THE DIE IS CAST
"That's it, Mother," cried Frank, his whole soul responding to the
kindling spirit in her eyes. "For America and France, the two greatest
republics in the world. It won't be the first time they've fought
together."
"No," replied his mother proudly. "Lafayette and other brave sons of
France helped this country to win its independence, and it is only
right that now when France is hard pressed and pouring out her blood
like water, Americans should fight side by side with her to make the
world safe for democracy."
"You're a true daughter of France, Mother," said Frank, admiringly.
"Ah, _la belle_ France," sighed his mother. "I love her with all my
heart and soul. How many times I have longed to go back and see her
sunny vineyards and her beautiful cities."
"You and father were planning to go over there just before the war
broke out, weren't you, Mother?" asked Frank.
"Yes," replied Mrs. Sheldon. "And for two reasons. I was wild to see
the dear homeland again, and then, too, I felt I ought to go to see
about the property my father, your grandfather, left me. But then your
dear father died, and after that I had no heart to go. Nor could I
have gone anyway, had I wished, for the war would have made it almost
impossible."
"Well, we don't care much for the property, Mother," said Frank.
"While I've got two strong arms I'll support you. And yet," he added,
a little more thoughtfully, "it wouldn't have been a bad thing if we
had been able to sell it so that you could have the money now when I am
liable to be called away. We've got only this house and the little
money that dad left us, and I'm afraid you will have all you can do to
get along."
"Don't worry about me," replied the mother in a tone that strove to be
cheerful. "You know I have the true French thrift--you've said
yourself that I am a wonderful manager--I can make a little money go a
long way. The only reason I ever cared for the property was for your
sake, so that you could get a good start in the world. I don't know
now that we can ever get it. It was tangled up in a lawsuit and that
was one of the reasons why I ought to have been there in person when
the estate was being settled."
"Never mind, little Mother," cried Frank gaily, "I'm the richest fellow
in the world this minute with such a mother as you are."
He gave her a quick embrace and kiss and hurried out of the house, for
he had been away from the office considerably longer than usual. But
quick as was the time he made in getting downtown, the news of his
exploit had preceded him and he found the place buzzing with excitement.
Bart, who had let the story lose nothing in the telling, gave him a
resounding thump on the back as he came in.
"Here's the fellow that made the Hun eat crow," he cried, jubilantly.
"And from all accounts it didn't agree with him," grinned Tom. "It was
a dandy bit of work, Frank. I only wish I'd been there to see you make
the Hun kiss the flag."
"Bully for you, old scout!" cried Hal. "There's a lot of other fellows
in this town that ought to get the same treatment. I know some of them
that had a regular party the day the news came that the _Lusitania_ was
sunk."
"I heard of that, too," said Frank. "But we want to remember, fellows,
that not all Germans felt that way. Some of them felt just as shocked
and outraged over it as we did ourselves. There are lots of fellows
with German blood in their veins that are just as good Americans as we
are."
"I suppose there are," conceded Bart, a little grudgingly. "Not all of
them are tarred with the same brush. But there are too many of them
who regard Germany as their father and America as their father-in-law,
and you know which one of the two a fellow is apt to like better."
Just then Rabig passed through the room on his way to another part of
the building. He cast a sour look upon the group, and there was
special malignity in his gaze as it rested for a moment on Frank.
"You're about as popular with Rabig as a rattlesnake is with a picnic
party," laughed Bart, as Rabig went on. "If looks could kill you'd be
a dead man this minute. He hated you before, but he hates you worse
now since he's heard of that little fracas. Gee, how I'd like to see
him have to kneel and kiss the flag!"
"He'd try to bite it," put in Reddy.
At this moment a group of newsboys passed outside, shouting their
extras.
"I guess that means the President's gone and done it," cried Frank.
"Here, Reddy, take this dime and go out and get one of those papers.
If you're back in half a minute you can keep the change."
"Whoop-ee!" cried Reddy, and was off like a bullet from a gun. Soon he
was back with the coveted paper, still damp from the press.
Across the top in screaming headlines was the phrase:
_President Declares War on Germany!_
"That settles it," said Frank. "We're in for it, now."
"Up to the neck," put in Reddy, whose small frame held an unlimited
amount of patriotism. "Gee, I wish I was old enough to get in it. I
wouldn't wait for no draft!"
"And now that we're in, we're in for keeps. That's America's way,"
said Bart.
"She's put her hand to the plow and she won't turn back," said old
Peterson, solemnly, and into his dim eyes came the light that had shone
there when, in his youth, he had stormed with his regiment the heights
of Lookout Mountain.
There was little more work done in the office that day. Business, for
the time, seemed a trivial thing. Something far greater and nobler
filled the hearts of these ardent young Americans.
They heard the tramp of marching multitudes, they saw their country's
flag unfurled, those glorious Stars and Stripes, that had never been
smirched with dishonor, or gone down in defeat. And in their hearts
they swore that what had been true in the past should be true, too, in
the future, though they might shed their blood and lose their lives in
making it true.
A great mass meeting was organized that night and Bart and Frank
attended it. The hall was thronged, and eloquent speakers voiced the
feeling that filled the hearts of all. But nothing stirred them so
strongly as when the final orator closed his speech with a scathing
denunciation of the Prussian foe, quoted from one of America's noblest
sons:
"They have gone forth to battle in the spirit of their ancestral Huns.
Wreckers of cathedrals, destroyers of libraries, despoilers of
cemeteries, slayers of old men and women and children, barbarians by
instinct, pirates and incendiaries by practice, terrorists by training,
slaves by habit and bullies by profession--maiming, poisoning, burning,
suffocating, deporting, enslaving, murderers of the very souls of a
people so far as it is in their power--the rest of the world can live
on terms of peace and good will with them only after they have drained
to the dregs the bitter cup of military defeat!"
Thunders of applause swept through the hall as the speaker finished.
"Say, but that was a rattling speech," remarked Bart, as the two chums
walked home together.
"Yes," agreed Frank, "it was magnificent. But after all, Bart, it will
take more than words to win this war. It's up to us to turn those
words into deeds. It's bullets and bayonets that count!"