John Oxenham

“ Anxious as they were, for some reasons, to get home, Lois, at all events,—with the knowledge that getting home might well be but the beginning of sorrows—found herself full of regrets at leaving Montreux. The little inconveniences of their stay there had been gloriously impearled with the glamour of their love. They had been perfectly happy, and perfect happiness comes not often in life nor ever lasts too long.
They had taken leave of their friends, and Ray had duly given the Vice-Consul a draft on Uncle Tony for the money he had advanced them. ”

“ Lois had been sitting with Uncle Tony till he fell asleep. He slept much of late and was often listless and drowsy and very unlike himself, when awake, especially in the afternoon.
It was Alma who said, out of the fulness of her heart and of much inevitable brooding over the matter,
“You know, if the women of all the world would only say the word, and say it together, and not only say it but mean it with all their souls and lives, there could be no such thing as war in the world.” ”

“ Beyond an occasional man of the hills hastening towards Landeck, with sober face, coat slung by its arms at his back, and jaunty cock-feathered hat on the back of his head, they did not meet a soul till they came to Ladis.
As a rule these hurrying ones passed them with a preoccupied ‘Grüss Gott!’ and a hungry look which craved news but grudged the time.
One stopped for a moment and asked anxiously, “Is it true, then, Herr? Is it war?”
And Ray answered him, “With Servia, yes! How much more no man knows.”
“War is the devil,” said the man soberly, and hurried on. ”

“ There speaks Young England,—always cocksure of winning and inclined to despise the enemy. If you had seen as much of war as I have, my dear, you would be cocksure of nothing, except that you’d do your duty to the last gasp and would have to leave the rest to Providence. Germany is a tremendous fighting-machine. We have a tough job before us, but we’re fighting for the Right and please God we’ll win. It’s good to see the new spirit the war is evoking everywhere. Great Britain and Ireland shoulder to shoulder, and India and all the colonies rushing to help. ”

“ The Hodden-Grays just tumbled into the ditch behind the guns and thankfully panted their souls back. They were still alive—some of them! They could hardly realise it.
Ray dropped his humming head into his folded arms as he lay full length on his face. The homely smell of earth and grass was like new life. He chewed some grass with relish. After the smoke and taste of blood it was delicious. To be alive after all that! It was amazing—incredible almost. He thought of Lois and thanked God fervently for them both. ”

“ On the Ebneten Alp, below the hotel, they sat down on a glacier-scored boulder for a last look over the Urseren-Thal and a rest before tackling the Furka. It was a wonderful sight—the wide green sweep of the valley right to the great white barracks at Andermatt and the zig-zags of the Oberalp-road beyond;—on the one side, the sprawling green and gray limbs of Spitzberge, still dappled with mist-wreaths but shining like frosted silver up above;—on the other side Piz Lucendro, with the Wyttenwasser-Thal and glacier below it;—and the upward road which led to the Furka was all white with snow. ”

“ It was the most wonderful and soul-bracing exhibition of the power of mind over matter that Ray Luard had ever seen, and he would not have missed his share in it for any money.
At times they had a few days’ rest in the rear,—for the time being no longer actual targets for shells though an occasional one came closer than was necessary to their comfort, but the sound of the guns was never out of their ears, and at all times they were liable to sudden urgent summons to stiffen the front against unexpected assault. ”

“ Bullets pinged past them and over them like clouds of venomous insects swept along by a gale. Shrapnel burst with vicious claps over their heads. Life seemed impossible and yet to their surprise they lived, and, whatever their private feelings, the new men stuck valiantly to their work and dug for dear life.
Noel and Gregor were alongside one another delving like navvies, while sweat and shivers chased one another up and down their backs which felt horribly naked to damage. ”

“ Mrs Dare especially felt bruised to the heart’s core. Con gone, and lying wounded somewhere,—and undoubtedly sorely wounded, for they had never had a line from himself yet. Ray out there in the thick of it, and any moment might bring word of his death. And now Noel plunging into the mêlée with a joyous zest such as he had never shown for anything in life before. And Alma and Lois on the tenterhooks of ceaseless anxiety. It was a time that kept the women-folk much upon their knees, and their hearts welled with unuttered prayers as they went about their daily work. ”

“ And Lois spent the days intercepting the Battalion on its route marches or exercising itself in cover-taking and trench-digging and manœuvering at Fortune’s Farm.
And always, when she managed to catch the long line on the march, the sight of the intent masterful faces under the cocked bonnets, and the rhythmic swing of the kilts and bare knees and hodden-gray stockings and blue flashes, to the spirited skirling of the pipes, brought her heart up into her throat, and, often as not, the tears into her eyes. ”

“ But, though he had laughed as usual for old Jackson’s benefit, and though the remains of the laugh lingered in the corners of his eyes, he was feeling graver than he ever remembered feeling in his life before. For he had just been reading, over his breakfast, the momentous news that Great Britain, having received no reply to her ultimatum respecting the neutrality of Belgium, had declared war on Germany. And that was enough to make any man grave indeed. ”

“ He was on the Stock Exchange, in his late father’s firm, Dymoke and MacLean, of Draper’s Gardens. But the Stock Exchange was for the time being dead, and as Gregor said he saved in every way,—money, gray matter, and nervous energy—by stopping at home, he stopped at home and enjoyed himself,—gauging the pulse of affairs by the price of Consols and the Bank-rate in the evening and morning papers, and laying in stores of health on the links, while yet there was time, against the demands the future might make upon him. ”

“ They climbed steadily, with wonderful views over Rheintal and up into Vorder Rheintal, crossed the summit of Pass da Tiarms, and came down again to the old high-road at the eastern end of the gloomy little Oberalp-See.
“There lies the highway to happiness,” said Ray, pointing away in front where, in the dim distance, a white thread of a road wound along a lofty mountain-side. “That’s the Furka. Once we’re over that we’re in the Rhone Valley and almost at Montreux,” and he pressed her arm tight again as a reminder of all that Montreux would mean for them. ”

“ Mrs Dare suspended work for a minute and regarded her thoughtfully. Auntie Mitt peered at her over her spectacles in wonder. Lois nodded comprehendingly, with a star in each eye. Honor shook her head doubtfully. Victoria said, “If we had the vote—perhaps.”
“The vote will come all right in time,” said Alma. “But I was thinking larger than that. In all wars the women are the greatest and final sufferers. If they could join hands all over the world and say ‘There shall be no more war!’—well ... there would be no more war.” ”

“ My dear, it is a wonderful idea.... If only it were possible!”
“It is quite possible,” said Alma, with a quiet confidence which impressed even Vic, who gazed at her in wondering amazement, “The idea came to me in the night, as I lay thinking of Con and Ray and the boys, and all the other men-folk of all the other women in the world. And I saw how it all might be done if it only could be done.”
“How then?” asked Vic, impatiently, as Alma fell silent and sat gazing thoughtfully into the fire.
“Why,—in this way.—All men—except the few in every country who hope to benefit by war—want peace. ”

“ Let women ensure peace, and they will be accorded their rightful voice in all the smaller matters. Be sure of that.”
“And how would they go to work to ensure peace?” asked Mrs Dare.
“Perhaps my vague ideas will seem rather crazy to you. But they are something like this. Imagine the women of the world pledged to keep the peace at risk even of their lives. Two nations verge on war. To the women that means loss in every way—chiefly in the lives that are dearer to them than their own. Very well,—then let them stop it by risking their own lives. It is the smaller risk after all. ”

“ My heart is very sore for Gregor’s mother,” she said softly. “He was all she had. I am still rich. She loses all. But if anyone can comfort her it is Honor.”
“And to think—that a million, perhaps many million, women are feeling as we are, and suffering as we are—and all because of a little handful of evil ambitious men! Mother,—it is terrible that any men should have such evil power. I cannot help wishing they may suffer in their turn. But they can never suffer enough.”
“They will suffer,” said Mrs Dare quietly. “Since God is a just God. ”

“ Troubles that one could tackle in the open one faced as a matter of course, and got the better of as a matter of business. But this ‘something coming and no knowing what’ was very upsetting, and his brows knitted perplexedly as he paced to and fro, from the arch that led to the kitchen-garden to the arch that led to the front path, up which in due course Smith’s boy would come whistling with the world’s news and possibly something that might cast a light on his shadows. ”

“ On top of the kiln, Ray, with Mac’s good help, kept the Maxim going full blast. He pressed hard on the double button so that the trigger was held back out of the tumbler, and while Mac fed in the feed-belts for dear life, he slowly turned the muzzle from side to side so that the ceaseless stream of bullets met the stumbling line in front like a fiery fan. Nothing human could possibly stand so deadly a flailing. ”

“ He’ll suffer a lot more if he lives. At least I hope so.”
“He can never suffer as he deserves to,” said Vic. “I would have all the pain and misery he has brought about visited on his own head, but that’s not humanly possible.”
“He’ll suffer,” said Gregor weightily.
“If we lick him all to pieces, as we shall do,” said Noel, “he’ll surrender to England and be given a palace to live in and a nice little pension. We’re altogether too soft-hearted. When a man’s down we’re always sorry for him, no matter what he’s done, and we sentimentalise over him like a lot of silly schoolgirls.” ”

“ All of which had always so far petered out many miles to the rear of the fighting, though they had more than once come within sound of the guns. But it had all been to the good. They gained new experiences every day; they grew hard and fit under the taxing work, and each day now was bringing them nearer to that for which they had left home and friends and all that had hitherto made life worth living. And not a man of them but was glad to be there.
Ray had wondered much what it would actually feel like to be in a red-hot fight. ”

“ There is just one thing in this matter in which we have the advantage over them.”
“Ships? Guns?” queried Alma.
“No,—greater than either,—the simple fact that we’re in the right and they are utterly in the wrong. And that, you’ll find, will tell in the long run. They are forcing on this war to serve their own selfish ends; and we, thank God, have no axe of our own to grind in the matter. We’re out to make an end of wars, if that is possible.”
“That is worth fighting for,” said his mother heartily. ”

“ Great Britain had declared war on Germany.
They crossed a brook and a torrent, and in a deep ravine below the fragment of a ruined castle, Ray pointed out to her the little stream which he told her was the Baby Rhine in its cradle.
“It’s always interesting to get back right to the beginning of a thing which in the end becomes a very big thing. We know what the Rhine is at its best and there’s where it begins.”
“I shall never forget it,” said Lois, hanging on to his arm.
“And if the old Colonel is right, away over yonder it will soon be running red,” said Ray thoughtfully. ”

“ If old Leopold were alive the Germans would have a walk-over and the old boy’s coffers would be fuller than ever. This new man—of whom I know very little—may be of a different kidney. But what can he do against Germany? She would simply roll over him if he tried to stand up for his rights. It would be sheer madness on his part.”
“Divine madness!” said the Canon musingly. “Such things at times effect wonders beyond the understanding of man.”
“And with England and France to back her up, and Russia piling in on the other side——” said Ray. ”

“ If Russia,—then France! If France,—then Germany and Italy!... And how shall we stand? It is incredible,” and he turned hastily for hope of relief to the columns of the paper, and read in a leader headed “Europe and the Crisis,”—“All who have the general peace at heart must hope that Austria has not spoken her last word in the note to Servia, to which she requires a reply to-night. If she has we stand upon the edge of war, and of a war fraught with dangers that are incalculable to all the Great Powers.” ”

“ He had shown absolutely no inclination or aptitude for any special walk in life. His father’s hope was that, under his own eye, he might in time develop into a business-man and relieve him of some portion of his at times over-taxing work.
By dint of strenuous labours Mr Dare had, in the course of years, worked up a profitable business in foreign imports and exports, but, like most businesses, it had its ups and downs, and it would be a great relief to be able to leave some of the details to one whom he knew he could trust, as he could Noel. ”

“ What news have you?”
“They are fighting terribly over there, it seems,—at some place called Liége. But we do not hear very much since the diligence stopped. And all our visitors went away at once. We were quite full and not one has come since. War is bad for everybody. For me, I cannot understand what people want to fight for. It will not come into Switzerland, do you think, monsieur?”
“I shouldn’t think so, but when war once starts you never know where it will stop. And I’ve no doubt Germany would be only too glad to get hold of Switzerland if she got half a chance.” ”

“ It was a time indeed for anxious thought on the part of all who had any stake out there, and Mrs Dare’s heart ached with fears for Con. If he were still alive he must be somewhere in the hands of these pitiless savages, and according to the papers they spared none. They even seemed to go out of their way and beyond human nature in the pursuit of that gospel of frightfulness which the Kaiser openly preached.
Her heart had been wrung over Belgium and Northern France. What chance had any man of coming alive out of such a welter of crashing deaths? ”

“ There are not too many, you see.”
60
“It is not like Innsbruck where they fall over one another in the streets,” smiled Lois.
“No, it is not like Innsbruck, Fräulein, and I am glad of that. But why should their being shot make the rest want to fight?”
“That is only the pretext,” said Ray. “Austria wants to stretch herself down south. In fact, I suppose, what she really wants is to get to the sea, and Servia lies in her way.”
“If all men lived among the mountains they would learn a great many things you never learn down below there. I think one is nearer God up here, Herr and Fräulein.” ”