Stars & Stripes Forever by Harry Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

he spoke.
    "A traumatic blow to the spine, here." He reached over his shoulder and tapped between his shoulder blades. "The general appears to have landed on his back across the rail track. I estimate that that would be a very strong blow, somewhat like being struck in the spine with a sledgehammer. At least two of the vertebrae appear to be broken—but that is not the cause of the general's condition. It is his spinal cord that has been crushed, the nerves severed. This causes a paralysis which we are well acquainted with." He sighed.
    "The body is paralyzed, the limbs will not move, and he breathes only with great difficulty. Though it is usually possible to feed patients in this condition, in most cases it is not enough to sustain life.
    "Perhaps it is a blessing that patients with this type of injury inevitably die."

    The visit to West Point that had begun so well ended with deep unhappiness. They sat in silence as the train pulled out of the station. Cameron sat with his back to the engine, looking out at the snow-covered countryside streaming by. Lincoln sat opposite him, looking out as well but seeing only the endless problems of this war that assailed him at all times. His secretaries sat across the aisle going through a sheaf of records from the arms factory.
    "General Ripley was not the easiest man to get along with," Lincoln said, long minutes after their train had pulled out of the station. Stanton nodded silent agreement. "But he had an awesome responsibility which he labored at professionally. He told me that he had to supply cartridges and shells for over sixty different types of weapons. That we are fighting, and hopefully winning, this war is in many ways due to his labors. What will happen now?"
    "General Ramsay has been his assistant for some time," the Secretary of War said. Lincoln nodded.
    "I met him once. A responsible officer. But is he qualified for this position?"
    "More than qualified," Cameron said. "In my contacts with him at the War Department I have seen all of his reports and have passed them on to you when they were relevant. Please don't think me to be presumptuous—or to be speaking ill of the dead—but Ramsay is a modern soldier of the modern school."
    "While Ripley was most conservative, as we all know."
    "More than conservative. He looked with great suspicion at any new weapon or invention. He knew what guns were like and how they were used. Knew that wars have been fought and won with these weapons and he was satisfied by that. I don't believe he liked change of any kind. But you must meet General Ramsay before you decide, Mr. Lincoln. Make your mind up then. I think you will be more than interested in his approach."
    "Talk to my secretary and arrange it then. For tomorrow. This important post shall not remain vacant for an instant longer than is necessary."

AN ULTIMATUM FROM BRITAIN
    "Mrs. Lincoln said you had no dinner to speak of last night—and that you were to come down to breakfast now."
    Keckley was more than a Negro servant these days; the President could hear a ready echo of his wife's voice in her words. Mary had originally hired her as a seamstress but that relationship had shifted and changed to an ambiguous but important place in the family.
    "I'll be there in just a minute..."
    "She said that you would say that too and I shouldn't believe it."
    Keckley stood in the open doorway silent and unmoving. Lincoln sighed and stood. "Lead the way. I trust you will take the word of the President that I am right behind you."
    As always the hall was filled with petitioners seeking jobs in the government. Lincoln thrust his way through them, as though wading through an angry sea. If he addressed one he must address them all. Not for the first time he wondered at the long-established policy that allowed anyone—and his brother—easy access to the Presidential Mansion. Of course, America was an egalitarian society. But there were, he was beginning to think, certain demerits in