- No Refuge Could Save
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No Refuge Could Save is a short story by Isaac Asimov. It is the first of the Union Club Mysteries; overall these mysteries are not rated highly, but this is considered to be one of the best in the series.[1]
Plot
The central character, Griswold, explains that during World War II he was involved in US intelligence. He was questioning a suspected German spy, and he performed a word association test on him. When he said "terror of flight", the suspect replied "gloom of the grave". This proved that he was a spy who had been trained up in Americanisms, since this was an allusion to a line in the third verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner"; no native-born American could possibly be familiar with the third verse of the national anthem, "except for me, and I know everything" adds Griswold. (Most Americans only know the first verse, as it is the only one of the anthem's four verses that is normally sung.)
This is basically tongue in cheek, but Griswold does mention the serious point that the third verse of the US national anthem is particularly war-mongering, and so was especially forgotten in the "great peace-loving years of 1941 to 1945". In truth, the third verse was often omitted during those times by the few who knew it because of the alliance with Great Britian, who was the enemy in the War of 1812 and thus the object of scorn in the third verse.
See also
External links
Categories:- Short stories by Isaac Asimov
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