Barbarians

d among the alpine roses, sq

inflection in his quiet voice. "Stand ve

ly. "Up with your hands-hold them up high! Higher, if you

dark, nice-looking young fellow wearing the usual rough gray jacket with stag-horn buttons, green felt hat with feather, and leather b

hy beard of a beer-nourished Teuton and the spectacles of a Herr Professor. He held up

loped, silver-trimmed butt of a sporting rifle. Edelweiss adorned his green fel

his feet from the trampled bracken, when, behind him, he he

Is it th

looking young fellow amiably. And, in a

ired smilingly; "or shall I continue to invoke the Olym

o old classmates. His rifle, grasped between stock and barrel, hung loosely between both ha

see you again. It is amazing to meet you this way. I am glad. I have never forgotten you.... Only a moment ago I was speaking to Brown about you-

d. And, in turn, becoming sponsor, he presented his stocky companion as Dr. von

eful way, Von Glahn rested his h

n British. Of what could two Americans be afraid in the C

Canadian," replied S

ifying all absence of military insignia. "Besides," he added with his gentle humour, "there are no British in Italy. And no Italians in these

mans. He[pg 47] knew, and Brown knew, that these Germans must be taken back as prisoners; that, suspicious or not, they co

their prisoners; but there was

be here, Siurd?" asked

delicately formed e

laughed outright-"he must have invite

f second believing in the part he was pl

ly amused: "Soyez tranquille, Messieurs; Count von Plessis

slipped the rücksack from his shoulders, let it fa

to Brown. "The snow limit lies just above us; the ibex should pass here at dawn on their way

your record of a veteran-" He looked full and significantly at Brown; continuing: "As you say, we have all day

ee of the crag, foregathering frate

d lighted his pipe he grunted again, screwed together his butter[pg

of the diurnal Lepidoptera?" he inquired

out them," explained Brow

the Parnassus smintheus of the four varietal forms." His prominent eyes shifted from one detail of Brown's

on toward the Ross rifle-the Athabasca Regiment having been permitted to exchange this beloved weapon for the British regulation piece recently issued to the Can[pg 50]adians. From behind the thick lenses of his spectacles the Herr Professor examined the rifle while hi

le-namely, the Parnassus Apollo. It is for the capture of this never-to-be-sufficiently studied butterf

Professor's pop-eyed attention was now occupied with the service put

rnassians, allied to the[pg 51] Papilionid?, all live only in high altitudes, and are, by the thinly scaled and always-to-be-remembered red and plack ge-

r Brown's nose, leaning close enough to touch Brown with an ex

eheld, pinned side by side upon the cork-lined int

bodies were covered with furry hairs. Brick-red and black spots decorated the fra

with a vague idea he wa

ence."-His protuberant eyes were now fixed on Brown's rifle again.-"For many years I haff bred this Apollo butterfly from the egg, from the caterpillar, from the chrysalis. I have the negroid form

an's face-which was the first sudden

etime iss too short to know all the secrets of a single species.... If I may

n, startled into a

uire, of what national

eapon. We Americans use it

by the Canadian military

ish Government has taken away the Ross rifle from t

-that I exa

or notice the extended hand-blu

back a lightning shaft of inquiry. Then, carelessly smiling, he passed the Ross rifle over to the Herr Profe

the florid workmanship of stock and guard. No movement that the Herr Professor made escaped[pg 54] him; but presently he

he weapon Brown laid the German sporting piece

y cordially recommend them for our American-friends-" Here was the slightest he

ed expressionless, utterly, Teutonically inscrutable. A big heather bee came buzzin

rels of Parnassus, Siurd? Do you remember our notes at the lectures on the poets? A

ment and his gentle laugh and attractive

famous poem to Rosa,"

d! By Jove I did, didn't I, Siurd? How

y pretty." He beg

h the win

eer you b

through yo

ddess r

oung im

enthe pou

aughed

urd, do you forget that you also composed a most wonderful war-poe

Slay, Eag

who dare

wns 'T

rn cliffs

eir gre

as of

flee, Slay,

willed this

g very red. "What a terrible memory you have, Harry! For h

nsisted Stent with a forced smile.

nce, the reminiscent smile still

of that careless golden age had seemed to warm them once again there whe

heaven and life and death had so far remained unsaid between th

short around his neck. His rigid smile died out. Soldiers wore field glasses that w

y with the familiarity and insouciance of old acquaintance. Once he turned slowly and looked at Brown-addressed him politely-while his d

d it carelessly, apparently not noticing that Stent and B

own said t

to me. My friend Stent tell

own," replied the young man modestly.

I am wondering whether we are to lie in this spot until dawn to

knows exactly where we sh

err Professor von Dresslin, using dialect-and instantly appearing to recol

already late afternoon. We ought now to use our glasses.' My family," he added apo

s, and, kneeling, balanced the long spyglass alongside of the blued-steel barrel,

ese Germans might spy others of the Athabasca regiment prowling among the fe

r rifles; Brown nodded almost imperceptibly.

r-"und stück-on the north alm"-sta

ass and sweeping the distant crags. "Stück on the wes

te

twel

hy are they galloping-I won

ly laid one hand

ggested Siurd, his eye

Stent in a voic

iens! A gemsbok-high on

er an interval of search; and he closed hi

on Brown, who was laying aside his own rifle a

laimed Von

ld glasses on the third peak, and stood there, poised, sl

bex, Siurd," he sai

his side-the lightest caressing contact-merely enough to verif

at all certain, because at that moment there came flopping along over the bracken and alpenrosen a loppy winged butterfly-a large, whiti

d the winged thing-a silent, terrible, sweeping blow with n

wful edge, he balanced for an instant; fought for equilibrium. Von Glahn, rigid, watched him. Then, deathly[pg 62] white, his young eyes looking straight into the eyes of his old classmate-Stent lost the fig

way where God willed it-a frail, dainty, translucent, wind-blown fleck of white above

the silk handkerchief with which he was busily knottin

-English and Yankee they are one in blood and one at heart-pig-dogs effery one. Hey, Siurd, what I told you alre

aning heavily against the crag, his back to t

ut contentedly in his bushy beard something about something being "über alles"-God, perhaps, perhaps the blue sky overhead which covered him and his sickened friend alike, an

g