A basket of food was sent in during the early afternoon. They gathered about, making a place for the woman under the light. Abel was brighter, his eyes full of tenderness. Poltneck had not long been able to hold out in his against the philosophy of Fallows, who said as they broke the bread:  
“We have spoken our , and the big adventure is ahead. It's against the law to look back. We are honored men. I am proud to be here, proud of a service that requires no . In all my dreaming in the little cabin in the Bosks I could think of no rarer thing than this—five together, a singer, a poet, a peasant, and two lovers. It's like a pastoral—but the dark suffering army is about us. ... Listen to the fighting. ... But there will be an end to fighting? ... Our Poltneck may already have sung the song to turn the armies back. Be very sure, he would have thought of his in time to-day, had the hour struck for that. Sing to us now, ............