Page:Vance--Terence O'Rourke.djvu/102

 Then, abruptly, as though moved by springs, he leapt to his feet and unfurled the standard.

It fluttered, in the breeze created by his own rapid motions, from side to side—a purple flag, fringed with gold, with three golden bees embroidered upon it in a triangular arrangement, in the center of which was the Emperor's initial—"L." The last crimson rays of the dying sun lit it up brightly.

From the group about the emperor a feeble cheer arose; then Danny rose to the occasion.

"Cheer, ye tarriers!" he growled in an undertone, raising his sword aloft and waving it. "Yelp, ye scuts, as though ye believed in him yerselves! Prisint ar-rms!" he roared. "Now, byes, wan, two, three—"

The soldiery, grinning, filled the little valley with their shouts.

"Vive I'Empereur!"

"Again!"

"Vive I'Empereur!"

"Wance again, la-ads! Now—"

For a third time they gave le petit Lemercier a crashing cheer; it thundered from their throats and—was lost. That silence which lay upon the hills, lifeless, dull, empty even of echoes, fell upon and crushed the uproar to nothingness.

But, for all that, the noise, the spirit of the words cried in his name, was meat and drink to le petit Lemercier, and a joy to the soul of him. He raised his head, regally, smiling, and began a speech.

"Messieurs!" he cried pompously. "I—" His voice died to a whisper in his throat; his flush paled; he collapsed suddenly from the statue of an emperor to that of a frightened child. "General O'Rourke—" he faltered, with a frightened gesture.