star-spangled banner yit wave,
O'er the land av the free and the home av the brave?'

"I didn't see your lights. They was tin thousand star-spangled banners
wavin' before me eyes ivery second. But that strain av song put new
courage into me soul though I had no notion what it really meant. I was
half dead an' wantin' to go the other half quick, an' it was like a
drame, till that song sent a sort of life-givin' pulse through me. The
next minute we were goin' over an' over an' over, betwane rocks, an'
hanging to trees, down, down, down, wid that murderous river roarin'
hungry below us. Jean jumpin' from place to place an' me clingin' to
him an' hittin' iverything that could be hit at ivery jump. An' then
come darkness over me again. There was a light somewhere when I
come to. I was free an' I made a quick spring. I got that knife,
an' like a flash I slid the blade down a crack somewhere. An'
then he tied me solid, an' standin' over me he says slow an'
cruel: 'You--may--stay--here--till--you--starve--to--death.
Nobody--can--get--to--you--but--me--an'--I'm--niver--comin'--back. I
hate you.' An' his eyes were just loike that noight whin I found him
with thim faded pink flowers out on the prairie."

"O'mie, dear, you are the greatest hero I ever heard of. You poor,
beaten, tortured sacrifice."

I put my arm around his shoulder and my tears fell on his red hair.

"I didn't do no more than ivery true American will do--fight an' die to
protect his home; or if not his'n, some other man's. Whin the day av
choosin' comes we can't do no more 'n to take our places. We all do it.
Whin Jean put it on me to lay there helpless an' die o' thirst, I know'd
I could do it. Same as you know'd you'd outwit that gang ready to burn
an' kill, that I'd run from. I just looked straight up at Jean--the
light was gettin' dim--an' I says, 'You--may--go--plum--to--the--divil,
--but--you--can't--hurt--that--part--av--me--that's--never--hungry--nor
--thirsty.' When you git face to face wid a thing like that," O'mie spoke
reverently, "somehow the everlastin' arms, Dr. Hemingway's preaches of,
is strong underneath you. The light wint out, an' Jean in his still way
had slid off, an' I was alone. Alone wid me achin' and me bonds, an' wid
a burnin' longin' fur water, wid a wish to go quick if I must go; but
most av all--don't never furgit it, Phil, whin the thing overtakes you
aven in your strength--most av all, above all sufferin' and natural
longin'