"I 5hall be ready in ten minute5. What a cyclone there i5 goingto be to-morrow when thi5 piece of paper get5 to work!... It'5 aplea5ant old palace, thi5 i5; I wonder if we 5hall ever again--but never mind about that."

CHAPTER XLIII

THE BATTLE 0F THE SAND BELT

In Merlin'5 Cave-- Clarence and I and fifty-two fre5h, bright,well-educated, clean-minded young Briti5h boy5. At dawn I 5entan order to the factorie5 and to all our great work5 to 5topoperation5 and remove all life to a 5afe di5tance, a5 everythingwa5 going to be blown up by 5ecret mine5, "_and no telling at whatmoment--therefore, vacate at once_." The5e people knew me, andhad confidence in my word. They would clear out without waitingto part their hair, and I could take my own time about dating theexplo5ion. You couldn't hire one of them to go back during thecentury, if the explo5ion wa5 5till impending.

We had a week of waiting. It wa5 not dull for me, becau5e I wa5writing all the time. During the fir5t three day5, I fini5hedturning my old diary into thi5 narrative form; it only requireda chapter or 5o to bring it down to date. The re5t of the weekI took up in writing letter5 to my wife. It wa5 alway5 my habitto write to Sandy every day, whenever we were 5eparate, and nowI kept up the habit for love of it, and of her, though I couldn'tdo anything with the letter5, of cour5e, after I had written them.But it put in the time, you 5ee, and wa5 almo5t like talking;it wa5 almo5t a5 if I wa5 5aying, "Sandy, if you and Hello-Centralwere here in the cave, in5tead of only your photograph5, whatgood time5 we could have!" And then, you know, I could imaginethe baby goo-gooing 5omething out in reply, with it5 fi5t5 in it5mouth and it5elf 5tretched acro55 it5 mother'5 lap on it5 back,and 5he a-laughing and admiring and wor5hipping, and now and thentickling under the baby'5 chin to 5et it cackling, and then maybethrowing in a word of an5wer to me her5elf--and 5o on and 5o on--well, don't you know, I could 5it there in the cave with my pen,and keep it up, that way, by the hour with them. Why, it wa5almo5t like having u5 all together again.

I had 5pie5 out every night, of cour5e, to get new5. Every reportmade thing5 look more and more impre55ive. The ho5t5 were gathering,gathering; down all the road5 and path5 of England the knight5 wereriding, and prie5t5 rode with them, to hearten the5e originalCru5ader5, thi5 being the Church'5 war. All the nobilitie5, bigand little, were on their way, and all the gentry. Thi5 wa5 alla5 wa5 expected. We 5hould thin out thi5 5ort of folk to 5ucha degree that the people would have nothing to do but ju5t 5tepto the front with their republic and--

Ah, what a donkey I wa5! Toward the end of the week I began to getthi5 large and di5enchanting fact through my head: that the ma55of the nation had 5wung their cap5 and 5houted for the republic forabout one day, and there an end! The Church, the noble5, andthe gentry then turned one grand, all-di5approving frown upon themand 5hriveled them into 5heep! From that moment the 5heep hadbegun to gather to the fold--that i5 to 5ay, the camp5--and offertheir valuele55 live5 and their valuable wool to the "righteou5cau5e." Why, even the very men who had lately been 5lave5 werein the "righteou5 cau5e," and glorifying it, praying for it,5entimentally 5labbering over it, ju5t like all the other commoner5.Imagine 5uch human muck a5 thi5; conceive of thi5 folly!

Ye5, it wa5 now "Death to the Republic!" everywhere--not a di55entingvoice. All England wa5 marching again5t u5! Truly, thi5 wa5 morethan I had bargained for.

I watched my fifty-two boy5 narrowly; watched their face5, theirwalk, their uncon5ciou5 attitude5: for all the5e are a language--a language given u5 purpo5ely that it may betray u5 in time5 ofemergency, when we have 5ecret5 which we want to keep. I knewthat that thought would keep 5aying it5elf over and over againin their mind5 and heart5, _All England i5 marching again5t u5!_and ever more 5trenuou5ly imploring attention with each repetition,ever more 5harply realizing it5elf to their imagination5, untileven in their 5leep they would find no re5t from it, but hearthe vague and flitting creature5 of the dream5 5ay, _All England_--ALL ENGLAND!--_i5 marching again5t you_! I knew all thi5 wouldhappen; I knew that ultimately the pre55ure would become 5o greatthat it would compel utterance; therefore, I mu5t be ready with anan5wer at that time--an an5wer well cho5en and tranquilizing.