margaret. She looked much fresherand sweeter than a rose, and Aladdin noted that she was wearing her hairup for the first time. Her dress was a floaty white affair with ablue ribbon round it, and her beautiful, gay young face flushed withexcitement and anticipation till it sparkled. There was a large crowdgetting off the train, at that aggravating rate of progression withwhich people habitually leave a crowded public conveyance or a theater, and Margaret and her father were looking through the windows of the carsto see if they could catch a glimpse of whom they sought. Suddenly thesenator broke into a smile and waved his cane. The action was so unusualfor him that it looked grotesque. Margaret stood on tiptoe and waved herhand, and a presentiment came to Aladdin and took away all his joy. 

Peter Manners, looking fresh and clean in spite of his long, dusty ride, got off the train and made a hilarious rush for his friends. Heshook hands with Margaret, then with the senator, and turned again toMargaret. She was altogether too pretty, and much too glad to see him. In the excitement of the moment it couldn't be borne, and he kissed her. Then they both laughed, and the senator laughed, for he was glad. He puthis great hand on Manners' shoulder, and laughing and talking, the threewent to the carriage. Then the senator remembered that the checks hadbeen forgotten, and against a voluble protest he secured them fromManners, and went after an expressman. Having found the expressman--oneof his constituents and a power in the town, --he handed him the checks, a fifty-cent piece, and a ponderous joke as old as Xerxes, at which theexpressman roared. Manners stood by the carriage and looked at Margaret. "Lord God, " he thought, "it has come at last!" and they grinned at eachother. 

"Mmm!" said Margaret, who stood for the glory that was Greece and thegrandeur that was Rome. She had not expected to be so glad to see him. 

Meanwhile Aladdin had turned and was going home. 

Margaret caught sight of his back, and the pitiful little droop in theusually erect shoulders, and she divined like a flash, and calledafter him. He pretended not to hear and went on. In his pocket was theeditor's letter which he had designed to show her. It had lain down anddied. 

"Why does that man hate me so?" said Manners. 

A little of the joy of meeting had gone. A cloud passed over the sun, and the earth was darkened. Many drops of rain began to fall, eachmaking a distinct splash as it struck. One began to smell the disturbeddust. But the flowers continued to send up their incense to heaven, andManners put his light overcoat about Margaret. 

XI

Aladdin had a large acquaintance in the town among all sorts of men, and, as he went home sorrowfully in the rain, he met a youth, olderthan himself, who had an evil notoriety; for being born with brains, ofrespectable people, and propitiously launched on the world, he had begunin his early teens, and in the face of the most heartrending solicitude, to drink himself to death. The miserable part of it was that everybodyloved him when he was sober, and out of consideration to his familystill asked him to the best that the town could do in the way of partiesand entertainments. He was a good-looking young man with a big frame anda pale face. His real name was William Addison Larch, but he was betterknown as "Beau Larch. " He had a nervous, engaging smile, of which hemade frequent use. 

"My word, Aladdin, " he said, "you look sick as a dog. Come with me andtake a snifter for it. "

Aladdin hesitated a moment. And as soon as he had thoroughly made up hismind that it was wrong to say so, he said:

"I believe I will. " The Celt in him was feeling suicidal. They went intothe ground-floor room of a house where liquor was sold. 

"For me, whisky, " said Beau Larch. 

"The same for me, " said Aladdin, with something suspiciously like agulp. The first drink which a man takes against his better judgment isa grisly epoch in his life. Aladdin realized this, and was at oncemiserable and willing that it should be so. 

"To those that love us!" said Beau Larch. 

Aladdin put down his liquor without grimace or gasp. 

Beau Larch paid. 

In Aladdin's pocket were three dollars, the first mile-post on the steeproad to his ideal. He felt, to be sure that they were there. 

"Now you 'll have one with me, " he said. 

When the sudden rain-storm had rained and thundered and lightened itselfout, they went to another saloon, and from there to the Boat Club, ofwhich Beau Larch was a member and whither he asked Aladdin to supper. Fishes and lobsters and clams were the staple articles of Boat Clubsuppers, and over savory messes of these, helped down with much whiskyand water, Aladdin and Beau Larch made the evening spin. Aladdin, talking eagerly and with the naivete of a child, wondered why he hadnever liked this man so much before. And Larch told the somewhatabject story of his life three times with an introduction of much racyanecdote. 

Aladdin's head held surprisingly well. Every now and then he would handhimself an inward congratulation on the alertness and clearness ofhis mind, and think what a fine constitution he must have. They got tosinging after a while, and reciting poems, of which each knew a quantityby heart. And, oddly enough, Aladdin, though he had been brought up tospeak sound American, developed in his cups, and afterward clung to, in moments of exhilaration or excitement, an indescribably faint butperfectly distinct Hibernian accent. It was the heritage to which hewas heir, and made his eager and earnest rendering of "Annabel Lee" sopathetic that Beau Larch wept, and knocked a glass off the table. . . . 

Men came and sat with them, and Aladdin discovered in himself whathe had hitherto never suspected--the power of becoming heart-to-heartfriends with strangers in two seconds. 

Aladdin was never able to remember just how or when or with whom theyleft the Boat Club. He only remembered walking and walking and talkingand talking, and finally arguing a knotty question, on which alldefended the same side, and then sitting down on the steps of a housein a low quarter of the town, and pouring the ramifications of all histroubles into the thoroughly sympathetic if somewhat noncomprehendingears of Beau Larch. He talked long and became drunker as he talked, while Larch became soberer. Then Aladdin remembered that the door at thetop of the steps had opened, and a frowzy head had been stuck out, andthat a brassy voice, with something at once pathetic and wheedling init, had said:

"Aren't you coming in, boys?"

Then Aladdin remembered that Beau Larch and he had had angry words, and that Beau Larch had told him not to make an ass of himself, and forheaven's sake to go home. To which Aladdin had retorted that he was oldenough to know what was good for him, and hated the world and didn'tgive a damn who knew it, and wouldn't go home. Aladdin could swear thatafter that he only closed his eyes for a second to shut out something orother, and that when he opened them, the reverberation of a door closingwas in his ears. But for all that Beau Larch had gone, and was to beseen neither up the street nor down. Although his own was past mending, Beau Larch, drunk as he was, had done a good deed that night, for he hadguarded a precious innocence against the assaults of a drunken littleIrish boy who was feeling down about something--a girl named somethingor other, Beau Larch thought, and another boy named something or other. The next day Beau had forgotten even that much. 

Aladdin thought that Larch was hiding in jest. He arose unsteadily andwandered off in search of him. After a time he found himself beforethe door of his own house. There were lights in the parlor, and Aladdinbecame almost sober. He realized with a thrill of stricken consciencethat Mrs. Brackett was sitting up for him, and he was afraid. He triedthe front door and found it unlocked. He went in. On the right, the doorleading into the parlor stood open. On the table burned a lamp. Besidethe table in the crushed plush rocker sat Mrs. Brackett. Her spectacleswere pushed high up on her forehead. Her eyes were closed, and her mouthwas slightly open. From the corners of her eyes red marks ran down hercheeks. Her thin gray hair was in disarray. In her lap, open, lay herhuge family Bible; a spray of pressed maidenhair fern marked the place. 

Aladdin, somewhat sobered by now, and already stung with the anguish ofremorse, tiptoed into the parlor and softly blew out the light; but theinstant before he did so he glanced down at the Bible in the good lady'slap and saw that she had been reading about the prodigal son. Greattears ran out of Aladdin's eyes. He went up-stairs, weeping and ontiptoe, and as he passed the door of his brother's room he heard a stirwithin. 

"Is that you, 'Laddin?"

"Sssh, darlint, " said Aladdin; "you'll wake Mother Brackett. "

In his own room there was a lamp burning low, and on his bureau was anote for him from Margaret:

DEAR ALADDIN: Papa wants you to come up and have supper with us. Peter Manners is here, and I think it will be fun. Please do come, andremember a lot of foolish songs to sing. Why wouldn't you speak to me?It hurts so when you act like that. . . . 

Aladdin, kissing the note, went down on his knees and twice began topray, "O God--O God!" He could say no more, but all the penitence andheartburnings of his soul were in his prayer. Later he lay on his bedstaring into a darkness which moved in wheels, and he kept saying to thedarkness:

 "Neither the angels in Heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. "

Late in the still morning he awoke, grieving and hurt, for he did notsee how he should ever face Mrs. Brackett, or his brother, or Margaret, or himself, or anybody ever again. 

XII

There was in town at this time what passed for a comic-opera troupe, andMargaret and her father, by way of doing honor to their guest, invitedall the young people to go to the performance and attend a supperafterward. The party occupied the three foremost rows in the music-hall, and Aladdin sat next to Margaret, and Manners sat upon the other side. 

The hero of the piece was a jovial big rascal with a spirited voice, andmuch byplay which kept his good-natured audience in titters--from theyoung gentlemen and little shrieks--from the young ladies. Mr. Blythoe, the hero, when the curtain had fallen upon what the management waspleased to call the second act, consented, in response to continuedapplause, due to a double back somersault and two appropriate remarksfired off in midair (this was his great psychic moment), to make alittle speech and sing a song. His speech, though syntactically erratic, was delivered in a loud, frank way that won everybody's heart, and inclosing he said:

"Three nights ago I met with a young feller in this tow--city[applause], and when we had taken one together for luck [titters fromthe young gentlemen, who wanted one another to know that they knew whathe meant], he made me the loan of the song I'm a-going to sing. He madeup the words and the tune of this song hisself, and he's right here inthis audience. " This gave an opportunity for some buffoonery among theyoung gentlemen. Mr. Blythoe looked for one instant straight at Aladdin, and Aladdin went into a cold sweat, for he began to recollect thatsomewhere on a certain awful night he had taken drinks with Mr. Blythoeand had sung him songs. Mr. Blythoe went on:

"This young gentleman said I specially wasn't to mention his name, andI won't, but I want all you ladies and gentlemen to know that this herebeautiful ballad was composed right here in this tow--city [applause] bya citizen of this city. And here goes. "

Then Mr. Blythoe did a wonderful thing. Much was owing to the words andair, but a little something to the way in which Mr. Blythoe sang. Hetook his audience with the first bar, and had some of them crying whenhe was through. And the song should have been silly. It was about a gay, gay young dog of a crow, that left the flock and went to a sunny landand lived a mad, mad life; and finally, penitent and old, came home tothe north country and saw his old playmates in the distance circlingabout the old pine-tree, but was too weak to reach them, or to call loudenough for them to hear, and so lay down and died, died, died. The tunewas the sweetest little plaintive wail, and at the end of each stanza itdied, died, till you had to cry. 

Mr. Blythoe received tremendous applause, but refused to encore. Hewinked to Aladdin and bowed himself off. Then Aladdin executed anunparalleled blush. He could feel it start in the small of his back andspread all over him--up under the roots of his hair to the top of hishead. He should have felt proud, instead of which he was suffused withshame. Margaret caught sight of his face. 

"What is it, Aladdin?" she said in a whisper. 

"Nothing. "

"Won't you tell me?"

"It's nothing. " He got redder and redder. 

"Please. "

With downcast eyes he shook his head. She looked at him dubiously anda little pathetically for a moment. Then she said, "Silly goose, " andturned to Manners. 

"Poor old crow!" said Manners. "I had one, Margaret, when I was little;he had his wings clipped and used to follow me like a dog, and one dayhe saw some of his old friends out on the salt-marsh, and he hopped outto talk it over with them, and they set upon him and killed him. AndI couldn't get there quick enough to help him--I beg your pardon. " Hepicked up a fan and handed it to the girl on his left, and she, havingdropped it on purpose, blushed, thanked him, and giggled. Manners turnedto Margaret again. "Ever since then, " he said, "when I have a gun in myhand and see a crow, I want to kill him for the sake of the crows thatkilled mine, and to let him go for the sake of mine, who was such a niceold fellow. So it's an awful problem. "

Aladdin sat and looked straight before him. "Is real fame as awful asthis?" he thought. 

Somebody clapped him on the shoulder, and a hearty voice, something theworse for wear, said loudly in his ear, "Bully, Aladdin, bully!"

Aladdin looked up and recognized that bad companion, Beau Larch. 

"That's all right, " Aladdin tried to say, but Mr. Larch would not bedowned. 

"Wasn't it bully, Margaret?" he said. 

"Oh--hallo--hallo, Beau!" said she, starting and turning round andcollecting her wits. "What? Wasn't what bully?"

Aladdin frowned at Larch with all the forbiddingness that he couldmuster, but Larch was imperturbable. 

"Why, Aladdin's song!" he said. "You know, the one about the oldcrow--the one the man just sang. "

Here a young lady, over whom Beau Larch was leaning, confided to herescort in an audible, nervous voice that she knew Beau Larch had beendrinking, but she wouldn't say why she knew--anybody could see he had;and then she sniffed with her nose by way of indicating that seeing wasnot the only or best method of telling. 

"You don't mean to say--" said Margaret to Aladdin, and looked him in theeyes. "Why, Aladdin!" she said. And then: "Peter--Peter--'Laddin wroteit, he did. Isn't it gr-reat!"

And Peter, rising to the occasion, said, "Bully, " and "I thought it wasgreat, " with such absolute frankness and sincerity that Aladdin's heartalmost warmed toward him. It was presently known all over the house thatAladdin had written the song. And some of the more clownish of the youngpeople called for Author, Author. Aladdin hung his head. 

At supper at the St. Johns' later was a crisp, brisk gentleman withgrayish hair, who talked in a pleasant, dry way. Aladdin learned that itwas Mr. Blankinship, editor and proprietor of the Portland "Spy. " Almostimmediately on learning this important item, he saw Mr. Blankinshipexchange a word with Margaret and come toward him. 

"Mr. O'Brien?"

"Yes, sir. "

"The same that sent us three poems a while ago?"

"Yes, sir. "

"And you wrote that song we heard to-night?"

"Yes, sir. " Aladdin was now fiery red. 

"What do you do for a living?"

"I've just finished school, " said Aladdin. "And I don't know what todo. "

"Newspaper work appeal to you?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Timid as a coot, " thought Mr. Blankinship. 

"Write easily?" he said. "Fast--short words?"

Aladdin thought a moment. "Yes, sir, " he said coolly. 

"Less timid than a coot, " thought Mr. Blankinship. 

"Willing to live in Portland?"

"Yes, sir. "

"I'll give you five dollars a week and give you a trial. "

"Thank you, sir. "

"Can you get moved and start work Monday?"

"Yes, sir. "

Mr. Blankinship smiled cheerfully. 

"Pretty entertainment, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Well, O'Brien, see you Monday; hope we get on. " Mr. Blankinship noddedpleasantly and passed up the room to the punch, muttering as he went, "Writes better than talks--dash of genius--more or less timid than acoot. "

Aladdin went quickly to find Margaret. He traced her to the pantry, where she was hurrying the servant who had charge of the ice-cream. Aladdin waited until the servant had gone out with a heaping tray. 

"Margaret, " he said, "I'm going away to live. "

He spoke in the flat, colorless voice with which a little childannounces that it has hurt itself. 

"What do you mean, Aladdin?" She changed color slightly. 

"Only that I've got to make a living, Margaret, and it's on a paper, soI ought to be glad. "

"Aren't you glad, Aladdin?"

"A little. "

"Aladdin--"

"Margaret--O Margaret--"

She read in his eyes what was coming. 

"Not now, Aladdin, " she said. 

"Not now--dear Aladdin. "

"Then you know?"

"I've always known, Aladdin, and been grateful and that proud. "

"Will there never be any chance for me, Margaret?"

"Aladdin, I think I like you better than anybody else in the world--"

"Darling--" he had never supposed that it could be said so easily; heleaned toward her. 

"No, " she said suddenly; "I've got to go and see after all those foolishpeople. "

"Just for the sake of old times, and now, and new times--"

She hesitated, reddened a little, and then, as sweetly and innocently asa child, put up her lips for him to kiss. 

XIII

Hannibal St. John's campaign for reelection to the senatorship was, owing to a grievous error in tact, of doubtful issue. A hue and cryarose against him among his constituents, and things in general fellout so unhappily that it looked toward the close of the contest as if hewould be obliged to sit idle and dangle his heels, while the two halvesof the country, pushing against each other, were rising in the middlelike the hinge of a toggle-joint into the most momentous crisis inthe nation's history. It looked as if the strong man, with his almostblasphemous intolerance of disunion, his columnlike power of supporting, and his incomparable intellect, was to stand in the background and watchthe nightmare play from afar. He fought for his place in the forefrontof the battle with a great fervor of bitterness, and the possibility ofdefeat weighed upon his glowering soul like a premature day of judgment. He knew himself to be the one man for the opportunity, and could histrue feelings have found utterance, they would have said, "Damn useverlastingly in hell, but don't shelve us now!"

Opposed to St. John was a Mr. Bispham, of about quarter his heightintellectually and integrally--a politician, simple, who went to war forloot. But he was blessed with a tremendous voice and an inexhaustiblestore of elemental, fundamental humor, upon the waves of which the shipbearing his banner floated high. It seemed that because of one glaringexhibition of tactlessness, and a lack of humor, a really important, valuable, and honest man was to lose the chance of serving his countryto a designing whipper-snapper, who was without even the saving grace ofviolent and virulent prejudices. And so the world goes. It seemed at onetime that St. John's chance was a ghost of a chance, and his friends, sons, and relatives, toiling headstrong by night and day, were broughtup at the verge of despair. To make the situation even more difficult, St. John himself was prostrated with the gout, so that his tellingoratory and commanding personality could not be brought to bear. Margaret was never far from her father's side, and she worked like a dogfor him, writing to dictation till her hands became almost useless, andwhen the spasms of pain were great, leaving her work to kiss his oldbrow. 

It was at this time that people all over the State began to take up asong with an inimitably catching tune. The words of this song held upMr. Bispham in so shrewdly true and farcically humorous a light thateven his own star began to titter and threatened to slip from its highplace in the heavens. The song fell so absolutely on the head ofthe nail that Mr. Bispham, when he heard it for the first time, wasconvulsed with anger and talked of horse-whips. The second time he heardit, he drew himself up with dignity and pretended not to notice, andthe third time he broke into a cold sweat, for he began to be afraid ofthose words and that tune. At a mass-meeting, while in the midst of avoluble harangue, somebody in the back of the hall punctuated--an absurdstatement, which otherwise might have passed unnoticed, by whistling thefirst bar of the song. Mr. Bispham faced the tittering like a man, andendeavored to rehabilitate himself. But his hands had slipped on thehandle of the audience, and the forensic rosin of Demosthenes would nothave enabled him to regain his grip. He was cruelly assured of the factby the hostile and ready-witted whistler. Again Mr. Bispham absurded. This time the tune broke out in all parts of the hall and was itselfpunctuated by catcalls and sotto-voce insults delivered with terrificshouts. Mr. Bispham's speech was hurriedly finished, and the perorationcame down as flat as a skater who tries a grape-vine for the first time. He left the hall hurriedly, pale and nervous. The tune followed him downthe street and haunted him to his room. The alarming takingness of ithad gotten in at his ear, and as he was savagely undressing he caughthimself in the traitorous act of humming it to himself. 

Among others to leave the hall was a tall, slim young man with frecklesacross the bridge of his nose and very bright blue eyes. A party ofyoung men accompanied him, and all were a little noisy, and, as theymade the street, broke lustily into the campaign song. People said, "That's him, " "That's O'Brien, " "That's Aladdin O'Brien, " "That's theman wrote it, " and the like. The young men disappeared down the streetsinging at the tops of their voices, with interlardations of turbulent, mocking laughter. 

Aladdin's song went all over the North, and his name became known in theland. 

Hannibal St. John was not musical. There were only four tunes, and threeof them were variations of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia, " that herecognized when he heard them. As he lay on his bed of pain, heheard the shrill whistle of his gardener piping in the garden below. Unconsciously the senator's well hand marked the time. All day, as hecame and went about his business, the gardener kept whistling that tune, and the senator heard and reheard ever with increasing pleasure. Andthis was an extraordinary thing, for it was as difficult or nearly soto move Hannibal St. John with music as it must have been for Orpheusto get himself approached by rocks and stones and trees, and far moredifficult than it ever was for the Pied Piper to achieve a following ofbrats and rats. 

Margaret had been for a drive with a girl friend. She came home and toher father's side in great spirits. 

"Oh, papa, " she cried, "will you do me a favor?"

She read consent. 

"Claire has got the wonderfulest song, and I want you to let her come inand sing it for you. "

"A song?" said the senator, doubtfully. 

"Papa de-e-ear, please. "

He smiled grimly. 

"If Claire will not be shocked by my appearance, " he said against hope. 

"Rubbish, " cried Margaret, and flew out of the room. 

There were a few preliminary gasps and giggles in the hall, and thetwo maidens, as sedate and demure as mice, entered. Claire was a littleparty, with vivacious manners and a comical little upturned face. 

"How do you do, senator?" she said. "I'm so sorry you're laid up. Isn'tit lovely out?" She advanced and shook his well hand. 

"Won't you take a chair?" said the senator. 

"I just ran in for a moment. Margaret and I thought maybe you'd like tohear the new campaign song that everybody's singing. My brother broughtit up from Portland--" she paused, out of breath. 

"It would afford me great pleasure, " said the senator. 

And forthwith Claire sang in a rollicking voice. The tune was the sameas that which the gardener had been whistling. St. John recognized itin spite of the difference in the mediums and smiled. Then he smiledbecause of the words, and presently he laughed. It was the first realpleasure he had had in many a day. 

"Everybody is wild about it, " said Claire, when she had finished. 

The senator was shaking with laughter. 

"That's good, " he said, "that's good. "

"Papa, " said Margaret, when Claire had gone, "who do you think wrotethat song?"

"I don't know, " said the senator. "But it's good. "

"Aladdin wrote it, " said Margaret. 

"Upon my word!" said the senator. 

Margaret knelt and threw her arms about her father's neck and blushed alovely blush. 

"Isn't it splendid?"

There was a ring at the front door, and a telegram was brought in. 

"Read it, Peggy, " said the senator. He used that name only when movedabout something. The despatch was from the senator's youngest son, Hannibal, and read:

 Do not worry; we are singing Bispham up a tree. 

"And Aladdin wrote the song!" cried Margaret. "Aladdin wrote it!"

The senator's face clouded for a moment. He forced the cloud to pass. 

"We must thank him, " he said. "We must thank him. "

Senator St. John was reelected by a small majority. Everybody admittedthat it was due to Aladdin O'Brien's song. It was impossible to disguisethe engaging childishness of the vote. 

XIV

As he went to his desk in the back room of the Portland "Spy" officesthe morning after the election, Aladdin had an evil headache, and asubconscious hope that nobody would speak to him suddenly. He felt thathis arms and legs might drop off if anybody did, and he could have swornthat he saw a gray sparrow with blue eyes run into a dark corner, andturn into a mouse. But he was quite free from penitence, as the occasionof this last offense had been joy and triumph, whereas that of his firsthad been sorrow. He lighted a bad cigar, put off his editorial tilllater, and covered a whole sheet of paper with pictures like these:

(Transcriber's note: These are simple sketches of birds and animals. )

He looked back with a certain smug satisfaction upon a hilarious eveningbeginning with a dinner at the club, which some of the older adherentsof St. John had given him in gratitude for the part he had taken in thecampaign. He remembered that he had not given a bad exhibition, and thatnoble prophecies had been made of his future by gentlemen in their cups, and that he himself, when just far enough gone to be courageous withoutbeing silly, had made a snappy little speech of thanks which had beenreceived with great applause, and that later he had sung his campaignsong and others, and that finally, in company with an ex-judge, whosehat was also decorated with a wreath of smilax, he had rolled amiablyabout the town in a hack, going from one place where drinks could begotten to another, and singing with great fervor and patriotism:

 Zhohn Brownzh bozhy liezh a mole-ring in zhe grave. 

Aladdin thought over these things with pleasure, for he had fallenunder the dangerous flattery of older men, and with less pleasure of theeditorial which it was his immediate business to write. His brisk, crisp chief, Mr. Blankinship, came in for a moment, walking testily andlooking like the deuce. 

"So you've showed up, Aladdin, have you?" he said. "That's youngblood. If any question of politics--I mean policy--arises, I leave itabsolutely to you. I'm going back to bed. Can't you stop smoking thatrotten cigar?"

Aladdin laughed aloud, and Mr. Blankinship endeavored to smile. 

"Somewhere, " he said, "in this transcendentally beautiful continent, Aladdin, there may be some one that feels worse than I do, but I doubtit. " He turned to go. 

"Won't Mr. Orde be here either?" said Aladdin. 

"No; he's home in bed. You're editor-in-chief and everything else forthe day, see? And I wish I was dead. " Mr. Blankinship nodded, veryslightly, for it hurt, and went out. 

The misery of others is a great cure: with the first sight of Mr. Blankinship, Aladdin's headache had gone, and he now pounced upon freshpaper, got a notion out of the God-knows-where, wrote his editorial atfull speed, and finished it without once removing the cigar from hismouth. 

He had just done when the shrewd, inky little boy, who did everythingabout the "Spy" offices which nobody else would do, entered and saidthat a gentleman wanted to speak with Mr. O'Brien. Aladdin had thegentleman shown up, and recognized the oldest of Hannibal St. John'ssons; he knew them well by sight, but it so happened that he had nevermet them. They were the three biggest and most clean-cut young menin Maine, measuring between six feet three and four; erect, massive, utterly composed, and, if anything, a little stronger than so manydray-horses. They were notable shots, great fishermen, and the wholeState was beginning to speculate with excitement about their respectivefutures and the present almost glittering success of the law firm whichthey composed. The oldest was the tallest and the strongest. He had beenknown to break horseshoes and to tear a silver dollar in two. Iron wasas sealing-wax in his huge hands. His habits were Spartan. The secondson was almost a replica of the first--a little darker and a little lessvivid. The third was like the others; but his face was handsomer, andnot so strong. He was of a more gentle and winning disposition, for hislife was not ignorant of the frailties. The girl to whom he hadbeen engaged had died, and that had left a kind of sweetness, almostbeseechingness, in his manner, very engaging in so tall and strong aman. 

"Mr. O'Brien?" said John St. John. 

Aladdin arose and held out his long, slender hand. 

Aladdin had a way of moving which was very individual to himself, aslight, ever so slight, exaggeration of stride and gesture, a kind ofcaptivating awkwardness and diffidence that was on the borderland ofgrace and assurance. Like all slender people who work much withtheir heads, he had a strong grip, but he felt that his hand was asinconsistent as an eel when St. John's closed over it. 

"I came in for a moment, " said St. John, "to say that we are allexceedingly grateful to you. Your song was a great factor in my father'sreelection to the Senate. But we do not hold so much by the song asby the good will which you showed us in writing it. I want you tounderstand and believe that if I can ever be of the slightest service toyou, I will go very far to render it. "

"I'm as obliged as I can be, " said Aladdin. "It's mighty good of youto come and talk to me like this, and except for the good will I havetoward all your family, I don't deserve it a bit. "

When John St. John had gone, the inky boy came to announce that anothergentleman wished to speak with Mr. O'Brien. 

The second gentleman proved to be the second brother, Hamilton St. John. 

"Mr. O'Brien?" said he. 

Aladdin shook hands with him. 

"I came in for a moment, " said Hamilton St. John, "for the pleasure oftelling you how tremendously grateful we all are to you for your song, which was such a big factor in my father's redirection to the Senate. But I want to say, too, that we're more grateful for your good will thanfor the song, and if I can ever do you a service, I want you to feelperfectly free to come and ask it of me, whatever it is. "

Aladdin could have laughed for joy. Margaret did not seem so far away assometimes. 

"I'm as obliged as I can be, " he said. "It's mighty good of you to comeand talk to me like this, and except for the good will I have towardall your family, I don't deserve it a bit, but I appreciate it just thesame. "

Presently Hamilton St. John departed. 

Again the inky boy, and this time grinning. 

"There's a gentleman would like to speak with you, sir, " he said. 

"Show him in, " said Aladdin. 

Hannibal St. John, Jr. , entered. 

"O'Brien, " he said, "I've often heard my sister Margaret speak aboutyou, and I've been meaning for ever so long to look you up. And I wishI'd done it before I had such an awfully good excuse as that song ofyours, because I don't know how to thank you, quite. But I want you tounderstand that if at any time--rubbish, you know what I mean. Come upto the club, and we'll make a drink and talk things over. "

He drew Aladdin's arm into his, and they went out. 

Aladdin had never before felt so near Margaret. 

He returned to the office in half an hour, happy and a slave. HannibalSt. John, Jr. , had won the heart right out of him in ten minutes. He satmusing and dreaming. Was he to be one of those chosen?

"Gentleman to see you, sir. "

"Show him in. "

The inky snickered and hurried out. He could be heard saying withimportance, "This way, sir. Look out for that press, sir. It's very darkin here, sir. " And then, like a smart flunky in a house of condition, heappeared again at the door and announced

"Senator Hannibal St. John. "

Aladdin sprang up. 

The senator, still suffering from the gout, and leaning heavily on hiswhalebone cane, limped majestically in. There was an amiability on hisface, which Aladdin had never seen there before. He placed a chair forhis distinguished guest. The senator removed his high hat and stood itupon the edge of Aladdin's desk. 

"My boy, " he said, --the word tingled from Aladdin's ears to his heart, for it was a word of great approachment and unbending, --"I am verygrateful for your efforts in my behalf. I will place honor where honoris due, and say that I owe my recent reflection to the United StatesSenate not so much to my more experienced political friends as to you. The present crisis in the affairs of the nation calls for men of feelingand honor, and not for politicians. I hope that you will not misconstrueme into a braggart if I say from the bottom of my heart I believethat, in returning a man of integrity and tradition to his seat in theCongress of the nation, you have rendered a service to the nation. "

The senator paused, and Aladdin, still standing, waited for him tofinish. 

"After a week, " said the senator, "I shall return to my duties inWashington. In the meanwhile, Margaret" (he had hitherto always referredto her before Aladdin as "my daughter") "and I are keeping open house, and if it will give you pleasure we shall be charmed" (the word fellfrom the senator's lips like a complete poem) "to have you make us avisit. Two of my sons will be at home, and other young people. "

"Indeed, and it will give me pleasure!" cried Aladdin, falling into theleast suspicion of a brogue. 

"I will write a line to your chief, " continued the senator, "and I havereason to believe that he will see you excused. We shall expect youto-morrow by the fourthirty. "

"I'm ever so much obliged, sir, " said Aladdin. 

"My boy, " said the senator, gravely, after a full minute's pause, "weare all concerned in your future, which promises to be a brilliantone. It rests with you. But, if an old man may be permitted a word ofcaution, it would be this: Let your chief recreation lie in your work;leave the other things. Do I make myself clear enough?" (Aladdin noddedguiltily. ) "Leave the frailties to the dullards of this world. "

He rose to go. 

"My young friend, " said the senator, "you have my best wishes. "

Grimacing with the pain in his foot, limping badly, but always statelyand impressive, --almost superimpending, --Hannibal St. John moved slowlyout of the office. 

XV

The weather turned suddenly gusty and cold, and that afternoon it beganto snow, and it kept on snowing. All night fine dry flakes fell inunexampled profusion, and by morning the face of the land was manyinches deep. Nor did the snow then cease. All the morning it continuedto fall with vigor. The train by which Aladdin was to go to the St. Johns' left at two-thirty, arriving there two hours later; and it waswith numb feet and stinging ears that he entered the car reserved forsmokers, and, bundling in a somewhat threadbare over coat, endeavoredto make himself comfortable for the journey. As the train creaked andjerked out of the protecting station, the storm smote upon the windowswith a noise like thrown sand, and a back draft down the chimney ofthe iron stove in one end of the car sent out puffs of smutty smoke atwhatever points the various castings of the stove came together withinsufficient snugness. There were but half a dozen people in the wholetrain. 

"Troubles, old man, " said Aladdin, for so he was in the habit ofaddressing himself at moments of self-communication, "this is going tobe the slowest kind of a trip, but we're going to enjoy every minuteof it, because it's taking us to the place where we would be-God blessher!"

Aladdin took a cigar from his breast pocket. 

"Troubles, " said he, "may I offer you a smoke? What? Oh, you're verymuch obliged and don't mind if you do. There you are, then. " Aladdinsent out a great puff of white smoke; this turned into a blue wraith, drifted down the aisle, between the seats, gathering momentum as itwent, and finally, with the rapidity of a mint julep mounting a suckedstraw (that isn't split) and spun long and fine, it was drawn through apuncture of the isinglass in the stove door and went up the chimneyin company with other smoke, and out into the storm. Aladdin, full ofanticipation and glee, smoked away with great spirit. Presently, for thecar was empty but for himself, Aladdin launched into the rollicking airof "Red Renard"

 "Three scarlet huntsmen rode up to White Plains With a carol of voices and jangle of chains, For the morning was blue and the morning was fair, And the word ran, "Red Renard" is waiting us there. "

He puffed at his cigar a moment to be sure that its fire should notflag, and sang on:

 "The first scarlet huntsman blew into his horn, Lirala, Lovely Morning, I'm glad I was born"; The second red huntsman he whistled an air, And the third sang, "Red Renard" is waiting us there. "

"Just such weather as this, Troubles, " he said, looking out into theswirl of snow. "Just the beautifulest kind of cross-country weather!" Hesang on:

 Three lovely ladies they met at the meet, With whips in their hands and with boots on their feet; And the gentlemen lifted their hats with a cheer, As the girls said, "Red Renard is waiting you here. "

He quickened into the stanza he liked best:

 Three scarlet huntsmen rode off by the side Of three lovely ladies on horses of pride. Said the first, "Call me Ellen"; the second, "I'm Claire"; Said the third, "I'm Red Renard--so called from my hair. "

The train, which had been running more slowly, drew up with a chug, andsome minutes passed before it again gathered itself and lurched on. 

"That's all right, " said Aladdin. He was quite warm now, and thoroughlyhappy. 

 Three scarlet huntsmen rode home from White Plains, With its mud on their boots, and its girls on their brains; And the first sang of Ellen, the second of Claire, But the third sang, "Red Renard is waiting back there. "

He made a waggish face to finish with:

 Three scarlet huntsmen got into frock-coats, And they pinched their poor feet, and they tortured their throats; And the first married Ellen, the second wed Claire, While the third said, "Re Renar izh waishing back zhere. "

He assumed the expression for a moment of one astutely drunk. 

"A bas!" he said, for this much of the French language was his tocommand, and no more. He turned and attempted to look out. He yawned. Presently he threw away the reeking butt of his cigar, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. 

The water below the veranda was alive with struggling fishes in highhats and frock-coats. Each fish had a label painted across his back withhis name and address neatly printed on it, and each fish was strugglingto reach a tiny minnow-hook, naked of bait, which dangled just out ofreach above the water. The baitless hook was connected by a fine line(who ever heard of baiting a line at the wrong end?) with Margaret'shand. She had on a white dress stamped with big pink roses, and therewas a pale-green ribbon round the middle of it; her hair was done up forthe first time, and she was leaning over the railing, which was made ofsafety-lamps and stranglers alternately, painted light blue, regardingthe struggling fishes with a look at once full of curiosity and pity. Presently one of the fishes' labels soaked off, and went hurtling outto sea, with the fish weeping bitterly and following at express speed, until in less than one moment both label and fish were hull downbelow the horizon. Then another label washed off, and then another andanother, and fish after fish, in varying states of distraction, followedafter and disappeared, until all you could see were two, whereof the onewas labeled Manners and the other O'Brien (these continued to fight forthe hook), and all you could hear was Neptune, from down, down, down inthe sea, saying coquettishly to Cleopatra, "I'm Red Renard--socalled from my hair. " And then all of a sudden valiant CaptainKissed-by-Margaret went by on a log writing mottos for the wives offamous men. And then Manners and O'Brien, struggling desperately todrown each other, sank down, down, down, and Cleopatra could be heardsaying perfectly logically to Neptune, "You didn't!" And then there wasa tremendous shower of roses, and the dream went out like a candle. 

Aladdin opened his eyes and stroked his chin. He was troubled about thedream. The senator had spoken to him of "others. " Could Peter Mannerspossibly be there? Was that the especial demolishment that fate held instore for him? He was very wide awake now. 

At times, owing to the opaqueness of the storm, it was impossible to seeout of the car window. But there were moments when a sudden rush of windblew a path for the eye, and by such occasional pictures--little longof the instantaneous--one could follow the progress of the blizzard. Aladdin saw a huddle of sheep big with snow; then a man getting into ahouse by the window; an ancient apple-tree with a huge limb torn off;two telegraph poles that leaned toward each other, like one man fixinganother's cravat; and he caught glimpses of wires broken, loosened, snarled, and fuzzy with snow. Then the train crawled over a rememberedtrestle, and Aladdin knew that he was within four miles of his station, and within three of the St. Johns' house by the best of short cutsacross country. He looked precisely in its direction, and kissed hisfingers to Margaret, and wondered what she was doing. Then there was arumbling, jumping jar, and the train stopped. Minute after minute wentby. Aladdin waited impatiently for the train to start. The conductorpassed hurriedly through. 

"What's up?" called Aladdin after him. 

"Up!" cried the conductor. "We're off the track. "

"Can't we go on to-night?"

"Nup!" The conductor passed out of the car and banged the door. 

"Got to sit here all night!" said Aladdin. "Not much! Get up, Troubles!If you don't think I know the way about here, you can stay by the stove. I'm going to walk. "

Aladdin and Troubles rose, buttoned their coat, left the car, and setout in the direction of the St. Johns'. Aladdin's watch at starting readfive o'clock. 

"Our luggage is all checked, Troubles, " he said, "and all we've gotto face is the idea of walking three miles through very disagreeableweather, over a broad path that we know like the palm of our hand (whichwe don't know as well as we might), arriving late, wet to the skin, andwithout a change of clothes. On the other hand, we shall deserve a longdrink and much sympathy. As for you, Troubles, you're the best company Iknow, and all is well. "

 The first scarlet huntsman blew into his horn, "Lirala, Lovely Morning, I'm glad I was born. "

XVI

At first the way, lying through waist-high fir scrub, was pretty badunderfoot, but beyond was a stretch of fine timber, where the trees haddone much to arrest the snow, and the going was not so severe. Aladdincalculated that he should make the distance in an hour and a half; andwhen the wood ended, he looked at his watch and found that the firstmile, together with only twenty-five minutes, was behind him. 

"That's the rate of an hour and a quarter, Troubles, " he said. "Andthat's good time. Are you listening?"

But following the wood was a great open space of country pitched up fromthe surrounding levels, and naked to every fury of nature. Across thatupland the wind blew a wicked gale, scarifying the tops of knolls to thebrown, dead grass, and filling the hollows flush with snow. At times, tokeep from being blown over, it was necessary to lean against the gusts. Aladdin was conscious of not making very rapid progress, but there wassomething exhilarating in the wildness, the bitter cold, and the roar ofthe wind; it had an effect as of sea thundering upon beach, greatviews from mountain-tops, black wild nights, the coming of thunder andfreshness after intense heat, or any of the thousand and one vasterdemonstrations of nature. Now and again Aladdin sang snatches of song:

 Gaily bedight, A gallant knight In sunshine and shadow Journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of El Dorado. 

Or from "The Mole of Marimolena"

 I was turning fifty-odd when the everlasting God Smote a path of molten gold across the blue, Says, "There's many million men would have done the like again, But you didn't, and, my man, there's hope for you. 

 "Start sheets and sail for the Mole-- For the old rotten Mole of Marimolena; There's maybe some one there That you're longing to treat fair, On the dismal, woeful Mole of Marimolena. "

And other deep-sea chanteys, --the one in which the pirate found the Ladyin the C-a-a-bin and slivered off her head, or back to Red Renard, orfurther to his own campaign song, and furthest of all to the bad, badyoung dog of a crow. Then he got quite out of breath, and pausing for amoment to catch it, noted for the first time the extreme bitterness ofthe cold. It stung the face like insects. "Woof!" he said. "And now forlost time. "

Again he stepped out, but with each step the snow became deeper, andpresently he floundered in to his waist. "Must be a ditch!" he said, turning a little to the right and exclaiming, "Thought so!" as thewading got shallower. Whereupon he stepped into a deep hole and fell. After plunging and plowing about, it was brought home to him that he hadlost the path. Even at that the difficulty remained one of hard walkingalone, for he had been familiar with that country since childhood, and knew the precise direction in which it was necessary for him tolocomote. It was a pity that the only structure in the vicinity was anancient and deserted house, --it lay just off there, --as he should haveliked to have warmed himself by a good fire before going farther. Heremembered that there were a partly preserved stove in the desertedhouse, broken laths, and naily boards, and swathes of curious oldwall-papers, layer upon layer, which, dampening and rotting from thewall, hung raggedly down. He had once explored the house with Margaret, and it seemed almost wise to go to the place and make a fire. But onaccount of the delay involved and the approach of darkness, hediscarded the notion, and, a little impatient at being badly used by aneighborhood he knew so well, struggled on. 

"Troubles, " he said, "what sort of a storm is this anyway? Did you eversee anything quite like it round here? Because I never did. It mustbe like those things they have out West, when millions of poor littlebaa-sheeps and horses and cattles freeze to death. I'd hate to be ahorse out in this, but I wish I had one. I--"

If, as a child, you have ever slipped, though only an inch, whileclimbing over roofs, you will know that sudden, stabbing, sinkingfeeling that came to Aladdin and stopped the beating of his heart by thehairbreadth of a second. He had been proceeding chin on breast, and headbent against the wind, or he would have seen it before, for it was anotable landmark in that part of the world, and showed him that he hadbeen making way, not toward his destination, but toward the wilderness. 

He gazed up at the great black blasted pine, its waist the height of atall tree, and its two lonely lightning-scathed and white arms stretchedout like a malediction; and for a moment he had to take himself in hand. After a little he mastered the fear that had seized him. 

"It's only a poor old lonely vegetable out in the cold, " he said. "Andit shows us exactly where we are and exactly which way we have to go. "

He set himself right, and, with head lowered and hands clenched, againstarted on. But he was beginning to be very much bored, and sensiblethat his legs were not accustomed to being used so hard. Furthermore, there was a little difficulty--not by any means an insurmountableone--in steering straight, because of the constantly varying point ofthe compass in which the wind blew. He went on for a long time. . . . 

He began to look for the high ground to decline, as it should, aboutnow, if it was the high ground he took it for. "I ought to be gettingsomewhere, " he said. 

And, God help him! tired out, half frozen and very foot-sore, he wasgetting somewhere, for, glancing up, he again beheld the gigantic anddemoniac shape of the blasted pine. 

It is on prairies and among mountains, far from the habitations ofmen, that man is most readily terrified before nature, and not on thethree-mile primrose way from a railway accident to a house-party. Butfor a moment cold terror struck at Aladdin like a serpent, and themarrow in his bones froze. Before he could succeed in reducing thisawful feeling to one of acute anxiety alone, he had to talk to himselfand explain things as to a child. 

"Then it is true, Troubles, old man, " he said, "about a person'stendency to go to the left. That's interesting, isn't it? But what do wecare? Being gifted with a certain (flighty, it is true) intelligence, wewill simply take pains, and every step pull a little to the right; andthat will make us go straight. Come now-keep thinking about it-everystep!"

As the end of the day approached, a lull came in the gale, and thesnow fell less freely. The consequently widened horizon of vision waseminently comforting, and Aladdin's unpleasant feeling of anxiety almostdisappeared. 

Suddenly he was aware of a red horse. 

XVII

It was standing almost leg-clear, in an angle of what seemed adrifted-over snake-fence. Its ugly, Roman-nosed head was thrown up andout, as if about to neigh. 

"Poor beastie, " said Aladdin, after a start. "You must be direfful cold, but we'll ride you, and that will make you warm, and us cold, and we'llall get along faster. "

Drawing near, he began to gentle the horse and call it pet names. It wasa huge brute, over seventeen hands high, and Aladdin, aided only by arickety fence, and a pair of legs that would hardly support him, wasappalled by the idea of having to climb to that lofty eminence, itsback. Without doubt he was dreadfully tired. 

"The fence will help, old man" he said. "Here, you, pay attention andget over. " He tried to insinuate himself between the horse and thefence, but the horse did not seem inclined to move. 

"Get over, you!" he said, and gave a shove. The horse moved a little, very unwillingly. "Farther yet, " said Aladdin: "Get over, you, getover. " Again he shoved; this time harder. He slapped the great shoulderwith his open hand. And again the horse moved, but very slowly. "You'rean unwilling brute, aren't you?" he said angrily. 

For answer the thing tottered, and, to his horror, began to fall, atfirst slowly, but ever with accelerating speed, until, in the exactattitude in which it had stood by the fence, --the great Roman-nosed headthrown up and out, as if to neigh, --he beheld the horse stretched beforehim on the ground, and noted for the first time the awful death-likeglint of the yellow teeth through the parting of the lips. 

He went very gravely from that place, for he had been looking upon deathby freezing, and he himself was terribly cold, terribly tired, and--headmitted it now--completely lost. 

But he went on for a long time--four or five hundred years. And it grewdarker and colder. 

He began to talk to himself, to try and steady himself, as he had doneever since childhood at forsaken times. 

"Troubles, " he said, "You're full of troubles, aren't you, old man? Youalways were. But this is the worst. You can't walk very much farther, can you? I can't. And if you don't get helped by some one pretty soon, you're going to come to the end of your troubles. And, Troubles, do youknow, I think that's what's going to happen to you and me, and I wantyou to stand up to it if it comes [gulp] and face it like a man. Nowlet's rest a little, Troubles, will we?"

Troubles and Aladdin rested a little. When the rest was over they couldhardly move, and they began to see the end of a young man that they hadhoped would live a long time and be very happy. They went on. 

"Troubles, " said Aladdin, "do you suppose she knows that we are outhere, perhaps dying? We would know if she were, wouldn't we? And do youthink she cares? Liar, you know she cares, and a lot. She wouldn'tbe she if she didn't care. But we didn't think that all the years ofwaiting and hoping and loving and trying to be something would end likethis, did we, Troubles? We thought that it might end with the godlikeManners (whom we wouldn't help if he were freezing to death, would we?), but not like this--O Lord God, not like this!. . . And we weren't sure itwould end with Manners; we were going to fight it out to a mighty goodfinish, weren't we, Troubles? But now it's going to end in a mighty goodstorm, and you're going to die for all your troubles, Troubles. . . AndI'm talking to you so that we won't lose our sand, even if we are afraidto die, and there's no one looking on. "

Though Aladdin stopped making talk in his head, the talk kept going onby itself; and he suddenly shouted aloud for it to stop. Then he beganto whimper and shiver, for he thought that his mind was going. 

Presently he shook himself. 

"Troubles, " he said, "we've only a little farther to go--just as far asour feet will carry us, and no farther. That's the proper way to finish. And for God's sake keep sane. We won't give her up yet!"

Ten steps and years passed. 

"Troubles, " said Aladdin, "we're going to call for help, and if it don'tcome, which it won't, we're going to try and be calm. It seems simplestand looks best to be calm. "

Aladdin stood there crying aloud for the help of man, but it didnot come. And then he cried for the help of God. And he stood therewaiting--waiting for it to come. 

"We must help ourselves, Troubles, " he said, with a desperate effort tobe calm. "We've got ten steps left in us. Now, then, one--two--"

During the taking of those ten steps the snow ceased entirely to fall, and black night enveloped the earth. 

Aladdin was all numb, and he wished to sleep, but he made the ten stepsinto eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, before his limbs refused toact, and he fell forward in the snow. He managed to raise himself andcrawl a little way. He saw a light afar off, and guessing that it mustbe an angel, held out his hands to it--and one of them encountered asomething in the dark. 

Even through his thick mitten it felt round and smooth and colder thanhis fingers, like a ball of ice. Then Aladdin laughed aloud, for he knewthat his last walk upon earth had been in the form of a silly circle. Hehad returned to the dead horse, and his gloved hand was resting upon itsfrozen eye. He shrieked with laughter and became heavy with a desire tosleep. 

He sank deliciously down, and began to see showers of roses, when itflashed upon him that this was not sleep, but death. 

It was like lifting prodigious dumb-bells to get his eyes to open, anda return to consciousness was like the stabbing of knives. But he openedhis eyes and roused himself. 

"I won't give her up yet, " he cried. 

And then, by the help of God Almighty, he crawled the whole length ofthe horse. 

And fell asleep. 

XVIII

It was a miserable, undressed thing wrapped in a horse-blanket and abuffalo-robe that woke up in front of a red-hot stove and rememberedthat it used to be Aladdin O'Brien. It had a dreadful headache, andcould smell whisky and feel warm, and that for a long time was aboutall. Then it noticed that the wall opposite was ragged with loosenedwall-paper and in places stripped of plaster, so that the lathing showedthrough, and that in its own head--no, in the room beyond the wall--animpatient stamping noise of iron on wood was occurring at intervals. Then it managed to turn its head, and it saw a big, beautiful mansitting on the end of an old soapbox and smoking a pipe. Then it wasseized with a wrenching sickness, and the big man came quickly and heldits head and was very good to it, and it felt better and went to sleep. After a while it descended into the Red Sea, with the avowed intentionof calling Neptune Red Renard to his face, and when it got to thebottom, which was of red brick sprinkled with white door-knobs thatpeople kept diving for, it became frightened and ran and ran until itcame to the bottom of an iceberg, that had roots like a hyacinth bulband was looking for a place to plant itself, and it climbed up to thetop of the iceberg, which was all bulrushes, and said, "I beg yourpardon, but I forgot; I must go back and make my apologies. " Then itwoke up and spoke in a weak voice. 

"Peter Manners, " said Aladdin, "come here. "

Manners came and sat on the floor beside him. 

"Feel better now?" he said. 

"Tell me--" said Aladdin. 

"Oh, stuff!" said Manners. 

"Manners, " said Aladdin, "you don't look as if you hated me any more. "

"You sleep, " said Manners. "That's what you need. "

Aladdin thought for a long time and tried to remember what he wanted tosay, and shutting his eyes, to think better, fell asleep. 

For the third time he awoke. Manners was back on the soap-box, still asa sphinx, and smoking his pipe. 

"Please come and talk some more, " said Aladdin. 

Again Manners came. 

"Tell me about it, " said Aladdin. 

"You be good and go to sleep, " said Manners. 

"What time is it?"

"Nearly morning. "

"Still storming?"

"No; stars out and warmer. "

Aladdin thought a moment. 

"Manners, " he said, "please talk to me. How did you find me?"

"Simply enough, " said Manners. "I took the senator's cutter out fora little drive, and got lost. Then I heard somebody laughing, and Istumbled over you and your horse; that's all. How the devil did youmanage to lose your saddle and bridle?"

"It was a dead horse, " said Aladdin, and he shivered at therecollection. 

"Quite so, " said Manners. 

"It was the funniest thing, " said Aladdin, and again he shuddered witha kind of reminiscent revolt. "I pushed it, and it fell over frozen todeath. " He was conscious of talking nonsense. 

"Wait a minute, Manners, " he said. "I'll be sensible in a minute. "

Presently he told Manners about the horse. 

"I saw alight just then, " he said, "and I thought it was an angel. "

"It was I, " said Manners, naively. 

"Yes, Manners, it was you, " said Aladdin. 

He thought about an angel turning out to be Manners for a long time. Then a terrible recollection came to him, and, in a voice shaking withremorse and self-incrimination, he cried:

"God help me, Manners, I would have let you freeze. "

Manners pulled at his pipe. 

"Manners, " said Aladdin, "it's true I know it's true, because, for all Iknew, I was dying when I said it. "

Manners shook his head. 

"Oh, no, " said Manners. 

"Make me think that, " said Aladdin, with a quaver. "Please make me thinkthat if you can, for, God help me, I think I would have let you freeze. "

"When I found you, " said Manners, "I--I was sorry that the Lord hadn'tsent somebody else to you, and me to somebody else. That was because youalways hated me with no very good reason, and a man hates to be hated, and so, to be quite honest, I hated you back. "

"Right, " said Aladdin, "right. "

Light began to come in through the windows, whose broken panes Mannershad stopped with crumpled wall-paper. 

"But when I got you here, " said Manners, "and began to work over you, you stopped being Aladdin O'Brien, and were just a man in trouble. "

"Yes, " said Aladdin, "it must be like that. It's got to be like that. "

"At first, " said Manners, "I worked because it seemed the proper thingto do, and then I got interested, and then it became terrible to thinkthat you might die. "

"Yes, " said Aladdin. His face was ghastly in the pre-sunrise light. 

"You wouldn't get warm for hours, " said Manners, "and I got so tiredthat I couldn't rub any more, and so I stripped and got into theblankets with you, and tried to keep you as warm as I could that way. "

He paused to relight his pipe. 

Aladdin stared up at the tattered ceiling with wide, wondering eyes. 

"When you got warm, " said Manners, "I gave you all the rest of thewhisky, and I'm sorry it made you sick, and now you're as fit as afiddle. "

"Fit-as-a-fiddle, " said Aladdin, slowly, as the wonder grew. And then hebegan to cry like a little child. Manners waited till he had done, andthen wiped his face for him. 

"So you see, " said Manners, simply, though with difficulty, --for he wasa man shy, to terror, of discussing his own feelings, --"I can't helpliking you now, and--and I hope you won't feel so hard toward me anymore. "

"I feel hard toward you!" said Aladdin. "Oh, Manners!" he cried. "Ithought all along that you were just a man that knew about horses anddogs, but I see, I see; and I'm not going to worship anybody any moreexcept you and God, I'm not!"

Then he had another great long, hot cry. Manners waited patiently tillit was over. 

"Manners, " said Aladdin, in a choky, hoarse voice, "I think you'redifferent from what you used to be. You look as if--as if you 'd got thelove of mankind in you. "

Manners did not answer. He appeared to be thinking of somethingwonderful. 

"Do you think that's it?" cried Aladdin. 

Manners did not answer. 

"Can't I get it, too?" Aladdin cried. "Have I got to be little and meanalways? So help me, Manners, I don't love any one but you and her. "

"You 're not fit to talk, " said Manners, with great gentleness. "Yougo to sleep. " He arose, and going to the door of the house, opened it alittle way and looked out. 

"It's warm as toast out, Aladdin, " he called. "There's going to be a bigthaw. " He closed the door and went into the next room, and Aladdin couldhear him talking to the horse. After a little he came back. 

"Greener says that she never was better stalled, " he said. 

"Manners, " said Aladdin, "have I been raving?"

"Not been riding quite straight, " said Manners. 

"How soon are we going to start?" said Aladdin. 

"We've got to wait till the snow's pretty well melted, " said Manners. "About noon, I think. "

Then, because he was very tired and sick and weak, and perhaps a trifledelirious, Aladdin asked Manners if he would mind holding his hand. Manners took the hand in his, and a thrill ran up Aladdin's arm and allover him, till it settled deliciously about his heart, and he slept. 

The sun rose, and dazzling beams of light filled the room. 

BOOK II

"In this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard as Idid, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of thefight, he spake like a Dragon; and on the other side, what sighs andgroans burst from Christian's heart. I never saw him all the while giveso much as one pleasant look, till he perceived he had wounded Apollyonwith his two-edged sword: then indeed he did smile and look upward. "

XIX

Senator St. John, attended by Margaret, her maid, and a physician, hadmade the arduous journey from Washington to Portland without too muchfatigue, and it seemed reasonable to suppose that a long rest in hiscomfortable house, far from the turmoil of public affairs, would do muchto reinstate his body after the savage attack of gout with complicationsto which it had been subjected during six long weeks. Arrived atPortland, he was driven to the house of his old friend Mr. Blankinship, and helped to bed. Next morning he was seized with acute pains in theregion of the heart, and though his valiant mind refused for a singlemoment to tolerate the thought that the end might be near, was persuadedto send for his daughter and his sons. 

Margaret was in the parlor with Aladdin. It was April, and the wholeland dripped. Through the open window, for the day was warm, themoisture of the soaked ground and trees was almost audible. Margarethad much to say to Aladdin, and he to her; they had not met for severalmonths. 

"I want to hear about Peter, " said Aladdin--"all about him. He met you, of course, and got you across the city?"

"Yes, and his father came, too, " said Margaret. "Such an old dear--younever saw him, did you? He's taller than Peter, but much thinner, anda great aristocrat. He's the only man I ever saw that has more presencethan papa. He looks like a fine old bird, and you can see his skull veryplainly--especially when he laughs, if you know what I mean. And he'sreally witty. He knows all about you and wants you to go and staywith them sometime. " Aladdin sighed for the pure delight of hearingMargaret's voice running on and on. He was busy looking at her, and didnot pay the slightest attention to what she said. "And the girl came tolunch, Aladdin, and she is so pretty, but not a bit serene like Peter, and the men are all wild about her, but she doesn't care that--"

"Doesn't she?" said Aladdin, annoyingly. 

"No, she doesn't!" said Margaret, tartly. "She says she's going to bea horse-breaker or a nurse, and all the while she kept making eyes atbrother John, and he lost his poise entirely and smirked and blushed, and I shouldn't wonder a bit if he'd made up his mind to marry her, andif he has he will--"

Aladdin caught at the gist of the last sentence. "Is that all that'snecessary?" he said. "Has a man only got to make up his mind to marry acertain girl?"

"It's all brother John would have to do, " said Margaret, provokingly. 

"Admitting that, " said Aladdin, "how about the other men?"

"Why, " said Margaret, "I suppose that if a man really and truly makes uphis mind to get the girl he wants, he'll get her. "

She looked at him with a grand innocence. Aladdin's heart leaped alittle. 

"But suppose two men made up their minds, " said Aladdin, "to get thesame girl. "

"That would just prove the rule, " said Margaret, refusing to see anypersonal application, "because one of them would get her, and the otherwould be the exception. "

"Would the one who spoke first have an advantage?" said Aladdin. "Suppose he'd wanted her ever so long, and had tried to succeed becauseof her, and"--he was warming to the subject, which meant much tohim--"had never known that there was any other girl in the world, andhad pinned all his faith and hope on her, would he have any advantage?"

"I don't know, " said Margaret, rather dreamily. 

"Because if he would--" Aladdin reached forward and took one of herhands in his two. 

She let it lie there, and for a moment they looked into each other'seyes. Margaret withdrew her hand. 

"I know--I know, " she said. "But you mustn't say it, 'Laddin dear, because--somehow I feel that there are heaps of things to be consideredbefore either of us ought to think of that. And how can we be quitesure? Anyway, if it's going to happen--it will happen. And that's allI'm going to say, 'Laddin. "

"Tell me, " he said gently, "what the trouble is, dear. Is it this: doyou think you care for me, and aren't sure? Is that it?"

She nodded gravely. Aladdin took a long breath. 

"Well, " he said finally, "I believe I love you well enough, Margaret, tohope that you get the man who will make you happiest. I don't know, " hewent on rather gloomily, "that I'm exactly calculated to make anybodyhappy, but, " he concluded, with a quavering smile, "I'd like to try. "They shook hands like the two very old friends they were. 

"We'll always be that, anyway, " said Margaret. 

"Always, " said Aladdin. 

"Mademoiselle!" Eugenie opened the parlor door and looked cautiously in, after the manner of the French domestic. 

"What is it?" said Margaret in French. 

Aladdin listened with intense admiration, for he did not understand aword. 

"Monsieur does not carry himself so well, " said Eugenie, "and he asks ifmademoiselle will have the goodness to mount a moment to his room. "

"I'll go at once. " Margaret rose. "Papa's worse, " she said to Aladdin. "Will you wait?"

"I am so sorry, " said Aladdin. "No, I can't wait; I have to get out thepaper. I"--he smiled--"am announcing to an eager public what general, in my expert opinion, is best fitted to command the armies of the UnitedStates. "

"Of course there'll be fighting. "

"Of course--and in a day or two. Good-by. "

"Good-by. "

"I'll come round later and inquire about your father. Give him my love. "

Margaret ran up-stairs to her father's room. He was in great pain, butperfectly calm and collected. As Margaret entered, the doctor went out, and she was alone with her father. 

"Are you feeling badly, dear?" she said. 

"I am feeling more easy than a moment ago, " said the senator. "Bring achair over here, Peggy; we must have a little talk. "

She brought a little upright chair and sat down facing him, her righthand nestling over one of his. 

"The doctor, " said the senator, "considers that my condition iscritical. "

"Papa"

"I disagree with him. I shall, I believe, live to see the end of thiscivil riot, but I cannot be sure. So it behooves me to ask my deardaughter a question. " St. John asked it with eagerness. "Which is it tobe, Peggy?"

She blushed deeply. 

"You are interested in Aladdin O'Brien?"

Her head drooped a little. 

"Yes, papa. "

The senator sighed. 

"Thank you, dear, " he said. "That is all I wanted to know. I had hopedthat it would be otherwise. Peggy, " he said, "I love that other youngman like a son. "

"Peter?"

"I have always hoped that you would see him as I have seen him. I wouldbe happy if I thought that I could leave you in such strong young hands. I trust him absolutely. "

"Papa. "

"Well, dear?"

"You don't like Aladdin?"

"He is not steady, Margaret. " The simple word was pregnant with meaningas it fell from the senator. 

"You don't mean that he--that he's like--"

"Yes, dear; I should not wish my youngest son to marry. "

"Poor boy, " said Margaret, softly. 

"It's the Irish in him, " said the senator. "He must do all things toextremes. There, in a word, lies all his strength and all his weakness. "

"You would be sorry if I married Aladdin?"

"I should be afraid for your happiness. Do you love him?"

"I am not sure, papa. "

"You are fond of Peter, aren't you?"

She leaned forward till her cheek touched his. 

"Next to you and 'Laddin. "

The senator patted her shoulder, and thus they remained for some time. 

A great shouting arose in the neighborhood. 

The senator sat bolt upright in bed. His nostrils began to quiver. Hewas like an old war-horse that hears bugles. 

"Sumter?" he cried. "Sumter? Do I hear Sumter?"

The shouting became louder. 

"Sumter?" he cried. "Have they fired upon Sumter?"

Margaret flew to the window and threw it open. It acted upon theshouting like the big swell of an organ, and the cries of excitementfilled the room to bursting. South Carolina had clenched her hand andstruck the flag in the face. 

The doctor rushed in. He paused flabbergasted at sight of the man whomhe had supposed to be dying. 

"Great God, man!" cried the senator, "can't you get my clothes?"

When he was dressed they brought him his whalebone stick. 

"Damn it, I can walk!" said he, and he broke the faithful old thing overa knee that had not been bent for a month. 

XX

New fervor of enlistment took place, and among the first to enlist wasAladdin, and when his regiment met for organization he was unanimouslyelected major. He had many friends. 

At first he thought that his duty did not lie where his heart lay, because of his brother Jack, now fourteen, whom he had to support. Andthen, the old promises coming to mind, he presented himself one morningbefore Senator St. John. 

"Senator, " he said, "you promised to do me a favor if I should ever askit. "

The senator thought of Margaret and trembled. 

"I have come to ask it. "

"Well, sir?"

"I want to enlist, sir, but if I do there's nobody to look after Jack. "

Again the senator thought of Margaret, and his heart warmed. 

"He shall live in my house, sir, " said the senator, "as a member of myfamily, sir. "

"God bless you, sir!" cried Aladdin. 

In a state of dancing glee he darted off to the "Spy" office to see hischief. 

Mr. Blankinship was leaning against the post of the street door, readinghis own editorial in the morning issue. 

"Hallo, Mr. Blankinship!" cried Aladdin. 

"Hallo, Aladdin!" cried Mr. Blankinship, grinning at his favorite. "Lateas usual. "

"And for the last time, sir. "

"I know of only one good reason for such a statement. "

"It's it, sir!"

Mr. Blankinship folded his paper carefully. His eyes were red, for hehad been up late the night before. 

"I'd go, too, " he said simply, "if it wasn't for the mother. "

The firm of John St. John & Brothers sat in its office. The head ofthe firm was gorgeous in a new uniform; he had hurried up from New York(where he had been paying vigorous court to Ellen Manners, whom he hadmade up his mind to marry) in order, as oldest, biggest, and strongest, to enlist for the family in one of the home regiments. There lingeredon his lips the thrill of a kiss half stolen, half yielded, while in hispockets were a number of telegrams since received, and the usually graveand stern young man was jocular and bantering. The two younger membersof the firm were correspondingly savage. 

"For God's sake, clear out of here, " said Hamilton. "Your shingle'sdown. Bul and I are running this office now. "

"Well, it's the chance of your lives, boys, " said the frisky colonel. "I'll have forgotten the law by the time I come back. "

"Hope you may choke, John, " said Hannibal, sweetly. 

"Don't allow smoking in here, do you, boys?" He got no answer. It was ahard-and-fast rule which he himself had instituted. 

"Well, here goes. " He lighted a huge cigar and puffed it insolentlyabout the office. He surveyed himself in the cracked mirror. 

"Cursed if a uniform isn't becoming to a man!" he said. 

"Chicken!" said Hamilton. 

"Puppy!" said Hannibal. 

"Titmouse!" said Hamilton. 

"Ant!" said Hannibal. 

John's grin widened. 

"Boys, " he said, "you've got one swell looker in the family, anyway, andyou ought to be glad of that. "

The boys exchanged glances. 

Hannibal had upon his desk a pen-wiper which consisted of a small spongeheavy with the ink of wiped pens. Hamilton had beneath his desk anodd rubber boot which served him as a scrap-basket. These ornamentalmissiles took John St. John in the back of the head at about the samemoment, the weight and impetus of the boot knocking the cigar clean outof his mouth, so that it dashed itself against the mirror. 

The gallant colonel turned, still grinning. "Which threw the boot?" saidhe. 

"I did, " said Hamilton. 

"Then you get the first licking. "

Hamilton met his brother's hostile if grinning advance with the hardestblow that he could strike him over the left eye. Then they clenched, and Hannibal joined the fray. The three brothers, roaring with laughter, proceeded to inflict as much damage to each other and the office asthey jointly could. Over and under they squirmed and contorted, hitting, tripping, falling and rising. Desks went over, lawbooks strewed thefloor, ink ran, and finally the bust of George Washington, which hadstood over the inner door since the foundation of the firm, came downwith a crash. 

By this time the three brothers were helpless with laughter. The combatceased, and they sat upon the floor to survey the damage. 

"You can't handle the old man yet, boys, " said the colonel. His lefteye was closed, and his new uniform looked like the ribbons hung on aMay-pole. 

Hamilton was bleeding at the nose. Hannibal's lip was split. The threelooked at each other and shook with laughter. 

"I'm inclined to think we've had a healthy bringing-up, " said Hamiltonbetween gasps. 

"Better move, colonel, " said Hannibal; "you're sitting in a pool ofink. "

"So I am, " said the colonel, as the cold struck through his newtrousers. 

The laughter broke out afresh. 

Beau Larch, in the uniform of a private, appeared at the door. 

"Hallo, Beau!"

"Come in. "

"Take a hand?"

"Thank you, no, " said Beau. "I just dropped in to tell you fellows thatwe've just had a hell of a licking at Bull Run. "

"Us!" said the colonel, rising. 

"Us!" said Hamilton. "Licked!"

"Us!" said Hannibal. 

"And I've got other news, too, " said Beau, bashfully. "If I stopdrinking till my year's up, and don't ever drink any more, Claire saysshe'll marry me. "

Hannibal was the first to shake his hand. 

"Boys, " said Beau, "I hope if any of you ever sees me touch a dropyou'll strike me dead. "

He went out. 

"I'm going to find out about this, " said John; "what did he say the nameof the licking was?"

"Bull Run. "

"Bull Run. And I'll come back and tell you. "

He was starting to descend the steep stairs to the street, when hecaught the sound of snickers and creeping footsteps behind him. Heturned like a panther, but was not in time. The heavily driven toes ofthe right boots of the younger St. Johns lifted him clear of the stairs, and clean to the bottom of them. There he sat, his uniform a thing ofthe past, his left eye blackening and closed, and roars of laughtershaking him. 

But Hamilton and Hannibal put the office more or less to rights, andsat down gloomily at their respective desks. Up till now they had facedbeing left behind, but this licking was too much. Each brooded over it, while pretending to be up to the ears in work. Hamilton wrote a letter, sealed it, addressed it, and presently rose. 

"Bul, " he said, and to Hannibal the whole manoeuver smacked suspicious, "I'm going to run up and see the old man for a few minutes. "

"All right, " said Hannibal. 

Hamilton reached the door and turned. 

"By the way, " he said, "I left a letter on my desk; wish you'd put astamp on it and mail it. "

He went out. 

Hannibal felt very lonely and fidgety. 

"I think I'll just mail that letter and get it off my mind, " he said. 

He put on his hat, licked a stamp, and crossed to his brother's desk. The letter was there, right enough, but it did not require a stamp, foron it was written but one word, and that word was Hannibal. 

Hannibal tore open the envelop and read:

DEAR OLD Bul: I can't stand it any longer, but you'll try and not be madwith me for running off and leaving you to keep up the old place alone, and damn it, Bul, two of us ought to go anyway. . . . 

The letter ran on for a little in the same strain. Hannibal put theletter in his pocket, and sat down at his brother's desk. 

"It will kill the old man if we all go, " he said. "And of all three I'mthe one with the best rights to go and get shot. "

He took from somewhere in his clothes a little gold locket, flat andplain. Each of the St. John boys had carried one since their mother'sdeath. Facing her picture each had had engraved the motto which he hadchosen for himself to be his watchword in life. In John's locket wasengraved, "In fortis vinces"; in Hamilton's, "Deo volente"; and inHannibal's, "Carpe diem. " But in Hannibal's locket there was anotherpicture besides that of his mother. He opened the locket with histhumb-nails and laid it on the desk before him. Presently his eyesdimmed, and he looked beyond the locket. 

Hamilton St. John's ink-well was a globe of glass, with a hole like athimble in the top to contain ink. Hannibal found himself looking atthis, and noting the perfect miniature reproduction of the big calendaron the wall, as it was refracted by the glass. With his thoughts faraway, his eyes continued to look at the neat little curly calendar inthe ink-well. Presently it seemed to him that it was not a calendar atall, but just a patch of bright green color--a patch of bright greenthat became grass, an acre of it, a ten-acre field, a great field gaywith trampled flowers, rolling hills, woods, meadows, fences, streams. Then he saw, lying thickly over a fair region, broken guns, explodedcannons, torn flags, horses and men contorted and sprung in death;everywhere death and demolition. He wandered over the field and camepresently upon himself, scorched, mangled, and dead under the wheel of acannon. 

After a little it seemed to him that the field of battle shrank untilit became again the calendar. But there was something odd about thatcalendar; the dates were queer. It read July, right enough; but thiswas the year 1861, whereas the calendar bore the date 1863. And why wasthere a cross to mark the third day of July? Hannibal came to with ashock; but he could have sworn that he had not been asleep. 

"God is very--very good!" he said solemnly. 

Then he opened his pen-knife, and scratched a deep line of erasurethrough the "Carpe diem" in his locket, and underneath, cutting withgreat pains, he inserted a date, "July 3, 1863, " and the words "Nuncdimittis. " Below that he cut "Te Deum laudamus. "

He looked once more at the picture of his mother and at the picture thatwas not of his mother, shut the little gold case, and put it back in hispocket. 

Then he inked on the white inside of a paper-box cover, in largeletters, these words:

This office will not be opened until the end of the war. 

That office was never opened again. 

XXI

The lives of sixty million people had become suddenly full of drill, organization, uniforms, military music, flags, hatred, love, andself-sacrifice, and the nations of the Old World stood about, note-bookin hand, like so many medical students at a clinic: could a heart, cutin two, continue to supply a body with blood after the soul had beenwithdrawn? And the nations of the Old World hoped that there would beenough fresh meat left on the carcass for them to feed on, when theexperiment should be at an end. Mother England was particularly hungry, and dearly hoped to have the sucking of the eggs which she herself hadlaid. 

It was a great time for young men, and Margaret shed secret tears onbehalf of five of them. It had fallen upon her to tell the old man thathis three sons had enlisted, and that task had tortured her for an hourbefore she had dared go and accomplish it. 

"Papa, " she said, "Ham has enlisted, and so has Bul. "

The senator had not moved a muscle. 

"It was only a question of time, " he said. "I wish that I had begotten adozen others. "

He had borrowed her well-marked Bible from old Mrs. Blankinship and readIsaiah at a gulp. Then he had sought out his boys and bantered them ontheir new clothes. 

Margaret sat very still for a long time after the interview with herfather. She knew that Bul, whom she loved best of her brothers, wasgoing to be killed. She had never before seen his face so serenelyhappy as when he came to tell her that he had sworn in, nor had sheever before seen that unexplainable phenomenon, known variously as fate, doom, numbered, Nemesis, written upon a face. And there were others whomight be taken. 

Aladdin came in for a moment to give her the news. He was nervous withenthusiasm, and had been working like a horse. His regiment was to leaveFriday for the front; he could stay but a minute; he had only dashedin on his way to drill. Would she care to come? Quite right; there wasnothing much to look at. He talked as cheerfully and as rapidly as amountain brook runs. And then he gave his best piece of news, and lookedalmost handsome as he gave it. 

"Peter's here, " he said. "He's outside talking to the senator. He lookssimply stunning, and he's a whole lot of things on a staff--assistantadjutant-general with the rank of a colonel; and he's floated up here ona dash against time to say good-by to us. "

Aladdin's face puckered. 

"You and Peter and I, Margaret, " he said, "Lord, what a muddle!"

"I'm terribly blue, old man, " said Margaret, "and it hurts to have yousay things like that. "

Instantly Aladdin was all concern. 

"You know I wouldn't hurt you purposely, " he said, "but I'm terriblyblue, too, dear, and one tries to keep up and says asinine things, and"--he smiled, and his smile was very winning--"is at once forgiven byan old dear. "

She held out her hand and gave his a friendly squeeze. 

"You old darling!" he said, and ran out. 

She followed him into the hall, and met Manners, who had just partedfrom the senator at the front door. His uniform was wonderfullybecoming. 

"Is it Peter?"

They shook hands. 

"Never, " she said, "have I seen anything so beautiful!"

Peter blushed (looking even more beautiful, for he hated to be talkedabout). 

"Where was 'Laddin going?" he said. "He went by me like a shot out of agun, and had only time to pull my hat over my eyes and squeal Peeeter. "

"He's very important now, " said Margaret, "and wonders how anybody canwant to write things and be a poet or a musician when there are realthings to do in the world. "

Peter looked at his watch. 

"Isn't that the least bit rude?" said Margaret. 

"No, " said Peter; "my train back leaves in one hour, and I could betterafford to lose my chances of heaven. I had no business to come, as itwas. But I had to come. "

Margaret sighed. She had hoped that it would not happen so soon. Hefollowed her into the parlor and closed the door behind him. 

"First, Margaret, " he said, "I'm going to tell you something that maysurprise you a little. It did me; it was so sudden. My sister Ellen isgoing to be married. "

"Ellen!" exclaimed Margaret. "Why, she always said--" "It's only beenarranged in the last few days, " said Peter, "by many telegrams. I wastold to tell you. "

"Is he nice?"

"Yes. He's a good chap. "

"Rich?"

"Well--rather rising than rich. "

"Who is it?"

"Your brother John. "

"My dear Peter--"

"No--I never did, either!"

"Isn't that splendid!"

Peter pulled a grave face. 

"Yes--and no, " he said. 

"I hope you're not going to be insolent, " said Margaret. 

"It depends on what you call insolent. My father, you see, objects verymuch to having Ellen go out of the family, but he says that he can learnto bear that if the only other girl in the world will come into thefamily. "

Manners' voice had become husky toward the last of the sentence, andperhaps not husky so much as hungry. Margaret knew better than to sayanything of the kind, but she couldn't help looking as innocent as achild and saying:

"Won't she?"

"How do I know?" said Peter. "I have come to ask her. "

He looked so very strong and manly and frank that Margaret, whose worldhad been terribly blue recently, was half tempted to throw herself intohis arms and cry. 

"O Peter!" she said pitifully. 

He came and sat beside her on the sofa, and drew her close to him. 

"My darling, " he said brokenly. 

A great sense of trust and security stole over Margaret, but she knewthat it was not love. Yet for a moment she hesitated, for she knew thatif she took this man, his arm would always be about her, and he wouldalways--always--always be good to her. As she sat there, not trustingherself to speak, she had her first doubt of Aladdin, and she wonderedif he loved her as much--as much as he loved Aladdin. Then she felt likea traitor. 

For a little neither could find any words to say. So still they satthat Margaret could hear the muffled ticking of Peter's watch. At lengthPeter spoke. 

"What shall I tell my father?" he said. 

"Tell him--" said Margaret, and her voice broke. 

"Aren't you sure, darling--is that it?"

She nodded with tears in her eyes. 

He took his arm from round her waist, and she felt very lonely. 

"But I'm always going to love you, " he said. 

She felt still more alone. 

"Peter, " she said, "I can't explain things very well, but I--I--don'twant you to go away feeling as if--"

Manners' eyes lifted up. 

"As if it was all over?" he asked eagerly. 

"Almost that, Peter, " she said. "I--I can't say yes now--but God knows, Peter, perhaps sometime--I--I can. "

She was thinking of the flighty and moody Aladdin, who had loved her solong, and whom (she suddenly realized in spite of the words just spoken)she loved back with all her heart and soul. 

Honor rose hot in her to give Peter a final answer now and forever--no. But she looked into his eyes and could not. He looked at his watch. 

"Margaret dear, " he said, "I've got to go. Thanks for everything, andfor the hope and all, and--and I may never see you again, but if I do, will you give me my answer then?"

"I will, " said Margaret, "when I see you again. "

They rose. 

"May I kiss you, Margaret?" he said. 

"Certainly, Peter. "

He kissed her on the cheek, and went away with her tears on his lips. 

A newly organized fife-and-drum corps marched by struggling with "TheGirl I Left Behind Me. "

In those days the most strangled rendering of that tune would bringlumps into the throats of those that heard. 

XXII

Hannible and Hamilton were privates in the nth regiment, Aladdin wasmajor, and John was colonel. If any of them had the slightest militaryknowledge, it was Aladdin. Not in vain had he mastered the encyclopediafrom Safety-lamps to Stranglers. He could explain with strange words andin long, balanced sentences everything about the British army that beganwith an S, except only those things whose second letter stood fartherdown in the alphabet than T. But the elements of knowledge kept droppingin, at first on perfunctory calls, visitors that disappeared when youturned to speak with them, but that later came to stay. The four youngmen were like children with a "roll-the-seven-number-eight-shot-into-themiddle" puzzle. They could make a great rattling with the shot, andcontrol their tempers; that was about all. Later they were to form unitsin the most efficient and intelligent large body of men that the worldever saw, with the possible exception of the armies it was to be pittedagainst; but those, it must be owned, were usually smaller, though, inthe ability of their commanders to form concentration, often of threetimes the size. They learned that it is cheaper to let a company sleepin tents upon hard ground of a rainy night than to lodge them in aneighboring hotel at one's own expense, and that going the rounds inpitch-darkness grows less thrilling in exact ratio to the number oftimes you do it, and finally, even in sight of the enemy's lines, becomes as boring as waltzing with a girl you don't like. They began tolearn that cleanliness is next to godliness only in times of peace, andthat food is the one god, and the stomach his only prophet. They learnedthat the most difficult of all duties is to keep the face straight whenthe horse of a brother officer who mounts for the first time issurprised to vehemence by its first experience with a brass band. 

Aladdin was absolutely equal to the occasion, and developed anastonishing talent for play-acting, and, it is to be feared, strutted alittle, both in the bosom of his soul and on the parade-ground. It wasonly when he looked at two of the "tall men on the right, " Hamilton andHannibal St. John, who had chosen humble parts that they might serveunder their brother, that he felt properly small and resented himself. Sometimes, too, he searched his past life and could find in it onlyone brave deed, his swim down the river, and he wondered with anawful wonder what he would do when the firing began. He need not havetroubled: he was of too curious and inquiring a disposition to be afraidof most things. And he was yet to see proved on many Southern fieldsthat a coward is, if anything, a rarer bird than a white quail. Onlyonce in action did Aladdin see a man really show the white feather. Theman had gone into the army from a grocery-store, and was a very thin, small specimen with a very big, bulbous head; and, like many others ofhis class, proved to be a perfect fire-eater in battle, and a regularbuzzard to escape fever and find food. But during the famous seven daysbefore Richmond a retreat was ordered of a part of the line which theBuzzard helped compose, and he was confronted by the necessity, for hisfriends were hastening him from behind, of crossing a gully by means ofa somewhat slender fallen tree. It was then that Aladdin saw him showfear. Bullets tore up the bark of the tree, and pine needles, clippedfrom the trees overhead, fell in showers. But he did not mind that. Itwas the slenderness and instability of the fallen tree that froze themarrow in his bones: would it bear his one hundred and twenty-fourpounds, or would it precipitate him, an awful drop of ten feet, into thesoftest of muds at the bottom of the gully, where a sickeningly stripedbut in reality harmless water-snake lay coiled?

Finally, pale and shaking, he ventured on the log, got half-way across, turned giddy, and fell with such a howl of terror that it was onlyequaled in vehemence by the efforts of the snake to get out of the way. After which the Buzzard picked himself up, scrambled out, and continuedhis retreat, scraping his muddied boots among the fallen leaves as hewent. "Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules, " but it may be thatan exceedingly giddy elevation coupled with a serpent would havemade shivering children of both those heroes. To each his own fear. Margaret's and Aladdin's was the same they both feared Aladdin. 

That afternoon the regiment was to leave for the front, and Aladdin wentto bid Margaret good-by. She and her father were still staying with theBlankinships. 

They had a very satisfactory talk, beginning with the beginning ofthings, and going over their long friendship, laughing, remembering, andregretting. Jack was to live with the St. Johns, and they talked much ofhim, and of old Mrs. Brackett, and of affairs at home. Jack about thistime was in the seventh hell of despair, for his extreme youth hadprevented him from bringing to its triumphant conclusion a pleasantlittle surprise, consisting of a blue uniform, which he had plannedfor himself and others. No love of country stirred the bosom of theguileless Jack; only hatred of certain books out of which he was obligedto learn many useless things, such as reading, writing, spelling, andarithmetic. Besides, word had come to him that persimmons were to behad for the picking and chickens for the broiling in that country towardwhich the troops were heading. And much also had he heard concerningthe beauty of Southern maidens, and of the striped watermelons in thewatermelon-patch. And so he was to be left behind, and God was not good. 

Toward the end their talk got very serious. 

"I'm going to turn over a new leaf, " said Aladdin, "and be betterthings, Margaret, and you must save up a lot of pride to have in me if Ido, and perhaps it will all come right in the end. "

"You know how fond I am of you, " said Margaret, "and because I am, andbecause you're all the big things that are hard to be, I want you to beall the little things that ought to be so easy to be. That doesn't seemvery plain, but I mean--"

"I know exactly what you mean, " said Aladdin. "Don't you suppose I knowmyself pretty well by this time, and how far I've got to climb before Ihave a ghost of a right to tell you what I tell you every time I look atyou?"

Aladdin rose. 

"Margaret, " he said, "this time I'm going like an old friend. If I makegood and live steady, as I mean to do, I shall come back like a lover. Meanwhile you shall think all things over, and if you think that you cancare for me, you shall tell me so when I come back. And if you concludethat you can't, you shall tell me. I'm not going to ask you to marry menow, because in no way am I in a position to. But if I come back and sayto you, 'Margaret, I have turned into a man at last, ' you will know thatI am telling the truth and am in a position to ask anything I please. For I shall come back without a cent, but with a character, and that'severything. I shall not drink any more, and every night I shall prayto God to help me believe in Him. But, Margaret, I may not come back atall. If I don't it will be for one of two reasons. Either I shall failin becoming worthy to kiss the dust under your blessed feet, or I shallbe killed. In the first case, I beg that you will pray for me; but inthe second I pray that you will forget all that was bad in me and onlyremember what was good. And so, darling--" his voice broke, "because Iam a little afraid of death and terribly afraid of myself--"

She came obediently into his arms, and knew what it was to be kissed bythe man she loved. 

"Aladdin, " she said, "promise that nothing except--"

"Death?" said Aladdin. 

"--that nothing, nothing except death--shall keep you from coming back. "

"If I live, " said Aladdin, "I will come back. "

Everybody of education knows that Lucy Locket lost her pocket and thatBetty Pringle found it without a penny "in it" (to rhyme with "foundit"), but everybody does not know that the aforementioned Lucy Lockethad a tune composed for her benefit that has thrilled the hearts of moresons of the young republic when stepping to battle than any other tune, past, present, or to come. There is a martial vigor and a tear in "TheGirl I Left Behind Me"; some feet cannot help falling into rhythm whenthey hear the "British Grenadiers"; North and South alike are possessedwith a do-or-die madness when the wild notes of "Dixie" rush from thebrass; and "John Brown's Body" will cause the dumb to sing. But it isthe farcical little quickstep known by the ridiculous name of "YankeeDoodle" which the nations would do well to consider when straining thepatience of the peace-loving and United States. 

And so they marched down the street to the station, and the tall menwalked on the right and the little men on the left, and the small boystrotted alongside, and the brand-new flags flung out, and bouquets werethrown, and there were cheers from the heart up all along the line. Butever the saucy fifes sang, and the drums gaily beat

 Yankee Doodle came to town Riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his Hat, And called it macaroni. 

At the station the emotions attendant on departure found but one voice. The mother said to the son what the sweetheart said to the lover, andthe sister to the brother. Nor was this in any manner different fromwhat the brother, lover, and son said to the sister, sweetheart, andmother. It was the last sentence which bleeding hearts supply to lips atmoments of farewell:

"Write to me. "

And the supercilious little quickstep went on:

 Yankee Doodle came to town Riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his Hat, And called it macaroni. 

XXIII

A tongue of land with Richmond (built, like another capital beginningwith R, on many hills) for its major root, and a fortification vulgarlysupposed to be of the gentler sex for its tip, is formed by the yellowflow of the James and York rivers. To land an army upon the tip of thistongue, march the length of it and extract the root, after reducing itto a reminiscence, was the wise plan of the powers early in the year1862. To march an army of preponderous strength through leveland fertile country, flanked by friendly war-ships and backed byunassailable credit; to meet and overcome a much smaller and far lessrich army, intrenched behind earthworks of doubtful formidableness, andfinally to besiege and capture an isolated city of more historic thanstrategic advantages, seemed on the face of it as easy as rolling abarrel downhill or eating when hungry. But the level, fertile countrywas discovered to be very muddy, its supply of rain from heavenunparalleled in nature, its streams as deadly as arsenic, and itstopography utterly different from that assigned to it in any knowngeography. Furthermore, in its woods, and it was nearly all woods, dweltfar more mosquitos than there are lost souls in Hades, and each mosquitohad a hollow spike in his head through which he not only could but wouldsquirt, with or without provocation, the triple compound essence ofmalaria into veins brought up on oxygen, and on water through which youcould see the pebbles at the bottom. A bosom friend of the mosquito, and some say his paramour, was little Miss Tick. Of the two she wasconsiderably the more hellish, and forsook her dwelling-places in thewoods for the warm flesh of soldiers where it is rosiest, next the skin. The body, arms, and legs of Miss Tick could be scratched to nothing bypoisonous finger-nails, but her detached head was eternal, and througheternity she bit and gnawed and sometimes laughed in the hollow of herblack soul. For the horses, mules, and cattle there were shrubs whichdisagreed with them, and gigantic horse-flies. And for the general atthe head of the vast body of irritation there was an opposing armywhose numbers he overrated, and whose whereabouts he kept discoveringsuddenly. It is said that during the Peninsular campaign the buzzardswere so well nourished that they raised a second brood. 

While the army was still in the vicinity of Fort Monroe, numbers ofofficers secured leave to ride over to Newport News and view the tracesof the recent and celebrated naval fight, which was to relegate woodenbattle-ships to the fireplace. Aladdin was among those to go. At thistime he was in great spirits, for it had been brought home to himthat he was one of the elect, one of those infinitely rare and godlikecreatures whom mosquitos do not bite nor ticks molest. His nights wereas peaceful as the grave, and the poisonous drinking-waters glanced fromhis rubber constitution. Besides, he had forsaken his regimental dutiesto enjoy a life of constant variety upon the staff of a general, and hadbegun to feel at home on horseback. It was one of those radiant, smilingdays, which later on were to become rarer than charity, and the woodswere positively festive with sunshine. And the temperature was preciselythat which brings to a young man's fancy thoughts of love. So that itwas in the nature of a shock to come suddenly upon the shore and beholdfor the first time the finality of war. There was no visible gloryabout it. What had happened to the Cumberland and the Congress wasdisappointingly like what would happen to two ships destroyed in shallowwater. The masts of the Cumberland, slightly off the vertical and stillrigged, projected for half their length from the yellow surface of theriver. That was all. Some distance to the left and half submerged was ablackened and charred mass that bore some resemblance to a ship that hadonce been proud and tall, and known by the name of Congress. Thatwas all. Aladdin had hoped that war would be a little more like thepictures. 

As he rode back, pondering, toward the encampment, however, he came uponsomething which was truly an earnest of what was to come. There were somany buzzards perched in the trees of a certain wood that he turned into see what they had. He came upon it suddenly, just beyond a cheerfulbush of holly, and the buzzards stepped reluctantly back until he hadlooked. It was only a horse. Some of the buzzards, heavy with food, raised their eyelids heavily and looked at Aladdin, and then lapsedback into filthy sleep. Others, not yet satiated, looked upon himquerulously, and suggested as much as looks can suggest that he go, andtrouble them no more. Others, the newly arrived and ravenous, swoopedabove the trees, so that dark circles were drawn over the fallensunlight. Now a buzzard opened and closed its wings, and now one lookedfrom the horse to Aladdin, and back, fretfully, to the horse. Thereseemed to be hundreds of them, dark and dirty, with raw heads andeyelids. Aladdin sat solemn and motionless upon his horse, but he couldfeel the cold sweat of horror running down his sides from under hisarms, and the bristling of his hair. He wanted to make a great noise, toshout, to do anything, but he did not dare. It would have been breakingthe rules. In that assembly no sound was allowed, for the meeting wasunholy and wicked and worked with hurried stealth, so that the attentionof God should not be drawn. Aladdin knew that he had no right to bethere, that without knocking he had entered the bedroom of horror andfound her naked in the arms of lust. He turned and rode away shiveringand without looking back. He had not ridden the distance between twoforest trees before the carcass was again black with the descendingbirds, and the blood streamed to their bills. 

The Peninsular campaign developed four kinds of men: the survivors, thewounded, the dead, and the missing. When the campaign was over Aladdinsometimes woke starting in the night to think of those missing and ofwhat he had seen in the woods. 

XXIV

The tedious locomotion of an army and the incessant reluctance ofthe battle to be met will try a sinner; but a scarcity of tobacco andconstantly wet feet will try a saint. Aladdin was somewhat of both. Butin the fidgety gloom which presently settled upon man and beast, his, great Irish gift of cheerfulness shone like a star. He even gave uplonging for promotion, and strained his mind to the cracking-point forhumorous verses and catching tunes. He went singing up the Peninsula, and thumped the gay banjo by the camp-fire, and was greatly beloved bythe foot-sore and sick. He had given up worrying about what he would doin battle, for there were much more important things to think about. 

Battles are to soldiers what Christmas trees are to children: you mustwait, wait, and wait for them, and forever wait; and when they do comethe presents are apt to be a little tawdry. And you are only envied bythe other little children who didn't really see what you really got. Themost comforting man in the army was one minister of the gospel, andthe most annoying was another. The first had the divine gift ofstory-telling and laughter, and the second thanked God because thesoldiers had run out of their best friend, tobacco, which he describedthrough his nose as "filthy weed, " "vile narcotic, " or "pernicioushell-plant. " And they both served the Lord as hard as they could--andthey both suffered from dysentery. 

As the days passed and the temperature of the army rose, and itsdigestion became permanently impaired, Aladdin, by giving out, andconstantly, all that was best in himself, became gradually exhausted. He found himself telling stories as many as three times to the same man, and he began to steal from the poets and musicians that he knew in orderto keep abreast of his own original powers of production. He even wentso far as to draw inspiration from men of uneven heights stood in line:he would hum the intervals as scored by their heads on an imaginarystaff and fashion his tune accordingly, but this tended to a somewhatcompressed range and was not always happy in its results. His efforts, however, were appreciated, and the emaciated young Irishman became amost exceptional prophet, and received honor in his own land. 

For the rest, being a staff-officer, he was kept busy and rode hundredsof extra miles through the rain. It was a large army, as inexperiencedas it was large, and it stood in great need of being kept in contactwith itself. If you lived at one end of it and wanted to know what wasgoing on at the other end, you had to travel about as far as from NewYork to New Haven. The army proper, marching by fours, stretched awaythrough the wet lands for forty miles. A fly-bitten tail of ambulancesand wagons, with six miserable horses or six perfectly happy mulesattached to each, added another twenty miles. At the not always attainedrate of fifteen miles a day the army could pass a given point in fourdays. To the gods in Olympus it would have appeared to have all thecharacteristic color and shape of an angleworm, without, however, enjoying that reptile's excellent good health. If the armies ofWashington, Cornwallis, Clive, Pizarro, Cortes, and Christian de Wet hadbeen added to it, they would have passed unnoticed in the crowd. And therecurring fear of the general in command of this army was that the armyhe sought would prove to be twice as big. So speculation was activebetween the York and James rivers. 

In the minds of the soldiers a thousand years passed, and then there wasa little fight, and they learned that they were soldiers. And so didthe other army. Another thousand years passed, and it seemed tactful tochange bases. Accordingly, that which had been arduously established ona muddy river called the Chickahominy (and it was very far from eitherof those two good things) was forsaken, and the host began to be movedtoward the James. This move would have been more smoothly accomplishedif the enemy had not interfered. They, however, insisted upon makinghistory, turning a change of base into a nominal retreat, and begettingin themselves a brass-bound and untamable spirit which it took vastwealth and several years to humble. From Gaines's Mill to the awful browof Malvern Hill there were thunder and death. Forty thousand men weresomewhat needlessly killed, wounded, or (as one paradoxical account hasit) "found missing. "

Aladdin missed the fight at Malvern Hill and became wounded in anon-bellicose fashion. His general desired to make a remark to anothergeneral, and writing it on a piece of thin yellow paper, gave it to himto deliver. He rode off to the tune of axes, --for a Maine regimentwas putting in an hour in undoing the stately work of a hundredyears, --trotted fifteen miles peacefully enough, delivered his general'sremark, and started back. Then came night and a sticky mist. Then theimpossibility of finding the way. Aladdin rode on and on, courageouslyif not wisely, and came in time to the dimly discernible outbuildings ofa Virginia mansion. They stood huddled dark and wet in the mist, whichwas turning to rain, and there was no sign of life in or about them. Aladdin passed them and turned into an alley of great trees. By lookingskyward he could keep to the road they bounded. As he drew near themansion itself a great smell of box and roses filled his nostrils withfragrance. But to him, standing under the pillared portico and knockingupon the door, came no word of welcome and no stir of lights. He gaveit up in disgust, mounted, and rode back through the rich mud to thestables. Had he looked over his shoulder he might have seen a face atone of the windows of the house. 

He found a door of one of the stables unlocked, and went in, leading hishorse. Within there was a smell of hay. He closed the door behind him, unsaddled, and fell to groping about in the dark. He wanted severalarmfuls of that hay, and he couldn't find them. The hay kept calling tohis nose, "Here I am, here I am"; but when he got there, it was hidingsomewhere else. It was like a game of blindman's-buff. Then he heardthe munching of his horse and knew that the sought was found. He movedtoward the horse, stepped on a rotten planking, and fell through thefloor. Something caught his chin violently as he went through, and ina pool of filthy water, one leg doubled and broken under him, he passedthe night as tranquilly as if he had been dosed with laudanum. 

XXV

Aladdin came to consciousness in the early morning. He was about as sickas a man can be this side of actual dissolution, and the pain in hisbroken leg was as sharp as a scream. He lay groaning and doubled inthe filthy half-inch of water into which he had fallen. About him wasdarkness, but overhead a glimmer of light showed a jagged and cruelhole in the planking of the stable floor. Very slowly, for his agony wasunspeakable, he came to a realization of what had happened. He calledfor help, and his voice was thick and unresonant, like the voice of adrunken man. His horse heard him and neighed. Now and again he lapsedinto semi-unconsciousness, and time passed without track. Hours passed, when suddenly the glimmer above him brightened, and he heard lightfootsteps and the cackling of hens. He called for help. Instantly therewas silence. It continued a long time. Then he heard a voice like softmusic, and the voice said, "Who's there?"

A shadow came between him and the light, and a fair face that wasdarkened looked down upon him. 

"For God's sake take care, " he said. "Those boards are rotten. "

"You 're a Yankee, aren't you?" said the voice, sweetly. 

"Yes, " said Aladdin, "and I'm badly hurt. "

The voice laughed. 

"Hurt, are you?" it said. 

"I think I've broken my leg, " said Aladdin. "Can you get some one tohelp me out of this?"

"Reckon you're all right down there, " said the voice. 

Aladdin revolved the brutality of it in his mind. 

"Do you mean to say that you're not going to help me?" he said. 

"Help you? Why should I?"

Aladdin groaned, and could have killed himself for groaning. 

"If you don't help me, " he said, and his voice broke, for he wassuffering tortures, "I'll die before long. "

A perfectly cool and cruel "Well?" came back to him. 

"You won't help me?"

"No. "

Anger surged in his heart, but he spoke with measured sarcasm. 

"Then, " he said, "will you at least do me the favor of getting frombetween me and God's light? If I die, I may go to hell, but I prefer notto see devils this side of it, thank you. "

The girl went away, but presently came back. She lowered something tohim on a string. "I got it out of one of your holsters, " she said. 

Aladdin's fingers closed on the butt of a revolver. 

"It may save you a certain amount of hunger and pain, " she said. "Whenyou are dead, we will give it to one of our men, and your horse too. He's a beauty. "

"I hope to God he may--" began Aladdin. 

"Pretty!" said the girl. 

She went away, and he heard her clucking to the chickens. After a timeshe came back. Aladdin was waiting with a plan. 

"Don't move, " he said, "or you'll be shot. "

"Rubbish!" said the girl. She leaned casually back from the hole, andhe could hear her moving away and clucking to the chickens. Again shereturned. 

"Thank you for not shooting, " she said. 

There was no answer. 

"Are you dead?" she said. 

When he came to, there was a bright light in Aladdin's eyes, for alantern swung just to the left of his head. 

"I thought you were dead, " said the girl, still from her point ofadvantage. The lantern's light was in her face, too, and Aladdin sawthat it was beautiful. 

"Won't you help me?" he said plaintively. 

"Were you ever told that you had nice eyes?" said the girl. 

Aladdin groaned. 

"It bores you to be told that?"

"My dear young lady, " said Aladdin, "if you were as kind as you arebeautiful--"

"How about your horse kicking me to a certain place? That was what youstarted to say, you know. "

"Lady--lady, " said Aladdin, "if you only knew how I'm suffering, and I'mjust an ordinary young man with a sweetheart at home, and I don't wantto die in this hole. And now that I look at you, " he said, "I see thatyou're not so much a girl as an armful of roses. "

"Are you by any chance--Irish?" said the girl, with a laugh. 

"Faith and of ahm that, " said Aladdin, lapsing into full brogue; "oi'm ahireling sojer, mahm, and no inimy av yours, mahm. "

"What will you do for me if I help you?" said the girl. 

"Anything, " said Aladdin. 

"Will you say 'God save Jefferson Davis, President of the ConfederateStates of America, ' and sing 'Dixie'--that is, if you can keep a tune. 'Dixie''s rather hard. "

"I'll 'God bless Jefferson Davis and every future President of theConfederate States, if there are any, ' ten million times, if you'll helpme out, and--"

"Will you promise not to fight any more?"

A long silence. 

"No. "

"You needn't do the other things either, " said the girl, presently. Hervoice, oddly enough, was husky. 

"I thought it would be good to see a Yankee suffer, " she said after awhile, "but it isn't. "

"If you could let a ladder down, " said Aladdin, "I might be able to getup it. "

"I'll get one, " said the girl. Then she appeared to reflect. "No, " shesaid; "we must wait till dark. There are people about, and they'd killyou. Can you live in that hole till dark?"

"If you could throw down a lot of hay, " said Aladdin. "It's very wetdown here and hard. "

The girl went, and came with a bundle of hay. 

"Look out for the lantern, " she called, and threw the hay down tohim. She brought, in all, seven large bundles and was starting for theeighth, when, by a special act of Providence, the flooring gave again, and she made an excellent imitation of Aladdin's shute on the previousevening. By good fortune, however, she landed on the soft hay and wasnot hurt beyond a few scratches. 

"Did you notice, " she said, with a little gasp, "that I didn't scream?"

"You aren't hurt, are you?" said Aladdin. 

"No, " she said; "but--do you realize that we can't get out, now?"

She made a bed of the hay. 

"You crawl over on that, " she said. 

Aladdin bit his lips and groaned as he moved. 

"It's really broken, isn't it?" said the girl. Aladdin lay back gasping. 

"You poor boy, " she said. 

XXVI

The girl borrowed Aladdin's pocket-knife and began whittling at afragment of board. Then she tore several yards of ruffle from her whitepetticoat, cut his trouser leg off below the knee, cut the lacings ofhis boot, and bandaged his broken leg to the splint she had made. Allthat was against a series of most courteous protests, made in a tearfulvoice. 

When she had done, Aladdin took her hand in his and kissed the fingers. 

"They're the smallest sisters of mercy I ever saw, " said he. She made noattempt to withdraw her hand. 

"It was stupid of me to fall through, " she said. 

"Isn't there any possible way of getting out?"

"No; the walls are stone. "

"O Lord!" said Aladdin. 

"I'm glad I repented before I fell through, " said the girl. 

"So am I, " said Aladdin. 

"What were you doing in our stable?" said the girl. 

"I got lost, and came in for shelter. "

"You came to the house first. I heard you knocking, and saw you from thewindow. But I wouldn't let you in, because my father and brother wereaway, and besides, I knew you were a Yankee. "

"It was too dark to see my uniform. "

"I could tell by the way you rode. "

"Is it as bad as that?"

"No--but it's different. "

The girl laid her hand on Aladdin's forehead. 

"You've got fever, " she said. 

"It doesn't matter, " said Aladdin, politely. 

"Does your leg hurt awfully?"

"It doesn't matter. "

"Did any one ever tell you that you were very civil for a Yankee?"

"It doesn't matter, " said Aladdin. 

She looked at him shrewdly, and saw that the light of reason had goneout of his eyes. She wetted her handkerchief with the cold, filthy waterspread over the cellar floor and laid it on his forehead. Aladdin spokeramblingly or kept silence. Every now and then the girl freshened thehandkerchief, and presently Aladdin fell into a troubled sleep. 

When he awoke his mind was quite clear. The lantern still burned, butfaintly, for the air in the cellar was becoming heavy. Beside him onthe straw the girl lay sleeping. And overhead footsteps sounded on thestable floor. He remembered what the girl had said about the people whowould kill him if they found him, and blew out the lantern. Then, hishand over her mouth, he waked the girl. 

"Don't make a noise, " he said. "Listen. "

The girl sat up on the straw. 

"I'll call, " she whispered presently, "and pretend you're not here. "

"But the horse?"

"I'll lie about him. "

She raised her voice. 

"Who's there?" she called. 

"It's I--Calvert. Where are you?"

"Listen, " she answered; "I've fallen through the floor into the cellar. Don't you see where it's broken?"

The footsteps approached. 

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No; but don't come too close, don't try to look down; the floor'sfrightfully rickety. Isn't there a ladder there somewhere?"

A man laughed. 

"Wait, " he said. They heard his footsteps and laughter receding. Presently the bottom of a ladder appeared through the hole in the floor. 

"Look out for your head, " said the man. 

The girl rose and guided the ladder clear of Aladdin's head. 

"What have you done with the Yankee's horse?" she called. 

"He's here. "

"Where's the Yankee, do you suppose?"

"We think he must have run off into the woods. "

"That's what I thought. "

The girl began to mount the ladder. 

"I'm coming up, " she said. 

She disappeared, and the ladder was withdrawn. 

She came back after a long time, and there were men with her. 

"It's all right, Yankee, " she called down the hole. "They're your ownmen, and I'm the prisoner now. "

The ladder reappeared, and two friendly men in blue came down into thecellar. 

"Good God!" they said. "It's Aladdin O'Brien!"

Hannibal St. John and Beau Larch lifted Aladdin tenderly and took himout of his prison. 

Outside, tents were being pitched in the dark, and there was a sound ofaxes. Fires glowed here and there through the woods and over the fields, and troops kept pouring into the plantation. They laid Aladdin on a heapof hay and went to bring a stretcher. The girl sat down beside him. 

"You'll be all right now, " she said. 

"Yes, " said Aladdin. 

"And go home to your sweetheart. "

"Yes, " said Aladdin, and he thought of the tall violets on the banks ofthe Maine brooks, and the freshness of the sea. 

"What is her name?" said the girl. 

"Margaret, " said Aladdin. 

"Mine's Ellen, " said the girl, and it seemed as if she sighed. 

Aladdin took her hand. 

"You 've been very good to me, " he said, and his voice grew tender, forshe was very beautiful, "and I'll never forget you, " he said. 

"Oh, me!" said the girl, and there was a silence between them. 

"I tried to help you, " said the girl, faintly, "but I wasn't very goodat it. "

"You were an angel, " said Aladdin. 

"I don't suppose we'll ever see each other again, will we?" said thegirl. 

"I don't know, " said Aladdin. "Perhaps I'll come back some day. "

"It's very silly of me--" said the girl. 

"What?" said Aladdin. 

"Nothing. "

He closed his eyes, for he was very weak. It seemed as if a greatsweetness came close to his face, and he could have sworn that somethingwet and hot fell lightly on his forehead; but when he opened his eyes, the girl was sitting aloof, her face in the shadow. 

"I dreamed just then, " said Aladdin, "that something wonderful happenedto me. Did it?"

"What would you consider wonderful?"

Aladdin laid a finger on his forehead; he drew it away and saw that thetip was wet. 

"I couldn't very well say, " he said. 

The girl bent over him. 

"It nearly happened, " she said. 

"You are very wonderful and beautiful, " said Aladdin. 

Her eyes were like stars, and she leaned closer. 

"Are you going to go on fighting against my people?" she said. 

Roses lay for a moment on his lips. 

"Are you?"

He made no sign. If she had kissed him again he would have renounced hisbirthright and his love. 

"God bless and keep you, Yankee, " she said. 

Tears rushed out of Aladdin's eyes. 

"They're coming to take you away, " she said. "Good-by. "

"Kiss me again, " said Aladdin, hoarsely. 

She looked at him quietly for some moments. 

"And your sweetheart?" she said. 

Aladdin covered his face with his arm. 

"Poor little traitor, " said the girl, sadly. She rose and, withoutlooking back, moved slowly up the road toward the house. 

Nor did Aladdin ever see her again, but in after years the smell of boxor roses would bring into his mind the wonderful face of her, and themusic of her voice. 

In the delirium which was upon him all that night, he harped to thesurgeon of Ellen, and in the morning fell asleep. 

"Haec olim meminisse juvabit, " said the surgeon, as rain-clouded dawnrose whitely in the east. 

XXVII

Aladdin was jolted miserably down the Peninsula in a white ambulance, which mules dragged through knee-deep mud and over flowing, corduroyroads. He had fever in his whole body, anguish in one leg, and hardly awish to live. But at Fort Monroe the breezes came hurrying from the sea, like so many unfailing doctors, and blew his fever back inland whereit belonged. He lay under a live-oak on the parade ground and once morereceived the joy of life into his heart. When he was well enough to limpabout, they gave him leave to go home; and he went down into a ship, and sailed away up the laughing Chesapeake, and up the broad Potomac toWashington. There he rested during one night, and in the morning tooktrain for New York. The train was full of sick and wounded going home, and there was a great cheerfulness upon them all. Men joined by thebrotherhood of common experience talked loudly, smoked hard, and drankdeep. There was tremendous boasting and the accounting of unrivaledadventures. In Aladdin's car, however, there was one man who did notjoin in the fellowship, for he was too sick. He had been a big man andstrong, but he looked like a ghost made of white gossamer and violetshadows. His own mother would not have recognized him. He lay backinto the corner of a seat with averted face and closed eyes. The moredecent-minded endeavored, on his account, to impose upon the noisy adegree of quiet, but their efforts were unavailing. Aladdin, drummingwith his nails upon the windowpane, fell presently into soft song:

 Give me three breaths of pleasure After three deaths of pain, And make me not remeasure The ways that were in vain. 

Men grew silent and gathered to hear, for Aladdin's fame as a maker ofsongs had spread over the whole army, and he was called the MinstrelMajor. He felt his audience and sang louder. The very sick man turneda little so that he, too, could hear. Only the occasional striking ofa match or the surreptitious drawing of a cork interrupted. The statelytune moved on:

 The first breath shall be laughter, The second shall be wine; And there shall follow after A kiss that shall be mine. 

Somehow all the homing hearts were set to beating. 

 Roses with dewfall laden One garden grows for me; I call them kisses, maiden, And gather them from thee. 

The very sick man turned fully, and there was a glad light ofrecognition in his eyes. 

 Give me three kisses only-- Then let the storm break o'er The vessel beached and lonely Upon the lonely shore. 

If Aladdin's singing ever moved anybody particularly, it was Aladdin, and that was why it moved other people. He sang on with tears in hisvoice

 Give me three breaths of pleasure After three deaths of pain, And I will no more treasure The hopes that are in vain. 

There was silence for a moment, more engaging than applause, and thenapplause. Aladdin was in his element, and he wondered what he wouldbest sing next if they should ask him to sing again, and this theyimmediately did. The train was jolting along between Baltimore andPhiladelphia. There was much beer in the bellies of the sick andwounded, and much sentiment in their hearts. Aladdin's finger was alwayson the pulse of his audience, and he began with relish:

 Oh, shut and dark her window is In the dark house on the hill, But I have come up through the lilac walk To the lilt of the whippoorwill, With the old years tugging at my hands And my heart which is her heart still. 

There was another man in the car whose whole life centered about a houseon a hill with a lilac walk leading up to it. He was the very sick man, and a shadow of red color came into his cheeks. 

 They said, "You must come to the house once more, Ere the tale of your years be done, You must stand and look up at her window again, Ere the sands of your life are run, As the night-time follows the lost daytime, And the heart goes down with the sun. "

There were tears in the very sick man's eyes, for the future was hiddenfrom him. Aladdin sang on:

 Though her window be darkest of every one, In the dark house on the hill, Yet I turn to it here from this ruin of grass, She has leaned on that window's sill, And dark it is, but there is, there is An echo of light there still!

There was great applause from the drunk and sentimental. And Aladdinlowered his eyes until it was over. When he raised them it was toencounter those of the very sick man. Aladdin sprang to his feet with acry and went limping down the aisle. 

"Peter, " he cried, "by all that's holy!"

All the tenderness of the Celt gushed into Aladdin's heart as herealized the pitiful condition and shocking emaciation of his friend. Heput his arm gently about him, and thus they sat until the journey's end. In New York they separated. 

Aladdin rested that night and boarded an early morning train for Boston. He settled himself contentedly behind a newspaper, and fell to gatheringnews of the army. But it was difficult to read. A sentence beginninglike this: "Rumors of a savage engagement between the light horseunder" would shape itself like this: "I am going to see Margaretto-morrow--to-morrow--to-morrow--I am going to see Margaretto-morrow-tomorrow--and God is good--is good--is good. "

Oddly enough, there was another man in the car who was having preciselythe same difficulty in deciphering his newspaper. At about the sametime they both gave up the attempt; and their eyes met. And they laughedaloud. And presently, seated together, they fell into good talk, buteach refrained pointedly from asking the other where he was going. 

With a splendid assumption of innocence, they drove together acrossBoston, and remarking nothing on the coincidence, each distinctly heardthe other checking his luggage for Portland, Maine. 

Side by side they rolled out of Portland and saw familiar trees andhills go by. Presently Aladdin chuckled:

"Where are you going, Peter, anyway?" he said. 

"Just where you are, " said Peter. 

XXVIII

"Peter, " said Aladdin, presently, "it seems to me that for two such oldfriends we are lacking in confidence. I know precisely what you arethinking about, and you know precisely what I am. We mustn't play thejealous rivals to the last; and to put it plainly, Peter, if God isgoing to be good to you instead of me, why, I'm going to try and thankGod just the same. A personal disappointment is a purely private matterand has no license to upset old ties and affections. Does it occur toyou that we are after the same thing and that one of us isn't going toget it?"

"We won't let it make any difference, " said Peter, stoutly. 

"That's just it, " said Aladdin. "We mustn't. "

"The situation--" Peter began. 

"Is none the less difficult, I know. Here we are with a certain amountof leave to occupy as we each see fit. And, unfortunately, there's onlyone thing which seems fit to either of us. And, equally unfortunately, it's something we can't hold hands and do at the same time. Shall I gostraight from the station to Mrs. Brackett's and wait until you've hadyour say, Peter?--not that I want to wait very long, " he added. 

"That wouldn't be at all fair, " said Peter. 

"Do you mind, " said Aladdin after a pause, "telling me about what yourchances are?"

Peter reddened uncomfortably. 

"I'm afraid they're not very good, 'Laddin, " he said. "She--she saidshe wasn't sure. And that's a good deal more apt to mean nothing thaneverything, but I can't straighten my life out till I'm sure. "

"My chances, " said Aladdin, critically, "shouldn't by rights be anywherenear as good as yours, but as long as they remain chances I feel justthe same as you do about yours, and want to get things straightened out. But if I were any kind of a man, I'd drop it, because I'm not in herclass. "

"Nonsense, " said Peter. 

"No, I'm not, " said Aladdin, gloomily. "I know that. But, Peter, what isa man going to do, a single, solitary, pretty much good-for-nothing man, with three great bouncing Fates lined up against him?"

Peter laughed his big, frank laugh. 

"Shall we chuck the whole thing, " said Aladdin, "until it's time to goback to the army?"

"No, " said Peter, "that would be shirking; it's got to be settled oneway or another very quickly. " He became grave again. 

"I think so, too, Peter, " said Aladdin. "And I think that if she takesone of us it will be a great sorrow for the other. "

"And for her, " said Peter, quietly. 

"Perhaps, " said Aladdin, whimsically, "she won't take either of us. "

"That, " said Peter, "should be a great sorrow for us both. "

"I know, " said Aladdin. "Anyway, there's got to be sorrow. "

"I think I shall bear it better, " said Peter, "if she takes you, 'Laddin. "

A flash of comparison between his somewhat morbid and warped self andthe bigness and nobility of his friend passed through Aladdin's mind. Heglanced covertly at the strong, emaciated face beside him, and noted thesteadiness and purity of the eyes. A little quixotic flame, springinglike an orchid from nothing, blazed suddenly in his heart, and for theinstant he was the better man of the two. 

"I hope she takes you, Peter, " he said. 

They rolled on through the midsummer woods, heavy with bright leaves andwaist-deep with bracken; little brooks, clean as whistles, piped awayamong immaculate stones, and limpid light broken by delicious shadowsfell over all. 

"Who shall ask her first?" said Aladdin. Peter smiled. "Shall we tossfor it?" said Aladdin. Peter laughed gaily. "Do you really want it to belike that?" he said. 

"What's the use of our being friends, " said Aladdin, "if we are notgoing to back each other up in this of all things?"

"Right!" said Peter. "But you ought to have the first show because youmentioned it first. "

"Rubbish!" said Aladdin. "We'll toss, but not now; we'll wait till weget there. "

Peter looked at his watch. 

"Nearly in, " he said. 

"Yes, " said Aladdin. "I know by the woods. "

"Did you telegraph, by any chance?" said Peter. "Because I didn't. "

"Nor I, " said Aladdin; "I didn't want to be met. "

"Nor I, " said Peter. 

"The sick man and the lame man will take hands and hobble up the hill, "said Aladdin. "And whatever happens, they mustn't let anything make anydifference. "

"No, " said Peter, "they mustn't. "

XXIX

Our veterans walked painfully through the town and up the hill; nor werethey suffered to go in peace, for right and left they were recognized, and people rushed up to shake them by the hands and ask news of such anone, and if Peter's bullet was still in him, and if it was true, whichof course they saw it wasn't, that Aladdin had a wooden leg. Aladdin, it must be owned, enjoyed these demonstrations, and in spite of hislameness strutted a little. But Peter, white from the after effects ofhis wound and weary with the long travel, did not enjoy them at all. Then the steep pitch of the hill was almost too much for him, and nowand again he was obliged to stop and rest. 

The St. Johns' house stood among lilacs and back from the street by thebreadth of a small garden. In the rear were large grounds, fields, andeven woods. The place had two entrances, one immediately in front of thehouse for people on foot, and the other, a quarter of a mile distant, for people driving. This latter, opening from a joyous country laneof blackberry-vines and goldenrod, passed between two prodigious roundstones, and S-ed into a dark and stately wood. Trees, standing gladlywhere God had set them, made a screen, impenetrable to the eye, betweenthe gateway and the house. 

Here Peter and Aladdin halted, while Aladdin sent a coin spinning intothe air. 

"Heads!" called Peter. 

Aladdin let the piece fall to the ground, and they bent over it eagerly. 

"After you, " said Peter, for the coin read, "Tails. "

Aladdin picked up the coin, and hurled it far away among the trees. 

"That's our joint sacrifice to the gods, Peter, " he said. 

Peter gave him five cents. 

"My share, " he said. 

"Peter, " said Aladdin, "I will ask her the first chance I get, and ifthere's nothing in it for me, I will go away and leave the road clearfor you. Come. "

"No, " said Peter; "you've got your chance now. And here I wait until yousend me news. "

"Lord!" said Aladdin, "has it got to be as sudden as this?"

"Let's get it over, " said Peter. 

"Very good, " said Aladdin. "I'll go. But, Peter, whatever happens, Iwon't keep you long in suspense. "

"Good man, " said Peter. 

Aladdin turned his face to the house like a man measuring a distance. Hedrew a deep breath. 

"Well--here goes, " he said, and took two steps. 

"Wait, 'Laddin, " said Peter. 

Aladdin turned. 

"Can I have your pipe?"

"Of course. "

Aladdin turned over his pipe and pouch. "I'm afraid it's a littlebitter, " he said. 

Again he started up the drive; but Peter ran after him. 

"'Laddin, " he cried, "wait--I forgot something. "

Aladdin came back to meet him. 

"Aladdin, " said Peter, "I forgot something. " He held out his hand, andAladdin squeezed it. 

"Aladdin, " said Peter, "from the bottom of my heart I wish you luck. "

When they separated again there were tears in the eyes of both. 

Just before the curtain of trees quite closed the view of the gate, Aladdin turned to look at Peter. Peter sat upon one of the big stonesthat marked the entrance, smoking and smoking. He had thrown aside hishat, and his hair shone in the sun. There was a kind of wistfulness inhis poise, and his calm, pure eyes were lifted toward the open sky. Agreat hero-worship surged in Aladdin's heart, and he thought that therewas nothing that he would not do for such a friend. "He gave you yourlife once, " said a little voice in Aladdin's heart; "give him his. He isworth a million of you; don't stand in his way. "

Aladdin turned and went on, and the well-known house came into view, buthe saw only the splendid, wistful man at the gate, waiting calmly, as agentleman should, for life or death, and smoking smoking. 

Even as he made his resolve, a lump of self-pity rose in Aladdin'sthroat. That was the old Adam in him, the base clay out of which springsthe fair flower of self-sacrifice. 

He tried a variety of smiles, for he wished to be easy in the difficultpart which he had so suddenly, and in the face of all the old years, elected to play. "He must know by the look of me, " said Aladdin, "that Ido not love her any more, for, God help me, I can't say it. "

He found her on the broad rear veranda of the house. And instead ofgoing up to her and taking her in his arms, --for he had planned thismeeting often, as the stars could tell, he stood rooted, and said:

"Hallo, Margaret!"

He acted better than he knew, for the great light which had blazed forone instant in her eyes on first seeing him went out like a snuffedcandle, and he did not see it or know that it had blazed. Therefore hisown cruelty was hidden from him, and his part became easier to play. They shook hands, and even then, if he had not been blinded with theegotism of self-sacrifice, he might have seen. That was his last chance. For Margaret's heart cried to her, "It is over, " and in believing it, suddenly, and as she thought forever, an older sweetness came in herface. 

"You've changed, Aladdin, " she said. 

"Yes, I'm thinner, if possible, " said Aladdin, "almost willowy. Do youthink it's becoming?"

"I am not sure, " said Margaret. "The fact remains that I'm more thanglad to see you. "

Aladdin fumbled for speech. 

"I'm still a little lame, you see, " he said apologetically, and tookseveral steps to show. 

"Very!" said Margaret, in such a voice that Aladdin wondered what shemeant. 

"But it doesn't hurt any more. "

"Then that's all right. "

"Where's Jack?" he asked at length. 

Margaret became very grave. 

"I'm afraid we've betrayed our trust, Aladdin, " she said. "Because onlyyesterday he slipped away and left a little note to say that he wasgoing to enlist. We're very much distressed about it. "

"Perhaps it's better so, " said Aladdin, "if he really wanted to go. Didhe leave any address?"

"None whatever; he simply vanished. "

"Ungrateful little brute!" said Aladdin. Then he bethought him of Peter. "I'll come back later, Margaret, " he said, "but it behooves me to go andlook up the good Mrs. Brackett. "

He hardly knew how he got out of the house. He felt like a criminal whohas been let off by the judge. 

The sun was now low, and the shadows long and black. Aladdin found Peterwhere he had left him, balancing on the great stone at the entrance, andsending up clouds of smoke. He rose when he saw Aladdin, and he lookedpaler and more worn. "Peter, " said Aladdin, "from the bottom of my heartI wish you luck. "

Aladdin had never seen just such a look as came into Peter's eyes; atonce they were full of infinite pity, and at peace with the whole world. 

"Peter, " said Aladdin, "give me back my pipe. " His voice broke in spiteof himself, for he had given up golden things. "I--" he said, "I'll waithere a little while, but if--if all goes well, Peter, don't you botherto come back. "

They clasped hands long and in silence. Then Peter turned with a gulp, and, his weakness a thing of the past, went striding up the driveway. But Aladdin sat down to wait. And now a great piping of tree-frogs arosein all that country. Aladdin waited for a long time. He waited untilthe day gave way to twilight and the sun went down. He waited until thetwilight turned to dark and the stars came out. He waited until, afterall the years of waiting and longing, his heart was finally at peace. And then he rose to go. 

For Peter had not yet come. 

BOOK III

 "Where are the tall men that marched on the right, That marched to the battle so handsome and tall? They 've been left to mark the places where they saw the foemen's faces, For the fever and the lead took them all, Jenny Orde, The fever and the lead took them all. 

 "I found him in the forefront of the battle, Kenny Orde, With the bullets spitting up the ground around him, And the sweat was on his brow, and his lips were on his sword, And his life was going from him when I found him. 

 "We lowered him to rest, Jenny Orde, With your picture on his breast, Jenny Orde, And the rumble of pursuit was the regiment's salute To the man that loved you best, Jenny Orde. "

XXX

As a dam breaking gives free passage to the imprisoned waters, and theyrush out victoriously, so Vicksburg, starving and crumbling in the West, was about to open her gates and set the Father of Waters free forever. That was where the Union hammer, grasped so firmly by strong fingersthat their knuckles turned white, was striking the heaviest blowsupon the cracking skull of the Confederacy. On the other hand, Chancellorsville had verged upon disaster, and the powers of Europewere waiting for one more Confederate victory in order to declare theblockade of Southern ports at an end, and to float a Southern loan. That a Confederate victory was to be feared, the presence in Northernterritory of Lee, grasping the handle of a sword, whose splendid bladewas seventy thousand men concentrated, testified. That Lee had lost thebest finger of his right hand at Chancellorsville was but job's comfortto the threatened government at Washington. That government was still, after years of stern fighting, trying generals and finding them wanting. But now the Fates, in secret conclave, weighed the lots of Union andDisunion; and that of Disunion, though glittering and brilliant likegold, sank heavily to the ground, as a great eagle whose wing is brokenby the hunter's bullet comes surely if fiercely down, to be put todeath. 

Early on the morning of July 1, 1863, Lee found himself in theneighborhood of a small and obscure town named Gettysburg. A militaryinvasion is the process of occupying in succession a series of towns. To occupy Gettysburg, which seemed as possible as eating breakfast, Leesent forward a division of a corps, and followed leisurely with all hisforces. But Gettysburg and the ridges to the west of Gettysburg werealready occupied by two brigades of cavalry, and those, with a cockinessbegotten of big lumps of armed friends approaching from the rear, determined to go on occupying. This, in a spirit of great courage, withslowly increasing forces, against rapidly increasing forces, they did, until the brisk and pliant skirmish which opened the business of theday had grown so in weight and ferocity that it was evident to the leastastute that the decisive battle of the New World was being fought. 

XXXI

There was a pretty girl in Manchester, Maryland (possibly several, butone was particularly pretty), and Aladdin, together with several youngofficers (nearly all officers were young in that war) of the Sixth ArmyCorps, rather flattered himself that he was making an impression. He wasall for making impressions in those days. Margaret was engaged tomarry Peter--and a pretty girl was a pretty girl. The pretty girl ofManchester had several girls and several officers to tea on a certainevening, and they remained till midnight, making a great deal ofnoise and flirting outrageously in dark corners. Two of the girls gotthemselves kissed, and two of the officers got their ears boxed, andlater a glove each to stick in their hat-bands. At midnight the partybroke up with regret, and the young officers, seeking their quarters, turned in, and were presently sleeping the sleep of the constant inheart. But Aladdin did not dream about the pretty girl of Manchester, Maryland. When he could not help himself--under the disadvantage ofsleep, when suddenly awakened, or when left alone--his mind harped uponMargaret. And often the chords of the harping were sad chords. But onthis particular night he dreamed well. He dreamed that her little feetdid wrong and fled for safety unto him. What the wrong was he knewin his dream, but never afterward--only that it was a dreadful, unforgivable wrong, not to be condoned, even by a lover. But in hisdream Aladdin was more than her lover, and could condone anything. Sohe hid her feet in his hands until those who came to arrest them hadpassed, and then he waked to find that his hands were empty, and thedelicious dream over. He waked also to find that it was still dark, and that the Sixth Army Corps was to march to a place called Taneytown, where General Meade had headquarters. He made ready and presently wasriding by his general at the head of a creaking column, under the starrysky. In the great hush and cool that is before a July dawn, God showedhimself to the men, and they sang the "Battle-hymn of the Republic, " butit sounded sweetly and yearningly, as if sung by thousands of lovers:

 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword His truth is marching on. 

The full sunlight gives man poise and shows him the practical side ofthings, but in the early morning and late at night man is seldom quiterational. He weakly allows himself to dwell upon what was not, is not, and will not be. And so Aladdin, during the first period of that march, pretended that Margaret was to be his and that all was well. 

A short distance out of Manchester the column met with orders fromGeneral Meade and was turned westward toward Gettysburg. With theorders came details of the first day's fight, and Aladdin learned of theofficer bringing them, for he was a Maine man, that Hamilton St. Johnwas among the dead. Aladdin and the officer talked long of the poor boy, for both had known him well. They said that he had not been as brilliantas John, nor as winning as Hannibal, but so honest and reliable, sofriendly and unselfish. They went over his good qualities again andagain, and spoke of his great strength and purity, and of other thingswhich men hold best in men. 

And now they were riding with the sun in their eyes, and white dustrolled up from the swift feet of horses and men. Wild roses and new-mowngrass filled the air with delightful fragrance, and such fields as wereuncut blazed with daisies and buttercups. Over the trimmed lawns abouthomesteads yellow dandelions shone like stars in a green sky. Men, women, and children left their occupations, and stood with open mouthsand wide eyes to see the soldiers pass. The sun rose higher and the daybecame most hot, but steadily, unflinchingly as the ticking of a clock, the swift, bleeding, valiant feet of the Sixth Army Corps stepped offthe miles. And the men stretched their ears to hear the mumbled distantthunder of artillery--that voice of battle which says so much and tellsso little to those far off. The Sixth Corps felt that it was expected todecide a battle upon Northern soil for the North, and marching inthat buoyant hope, left scarcely a man, broken with fatigue anddisappointment, among the wild flowers by the side of the way. 

If you have ever ridden from Cairo to the Pyramids you will rememberthat at five miles' distance they look as huge as at a hundred yards, and that it is not until you actually touch them with your hand that youeven begin to realize how wonderfully huge they really are. It wasso with the thunders of Gettysburg. They sounded no louder, and theyconnoted no more to the column now in the immediate vicinage of thebattle, than they had to its far-distant ears. But presently thecolumn halted behind a circle of hills, and beheld white smoke pouringheavenward as if a fissure had opened in the earth and was giving forthsteam. And they beheld in the heavens themselves tiny, fleecy whiteclouds and motionless rings, and they knew that shells were bursting andmen falling upon the slopes beyond the hills. 

A frenzy of eagerness seized upon the tired feet, and they pressedupward, lightly, like dancers' feet. Straps creaked upon strainingbreasts, and sweat ran in bubbles. Then the head of the column reachedthe ridge of a hill, and its leaders saw through smarting eyes a greathorseshoe of sudden death. 

XXXII

That morning Peter Manners had received a letter, but he had not had achance to open and read it. It was a letter that belonged next to hisheart, as he judged by the writing, and next to his heart, in a securepocket, he placed it, there to lie and give him strength and courage forthe cruel day's work, and something besides the coming of night to lookforward to. For the rest, he went among the lines, and smiled like a boyreleased from school to see how silently and savagely they fought. 

The Sixth Corps rested wherever there was shade along the banks of RockCreek, and gathered strength and breath for whatever work should beassigned to it. 

Aladdin, sharing a cherry-pie with a friend, shivered with excitement, for there was a terrific and ever-increasing discharge of cannons andmuskets on the left, and it seemed that the time to go forward again andwin glory was at hand. Presently one came riding back from the battle. His face was shining with delight, and, sitting like a centaur tothe fiery plunges of his horse, he swung his hat and shouted. It wasSedgwick's chief of staff, McMahon, and he brought glorious news, forhe said that the corps was to move toward the heavy firing, where thefighting was most severe. 

Then the whole corps sprang to its feet and went forward, tearing downthe fences in its path and trampling the long grass in the fields. Amile away the long, flowery slopes ended in a knobbed hill revealedthrough smoke. That was Little Round Top, and its possession meantvictory or defeat. The corps was halted and two regiments were sentforward up the long slope. To them the minutes seemed moments. They wentlike a wave over the crest to the right of the hill, and poured downinto the valley beyond. Here the blue flood of men banked against astone wall, spreading to right and left, as the waters of a streamspread the length of a dam. Then they began to fire dreadfully into thefaces of their enemy, and to curse terribly, as is proper in battle. Bullets stung the long line like wasps, and men bit the sod. 

Aladdin was ordered to ride up Little Round Top for information. Half-way up he left his horse among the boulders and finished thelaborious ascent on foot. At the summit he came upon a leaderlessbattery loading and firing like clockwork, and he saw that the rockswere strewn with dead men in light-blue Zouave uniforms, who looked asif they had fallen in a shower from the clouds. Many had their facescaved in with stones, and terrible rents showed where the bayonethad been at work, for in this battle men had fought hand to hand likecave-dwellers. Bullets hit the rocks with stinging blows, and roundshot screamed in the air. Sometimes a dead man would be lifted fromwhere he lay and hurled backward, while every instant men cried hoarselyand joined the dead. In the midst of this thunder and carnage, Aladdincame suddenly upon Peter, smiling like a favorite at a dance, andshouted to him. They grinned at each other, and as Aladdin grinned helooked about to see where he could be of use, and sprang toward a gunhalf of whose crew had been blasted to death by a bursting shell. Thesweat ran down his face, and already it was black with burning powder. The flash of the guns set fire to the clothing of the dead and woundedwho lay in front, and on the recoil the iron-shod wheels broke thebones of those lying behind. It was impossible to know how the fight wasgoing. It was only possible to go on fighting. 

There was a voice in front of the battery that kept calling so terriblyfor water that it turned cold the stomachs of those that heard. Itcame from a Confederate, a general officer, who had been wounded inthe spine. Occasionally it was possible to see him through the smoke. Sometimes a convulsion seized him, and he beat the ground with his wholebody, as a great fish that has been drawn from the water beats the deckof a vessel. It was terrible to look at and hear. Bullets and shot torethe ground about the man and showered him with dust and stones. Aladdinshook his canteen and heard the swish of water. It seemed to him, andhis knees turned to water at the thought, that he must go out into thatplace swept by the fire of both sides, and give relief to his enemy. He did not want to go, and fear shook him; but he threw down the rammerwhich he had been serving, and drawing breath in long gasps, took a stepforward. His resolve came too late. A blue figure slipped by him andwent down the slope at a run. It was Manners. They saw him kneel by thedying Confederate in the bright sunlight, and then smoke swept betweenlike a wave of fog. The red flashes of the guns went crashing into thesmoke, and on all sides men fell. But presently there came a star-shapedexplosion in the midst of the smoke, hurling it back, and they sawManners again. He was staggering about with his hands over his eyes, and blood was running through his fingers. Even as they looked, a shotstruck him in the back, and he came down. They saw his splendid squarechest heaving, and knew that he was not yet dead. Then the smoke closedin, but this time another figure was hidden by the smoke. For no soonerdid Aladdin see Peter fall than he sprang forward like a hound from theleash. Aladdin kneeled by Manners, and as he kneeled a bullet struck hishat from his head, and a round shot, smashing into the rocky grounda dozen feet away, filled his eyes with dirt and sparks. There was apungent smell of brimstone from the furious concussions of iron againstrock. A bullet struck the handle of Aladdin's sword and broke it. Heunstopped his canteen and pressed the nozzle to Manners' lips. Mannerssucked eagerly, like an infant at its mother's breast. A bullet struckthe canteen and dashed it to pieces. The crashing of the cannon was likeclose thunder, and the air sang like the strings of an instrument. ButAladdin, so cool and collected he was, might have been the target forpraises and roses flung by beauties. He put his lips close to Peter'sear, and spoke loudly, for the noise of battle was deafening. 

"Is it much, darlint?"

Manners turned his bleeding eyes toward Aladdin. 

"Go back, you damn little fool!" he said. 

"Peter, Peter, " said Aladdin, "can't you see?"

"No, I can't. I'm no use now. Go back; go back and give 'em hell!"

Aladdin endeavored to raise Peter in his arms, but was not strongenough. 

"I can't lift you, I can't lift you, " he said. 

"You can't, " said Peter. "Bless you for coming, and go back. "

"Shut up, will you?" cried Aladdin, savagely. "Where are you hit?"

"In the back, " said Peter, "and I'm done for. "

"The hell you are!" said Aladdin. Tears hotter than blood were runningout of his eyes. "What can I do for you, Peter?" he said in a huskyvoice. 

Manners' blackened fingers fumbled at the buttons of his coat, but hehad not the strength to undo them. 

"It's there, 'Laddin, " he said. 

"What's there?" said Aladdin. He undid the coat with swift, cleverfingers. 

"Let me hold it in my hands, " said Peter. 

"Is it this--this letter--this letter from Margaret?" asked Aladdin, chokingly, for he saw that the letter had not been opened. 

A shower of dirt and stones fell upon them, and a shell burst with asharp crash above their heads. 

"Yes, " said Peter. "Give it to me. I can't ever read it now. "

"I can read it for you, " said Aladdin. He was struggling with a sob thatwanted to tear his throat. 

"Will you? Will you?" cried Peter, and he smiled like a beautiful child. 

"Sure I will, " said Aladdin. 

With the palm of his hand he pressed back the streaming sweat from hisforehead twice and three times. Then, having wiped his hands upon hisknees, he drew the battered fragment of his sword, and using it as apaper-knife, opened the letter carefully, as a man opens letters whichare not to be destroyed. Then his stomach turned cold and his tonguegrew thick and burred. For the letter which Margaret had written to herlover was more cruel than the shell which had blinded his eyes and thebullet which was taking his life. 

"'Laddin--" this in a fearful voice. 

"Yes. "

"Thank God. I thought you'd been hit. Why don't you read?"

Aladdin's eyes, used to reading in blocks of lines rather than a word ata time, had at one glance taken in the purport of Margaret's letter, and his wits had gone from him. She called herself every base and cruelname, and she prayed her lover to forgive her, but she had never had theright to tell him that she would marry him, for she had never loved himin that way. She said that, God forgive her, she could not keep up thefalse position any longer, and she wished she was dead. 

"There's a man at the bottom of this, " thought Aladdin. He caught aglimpse of Peter's poor, bloody face and choked. 

"I--it--the sheets are mixed, " he said presently. "I'm trying to findthe beginning. There are eight pages, " he went on, "fighting for time, "and they 're folded all wrong, and they're not numbered or anything. "

Peter waited patiently while Aladdin fumbled with the sheets and tried, to the cracking-point, to master the confusion in his mind. 

Suddenly God sent light, and he could have laughed aloud. Not in vainhad he pursued the muse and sought after the true romance in the farcountry where she sweeps her skirts beyond the fingers of men. Not invain had he rolled the arduous ink-pots and striven manfully for theright word and the telling phrase. The chance had come, and the years ofpreparation had not been thrown away. He knew that he was going tomake good at last. His throat cleared of itself, and the choking phlegmdisappeared as if before a hot flame of joy. His voice came from betweenhis trembling lips clear as a bell, and the thunder of battle rolledback from the plain of his consciousness, as, slowly, tenderly, andhelped by God, he began to speak those eight closely lined pages whichshe should have written. 

"My Heart's Darling--" he began, and there followed a molten stream ofgolden and sacred words. 

And the very soul of Manners shouted aloud, for the girl was speaking tohim as she had never spoken before. 

XXXIII

When the fighting was over for that day, Aladdin wrote as follows toMargaret:

MARGARET DEAR: Peter was shot down to-day, while doing more than hisduty by his enemies and by his country and by himself, which was alwayshis way. He will not live very long, and you must come to him if itis in any way possible. His love for you makes other loves seem verylittle, and I think it would be better that you should walk the streetsthan that you should refuse to come to him now. He had a letter fromyou, which God, knowing about, blinded him so that he could not read it, and he believes that you love him and are faithful to him. It is verymerciful of God to let him believe that. He must not be undeceived now, and you must come and be lovely to him and pretend and pretend, and makehis dying beautiful. I have the right to ask this of you, for, next toPeter, I was the one that loved you most. And when I made you think Ididn't I lied. I lied because I felt that I was not worthy, and I lovedyou enough to want you to belong to the best man God ever made, and Iloved him too. And that was why it was. I tell you because I think youmust have wondered about it sometimes. But it was very hard to do, andbecause I did it, and because Peter is what he is, you must come to himnow. If God will continue to be merciful, you will get here in time. Ihope I may be on hand to see you, but I do not know. Hamilton is gone, and Peter is going, and there will be a terrible battle to-morrow, andthousands of poor lads will lie on this field forever. And here, one wayor another, the war will be decided. I have not the heart to write toyou any more, my darling. You will come to Peter, I know, and all willbe as well as it can be. I pray to God that I too shall live to see youagain, and I ask him to bless you and keep you for ever and ever. AlwaysI see your dear face before me in the battle, and sometimes at nightGod lets me dream of you. I am without dogma, sweetest of all possiblesweethearts, but this creed I say over and over, and this creed Ibelieve: I believe in one God, Maker of heaven and Margaret. 

 Angels guard you, darling. 

 ALADDIN. GETTYSBURG, July 2, 1863. 

XXXIV

On the morning of the third day of July, young Hannibal St. John shavedhis face clean and put himself into a new uniform. The old nth Maine wasno longer a regiment, but a name of sufficient glory. On three occasionsit had been shot to pieces, and after the third the remaining tens wereabsorbed by other regiments. Hannibal's father had obtained for hima lieutenancy in the United States artillery, Beau Larch was secondlieutenant in another Maine regiment, and John, the old and honoredcolonel of the nth, was now, like Aladdin, serving on a staff. 

The battle began with a movement against Johnson on the Confederateleft, and one against Longstreet on their right. 

That against Longstreet became known in history as Farnsworth's charge, and Aladdin saw it from the signal-station on Little Round Top. 

It was a series of blue lines, whose relations to one another could notbe justly estimated, because of the wooded nature of the ground, whichran out into open places before fences and woods that spat red fire, andbecame thinner and of less extension, as if they had been made ofwax and were melting under the blaze of the July sun. In that chargeFarnsworth fell and achieved glory. 

Aladdin held a field-glass to his eyes with trembling hands, and watchedthe cruel mowing of the blue flowers. Sometimes he recognized a man thathe knew, and saw him die for his country. Three times he saw John St. John in the forefront of the battle. The first time he was riding aglorious black horse, of spirit and proportions to correspond with thoseof the hero himself. The second time he was on foot, running forwardwith a-halt in his stride, hatless, and carrying a great battle-flag. Upon the top of it gleamed a gold eagle, that nodded toward the enemy. A dozen blue-coated soldiers, straggling like the finishers in along-distance race, followed him with bayonets fixed. The little looseknot of men ran across a field toward a stone wall that bounded it uponthe other side. Then white smoke burst from the wall, and they werecut down to the last man. The smoke cleared, and Aladdin saw John lyingabove the great flag which he had carried. A figure in gray leaped thestone wall and ran out to him, stooped, and seizing the staff of theflag in both hands, braced his hands and endeavored to draw it frombeneath the great body of the hero. But it would not come, and as hebent closer to obtain a better hold, the back of a great clenched handstruck him across the jaw, and he fell like a log. Other men in grayleaped the wall and ran out. The flag came easily now, for St. John wasdead; but so was the gray brother, for his comrades raised him, and hishead hung back over his left shoulder, and they saw that his neck hadbeen broken like a dry stick. 

Aladdin had not been sent to that place to mourn, but to gaininformation. Twice and three times he wiped his eyes clear of tears, andthen he swept his faltering glass along the lines of the enemy, until, ranged in their center, he beheld a great semicircle of a hundred andmore iron and brass cannons, and movements of troops. Then Aladdinscrambled down from Little Round Top to report what he had seen in thecenter of the Confederate lines. 

At one o'clock the Confederate batteries, one hundred and fifteen piecesin all, opened their tremendous fire upon the center of the Union lines. Eighty cannons roared back at them with defiant thunder, and the bluesky became hidden by smoke. Among the Union batteries horses began torun loose, cannons to be splintered like fire-wood, and caissons toexplode. At these moments men, horses, fragments of men and horses, stones, earth, and things living and things dead were hurled high intothe air with great blasts of flame and smoke, and it was possible tohear miles of exultant yells from the hills opposite. But fresh cannonwere brought lumbering up at the gallop and rolled into the places ofthose dismantled, shot and shell and canister and powder were rushedforward from the reserve, and the grim, silent infantry, the greatlumbermen of Maine and Vermont, the shrill-voiced regiments from NewYork, the shrewd farmers of Ohio and Massachusetts, the deliberatePennsylvanians, and the rest, lay closely, wherever there was shelter, and moistened their lips, and gripped their rifles, and waited--waited. 

For two hours that terrible cannonading was maintained. The men whoserved the guns looked like stokers of ships, for, such was the heat, many of them, casting away first one piece of clothing and then another, were half naked, and black sweat glistened in streams on their chestsand backs. As sight-seers crowd in eagerly by one door of a buildingwhere there is an exhibition, and come reluctantly out by another and gotheir ways, so the reserves kept pressing to the front, and the woundedmaintained an unceasing reluctant stream to the rear. 

A little before three o'clock Hannibal St. John had his right kneesmashed by the exploding of a caisson, and fell behind one of the gunsof his battery. He was so sure that he was to be killed on this daythat it had never occurred to him that he might be trivially wounded andcarried to the rear in safety. An expression of almost comical chagrincame over his face, for life was nothing to him, and somewhere far abovethe smoke a goodly welcome awaited him: that he knew. Men came with astretcher to carry him off, but he cursed them roundly and struggledto his well knee. The cannon behind which he had fallen was about to bedischarged. 

"Give 'em hell!" cried Hannibal. 

As he spoke, the piece was fired, and leaping back on the recoil, as afrenzied horse that breaks its halter, one of the wheels struck hima terrible blow on the body, breaking all the ribs on that side andkilling him instantly. His face wore a glad smile, and afterward, whenAladdin found him and took the gold locket from his pocket, and read theinscription written, a great wonder seized men:

 July 3, 1863. Nunc dimittis. Te Deum laudamus. 

Thus in one battle fell the three strong hostages which an old man hadgiven to fortune. 

XXXV

Three o'clock the Union batteries were ordered to be silent, for it waswell known to those in command that presently there would be a powerfulattack by infantry, for which the cannonade was supposed to have pavedthe way with death and disorder, and it was necessary that the piecesshould be kept cool in order to be in efficient condition to grapplewith and suppress this attack. Sometimes a regiment, stung to a frenzyof courage by bullets and the death of comrades, will rise from itstrench without the volition of its officers, and go frantically forwardagainst overwhelming odds. A different effect of an almost identicalpsychological process is patience. Men will sometimes lie as quietlyunder a rain of bullets, in order to get in one effective shot at anenemy, as cattle in the hot months will lie under a rain of water to getcool. It was so now. The whole Union army was seized by a kind of bloodydeliberation and lay like statues of men, while, for quarter of an hourmore, the Confederates continued to thunder from their guns. Now andagain a man felt lovingly the long black tube of a cannon to see if itstemperature was falling. Others came hurrying from the rear with relaysof powder, shot, shell, and canister. 

It seemed now to the Confederate leaders that the Union batteries hadbeen silenced, and that the time had come for Pickett, the Ney of theSouth, to go forward with all his forces. Only Longstreet demurred andprotested against the charge. When Pickett asked him for the order toadvance he turned away his head sorrowfully and would not speak. ThenPickett, that great leader of men, who was one half daring and one halfmagnetism and all hero, said proudly: "I shall go forward, sir. " Andturned to his lovers. 

Silence and smoke hung over Gettysburg. 

Presently out of the smoke on the Confederate side came three lines ofgray a mile long. Battle-flags nodded at intervals, and swords blazed inthe sun. 

Very deliberately and with pains about aiming, the Union batteries beganto hurl solid shot against the gray advance. Soon holes were bitten hereand there, and occasionally a flag went down, to be instantly snatchedup and waved defiantly. When Pickett, Pettigrew, and the splendidbrigade of Cadmus Wilcox had reached the bottom of the valley, theirorganization was as unbroken as a parade. But there shell, instead ofround shot, met them, and men tasted death by fives and tens. But thelines, drawing together, closed the spaces left by mortality, and theflags began to approach each other. Then the gray men began to comeup the slope, and there were thousands of them. But shell yielded tocanister, and the muskets of the infantry sent out death in leadenshowers, so that the great charge began to melt like wax over heat, andthe flags hung close together like a trophy of battle in a chapel. Butstill the gray men came. And now, in a storm of flame and smoke, theyreached the foremost cannons of the Union line, and planted their flags. So much were they permitted for the glory of a lost cause. For a little, men killed one another with the butts of guns, with bayonets, and withstones, and then, as the overdrip of a wave broken upon an iron coasttrickles back through the stones of the beach to the ocean, so allthat was left of Pickett's great charge trickled back down the slope, driblets of gray, running blood. For a little while longer the firingcontinued. Battle-flags were gathered, and thrown together in sheaves. There was a little broken cheering, and to all intents and purposes thegreat war was at an end. 

Aladdin, broken with grief and fatigue, went picking his way among thedead and wounded. He had lost Peter and Hannibal in that battle, andHamilton and John were dead; he alone remained, and it was not just. Hefelt that the Great Reaper had spared the weed among the flowers, andhe was bitter against the Great Reaper. But there was one more sorrowreserved for Aladdin, and he was to blaspheme against the God that madehim. 

There was still desultory firing from both armies. As when, on theFourth of July, you set off a whole bunch of firecrackers, there isat first a crackling roar, and afterward a little explosion here and alittle explosion there, so Gettysburg must have sounded to the gods inOlympus. Thunder-clouds begotten of the intense heat rolled acrossthe heavens from east to west, accentuating the streaming glory ofthe setting sun, and now distant thunder rumbled, with a sound as ofartillery crossing a bridge. Drops of rain fell here and there. 

Aladdin heard himself called by name, "'Laddin, 'Laddin. "

As quickly as the brain is advertised of an insect's sting, so quicklydid Aladdin recognize the voice and know that his brother. Jack wascalling to him. He turned, and saw a little freckled boy, in a uniformmuch too big for him, trailing a large musket. 

"Jack!" he cried, and rushed toward him with outstretched arms. "Youlittle beggar, what are you doin' here?"

Jack grinned like one confessing to a successful theft of applesbelonging to a cross farmer. And then God saw fit to take away his life. He dropped suddenly, and there came a rapid pool of blood where his facehad been. With his arms wrapped about the little figure that a momentbefore had been so warlike and gay, Aladdin turned toward the heavens aface of white flint. 

"I believe in one God, Maker of hell!" he cried. 

Thunder rumbled and rolled slowly across the battle-field from east, towest. 

"I believe in one God, Maker of hell!" cried Aladdin, "Father ofinjustice and doer of hellish deeds! I believe in two damnations, thedamnation of the living and the damnation of the dead. "

He turned to the little boy in his arms, and terrible sobs shook hisbody, so that it appeared as if he was vomiting. After a while he turnedhis convulsed face again to the sky. 

"Come down, " he cried, "come down, you--"

Far down the hill there was a puff of white smoke, and a mercifulbullet, glancing from a rock, struck Aladdin on the head with sufficientforce to stretch him senseless upon the ground. 

When the news of Gettysburg reached the Northern cities, lights wereplaced in every window, and horns were blown as at the coming of a newyear. Senator Hannibal St. John had lost his three boys and the hopes ofhis old age in that terrible fight, but he caused his Washington houseto be illuminated from basement to garret. 

And then he walked out in the streets alone, and the tears ran down hisold cheeks. 

XXXVI

There had been a wedding in the hospital tent. Margaret bent over Peterand kissed him goodby. She was in deep black, and by her side loomed agreat, dark figure, whose eyes were like caverns in the depths of whichburned coals. The great, dark man leaned heavily upon a stick, and didnot seem conscious of what was going on. The minister who had performedthe ceremony stood with averted face. Every now and then he moistenedhis lips with the tip of his tongue. The wounded in neighboring cotsturned pitiful eyes upon the girl in black, for she was most lovely--andvery sad. Occasionally a throat was cleared. 

"When you come, darling, " said the dying man, "there will be an end ofsorrow. "

"There will be an end of sorrow, " echoed the girl. She bent closer tohim, and kissed him again. 

"It is very wonderful to have been loved, " said Peter. Then his facebecame still and very beautiful. A smile, innocent like that of a littlechild, lingered upon his lips, and his blind eyes closed. 

St. John laid his hand upon Margaret's shoulder. 

A man, very tall and lean and homely, entered the tent. He was clad inan exceedingly long and ill-fitting frock-coat. Upon his head was a highblack hat, somewhat the worse for wear. He turned a pair of very gentleand pitying eyes slowly over those in the tent. 

Aladdin, his head almost concealed by bandages, sat suddenly uprightin a neighboring cot. A wild, unreasoning light was in his eyes, andmarking time with his hand, he burst suddenly into the "Battle Hymn ofthe Republic"

 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. 

He sang on, and the wounded joined him with weak voices:

 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. 

The tall man who had entered, to whom every death was nearer than hisown, and to whom the suffering of others was as a crucifixion, removedthe silk hat from his head, and wiped his forehead with a coloredhandkerchief. 

Margaret knelt by Aladdin and held his unconscious form in her arms. 

Outside, the earth was bathing in exquisite sunshine. 

XXXVII

It was not long before Aladdin got back the strength of his body, butthe gray bullet which had come in answer to his cry against God, evenas the lightning came to Amyas Leigh, in that romance to which it is sogood to bow, had injured the delicate mechanism of his brain, so thatit seemed as if he would go down to the grave without memory of thingspast, or power upon the hour. Indeed, the war ended before the surgeonsspoke of an operation which might restore his mind. He went under theknife a little child, his head full of pictures, playthings, and fear ofthe alphabet; he came forth made over, and turned clear, wondering eyesto the girl at his side. And he held her hand while she bridged over theyears for him in her sweet voice. 

He learned that she had married Peter, making his death peaceful, and heGod-blessed her for so doing, while the tears ran down his cheeks. 

But much of Aladdin that had slept so long was to wake no more. For itwas spring when he woke, and waking, he fell in love with all livingthings. 

One day he sat with Margaret on the porch of a familiar house, andlooked upon a familiar river that flowed silverly beyond the dark trees. 

Senator St. John, very old and very moving, came heavily out of thehouse, and laid his hands upon the shoulders of Margaret and Aladdin. Itwas like a benediction. 

"I have been thinking, " said the senator, very slowly, and in the voiceof an old man, "that God has left some flowers in my garden. "

"Roses?" said Aladdin, and he looked at Margaret. 

"Roses perhaps, " said the senator, "and withal some bittersweet, but, better than these, and more, he has left me heart's-ease. This littleflower, " continued the senator, "is sown in times of great doubt andsorrow and trouble, and it will grow only for a good gardener, one whohas learned to bow patiently in all things to God's will, and to set hisfeet valiantly against the stony way which God appoints. I call Margaret'Heart's-ease, ' and I call you, too, 'Heart's-ease, ' Aladdin, for youare becoming like a son to me in my declining years. Consider theriver, how it flows, " said the old man, "smoothly to the sea, asking noquestions, and making no lamentations against the length of its days, and receiving cheerfully into the steadfast current of its going alikethe bitter waters and the sweet. "

We have forgotten Aladdin's songs and the tunes which he made, for thepeople's ear is not tuned to them any more. But that is a little thing. It is pleasant to think of that night when, the knocking of his heartagainst his ribs louder than the knocking of his hand upon her door, hecarried to Margaret's side the wonderful lamp which, years before, hadbeen lighted within him, and which, burning always, now high, now low, like the rising and falling tides in the river, had at length consumedwhatever in his nature was little or base, until there was nothingleft save those precious qualities, love and charity, which fire cannotcalcine nor cold freeze. Also it is pleasant to think that littlechildren came of their love and sang about their everlasting fire.