IⒶemendation Clarence, must write it for him. He proposed that we two go out and see ifⒶalteration in the MS any help could be afforded the wounded. I was strenuous against the project. I said that if there were many, we could do but little for them; and it would not be wise for us to trust ourselves among them, anyway. But he could seldomⒶalteration in the MS be turned from a purpose once formed; so we shut off the electric current from the fences, took an escort along, climbed over the enclosing ramparts of dead knights, and moved out upon the field. The first wounded man who appealed for help, was sitting, with his back against a dead comrade. When the Boss bent over him and spoke to him, the man recognized him and stabbed him. That knight was Sir Meliagraunce,Ⓐalteration in the MS as I found out by tearing off his helmet. He will not ask for help any more.
We carried the Boss to the cave and gave his wound, which was notⒶemendation very serious,Ⓐalteration in the MS the best care we could. In this service we had the help of Merlin, though we did not know it. He was disguised as a woman, and ap- [begin page 489] peared to be a simple old peasant goodwife. In this disguise, with brown-stained face andⒶemendation smooth shaven,Ⓐalteration in the MS he had appeared a few daysⒶalteration in the MS after the Boss was hurt, and offered to cook for us, saying her people had gone off to join certainⒶalteration in the MS new camps which the enemy were forming, and that she was starving. The Boss had been getting along very well, and had amused himself with finishing up his record.
We were glad to have this woman, for we were short handed. We were in a trap, you see—a trap of our own making. If we stayed where we were, our dead would kill us; if we moved out of our defences, we should no longer be invincible. We had conquered; in turn we were conquered. The Boss recognized this; we all recognized it. If we could go to one of those new camps and patchⒶalteration in the MS up some kind of terms with the enemy—yes, but the Boss could not go, and neither could I, for I was among the first that were made sick by the poisonous air bred by those dead thousands. Others were taken down, and still others. To-morrowⒶemendation—
To-morrow. It is here. And with it the end. About midnight I wokeⒶrejected substantive, and saw that hag making curious passes in the air about the Boss’s head and face, and wondered what it meant. Everybody but the dynamo-watchⒶalteration in the MS lay steeped in sleep; there was no sound. The woman ceased from her mysterious foolery, and started tip-toeing toward the door. I called out—
“Stop! What have you been doing?”
She halted, and said with an accent of malicious satisfaction:
“Ye were conquerors; ye are conquered! These others are perishing—you also. Ye shall all die in this place—every one—except him. He sleepeth, now—and shall sleep thirteen centuries. I am Merlin!”
Then such a delirium of silly laughter overtook him that he reeled about like a drunken man, and presently fetched up against one of our wires. His mouth is spread open yet; apparently he is still laughing. I suppose the faceⒶemendation will retain that petrified laughⒶemendation until the corpseⒶemendation turns to dust.
The Boss has never stirred—sleeps like a stone. If he does not wake to-day, we shall understand what kind of a sleep it is, and his body will then be borne to a place in one of the remote recesses of the cave where none will ever find it to desecrate it.Ⓐalteration in the MS As for the rest of us—well, it is [begin page 490] agreed that if any one of us ever escapes alive from this place, he will write the fact here, and loyallyⒶalteration in the MS hide this Manuscript with the Boss,Ⓐalteration in the MS our dear good chief, whose property it is, be he alive or deadⒶemendation.
END OF THE MANUSCRIPT.
