tions on
the heights. Cannonade raging all along the line. Reports from Bell's
Pass state that enemy is retreating from Georgetown. Twelve of the
enemy's guns captured.

"MAJOR GENERAL ILLING."

"Harry!" cried the President, seizing his friend's hand, "suppose this
means victory!"

"It does, it must," was the answer. "Look here," he said, as he
rearranged the blocks on the map, "the whole pressure of General
Elliott's three divisions is concentrated on the enemy's left wing. All
that's necessary is a determined attack----"

"On the entrenchments in the dark?" broke in the President, "when the
men are so apt to lose touch with their leaders, when they're shooting
at random, when a mere chance may wrest away the victory and give it to
the enemy?"

The Secretary of War shook his head, saying: "The fate of battles rests
in the hands of God; we must have faith in our troops."

He walked around the table with long strides, while the President
compared the positions of the armies on the map with the contents of the
last telegram.

"Harry," he said, looking up, "do you remember the speech I made at
Harvard years ago on the unity of nations? That was my first speech, and
who would have thought that we should now be sitting together in this
room? It's strange how it all comes back to me now. Even then, as a
young man, I was deeply interested in the development of the idea of
German national unity as expressed in German poetry; and much that I
read then has become full of meaning for us, too, especially in these
latter days. One of those German songs is ringing in my ears to-night.
Oh, if it could only come true, if our brave men over there storming the
rocky heights could only make it come true--" At this moment the
telegraph-bell again rang sharply:

"Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 2.36 a.m. With enormous losses the brigades of
Lennox and Malmberg have stormed the positions occupied by the
artillery on the enemy's left wing, and have captured numerous guns.
The thunder of cannon coming from the valley can be distinctly heard
here on the heights. Fisher's division has signaled that they have
successfully driven back the enemy. The Japanese are beginning to
retreat all along the line. Our troops----"

The President could read no further, for the words were dancing before
his eyes. This stern man, whom nothing could bend or break, now had
tears in his eyes as he folded his hands over the telegrap