Cyrus Townsend Brady

“ By that deadly underwater thrust of the enemy the battleship was reduced in a few moments to a disjointed, disorganized, sinking mass of shapeless, formless, splintered steel.
As the explosions ceased, from every point rose shrieks and groans and cries of men in the death-agony hurled into eternity and torn like the steel. And then the boy heard the surviving officers coolly, resolutely calling the men to their stations.
He had been thrown from his berth by the violence of the explosion. His face was cut and bleeding where he had struck a near-by stanchion. His left arm hung useless. ”

“ In her pathway stood a figure seen dimly in the darkness. It stood in the shadow beyond the broad light from the painted window. There was something strangely familiar about it. She glanced up at that window. Had the figure there stepped down and embodied itself vaguely on the walk before her?
She laid her hand upon the knob of the church door.
What was this strange figure? Who was he? As she stared, the outline drew nearer. A man vested in long white draperies confronted her. He was bareheaded and appeared insensible to the cold in which she shivered. ”

“ She bent low.
"Who seeks confession, absolution?" he whispered. "I am a priest."
"You are wounded, dying, father."
"How can I die better than shriving a fellow sinner?"
That was true. The heroic woman turned to the man who still kept up his monotonous appeal.
"The man next to you," she said, "dying like you, is a priest."
"Father," cried the first man with sudden strength. "I must confess before I die." ”

“ IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAID"
"It's Christmas eve at home," murmured the young lad after he had said his prayers and tumbled into his narrow berth on the great ship. "I suppose they're trimming the Christmas tree now and hanging up the stockings. I wish I were there."
He was very young to serve his country, but not too young according to the standards of mankind to be a midshipman on the great steel monster keeping the leaden deep. It was the first time he had ever been away from home on Christmas day, too. The youngsters had all laughed and joked about it in the steerage mess. ”

“ A white-faced sister of charity upon whom had developed the appalling task of caring for the long rows of wounded at the dressing station before they were entrained and sent south to the hospital, hovered over the stretcher.
"My poor man," she whispered, "there is no priest here."
"I can't die without confession—absolution," was the answer. "A priest, get me a priest."
Next to and almost touching the cot on which the speaker writhed in his death agony lay another man apparently in a profound stupor. He wore the uniform of a private soldier and his eyes were bandaged. ”

“ God will forgive, even as I."
"Who are you?" asked the blind priest, fearfully.
"The woman!" cried the dying man shaking off the other's hand and lifting himself up.
The sight came back to the priest on the instant. The fierce agony that filled his blinded eyes seemed to give place to the gentle touch of a hand upon them. He seemed to hear a mighty word—Ephphatha—that meant "be opened." Light flooded his soul. Looking up he was aware of two figures. One of the twain, an old man, gray bearded, was appealing to the other, clad in white raiment and youthful. ”

“ Those whose faint breathing indicated that they had not yet reached the point of death were too weak and indifferent to rid the boat of the bodies of the others. Ever since the homeward-bound whaler had struck a derelict in a gale of wind north of the Falklands and foundered, this little boat, surviving the shipwreck as by a miracle, had drifted on. ”

“ She turned suddenly with a great start. "There is somebody here," she whispered, staring into the back of the alcove.
"Nonsense," said the man, throwing a glance around the recess. "There's nobody here but you and I. We are alone together, as we shall be hereafter, when we have taken the step."
"But that child," whispered the woman, "with his strange vesture and his wonderful face. His eyes look at me so."
"There is no child there, my dear," urged the man; "you are overwrought, excited, nervous. The music starts. Let us go." ”

“ If the stalker could get to that spot he would be protected for a moment from fire from the enemy's trench.
It would take him a second or two to cross that space. In a second or two what might happen? Well, he would have to risk that. At the very end of the coppice he gathered himself together and rose slowly to a crouching position. Another rain of shots came from the nook; the man's rifle would be empty, he must give him no chance to reload. ”

“ He'll put a bullet through you before you can level a rifle or press a trigger."
"I'll not go that way," said the man.
"What is your plan?"
"You know that salient yonder on the right? I'm going out of the trench there."
"When?"
"Now. I'll wrap myself in white. That little run of coppice will cover me until I get within a few feet of him, then I'll have to chance it."
"Wish I could help you, old man. I'd like to get that man. He's shot six of the best fellows in the company and—"
"You can help me by making a diversion to attract his attention. Keep him looking at that alley." ”

“ From the nook ahead of him in which the enemy had ensconced himself came a sudden rapid rattle of rifle-shots. His friend back in the trench was doing his part. The man was awake—on the alert. It would be something of a fair fight, he thought with some little satisfaction. He surveyed the intervening space beyond the coppice. The men in the trenches on both sides would be awake, too. It would take him a few seconds to cross that space and get at the man he was stalking. ”

“ He dropped the tiller which his hand had grasped mechanically, and which was useless since there was no way on the boat, and bent his head lower. Some sudden recrudescence of strength which the dying sometimes receive came to the woman. ”

“ The air was foul with smoke and reeked with the odor of vile liquor.
"We've got two jobs on hand to-night," said the leader of the gang. "There's a crib to be cracked an' a guy to be croaked. Red, you an' Gypsie an' the Gunney will crack the crib. It's dead easy. Only an old man an' his wife. The servants are out except one an' he's fixed. ”

“ If he shot the man he was stalking alarm would be given and he would be riddled with bullets before he got back. He was willing to give a life for a life if it were necessary, but he was reluctant to do so if it could be avoided. ”

“ It was a proposal from the superintendent to clear more land, to build more buildings, to install more machines, to employ more children and increase the profits greatly.
"I'll do it," said the man. "We can crush opposition absolutely. I'll control the markets of the world. ”

“ It raised its head and looked at him. The face was somehow lighter than the rest.
The man's arm fell. The room was empty after all. He stared at the little shoe. Was it somewhere well with the child, with its mother? Unbuttoning his tunic he thrust the little shoe within, over his heart. He straightened up. Away off on the road a bugle call rang out above the tumult. He turned away, seized his rifle, shouldered it, stepped rapidly toward his regiment and his duty.
VII The Thorn Crowned "THE SOLDIERS PLATTED A CROWN OF THORNS AND PUT IT ON HIS HEAD"
It was ghastly cold in the ruined church. ”