"For the large birds of preyThey'll carry you away,And you'll never see your soldiers any more."
"For the large birds of preyThey'll carry you away,And you'll never see your soldiers any more."
The grey town lay back among her hills, shrieking with every manner of mechanical voice her farewell to the troops. Above this uproar rose and fell the weird sobbing of a siren and a cannon from the top of a sky-scraper boomed in at solemn intervals. On the roofs were knots of people flashing white signals of Godspeed; when the wind was right, one could catch, very faintly, the sound of their cheering.
The flotilla drew around the curving water-front and toward the Gate. To the left, the remains of the camp dotted the plain below the Presidio hills; every last man of them was on the bulkhead in front of the fort, waving his brown hat and cheering the lucky devils who went first. The great hill guns bellowed good-bye as the transports slipped through the gleaming strait. Gradually the convoy wheeled 'round again, the bigger vessels keeping up until outside the Heads. Then the first expedition went on alone.
Tom Ashley, Senior and 'Varsity fullback, with his eyes wet in spite of himself, set his face to the west. The round sun hung red above the horizon; a few seconds earlier, it had looked over the Palo Alto hills at the deserted University campus. Beyond the ship, a path of gold lay out toward Manila and its future. Marion, leaning beside him, looked back at the fading line of surf below the Cliff House.
"Well, Tom," he said, a bit huskily, "Commencement Day's over."
"Yes," answered the Sergeant, without turning, "we're up against it, all right!"
FOOTNOTES:[A]On May 25, 1898, Commencement Day at the University, the First California Volunteers sailed for the Philippine Islands. With Company K of that regiment went thirty-five Stanford students, a part of the hundred who volunteered, in various regiments, for the Spanish War.
[A]On May 25, 1898, Commencement Day at the University, the First California Volunteers sailed for the Philippine Islands. With Company K of that regiment went thirty-five Stanford students, a part of the hundred who volunteered, in various regiments, for the Spanish War.
[A]On May 25, 1898, Commencement Day at the University, the First California Volunteers sailed for the Philippine Islands. With Company K of that regiment went thirty-five Stanford students, a part of the hundred who volunteered, in various regiments, for the Spanish War.
Transcriber's NoteEvery effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have been fixed. Corrections in the text are noted below, with corrections inside the brackets:Table of Contents:The Substituted Full-back[Fullback]Table of Contents:A Song-cycle[Song Cycle] and a Puncturepage 21:typo fixed: "Ill[I'll] be hanged if I will!" shouted the patientpage 106:typo fixed: special runs up on the University track and stops betwen[between] the Library and Encinapage 141:typo fixed: all right at a city college or even at Berkeley, but on this campus, nit[not] so!"page 270:typo fixed: when the civilians had drifted off to ed[bed] or to the inglorious studies of a routine
Transcriber's Note
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have been fixed. Corrections in the text are noted below, with corrections inside the brackets:
Table of Contents:The Substituted Full-back[Fullback]Table of Contents:A Song-cycle[Song Cycle] and a Puncturepage 21:typo fixed: "Ill[I'll] be hanged if I will!" shouted the patientpage 106:typo fixed: special runs up on the University track and stops betwen[between] the Library and Encinapage 141:typo fixed: all right at a city college or even at Berkeley, but on this campus, nit[not] so!"page 270:typo fixed: when the civilians had drifted off to ed[bed] or to the inglorious studies of a routine