y 'God' or 'my mother'--as you yourself, Johnny boy, say
'Alleghenia.'"

"Charge--_bay'n'ts_!"

With a single click, a thousand rifles fell into position, a thousand
left feet smote the floor in unison, and the light rippled and twinkled
along a solid line of flashing steel.

"There! A single voice,--a single, mighty response! Don't you see the
wonderful suggestiveness of it? Don't you feel the presence of the
enormous reserve force which lies behind all this? Oh, believe me, John,
this is a weapon too mighty to lie unused, and too intelligent to be
misused, if the worst come to the worst. After all, as no one knows
better than yourself, it's not your own advancement you're looking for,
it's that of the state. Well, there may be other agencies, perhaps
entirely independent of you or of your influence, but none the less
invaluable. For example, you are close upon despair--and yet, before
your fears come true, the forces of wrong will have to fight their way,
step by step, through this rampart of American manhood!"

Barclay touched her hand lightly, as she ceased speaking. In the midst
of the thousands about them, they were alone as they had never been
before.

"Thank you," he said simply. "Thank you, littlest and wisest in the
world!"

The regiment was in motion again, skirting the room in column of fours,
preparatory to the march-past: but now the Lieutenant-Governor surveyed
it from a new, and a dual point-of-view,--as a thousand individuals,
that is, each a potential factor for immeasurable good in the coming
rehabilitation of the state; and, then, as a vast fighting-machine
perfect in every detail, resistless and awe-inspiring in its very
integrity. He noted the faces as they passed--stern, intelligent faces,
young, for the most part, and curiously refined, intent upon correct
performance of the present duty, and touched, almost without exception,
with an enthusiasm born of the martial music and the rhythmic tramp of
advancing feet. He saw the quick, reciprocal glance of the pivot and
flank men, as the fours, in perfect alignment, swept round into
company-front; the long, easy compression and give of the compact lines,
acquiring correct adjustment; the rigid tenure of chests and shoulders;
the firm fling of slender gray legs, as regularly intervaled as the
teeth of a giant comb. Company by company, the regiment fell into the
cadence of full-step. Midway, the standards of the Republic and
Alleghenia rippled si