When
entered into with a view to national aggrandisement, or for an _idea_,
it is the greatest of crimes. The man who creeps into your house at
night, and cuts your throat while you are asleep in bed, is a sneaking
monster, but the man who sits "at home at ease," safe from the
tremendous "dogs" which he is about to let loose, and, with diplomatic
pen, signs away the peace of society and the lives of multitudes without
serious cause, is a callous monster. Of the two the sneak is the less
objectionable, because less destructive.

During this visit to Venilik, I spent some time in renewing my inquiries
as to the fate of my yacht's crew, but without success, and I was forced
to the sad conclusion that they must either have been drowned or
captured, and, it may be, killed after reaching the land. Long
afterwards, however, I heard it rumoured that Mr Whitlaw had escaped
and returned to his native country. There is, therefore, some reason to
hope that that sturdy and true-hearted American still lives to relate,
among his other stirring narratives, an account of that memorable night
when he was torpedoed on the Danube.

Before finally bidding adieu to the Petroff family, I had many a talk
with Dobri on the subject of war as we wandered sadly about the ruined
village. The signs of the fearful hurricane by which it had been swept
were still fresh upon it, and when I looked on the burnt homesteads, the
trampled crops, and neglected fields, the crowds of new-made graves, the
curs that quarrelled over unburied human bones, the blood-stained walls
and door-posts, the wan, almost bloodless, faces of the few who had
escaped the wrath of man, and reflected that all this had been brought
about by a "Christian" nation, fighting in the interests of the Prince
of Peace, I could not help the fervent utterance of the prayer: "O God,
scatter thou the people that delight in war!"

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's In the Track of the Troops, by R.M. Ballantyne

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE TRACK OF THE TROOPS ***

***** This file should be named 21705.txt or 21705.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/0/21705/

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United S