Excerpt from War Songs As the Valkyrie ride exultant up northern skies to Valhalla, bearing fallen heroes home, spurning fear, pain, and death beneath the hoof-strokes of their galloping horses, the President of the Peace Conference reclines in his opera-box - and yawns. The triumphant rush through the air; the clash of sword and hollow reverberating clang of brazen buckler, the storm and wild joy of battle are in his ears - but he hears not. The sounds are not for him, nor are the shadows that take form and gather fast to the summons of that wild music. Not for him is the phantasmagoria of spectral squadrons wheeling and charging with flashing sabres and fluttering red lunghis across the stony plain until they plunge headlong into that cloud of dust and smoke which closes like a curtain behind them. Not for him does the forlorn hope crouch behind the rocky outcrop of the hill, they and their boyish leader with the haunting eyes. Upon their stern faces the cold grey light of early dawn grows momentarily stronger - now, by Heaven, is the time! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.