by
Rudyard Kipling

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 originally conceived 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 to have it, you know,” said Maisie.

“Beat me, and lock you up in your bedroom,” Dick answered, without hesitation. “Have you got the cartridges?”

“Yes; they’re in my pocket, but they are joggling horribly. Do pin-fire cartridges go off of their own accord?”

“Don’t know. Take the revolver, if you are afraid, and let me carry them.”