Mr. Standfast
J >>
John Buchan >> Mr. Standfast
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 | 28
I had never any doubt about the result, though Archie told me
later that he went crazy with suspense. Lensch was not aware of his
opponent till he was almost upon him, and I wonder if by any freak
of instinct he recognized his greatest antagonist. He never fired a
shot, nor did Peter ... I saw the German twist and side-slip as if to
baffle the fate descending upon him. I saw Peter veer over vertically
and I knew that the end had come. He was there to make certain of
victory and he took the only way. The machines closed, there
was a crash which I felt though I could not hear it, and next second
both were hurtling down, over and over, to the earth.
They fell in the river just short of the enemy lines, but I did not
see them, for my eyes were blinded and I was on my knees.
After that it was all a dream. I found myself being embraced by a
French General of Division, and saw the first companies of the
cheerful bluecoats whom I had longed for. With them came the
rain , and it was under a weeping April sky that early in the night I
marched what was left of my division away from the battle-field.
The enemy guns were starting to speak behind us, but I did not
heed them. I knew that now there were warders at the gate, and I
believed that by the grace of God that gate was barred for ever.
They took Peter from the wreckage with scarcely a scar except his
twisted leg. Death had smoothed out some of the age in him, and
left his face much as I remembered it long ago in the Mashonaland
hills. In his pocket was his old battered_Pilgrim's _Progress. It lies
before me as I write, and beside it - for I was his only legatee - the
little case which came to him weeks later, containing the highest
honour that can be bestowed upon a soldier of Britain.
It was from the_Pilgrim's _Progress that I read next morning, when
in the lee of an apple-orchard Mary and Blenkiron and I stood in
the soft spring rain beside his grave. And what I read was the tale
in the end not of Mr Standfast, whom he had singled out for his
counterpart, but of Mr Valiant-for-Truth whom he had not hoped
to emulate. I set down the words as a salute and a farewell:
__Then said he, 'I am going to my Father's; and though with great
difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the
trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to
him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and
skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me,
to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will
be my rewarder.'
__So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on
the other _side.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 | 28