Her confession3 of faith was a liberal outline of the ideals which the Governor-General had proclaimed in his library. Waldron was elated at his complete triumph.
Her brief statement and appeal to the women of America to support her movement of loyalty4 he ordered printed in every newspaper in the country. It duly appeared on the front pages, accompanied by a portrait of the distinguished5 young convert.
Her first year’s engagements in organizing the Woman’s Imperial Legion of Honor covered the principal cities of every state.
Her appeal had been received by the women of America with secret rage, amazement6 and horror. The Government had commanded their attendance on her lectures. Her reception at first had been cold and formal. But her magnetic personality turned the tide. Within a month there was no hall large enough in America to hold the breathless throngs7 of women who hung on her words. And strangest of all, they cheered her with an enthusiasm that amazed Waldron.
His agents reported this enthusiasm with oft-repeated praise of her uncanny genius.
The secret of her popularity they had not dreamed. In each town she took into her confidence but one woman on whose love for country she could depend with absolute certainty. This woman she swore in secret to organize an inner circle whose name to them was the Daughters of Jael. The spies who followed her tour to report to the Governor-General never reached this inner circle. In it were taken under solemn oath those whose love for liberty was a religion.
The Daughters of Jael comprised only the wisest women leaders, and with them the strongest and most beautiful girls in the glory of youth from twenty to thirty years of age.
They were taught in secret two things—to keep their lithe8 young bodies hard and sun-tanned and learn to wield9 a steel knife whose blade was eight inches long, slender and keen. When a million had been sworn and trained the order would come to strike for freedom. The rank and file knew nothing of this purpose. Only their leaders knew. Each had sworn to lay their souls and bodies a free offering on their country’s altar and to obey their commander’s word as the law of God.
It was two years from the beginning before Virginia ventured to meet her lover in a deep mountain gorge10 of the inner Sierras.
Their embrace was long and silent. They spoke11 at last in low, half-articulate sounds that only love could hear and know.
When the first wave of emotion had spent itself, she asked him eagerly:
“Your last invention—the aerial torpedo12?”
“A failure like the rest!” he answered sadly. “Great inventions that revolutionize warfare13 have all required years to perfect—the iron-clad a generation, the submarine ten years, the aeroplane ten years. They required the genius of hundreds in their experiments and the lives of thousands. The hope of miraculous14 inventions in an hour of crisis is only the vain dream of the novelist. We have ceased to hope for such deliverance. We are training men to master the already perfected mechanism15 of the submarine—thousands of them. Lake, the inventor, is an admiral. We have a model at work six thousand feet above the sea. I command the Eagle’s Nest, the camp on a great mountain plateau where we are training thousands of aviators16. On another peak among the stars we are teaching men to use the range finders and swing big guns to strike a target at twelve miles. Most important of all we are teaching each and every man how to use cold steel at close range—”
“You fully17 accept my scheme then?” she interrupted.
“As an inspiration of God! The staff has tested it with a hundred hostile suppositions. It is sure to win if you can train a million girls to co-operate with us in the uprising, win to our cause one man in ten in the Imperial Army, and wield a knife with deadly power. The only question is, can you get those girls?”
“I have them already—”
“A million?”
“And more—I had to stop. I could have sworn another million.”
“We will be ready in three months—”
“You can have four—”
“You have fixed18 the date?”
“Yes. There can be but one—the Emperor’s birthday—”
Vassar clasped Virginia in his arms.
“Dearest—you’re inspired—I swear it!”
“I have positive assurance,” she went on eagerly, “that our girls have already won more than two hundred thousand soldiers of the enemy who will join us the night we strike. Every officer will be in his cups that night. A Belshazzar’s feast, with Waldron as their toastmaster!”
“And not merely in New York—“ he added, “but in every city in America—on every ship—in every aviation hangar and on board every submarine—once their guns are in our hands—!”
“We’ll take them—never fear—“ she cried.
“If we can only get our hands on half their rifles, half their machine guns, half the ships and half the aircraft we’ll win! The fiends of hell never fought as we shall fight! We’ll get them too—“ he stopped overwhelmed with emotion. “It’s the knife at close quarters in the dark, man to man, muscle and steel, and dauntless hearts, that will turn the trick. How little we’ve traveled after all our boasted science! All your girls will have to do is to get them drunk that night, rally your converts, strike down the outer guards—smuggle in a few guns and we’ll do the rest.
“We’ll give your men more than half their rifles,” Virginia promised. “And what’s more we will put their trained artillerymen, aviators and submarine experts out of commission to a man that night. We will detail two girls for each of these men—there’ll be no blunder—”
“There’s just one thing I don’t like—“ he broke in with clenched19 fists.
“Yes, I know, my lover!” she smiled.
“You’ve got to make love to those brutes20, flatter and cajole them for weeks. You are risking what we hold more precious than life—”
“We have sworn to give as God has given us—all—”
“I don’t like it—I don’t like it!” he protested bitterly.
She slipped her arms about his neck. Her eyes sought his with yearning21 in their depths.
“Never speak or think that thought of me again, my own,” she whispered. “I, too, know how to die as well as you. This is the third and last lesson we shall teach the Daughters of Jael before the Day dawns! Those who give their honor will scorn the cheaper gift of life. The new sun will rise on a clean and glorious womanhood, redeemed22 by sorrow and humbled23 by a divine passion for country we could learn in no other school but this!”
She held him at arm’s length and slowly slipped her hands from his and waved him back.
“No more—until the Day dawns!”
“Until the Day dawns, my love!” he breathed tenderly.
She leaped on her pony24 and galloped25 into the solemn night alone—to deliver her orders to the Daughters of Jael for their third and final lesson.
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1
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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2
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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3
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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4
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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5
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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6
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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7
throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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9
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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10
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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11
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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12
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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13
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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14
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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15
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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16
aviators
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| 飞机驾驶员，飞行员( aviator的名词复数 ) | |
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17
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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18
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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19
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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21
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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22
redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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23
humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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24
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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25
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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