The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-03-17

and slept.
When Lee-Carson woke huge red
moon on the horizon seemed very close
to his eyes, and he called out, wildly:
"Grammel! Grammel! Curse you,
Grammel, you're dead"
And from the other side of the fire
Grammel answered him, his dry lips
bleeding as they parted:
Dead? OF course I'm not.''
whats death?" began Lee-Carson
again. Don't let that moon dance and
CLEAN in my eyes, it gets into my brainli
Granmel, what's death?"
"A sleep and a forgetting" quoted
Grammel, at his wits end.
mo, it's not that" said the sick man
more calmly. "Grammel, come herei
Where are you?' he CROPPED about for
the friendly hand that met his. Look!
look!-the other side of the fret
When Grammel could get his heavy
eyes open, he looked across and saw
nothing, only the snaky tongues of the
fame leaping at intervals into the
moonstruck gloom.
There's nothing" he said, shortly.
Granmel had no Imagination, hence he
was at loss, not knowing what he was
expected to see.
"Nothing?" repeated Lee-Carson,
peering anxiously forward. mo, l see
nothing now-perhaps I dreamed. l
think I'm going out. Most people die
about the dawn"
Rot" said Grammel, lamely.
Lee-Carson's lips parted in the old
whimsical smile. Presently he said:
''I've seen things, Grammel, and I'd like
to tell you what l saw"
Grammel was sitting close by, his
hands clasped round his knees. Being
the man he was, he said nothing, only
waited to hear.
Through the night I've seen them
galloping past, squadrons and squad
rons of mounted men-our fellows, you
know"
Grammel shook his head impercepti-
bly,.
II shouted to them-I shouted who
we were, but they were riding fast east
wards"
mo man rides east" said Grammel,
looking up.
You don't understand, said the sick
man gently; you don't know who they
are. They're the Frontier Men of Eng
land! and their recruiting sergeants
Death. Don't you remember?
They ride for ever up and down
To guard the land they won.'
Don't you see them-don't you see
them-now? They're calling me, and l
can't go! Oh, the morning of life is
sweet, but this is better! The end is
coming, Grammel; it's coming fast!"
He lay down again moaning, and
Grammel mixed much brandy with lit
tie mud and water and gave it to him.
In little while Lee-Carson moved,
his face distorted in the torchlight of
the fire, as he shouted huskily:
'Fordison, Chester, stop! I'm COM
ing! l shan't be long, and then we'll
ride together. Grammel will come
too-some day. He'll never die between
sheets, good old Grammel! l wonder
if he'll ride 16 stone as ghost?"
He laughed out suddenly, and Gram
mel muttered in his beard:
Hes got it bad-very bad"
We'll ride past our graves together
and scare the beasts! Well gallop into
the sunset! Who's with you? Oak
wood and Tommy Brown, all of them!"
and i'll his deliIious transport he tore
the blankets from him. Il have known
many good things in life-sea-dawns,
and ships rushing through the arteries
of the world, but this is better than
ALL"
Grammel had started up and was lis
tening intently. Still the voice, strained
to breaking pitch, rang on:
"They start with us on our eXpedi-
tions, they head our armies. The
Frontier Men of England! Reinforced
in every border-fizzle-by the bullet
by the stab-by the swamp-fever. You
at home, you needn't weep!-" He
ceased to peer anXiously out into the
gloom of the swamp. Are you there,
you fellows? l can't see you. That's
all right. No one dies alone in the
waste or the desert, you're always there
to see him die. | wish I'd told Gram
mel, he'd tell the rest. At every adj
vance they're with us, and when we
die, no man is left TO die alone. They
are always there-waiting. 1t almost
seemed to Grammel that he could hear
the trampling hoofs of that shadowy
squadron.
A chill wind stirred the vapors of
the marsh.
Il smell the dawn" Lee-Carson
raised his head. Pm coming with the
dawn. | know how it will rise, like
the wet glistening side of a white bull
over the sodden rim of the marshes.
Oh, the glory of it," he shrieked. "All
the men who have passed away into the
unknown and died on the edge of the
food. All of them!
For ever riding up and down
To guard the land they won.'
And when Armageddon comes, they'll
be there, the glory of the ages! The
men who were planted with a stone on
their chests to mark the frontiers of
the world"
With an unexpected strength he
sprang up and tottered forward, his