Aid and Comfort to the Enemy 



of the disturbing chorus ; and as it grows insistent, 

 I am surprised before accusing eyes into a guilty 

 start. Moreover, there are signs of feverish activ- 

 ity. The path about my fortress is now beaten 

 brown. Its battlements are stripped for scaling, 

 freed from the grape vines' curling tendrils and 

 glossy leaves. In panic I attempt to shift my 

 front by strategy and make my entry, not from 

 my own but from my neighbors' fields. But the 

 enemy are not to be diverted by such feints. 

 They change their bivouac methodically, moving 

 up from under cover of the oak tree to a first 

 line trench, held in the open and not ten feet 

 from my wall. There, mustering their number, 

 they stand in close formation, their bayonets 

 lifted, awaiting the signal of assault. 



When it comes, it is unheralded. Dusk has 

 settled in the valley; and as I sit off guard upon 

 my porch, I hear only the chafing of the tide and 

 soft squelching noises as a muskrat fares his hid- 

 den way among the swale. Then suddenly a 

 sentry gives the sharp alarm. "The cows are in 

 the corn. They're at your Peep of Day." Sack 

 and piUage, desecration ! Gone is my weak-kneed 



[227] 



