the wounded, and a detachment of engineers to
mend any breaches made in the breastwork by shell fire.

The gunner of the automatic sighted his barrel, slightly adjusted its
elevation, and swung it back and forth to make sure that it worked
smoothly, while his assistant saw that the fresh belts of cartridges
which were to feed it were within easy reach. Dellarme, walking behind
his men, cautioning them not to expose their heads and at the same time
to fire low, had his cheery smile in excellent working order.

"We expect great things of you!" this smile said as he bent over the
gunner with a pat on the shoulder.

"I understand!" said the upward glance in reply.

Marta could not deny that there was something fine about Dellarme's
smile no less than in his bearing and his delicately, chiselled
features. It had the assurance and self-possession of a surgeon about to
perform a critical operation, the difference being that, unlike the
surgeon, he shared in the risk, which was for the purpose of taking
vigorous young lives rather than saving lives enfeebled by disease. Was
it this that gave to war its halo--this offering of the most valuable
thing man possesses to sudden destruction that made war heroic?

But where was the romance of the last war forty years ago? Where the
glad songs going into battle? The glitter of buttons and the pomp of
showy uniforms? The general's staff watching the course of the action by
the billows of black smoke? Gone where the railroad sent the
stage-coach, electricity sent the candle and horse-drawn street-cars,
serum sent diphtheria, the knife sent the appendix, and rifled cannon
and explosive shells sent the wooden walls of old ships of the line.

It occurred to none of the actors, and to Marta alone, in the tight,
foreboding silence, to look aloft. There was a serene blue sky. The
birds were tuning up for their morning songs when she heard the dull
echo of distant guns, soon to be submerged in other thunders at nearer
points along the frontier. With every faculty an alert wire strung in
suspense, she was instantly aware of the appearance of a figure whose
lack of uniform made it conspicuous on that stage.

In straw hat and blue blouse, shuffling with his old man's walk, Feller
came along the path from the gate. He was in retreat from the enticing
picture of the regiment of field-guns in front of the castle that was
ready for action. As the infantry had never interested him, he would be
s