[Illustration: Stent lost the fight, fell outward, wider, dropping back into mid-air.] BARBARIANS By ROBERT W. CHAMBERS AUTHOR OF "The Dark Star," "The Girl Philippa," "Who Goes There," Etc. ------------------ With Frontispiece By A. I. KELLER ------------------ A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with D. APPLETON & COMPANY TO LYLE and MADELEINE MAHAN I "Daughter of Light, the bestial wrath Of Barbary besets thy path! The Hun is beating his painted drum; His war horns blare! The Hun is come!" "Father, I feel his fœtid breath: The thick air reeks with the stench of death; My will is Thine. Thy will be done On Turk and Bulgar, Czech and Hun!" II _She understands._ _Where the dead headland flare_ _Mocks sea and sand;_ _Where death-lights shed their glare_ _On No-Man’s-Land._ _France takes her stand._ _Magnificently fair,_ _The Flaming Brand_ _Within her slender hand;_ _Christ’s lilies in her hair._ III "Daughter of Grief, thy House is sand! Thy towers are falling athwart the land. They’ve flayed the earth to its ribs of chalk And over its bones the spectres stalk!" "Father, I see my high spires reel; My breast is scarred by the Hun’s hoofed heel. What was, shall be! I read Thy sign: Thy ocean yawns for the smitten swine!" IV _Then, from Verdun_ _Pealed westward to the Somme_ _From every gun_ _God’s summons: "Daughter! Come!"_ _Then the red sun_ _Stood still. Grew dumb_ _The universal hum_ _Of life, and numb_ _The lips of Life, undone_ _By Death.... And so--France won!_ V "Daughter of God, the End is here! The swine rush on: the sea is near! My wild flowers bloom on the trenches’ edge; My little birds sing by shore and sedge." "Father, raise up my martyred land! Clothe her bones with Thy magic hand; Receive the Brand Thy angel lent, And stanch my blood with Thy sacrament." CONTENTS I. FED UP II. MAROONED III. CUCKOO! IV. RECONNAISSANCE V. PARNASSUS VI. IN FINISTÈRE VII. THE AIRMAN VIII. EN OBSERVATION IX. L’OMBRE X. THE GHOULS XI. THE SEED OF DEATH XII. FIFTY-FIFTY XIII. MULETEERS XIV. LA PLOO BELLE XV. CARILLONETTE XVI. DJACK XVII. FRIENDSHIP XVIII. THE AVIATOR XIX. HONOUR XX. LA BRABANÇONNE XXI. THE GARDENER XXII. THE SUSPECT XXIII. MADAM DEATH XXIV. BUBBLES XXV. KAMERAD Advertisement Jacket Flap Text Advertisement CHAPTER I FED UP So this is what happened to the dozen-odd malcontents who could no longer stand the dirty business in Europe and the dirtier politicians at home. There was treachery in the Senate, treason in the House. A plague of liars infested the Republic; the land was rotting with plots.