that a soldier often must harm other people to protect
oneself?
(1 point)
Responses
“He could not hope to capture that enemy: to alarm
him would but send him dashing to his camp with
his fatal news.”
“He could not hope to capture that enemy: to alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news.”
“Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb,
turned faint, and saw the statuesque group before
him as black figures, rising, falling, moving
unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery sky.”
“Carter Druse grew pale; he shook in every limb, turned faint, and saw the statuesque group before him as black figures, rising, falling, moving unsteadily in arcs of circles in a fiery sky.”
"But no—there is a hope: he may have discovered
nothing: perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of
the landscape.”
"But no—there is a hope: he may have discovered nothing: perhaps he is but admiring the sublimity of the landscape.”
“This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier
was near swooning from intensity of emotion."
“This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near swooning from intensity of emotion."
A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce
Is it, then, so terrible to kill an enemy in war—an enemy who
has surprised a secret vital to the safety of one’s self and
comrades—an enemy more formidable for his knowledge than
all his army for its numbers? Carter Druse grew pale; he shook
in every limb, turned faint, and saw the statuesque group
before him as black figures, rising, falling, moving unsteadily in
arcs of circles in a fiery sky. His hand fell away from his
weapon, his head slowly dropped until his face rested on the
leaves in which he lay.
This courageous gentleman and hardy soldier was near
‘swooning from intensity of emotion. It was not for long; in
another moment his face was raised from earth, his hands
resumed their places on the rifle, his forefinger sought the
trigger; mind, heart and eyes were clear, conscience and
reason sound. He could not hope to capture that enemy: to
alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his
fatal news. The duty of the soldier was plain: the man must be
shot dead from ambush—without warning, without a moment's
spiritual preparation, with never so much as an unspoken
prayer, he must be sent to his account. But no—there is a
hope; he may have discovered nothing; perhaps he is but
admiring the sublimity of the landscape. If permitted, he may
turn and ride carelessly away in the direction whence he
came. Surely it will be possible to judge at the instant of his.
withdrawing whether he knows. It may well be that his fixity of
attention—Druse turned his head and looked through the
deeps of air downward as from the surface of the bottom of a
translucent sea. He saw creeping across the green meadow a
sinuous line of figures of men and horses—some foolish
‘commander was permitting the soldiers of his escort to water
their beasts in the open, in plain view from a hundred summits!
1 answer
The sentence that develops the theme that a soldier often must harm other people to protect oneself is:
“He could not hope to capture that enemy: to alarm him would but send him dashing to his camp with his fatal news.”
This sentence conveys the necessity of taking lethal action against an enemy to prevent them from relaying critical information that could endanger one's own safety and that of fellow soldiers.
