The Day of the Beast

Our ordeal is over -- the Hell is past and we must bury memory . . . Lane, Maynard and Payson stand on deck as the ship glides toward New York, in the shadow of Liberty -- a war-weary trio of soldiers, home at last.Time has marked them, and the battles of France have left them disabled . . . but what awaits them on land, beyond the empty dock? Who will be there for them, at home? And will they ever be able to lead a normal life?The ship glided slowly up the Narrows; and from its deck Daren Lane saw the noble black outline of the Statue of Liberty limned against the clear gold of sunset. A familiar old pang in his breast-longing and homesickness and agony, together with the physical burn of gassed lungs-seemed to swell into a profound overwhelming emotion.