240 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



than any words that he would build me a wide path 

 to safety, if he could. 



Does not tenderness sit more sweetly on rough 

 men when it deigns to settle there at all ? Tenderness 

 should come, I think, in little flashes, illuminating 

 everything. It should not be incessant. If it were 

 it might become obtrusive. Nature has ordained, 

 with her marvellous wisdom, that there should be 

 nothing in the world of which we cannot have enough. 



My brains grew like dice in a box, ever so rattled, 

 but I said nothing. I watched the Leader's face, the 

 while he thought out the ways and means. Then 

 action was needed, he said, instant action, for night 

 would fall presently, and our men would never trouble 

 to come and look for us, and if they did, what could 

 they do ? Our only way was to take hands, set our 

 heels firmly, and go sliding down the face of the 

 precipice to the bottom. A bad fall only would 

 result, perhaps not even that. Would I do this 

 thing ? 



Would I not, for such a Leader? How I loved 

 his recklessness, and yet I never like headlong insane 

 recklessness. Give me the man who weighs the 

 ways, and then regardless of self chooses the one best 

 suited to the end in view. That is noblest. Calm 

 self-reliance, not over-confidence, just collected 

 presence of mind. That is why, I think, that I 

 admire Marlborough more than Wellington, as I 

 cannot help doing. Wellington was admittedly 

 lucky, though wise. His enemies so often gave him 

 victory. But Marlborough foresaw as no other man, 



