The Light that Failed
by Rudyard Kipling
Contents
| DEDICATION |
| PREFACE |
| CHAPTER I |
| CHAPTER II |
| CHAPTER III |
| CHAPTER IV |
| CHAPTER V |
| CHAPTER VI |
| CHAPTER VII |
| CHAPTER VIII |
| CHAPTER IX |
| CHAPTER X |
| CHAPTER XI |
| CHAPTER XII |
| CHAPTER XIII |
| CHAPTER XIV |
| CHAPTER XV |
DEDICATION
If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!
PREFACE
This is the story of The Light that Failed as it was originallyconceived by the writer.
RUDYARD KIPLING
CHAPTER I
So we settled it all when the storm was done
As comf’y as comf’y could be;
And I was to wait in the barn, my dears,
Because I was only three;
And Teddy would run to the rainbow’s foot,
Because he was five and a man;
And that’s how it all began, my dears,
And that’s how it all began.
—Big Barn Stories.
“What do you think she’d do if she caught us? We oughtn’t tohave it, you know,” said Maisie.
“Beat me, and lock you up in your bedroom,” Dick answered, withouthesitation. “Have you got the cartridges?”
“Yes; they’re in my pocket, but they are joggling horribly. Dopin-fire cartridges go off of their own accord?”
“Don’t know. Take the revolver, if you are afraid, and let me carrythem.”
“I’m not afraid.” Maisie strode forward swiftly, ahand in her pocket and her chin in the air. Dick followed with a small pin-firerevolver.
The children had discovered that their lives would be unendurable withoutpistol-practice. After much forethought and self-denial, Dick had saved sevenshillings and sixpence, the price of a badly constructed Belgian revolver.Maisie could only contribute half a crown to the syndicate for the p