There came a day when they were to move on up to the actual front.
Cameron wrote letters, such as he had not dared to write before, for he
had found out that these women could get them to his people in case
anything should happen to him, and so he left a little letter for Ruth
and one for his mother, and asked the woman with the gray eyes to get
them back home somehow.
There was not much of moment in the letters. Even thus he dared not speak
his heart for the iron of Wainwright's poison had entered into his soul.
He had begun to think that perhaps, in spite of all her friendliness,
Ruth really belonged to another world, not his world. Yet just her
friendliness meant much to him in his great straight of loneliness. He
would take that much of her, at least, even if it could never be more. He
would leave a last word for her. If behind his written words there was
breaking heart and tender love, she would never dream it. If his soul was
really taking another farewell of her, what harm, since he said no sad
word. Yet it did him good to write these letters and feel a reasonable
assurance that they would sometime reach their destination.
There was a meeting held that night in the hut. He had never happened to
attend one before, although he had heard the boys say they enjoyed them.
One of his comrades asked him to stay, and a quick glance told him the
fellow needed him, had chosen him for moral support.
So Cameron sat in a shadowy corner of the crowded room, and listened to
the singing, wild and strong, and with no hint of coming battle in its
full rolling lilt. He noted with satisfaction how the "Long, Long Trail,"
and "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" gradually gave place to
"Tell Mother I'll Be There," and "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,"
growing strong and full and solemn in the grand old melody of "Abide With
Me." There were fellows there who but a few hours before had been
shooting crap, whose lips had been loud with cheerful curses. Now they
sat and sang with all their hearts, the heartiest of the lot. It was a
curious psychological study to watch them. Some of them were just as keen
now on the religious side of their natures as they had been with their
sport or their curses. Theirs were primitive natures, easily wrought upon
by the atmosphere of the moment, easily impressed by the solemnity of the
hour, nearer, perhaps, to stopping to think about God and eternity than
ever before in their lives. But there were also others here, thoughtful
fellows who were strong and brave, who had done their duty and borne
their hardships with the best, yet whose faces now were solemn with
earnestness, to whom this meeting meant a last sacrament before they
passed to meet their test. Cameron felt his heart in perfect sympathy
with the gathering, and when the singing stopped for a few minutes and
the clear voice of a young girl began to pray, he bowed his head with a
smart of tears in his eyes. She was a girl who had just arrived that day,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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