sh as sacred and
inviolable. The yellow men have won their place in the world by an
inexorable sense of national duty, and we can conquer them only if we
employ the same weapons. I know what we have at stake in this war, and I
am quite ready to answer to myself and to our people for each life lost
on the field of battle. I am only one of many, and if I fall, it will be
in the knowledge that I have done my duty. Let the cowardly mob step
over my corpse, it won't matter to me nor to my successor if he will
only hold our drooping flag with a firm hand. The favor of the people is
here to-day and gone to-morrow, and we must not be led astray by it. The
blind creatures who inspired that miserable wretch to hurl the bomb
regard us, the bearers of responsible posts, with the same feelings as
the lions do their tamer when he enters the cage. If he comes out alive,
well and good; if he is torn to pieces it makes no difference, for
there'll be some one else to take his place the next day. It is my duty
to fight against desertion in our own ranks and to shield American
citizenship against the foreign elements gathered here who have no
fatherland, and to whom the Stars and Stripes have no deeper meaning
than a piece of cloth; that is the duty, in the performance of which I
shall live or die."

Mad cheers from below induced the secretary to open the window, and
immediately the sounds of the "Star Spangled Banner" came floating up
from thousands of throats. Suddenly his wife touched his arm saying:
"James, here's a telegram."

The secretary turned around and literally tore the telegram out of the
servant's hand. He ran his eye over it hurriedly and then drew a deep
breath. And with tears in his eyes at the almost incredible news, he
said softly to his wife:

"This will deliver us from the dark slough of despair."

Then he returned to the window, but his emotion made it impossible for
him to speak; he made a sign with his hand and gradually the noise of
the crowd ceased and all became still.

"Fellow Citizens," began the secretary, "I have just this moment
received--" Loud cheers interrupted him, but quiet was soon restored,
and then in a clear voice he read the following dispatch:

"Bahia Blanca, December 8: The torpedo-destroyer _Paul Jones_ arrived
here this morning with the following message from Admiral Dayton: 'On
the 4th of December I found the Japanese cruisers _Adzuma_ and
_Asama_ and three destroyers coalin