But is it not thus with all the
affairs and doings of our race about which we blow the loud trumpet
and make such a fuss and worry? How utterly antlike, and morally
and physically insignificant, must they seem to the calm eyes
that watch them from the arching depths above!
'We win the day, Macumazahn,' said old Umslopogaas, taking in
the whole situation with a glance of his practised eye. 'Look,
the Lady of the Night's forces give on every side, there is no
stiffness left in them, they bend like hot iron, they are fighting
with but half a heart. But alas! the battle will in a manner
be drawn, for the darkness gathers, and the regiments will not
be able to follow and slay!' -- and he shook his head sadly.
'But,' he added, 'I do not think that they will fight again.
We have fed them with too strong a meat. Ah! it is well to
have lived! At last I have seen a fight worth seeing.'
By this time we were on our way again, and as we went side by
side I told him what our mission was, and how that, if it failed,
all the lives that had been lost that day would have been lost
in vain.
'Ah!' he said, 'nigh on a hundred miles and no horses but these,
and to be there before the dawn! Well -- away! away! man can
but try, Macumazahn; and mayhap we shall be there in time to
split that old "witch-finder's" [Agon's] skull for him.
Pages:
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385