gged. "I have heard little
of that."

"It was as he would have had it." The soldier spoke brusquely, as if
jealous of his superior's military devotion and in a monotone because
his voice needed guarding. "He fell under fire, holding steady a shaken
command."

"Was there--much suffering?"

"There was fever, sor'r, and he was out of his head at the end." The
officer reached into his tunic and brought out a pencil-scribbled paper.
"He had me write this for him. 'Tis to you."

Boone took the note in tremulous fingers and spread it close to the
lamp. While he read, the other stood stiff, but his breathing, with a
catch like the ghost of an inhibited sob, was audible.

"My dear boy," ran the message, "McTavish writes this for me. I
have fallen at last in what I believe to be a fight for God's
cause on earth. That is well. I go now to report to the Great
Commander-in-Chief, before whom mere appearances do not damn a
man if he go clean-hearted. Russia will collapse and the cause
will depend upon your own country--a country no longer aloof,
thank God.

"But, my dear boy, my thoughts that have been with you so long,
turn to you at the end. You filled with affection and pride an
emptiness that would have starved my soul. When I think of your
country, I think of you as an embodiment of its intrepid youth
and strength. Can I say more? God keep you. I--"

It broke off there, and Boone raised his eyes to the Major, who,
divining that the glance was an inquiry, said shortly, "He gave out
there, sor'r. The fever took him. What you have read required half an
hour to give me--between breaths, as it were."

"You say he was delirious--after that?"

The other nodded.

"He spoke your name--and another."

"Whose?" Boone whispered the question.

"A man named Prince. Some General Prince, of whom I never heard. He
fancied that this man came from God to fetch him, sor'r. It was part of
the lightheadedness."

"Can you recall his words?"

"I was holding his hand. He pressed mine a bit and said very faintly,
'Good-bye, Sergeant.'--'Twas so he remembered me from other
times.--'Tell Boone good-bye. General Prince has come for me.'"

The narrator broke off, and Boone refrained from hastening him. Finally
McTavish resumed:

"He said, 'General Prince has come. Don't ye hear him, McTavish? He
says, "The Commander-in-Chief sends His compliments, and you will report
to Him, in