“In the last vessel to which he was transferred he remained a very long time. When he died it was found he had made himself an American flag, which hung where it would be constantly before his eyes in his stateroom. He had drawn as well as he could a map of the United States, that he might remember how broad and grand was the land he had cursed. But since his banishment vast tracts of the West had been added to the country he had lost, so the map really showed that grand land as only about one-fourth as large as it really was. “Of these changes he knew nothing. Mighty events had taken place, but of them all he remained in absolute ignorance. But his love for his lost country had grown with the years till no man ever loved it more, and each night as he knelt before that hand-made flag, the glorious stars and stripes, he prayed with all his heart and soul for the welfare of the land he would see no more. In his dying moments the weight of his terrible punishment was lifted from him, for one who was with him told him of the stupendous changes that had taken place, of the mighty advances the United States had made in every way, and his eyes filled with joyous tears, while he lifted his thin old hands in thanksgiving to God. And at last he died and was buried at sea, without ever again seeing the shores of the land he had cursed, the land he had grown to love with all his soul. What do you think of that story, Swift?” “Bah! A ridiculous yarn, devised by the brain of a man who was looking for notoriety.” “Nothing of the sort! It appealed to me as no other story ever did.” “Circumstances made it appeal to you. But the ‘hero’ of the yarn was a fool! Think I’d love a country that did such a thing to me? Well, I’d die cursing it!” “Then something tells me that, even though you wear the uniform of your country now, you have little real love for it in your heart.” “Oh, I’m not a fool, Burrage! I’m a soldier in the regular army, and haven’t I a chance to see how this country uses her subjects? I think I have! There are lots of poor devils out in those islands who love the States even less than I do.” Walter’s dislike for the fellow was increasing rapidly. “I don’t believe it!” he cried. “If it is true, they should swap places with me. How gladly I’d do that! I’d rejoice to take the uniform of a common soldier if I might fight beneath the flag I love. I have felt that I, too, am a man without a country. It is a terrible feeling, Swift! One gets to hankering for the sight of Yankeeland till it seems that he’ll go daffy!” “Oh, if I’d been treated as you have, I’d go to England and become a naturalized citizen.” “Which is proof enough that you have no real love for your own land in your heart. That is something I’ll never do. Some day the whole affair in which I took part may be cleared up, and I may be able to come home without sneaking back in disguise. Then how gladly I shall come!”