The
sun was setting in a nearly cloudless sky.
'For the last two weeks I had been a wholly occupied man, intent only
upon obeying the orders that came down to me. All through this time I
had been working to the very limit of my mental and physical faculties,
and my only moments of rest had been devoted to snatches of sleep. Now
came this rare, unexpected interlude, and I could look detachedly upon
what I was doing and feel something of its infinite wonderfulness. I was
irradiated with affection for the men of my company and with admiration
at their cheerful acquiescence in the subordination and needs of our
positions. I watched their proceedings and heard their pleasant voices.
How willing those men were! How ready to accept leadership and forget
themselves in collective ends! I thought how manfully they had gone
through all the strains and toil of the last two weeks, how they
had toughened and shaken down to comradeship together, and how much
sweetness there is after all in our foolish human blood. For they were
just one casual sample of the species--their patience and readiness
lay, as the energy of the atom had lain, still waiting to be properly
utilised. Again it came to me with overpowering force that the supreme
need of our race is leading, that the supreme task is to discover
leading, to forget oneself in realising the collective purpose of the
race.
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