World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations -- Juvenile fiction
"I have had such a dream," he whispered. "And I have seen Himmelman,
and we are friends again. And I saw Steve, and Brum and Mac, and they
were with Himmelman, for there are no enemies in the other world,
amongst the brave men who have gone there. And the captain of the
German warplane, he who died in my arms on the aerodrome near
Contalmaison--he was there too. They were all happy together, and
they said that one day I should meet them all. Oh, tell me, Tim, you
who are so wise and learned, and know all these things, was it a
dream or did I really see them?"
"Dastral, I don't quite understand. You say you have seen them, and
they are all dead?"
"Yes, all dead, all brave fellows, killed by this accursed war. But
come, tell me, do you really think I saw them, or was it only a
dream, a spirit dream?" and the wounded pilot looked appealingly up
at his friend.
"I do not know, Dastral," calmly replied the scholar after a full
minute's pause. "We often discussed these things in the old days at
college, though, after what has happened, it seems years and years
ago. We will talk of it again, when you are stronger, but I do
believe that for brave men, who have followed the star which has
called them, and served God truly, there is, there must be, after
death, something like that of which you have spoken, where good men
are re-united, even though they have fought with each other in the
days that are past."
Then, after another long pause, he added
"Yes, Dastral, I believe there is a heaven."
* * * * *
Thus ends this tale of adventure and heroism during the great war.
Dastral eventually recovered his health and strength, under the
careful nursing of his friend, Tim Burkitt, but his work in the great
war was finished. He had served his King and country nobly. He had
crowded into twenty months of service a record second to none during
the great war. He was the recipient of great honours from his King
and Country. And right nobly had he carried them, for he had believed
that the cause for which he fought was for freedom against tyranny.
In days gone by the brave and daring sons of Britain--men like Drake
and Cromwell, Blake and Nelson--gained for this country the liberties
of the present. And when the story of these days of bitter struggle
is fully told, the names of Dastral and his comrades will be engraved
in letters of gold, for, against the most fearful odds, they went out
in jeopardy of their lives, risking every day a terrible death, so
that they might lay deep and sure the foundations of our future
liberty and peace.
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THE LONDOND AND NORWICH PRESS LIMITED, LONDON AND NORWICH, ENGLAND
[Transcribers Notes:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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