The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-13


the Man starts from dreams of imperial
power and splendor, shivering with acute
cold.
"Why, what is this?" he asks himself.
els it not the morning of the Fourth of
July? Are not those guns | hear cele-
brating our last and greatest victory in
the Philippines-the Philippines of
which / shall soon be Emperor and Lord,
as l am already King, though crown
less. of these United States? Why then
this extraordinary change in the tenn
perature? 1t is bleaker than an Ohio
midwinter. u am cold, cold"-speaking
with chattering teeth. Il must get up
and ring for fire. / must see Mark and
ask him what SO phenomenal an altera-
ton in meteorological conditions por-
tends"
He starts to his feet. One up
stretched hand seeks the electric bulb to
turn on the light. He gropes for it an
instant vainly. Suddenly his lips part
in a cry of mingled surprise and alright.
He has thrust his hand into an entangle-
ment of twigs sheathed in cracking ice.
Lord bless me-" he calculates.
He rubs his eyes and stares about him.
Is this the luxurious chamber in which
heis wont to pass the hours of repose.
Where are the frescoed walls and cell
ing: where the sumptuous draperies;
where the velvet carpet into which the
foot sinks instep-deep at every step!
Gone. Around him is winter night
stretching away into measureless I'M
mensities. Above sweeps a armament
filed with ragged blackness driven i'll
mad confusion. On all sides, under the
ghostly glimmer of the newly fallen
snow, is a bleak and forbidding lands
cane. here starting into rocky bluffs
where spring few low, sleet-hung trees,
there sinking into shadowy valleys
where waters roar amid blocks of
grinding ice
Was it this then that so rudely aroused
him-the rending and thunderous impact
of these vast masses of ice in the river
whose dark waters are rolling here at
his feetf
As the question occurs to him he be-
comes aware that he is no longer alone.
In the dim CLEAN that flows upward
from the snow antled earth he sees on
parently endless host The light is too
faint to distinguish their features clear
ly, but quite sufficient to show that they
are armed with weapons of cumber-
some and obsolete pattern, that some
of them are toiling with the few gaunt
horses that drag the unwieldly cannon,
and that all are clad in uniform OF an
Gent fashion, which in many cases is IN
rags. affording but scanty protection
from the bitter cold.
what troops are these?" the Man
asks himself. "Who commands this
ragamuffin crew? Good Lord! The
idiots who raised such a howl over
few thousand tons of decayed beef, and
swore we were trying to poison them be-
cause some thousands of them took u
into their heads to die, ought to see
this mob Why, these men are not only
half-starved; they are practically
naked.
He observes then that the troops are
crossing the river. The whole surface
of the turbulent current is black with
them. On RATS, in boats on floating
cakes of ice. urged onward by cold,
bleeding hands that grasp pole and san
and oar, they are Fastening 10 the
farther shore to begin again after
months of enforced inaction the strenu-
Gus struggle for freedom.
In the centre of the current, where the
broken ice masses move with threaten
ing impetuosity, a tall and stateiy
figure. standing erect in one of the larg-
or boats, extends his arm as II giving
some directions, though the Man on the
shore can hear no words.
"Can that be the COMMANDMENT
Chief? wonders he.
He nuts one hand to his mouth trum-
pet-wise. and calls to shim through the
tumult of bowling wind and roaring
water:
"Ho. there, you--do you know me!
am King-no. President, | mean, OF
these United States. What army is TINS
I see here in such sorry plight! And
who, pray, are you who command II!
The majestic figure in the boat turns
and looks at him. And though the Man
cannot. under the shadow of the three
cornered hat, see the eyes III that race
which itself energies but lndlstlnctls
from the surrounding shadows, his heart
becomes like wax in the flame; and the
Joints of his knees give way as the On
known in deep and hollow voice re-
plies:
Know YOU so little of this long strug-
gle for freedom as to ask me that! linen
behold"
The rear-guard Of the army are no"
massed i'm deep ranks along the marge
of the river. The hand of the Unknown
points beyond them to the snow-covereo
hills over which they have come.
Is that hand gifted with superna1ufa
mower? The dim snow-light seems q
brighten and gather tinge OF azure
and in it's spectral fluctuations the Man
sees the snow all spotted with red as
colorations-th tracks left by thou
sands of bare and bleeding feet.
Great heayensr he mutters, aghast
And 10, the Redeemed spots begin U
ebift and change. Before his startint
ewes they assume the most fantastl'
forms and glow as with self-kindief
light. All at once they start out mt
letters of flame, broad, quivering, piind
ing; and this is the legend he reads:
THE BLOODY TRAIL OF FREE
DOM'S SONS FROM VALE
FORGE TO TRENTON
And the Man drops in the snow with
out word or cry.
ssNercyi how hot it is. | simmer;