CHAPTER X
I’M AFRAID
Oddly enough, when Norma had conceived the idea of depicting _TheSpirit of Seventy-six_, and had gone about the task of selecting herfife player and drummers, she had discovered that in all the companythere were but two drummers, Rosa and Lena.
At first she hesitated to ask Lena to play the part for, to say theleast, their relations had been none too cordial. In the end she hadswallowed her pride and made the request.
“Oh, sure!” Lena had agreed. “I think it will be loads of fun!”
In the end, with her long legs encased in knee-length stockings andshort breeches and with a white wig, she had played the part of aRevolutionary grandfather superbly. As for Rosa, she had been everyinch a boy. A girl named Mary played the fife.
And so it happened that it was in the company of Lena, Rosa, Betty, andMillie that shortly after the breakup of the parade Norma found herselftramping toward the main chapel. Her father had been taken on aninspection of the grounds.
The company in which these girls at last found themselves was athousand strong. These girls had all completed their training and intwo or three more days would scatter north, south, east, and west totake up the tasks for which they had been trained.
“It’s going to be swell!” Lena exclaimed. “We’re headed for the coast!”
“The coast!” Norma stared. “How do you know?”
“Haven’t you been told?” Millie exclaimed. “We’ve all been told. We’reto be part of an Interceptor Control—catch planes that are coming tobomb us.”
“Or spies that try to land from submarines,” Rosa exclaimed. “It willbe thrilling and dangerous, I guess.”
“Only thing is,” Millie pouted, “I’m afraid there won’t be manysoldiers there.”
“Soldiers?” Norma stared at her.
“Well, you do like a date now and then,” Millie drawled. “You getawfully lonesome when you don’t.”
At that they all laughed.
“Honest, haven’t you been told?” Betty asked when she had Norma byherself.
“Not yet,” was the slow reply.
“Oh! I know!” Betty exclaimed. “They’re going to send you to officers’training school! Some people have all the luck!”
“Do they?” Norma said. Truth was, she was tired.
The thousand WACs now streaming into the chapel were being assembledfor a final word from the top-ranking officers of the camp before theywent out to their work.
“Where do you suppose we’ll be sent?” Norma heard one girl ask as shetook her seat.
“Perhaps North Africa,” someone whispered.
“Surely not just like that!” was the surprised reply.
“A lot of WACs landed there just last Sunday. I saw it in the paper.And did they have thrills going over! Heard the siren telling ofprowling subs, felt the thud of depth bombs, and—”
“Shish!” the girl’s friend whispered. “You’re almost shouting!”
“All the same they had a grand time! Danced with soldiers on deck, andall that. Right over there in Africa now. Girls! Tell me how I can getto go!”
Then all at once the khaki-clad throng was silent. The ranking officerswere mounting the platform. In a silent salute, the girls all rose.When the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the post, the commandingofficer and two officers Norma did not at once recognize were seated,they all sat down.
The Lieutenant Colonel rose. “Fellow soldiers of America,” she began.Norma was thrilled. “You have assembled here in order that we may giveyou a final greeting and farewell. During your four weeks of trainingyou have conducted yourselves like soldiers. You will shortly be goingto your various posts of duty. Your country looks to you for service,faithfulness to your task, and loyalty. We know you will not fail.”
“No—no—no. We will not fail!” came in an inaudible whisper. Had onewoman, or a hundred, said it? No one knew. It was enough that anelectric thrill passed over the room.
“On such an occasion as this,” the Colonel went on, “it has beencustomary for the commanding officer or myself to give you a brief talkin an effort to acquaint you with that which lies ahead. This afternoonwe have delegated that task to one who, not so many months ago, wentthrough her baptism of fire in Flanders Field.
“Lieutenant Warren,”—she turned about—“will you be so kind as to tellthese young women what it really means to be a WAC?”
As Lieutenant Warren rose, the Colonel said:
“Some of you know Lieutenant Warren. To those of you who do not knowher, may I say that during the fall of Holland, Belgium, and FranceMiss Warren drove an Ann Morgan Ambulance, evacuating old men, women,and children from those unfortunate lands, and that the medal pinnedupon her breast is a Croix de Guerre presented to her by a gratefulnation.”
There was a rustle in the audience. Someone sprang to her feet.Instantly they were all on their feet in silent tribute to a member oftheir own ranks who had seen service on the bloody fields of France.
“My Lieutenant!” Norma whispered chokingly. At that instant she knewthat she would gladly follow this leader round the world.
“Tonight,” she thought as she sank again into her seat, “Father and Iare to dine with her. What a privilege!” She wondered what would besaid at that dinner. And then the speech began.
Lieutenant Warren spoke slowly, distinctly. Norma caught every word andyet her voice never rose to a high pitch. She spoke at length of whatshe had seen, little of what she had done. Speaking of the enemy planesshe said:
“They swooped low over roads that were crowded with carts drawn byhorses or weary old men, and two-wheel carts pushed by women andchildren.
“These people were refugees. Driven from their homes, they were tryingto save a little of that which they had once owned, for they had alwaysbeen poor.
“But those enemy pilots!” There was biting anger in her low voice.“They came swooping down to shower machine-gun bullets upon thesedefenseless people.
“What did they want? To clog the road with helpless and innocent womenand children so their armies might more easily destroy the defeatedsoldiers.”
As the speaker paused for breath, Norma stole a glance at hercompanions. Millie and Rosa were leaning forward, lips parted, eyeswide, drinking in every word. Betty sat well back in her seat,listening as one listens who has heard many rare speeches, yet therewas on her face a look that said:
“This is real, though it is terrible. I shall not forget it.”
But Lena? Norma was startled. There was on her face a look as cold asmarble.
Without knowing why, at sight of that face Norma suddenly felt terriblyafraid. This mood passed quickly, for again Lieutenant Warren wasspeaking.
“We worked hour after hour, day after day, without sleep. On ourambulances we carried white-haired men whose legs had been shot away,mothers whose children had perished, children who had lost theirmothers forever, and babies—tiny babies in cribs, in blankets.” Hervoice broke.
Then standing tall and straight, with the medal gleaming on her breast,she said:
“Hate! Terrible hate did all this! It is for you and me to take theplaces of brave young men who are eager to help put down this terribleenemy and to silence their machine guns forever. Are we going to do it?”
Instantly there came a cry that was like the roar of the sea. “Yes!Yes! Yes!”
But Norma stole a look at Lena’s face.
Then, as if afraid she might leave a picture too terrible for all theseyoung minds, Lieutenant Warren went back to the days before the defeatof France. She painted pictures of friendly villages in France. Thegrocer, the baker, the aged shoemaker, and all the little farmers—theywere all there.
“These,” she went on quietly, “are the people we are fighting for—thegood, kindly, simple common people. In France, Belgium, theNetherlands, in Poland—all over Europe they are starving slaves today.We are fighting that they may be made free a
nd that our own peopleshall never be enslaved.”
Then she told of those good, brave days in unoccupied France, when agreat general had pinned the _Croix de Guerre_ on her blouse and allthe good people had wept.
All in all Norma thought it the grandest speech she had ever heard.
Once again as the speaker resumed her seat the audience rose to itsfeet in a silent ovation.
Then someone swept her hands softly over the organ keys, and they sangas they had never sung it before: “Oh say, can you see!”
As the last note died away, Norma stole a look at Lena’s face. It wascold, gray, and hard as steel. She had not been singing.
When, at last, dry-eyed but determined, Norma left the room shewhispered, “Betty, I’m afraid.”
“Afraid? Why?” Betty asked.
“I don’t know—just afraid, that’s all.”
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