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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Red Badge of Courage
+       An Episode of the American Civil War
+
+Author: Stephen Crane
+
+Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #463]
+Release Date: March, 1996
+[Last updated: August 3, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Red Badge of Courage
+
+An Episode of the American Civil War
+
+
+by
+
+Stephen Crane
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs
+revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.  As the landscape
+changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble
+with eagerness at the noise of rumors.  It cast its eyes upon the
+roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper
+thoroughfares.  A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks,
+purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of
+a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam
+of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills.
+
+Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues and went resolutely to
+wash a shirt.  He came flying back from a brook waving his garment
+bannerlike.  He was swelled with a tale he had heard from a reliable
+friend, who had heard it from a truthful cavalryman, who had heard it
+from his trustworthy brother, one of the orderlies at division
+headquarters.  He adopted the important air of a herald in red and
+gold. "We're goin' t' move t'morrah--sure," he said pompously to a
+group in the company street.  "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut
+across, an' come around in behint 'em."
+
+To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very
+brilliant campaign. When he had finished, the blue-clothed men
+scattered into small arguing groups between the rows of squat brown
+huts.  A negro teamster who had been dancing upon a cracker box with
+the hilarious encouragement of twoscore soldiers was deserted.  He sat
+mournfully down.  Smoke drifted lazily from a multitude of quaint
+chimneys.
+
+"It's a lie! that's all it is--a thunderin' lie!" said another private
+loudly.  His smooth face was flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily
+into his trousers' pockets.  He took the matter as an affront to him.
+"I don't believe the derned old army's ever going to move.  We're set.
+I've got ready to move eight times in the last two weeks, and we ain't
+moved yet."
+
+The tall soldier felt called upon to defend the truth of a rumor he
+himself had introduced. He and the loud one came near to fighting over
+it.
+
+A corporal began to swear before the assemblage.  He had just put a
+costly board floor in his house, he said.  During the early spring he
+had refrained from adding extensively to the comfort of his environment
+because he had felt that the army might start on the march at any
+moment.  Of late, however, he had been impressed that they were in a
+sort of eternal camp.
+
+Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate. One outlined in a
+peculiarly lucid manner all the plans of the commanding general.  He
+was opposed by men who advocated that there were other plans of
+campaign.  They clamored at each other, numbers making futile bids for
+the popular attention.  Meanwhile, the soldier who had fetched the
+rumor bustled about with much importance.  He was continually assailed
+by questions.
+
+"What's up, Jim?"
+
+"Th' army's goin' t' move."
+
+"Ah, what yeh talkin' about?  How yeh know it is?"
+
+"Well, yeh kin b'lieve me er not, jest as yeh like.  I don't care a
+hang."
+
+There was much food for thought in the manner in which he replied.  He
+came near to convincing them by disdaining to produce proofs. They grew
+excited over it.
+
+There was a youthful private who listened with eager ears to the words
+of the tall soldier and to the varied comments of his comrades. After
+receiving a fill of discussions concerning marches and attacks, he went
+to his hut and crawled through an intricate hole that served it as a
+door.  He wished to be alone with some new thoughts that had lately
+come to him.
+
+He lay down on a wide bank that stretched across the end of the room.
+In the other end, cracker boxes were made to serve as furniture. They
+were grouped about the fireplace.  A picture from an illustrated weekly
+was upon the log walls, and three rifles were paralleled on pegs.
+Equipments hung on handy projections, and some tin dishes lay upon a
+small pile of firewood.  A folded tent was serving as a roof.  The
+sunlight, without, beating upon it, made it glow a light yellow shade.
+A small window shot an oblique square of whiter light upon the
+cluttered floor. The smoke from the fire at times neglected the clay
+chimney and wreathed into the room, and this flimsy chimney of clay and
+sticks made endless threats to set ablaze the whole establishment.
+
+The youth was in a little trance of astonishment. So they were at last
+going to fight.  On the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and
+he would be in it.  For a time he was obliged to labor to make himself
+believe.  He could not accept with assurance an omen that he was about
+to mingle in one of those great affairs of the earth.
+
+He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody
+conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.  In visions
+he had seen himself in many struggles.  He had imagined peoples secure
+in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess.  But awake he had regarded
+battles as crimson blotches on the pages of the past.  He had put them
+as things of the bygone with his thought-images of heavy crowns and
+high castles.  There was a portion of the world's history which he had
+regarded as the time of wars, but it, he thought, had been long gone
+over the horizon and had disappeared forever.
+
+From his home his youthful eyes had looked upon the war in his own
+country with distrust. It must be some sort of a play affair.  He had
+long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle. Such would be no
+more, he had said.  Men were better, or more timid.  Secular and
+religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else
+firm finance held in check the passions.
+
+He had burned several times to enlist.  Tales of great movements shook
+the land.  They might not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to be
+much glory in them.  He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he
+had longed to see it all. His busy mind had drawn for him large
+pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.
+
+But his mother had discouraged him.  She had affected to look with some
+contempt upon the quality of his war ardor and patriotism.  She could
+calmly seat herself and with no apparent difficulty give him many
+hundreds of reasons why he was of vastly more importance on the farm
+than on the field of battle.  She had had certain ways of expression
+that told him that her statements on the subject came from a deep
+conviction.  Moreover, on her side, was his belief that her ethical
+motive in the argument was impregnable.
+
+At last, however, he had made firm rebellion against this yellow light
+thrown upon the color of his ambitions.  The newspapers, the gossip of
+the village, his own picturings had aroused him to an uncheckable
+degree.  They were in truth fighting finely down there.  Almost every
+day the newspapers printed accounts of a decisive victory.
+
+One night, as he lay in bed, the winds had carried to him the
+clangoring of the church bell as some enthusiast jerked the rope
+frantically to tell the twisted news of a great battle.  This voice of
+the people rejoicing in the night had made him shiver in a prolonged
+ecstasy of excitement.  Later, he had gone down to his mother's room
+and had spoken thus: "Ma, I'm going to enlist."
+
+"Henry, don't you be a fool," his mother had replied.  She had then
+covered her face with the quilt.  There was an end to the matter for
+that night.
+
+Nevertheless, the next morning he had gone to a town that was near his
+mother's farm and had enlisted in a company that was forming there.
+When he had returned home his mother was milking the brindle cow.  Four
+others stood waiting.  "Ma, I've enlisted," he had said to her
+diffidently.  There was a short silence.  "The Lord's will be done,
+Henry," she had finally replied, and had then continued to milk the
+brindle cow.
+
+When he had stood in the doorway with his soldier's clothes on his
+back, and with the light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes
+almost defeating the glow of regret for the home bonds, he had seen two
+tears leaving their trails on his mother's scarred cheeks.
+
+Still, she had disappointed him by saying nothing whatever about
+returning with his shield or on it.  He had privately primed himself
+for a beautiful scene.  He had prepared certain sentences which he
+thought could be used with touching effect.  But her words destroyed
+his plans.  She had doggedly peeled potatoes and addressed him as
+follows: "You watch out, Henry, an' take good care of yerself in this
+here fighting business--you watch out, an' take good care of yerself.
+Don't go a-thinkin' you can lick the hull rebel army at the start,
+because yeh can't.  Yer jest one little feller amongst a hull lot of
+others, and yeh've got to keep quiet an' do what they tell yeh.  I know
+how you are, Henry.
+
+"I've knet yeh eight pair of socks, Henry, and I've put in all yer best
+shirts, because I want my boy to be jest as warm and comf'able as
+anybody in the army.  Whenever they get holes in 'em, I want yeh to
+send 'em right-away back to me, so's I kin dern 'em.
+
+"An' allus be careful an' choose yer comp'ny. There's lots of bad men
+in the army, Henry. The army makes 'em wild, and they like nothing
+better than the job of leading off a young feller like you, as ain't
+never been away from home much and has allus had a mother, an'
+a-learning 'em to drink and swear.  Keep clear of them folks, Henry.  I
+don't want yeh to ever do anything, Henry, that yeh would be 'shamed to
+let me know about.  Jest think as if I was a-watchin' yeh.  If yeh keep
+that in yer mind allus, I guess yeh'll come out about right.
+
+"Yeh must allus remember yer father, too, child, an' remember he never
+drunk a drop of licker in his life, and seldom swore a cross oath.
+
+"I don't know what else to tell yeh, Henry, excepting that yeh must
+never do no shirking, child, on my account.  If so be a time comes when
+yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of
+anything 'cept what's right, because there's many a woman has to bear
+up 'ginst sech things these times, and the Lord 'll take keer of us all.
+
+"Don't forgit about the socks and the shirts, child; and I've put a cup
+of blackberry jam with yer bundle, because I know yeh like it above all
+things.  Good-by, Henry.  Watch out, and be a good boy."
+
+He had, of course, been impatient under the ordeal of this speech.  It
+had not been quite what he expected, and he had borne it with an air of
+irritation.  He departed feeling vague relief.
+
+Still, when he had looked back from the gate, he had seen his mother
+kneeling among the potato parings.  Her brown face, upraised, was
+stained with tears, and her spare form was quivering.  He bowed his
+head and went on, feeling suddenly ashamed of his purposes.
+
+From his home he had gone to the seminary to bid adieu to many
+schoolmates.  They had thronged about him with wonder and admiration.
+He had felt the gulf now between them and had swelled with calm pride.
+He and some of his fellows who had donned blue were quite overwhelmed
+with privileges for all of one afternoon, and it had been a very
+delicious thing.  They had strutted.
+
+A certain light-haired girl had made vivacious fun at his martial
+spirit, but there was another and darker girl whom he had gazed at
+steadfastly, and he thought she grew demure and sad at sight of his
+blue and brass.  As he had walked down the path between the rows of
+oaks, he had turned his head and detected her at a window watching his
+departure.  As he perceived her, she had immediately begun to stare up
+through the high tree branches at the sky.  He had seen a good deal of
+flurry and haste in her movement as she changed her attitude.  He often
+thought of it.
+
+On the way to Washington his spirit had soared.  The regiment was fed
+and caressed at station after station until the youth had believed that
+he must be a hero.  There was a lavish expenditure of bread and cold
+meats, coffee, and pickles and cheese.  As he basked in the smiles of
+the girls and was patted and complimented by the old men, he had felt
+growing within him the strength to do mighty deeds of arms.
+
+After complicated journeyings with many pauses, there had come months
+of monotonous life in a camp.  He had had the belief that real war was
+a series of death struggles with small time in between for sleep and
+meals; but since his regiment had come to the field the army had done
+little but sit still and try to keep warm.
+
+He was brought then gradually back to his old ideas.  Greeklike
+struggles would be no more. Men were better, or more timid.  Secular
+and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or
+else firm finance held in check the passions.
+
+He had grown to regard himself merely as a part of a vast blue
+demonstration.  His province was to look out, as far as he could, for
+his personal comfort.  For recreation he could twiddle his thumbs and
+speculate on the thoughts which must agitate the minds of the generals.
+Also, he was drilled and drilled and reviewed, and drilled and drilled
+and reviewed.
+
+The only foes he had seen were some pickets along the river bank.  They
+were a sun-tanned, philosophical lot, who sometimes shot reflectively
+at the blue pickets.  When reproached for this afterward, they usually
+expressed sorrow, and swore by their gods that the guns had exploded
+without their permission.  The youth, on guard duty one night,
+conversed across the stream with one of them.  He was a slightly ragged
+man, who spat skillfully between his shoes and possessed a great fund
+of bland and infantile assurance.  The youth liked him personally.
+
+"Yank," the other had informed him, "yer a right dum good feller." This
+sentiment, floating to him upon the still air, had made him temporarily
+regret war.
+
+Various veterans had told him tales.  Some talked of gray, bewhiskered
+hordes who were advancing with relentless curses and chewing tobacco
+with unspeakable valor; tremendous bodies of fierce soldiery who were
+sweeping along like the Huns.  Others spoke of tattered and eternally
+hungry men who fired despondent powders.  "They'll charge through
+hell's fire an' brimstone t' git a holt on a haversack, an' sech
+stomachs ain't a-lastin' long," he was told.  From the stories, the
+youth imagined the red, live bones sticking out through slits in the
+faded uniforms.
+
+Still, he could not put a whole faith in veterans' tales, for recruits
+were their prey.  They talked much of smoke, fire, and blood, but he
+could not tell how much might be lies.  They persistently yelled "Fresh
+fish!" at him, and were in no wise to be trusted.
+
+However, he perceived now that it did not greatly matter what kind of
+soldiers he was going to fight, so long as they fought, which fact no
+one disputed.  There was a more serious problem.  He lay in his bunk
+pondering upon it.  He tried to mathematically prove to himself that he
+would not run from a battle.
+
+Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too seriously with this
+question.  In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never
+challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about
+means and roads.  But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It
+had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He
+was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of
+himself.
+
+A sufficient time before he would have allowed the problem to kick its
+heels at the outer portals of his mind, but now he felt compelled to
+give serious attention to it.
+
+A little panic-fear grew in his mind.  As his imagination went forward
+to a fight, he saw hideous possibilities.  He contemplated the lurking
+menaces of the future, and failed in an effort to see himself standing
+stoutly in the midst of them. He recalled his visions of broken-bladed
+glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult he suspected them to
+be impossible pictures.
+
+He sprang from the bunk and began to pace nervously to and fro.  "Good
+Lord, what's th' matter with me?" he said aloud.
+
+He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were useless.  Whatever he
+had learned of himself was here of no avail.  He was an unknown
+quantity. He saw that he would again be obliged to experiment as he had
+in early youth.  He must accumulate information of himself, and
+meanwhile he resolved to remain close upon his guard lest those
+qualities of which he knew nothing should everlastingly disgrace him.
+"Good Lord!" he repeated in dismay.
+
+After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously through the hole.  The
+loud private followed. They were wrangling.
+
+"That's all right," said the tall soldier as he entered.  He waved his
+hand expressively.  "You can believe me or not, jest as you like.  All
+you got to do is to sit down and wait as quiet as you can.  Then pretty
+soon you'll find out I was right."
+
+His comrade grunted stubbornly.  For a moment he seemed to be searching
+for a formidable reply.  Finally he said: "Well, you don't know
+everything in the world, do you?"
+
+"Didn't say I knew everything in the world," retorted the other
+sharply.  He began to stow various articles snugly into his knapsack.
+
+The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure.
+"Going to be a battle, sure, is there, Jim?" he asked.
+
+"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier. "Of course there is.
+You jest wait 'til to-morrow, and you'll see one of the biggest battles
+ever was. You jest wait."
+
+"Thunder!" said the youth.
+
+"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy, what'll be regular
+out-and-out fighting," added the tall soldier, with the air of a man
+who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends.
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one from a corner.
+
+"Well," remarked the youth, "like as not this story'll turn out jest
+like them others did."
+
+"Not much it won't," replied the tall soldier, exasperated.  "Not much
+it won't.  Didn't the cavalry all start this morning?"  He glared about
+him.  No one denied his statement.  "The cavalry started this morning,"
+he continued.  "They say there ain't hardly any cavalry left in camp.
+They're going to Richmond, or some place, while we fight all the
+Johnnies.  It's some dodge like that.  The regiment's got orders, too.
+A feller what seen 'em go to headquarters told me a little while ago.
+And they're raising blazes all over camp--anybody can see that."
+
+"Shucks!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth remained silent for a time.  At last he spoke to the tall
+soldier.  "Jim!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"How do you think the reg'ment 'll do?"
+
+"Oh, they'll fight all right, I guess, after they once get into it,"
+said the other with cold judgment.  He made a fine use of the third
+person. "There's been heaps of fun poked at 'em because they're new, of
+course, and all that; but they'll fight all right, I guess."
+
+"Think any of the boys 'll run?" persisted the youth.
+
+"Oh, there may be a few of 'em run, but there's them kind in every
+regiment, 'specially when they first goes under fire," said the other
+in a tolerant way.  "Of course it might happen that the hull
+kit-and-boodle might start and run, if some big fighting came
+first-off, and then again they might stay and fight like fun.  But you
+can't bet on nothing.  Of course they ain't never been under fire yet,
+and it ain't likely they'll lick the hull rebel army all-to-oncet the
+first time; but I think they'll fight better than some, if worse than
+others.  That's the way I figger.  They call the reg'ment 'Fresh fish'
+and everything; but the boys come of good stock, and most of 'em 'll
+fight like sin after they oncet git shootin'," he added, with a mighty
+emphasis on the last four words.
+
+"Oh, you think you know--" began the loud soldier with scorn.
+
+The other turned savagely upon him.  They had a rapid altercation, in
+which they fastened upon each other various strange epithets.
+
+The youth at last interrupted them.  "Did you ever think you might run
+yourself, Jim?" he asked.  On concluding the sentence he laughed as if
+he had meant to aim a joke.  The loud soldier also giggled.
+
+The tall private waved his hand.  "Well," said he profoundly, "I've
+thought it might get too hot for Jim Conklin in some of them
+scrimmages, and if a whole lot of boys started and run, why, I s'pose
+I'd start and run.  And if I once started to run, I'd run like the
+devil, and no mistake.  But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting,
+why, I'd stand and fight.  Be jiminey, I would.  I'll bet on it."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these words of his comrade.
+He had feared that all of the untried men possessed a great and correct
+confidence.  He now was in a measure reassured.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+The next morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been
+the fast-flying messenger of a mistake.  There was much scoffing at the
+latter by those who had yesterday been firm adherents of his views, and
+there was even a little sneering by men who had never believed the
+rumor.  The tall one fought with a man from Chatfield Corners and beat
+him severely.
+
+The youth felt, however, that his problem was in no wise lifted from
+him.  There was, on the contrary, an irritating prolongation.  The tale
+had created in him a great concern for himself. Now, with the newborn
+question in his mind, he was compelled to sink back into his old place
+as part of a blue demonstration.
+
+For days he made ceaseless calculations, but they were all wondrously
+unsatisfactory.  He found that he could establish nothing.  He finally
+concluded that the only way to prove himself was to go into the blaze,
+and then figuratively to watch his legs to discover their merits and
+faults. He reluctantly admitted that he could not sit still and with a
+mental slate and pencil derive an answer.  To gain it, he must have
+blaze, blood, and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that, and
+the other.  So he fretted for an opportunity.
+
+Meanwhile he continually tried to measure himself by his comrades.  The
+tall soldier, for one, gave him some assurance.  This man's serene
+unconcern dealt him a measure of confidence, for he had known him since
+childhood, and from his intimate knowledge he did not see how he could
+be capable of anything that was beyond him, the youth.  Still, he
+thought that his comrade might be mistaken about himself. Or, on the
+other hand, he might be a man heretofore doomed to peace and obscurity,
+but, in reality, made to shine in war.
+
+The youth would have liked to have discovered another who suspected
+himself.  A sympathetic comparison of mental notes would have been a
+joy to him.
+
+He occasionally tried to fathom a comrade with seductive sentences.  He
+looked about to find men in the proper mood.  All attempts failed to
+bring forth any statement which looked in any way like a confession to
+those doubts which he privately acknowledged in himself. He was afraid
+to make an open declaration of his concern, because he dreaded to place
+some unscrupulous confidant upon the high plane of the unconfessed from
+which elevation he could be derided.
+
+In regard to his companions his mind wavered between two opinions,
+according to his mood.  Sometimes he inclined to believing them all
+heroes.  In fact, he usually admitted in secret the superior
+development of the higher qualities in others.  He could conceive of
+men going very insignificantly about the world bearing a load of
+courage unseen, and although he had known many of his comrades through
+boyhood, he began to fear that his judgment of them had been blind.
+Then, in other moments, he flouted these theories, and assured himself
+that his fellows were all privately wondering and quaking.
+
+His emotions made him feel strange in the presence of men who talked
+excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to
+witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their
+faces.  It was often that he suspected them to be liars.
+
+He did not pass such thoughts without severe condemnation of himself.
+He dinned reproaches at times.  He was convicted by himself of many
+shameful crimes against the gods of traditions.
+
+In his great anxiety his heart was continually clamoring at what he
+considered the intolerable slowness of the generals.  They seemed
+content to perch tranquilly on the river bank, and leave him bowed down
+by the weight of a great problem.  He wanted it settled forthwith.  He
+could not long bear such a load, he said.  Sometimes his anger at the
+commanders reached an acute stage, and he grumbled about the camp like
+a veteran.
+
+One morning, however, he found himself in the ranks of his prepared
+regiment.  The men were whispering speculations and recounting the old
+rumors.  In the gloom before the break of the day their uniforms glowed
+a deep purple hue.  From across the river the red eyes were still
+peering.  In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid
+for the feet of the coming sun; and against it, black and patternlike,
+loomed the gigantic figure of the colonel on a gigantic horse.
+
+From off in the darkness came the trampling of feet.  The youth could
+occasionally see dark shadows that moved like monsters.  The regiment
+stood at rest for what seemed a long time. The youth grew impatient. It
+was unendurable the way these affairs were managed.  He wondered how
+long they were to be kept waiting.
+
+As he looked all about him and pondered upon the mystic gloom, he began
+to believe that at any moment the ominous distance might be aflare, and
+the rolling crashes of an engagement come to his ears.  Staring once at
+the red eyes across the river, he conceived them to be growing larger,
+as the orbs of a row of dragons advancing.  He turned toward the
+colonel and saw him lift his gigantic arm and calmly stroke his
+mustache.
+
+At last he heard from along the road at the foot of the hill the
+clatter of a horse's galloping hoofs.  It must be the coming of orders.
+He bent forward, scarce breathing.  The exciting clickety-click, as it
+grew louder and louder, seemed to be beating upon his soul.  Presently
+a horseman with jangling equipment drew rein before the colonel of the
+regiment.  The two held a short, sharp-worded conversation.  The men in
+the foremost ranks craned their necks.
+
+As the horseman wheeled his animal and galloped away he turned to shout
+over his shoulder, "Don't forget that box of cigars!"  The colonel
+mumbled in reply.  The youth wondered what a box of cigars had to do
+with war.
+
+A moment later the regiment went swinging off into the darkness.  It
+was now like one of those moving monsters wending with many feet. The
+air was heavy, and cold with dew.  A mass of wet grass, marched upon,
+rustled like silk.
+
+There was an occasional flash and glimmer of steel from the backs of
+all these huge crawling reptiles.  From the road came creakings and
+grumblings as some surly guns were dragged away.
+
+The men stumbled along still muttering speculations.  There was a
+subdued debate.  Once a man fell down, and as he reached for his rifle
+a comrade, unseeing, trod upon his hand.  He of the injured fingers
+swore bitterly and aloud.  A low, tittering laugh went among his
+fellows.
+
+Presently they passed into a roadway and marched forward with easy
+strides.  A dark regiment moved before them, and from behind also came
+the tinkle of equipments on the bodies of marching men.
+
+The rushing yellow of the developing day went on behind their backs.
+When the sunrays at last struck full and mellowingly upon the earth,
+the youth saw that the landscape was streaked with two long, thin,
+black columns which disappeared on the brow of a hill in front and
+rearward vanished in a wood.  They were like two serpents crawling from
+the cavern of the night.
+
+The river was not in view.  The tall soldier burst into praises of what
+he thought to be his powers of perception.
+
+Some of the tall one's companions cried with emphasis that they, too,
+had evolved the same thing, and they congratulated themselves upon it.
+But there were others who said that the tall one's plan was not the
+true one at all.  They persisted with other theories.  There was a
+vigorous discussion.
+
+The youth took no part in them.  As he walked along in careless line he
+was engaged with his own eternal debate.  He could not hinder himself
+from dwelling upon it.  He was despondent and sullen, and threw
+shifting glances about him.  He looked ahead, often expecting to hear
+from the advance the rattle of firing.
+
+But the long serpents crawled slowly from hill to hill without bluster
+of smoke.  A dun-colored cloud of dust floated away to the right. The
+sky overhead was of a fairy blue.
+
+The youth studied the faces of his companions, ever on the watch to
+detect kindred emotions.  He suffered disappointment.  Some ardor of
+the air which was causing the veteran commands to move with
+glee--almost with song--had infected the new regiment.  The men began
+to speak of victory as of a thing they knew. Also, the tall soldier
+received his vindication. They were certainly going to come around in
+behind the enemy.  They expressed commiseration for that part of the
+army which had been left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves
+upon being a part of a blasting host.
+
+The youth, considering himself as separated from the others, was
+saddened by the blithe and merry speeches that went from rank to rank.
+The company wags all made their best endeavors.  The regiment tramped
+to the tune of laughter.
+
+The blatant soldier often convulsed whole files by his biting sarcasms
+aimed at the tall one.
+
+And it was not long before all the men seemed to forget their mission.
+Whole brigades grinned in unison, and regiments laughed.
+
+A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse from a dooryard.  He
+planned to load his knap-sack upon it.  He was escaping with his prize
+when a young girl rushed from the house and grabbed the animal's mane.
+There followed a wrangle.  The young girl, with pink cheeks and shining
+eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.
+
+The observant regiment, standing at rest in the roadway, whooped at
+once, and entered whole-souled upon the side of the maiden.  The men
+became so engrossed in this affair that they entirely ceased to
+remember their own large war. They jeered the piratical private, and
+called attention to various defects in his personal appearance; and
+they were wildly enthusiastic in support of the young girl.
+
+To her, from some distance, came bold advice. "Hit him with a stick."
+
+There were crows and catcalls showered upon him when he retreated
+without the horse. The regiment rejoiced at his downfall.  Loud and
+vociferous congratulations were showered upon the maiden, who stood
+panting and regarding the troops with defiance.
+
+At nightfall the column broke into regimental pieces, and the fragments
+went into the fields to camp.  Tents sprang up like strange plants.
+Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.
+
+The youth kept from intercourse with his companions as much as
+circumstances would allow him.  In the evening he wandered a few paces
+into the gloom.  From this little distance the many fires, with the
+black forms of men passing to and fro before the crimson rays, made
+weird and satanic effects.
+
+He lay down in the grass.  The blades pressed tenderly against his
+cheek.  The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop. The liquid
+stillness of the night enveloping him made him feel vast pity for
+himself.  There was a caress in the soft winds; and the whole mood of
+the darkness, he thought, was one of sympathy for himself in his
+distress.
+
+He wished, without reserve, that he was at home again making the
+endless rounds from the house to the barn, from the barn to the fields,
+from the fields to the barn, from the barn to the house.  He remembered
+he had often cursed the brindle cow and her mates, and had sometimes
+flung milking stools.  But, from his present point of view, there was a
+halo of happiness about each of their heads, and he would have
+sacrificed all the brass buttons on the continent to have been enabled
+to return to them.  He told himself that he was not formed for a
+soldier.  And he mused seriously upon the radical differences between
+himself and those men who were dodging imp-like around the fires.
+
+As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass, and, upon turning his
+head, discovered the loud soldier.  He called out, "Oh, Wilson!"
+
+The latter approached and looked down. "Why, hello, Henry; is it you?
+What you doing here?"
+
+"Oh, thinking," said the youth.
+
+The other sat down and carefully lighted his pipe.  "You're getting
+blue, my boy.  You're looking thundering peeked.  What the dickens is
+wrong with you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," said the youth.
+
+The loud soldier launched then into the subject of the anticipated
+fight.  "Oh, we've got 'em now!"  As he spoke his boyish face was
+wreathed in a gleeful smile, and his voice had an exultant ring. "We've
+got 'em now.  At last, by the eternal thunders, we'll lick 'em good!"
+
+"If the truth was known," he added, more soberly, "THEY'VE licked US
+about every clip up to now; but this time--this time--we'll lick 'em
+good!"
+
+"I thought you was objecting to this march a little while ago," said
+the youth coldly.
+
+"Oh, it wasn't that," explained the other.  "I don't mind marching, if
+there's going to be fighting at the end of it.  What I hate is this
+getting moved here and moved there, with no good coming of it, as far
+as I can see, excepting sore feet and damned short rations."
+
+"Well, Jim Conklin says we'll get a plenty of fighting this time."
+
+"He's right for once, I guess, though I can't see how it come.  This
+time we're in for a big battle, and we've got the best end of it,
+certain sure.  Gee rod! how we will thump 'em!"
+
+He arose and began to pace to and fro excitedly.  The thrill of his
+enthusiasm made him walk with an elastic step.  He was sprightly,
+vigorous, fiery in his belief in success.  He looked into the future
+with clear, proud eye, and he swore with the air of an old soldier.
+
+The youth watched him for a moment in silence.  When he finally spoke
+his voice was as bitter as dregs.  "Oh, you're going to do great
+things, I s'pose!"
+
+The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of smoke from his pipe.  "Oh,
+I don't know," he remarked with dignity; "I don't know.  I s'pose I'll
+do as well as the rest.  I'm going to try like thunder."  He evidently
+complimented himself upon the modesty of this statement.
+
+"How do you know you won't run when the time comes?" asked the youth.
+
+"Run?" said the loud one; "run?--of course not!"  He laughed.
+
+"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-a-'nough men have thought
+they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time
+come they skedaddled."
+
+"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the other; "but I'm not going
+to skedaddle.  The man that bets on my running will lose his money,
+that's all."  He nodded confidently.
+
+"Oh, shucks!" said the youth.  "You ain't the bravest man in the world,
+are you?"
+
+"No, I ain't," exclaimed the loud soldier indignantly; "and I didn't
+say I was the bravest man in the world, neither.  I said I was going to
+do my share of fighting--that's what I said.  And I am, too.  Who are
+you, anyhow.  You talk as if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte."
+He glared at the youth for a moment, and then strode away.
+
+The youth called in a savage voice after his comrade: "Well, you
+needn't git mad about it!" But the other continued on his way and made
+no reply.
+
+He felt alone in space when his injured comrade had disappeared.  His
+failure to discover any mite of resemblance in their view points made
+him more miserable than before.  No one seemed to be wrestling with
+such a terrific personal problem.  He was a mental outcast.
+
+He went slowly to his tent and stretched himself on a blanket by the
+side of the snoring tall soldier.  In the darkness he saw visions of a
+thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to
+flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He
+admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster.  He felt
+that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while
+other men would remain stolid and deaf.
+
+And as he sweated with the pain of these thoughts, he could hear low,
+serene sentences. "I'll bid five."  "Make it six."  "Seven." "Seven
+goes."
+
+He stared at the red, shivering reflection of a fire on the white wall
+of his tent until, exhausted and ill from the monotony of his
+suffering, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHEN another night came the columns, changed to purple streaks, filed
+across two pontoon bridges.  A glaring fire wine-tinted the waters of
+the river.  Its rays, shining upon the moving masses of troops, brought
+forth here and there sudden gleams of silver or gold.  Upon the other
+shore a dark and mysterious range of hills was curved against the sky.
+The insect voices of the night sang solemnly.
+
+After this crossing the youth assured himself that at any moment they
+might be suddenly and fearfully assaulted from the caves of the
+lowering woods.  He kept his eyes watchfully upon the darkness.
+
+But his regiment went unmolested to a camping place, and its soldiers
+slept the brave sleep of wearied men.  In the morning they were routed
+out with early energy, and hustled along a narrow road that led deep
+into the forest.
+
+It was during this rapid march that the regiment lost many of the marks
+of a new command.
+
+The men had begun to count the miles upon their fingers, and they grew
+tired.  "Sore feet an' damned short rations, that's all," said the loud
+soldier.  There was perspiration and grumblings.  After a time they
+began to shed their knapsacks.  Some tossed them unconcernedly down;
+others hid them carefully, asserting their plans to return for them at
+some convenient time.  Men extricated themselves from thick shirts.
+Presently few carried anything but their necessary clothing, blankets,
+haversacks, canteens, and arms and ammunition.  "You can now eat and
+shoot," said the tall soldier to the youth. "That's all you want to do."
+
+There was sudden change from the ponderous infantry of theory to the
+light and speedy infantry of practice.  The regiment, relieved of a
+burden, received a new impetus.  But there was much loss of valuable
+knapsacks, and, on the whole, very good shirts.
+
+But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in appearance.  Veteran
+regiments in the army were likely to be very small aggregations of men.
+Once, when the command had first come to the field, some perambulating
+veterans, noting the length of their column, had accosted them thus:
+"Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?"  And when the men had replied
+that they formed a regiment and not a brigade, the older soldiers had
+laughed, and said, "O Gawd!"
+
+Also, there was too great a similarity in the hats.  The hats of a
+regiment should properly represent the history of headgear for a period
+of years.  And, moreover, there were no letters of faded gold speaking
+from the colors.  They were new and beautiful, and the color bearer
+habitually oiled the pole.
+
+Presently the army again sat down to think. The odor of the peaceful
+pines was in the men's nostrils.  The sound of monotonous axe blows
+rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding upon their perches,
+crooned like old women. The youth returned to his theory of a blue
+demonstration.
+
+One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in the leg by the tall soldier,
+and then, before he was entirely awake, he found himself running down a
+wood road in the midst of men who were panting from the first effects
+of speed.  His canteen banged rhythmically upon his thigh, and his
+haversack bobbed softly.  His musket bounced a trifle from his shoulder
+at each stride and made his cap feel uncertain upon his head.
+
+He could hear the men whisper jerky sentences: "Say--what's all
+this--about?"  "What th' thunder--we--skedaddlin' this way fer?"
+"Billie--keep off m' feet.  Yeh run--like a cow." And the loud
+soldier's shrill voice could be heard: "What th' devil they in sich a
+hurry for?"
+
+The youth thought the damp fog of early morning moved from the rush of
+a great body of troops.  From the distance came a sudden spatter of
+firing.
+
+He was bewildered.  As he ran with his comrades he strenuously tried to
+think, but all he knew was that if he fell down those coming behind
+would tread upon him.  All his faculties seemed to be needed to guide
+him over and past obstructions.  He felt carried along by a mob.
+
+The sun spread disclosing rays, and, one by one, regiments burst into
+view like armed men just born of the earth.  The youth perceived that
+the time had come.  He was about to be measured.  For a moment he felt
+in the face of his great trial like a babe, and the flesh over his
+heart seemed very thin.  He seized time to look about him calculatingly.
+
+But he instantly saw that it would be impossible for him to escape from
+the regiment.  It inclosed him.  And there were iron laws of tradition
+and law on four sides.  He was in a moving box.
+
+As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished
+to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will.  He had been
+dragged by the merciless government.  And now they were taking him out
+to be slaughtered.
+
+The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed across a little stream.  The
+mournful current moved slowly on, and from the water, shaded black,
+some white bubble eyes looked at the men.
+
+As they climbed the hill on the farther side artillery began to boom.
+Here the youth forgot many things as he felt a sudden impulse of
+curiosity.  He scrambled up the bank with a speed that could not be
+exceeded by a bloodthirsty man.
+
+He expected a battle scene.
+
+There were some little fields girted and squeezed by a forest.  Spread
+over the grass and in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and
+waving lines of skirmishers who were running hither and thither and
+firing at the landscape. A dark battle line lay upon a sunstruck
+clearing that gleamed orange color.  A flag fluttered.
+
+Other regiments floundered up the bank.  The brigade was formed in line
+of battle, and after a pause started slowly through the woods in the
+rear of the receding skirmishers, who were continually melting into the
+scene to appear again farther on.  They were always busy as bees,
+deeply absorbed in their little combats.
+
+The youth tried to observe everything.  He did not use care to avoid
+trees and branches, and his forgotten feet were constantly knocking
+against stones or getting entangled in briers. He was aware that these
+battalions with their commotions were woven red and startling into the
+gentle fabric of softened greens and browns. It looked to be a wrong
+place for a battle field.
+
+The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into thickets
+and at distant and prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies--hidden,
+mysterious, solemn.
+
+Once the line encountered the body of a dead soldier.  He lay upon his
+back staring at the sky. He was dressed in an awkward suit of yellowish
+brown.  The youth could see that the soles of his shoes had been worn
+to the thinness of writing paper, and from a great rent in one the dead
+foot projected piteously.  And it was as if fate had betrayed the
+soldier.  In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life
+he had perhaps concealed from his friends.
+
+The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse. The invulnerable dead
+man forced a way for himself.  The youth looked keenly at the ashen
+face. The wind raised the tawny beard.  It moved as if a hand were
+stroking it.  He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and
+stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer
+to the Question.
+
+During the march the ardor which the youth had acquired when out of
+view of the field rapidly faded to nothing.  His curiosity was quite
+easily satisfied.  If an intense scene had caught him with its wild
+swing as he came to the top of the bank, he might have gone roaring on.
+This advance upon Nature was too calm.  He had opportunity to reflect.
+He had time in which to wonder about himself and to attempt to probe
+his sensations.
+
+Absurd ideas took hold upon him.  He thought that he did not relish the
+landscape. It threatened him.  A coldness swept over his back, and it
+is true that his trousers felt to him that they were no fit for his
+legs at all.
+
+A house standing placidly in distant fields had to him an ominous look.
+The shadows of the woods were formidable.  He was certain that in this
+vista there lurked fierce-eyed hosts.  The swift thought came to him
+that the generals did not know what they were about.  It was all a
+trap.  Suddenly those close forests would bristle with rifle barrels.
+Ironlike brigades would appear in the rear.  They were all going to be
+sacrificed.  The generals were stupids.  The enemy would presently
+swallow the whole command.  He glared about him, expecting to see the
+stealthy approach of his death.
+
+He thought that he must break from the ranks and harangue his comrades.
+They must not all be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would come to
+pass unless they were informed of these dangers.  The generals were
+idiots to send them marching into a regular pen.  There was but one
+pair of eyes in the corps.  He would step forth and make a speech.
+Shrill and passionate words came to his lips.
+
+The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on
+through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and
+saw, for the most part, expressions of deep interest, as if they were
+investigating something that had fascinated them.  One or two stepped
+with overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged into war.  Others
+walked as upon thin ice.  The greater part of the untested men appeared
+quiet and absorbed.  They were going to look at war, the red
+animal--war, the blood-swollen god.  And they were deeply engrossed in
+this march.
+
+As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at his throat.  He saw that
+even if the men were tottering with fear they would laugh at his
+warning.  They would jeer him, and, if practicable, pelt him with
+missiles.  Admitting that he might be wrong, a frenzied declamation of
+the kind would turn him into a worm.
+
+He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who knows that he is doomed alone
+to unwritten responsibilities.  He lagged, with tragic glances at the
+sky.
+
+He was surprised presently by the young lieutenant of his company, who
+began heartily to beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and
+insolent voice: "Come, young man, get up into ranks there.  No
+skulking'll do here."  He mended his pace with suitable haste.  And he
+hated the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine minds.  He was a
+mere brute.
+
+After a time the brigade was halted in the cathedral light of a forest.
+The busy skirmishers were still popping.  Through the aisles of the
+wood could be seen the floating smoke from their rifles.  Sometimes it
+went up in little balls, white and compact.
+
+During this halt many men in the regiment began erecting tiny hills in
+front of them.  They used stones, sticks, earth, and anything they
+thought might turn a bullet.  Some built comparatively large ones,
+while others seemed content with little ones.
+
+This procedure caused a discussion among the men.  Some wished to fight
+like duelists, believing it to be correct to stand erect and be, from
+their feet to their foreheads, a mark.  They said they scorned the
+devices of the cautious.  But the others scoffed in reply, and pointed
+to the veterans on the flanks who were digging at the ground like
+terriers.  In a short time there was quite a barricade along the
+regimental fronts. Directly, however, they were ordered to withdraw
+from that place.
+
+This astounded the youth.  He forgot his stewing over the advance
+movement.  "Well, then, what did they march us out here for?" he
+demanded of the tall soldier.  The latter with calm faith began a heavy
+explanation, although he had been compelled to leave a little
+protection of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much care and
+skill.
+
+When the regiment was aligned in another position each man's regard for
+his safety caused another line of small intrenchments.  They ate their
+noon meal behind a third one.  They were moved from this one also. They
+were marched from place to place with apparent aimlessness.
+
+The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle.
+He saw his salvation in such a change.  Hence this waiting was an
+ordeal to him.  He was in a fever of impatience.  He considered that
+there was denoted a lack of purpose on the part of the generals. He
+began to complain to the tall soldier.  "I can't stand this much
+longer," he cried.  "I don't see what good it does to make us wear out
+our legs for nothin'."  He wished to return to camp, knowing that this
+affair was a blue demonstration; or else to go into a battle and
+discover that he had been a fool in his doubts, and was, in truth, a
+man of traditional courage. The strain of present circumstances he felt
+to be intolerable.
+
+The philosophical tall soldier measured a sandwich of cracker and pork
+and swallowed it in a nonchalant manner.  "Oh, I suppose we must go
+reconnoitering around the country jest to keep 'em from getting too
+close, or to develop 'em, or something."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud soldier.
+
+"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd rather do anything 'most
+than go tramping 'round the country all day doing no good to nobody and
+jest tiring ourselves out."
+
+"So would I," said the loud soldier.  "It ain't right.  I tell you if
+anybody with any sense was a-runnin' this army it--"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private.  "You little fool.  You little
+damn' cuss.  You ain't had that there coat and them pants on for six
+months, and yet you talk as if--"
+
+"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway," interrupted the other.  "I
+didn't come here to walk.  I could 'ave walked to home--'round an'
+'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk."
+
+The tall one, red-faced, swallowed another sandwich as if taking poison
+in despair.
+
+But gradually, as he chewed, his face became again quiet and contented.
+He could not rage in fierce argument in the presence of such
+sandwiches.  During his meals he always wore an air of blissful
+contemplation of the food he had swallowed.  His spirit seemed then to
+be communing with the viands.
+
+He accepted new environment and circumstance with great coolness,
+eating from his haversack at every opportunity.  On the march he went
+along with the stride of a hunter, objecting to neither gait nor
+distance.  And he had not raised his voice when he had been ordered
+away from three little protective piles of earth and stone, each of
+which had been an engineering feat worthy of being made sacred to the
+name of his grandmother.
+
+In the afternoon the regiment went out over the same ground it had
+taken in the morning.  The landscape then ceased to threaten the youth.
+He had been close to it and become familiar with it.
+
+When, however, they began to pass into a new region, his old fears of
+stupidity and incompetence reassailed him, but this time he doggedly
+let them babble.  He was occupied with his problem, and in his
+desperation he concluded that the stupidity did not greatly matter.
+
+Once he thought he had concluded that it would be better to get killed
+directly and end his troubles.  Regarding death thus out of the corner
+of his eye, he conceived it to be nothing but rest, and he was filled
+with a momentary astonishment that he should have made an extraordinary
+commotion over the mere matter of getting killed.  He would die; he
+would go to some place where he would be understood. It was useless to
+expect appreciation of his profound and fine senses from such men as
+the lieutenant.  He must look to the grave for comprehension.
+
+The skirmish fire increased to a long chattering sound.  With it was
+mingled far-away cheering.  A battery spoke.
+
+Directly the youth would see the skirmishers running.  They were
+pursued by the sound of musketry fire.  After a time the hot, dangerous
+flashes of the rifles were visible.  Smoke clouds went slowly and
+insolently across the fields like observant phantoms.  The din became
+crescendo, like the roar of an oncoming train.
+
+A brigade ahead of them and on the right went into action with a
+rending roar.  It was as if it had exploded.  And thereafter it lay
+stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall, that one was obliged
+to look twice at to make sure that it was smoke.
+
+The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spell
+bound.  His eyes grew wide and busy with the action of the scene.  His
+mouth was a little ways open.
+
+Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid upon his shoulder.
+Awakening from his trance of observation he turned and beheld the loud
+soldier.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said the latter, with intense
+gloom.  He was quite pale and his girlish lip was trembling.
+
+"Eh?" murmured the youth in great astonishment.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," continued the loud soldier.
+"Something tells me--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I'm a gone coon this first time and--and I w-want you to take these
+here things--to--my--folks."  He ended in a quavering sob of pity for
+himself.  He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow
+envelope.
+
+"Why, what the devil--" began the youth again.
+
+But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and
+raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner and turned away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The brigade was halted in the fringe of a grove.  The men crouched
+among the trees and pointed their restless guns out at the fields. They
+tried to look beyond the smoke.
+
+Out of this haze they could see running men. Some shouted information
+and gestured as they hurried.
+
+The men of the new regiment watched and listened eagerly, while their
+tongues ran on in gossip of the battle.  They mouthed rumors that had
+flown like birds out of the unknown.
+
+"They say Perry has been driven in with big loss."
+
+"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital.  He said he was sick.  That smart
+lieutenant is commanding 'G' Company.  Th' boys say they won't be under
+Carrott no more if they all have t' desert. They allus knew he was a--"
+
+"Hannises' batt'ry is took."
+
+"It ain't either.  I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on th' left not more'n
+fifteen minutes ago."
+
+"Well--"
+
+"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull cammand of th' 304th
+when we go inteh action, an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as
+never another one reg'ment done."
+
+"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left. They say th' enemy driv'
+our line inteh a devil of a swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."
+
+"No sech thing.  Hannises' batt'ry was 'long here 'bout a minute ago."
+
+"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a good off'cer.  He ain't afraid 'a
+nothin'."
+
+"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he ses his brigade fit th' hull
+rebel army fer four hours over on th' turnpike road an' killed about
+five thousand of 'em.  He ses one more sech fight as that an' th' war
+'ll be over."
+
+"Bill wasn't scared either.  No, sir!  It wasn't that.  Bill ain't
+a-gittin' scared easy.  He was jest mad, that's what he was.  When that
+feller trod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin' t' give his
+hand t' his country, but he be dumbed if he was goin' t' have every
+dumb bushwhacker in th' kentry walkin' 'round on it.  Se he went t' th'
+hospital disregardless of th' fight.  Three fingers was crunched.  Th'
+dern doctor wanted t' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he raised a heluva row, I
+hear.  He's a funny feller."
+
+The din in front swelled to a tremendous chorus.  The youth and his
+fellows were frozen to silence.  They could see a flag that tossed in
+the smoke angrily.  Near it were the blurred and agitated forms of
+troops.  There came a turbulent stream of men across the fields.  A
+battery changing position at a frantic gallop scattered the stragglers
+right and left.
+
+A shell screaming like a storm banshee went over the huddled heads of
+the reserves.  It landed in the grove, and exploding redly flung the
+brown earth.  There was a little shower of pine needles.
+
+Bullets began to whistle among the branches and nip at the trees. Twigs
+and leaves came sailing down.  It was as if a thousand axes, wee and
+invisible, were being wielded.  Many of the men were constantly dodging
+and ducking their heads.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company was shot in the hand.  He began
+to swear so wondrously that a nervous laugh went along the regimental
+line.  The officer's profanity sounded conventional.  It relieved the
+tightened senses of the new men.  It was as if he had hit his fingers
+with a tack hammer at home.
+
+He held the wounded member carefully away from his side so that the
+blood would not drip upon his trousers.
+
+The captain of the company, tucking his sword under his arm, produced a
+handkerchief and began to bind with it the lieutenant's wound. And they
+disputed as to how the binding should be done.
+
+The battle flag in the distance jerked about madly.  It seemed to be
+struggling to free itself from an agony.  The billowing smoke was
+filled with horizontal flashes.
+
+Men running swiftly emerged from it.  They grew in numbers until it was
+seen that the whole command was fleeing.  The flag suddenly sank down
+as if dying.  Its motion as it fell was a gesture of despair.
+
+Wild yells came from behind the walls of smoke.  A sketch in gray and
+red dissolved into a moblike body of men who galloped like wild horses.
+
+The veteran regiments on the right and left of the 304th immediately
+began to jeer.  With the passionate song of the bullets and the banshee
+shrieks of shells were mingled loud catcalls and bits of facetious
+advice concerning places of safety.
+
+But the new regiment was breathless with horror.  "Gawd!  Saunders's
+got crushed!" whispered the man at the youth's elbow.  They shrank back
+and crouched as if compelled to await a flood.
+
+The youth shot a swift glance along the blue ranks of the regiment. The
+profiles were motionless, carven; and afterward he remembered that the
+color sergeant was standing with his legs apart, as if he expected to
+be pushed to the ground.
+
+The following throng went whirling around the flank.  Here and there
+were officers carried along on the stream like exasperated chips.  They
+were striking about them with their swords and with their left fists,
+punching every head they could reach.  They cursed like highwaymen.
+
+A mounted officer displayed the furious anger of a spoiled child.  He
+raged with his head, his arms, and his legs.
+
+Another, the commander of the brigade, was galloping about bawling. His
+hat was gone and his clothes were awry.  He resembled a man who has
+come from bed to go to a fire.  The hoofs of his horse often threatened
+the heads of the running men, but they scampered with singular fortune.
+In this rush they were apparently all deaf and blind.  They heeded not
+the largest and longest of the oaths that were thrown at them from all
+directions.
+
+Frequently over this tumult could be heard the grim jokes of the
+critical veterans; but the retreating men apparently were not even
+conscious of the presence of an audience.
+
+The battle reflection that shone for an instant in the faces on the mad
+current made the youth feel that forceful hands from heaven would not
+have been able to have held him in place if he could have got
+intelligent control of his legs.
+
+There was an appalling imprint upon these faces.  The struggle in the
+smoke had pictured an exaggeration of itself on the bleached cheeks and
+in the eyes wild with one desire.
+
+The sight of this stampede exerted a floodlike force that seemed able
+to drag sticks and stones and men from the ground.  They of the
+reserves had to hold on.  They grew pale and firm, and red and quaking.
+
+The youth achieved one little thought in the midst of this chaos.  The
+composite monster which had caused the other troops to flee had not
+then appeared.  He resolved to get a view of it, and then, he thought
+he might very likely run better than the best of them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+There were moments of waiting.  The youth thought of the village street
+at home before the arrival of the circus parade on a day in the spring.
+He remembered how he had stood, a small, thrillful boy, prepared to
+follow the dingy lady upon the white horse, or the band in its faded
+chariot.  He saw the yellow road, the lines of expectant people, and
+the sober houses. He particularly remembered an old fellow who used to
+sit upon a cracker box in front of the store and feign to despise such
+exhibitions.  A thousand details of color and form surged in his mind.
+The old fellow upon the cracker box appeared in middle prominence.
+
+Some one cried, "Here they come!"
+
+There was rustling and muttering among the men.  They displayed a
+feverish desire to have every possible cartridge ready to their hands.
+The boxes were pulled around into various positions, and adjusted with
+great care.  It was as if seven hundred new bonnets were being tried on.
+
+The tall soldier, having prepared his rifle, produced a red
+handkerchief of some kind.  He was engaged in knitting it about his
+throat with exquisite attention to its position, when the cry was
+repeated up and down the line in a muffled roar of sound.
+
+"Here they come!  Here they come!"  Gun locks clicked.
+
+Across the smoke-infested fields came a brown swarm of running men who
+were giving shrill yells.  They came on, stooping and swinging their
+rifles at all angles.  A flag, tilted forward, sped near the front.
+
+As he caught sight of them the youth was momentarily startled by a
+thought that perhaps his gun was not loaded.  He stood trying to rally
+his faltering intellect so that he might recollect the moment when he
+had loaded, but he could not.
+
+A hatless general pulled his dripping horse to a stand near the colonel
+of the 304th.  He shook his fist in the other's face.  "You 've got to
+hold 'em back!" he shouted, savagely; "you 've got to hold 'em back!"
+
+In his agitation the colonel began to stammer. "A-all r-right, General,
+all right, by Gawd!  We--we'll do our--we-we'll d-d-do--do our best,
+General."  The general made a passionate gesture and galloped away. The
+colonel, perchance to relieve his feelings, began to scold like a wet
+parrot.  The youth, turning swiftly to make sure that the rear was
+unmolested, saw the commander regarding his men in a highly regretful
+manner, as if he regretted above everything his association with them.
+
+The man at the youth's elbow was mumbling, as if to himself: "Oh, we
+'re in for it now! oh, we 're in for it now!"
+
+The captain of the company had been pacing excitedly to and fro in the
+rear.  He coaxed in schoolmistress fashion, as to a congregation of
+boys with primers.  His talk was an endless repetition.  "Reserve your
+fire, boys--don't shoot till I tell you--save your fire--wait till they
+get close up--don't be damned fools--"
+
+Perspiration streamed down the youth's face, which was soiled like that
+of a weeping urchin. He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped his
+eyes with his coat sleeve.  His mouth was still a little ways open.
+
+He got the one glance at the foe-swarming field in front of him, and
+instantly ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded.
+Before he was ready to begin--before he had announced to himself that
+he was about to fight--he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into
+position and fired a first wild shot.  Directly he was working at his
+weapon like an automatic affair.
+
+He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing
+fate.  He became not a man but a member.  He felt that something of
+which he was a part--a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country--was in
+a crisis.  He was welded into a common personality which was dominated
+by a single desire.  For some moments he could not flee no more than a
+little finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
+
+If he had thought the regiment was about to be annihilated perhaps he
+could have amputated himself from it.  But its noise gave him
+assurance.  The regiment was like a firework that, once ignited,
+proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It
+wheezed and banged with a mighty power.  He pictured the ground before
+it as strewn with the discomfited.
+
+There was a consciousness always of the presence of his comrades about
+him.  He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the
+cause for which they were fighting.  It was a mysterious fraternity
+born of the smoke and danger of death.
+
+He was at a task.  He was like a carpenter who has made many boxes,
+making still another box, only there was furious haste in his
+movements.  He, in his thought, was careering off in other places, even
+as the carpenter who as he works whistles and thinks of his friend or
+his enemy, his home or a saloon.  And these jolted dreams were never
+perfect to him afterward, but remained a mass of blurred shapes.
+
+Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmosphere--a
+blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack
+like hot stones.  A burning roar filled his ears.
+
+Following this came a red rage.  He developed the acute exasperation of
+a pestered animal, a well-meaning cow worried by dogs.  He had a mad
+feeling against his rifle, which could only be used against one life at
+a time.  He wished to rush forward and strangle with his fingers.  He
+craved a power that would enable him to make a world-sweeping gesture
+and brush all back.  His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage
+into that of a driven beast.
+
+Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger was directed not so much
+against the men whom he knew were rushing toward him as against the
+swirling battle phantoms which were choking him, stuffing their smoke
+robes down his parched throat.  He fought frantically for respite for
+his senses, for air, as a babe being smothered attacks the deadly
+blankets.
+
+There was a blare of heated rage mingled with a certain expression of
+intentness on all faces. Many of the men were making low-toned noises
+with their mouths, and these subdued cheers, snarls, imprecations,
+prayers, made a wild, barbaric song that went as an undercurrent of
+sound, strange and chantlike with the resounding chords of the war
+march.  The man at the youth's elbow was babbling.  In it there was
+something soft and tender like the monologue of a babe.  The tall
+soldier was swearing in a loud voice.  From his lips came a black
+procession of curious oaths.  Of a sudden another broke out in a
+querulous way like a man who has mislaid his hat.  "Well, why don't
+they support us?  Why don't they send supports?  Do they think--"
+
+The youth in his battle sleep heard this as one who dozes hears.
+
+There was a singular absence of heroic poses. The men bending and
+surging in their haste and rage were in every impossible attitude.  The
+steel ramrods clanked and clanged with incessant din as the men pounded
+them furiously into the hot rifle barrels.  The flaps of the cartridge
+boxes were all unfastened, and bobbed idiotically with each movement.
+The rifles, once loaded, were jerked to the shoulder and fired without
+apparent aim into the smoke or at one of the blurred and shifting forms
+which upon the field before the regiment had been growing larger and
+larger like puppets under a magician's hand.
+
+The officers, at their intervals, rearward, neglected to stand in
+picturesque attitudes.  They were bobbing to and fro roaring directions
+and encouragements.  The dimensions of their howls were extraordinary.
+They expended their lungs with prodigal wills.  And often they nearly
+stood upon their heads in their anxiety to observe the enemy on the
+other side of the tumbling smoke.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company had encountered a soldier who had
+fled screaming at the first volley of his comrades.  Behind the lines
+these two were acting a little isolated scene.  The man was blubbering
+and staring with sheeplike eyes at the lieutenant, who had seized him
+by the collar and was pommeling him.  He drove him back into the ranks
+with many blows.  The soldier went mechanically, dully, with his
+animal-like eyes upon the officer.  Perhaps there was to him a divinity
+expressed in the voice of the other--stern, hard, with no reflection of
+fear in it.  He tried to reload his gun, but his shaking hands
+prevented.  The lieutenant was obliged to assist him.
+
+The men dropped here and there like bundles. The captain of the youth's
+company had been killed in an early part of the action.  His body lay
+stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face
+there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some
+friend had done him an ill turn.  The babbling man was grazed by a shot
+that made the blood stream widely down his face.  He clapped both hands
+to his head.  "Oh!" he said, and ran.  Another grunted suddenly as if
+he had been struck by a club in the stomach.  He sat down and gazed
+ruefully.  In his eyes there was mute, indefinite reproach.  Farther up
+the line a man, standing behind a tree, had had his knee joint
+splintered by a ball.  Immediately he had dropped his rifle and gripped
+the tree with both arms.  And there he remained, clinging desperately
+and crying for assistance that he might withdraw his hold upon the tree.
+
+At last an exultant yell went along the quivering line.  The firing
+dwindled from an uproar to a last vindictive popping.  As the smoke
+slowly eddied away, the youth saw that the charge had been repulsed.
+The enemy were scattered into reluctant groups.  He saw a man climb to
+the top of the fence, straddle the rail, and fire a parting shot.  The
+waves had receded, leaving bits of dark _débris_ upon the ground.
+
+Some in the regiment began to whoop frenziedly.  Many were silent.
+Apparently they were trying to contemplate themselves.
+
+After the fever had left his veins, the youth thought that at last he
+was going to suffocate. He became aware of the foul atmosphere in which
+he had been struggling.  He was grimy and dripping like a laborer in a
+foundry.  He grasped his canteen and took a long swallow of the warmed
+water.
+
+A sentence with variations went up and down the line.  "Well, we 've
+helt 'em back.  We 've helt 'em back; derned if we haven't."  The men
+said it blissfully, leering at each other with dirty smiles.
+
+The youth turned to look behind him and off to the right and off to the
+left.  He experienced the joy of a man who at last finds leisure in
+which to look about him.
+
+Under foot there were a few ghastly forms motionless.  They lay twisted
+in fantastic contortions.  Arms were bent and heads were turned in
+incredible ways.  It seemed that the dead men must have fallen from
+some great height to get into such positions.  They looked to be dumped
+out upon the ground from the sky.
+
+From a position in the rear of the grove a battery was throwing shells
+over it.  The flash of the guns startled the youth at first.  He
+thought they were aimed directly at him.  Through the trees he watched
+the black figures of the gunners as they worked swiftly and intently.
+Their labor seemed a complicated thing.  He wondered how they could
+remember its formula in the midst of confusion.
+
+The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs. They argued with abrupt
+violence.  It was a grim pow-wow.  Their busy servants ran hither and
+thither.
+
+A small procession of wounded men were going drearily toward the rear.
+It was a flow of blood from the torn body of the brigade.
+
+To the right and to the left were the dark lines of other troops.  Far
+in front he thought he could see lighter masses protruding in points
+from the forest.  They were suggestive of unnumbered thousands.
+
+Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing along the line of the horizon.
+The tiny riders were beating the tiny horses.
+
+From a sloping hill came the sound of cheerings and clashes.  Smoke
+welled slowly through the leaves.
+
+Batteries were speaking with thunderous oratorical effort.  Here and
+there were flags, the red in the stripes dominating.  They splashed
+bits of warm color upon the dark lines of troops.
+
+The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblem.  They were
+like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in a storm.
+
+As he listened to the din from the hillside, to a deep pulsating
+thunder that came from afar to the left, and to the lesser clamors
+which came from many directions, it occurred to him that they were
+fighting, too, over there, and over there, and over there.  Heretofore
+he had supposed that all the battle was directly under his nose.
+
+As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the
+blue, pure sky and the sun gleamings on the trees and fields.  It was
+surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process
+in the midst of so much devilment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The youth awakened slowly.  He came gradually back to a position from
+which he could regard himself.  For moments he had been scrutinizing
+his person in a dazed way as if he had never before seen himself.  Then
+he picked up his cap from the ground.  He wriggled in his jacket to
+make a more comfortable fit, and kneeling relaced his shoe.  He
+thoughtfully mopped his reeking features.
+
+So it was all over at last!  The supreme trial had been passed.  The
+red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished.
+
+He went into an ecstasy of self-satisfaction. He had the most
+delightful sensations of his life. Standing as if apart from himself,
+he viewed that last scene.  He perceived that the man who had fought
+thus was magnificent.
+
+He felt that he was a fine fellow.  He saw himself even with those
+ideals which he had considered as far beyond him.  He smiled in deep
+gratification.
+
+Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and good will.  "Gee! ain't it
+hot, hey?" he said affably to a man who was polishing his streaming
+face with his coat sleeves.
+
+"You bet!" said the other, grinning sociably. "I never seen sech dumb
+hotness."  He sprawled out luxuriously on the ground.  "Gee, yes!  An'
+I hope we don't have no more fightin' till a week from Monday."
+
+There were some handshakings and deep speeches with men whose features
+were familiar, but with whom the youth now felt the bonds of tied
+hearts.  He helped a cursing comrade to bind up a wound of the shin.
+
+But, of a sudden, cries of amazement broke out along the ranks of the
+new regiment.  "Here they come ag'in!  Here they come ag'in!"  The man
+who had sprawled upon the ground started up and said, "Gosh!"
+
+The youth turned quick eyes upon the field. He discerned forms begin to
+swell in masses out of a distant wood.  He again saw the tilted flag
+speeding forward.
+
+The shells, which had ceased to trouble the regiment for a time, came
+swirling again, and exploded in the grass or among the leaves of the
+trees.  They looked to be strange war flowers bursting into fierce
+bloom.
+
+The men groaned.  The luster faded from their eyes.  Their smudged
+countenances now expressed a profound dejection.  They moved their
+stiffened bodies slowly, and watched in sullen mood the frantic
+approach of the enemy.  The slaves toiling in the temple of this god
+began to feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.
+
+They fretted and complained each to each. "Oh, say, this is too much of
+a good thing!  Why can't somebody send us supports?"
+
+"We ain't never goin' to stand this second banging.  I didn't come here
+to fight the hull damn' rebel army."
+
+There was one who raised a doleful cry.  "I wish Bill Smithers had trod
+on my hand, insteader me treddin' on his'n."  The sore joints of the
+regiment creaked as it painfully floundered into position to repulse.
+
+The youth stared.  Surely, he thought, this impossible thing was not
+about to happen.  He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly
+stop, apologize, and retire bowing.  It was all a mistake.
+
+But the firing began somewhere on the regimental line and ripped along
+in both directions. The level sheets of flame developed great clouds of
+smoke that tumbled and tossed in the mild wind near the ground for a
+moment, and then rolled through the ranks as through a gate.  The
+clouds were tinged an earthlike yellow in the sunrays and in the shadow
+were a sorry blue. The flag was sometimes eaten and lost in this mass
+of vapor, but more often it projected, sun-touched, resplendent.
+
+Into the youth's eyes there came a look that one can see in the orbs of
+a jaded horse.  His neck was quivering with nervous weakness and the
+muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless. His hands, too, seemed
+large and awkward as if he was wearing invisible mittens.  And there
+was a great uncertainty about his knee joints.
+
+The words that comrades had uttered previous to the firing began to
+recur to him.  "Oh, say, this is too much of a good thing!  What do
+they take us for--why don't they send supports?  I didn't come here to
+fight the hull damned rebel army."
+
+He began to exaggerate the endurance, the skill, and the valor of those
+who were coming. Himself reeling from exhaustion, he was astonished
+beyond measure at such persistency.  They must be machines of steel. It
+was very gloomy struggling against such affairs, wound up perhaps to
+fight until sundown.
+
+He slowly lifted his rifle and catching a glimpse of the thickspread
+field he blazed at a cantering cluster.  He stopped then and began to
+peer as best he could through the smoke.  He caught changing views of
+the ground covered with men who were all running like pursued imps, and
+yelling.
+
+To the youth it was an onslaught of redoubtable dragons.  He became
+like the man who lost his legs at the approach of the red and green
+monster.  He waited in a sort of a horrified, listening attitude.  He
+seemed to shut his eyes and wait to be gobbled.
+
+A man near him who up to this time had been working feverishly at his
+rifle suddenly stopped and ran with howls.  A lad whose face had borne
+an expression of exalted courage, the majesty of he who dares give his
+life, was, at an instant, smitten abject.  He blanched like one who has
+come to the edge of a cliff at midnight and is suddenly made aware.
+There was a revelation.  He, too, threw down his gun and fled.  There
+was no shame in his face.  He ran like a rabbit.
+
+Others began to scamper away through the smoke.  The youth turned his
+head, shaken from his trance by this movement as if the regiment was
+leaving him behind.  He saw the few fleeting forms.
+
+He yelled then with fright and swung about. For a moment, in the great
+clamor, he was like a proverbial chicken.  He lost the direction of
+safety.  Destruction threatened him from all points.
+
+Directly he began to speed toward the rear in great leaps.  His rifle
+and cap were gone.  His unbuttoned coat bulged in the wind.  The flap
+of his cartridge box bobbed wildly, and his canteen, by its slender
+cord, swung out behind.  On his face was all the horror of those things
+which he imagined.
+
+The lieutenant sprang forward bawling.  The youth saw his features
+wrathfully red, and saw him make a dab with his sword.  His one thought
+of the incident was that the lieutenant was a peculiar creature to feel
+interested in such matters upon this occasion.
+
+He ran like a blind man.  Two or three times he fell down.  Once he
+knocked his shoulder so heavily against a tree that he went headlong.
+
+Since he had turned his back upon the fight his fears had been
+wondrously magnified.  Death about to thrust him between the shoulder
+blades was far more dreadful than death about to smite him between the
+eyes.  When he thought of it later, he conceived the impression that it
+is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing.  The
+noises of the battle were like stones; he believed himself liable to be
+crushed.
+
+As he ran he mingled with others.  He dimly saw men on his right and on
+his left, and he heard footsteps behind him.  He thought that all the
+regiment was fleeing, pursued by these ominous crashes.
+
+In his flight the sound of these following footsteps gave him his one
+meager relief.  He felt vaguely that death must make a first choice of
+the men who were nearest; the initial morsels for the dragons would be
+then those who were following him.  So he displayed the zeal of an
+insane sprinter in his purpose to keep them in the rear. There was a
+race.
+
+As he, leading, went across a little field, he found himself in a
+region of shells.  They hurtled over his head with long wild screams.
+As he listened he imagined them to have rows of cruel teeth that
+grinned at him.  Once one lit before him and the livid lightning of the
+explosion effectually barred the way in his chosen direction.  He
+groveled on the ground and then springing up went careering off through
+some bushes.
+
+He experienced a thrill of amazement when he came within view of a
+battery in action.  The men there seemed to be in conventional moods,
+altogether unaware of the impending annihilation.  The battery was
+disputing with a distant antagonist and the gunners were wrapped in
+admiration of their shooting.  They were continually bending in coaxing
+postures over the guns.  They seemed to be patting them on the back and
+encouraging them with words.  The guns, stolid and undaunted, spoke
+with dogged valor.
+
+The precise gunners were coolly enthusiastic. They lifted their eyes
+every chance to the smoke-wreathed hillock from whence the hostile
+battery addressed them.  The youth pitied them as he ran.  Methodical
+idiots!  Machine-like fools!  The refined joy of planting shells in the
+midst of the other battery's formation would appear a little thing when
+the infantry came swooping out of the woods.
+
+The face of a youthful rider, who was jerking his frantic horse with an
+abandon of temper he might display in a placid barnyard, was impressed
+deeply upon his mind.  He knew that he looked upon a man who would
+presently be dead.
+
+Too, he felt a pity for the guns, standing, six good comrades, in a
+bold row.
+
+He saw a brigade going to the relief of its pestered fellows.  He
+scrambled upon a wee hill and watched it sweeping finely, keeping
+formation in difficult places.  The blue of the line was crusted with
+steel color, and the brilliant flags projected. Officers were shouting.
+
+This sight also filled him with wonder.  The brigade was hurrying
+briskly to be gulped into the infernal mouths of the war god.  What
+manner of men were they, anyhow?  Ah, it was some wondrous breed!  Or
+else they didn't comprehend--the fools.
+
+A furious order caused commotion in the artillery.  An officer on a
+bounding horse made maniacal motions with his arms.  The teams went
+swinging up from the rear, the guns were whirled about, and the battery
+scampered away.  The cannon with their noses poked slantingly at the
+ground grunted and grumbled like stout men, brave but with objections
+to hurry.
+
+The youth went on, moderating his pace since he had left the place of
+noises.
+
+Later he came upon a general of division seated upon a horse that
+pricked its ears in an interested way at the battle.  There was a great
+gleaming of yellow and patent leather about the saddle and bridle.  The
+quiet man astride looked mouse-colored upon such a splendid charger.
+
+A jingling staff was galloping hither and thither.  Sometimes the
+general was surrounded by horsemen and at other times he was quite
+alone.  He looked to be much harassed.  He had the appearance of a
+business man whose market is swinging up and down.
+
+The youth went slinking around this spot. He went as near as he dared
+trying to overhear words.  Perhaps the general, unable to comprehend
+chaos, might call upon him for information. And he could tell him.  He
+knew all concerning it.  Of a surety the force was in a fix, and any
+fool could see that if they did not retreat while they had
+opportunity--why--
+
+He felt that he would like to thrash the general, or at least approach
+and tell him in plain words exactly what he thought him to be.  It was
+criminal to stay calmly in one spot and make no effort to stay
+destruction.  He loitered in a fever of eagerness for the division
+commander to apply to him.
+
+As he warily moved about, he heard the general call out irritably:
+"Tompkins, go over an' see Taylor, an' tell him not t' be in such an
+all-fired hurry; tell him t' halt his brigade in th' edge of th' woods;
+tell him t' detach a reg'ment--say I think th' center 'll break if we
+don't help it out some; tell him t' hurry up."
+
+A slim youth on a fine chestnut horse caught these swift words from the
+mouth of his superior. He made his horse bound into a gallop almost
+from a walk in his haste to go upon his mission. There was a cloud of
+dust.
+
+A moment later the youth saw the general bounce excitedly in his saddle.
+
+"Yes, by heavens, they have!"  The officer leaned forward.  His face
+was aflame with excitement.  "Yes, by heavens, they 've held 'im! They
+'ve held 'im!"
+
+He began to blithely roar at his staff: "We 'll wallop 'im now.  We 'll
+wallop 'im now.  We 've got 'em sure."  He turned suddenly upon an aid:
+"Here--you--Jones--quick--ride after Tompkins--see Taylor--tell him t'
+go in--everlastingly--like blazes--anything."
+
+As another officer sped his horse after the first messenger, the
+general beamed upon the earth like a sun.  In his eyes was a desire to
+chant a paean.  He kept repeating, "They 've held 'em, by heavens!"
+
+His excitement made his horse plunge, and he merrily kicked and swore
+at it.  He held a little carnival of joy on horseback.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The youth cringed as if discovered in a crime. By heavens, they had won
+after all!  The imbecile line had remained and become victors. He could
+hear cheering.
+
+He lifted himself upon his toes and looked in the direction of the
+fight.  A yellow fog lay wallowing on the treetops.  From beneath it
+came the clatter of musketry.  Hoarse cries told of an advance.
+
+He turned away amazed and angry.  He felt that he had been wronged.
+
+He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached.  He had
+done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army.
+He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty
+of every little piece to rescue itself if possible.  Later the officers
+could fit the little pieces together again, and make a battle front. If
+none of the little pieces were wise enough to save themselves from the
+flurry of death at such a time, why, then, where would be the army? It
+was all plain that he had proceeded according to very correct and
+commendable rules.  His actions had been sagacious things.  They had
+been full of strategy.  They were the work of a master's legs.
+
+Thoughts of his comrades came to him.  The brittle blue line had
+withstood the blows and won. He grew bitter over it.  It seemed that
+the blind ignorance and stupidity of those little pieces had betrayed
+him.  He had been overturned and crushed by their lack of sense in
+holding the position, when intelligent deliberation would have
+convinced them that it was impossible.  He, the enlightened man who
+looks afar in the dark, had fled because of his superior perceptions
+and knowledge.  He felt a great anger against his comrades.  He knew it
+could be proved that they had been fools.
+
+He wondered what they would remark when later he appeared in camp.  His
+mind heard howls of derision.  Their density would not enable them to
+understand his sharper point of view.
+
+He began to pity himself acutely.  He was ill used.  He was trodden
+beneath the feet of an iron injustice.  He had proceeded with wisdom
+and from the most righteous motives under heaven's blue only to be
+frustrated by hateful circumstances.
+
+A dull, animal-like rebellion against his fellows, war in the abstract,
+and fate grew within him.  He shambled along with bowed head, his brain
+in a tumult of agony and despair.  When he looked loweringly up,
+quivering at each sound, his eyes had the expression of those of a
+criminal who thinks his guilt and his punishment great, and knows that
+he can find no words.
+
+He went from the fields into a thick woods, as if resolved to bury
+himself.  He wished to get out of hearing of the crackling shots which
+were to him like voices.
+
+The ground was cluttered with vines and bushes, and the trees grew
+close and spread out like bouquets.  He was obliged to force his way
+with much noise.  The creepers, catching against his legs, cried out
+harshly as their sprays were torn from the barks of trees.  The
+swishing saplings tried to make known his presence to the world.  He
+could not conciliate the forest.  As he made his way, it was always
+calling out protestations.  When he separated embraces of trees and
+vines the disturbed foliages waved their arms and turned their face
+leaves toward him.  He dreaded lest these noisy motions and cries
+should bring men to look at him.  So he went far, seeking dark and
+intricate places.
+
+After a time the sound of musketry grew faint and the cannon boomed in
+the distance.  The sun, suddenly apparent, blazed among the trees.  The
+insects were making rhythmical noises.  They seemed to be grinding
+their teeth in unison.  A woodpecker stuck his impudent head around the
+side of a tree.  A bird flew on lighthearted wing.
+
+Off was the rumble of death.  It seemed now that Nature had no ears.
+
+This landscape gave him assurance.  A fair field holding life.  It was
+the religion of peace. It would die if its timid eyes were compelled to
+see blood.  He conceived Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to
+tragedy.
+
+He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering
+fear.  High in a treetop he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously
+from behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepidation.
+
+The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition. There was the law, he
+said.  Nature had given him a sign.  The squirrel, immediately upon
+recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado.  He did not
+stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an
+upward glance at the sympathetic heavens.  On the contrary, he had fled
+as fast as his legs could carry him; and he was but an ordinary
+squirrel, too--doubtless no philosopher of his race.  The youth wended,
+feeling that Nature was of his mind. She re-enforced his argument with
+proofs that lived where the sun shone.
+
+Once he found himself almost into a swamp. He was obliged to walk upon
+bog tufts and watch his feet to keep from the oily mire.  Pausing at
+one time to look about him he saw, out at some black water, a small
+animal pounce in and emerge directly with a gleaming fish.
+
+The youth went again into the deep thickets. The brushed branches made
+a noise that drowned the sounds of cannon.  He walked on, going from
+obscurity into promises of a greater obscurity.
+
+At length he reached a place where the high, arching boughs made a
+chapel.  He softly pushed the green doors aside and entered.  Pine
+needles were a gentle brown carpet.  There was a religious half light.
+
+Near the threshold he stopped, horror-stricken at the sight of a thing.
+
+He was being looked at by a dead man who was seated with his back
+against a columnlike tree.  The corpse was dressed in a uniform that
+once had been blue, but was now faded to a melancholy shade of green.
+The eyes, staring at the youth, had changed to the dull hue to be seen
+on the side of a dead fish.  The mouth was open. Its red had changed to
+an appalling yellow. Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants.
+One was trundling some sort of a bundle along the upper lip.
+
+The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing.  He was for moments
+turned to stone before it.  He remained staring into the liquid-looking
+eyes.  The dead man and the living man exchanged a long look.  Then the
+youth cautiously put one hand behind him and brought it against a tree.
+Leaning upon this he retreated, step by step, with his face still
+toward the thing.  He feared that if he turned his back the body might
+spring up and stealthily pursue him.
+
+The branches, pushing against him, threatened to throw him over upon
+it.  His unguided feet, too, caught aggravatingly in brambles; and with
+it all he received a subtle suggestion to touch the corpse.  As he
+thought of his hand upon it he shuddered profoundly.
+
+At last he burst the bonds which had fastened him to the spot and fled,
+unheeding the underbrush.  He was pursued by a sight of the black ants
+swarming greedily upon the gray face and venturing horribly near to the
+eyes.
+
+After a time he paused, and, breathless and panting, listened.  He
+imagined some strange voice would come from the dead throat and squawk
+after him in horrible menaces.
+
+The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft
+wind.  A sad silence was upon the little guarding edifice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The trees began softly to sing a hymn of twilight.  The sun sank until
+slanted bronze rays struck the forest.  There was a lull in the noises
+of insects as if they had bowed their beaks and were making a
+devotional pause.  There was silence save for the chanted chorus of the
+trees.
+
+Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke a tremendous clangor of
+sounds.  A crimson roar came from the distance.
+
+The youth stopped.  He was transfixed by this terrific medley of all
+noises.  It was as if worlds were being rended.  There was the ripping
+sound of musketry and the breaking crash of the artillery.
+
+His mind flew in all directions.  He conceived the two armies to be at
+each other panther fashion.  He listened for a time.  Then he began to
+run in the direction of the battle.  He saw that it was an ironical
+thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such
+pains to avoid.  But he said, in substance, to himself that if the
+earth and the moon were about to clash, many persons would doubtless
+plan to get upon the roofs to witness the collision.
+
+As he ran, he became aware that the forest had stopped its music, as if
+at last becoming capable of hearing the foreign sounds.  The trees
+hushed and stood motionless.  Everything seemed to be listening to the
+crackle and clatter and earshaking thunder.  The chorus pealed over the
+still earth.
+
+It suddenly occurred to the youth that the fight in which he had been
+was, after all, but perfunctory popping.  In the hearing of this
+present din he was doubtful if he had seen real battle scenes.  This
+uproar explained a celestial battle; it was tumbling hordes a-struggle
+in the air.
+
+Reflecting, he saw a sort of a humor in the point of view of himself
+and his fellows during the late encounter.  They had taken themselves
+and the enemy very seriously and had imagined that they were deciding
+the war.  Individuals must have supposed that they were cutting the
+letters of their names deep into everlasting tablets of brass, or
+enshrining their reputations forever in the hearts of their countrymen,
+while, as to fact, the affair would appear in printed reports under a
+meek and immaterial title.  But he saw that it was good, else, he said,
+in battle every one would surely run save forlorn hopes and their ilk.
+
+He went rapidly on.  He wished to come to the edge of the forest that
+he might peer out.
+
+As he hastened, there passed through his mind pictures of stupendous
+conflicts.  His accumulated thought upon such subjects was used to form
+scenes.  The noise was as the voice of an eloquent being, describing.
+
+Sometimes the brambles formed chains and tried to hold him back. Trees,
+confronting him, stretched out their arms and forbade him to pass.
+After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled
+him with a fine bitterness.  It seemed that Nature could not be quite
+ready to kill him.
+
+But he obstinately took roundabout ways, and presently he was where he
+could see long gray walls of vapor where lay battle lines.  The voices
+of cannon shook him.  The musketry sounded in long irregular surges
+that played havoc with his ears.  He stood regardant for a moment.  His
+eyes had an awestruck expression.  He gawked in the direction of the
+fight.
+
+Presently he proceeded again on his forward way.  The battle was like
+the grinding of an immense and terrible machine to him.  Its
+complexities and powers, its grim processes, fascinated him.  He must
+go close and see it produce corpses.
+
+He came to a fence and clambered over it. On the far side, the ground
+was littered with clothes and guns.  A newspaper, folded up, lay in the
+dirt.  A dead soldier was stretched with his face hidden in his arm.
+Farther off there was a group of four or five corpses keeping mournful
+company.  A hot sun had blazed upon the spot.
+
+In this place the youth felt that he was an invader.  This forgotten
+part of the battle ground was owned by the dead men, and he hurried, in
+the vague apprehension that one of the swollen forms would rise and
+tell him to begone.
+
+He came finally to a road from which he could see in the distance dark
+and agitated bodies of troops, smoke-fringed.  In the lane was a
+blood-stained crowd streaming to the rear. The wounded men were
+cursing, groaning, and wailing.  In the air, always, was a mighty swell
+of sound that it seemed could sway the earth. With the courageous words
+of the artillery and the spiteful sentences of the musketry mingled red
+cheers.  And from this region of noises came the steady current of the
+maimed.
+
+One of the wounded men had a shoeful of blood.  He hopped like a
+schoolboy in a game. He was laughing hysterically.
+
+One was swearing that he had been shot in the arm through the
+commanding general's mismanagement of the army.  One was marching with
+an air imitative of some sublime drum major. Upon his features was an
+unholy mixture of merriment and agony.  As he marched he sang a bit of
+doggerel in a high and quavering voice:
+
+
+  "Sing a song 'a vic'try,
+    A pocketful 'a bullets,
+  Five an' twenty dead men
+    Baked in a--pie."
+
+Parts of the procession limped and staggered to this tune.
+
+Another had the gray seal of death already upon his face.  His lips
+were curled in hard lines and his teeth were clinched.  His hands were
+bloody from where he had pressed them upon his wound.  He seemed to be
+awaiting the moment when he should pitch headlong.  He stalked like the
+specter of a soldier, his eyes burning with the power of a stare into
+the unknown.
+
+There were some who proceeded sullenly, full of anger at their wounds,
+and ready to turn upon anything as an obscure cause.
+
+An officer was carried along by two privates. He was peevish.  "Don't
+joggle so, Johnson, yeh fool," he cried.  "Think m' leg is made of
+iron? If yeh can't carry me decent, put me down an' let some one else
+do it."
+
+He bellowed at the tottering crowd who blocked the quick march of his
+bearers.  "Say, make way there, can't yeh?  Make way, dickens take it
+all."
+
+They sulkily parted and went to the roadsides.  As he was carried past
+they made pert remarks to him.  When he raged in reply and threatened
+them, they told him to be damned.
+
+The shoulder of one of the tramping bearers knocked heavily against the
+spectral soldier who was staring into the unknown.
+
+The youth joined this crowd and marched along with it.  The torn bodies
+expressed the awful machinery in which the men had been entangled.
+
+Orderlies and couriers occasionally broke through the throng in the
+roadway, scattering wounded men right and left, galloping on followed
+by howls.  The melancholy march was continually disturbed by the
+messengers, and sometimes by bustling batteries that came swinging and
+thumping down upon them, the officers shouting orders to clear the way.
+
+There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from
+hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youth's side.  He was
+listening with eagerness and much humility to the lurid descriptions of
+a bearded sergeant.  His lean features wore an expression of awe and
+admiration.  He was like a listener in a country store to wondrous
+tales told among the sugar barrels.  He eyed the story-teller with
+unspeakable wonder.  His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.
+
+The sergeant, taking note of this, gave pause to his elaborate history
+while he administered a sardonic comment.  "Be keerful, honey, you 'll
+be a-ketchin' flies," he said.
+
+The tattered man shrank back abashed.
+
+After a time he began to sidle near to the youth, and in a different
+way try to make him a friend.  His voice was gentle as a girl's voice
+and his eyes were pleading.  The youth saw with surprise that the
+soldier had two wounds, one in the head, bound with a blood-soaked rag,
+and the other in the arm, making that member dangle like a broken bough.
+
+After they had walked together for some time the tattered man mustered
+sufficient courage to speak.  "Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he
+timidly said.  The youth, deep in thought, glanced up at the bloody and
+grim figure with its lamblike eyes.  "What?"
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?
+
+"Yes," said the youth shortly.  He quickened his pace.
+
+But the other hobbled industriously after him. There was an air of
+apology in his manner, but he evidently thought that he needed only to
+talk for a time, and the youth would perceive that he was a good fellow.
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he began in a small voice, and then
+he achieved the fortitude to continue.  "Dern me if I ever see fellers
+fight so.  Laws, how they did fight!  I knowed th' boys 'd like when
+they onct got square at it. Th' boys ain't had no fair chanct up t'
+now, but this time they showed what they was.  I knowed it 'd turn out
+this way.  Yeh can't lick them boys. No, sir!  They're fighters, they
+be."
+
+He breathed a deep breath of humble admiration.  He had looked at the
+youth for encouragement several times.  He received none, but gradually
+he seemed to get absorbed in his subject.
+
+"I was talkin' 'cross pickets with a boy from Georgie, onct, an' that
+boy, he ses, 'Your fellers 'll all run like hell when they onct hearn a
+gun,' he ses.  'Mebbe they will,' I ses, 'but I don't b'lieve none of
+it,' I ses; 'an' b'jiminey,' I ses back t' 'um, 'mebbe your fellers 'll
+all run like hell when they onct hearn a gun,' I ses.  He larfed. Well,
+they didn't run t' day, did they, hey?  No, sir!  They fit, an' fit,
+an' fit."
+
+His homely face was suffused with a light of love for the army which
+was to him all things beautiful and powerful.
+
+After a time he turned to the youth.  "Where yeh hit, ol' boy?" he
+asked in a brotherly tone.
+
+The youth felt instant panic at this question, although at first its
+full import was not borne in upon him.
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"Where yeh hit?" repeated the tattered man.
+
+"Why," began the youth, "I--I--that is--why--I--"
+
+He turned away suddenly and slid through the crowd.  His brow was
+heavily flushed, and his fingers were picking nervously at one of his
+buttons.  He bent his head and fastened his eyes studiously upon the
+button as if it were a little problem.
+
+The tattered man looked after him in astonishment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was
+not in sight.  Then he started to walk on with the others.
+
+But he was amid wounds.  The mob of men was bleeding.  Because of the
+tattered soldier's question he now felt that his shame could be viewed.
+He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were
+contemplating the letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
+
+At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way.  He
+conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy.  He wished
+that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
+
+The spectral soldier was at his side like a stalking reproach.  The
+man's eyes were still fixed in a stare into the unknown.  His gray,
+appalling face had attracted attention in the crowd, and men, slowing
+to his dreary pace, were walking with him.  They were discussing his
+plight, questioning him and giving him advice.
+
+In a dogged way he repelled them, signing to them to go on and leave
+him alone.  The shadows of his face were deepening and his tight lips
+seemed holding in check the moan of great despair. There could be seen
+a certain stiffness in the movements of his body, as if he were taking
+infinite care not to arouse the passion of his wounds.  As he went on,
+he seemed always looking for a place, like one who goes to choose a
+grave.
+
+Something in the gesture of the man as he waved the bloody and pitying
+soldiers away made the youth start as if bitten.  He yelled in horror.
+Tottering forward he laid a quivering hand upon the man's arm.  As the
+latter slowly turned his waxlike features toward him, the youth
+screamed:
+
+"Gawd!  Jim Conklin!"
+
+The tall soldier made a little commonplace smile.  "Hello, Henry," he
+said.
+
+The youth swayed on his legs and glared strangely.  He stuttered and
+stammered.  "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier held out his gory hand.  There was a curious red and
+black combination of new blood and old blood upon it.  "Where yeh been,
+Henry?" he asked.  He continued in a monotonous voice, "I thought mebbe
+yeh got keeled over.  There 's been thunder t' pay t'-day.  I was
+worryin' about it a good deal."
+
+The youth still lamented.  "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"
+
+"Yeh know," said the tall soldier, "I was out there."  He made a
+careful gesture.  "An', Lord, what a circus!  An', b'jiminey, I got
+shot--I got shot.  Yes, b'jiminey, I got shot."  He reiterated this
+fact in a bewildered way, as if he did not know how it came about.
+
+The youth put forth anxious arms to assist him, but the tall soldier
+went firmly on as if propelled.  Since the youth's arrival as a
+guardian for his friend, the other wounded men had ceased to display
+much interest.  They occupied themselves again in dragging their own
+tragedies toward the rear.
+
+Suddenly, as the two friends marched on, the tall soldier seemed to be
+overcome by a terror. His face turned to a semblance of gray paste. He
+clutched the youth's arm and looked all about him, as if dreading to be
+overheard.  Then he began to speak in a shaking whisper:
+
+"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, Henry--I 'll tell yeh what I 'm 'fraid
+of.  I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down--an' then yeh know--them damned
+artillery wagons--they like as not 'll run over me.  That 's what I 'm
+'fraid of--"
+
+The youth cried out to him hysterically: "I 'll take care of yeh, Jim!
+I'll take care of yeh!  I swear t' Gawd I will!"
+
+"Sure--will yeh, Henry?" the tall soldier beseeched.
+
+"Yes--yes--I tell yeh--I'll take care of yeh, Jim!" protested the
+youth.  He could not speak accurately because of the gulpings in his
+throat.
+
+But the tall soldier continued to beg in a lowly way.  He now hung
+babelike to the youth's arm.  His eyes rolled in the wildness of his
+terror.  "I was allus a good friend t' yeh, wa'n't I, Henry?  I 've
+allus been a pretty good feller, ain't I?  An' it ain't much t' ask, is
+it?  Jest t' pull me along outer th' road?  I 'd do it fer you,
+Wouldn't I, Henry?"
+
+He paused in piteous anxiety to await his friend's reply.
+
+The youth had reached an anguish where the sobs scorched him.  He
+strove to express his loyalty, but he could only make fantastic
+gestures.
+
+However, the tall soldier seemed suddenly to forget all those fears. He
+became again the grim, stalking specter of a soldier.  He went stonily
+forward.  The youth wished his friend to lean upon him, but the other
+always shook his head and strangely protested. "No--no--no--leave me
+be--leave me be--"
+
+His look was fixed again upon the unknown. He moved with mysterious
+purpose, and all of the youth's offers he brushed aside. "No--no--leave
+me be--leave me be--"
+
+The youth had to follow.
+
+Presently the latter heard a voice talking softly near his shoulders.
+Turning he saw that it belonged to the tattered soldier.  "Ye 'd better
+take 'im outa th' road, pardner.  There 's a batt'ry comin' helitywhoop
+down th' road an' he 'll git runned over.  He 's a goner anyhow in
+about five minutes--yeh kin see that.  Ye 'd better take 'im outa th'
+road.  Where th' blazes does he git his stren'th from?"
+
+"Lord knows!" cried the youth.  He was shaking his hands helplessly.
+
+He ran forward presently and grasped the tall soldier by the arm. "Jim!
+Jim!" he coaxed, "come with me."
+
+The tall soldier weakly tried to wrench himself free.  "Huh," he said
+vacantly.  He stared at the youth for a moment.  At last he spoke as if
+dimly comprehending.  "Oh!  Inteh th' fields?  Oh!"
+
+He started blindly through the grass.
+
+The youth turned once to look at the lashing riders and jouncing guns
+of the battery.  He was startled from this view by a shrill outcry from
+the tattered man.
+
+"Gawd!  He's runnin'!"
+
+Turning his head swiftly, the youth saw his friend running in a
+staggering and stumbling way toward a little clump of bushes.  His
+heart seemed to wrench itself almost free from his body at this sight.
+He made a noise of pain. He and the tattered man began a pursuit. There
+was a singular race.
+
+When he overtook the tall soldier he began to plead with all the words
+he could find. "Jim--Jim--what are you doing--what makes you do this
+way--you 'll hurt yerself."
+
+The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face. He protested in a
+dulled way, keeping his eyes fastened on the mystic place of his
+intentions. "No--no--don't tech me--leave me be--leave me be--"
+
+The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at the tall soldier, began
+quaveringly to question him. "Where yeh goin', Jim?  What you thinking
+about?  Where you going?  Tell me, won't you, Jim?"
+
+The tall soldier faced about as upon relentless pursuers.  In his eyes
+there was a great appeal. "Leave me be, can't yeh?  Leave me be fer a
+minnit."
+
+The youth recoiled.  "Why, Jim," he said, in a dazed way, "what's the
+matter with you?"
+
+The tall soldier turned and, lurching dangerously, went on.  The youth
+and the tattered soldier followed, sneaking as if whipped, feeling
+unable to face the stricken man if he should again confront them.  They
+began to have thoughts of a solemn ceremony.  There was something
+rite-like in these movements of the doomed soldier. And there was a
+resemblance in him to a devotee of a mad religion, blood-sucking,
+muscle-wrenching, bone-crushing.  They were awed and afraid. They hung
+back lest he have at command a dreadful weapon.
+
+At last, they saw him stop and stand motionless.  Hastening up, they
+perceived that his face wore an expression telling that he had at last
+found the place for which he had struggled.  His spare figure was
+erect; his bloody hands were quietly at his side.  He was waiting with
+patience for something that he had come to meet.  He was at the
+rendezvous.  They paused and stood, expectant.
+
+There was a silence.
+
+Finally, the chest of the doomed soldier began to heave with a strained
+motion.  It increased in violence until it was as if an animal was
+within and was kicking and tumbling furiously to be free.
+
+This spectacle of gradual strangulation made the youth writhe, and once
+as his friend rolled his eyes, he saw something in them that made him
+sink wailing to the ground.  He raised his voice in a last supreme call.
+
+"Jim--Jim--Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke. He made a gesture.  "Leave
+me be--don't tech me--leave me be--"
+
+There was another silence while he waited.
+
+Suddenly, his form stiffened and straightened. Then it was shaken by a
+prolonged ague.  He stared into space.  To the two watchers there was a
+curious and profound dignity in the firm lines of his awful face.
+
+He was invaded by a creeping strangeness that slowly enveloped him. For
+a moment the tremor of his legs caused him to dance a sort of hideous
+hornpipe.  His arms beat wildly about his head in expression of implike
+enthusiasm.
+
+His tall figure stretched itself to its full height. There was a slight
+rending sound.  Then it began to swing forward, slow and straight, in
+the manner of a falling tree.  A swift muscular contortion made the
+left shoulder strike the ground first.
+
+The body seemed to bounce a little way from the earth.  "God!" said the
+tattered soldier.
+
+The youth had watched, spellbound, this ceremony at the place of
+meeting.  His face had been twisted into an expression of every agony
+he had imagined for his friend.
+
+He now sprang to his feet and, going closer, gazed upon the pastelike
+face.  The mouth was open and the teeth showed in a laugh.
+
+As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from the body, he could see
+that the side looked as if it had been chewed by wolves.
+
+The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage, toward the battlefield.  He
+shook his fist.  He seemed about to deliver a philippic.
+
+"Hell--"
+
+The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+The tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Well, he was reg'lar jim-dandy fer nerve, wa'n't he," said he finally
+in a little awestruck voice.  "A reg'lar jim-dandy."  He thoughtfully
+poked one of the docile hands with his foot.  "I wonner where he got
+'is stren'th from?  I never seen a man do like that before.  It was a
+funny thing.  Well, he was a reg'lar jim-dandy."
+
+The youth desired to screech out his grief. He was stabbed, but his
+tongue lay dead in the tomb of his mouth.  He threw himself again upon
+the ground and began to brood.
+
+The tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Look-a-here, pardner," he said, after a time. He regarded the corpse
+as he spoke.  "He 's up an' gone, ain't 'e, an' we might as well begin
+t' look out fer ol' number one.  This here thing is all over.  He 's up
+an' gone, ain't 'e?  An' he 's all right here.  Nobody won't bother
+'im.  An' I must say I ain't enjoying any great health m'self these
+days."
+
+The youth, awakened by the tattered soldier's tone, looked quickly up.
+He saw that he was swinging uncertainly on his legs and that his face
+had turned to a shade of blue.
+
+"Good Lord!" he cried, "you ain't goin' t'--not you, too."
+
+The tattered man waved his hand.  "Nary die," he said.  "All I want is
+some pea soup an' a good bed.  Some pea soup," he repeated dreamfully.
+
+The youth arose from the ground.  "I wonder where he came from.  I left
+him over there." He pointed.  "And now I find 'im here.  And he was
+coming from over there, too."  He indicated a new direction.  They both
+turned toward the body as if to ask of it a question.
+
+"Well," at length spoke the tattered man, "there ain't no use in our
+stayin' here an' tryin' t' ask him anything."
+
+The youth nodded an assent wearily.  They both turned to gaze for a
+moment at the corpse.
+
+The youth murmured something.
+
+"Well, he was a jim-dandy, wa'n't 'e?" said the tattered man as if in
+response.
+
+They turned their backs upon it and started away.  For a time they
+stole softly, treading with their toes.  It remained laughing there in
+the grass.
+
+"I'm commencin' t' feel pretty bad," said the tattered man, suddenly
+breaking one of his little silences.  "I'm commencin' t' feel pretty
+damn' bad."
+
+The youth groaned.  "O Lord!"  He wondered if he was to be the tortured
+witness of another grim encounter.
+
+But his companion waved his hand reassuringly.  "Oh, I'm not goin' t'
+die yit!  There too much dependin' on me fer me t' die yit.  No, sir!
+Nary die!  I CAN'T!  Ye'd oughta see th' swad a' chil'ren I've got, an'
+all like that."
+
+The youth glancing at his companion could see by the shadow of a smile
+that he was making some kind of fun.
+
+As they plodded on the tattered soldier continued to talk.  "Besides,
+if I died, I wouldn't die th' way that feller did.  That was th'
+funniest thing.  I'd jest flop down, I would.  I never seen a feller
+die th' way that feller did.
+
+"Yeh know Tom Jamison, he lives next door t' me up home.  He's a nice
+feller, he is, an' we was allus good friends.  Smart, too.  Smart as a
+steel trap.  Well, when we was a-fightin' this atternoon,
+all-of-a-sudden he begin t' rip up an' cuss an' beller at me.  'Yer
+shot, yeh blamed infernal!'--he swear horrible--he ses t' me.  I put up
+m' hand t' m' head an' when I looked at m' fingers, I seen, sure
+'nough, I was shot.  I give a holler an' begin t' run, but b'fore I
+could git away another one hit me in th' arm an' whirl' me clean
+'round.  I got skeared when they was all a-shootin' b'hind me an' I run
+t' beat all, but I cotch it pretty bad.  I've an idee I'd a' been
+fightin' yit, if t'was n't fer Tom Jamison."
+
+Then he made a calm announcement: "There's two of 'em--little ones--but
+they 're beginnin' t' have fun with me now.  I don't b'lieve I kin walk
+much furder."
+
+They went slowly on in silence.  "Yeh look pretty peek-ed yerself,"
+said the tattered man at last.  "I bet yeh 've got a worser one than
+yeh think.  Ye'd better take keer of yer hurt.  It don't do t' let sech
+things go.  It might be inside mostly, an' them plays thunder.  Where
+is it located?"  But he continued his harangue without waiting for a
+reply.  "I see 'a feller git hit plum in th' head when my reg'ment was
+a-standin' at ease onct.  An' everybody yelled out to 'im: Hurt, John?
+Are yeh hurt much?  'No,' ses he. He looked kinder surprised, an' he
+went on tellin' 'em how he felt.  He sed he didn't feel nothin'. But,
+by dad, th' first thing that feller knowed he was dead.  Yes, he was
+dead--stone dead.  So, yeh wanta watch out.  Yeh might have some queer
+kind 'a hurt yerself.  Yeh can't never tell. Where is your'n located?"
+
+The youth had been wriggling since the introduction of this topic.  He
+now gave a cry of exasperation and made a furious motion with his hand.
+"Oh, don't bother me!" he said.  He was enraged against the tattered
+man, and could have strangled him.  His companions seemed ever to play
+intolerable parts.  They were ever upraising the ghost of shame on the
+stick of their curiosity.  He turned toward the tattered man as one at
+bay.  "Now, don't bother me," he repeated with desperate menace.
+
+"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother anybody," said the other.  There
+was a little accent of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord knows
+I 've gota 'nough m' own t' tend to."
+
+The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and
+casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke
+in a hard voice.  "Good-by," he said.
+
+The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement.  "Why--why,
+pardner, where yeh goin'?" he asked unsteadily.  The youth looking at
+him, could see that he, too, like that other one, was beginning to act
+dumb and animal-like.  His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in
+his head.  "Now--now--look--a--here, you Tom Jamison--now--I won't have
+this--this here won't do.  Where--where yeh goin'?"
+
+The youth pointed vaguely.  "Over there," he replied.
+
+"Well, now look--a--here--now," said the tattered man, rambling on in
+idiot fashion.  His head was hanging forward and his words were
+slurred.  "This thing won't do, now, Tom Jamison.  It won't do.  I know
+yeh, yeh pig-headed devil.  Yeh wanta go trompin' off with a bad hurt.
+It ain't right--now--Tom Jamison--it ain't. Yeh wanta leave me take
+keer of yeh, Tom Jamison.  It ain't--right--it ain't--fer yeh t'
+go--trompin' off--with a bad hurt--it ain't--ain't--ain't right--it
+ain't."
+
+In reply the youth climbed a fence and started away.  He could hear the
+tattered man bleating plaintively.
+
+Once he faced about angrily.  "What?"
+
+"Look--a--here, now, Tom Jamison--now--it ain't--"
+
+The youth went on.  Turning at a distance he saw the tattered man
+wandering about helplessly in the field.
+
+He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and on
+the fallen leaves of the forest.
+
+The simple questions of the tattered man had been knife thrusts to him.
+They asserted a society that probes pitilessly at secrets until all is
+apparent.  His late companion's chance persistency made him feel that
+he could not keep his crime concealed in his bosom.  It was sure to be
+brought plain by one of those arrows which cloud the air and are
+constantly pricking, discovering, proclaiming those things which are
+willed to be forever hidden.  He admitted that he could not defend
+himself against this agency. It was not within the power of vigilance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+He became aware that the furnace roar of the battle was growing louder.
+Great brown clouds had floated to the still heights of air before him.
+The noise, too, was approaching.  The woods filtered men and the fields
+became dotted.
+
+As he rounded a hillock, he perceived that the roadway was now a crying
+mass of wagons, teams, and men.  From the heaving tangle issued
+exhortations, commands, imprecations.  Fear was sweeping it all along.
+The cracking whips bit and horses plunged and tugged.  The white-topped
+wagons strained and stumbled in their exertions like fat sheep.
+
+The youth felt comforted in a measure by this sight.  They were all
+retreating.  Perhaps, then, he was not so bad after all.  He seated
+himself and watched the terror-stricken wagons.  They fled like soft,
+ungainly animals.  All the roarers and lashers served to help him to
+magnify the dangers and horrors of the engagement that he might try to
+prove to himself that the thing with which men could charge him was in
+truth a symmetrical act.  There was an amount of pleasure to him in
+watching the wild march of this vindication.
+
+Presently the calm head of a forward-going column of infantry appeared
+in the road.  It came swiftly on.  Avoiding the obstructions gave it
+the sinuous movement of a serpent.  The men at the head butted mules
+with their musket stocks.  They prodded teamsters indifferent to all
+howls.  The men forced their way through parts of the dense mass by
+strength.  The blunt head of the column pushed.  The raving teamsters
+swore many strange oaths.
+
+The commands to make way had the ring of a great importance in them.
+The men were going forward to the heart of the din.  They were to
+confront the eager rush of the enemy.  They felt the pride of their
+onward movement when the remainder of the army seemed trying to dribble
+down this road.  They tumbled teams about with a fine feeling that it
+was no matter so long as their column got to the front in time.  This
+importance made their faces grave and stern. And the backs of the
+officers were very rigid.
+
+As the youth looked at them the black weight of his woe returned to
+him.  He felt that he was regarding a procession of chosen beings.  The
+separation was as great to him as if they had marched with weapons of
+flame and banners of sunlight.  He could never be like them.  He could
+have wept in his longings.
+
+He searched about in his mind for an adequate malediction for the
+indefinite cause, the thing upon which men turn the words of final
+blame.  It--whatever it was--was responsible for him, he said.  There
+lay the fault.
+
+The haste of the column to reach the battle seemed to the forlorn young
+man to be something much finer than stout fighting.  Heroes, he
+thought, could find excuses in that long seething lane.  They could
+retire with perfect self-respect and make excuses to the stars.
+
+He wondered what those men had eaten that they could be in such haste
+to force their way to grim chances of death.  As he watched his envy
+grew until he thought that he wished to change lives with one of them.
+He would have liked to have used a tremendous force, he said, throw off
+himself and become a better.  Swift pictures of himself, apart, yet in
+himself, came to him--a blue desperate figure leading lurid charges
+with one knee forward and a broken blade high--a blue, determined
+figure standing before a crimson and steel assault, getting calmly
+killed on a high place before the eyes of all.  He thought of the
+magnificent pathos of his dead body.
+
+These thoughts uplifted him.  He felt the quiver of war desire.  In his
+ears, he heard the ring of victory.  He knew the frenzy of a rapid
+successful charge.  The music of the trampling feet, the sharp voices,
+the clanking arms of the column near him made him soar on the red wings
+of war.  For a few moments he was sublime.
+
+He thought that he was about to start for the front.  Indeed, he saw a
+picture of himself, dust-stained, haggard, panting, flying to the front
+at the proper moment to seize and throttle the dark, leering witch of
+calamity.
+
+Then the difficulties of the thing began to drag at him.  He hesitated,
+balancing awkwardly on one foot.
+
+He had no rifle; he could not fight with his hands, said he resentfully
+to his plan.  Well, rifles could be had for the picking.  They were
+extraordinarily profuse.
+
+Also, he continued, it would be a miracle if he found his regiment.
+Well, he could fight with any regiment.
+
+He started forward slowly.  He stepped as if he expected to tread upon
+some explosive thing. Doubts and he were struggling.
+
+He would truly be a worm if any of his comrades should see him
+returning thus, the marks of his flight upon him.  There was a reply
+that the intent fighters did not care for what happened rearward saving
+that no hostile bayonets appeared there.  In the battle-blur his face
+would, in a way be hidden, like the face of a cowled man.
+
+But then he said that his tireless fate would bring forth, when the
+strife lulled for a moment, a man to ask of him an explanation.  In
+imagination he felt the scrutiny of his companions as he painfully
+labored through some lies.
+
+Eventually, his courage expended itself upon these objections.  The
+debates drained him of his fire.
+
+He was not cast down by this defeat of his plan, for, upon studying the
+affair carefully, he could not but admit that the objections were very
+formidable.
+
+Furthermore, various ailments had begun to cry out.  In their presence
+he could not persist in flying high with the wings of war; they
+rendered it almost impossible for him to see himself in a heroic light.
+He tumbled headlong.
+
+He discovered that he had a scorching thirst. His face was so dry and
+grimy that he thought he could feel his skin crackle.  Each bone of his
+body had an ache in it, and seemingly threatened to break with each
+movement.  His feet were like two sores.  Also, his body was calling
+for food.  It was more powerful than a direct hunger. There was a dull,
+weight like feeling in his stomach, and, when he tried to walk, his
+head swayed and he tottered.  He could not see with distinctness. Small
+patches of green mist floated before his vision.
+
+While he had been tossed by many emotions, he had not been aware of
+ailments.  Now they beset him and made clamor.  As he was at last
+compelled to pay attention to them, his capacity for self-hate was
+multiplied.  In despair, he declared that he was not like those others.
+He now conceded it to be impossible that he should ever become a hero.
+He was a craven loon. Those pictures of glory were piteous things.  He
+groaned from his heart and went staggering off.
+
+A certain mothlike quality within him kept him in the vicinity of the
+battle.  He had a great desire to see, and to get news.  He wished to
+know who was winning.
+
+He told himself that, despite his unprecedented suffering, he had never
+lost his greed for a victory, yet, he said, in a half-apologetic manner
+to his conscience, he could not but know that a defeat for the army
+this time might mean many favorable things for him.  The blows of the
+enemy would splinter regiments into fragments.  Thus, many men of
+courage, he considered, would be obliged to desert the colors and
+scurry like chickens.  He would appear as one of them. They would be
+sullen brothers in distress, and he could then easily believe he had
+not run any farther or faster than they.  And if he himself could
+believe in his virtuous perfection, he conceived that there would be
+small trouble in convincing all others.
+
+He said, as if in excuse for this hope, that previously the army had
+encountered great defeats and in a few months had shaken off all blood
+and tradition of them, emerging as bright and valiant as a new one;
+thrusting out of sight the memory of disaster, and appearing with the
+valor and confidence of unconquered legions. The shrilling voices of
+the people at home would pipe dismally for a time, but various generals
+were usually compelled to listen to these ditties. He of course felt no
+compunctions for proposing a general as a sacrifice.  He could not tell
+who the chosen for the barbs might be, so he could center no direct
+sympathy upon him.  The people were afar and he did not conceive public
+opinion to be accurate at long range.  It was quite probable they would
+hit the wrong man who, after he had recovered from his amazement would
+perhaps spend the rest of his days in writing replies to the songs of
+his alleged failure.  It would be very unfortunate, no doubt, but in
+this case a general was of no consequence to the youth.
+
+In a defeat there would be a roundabout vindication of himself.  He
+thought it would prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because of
+his superior powers of perception.  A serious prophet upon predicting a
+flood should be the first man to climb a tree.  This would demonstrate
+that he was indeed a seer.
+
+A moral vindication was regarded by the youth as a very important
+thing.  Without salve, he could not, he thought, wear the sore badge of
+his dishonor through life.  With his heart continually assuring him
+that he was despicable, he could not exist without making it, through
+his actions, apparent to all men.
+
+If the army had gone gloriously on he would be lost.  If the din meant
+that now his army's flags were tilted forward he was a condemned
+wretch.  He would be compelled to doom himself to isolation.  If the
+men were advancing, their indifferent feet were trampling upon his
+chances for a successful life.
+
+As these thoughts went rapidly through his mind, he turned upon them
+and tried to thrust them away.  He denounced himself as a villain. He
+said that he was the most unutterably selfish man in existence.  His
+mind pictured the soldiers who would place their defiant bodies before
+the spear of the yelling battle fiend, and as he saw their dripping
+corpses on an imagined field, he said that he was their murderer.
+
+Again he thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+a corpse.  Thinking of the slain, he achieved a great contempt for some
+of them, as if they were guilty for thus becoming lifeless.  They might
+have been killed by lucky chances, he said, before they had had
+opportunities to flee or before they had been really tested.  Yet they
+would receive laurels from tradition.  He cried out bitterly that their
+crowns were stolen and their robes of glorious memories were shams.
+However, he still said that it was a great pity he was not as they.
+
+A defeat of the army had suggested itself to him as a means of escape
+from the consequences of his fall.  He considered, now, however, that
+it was useless to think of such a possibility.  His education had been
+that success for that mighty blue machine was certain; that it would
+make victories as a contrivance turns out buttons.  He presently
+discarded all his speculations in the other direction.  He returned to
+the creed of soldiers.
+
+When he perceived again that it was not possible for the army to be
+defeated, he tried to bethink him of a fine tale which he could take
+back to his regiment, and with it turn the expected shafts of derision.
+
+But, as he mortally feared these shafts, it became impossible for him
+to invent a tale he felt he could trust.  He experimented with many
+schemes, but threw them aside one by one as flimsy.  He was quick to
+see vulnerable places in them all.
+
+Furthermore, he was much afraid that some arrow of scorn might lay him
+mentally low before he could raise his protecting tale.
+
+He imagined the whole regiment saying: "Where's Henry Fleming?  He run,
+didn't 'e? Oh, my!"  He recalled various persons who would be quite
+sure to leave him no peace about it.  They would doubtless question him
+with sneers, and laugh at his stammering hesitation.  In the next
+engagement they would try to keep watch of him to discover when he
+would run.
+
+Wherever he went in camp, he would encounter insolent and lingeringly
+cruel stares.  As he imagined himself passing near a crowd of comrades,
+he could hear some one say, "There he goes!"
+
+Then, as if the heads were moved by one muscle, all the faces were
+turned toward him with wide, derisive grins.  He seemed to hear some
+one make a humorous remark in a low tone. At it the others all crowed
+and cackled.  He was a slang phrase.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The column that had butted stoutly at the obstacles in the roadway was
+barely out of the youth's sight before he saw dark waves of men come
+sweeping out of the woods and down through the fields.  He knew at once
+that the steel fibers had been washed from their hearts. They were
+bursting from their coats and their equipments as from entanglements.
+They charged down upon him like terrified buffaloes.
+
+Behind them blue smoke curled and clouded above the treetops, and
+through the thickets he could sometimes see a distant pink glare.  The
+voices of the cannon were clamoring in interminable chorus.
+
+The youth was horrorstricken.  He stared in agony and amazement.  He
+forgot that he was engaged in combating the universe.  He threw aside
+his mental pamphlets on the philosophy of the retreated and rules for
+the guidance of the damned.
+
+The fight was lost.  The dragons were coming with invincible strides.
+The army, helpless in the matted thickets and blinded by the
+overhanging night, was going to be swallowed.  War, the red animal,
+war, the blood-swollen god, would have bloated fill.
+
+Within him something bade to cry out.  He had the impulse to make a
+rallying speech, to sing a battle hymn, but he could only get his
+tongue to call into the air: "Why--why--what--what 's th' matter?"
+
+Soon he was in the midst of them.  They were leaping and scampering all
+about him. Their blanched faces shone in the dusk.  They seemed, for
+the most part, to be very burly men. The youth turned from one to
+another of them as they galloped along.  His incoherent questions were
+lost.  They were heedless of his appeals. They did not seem to see him.
+
+They sometimes gabbled insanely.  One huge man was asking of the sky:
+"Say, where de plank road?  Where de plank road!"  It was as if he had
+lost a child.  He wept in his pain and dismay.
+
+Presently, men were running hither and thither in all ways.  The
+artillery booming, forward, rearward, and on the flanks made jumble of
+ideas of direction.  Landmarks had vanished into the gathered gloom.
+The youth began to imagine that he had got into the center of the
+tremendous quarrel, and he could perceive no way out of it.  From the
+mouths of the fleeing men came a thousand wild questions, but no one
+made answers.
+
+The youth, after rushing about and throwing interrogations at the
+heedless bands of retreating infantry, finally clutched a man by the
+arm.  They swung around face to face.
+
+"Why--why--" stammered the youth struggling with his balking tongue.
+
+The man screamed: "Let go me!  Let go me!"  His face was livid and his
+eyes were rolling uncontrolled.  He was heaving and panting. He still
+grasped his rifle, perhaps having forgotten to release his hold upon
+it.  He tugged frantically, and the youth being compelled to lean
+forward was dragged several paces.
+
+"Let go me!  Let go me!"
+
+"Why--why--" stuttered the youth.
+
+"Well, then!" bawled the man in a lurid rage.  He adroitly and fiercely
+swung his rifle. It crushed upon the youth's head.  The man ran on.
+
+The youth's fingers had turned to paste upon the other's arm.  The
+energy was smitten from his muscles.  He saw the flaming wings of
+lightning flash before his vision.  There was a deafening rumble of
+thunder within his head.
+
+Suddenly his legs seemed to die.  He sank writhing to the ground.  He
+tried to arise.  In his efforts against the numbing pain he was like a
+man wrestling with a creature of the air.
+
+There was a sinister struggle.
+
+Sometimes he would achieve a position half erect, battle with the air
+for a moment, and then fall again, grabbing at the grass.  His face was
+of a clammy pallor.  Deep groans were wrenched from him.
+
+At last, with a twisting movement, he got upon his hands and knees, and
+from thence, like a babe trying to walk, to his feet.  Pressing his
+hands to his temples he went lurching over the grass.
+
+He fought an intense battle with his body. His dulled senses wished him
+to swoon and he opposed them stubbornly, his mind portraying unknown
+dangers and mutilations if he should fall upon the field.  He went tall
+soldier fashion. He imagined secluded spots where he could fall and be
+unmolested.  To search for one he strove against the tide of his pain.
+
+Once he put his hand to the top of his head and timidly touched the
+wound.  The scratching pain of the contact made him draw a long breath
+through his clinched teeth.  His fingers were dabbled with blood.  He
+regarded them with a fixed stare.
+
+Around him he could hear the grumble of jolted cannon as the scurrying
+horses were lashed toward the front.  Once, a young officer on a
+besplashed charger nearly ran him down.  He turned and watched the mass
+of guns, men, and horses sweeping in a wide curve toward a gap in a
+fence.  The officer was making excited motions with a gauntleted hand.
+The guns followed the teams with an air of unwillingness, of being
+dragged by the heels.
+
+Some officers of the scattered infantry were cursing and railing like
+fishwives.  Their scolding voices could be heard above the din.  Into
+the unspeakable jumble in the roadway rode a squadron of cavalry.  The
+faded yellow of their facings shone bravely.  There was a mighty
+altercation.
+
+The artillery were assembling as if for a conference.
+
+The blue haze of evening was upon the field. The lines of forest were
+long purple shadows. One cloud lay along the western sky partly
+smothering the red.
+
+As the youth left the scene behind him, he heard the guns suddenly roar
+out.  He imagined them shaking in black rage.  They belched and howled
+like brass devils guarding a gate.  The soft air was filled with the
+tremendous remonstrance.  With it came the shattering peal of opposing
+infantry.  Turning to look behind him, he could see sheets of orange
+light illumine the shadowy distance.  There were subtle and sudden
+lightnings in the far air.  At times he thought he could see heaving
+masses of men.
+
+He hurried on in the dusk.  The day had faded until he could barely
+distinguish place for his feet.  The purple darkness was filled with
+men who lectured and jabbered.  Sometimes he could see them
+gesticulating against the blue and somber sky.  There seemed to be a
+great ruck of men and munitions spread about in the forest and in the
+fields.
+
+The little narrow roadway now lay lifeless. There were overturned
+wagons like sun-dried bowlders.  The bed of the former torrent was
+choked with the bodies of horses and splintered parts of war machines.
+
+It had come to pass that his wound pained him but little.  He was
+afraid to move rapidly, however, for a dread of disturbing it.  He held
+his head very still and took many precautions against stumbling.  He
+was filled with anxiety, and his face was pinched and drawn in
+anticipation of the pain of any sudden mistake of his feet in the gloom.
+
+His thoughts, as he walked, fixed intently upon his hurt.  There was a
+cool, liquid feeling about it and he imagined blood moving slowly down
+under his hair.  His head seemed swollen to a size that made him think
+his neck to be inadequate.
+
+The new silence of his wound made much worriment.  The little
+blistering voices of pain that had called out from his scalp were, he
+thought, definite in their expression of danger. By them he believed
+that he could measure his plight.  But when they remained ominously
+silent he became frightened and imagined terrible fingers that clutched
+into his brain.
+
+Amid it he began to reflect upon various incidents and conditions of
+the past.  He bethought him of certain meals his mother had cooked at
+home, in which those dishes of which he was particularly fond had
+occupied prominent positions.  He saw the spread table.  The pine walls
+of the kitchen were glowing in the warm light from the stove.  Too, he
+remembered how he and his companions used to go from the schoolhouse to
+the bank of a shaded pool.  He saw his clothes in disorderly array upon
+the grass of the bank.  He felt the swash of the fragrant water upon
+his body.  The leaves of the overhanging maple rustled with melody in
+the wind of youthful summer.
+
+He was overcome presently by a dragging weariness.  His head hung
+forward and his shoulders were stooped as if he were bearing a great
+bundle.  His feet shuffled along the ground.
+
+He held continuous arguments as to whether he should lie down and sleep
+at some near spot, or force himself on until he reached a certain
+haven.  He often tried to dismiss the question, but his body persisted
+in rebellion and his senses nagged at him like pampered babies.
+
+At last he heard a cheery voice near his shoulder: "Yeh seem t' be in a
+pretty bad way, boy?"
+
+The youth did not look up, but he assented with thick tongue.  "Uh!"
+
+The owner of the cheery voice took him firmly by the arm.  "Well," he
+said, with a round laugh, "I'm goin' your way.  Th' hull gang is goin'
+your way.  An' I guess I kin give yeh a lift."  They began to walk like
+a drunken man and his friend.
+
+As they went along, the man questioned the youth and assisted him with
+the replies like one manipulating the mind of a child.  Sometimes he
+interjected anecdotes.  "What reg'ment do yeh b'long teh?  Eh?  What's
+that?  Th' 304th N' York?  Why, what corps is that in?  Oh, it is? Why,
+I thought they wasn't engaged t'-day--they 're 'way over in th' center.
+Oh, they was, eh?  Well, pretty nearly everybody got their share 'a
+fightin' t'-day.  By dad, I give myself up fer dead any number 'a
+times.  There was shootin' here an' shootin' there, an' hollerin' here
+an' hollerin' there, in th' damn' darkness, until I couldn't tell t'
+save m' soul which side I was on. Sometimes I thought I was sure 'nough
+from Ohier, an' other times I could 'a swore I was from th' bitter end
+of Florida.  It was th' most mixed up dern thing I ever see.  An' these
+here hull woods is a reg'lar mess.  It'll be a miracle if we find our
+reg'ments t'-night.  Pretty soon, though, we 'll meet a-plenty of
+guards an' provost-guards, an' one thing an' another.  Ho! there they
+go with an off'cer, I guess.  Look at his hand a-draggin'.  He 's got
+all th' war he wants, I bet. He won't be talkin' so big about his
+reputation an' all when they go t' sawin' off his leg.  Poor feller! My
+brother 's got whiskers jest like that. How did yeh git 'way over here,
+anyhow?  Your reg'ment is a long way from here, ain't it?  Well, I
+guess we can find it.  Yeh know there was a boy killed in my comp'ny
+t'-day that I thought th' world an' all of.  Jack was a nice feller. By
+ginger, it hurt like thunder t' see ol' Jack jest git knocked flat. We
+was a-standin' purty peaceable fer a spell, 'though there was men
+runnin' ev'ry way all 'round us, an' while we was a-standin' like that,
+'long come a big fat feller.  He began t' peck at Jack's elbow, an' he
+ses: 'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  An' Jack, he never paid no
+attention, an' th' feller kept on a-peckin' at his elbow an' sayin':
+'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  Jack was a-lookin' ahead all
+th' time tryin' t' see th' Johnnies comin' through th' woods, an' he
+never paid no attention t' this big fat feller fer a long time, but at
+last he turned 'round an' he ses: 'Ah, go t' hell an' find th' road t'
+th' river!'  An' jest then a shot slapped him bang on th' side th'
+head.  He was a sergeant, too.  Them was his last words.  Thunder, I
+wish we was sure 'a findin' our reg'ments t'-night.  It 's goin' t' be
+long huntin'.  But I guess we kin do it."
+
+In the search which followed, the man of the cheery voice seemed to the
+youth to possess a wand of a magic kind.  He threaded the mazes of the
+tangled forest with a strange fortune.  In encounters with guards and
+patrols he displayed the keenness of a detective and the valor of a
+gamin.  Obstacles fell before him and became of assistance.  The youth,
+with his chin still on his breast, stood woodenly by while his
+companion beat ways and means out of sullen things.
+
+The forest seemed a vast hive of men buzzing about in frantic circles,
+but the cheery man conducted the youth without mistakes, until at last
+he began to chuckle with glee and self-satisfaction. "Ah, there yeh
+are!  See that fire?"
+
+The youth nodded stupidly.
+
+"Well, there 's where your reg'ment is.  An' now, good-by, ol' boy,
+good luck t' yeh."
+
+A warm and strong hand clasped the youth's languid fingers for an
+instant, and then he heard a cheerful and audacious whistling as the
+man strode away.  As he who had so befriended him was thus passing out
+of his life, it suddenly occurred to the youth that he had not once
+seen his face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The youth went slowly toward the fire indicated by his departed friend.
+As he reeled, he bethought him of the welcome his comrades would give
+him.  He had a conviction that he would soon feel in his sore heart the
+barbed missiles of ridicule.  He had no strength to invent a tale; he
+would be a soft target.
+
+He made vague plans to go off into the deeper darkness and hide, but
+they were all destroyed by the voices of exhaustion and pain from his
+body.  His ailments, clamoring, forced him to seek the place of food
+and rest, at whatever cost.
+
+He swung unsteadily toward the fire.  He could see the forms of men
+throwing black shadows in the red light, and as he went nearer it
+became known to him in some way that the ground was strewn with
+sleeping men.
+
+Of a sudden he confronted a black and monstrous figure.  A rifle barrel
+caught some glinting beams.  "Halt! halt!"  He was dismayed for a
+moment, but he presently thought that he recognized the nervous voice.
+As he stood tottering before the rifle barrel, he called out: "Why,
+hello, Wilson, you--you here?"
+
+The rifle was lowered to a position of caution and the loud soldier
+came slowly forward.  He peered into the youth's face.  "That you,
+Henry?"
+
+"Yes, it's--it's me."
+
+"Well, well, ol' boy," said the other, "by ginger, I'm glad t' see yeh!
+I give yeh up fer a goner.  I thought yeh was dead sure enough."  There
+was husky emotion in his voice.
+
+The youth found that now he could barely stand upon his feet.  There
+was a sudden sinking of his forces.  He thought he must hasten to
+produce his tale to protect him from the missiles already at the lips
+of his redoubtable comrades. So, staggering before the loud soldier, he
+began: "Yes, yes.  I've--I've had an awful time.  I've been all over.
+Way over on th' right.  Ter'ble fightin' over there.  I had an awful
+time.  I got separated from th' reg'ment.  Over on th' right, I got
+shot.  In th' head.  I never see sech fightin'.  Awful time.  I don't
+see how I could 'a got separated from th' reg'ment.  I got shot, too."
+
+His friend had stepped forward quickly. "What?  Got shot?  Why didn't
+yeh say so first?  Poor ol' boy, we must--hol' on a minnit; what am I
+doin'.  I'll call Simpson."
+
+Another figure at that moment loomed in the gloom.  They could see that
+it was the corporal. "Who yeh talkin' to, Wilson?" he demanded. His
+voice was anger-toned.  "Who yeh talkin' to?  Yeh th' derndest
+sentinel--why--hello, Henry, you here?  Why, I thought you was dead
+four hours ago!  Great Jerusalem, they keep turnin' up every ten
+minutes or so!  We thought we'd lost forty-two men by straight count,
+but if they keep on a-comin' this way, we'll git th' comp'ny all back
+by mornin' yit.  Where was yeh?"
+
+"Over on th' right.  I got separated"--began the youth with
+considerable glibness.
+
+But his friend had interrupted hastily.  "Yes, an' he got shot in th'
+head an' he's in a fix, an' we must see t' him right away."  He rested
+his rifle in the hollow of his left arm and his right around the
+youth's shoulder.
+
+"Gee, it must hurt like thunder!" he said.
+
+The youth leaned heavily upon his friend. "Yes, it hurts--hurts a good
+deal," he replied. There was a faltering in his voice.
+
+"Oh," said the corporal.  He linked his arm in the youth's and drew him
+forward.  "Come on, Henry.  I'll take keer 'a yeh."
+
+As they went on together the loud private called out after them: "Put
+'im t' sleep in my blanket, Simpson.  An'--hol' on a minnit--here's my
+canteen.  It's full 'a coffee.  Look at his head by th' fire an' see
+how it looks.  Maybe it's a pretty bad un.  When I git relieved in a
+couple 'a minnits, I'll be over an' see t' him."
+
+The youth's senses were so deadened that his friend's voice sounded
+from afar and he could scarcely feel the pressure of the corporal's
+arm. He submitted passively to the latter's directing strength.  His
+head was in the old manner hanging forward upon his breast.  His knees
+wobbled.
+
+The corporal led him into the glare of the fire.  "Now, Henry," he
+said, "let's have look at yer ol' head."
+
+The youth sat down obediently and the corporal, laying aside his rifle,
+began to fumble in the bushy hair of his comrade.  He was obliged to
+turn the other's head so that the full flush of the fire light would
+beam upon it.  He puckered his mouth with a critical air.  He drew back
+his lips and whistled through his teeth when his fingers came in
+contact with the splashed blood and the rare wound.
+
+"Ah, here we are!" he said.  He awkwardly made further investigations.
+"Jest as I thought," he added, presently.  "Yeh've been grazed by a
+ball.  It's raised a queer lump jest as if some feller had lammed yeh
+on th' head with a club. It stopped a-bleedin' long time ago.  Th' most
+about it is that in th' mornin' yeh'll feel that a number ten hat
+wouldn't fit yeh.  An' your head'll be all het up an' feel as dry as
+burnt pork. An' yeh may git a lot 'a other sicknesses, too, by mornin'.
+Yeh can't never tell.  Still, I don't much think so.  It's jest a damn'
+good belt on th' head, an' nothin' more.  Now, you jest sit here an'
+don't move, while I go rout out th' relief. Then I'll send Wilson t'
+take keer 'a yeh."
+
+The corporal went away.  The youth remained on the ground like a
+parcel.  He stared with a vacant look into the fire.
+
+After a time he aroused, for some part, and the things about him began
+to take form.  He saw that the ground in the deep shadows was cluttered
+with men, sprawling in every conceivable posture.  Glancing narrowly
+into the more distant darkness, he caught occasional glimpses of
+visages that loomed pallid and ghostly, lit with a phosphorescent glow.
+These faces expressed in their lines the deep stupor of the tired
+soldiers.  They made them appear like men drunk with wine.  This bit of
+forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the
+result of some frightful debauch.
+
+On the other side of the fire the youth observed an officer asleep,
+seated bolt upright, with his back against a tree.  There was something
+perilous in his position.  Badgered by dreams, perhaps, he swayed with
+little bounces and starts, like an old toddy-stricken grandfather in a
+chimney corner.  Dust and stains were upon his face.  His lower jaw
+hung down as if lacking strength to assume its normal position.  He was
+the picture of an exhausted soldier after a feast of war.
+
+He had evidently gone to sleep with his sword in his arms.  These two
+had slumbered in an embrace, but the weapon had been allowed in time to
+fall unheeded to the ground.  The brass-mounted hilt lay in contact
+with some parts of the fire.
+
+Within the gleam of rose and orange light from the burning sticks were
+other soldiers, snoring and heaving, or lying deathlike in slumber.  A
+few pairs of legs were stuck forth, rigid and straight.  The shoes
+displayed the mud or dust of marches and bits of rounded trousers,
+protruding from the blankets, showed rents and tears from hurried
+pitchings through the dense brambles.
+
+The fire crackled musically.  From it swelled light smoke.  Overhead
+the foliage moved softly.  The leaves, with their faces turned toward
+the blaze, were colored shifting hues of silver, often edged with red.
+Far off to the right, through a window in the forest could be seen a
+handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of
+the night.
+
+Occasionally, in this low-arched hall, a soldier would arouse and turn
+his body to a new position, the experience of his sleep having taught
+him of uneven and objectionable places upon the ground under him.  Or,
+perhaps, he would lift himself to a sitting posture, blink at the fire
+for an unintelligent moment, throw a swift glance at his prostrate
+companion, and then cuddle down again with a grunt of sleepy content.
+
+The youth sat in a forlorn heap until his friend the loud young soldier
+came, swinging two canteens by their light strings.  "Well, now, Henry,
+ol' boy," said the latter, "we'll have yeh fixed up in jest about a
+minnit."
+
+He had the bustling ways of an amateur nurse.  He fussed around the
+fire and stirred the sticks to brilliant exertions.  He made his
+patient drink largely from the canteen that contained the coffee.  It
+was to the youth a delicious draught. He tilted his head afar back and
+held the canteen long to his lips.  The cool mixture went caressingly
+down his blistered throat.  Having finished, he sighed with comfortable
+delight.
+
+The loud young soldier watched his comrade with an air of satisfaction.
+He later produced an extensive handkerchief from his pocket.  He folded
+it into a manner of bandage and soused water from the other canteen
+upon the middle of it.  This crude arrangement he bound over the
+youth's head, tying the ends in a queer knot at the back of the neck.
+
+"There," he said, moving off and surveying his deed, "yeh look like th'
+devil, but I bet yeh feel better."
+
+The youth contemplated his friend with grateful eyes.  Upon his aching
+and swelling head the cold cloth was like a tender woman's hand.
+
+"Yeh don't holler ner say nothin'," remarked his friend approvingly. "I
+know I'm a blacksmith at takin' keer 'a sick folks, an' yeh never
+squeaked.  Yer a good un, Henry.  Most 'a men would a' been in th'
+hospital long ago.  A shot in th' head ain't foolin' business."
+
+The youth made no reply, but began to fumble with the buttons of his
+jacket.
+
+"Well, come, now," continued his friend, "come on.  I must put yeh t'
+bed an' see that yeh git a good night's rest."
+
+The other got carefully erect, and the loud young soldier led him among
+the sleeping forms lying in groups and rows.  Presently he stooped and
+picked up his blankets.  He spread the rubber one upon the ground and
+placed the woolen one about the youth's shoulders.
+
+"There now," he said, "lie down an' git some sleep."
+
+The youth, with his manner of doglike obedience, got carefully down
+like a crone stooping.  He stretched out with a murmur of relief and
+comfort.  The ground felt like the softest couch.
+
+But of a sudden he ejaculated: "Hol' on a minnit!  Where you goin' t'
+sleep?"
+
+His friend waved his hand impatiently. "Right down there by yeh."
+
+"Well, but hol' on a minnit," continued the youth.  "What yeh goin' t'
+sleep in?  I've got your--"
+
+The loud young soldier snarled: "Shet up an' go on t' sleep.  Don't be
+makin' a damn' fool 'a yerself," he said severely.
+
+After the reproof the youth said no more. An exquisite drowsiness had
+spread through him. The warm comfort of the blanket enveloped him and
+made a gentle languor.  His head fell forward on his crooked arm and
+his weighted lids went softly down over his eyes.  Hearing a splatter
+of musketry from the distance, he wondered indifferently if those men
+sometimes slept.  He gave a long sigh, snuggled down into his blanket,
+and in a moment was like his comrades.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+When the youth awoke it seemed to him that he had been asleep for a
+thousand years, and he felt sure that he opened his eyes upon an
+unexpected world.  Gray mists were slowly shifting before the first
+efforts of the sun rays.  An impending splendor could be seen in the
+eastern sky.  An icy dew had chilled his face, and immediately upon
+arousing he curled farther down into his blanket.  He stared for a
+while at the leaves overhead, moving in a heraldic wind of the day.
+
+The distance was splintering and blaring with the noise of fighting.
+There was in the sound an expression of a deadly persistency, as if it
+had not begun and was not to cease.
+
+About him were the rows and groups of men that he had dimly seen the
+previous night.  They were getting a last draught of sleep before the
+awakening.  The gaunt, careworn features and dusty figures were made
+plain by this quaint light at the dawning, but it dressed the skin of
+the men in corpselike hues and made the tangled limbs appear pulseless
+and dead.  The youth started up with a little cry when his eyes first
+swept over this motionless mass of men, thick-spread upon the ground,
+pallid, and in strange postures.  His disordered mind interpreted the
+hall of the forest as a charnel place.  He believed for an instant that
+he was in the house of the dead, and he did not dare to move lest these
+corpses start up, squalling and squawking.  In a second, however, he
+achieved his proper mind. He swore a complicated oath at himself.  He
+saw that this somber picture was not a fact of the present, but a mere
+prophecy.
+
+He heard then the noise of a fire crackling briskly in the cold air,
+and, turning his head, he saw his friend pottering busily about a small
+blaze.  A few other figures moved in the fog, and he heard the hard
+cracking of axe blows.
+
+Suddenly there was a hollow rumble of drums.  A distant bugle sang
+faintly.  Similar sounds, varying in strength, came from near and far
+over the forest.  The bugles called to each other like brazen
+gamecocks.  The near thunder of the regimental drums rolled.
+
+The body of men in the woods rustled.  There was a general uplifting of
+heads.  A murmuring of voices broke upon the air.  In it there was much
+bass of grumbling oaths.  Strange gods were addressed in condemnation
+of the early hours necessary to correct war.  An officer's peremptory
+tenor rang out and quickened the stiffened movement of the men.  The
+tangled limbs unraveled.  The corpse-hued faces were hidden behind
+fists that twisted slowly in the eye sockets.
+
+The youth sat up and gave vent to an enormous yawn.  "Thunder!" he
+remarked petulantly. He rubbed his eyes, and then putting up his hand
+felt carefully of the bandage over his wound. His friend, perceiving
+him to be awake, came from the fire.  "Well, Henry, ol' man, how do yeh
+feel this mornin'?" he demanded.
+
+The youth yawned again.  Then he puckered his mouth to a little pucker.
+His head, in truth, felt precisely like a melon, and there was an
+unpleasant sensation at his stomach.
+
+"Oh, Lord, I feel pretty bad," he said.
+
+"Thunder!" exclaimed the other.  "I hoped ye'd feel all right this
+mornin'.  Let's see th' bandage--I guess it's slipped."  He began to
+tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way until the youth exploded.
+
+"Gosh-dern it!" he said in sharp irritation; "you're the hangdest man I
+ever saw!  You wear muffs on your hands.  Why in good thunderation
+can't you be more easy?  I'd rather you'd stand off an' throw guns at
+it.  Now, go slow, an' don't act as if you was nailing down carpet."
+
+He glared with insolent command at his friend, but the latter answered
+soothingly. "Well, well, come now, an' git some grub," he said.  "Then,
+maybe, yeh'll feel better."
+
+At the fireside the loud young soldier watched over his comrade's wants
+with tenderness and care.  He was very busy marshaling the little black
+vagabonds of tin cups and pouring into them the streaming, iron colored
+mixture from a small and sooty tin pail.  He had some fresh meat, which
+he roasted hurriedly upon a stick.  He sat down then and contemplated
+the youth's appetite with glee.
+
+The youth took note of a remarkable change in his comrade since those
+days of camp life upon the river bank.  He seemed no more to be
+continually regarding the proportions of his personal prowess.  He was
+not furious at small words that pricked his conceits.  He was no more a
+loud young soldier.  There was about him now a fine reliance.  He
+showed a quiet belief in his purposes and his abilities.  And this
+inward confidence evidently enabled him to be indifferent to little
+words of other men aimed at him.
+
+The youth reflected.  He had been used to regarding his comrade as a
+blatant child with an audacity grown from his inexperience,
+thoughtless, headstrong, jealous, and filled with a tinsel courage.  A
+swaggering babe accustomed to strut in his own dooryard.  The youth
+wondered where had been born these new eyes; when his comrade had made
+the great discovery that there were many men who would refuse to be
+subjected by him.  Apparently, the other had now climbed a peak of
+wisdom from which he could perceive himself as a very wee thing.  And
+the youth saw that ever after it would be easier to live in his
+friend's neighborhood.
+
+His comrade balanced his ebony coffee-cup on his knee.  "Well, Henry,"
+he said, "what d'yeh think th' chances are?  D'yeh think we'll wallop
+'em?"
+
+The youth considered for a moment.  "Day-b'fore-yesterday," he finally
+replied, with boldness, "you would 'a' bet you'd lick the hull
+kit-an'-boodle all by yourself."
+
+His friend looked a trifle amazed.  "Would I?" he asked.  He pondered.
+"Well, perhaps I would," he decided at last.  He stared humbly at the
+fire.
+
+The youth was quite disconcerted at this surprising reception of his
+remarks.  "Oh, no, you wouldn't either," he said, hastily trying to
+retrace.
+
+But the other made a deprecating gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry," he said.  "I believe I was a pretty big fool in those days." He
+spoke as after a lapse of years.
+
+There was a little pause.
+
+"All th' officers say we've got th' rebs in a pretty tight box," said
+the friend, clearing his throat in a commonplace way.  "They all seem
+t' think we've got 'em jest where we want 'em."
+
+"I don't know about that," the youth replied. "What I seen over on th'
+right makes me think it was th' other way about.  From where I was, it
+looked as if we was gettin' a good poundin' yestirday."
+
+"D'yeh think so?" inquired the friend.  "I thought we handled 'em
+pretty rough yestirday."
+
+"Not a bit," said the youth.  "Why, lord, man, you didn't see nothing
+of the fight.  Why!" Then a sudden thought came to him.  "Oh! Jim
+Conklin's dead."
+
+His friend started.  "What?  Is he?  Jim Conklin?"
+
+The youth spoke slowly.  "Yes.  He's dead. Shot in th' side."
+
+"Yeh don't say so.  Jim Conklin. . . . poor cuss!"
+
+All about them were other small fires surrounded by men with their
+little black utensils. From one of these near came sudden sharp voices
+in a row.  It appeared that two light-footed soldiers had been teasing
+a huge, bearded man, causing him to spill coffee upon his blue knees.
+The man had gone into a rage and had sworn comprehensively.  Stung by
+his language, his tormentors had immediately bristled at him with a
+great show of resenting unjust oaths. Possibly there was going to be a
+fight.
+
+The friend arose and went over to them, making pacific motions with his
+arms.  "Oh, here, now, boys, what's th' use?" he said.  "We'll be at
+th' rebs in less'n an hour.  What's th' good fightin' 'mong ourselves?"
+
+One of the light-footed soldiers turned upon him red-faced and violent.
+"Yeh needn't come around here with yer preachin'.  I s'pose yeh don't
+approve 'a fightin' since Charley Morgan licked yeh; but I don't see
+what business this here is 'a yours or anybody else."
+
+"Well, it ain't," said the friend mildly.  "Still I hate t' see--"
+
+There was a tangled argument.
+
+"Well, he--," said the two, indicating their opponent with accusative
+forefingers.
+
+The huge soldier was quite purple with rage. He pointed at the two
+soldiers with his great hand, extended clawlike.  "Well, they--"
+
+But during this argumentative time the desire to deal blows seemed to
+pass, although they said much to each other.  Finally the friend
+returned to his old seat.  In a short while the three antagonists could
+be seen together in an amiable bunch.
+
+"Jimmie Rogers ses I'll have t' fight him after th' battle t'-day,"
+announced the friend as he again seated himself.  "He ses he don't
+allow no interferin' in his business.  I hate t' see th' boys fightin'
+'mong themselves."
+
+The youth laughed.  "Yer changed a good bit.  Yeh ain't at all like yeh
+was.  I remember when you an' that Irish feller--"  He stopped and
+laughed again.
+
+"No, I didn't use t' be that way," said his friend thoughtfully.
+"That's true 'nough."
+
+"Well, I didn't mean--" began the youth.
+
+The friend made another deprecatory gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry."
+
+There was another little pause.
+
+"Th' reg'ment lost over half th' men yestirday," remarked the friend
+eventually.  "I thought a course they was all dead, but, laws, they
+kep' a-comin' back last night until it seems, after all, we didn't lose
+but a few.  They'd been scattered all over, wanderin' around in th'
+woods, fightin' with other reg'ments, an' everything.  Jest like you
+done."
+
+"So?" said the youth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+The regiment was standing at order arms at the side of a lane, waiting
+for the command to march, when suddenly the youth remembered the little
+packet enwrapped in a faded yellow envelope which the loud young
+soldier with lugubrious words had intrusted to him.  It made him start.
+He uttered an exclamation and turned toward his comrade.
+
+"Wilson!"
+
+"What?"
+
+His friend, at his side in the ranks, was thoughtfully staring down the
+road.  From some cause his expression was at that moment very meek. The
+youth, regarding him with sidelong glances, felt impelled to change his
+purpose.  "Oh, nothing," he said.
+
+His friend turned his head in some surprise, "Why, what was yeh goin'
+t' say?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," repeated the youth.
+
+He resolved not to deal the little blow.  It was sufficient that the
+fact made him glad.  It was not necessary to knock his friend on the
+head with the misguided packet.
+
+He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily
+questionings could make holes in his feelings.  Lately, he had assured
+himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a
+persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period
+of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the
+previous day.
+
+He now rejoiced in the possession of a small weapon with which he could
+prostrate his comrade at the first signs of a cross-examination.  He
+was master.  It would now be he who could laugh and shoot the shafts of
+derision.
+
+The friend had, in a weak hour, spoken with sobs of his own death.  He
+had delivered a melancholy oration previous to his funeral, and had
+doubtless in the packet of letters, presented various keepsakes to
+relatives.  But he had not died, and thus he had delivered himself into
+the hands of the youth.
+
+The latter felt immensely superior to his friend, but he inclined to
+condescension.  He adopted toward him an air of patronizing good humor.
+
+His self-pride was now entirely restored.  In the shade of its
+flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and
+since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an
+encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own
+to keep him from an attitude of manfulness.  He had performed his
+mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man.
+
+Indeed, when he remembered his fortunes of yesterday, and looked at
+them from a distance he began to see something fine there.  He had
+license to be pompous and veteranlike.
+
+His panting agonies of the past he put out of his sight.
+
+In the present, he declared to himself that it was only the doomed and
+the damned who roared with sincerity at circumstance.  Few but they
+ever did it.  A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows
+had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong
+in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society.  Let the
+unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.
+
+He did not give a great deal of thought to these battles that lay
+directly before him.  It was not essential that he should plan his ways
+in regard to them.  He had been taught that many obligations of a life
+were easily avoided.  The lessons of yesterday had been that
+retribution was a laggard and blind.  With these facts before him he
+did not deem it necessary that he should become feverish over the
+possibilities of the ensuing twenty-four hours.  He could leave much to
+chance.  Besides, a faith in himself had secretly blossomed.  There was
+a little flower of confidence growing within him.  He was now a man of
+experience.  He had been out among the dragons, he said, and he assured
+himself that they were not so hideous as he had imagined them. Also,
+they were inaccurate; they did not sting with precision.  A stout heart
+often defied, and defying, escaped.
+
+And, furthermore, how could they kill him who was the chosen of gods
+and doomed to greatness?
+
+He remembered how some of the men had run from the battle.  As he
+recalled their terror-struck faces he felt a scorn for them.  They had
+surely been more fleet and more wild than was absolutely necessary.
+They were weak mortals. As for himself, he had fled with discretion and
+dignity.
+
+He was aroused from this reverie by his friend, who, having hitched
+about nervously and blinked at the trees for a time, suddenly coughed
+in an introductory way, and spoke.
+
+"Fleming!"
+
+"What?"
+
+The friend put his hand up to his mouth and coughed again.  He fidgeted
+in his jacket.
+
+"Well," he gulped, at last, "I guess yeh might as well give me back
+them letters."  Dark, prickling blood had flushed into his cheeks and
+brow.
+
+"All right, Wilson," said the youth.  He loosened two buttons of his
+coat, thrust in his hand, and brought forth the packet.  As he extended
+it to his friend the latter's face was turned from him.
+
+He had been slow in the act of producing the packet because during it
+he had been trying to invent a remarkable comment upon the affair. He
+could conjure nothing of sufficient point.  He was compelled to allow
+his friend to escape unmolested with his packet.  And for this he took
+unto himself considerable credit.  It was a generous thing.
+
+His friend at his side seemed suffering great shame.  As he
+contemplated him, the youth felt his heart grow more strong and stout.
+He had never been compelled to blush in such manner for his acts; he
+was an individual of extraordinary virtues.
+
+He reflected, with condescending pity: "Too bad!  Too bad!  The poor
+devil, it makes him feel tough!"
+
+After this incident, and as he reviewed the battle pictures he had
+seen, he felt quite competent to return home and make the hearts of the
+people glow with stories of war.  He could see himself in a room of
+warm tints telling tales to listeners.  He could exhibit laurels.  They
+were insignificant; still, in a district where laurels were infrequent,
+they might shine.
+
+He saw his gaping audience picturing him as the central figure in
+blazing scenes.  And he imagined the consternation and the ejaculations
+of his mother and the young lady at the seminary as they drank his
+recitals.  Their vague feminine formula for beloved ones doing brave
+deeds on the field of battle without risk of life would be destroyed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A sputtering of musketry was always to be heard.  Later, the cannon had
+entered the dispute.  In the fog-filled air their voices made a
+thudding sound.  The reverberations were continued.  This part of the
+world led a strange, battleful existence.
+
+The youth's regiment was marched to relieve a command that had lain
+long in some damp trenches.  The men took positions behind a curving
+line of rifle pits that had been turned up, like a large furrow, along
+the line of woods.  Before them was a level stretch, peopled with
+short, deformed stumps.  From the woods beyond came the dull popping of
+the skirmishers and pickets, firing in the fog.  From the right came
+the noise of a terrific fracas.
+
+The men cuddled behind the small embankment and sat in easy attitudes
+awaiting their turn.  Many had their backs to the firing.  The youth's
+friend lay down, buried his face in his arms, and almost instantly, it
+seemed, he was in a deep sleep.
+
+The youth leaned his breast against the brown dirt and peered over at
+the woods and up and down the line.  Curtains of trees interfered with
+his ways of vision.  He could see the low line of trenches but for a
+short distance.  A few idle flags were perched on the dirt hills.
+Behind them were rows of dark bodies with a few heads sticking
+curiously over the top.
+
+Always the noise of skirmishers came from the woods on the front and
+left, and the din on the right had grown to frightful proportions. The
+guns were roaring without an instant's pause for breath.  It seemed
+that the cannon had come from all parts and were engaged in a
+stupendous wrangle.  It became impossible to make a sentence heard.
+
+The youth wished to launch a joke--a quotation from newspapers.  He
+desired to say, "All quiet on the Rappahannock," but the guns refused
+to permit even a comment upon their uproar. He never successfully
+concluded the sentence. But at last the guns stopped, and among the men
+in the rifle pits rumors again flew, like birds, but they were now for
+the most part black creatures who flapped their wings drearily near to
+the ground and refused to rise on any wings of hope.  The men's faces
+grew doleful from the interpreting of omens.  Tales of hesitation and
+uncertainty on the part of those high in place and responsibility came
+to their ears.  Stories of disaster were borne into their minds with
+many proofs.  This din of musketry on the right, growing like a
+released genie of sound, expressed and emphasized the army's plight.
+
+The men were disheartened and began to mutter.  They made gestures
+expressive of the sentence: "Ah, what more can we do?"  And it could
+always be seen that they were bewildered by the alleged news and could
+not fully comprehend a defeat.
+
+Before the gray mists had been totally obliterated by the sun rays, the
+regiment was marching in a spread column that was retiring carefully
+through the woods.  The disordered, hurrying lines of the enemy could
+sometimes be seen down through the groves and little fields.  They were
+yelling, shrill and exultant.
+
+At this sight the youth forgot many personal matters and became greatly
+enraged.  He exploded in loud sentences.  "B'jiminey, we're generaled
+by a lot 'a lunkheads."
+
+"More than one feller has said that t'-day," observed a man.
+
+His friend, recently aroused, was still very drowsy.  He looked behind
+him until his mind took in the meaning of the movement.  Then he
+sighed.  "Oh, well, I s'pose we got licked," he remarked sadly.
+
+The youth had a thought that it would not be handsome for him to freely
+condemn other men. He made an attempt to restrain himself, but the
+words upon his tongue were too bitter.  He presently began a long and
+intricate denunciation of the commander of the forces.
+
+"Mebbe, it wa'n't all his fault--not all together.  He did th' best he
+knowed.  It's our luck t' git licked often," said his friend in a weary
+tone.  He was trudging along with stooped shoulders and shifting eyes
+like a man who has been caned and kicked.
+
+"Well, don't we fight like the devil?  Don't we do all that men can?"
+demanded the youth loudly.
+
+He was secretly dumfounded at this sentiment when it came from his
+lips.  For a moment his face lost its valor and he looked guiltily
+about him.  But no one questioned his right to deal in such words, and
+presently he recovered his air of courage.  He went on to repeat a
+statement he had heard going from group to group at the camp that
+morning.  "The brigadier said he never saw a new reg'ment fight the way
+we fought yestirday, didn't he?  And we didn't do better than many
+another reg'ment, did we? Well, then, you can't say it's th' army's
+fault, can you?"
+
+In his reply, the friend's voice was stern.  "'A course not," he said.
+"No man dare say we don't fight like th' devil.  No man will ever dare
+say it.  Th' boys fight like hell-roosters.  But still--still, we don't
+have no luck."
+
+"Well, then, if we fight like the devil an' don't ever whip, it must be
+the general's fault," said the youth grandly and decisively.  "And I
+don't see any sense in fighting and fighting and fighting, yet always
+losing through some derned old lunkhead of a general."
+
+A sarcastic man who was tramping at the youth's side, then spoke
+lazily.  "Mebbe yeh think yeh fit th' hull battle yestirday, Fleming,"
+he remarked.
+
+The speech pierced the youth.  Inwardly he was reduced to an abject
+pulp by these chance words.  His legs quaked privately.  He cast a
+frightened glance at the sarcastic man.
+
+"Why, no," he hastened to say in a conciliating voice, "I don't think I
+fought the whole battle yesterday."
+
+But the other seemed innocent of any deeper meaning.  Apparently, he
+had no information. It was merely his habit.  "Oh!" he replied in the
+same tone of calm derision.
+
+The youth, nevertheless, felt a threat.  His mind shrank from going
+near to the danger, and thereafter he was silent.  The significance of
+the sarcastic man's words took from him all loud moods that would make
+him appear prominent. He became suddenly a modest person.
+
+There was low-toned talk among the troops. The officers were impatient
+and snappy, their countenances clouded with the tales of misfortune.
+The troops, sifting through the forest, were sullen.  In the youth's
+company once a man's laugh rang out.  A dozen soldiers turned their
+faces quickly toward him and frowned with vague displeasure.
+
+The noise of firing dogged their footsteps. Sometimes, it seemed to be
+driven a little way, but it always returned again with increased
+insolence.  The men muttered and cursed, throwing black looks in its
+direction.
+
+In a clear space the troops were at last halted. Regiments and
+brigades, broken and detached through their encounters with thickets,
+grew together again and lines were faced toward the pursuing bark of
+the enemy's infantry.
+
+This noise, following like the yellings of eager, metallic hounds,
+increased to a loud and joyous burst, and then, as the sun went
+serenely up the sky, throwing illuminating rays into the gloomy
+thickets, it broke forth into prolonged pealings. The woods began to
+crackle as if afire.
+
+"Whoop-a-dadee," said a man, "here we are! Everybody fightin'.  Blood
+an' destruction."
+
+"I was willin' t' bet they'd attack as soon as th' sun got fairly up,"
+savagely asserted the lieutenant who commanded the youth's company. He
+jerked without mercy at his little mustache. He strode to and fro with
+dark dignity in the rear of his men, who were lying down behind
+whatever protection they had collected.
+
+A battery had trundled into position in the rear and was thoughtfully
+shelling the distance. The regiment, unmolested as yet, awaited the
+moment when the gray shadows of the woods before them should be slashed
+by the lines of flame.  There was much growling and swearing.
+
+"Good Gawd," the youth grumbled, "we're always being chased around like
+rats!  It makes me sick.  Nobody seems to know where we go or why we
+go.  We just get fired around from pillar to post and get licked here
+and get licked there, and nobody knows what it's done for.  It makes a
+man feel like a damn' kitten in a bag. Now, I'd like to know what the
+eternal thunders we was marched into these woods for anyhow, unless it
+was to give the rebs a regular pot shot at us.  We came in here and got
+our legs all tangled up in these cussed briers, and then we begin to
+fight and the rebs had an easy time of it. Don't tell me it's just
+luck!  I know better.  It's this derned old--"
+
+The friend seemed jaded, but he interrupted his comrade with a voice of
+calm confidence. "It'll turn out all right in th' end," he said.
+
+"Oh, the devil it will!  You always talk like a dog-hanged parson.
+Don't tell me!  I know--"
+
+At this time there was an interposition by the savage-minded
+lieutenant, who was obliged to vent some of his inward dissatisfaction
+upon his men.  "You boys shut right up!  There no need 'a your wastin'
+your breath in long-winded arguments about this an' that an' th' other.
+You've been jawin' like a lot 'a old hens.  All you've got t' do is to
+fight, an' you'll get plenty 'a that t' do in about ten minutes.  Less
+talkin' an' more fightin' is what's best for you boys.  I never saw
+sech gabbling jackasses."
+
+He paused, ready to pounce upon any man who might have the temerity to
+reply.  No words being said, he resumed his dignified pacing.
+
+"There's too much chin music an' too little fightin' in this war,
+anyhow," he said to them, turning his head for a final remark.
+
+The day had grown more white, until the sun shed his full radiance upon
+the thronged forest. A sort of a gust of battle came sweeping toward
+that part of the line where lay the youth's regiment.  The front
+shifted a trifle to meet it squarely.  There was a wait.  In this part
+of the field there passed slowly the intense moments that precede the
+tempest.
+
+A single rifle flashed in a thicket before the regiment.  In an instant
+it was joined by many others.  There was a mighty song of clashes and
+crashes that went sweeping through the woods. The guns in the rear,
+aroused and enraged by shells that had been thrown burlike at them,
+suddenly involved themselves in a hideous altercation with another band
+of guns.  The battle roar settled to a rolling thunder, which was a
+single, long explosion.
+
+In the regiment there was a peculiar kind of hesitation denoted in the
+attitudes of the men. They were worn, exhausted, having slept but
+little and labored much.  They rolled their eyes toward the advancing
+battle as they stood awaiting the shock.  Some shrank and flinched.
+They stood as men tied to stakes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+This advance of the enemy had seemed to the youth like a ruthless
+hunting.  He began to fume with rage and exasperation.  He beat his
+foot upon the ground, and scowled with hate at the swirling smoke that
+was approaching like a phantom flood.  There was a maddening quality in
+this seeming resolution of the foe to give him no rest, to give him no
+time to sit down and think. Yesterday he had fought and had fled
+rapidly. There had been many adventures.  For to-day he felt that he
+had earned opportunities for contemplative repose.  He could have
+enjoyed portraying to uninitiated listeners various scenes at which he
+had been a witness or ably discussing the processes of war with other
+proved men.  Too it was important that he should have time for physical
+recuperation.  He was sore and stiff from his experiences.  He had
+received his fill of all exertions, and he wished to rest.
+
+But those other men seemed never to grow weary; they were fighting with
+their old speed.
+
+He had a wild hate for the relentless foe.  Yesterday, when he had
+imagined the universe to be against him, he had hated it, little gods
+and big gods; to-day he hated the army of the foe with the same great
+hatred.  He was not going to be badgered of his life, like a kitten
+chased by boys, he said.  It was not well to drive men into final
+corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.
+
+He leaned and spoke into his friend's ear.  He menaced the woods with a
+gesture.  "If they keep on chasing us, by Gawd, they'd better watch
+out.  Can't stand TOO much."
+
+The friend twisted his head and made a calm reply.  "If they keep on
+a-chasin' us they'll drive us all inteh th' river."
+
+The youth cried out savagely at this statement.  He crouched behind a
+little tree, with his eyes burning hatefully and his teeth set in a
+curlike snarl.  The awkward bandage was still about his head, and upon
+it, over his wound, there was a spot of dry blood.  His hair was
+wondrously tousled, and some straggling, moving locks hung over the
+cloth of the bandage down toward his forehead.  His jacket and shirt
+were open at the throat, and exposed his young bronzed neck. There
+could be seen spasmodic gulpings at his throat.
+
+His fingers twined nervously about his rifle. He wished that it was an
+engine of annihilating power.  He felt that he and his companions were
+being taunted and derided from sincere convictions that they were poor
+and puny.  His knowledge of his inability to take vengeance for it made
+his rage into a dark and stormy specter, that possessed him and made
+him dream of abominable cruelties.  The tormentors were flies sucking
+insolently at his blood, and he thought that he would have given his
+life for a revenge of seeing their faces in pitiful plights.
+
+The winds of battle had swept all about the regiment, until the one
+rifle, instantly followed by others, flashed in its front.  A moment
+later the regiment roared forth its sudden and valiant retort.  A dense
+wall of smoke settled slowly down. It was furiously slit and slashed by
+the knifelike fire from the rifles.
+
+To the youth the fighters resembled animals tossed for a death struggle
+into a dark pit.  There was a sensation that he and his fellows, at
+bay, were pushing back, always pushing fierce onslaughts of creatures
+who were slippery.  Their beams of crimson seemed to get no purchase
+upon the bodies of their foes; the latter seemed to evade them with
+ease, and come through, between, around, and about with unopposed skill.
+
+When, in a dream, it occurred to the youth that his rifle was an
+impotent stick, he lost sense of everything but his hate, his desire to
+smash into pulp the glittering smile of victory which he could feel
+upon the faces of his enemies.
+
+The blue smoke-swallowed line curled and writhed like a snake stepped
+upon.  It swung its ends to and fro in an agony of fear and rage.
+
+The youth was not conscious that he was erect upon his feet.  He did
+not know the direction of the ground.  Indeed, once he even lost the
+habit of balance and fell heavily.  He was up again immediately.  One
+thought went through the chaos of his brain at the time.  He wondered
+if he had fallen because he had been shot.  But the suspicion flew away
+at once.  He did not think more of it.
+
+He had taken up a first position behind the little tree, with a direct
+determination to hold it against the world.  He had not deemed it
+possible that his army could that day succeed, and from this he felt
+the ability to fight harder.  But the throng had surged in all ways,
+until he lost directions and locations, save that he knew where lay the
+enemy.
+
+The flames bit him, and the hot smoke broiled his skin.  His rifle
+barrel grew so hot that ordinarily he could not have borne it upon his
+palms; but he kept on stuffing cartridges into it, and pounding them
+with his clanking, bending ramrod.  If he aimed at some changing form
+through the smoke, he pulled his trigger with a fierce grunt, as if he
+were dealing a blow of the fist with all his strength.
+
+When the enemy seemed falling back before him and his fellows, he went
+instantly forward, like a dog who, seeing his foes lagging, turns and
+insists upon being pursued.  And when he was compelled to retire again,
+he did it slowly, sullenly, taking steps of wrathful despair.
+
+Once he, in his intent hate, was almost alone, and was firing, when all
+those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that
+he was not aware of a lull.
+
+He was recalled by a hoarse laugh and a sentence that came to his ears
+in a voice of contempt and amazement.  "Yeh infernal fool, don't yeh
+know enough t' quit when there ain't anything t' shoot at?  Good Gawd!"
+
+He turned then and, pausing with his rifle thrown half into position,
+looked at the blue line of his comrades.  During this moment of leisure
+they seemed all to be engaged in staring with astonishment at him. They
+had become spectators.  Turning to the front again he saw, under the
+lifted smoke, a deserted ground.
+
+He looked bewildered for a moment.  Then there appeared upon the glazed
+vacancy of his eyes a diamond point of intelligence.  "Oh," he said,
+comprehending.
+
+He returned to his comrades and threw himself upon the ground.  He
+sprawled like a man who had been thrashed.  His flesh seemed strangely
+on fire, and the sounds of the battle continued in his ears.  He groped
+blindly for his canteen.
+
+The lieutenant was crowing.  He seemed drunk with fighting.  He called
+out to the youth: "By heavens, if I had ten thousand wild cats like you
+I could tear th' stomach outa this war in less'n a week!"  He puffed
+out his chest with large dignity as he said it.
+
+Some of the men muttered and looked at the youth in awe-struck ways. It
+was plain that as he had gone on loading and firing and cursing without
+the proper intermission, they had found time to regard him. And they
+now looked upon him as a war devil.
+
+The friend came staggering to him.  There was some fright and dismay in
+his voice.  "Are yeh all right, Fleming?  Do yeh feel all right?  There
+ain't nothin' th' matter with yeh, Henry, is there?"
+
+"No," said the youth with difficulty.  His throat seemed full of knobs
+and burs.
+
+These incidents made the youth ponder.  It was revealed to him that he
+had been a barbarian, a beast.  He had fought like a pagan who defends
+his religion.  Regarding it, he saw that it was fine, wild, and, in
+some ways, easy.  He had been a tremendous figure, no doubt.  By this
+struggle he had overcome obstacles which he had admitted to be
+mountains.  They had fallen like paper peaks, and he was now what he
+called a hero.  And he had not been aware of the process.  He had slept
+and, awakening, found himself a knight.
+
+He lay and basked in the occasional stares of his comrades.  Their
+faces were varied in degrees of blackness from the burned powder. Some
+were utterly smudged.  They were reeking with perspiration, and their
+breaths came hard and wheezing.  And from these soiled expanses they
+peered at him.
+
+"Hot work!  Hot work!" cried the lieutenant deliriously.  He walked up
+and down, restless and eager.  Sometimes his voice could be heard in a
+wild, incomprehensible laugh.
+
+When he had a particularly profound thought upon the science of war he
+always unconsciously addressed himself to the youth.
+
+There was some grim rejoicing by the men.
+
+"By thunder, I bet this army'll never see another new reg'ment like us!"
+
+"You bet!"
+
+  "A dog, a woman, an' a walnut tree,
+   Th' more yeh beat 'em, th' better they be!
+
+That's like us."
+
+"Lost a piler men, they did.  If an' ol' woman swep' up th' woods she'd
+git a dustpanful."
+
+"Yes, an' if she'll come around ag'in in 'bout an' hour she'll git a
+pile more."
+
+The forest still bore its burden of clamor. From off under the trees
+came the rolling clatter of the musketry.  Each distant thicket seemed
+a strange porcupine with quills of flame.  A cloud of dark smoke, as
+from smoldering ruins, went up toward the sun now bright and gay in the
+blue, enameled sky.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The ragged line had respite for some minutes, but during its pause the
+struggle in the forest became magnified until the trees seemed to
+quiver from the firing and the ground to shake from the rushing of the
+men.  The voices of the cannon were mingled in a long and interminable
+row.  It seemed difficult to live in such an atmosphere.  The chests of
+the men strained for a bit of freshness, and their throats craved water.
+
+There was one shot through the body, who raised a cry of bitter
+lamentation when came this lull.  Perhaps he had been calling out
+during the fighting also, but at that time no one had heard him.  But
+now the men turned at the woeful complaints of him upon the ground.
+
+"Who is it?  Who is it?"
+
+"It's Jimmie Rogers.  Jimmie Rogers."
+
+When their eyes first encountered him there was a sudden halt, as if
+they feared to go near. He was thrashing about in the grass, twisting
+his shuddering body into many strange postures. He was screaming
+loudly.  This instant's hesitation seemed to fill him with a
+tremendous, fantastic contempt, and he damned them in shrieked
+sentences.
+
+The youth's friend had a geographical illusion concerning a stream, and
+he obtained permission to go for some water.  Immediately canteens were
+showered upon him.  "Fill mine, will yeh?"  "Bring me some, too."  "And
+me, too." He departed, ladened.  The youth went with his friend,
+feeling a desire to throw his heated body onto the stream and, soaking
+there, drink quarts.
+
+They made a hurried search for the supposed stream, but did not find
+it.  "No water here," said the youth.  They turned without delay and
+began to retrace their steps.
+
+From their position as they again faced toward the place of the
+fighting, they could of course comprehend a greater amount of the
+battle than when their visions had been blurred by the hurling smoke of
+the line.  They could see dark stretches winding along the land, and on
+one cleared space there was a row of guns making gray clouds, which
+were filled with large flashes of orange-colored flame.  Over some
+foliage they could see the roof of a house.  One window, glowing a deep
+murder red, shone squarely through the leaves.  From the edifice a tall
+leaning tower of smoke went far into the sky.
+
+Looking over their own troops, they saw mixed masses slowly getting
+into regular form. The sunlight made twinkling points of the bright
+steel.  To the rear there was a glimpse of a distant roadway as it
+curved over a slope.  It was crowded with retreating infantry.  From
+all the interwoven forest arose the smoke and bluster of the battle.
+The air was always occupied by a blaring.
+
+Near where they stood shells were flip-flapping and hooting. Occasional
+bullets buzzed in the air and spanged into tree trunks. Wounded men and
+other stragglers were slinking through the woods.
+
+Looking down an aisle of the grove, the youth and his companion saw a
+jangling general and his staff almost ride upon a wounded man, who was
+crawling on his hands and knees.  The general reined strongly at his
+charger's opened and foamy mouth and guided it with dexterous
+horsemanship past the man.  The latter scrambled in wild and torturing
+haste.  His strength evidently failed him as he reached a place of
+safety.  One of his arms suddenly weakened, and he fell, sliding over
+upon his back.  He lay stretched out, breathing gently.
+
+A moment later the small, creaking cavalcade was directly in front of
+the two soldiers.  Another officer, riding with the skillful abandon of
+a cowboy, galloped his horse to a position directly before the general.
+The two unnoticed foot soldiers made a little show of going on, but
+they lingered near in the desire to overhear the conversation. Perhaps,
+they thought, some great inner historical things would be said.
+
+The general, whom the boys knew as the commander of their division,
+looked at the other officer and spoke coolly, as if he were criticising
+his clothes.  "Th' enemy's formin' over there for another charge," he
+said.  "It'll be directed against Whiterside, an' I fear they'll break
+through there unless we work like thunder t' stop them."
+
+The other swore at his restive horse, and then cleared his throat.  He
+made a gesture toward his cap.  "It'll be hell t' pay stoppin' them,"
+he said shortly.
+
+"I presume so," remarked the general.  Then he began to talk rapidly
+and in a lower tone.  He frequently illustrated his words with a
+pointing finger.  The two infantrymen could hear nothing until finally
+he asked: "What troops can you spare?"
+
+The officer who rode like a cowboy reflected for an instant.  "Well,"
+he said, "I had to order in th' 12th to help th' 76th, an' I haven't
+really got any.  But there's th' 304th.  They fight like a lot 'a mule
+drivers.  I can spare them best of any."
+
+The youth and his friend exchanged glances of astonishment.
+
+The general spoke sharply.  "Get 'em ready, then.  I'll watch
+developments from here, an' send you word when t' start them.  It'll
+happen in five minutes."
+
+As the other officer tossed his fingers toward his cap and wheeling his
+horse, started away, the general called out to him in a sober voice: "I
+don't believe many of your mule drivers will get back."
+
+The other shouted something in reply.  He smiled.
+
+With scared faces, the youth and his companion hurried back to the line.
+
+These happenings had occupied an incredibly short time, yet the youth
+felt that in them he had been made aged.  New eyes were given to him.
+And the most startling thing was to learn suddenly that he was very
+insignificant.  The officer spoke of the regiment as if he referred to
+a broom.  Some part of the woods needed sweeping, perhaps, and he
+merely indicated a broom in a tone properly indifferent to its fate. It
+was war, no doubt, but it appeared strange.
+
+As the two boys approached the line, the lieutenant perceived them and
+swelled with wrath. "Fleming--Wilson--how long does it take yeh to git
+water, anyhow--where yeh been to."
+
+But his oration ceased as he saw their eyes, which were large with
+great tales.  "We're goin' t' charge--we're goin' t' charge!" cried the
+youth's friend, hastening with his news.
+
+"Charge?" said the lieutenant.  "Charge? Well, b'Gawd!  Now, this is
+real fightin'."  Over his soiled countenance there went a boastful
+smile.  "Charge?  Well, b'Gawd!"
+
+A little group of soldiers surrounded the two youths.  "Are we, sure
+'nough?  Well, I'll be derned!  Charge?  What fer?  What at?  Wilson,
+you're lyin'."
+
+"I hope to die," said the youth, pitching his tones to the key of angry
+remonstrance.  "Sure as shooting, I tell you."
+
+And his friend spoke in re-enforcement.  "Not by a blame sight, he
+ain't lyin'.  We heard 'em talkin'."
+
+They caught sight of two mounted figures a short distance from them.
+One was the colonel of the regiment and the other was the officer who
+had received orders from the commander of the division.  They were
+gesticulating at each other. The soldier, pointing at them, interpreted
+the scene.
+
+One man had a final objection: "How could yeh hear 'em talkin'?"  But
+the men, for a large part, nodded, admitting that previously the two
+friends had spoken truth.
+
+They settled back into reposeful attitudes with airs of having accepted
+the matter.  And they mused upon it, with a hundred varieties of
+expression.  It was an engrossing thing to think about.  Many tightened
+their belts carefully and hitched at their trousers.
+
+A moment later the officers began to bustle among the men, pushing them
+into a more compact mass and into a better alignment.  They chased
+those that straggled and fumed at a few men who seemed to show by their
+attitudes that they had decided to remain at that spot.  They were like
+critical shepherds struggling with sheep.
+
+Presently, the regiment seemed to draw itself up and heave a deep
+breath.  None of the men's faces were mirrors of large thoughts.  The
+soldiers were bended and stooped like sprinters before a signal.  Many
+pairs of glinting eyes peered from the grimy faces toward the curtains
+of the deeper woods.  They seemed to be engaged in deep calculations of
+time and distance.
+
+They were surrounded by the noises of the monstrous altercation between
+the two armies. The world was fully interested in other matters.
+Apparently, the regiment had its small affair to itself.
+
+The youth, turning, shot a quick, inquiring glance at his friend.  The
+latter returned to him the same manner of look.  They were the only
+ones who possessed an inner knowledge.  "Mule drivers--hell t'
+pay--don't believe many will get back."  It was an ironical secret.
+Still, they saw no hesitation in each other's faces, and they nodded a
+mute and unprotesting assent when a shaggy man near them said in a meek
+voice: "We'll git swallowed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The youth stared at the land in front of him. Its foliages now seemed
+to veil powers and horrors.  He was unaware of the machinery of orders
+that started the charge, although from the corners of his eyes he saw
+an officer, who looked like a boy a-horseback, come galloping, waving
+his hat.  Suddenly he felt a straining and heaving among the men.  The
+line fell slowly forward like a toppling wall, and, with a convulsive
+gasp that was intended for a cheer, the regiment began its journey. The
+youth was pushed and jostled for a moment before he understood the
+movement at all, but directly he lunged ahead and began to run.
+
+He fixed his eye upon a distant and prominent clump of trees where he
+had concluded the enemy were to be met, and he ran toward it as toward
+a goal.  He had believed throughout that it was a mere question of
+getting over an unpleasant matter as quickly as possible, and he ran
+desperately, as if pursued for a murder.  His face was drawn hard and
+tight with the stress of his endeavor.  His eyes were fixed in a lurid
+glare.  And with his soiled and disordered dress, his red and inflamed
+features surmounted by the dingy rag with its spot of blood, his wildly
+swinging rifle and banging accouterments, he looked to be an insane
+soldier.
+
+As the regiment swung from its position out into a cleared space the
+woods and thickets before it awakened.  Yellow flames leaped toward it
+from many directions.  The forest made a tremendous objection.
+
+The line lurched straight for a moment.  Then the right wing swung
+forward; it in turn was surpassed by the left.  Afterward the center
+careered to the front until the regiment was a wedge-shaped mass, but
+an instant later the opposition of the bushes, trees, and uneven places
+on the ground split the command and scattered it into detached clusters.
+
+The youth, light-footed, was unconsciously in advance.  His eyes still
+kept note of the clump of trees.  From all places near it the clannish
+yell of the enemy could be heard.  The little flames of rifles leaped
+from it.  The song of the bullets was in the air and shells snarled
+among the tree-tops.  One tumbled directly into the middle of a
+hurrying group and exploded in crimson fury. There was an instant's
+spectacle of a man, almost over it, throwing up his hands to shield his
+eyes.
+
+Other men, punched by bullets, fell in grotesque agonies.  The regiment
+left a coherent trail of bodies.
+
+They had passed into a clearer atmosphere. There was an effect like a
+revelation in the new appearance of the landscape.  Some men working
+madly at a battery were plain to them, and the opposing infantry's
+lines were defined by the gray walls and fringes of smoke.
+
+It seemed to the youth that he saw everything.  Each blade of the green
+grass was bold and clear.  He thought that he was aware of every change
+in the thin, transparent vapor that floated idly in sheets.  The brown
+or gray trunks of the trees showed each roughness of their surfaces.
+And the men of the regiment, with their starting eyes and sweating
+faces, running madly, or falling, as if thrown headlong, to queer,
+heaped-up corpses--all were comprehended.  His mind took a mechanical
+but firm impression, so that afterward everything was pictured and
+explained to him, save why he himself was there.
+
+But there was a frenzy made from this furious rush.  The men, pitching
+forward insanely, had burst into cheerings, moblike and barbaric, but
+tuned in strange keys that can arouse the dullard and the stoic.  It
+made a mad enthusiasm that, it seemed, would be incapable of checking
+itself before granite and brass.  There was the delirium that
+encounters despair and death, and is heedless and blind to the odds. It
+is a temporary but sublime absence of selfishness.  And because it was
+of this order was the reason, perhaps, why the youth wondered,
+afterward, what reasons he could have had for being there.
+
+Presently the straining pace ate up the energies of the men.  As if by
+agreement, the leaders began to slacken their speed.  The volleys
+directed against them had had a seeming windlike effect.  The regiment
+snorted and blew.  Among some stolid trees it began to falter and
+hesitate. The men, staring intently, began to wait for some of the
+distant walls of smoke to move and disclose to them the scene.  Since
+much of their strength and their breath had vanished, they returned to
+caution.  They were become men again.
+
+The youth had a vague belief that he had run miles, and he thought, in
+a way, that he was now in some new and unknown land.
+
+The moment the regiment ceased its advance the protesting splutter of
+musketry became a steadied roar.  Long and accurate fringes of smoke
+spread out.  From the top of a small hill came level belchings of
+yellow flame that caused an inhuman whistling in the air.
+
+The men, halted, had opportunity to see some of their comrades dropping
+with moans and shrieks.  A few lay under foot, still or wailing. And
+now for an instant the men stood, their rifles slack in their hands,
+and watched the regiment dwindle.  They appeared dazed and stupid. This
+spectacle seemed to paralyze them, overcome them with a fatal
+fascination.  They stared woodenly at the sights, and, lowering their
+eyes, looked from face to face.  It was a strange pause, and a strange
+silence.
+
+Then, above the sounds of the outside commotion, arose the roar of the
+lieutenant.  He strode suddenly forth, his infantile features black
+with rage.
+
+"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed.  "Come on!  Yeh can't stay here. Yeh
+must come on." He said more, but much of it could not be understood.
+
+He started rapidly forward, with his head turned toward the men.  "Come
+on," he was shouting.  The men stared with blank and yokel-like eyes at
+him.  He was obliged to halt and retrace his steps.  He stood then with
+his back to the enemy and delivered gigantic curses into the faces of
+the men.  His body vibrated from the weight and force of his
+imprecations.  And he could string oaths with the facility of a maiden
+who strings beads.
+
+The friend of the youth aroused.  Lurching suddenly forward and
+dropping to his knees, he fired an angry shot at the persistent woods.
+This action awakened the men.  They huddled no more like sheep.  They
+seemed suddenly to bethink them of their weapons, and at once commenced
+firing.  Belabored by their officers, they began to move forward.  The
+regiment, involved like a cart involved in mud and muddle, started
+unevenly with many jolts and jerks.  The men stopped now every few
+paces to fire and load, and in this manner moved slowly on from trees
+to trees.
+
+The flaming opposition in their front grew with their advance until it
+seemed that all forward ways were barred by the thin leaping tongues,
+and off to the right an ominous demonstration could sometimes be dimly
+discerned. The smoke lately generated was in confusing clouds that made
+it difficult for the regiment to proceed with intelligence.  As he
+passed through each curling mass the youth wondered what would confront
+him on the farther side.
+
+The command went painfully forward until an open space interposed
+between them and the lurid lines.  Here, crouching and cowering behind
+some trees, the men clung with desperation, as if threatened by a wave.
+They looked wild-eyed, and as if amazed at this furious disturbance
+they had stirred.  In the storm there was an ironical expression of
+their importance.  The faces of the men, too, showed a lack of a
+certain feeling of responsibility for being there.  It was as if they
+had been driven.  It was the dominant animal failing to remember in the
+supreme moments the forceful causes of various superficial qualities.
+The whole affair seemed incomprehensible to many of them.
+
+As they halted thus the lieutenant again began to bellow profanely.
+Regardless of the vindictive threats of the bullets, he went about
+coaxing, berating, and bedamning.  His lips, that were habitually in a
+soft and childlike curve, were now writhed into unholy contortions.  He
+swore by all possible deities.
+
+Once he grabbed the youth by the arm. "Come on, yeh lunkhead!" he
+roared.  "Come on!  We'll all git killed if we stay here.  We've on'y
+got t' go across that lot.  An' then"--the remainder of his idea
+disappeared in a blue haze of curses.
+
+The youth stretched forth his arm.  "Cross there?"  His mouth was
+puckered in doubt and awe.
+
+"Certainly.  Jest 'cross th' lot!  We can't stay here," screamed the
+lieutenant.  He poked his face close to the youth and waved his
+bandaged hand.  "Come on!"  Presently he grappled with him as if for a
+wrestling bout.  It was as if he planned to drag the youth by the ear
+on to the assault.
+
+The private felt a sudden unspeakable indignation against his officer.
+He wrenched fiercely and shook him off.
+
+"Come on yerself, then," he yelled.  There was a bitter challenge in
+his voice.
+
+They galloped together down the regimental front.  The friend scrambled
+after them.  In front of the colors the three men began to bawl: "Come
+on! come on!"  They danced and gyrated like tortured savages.
+
+The flag, obedient to these appeals, bended its glittering form and
+swept toward them.  The men wavered in indecision for a moment, and
+then with a long, wailful cry the dilapidated regiment surged forward
+and began its new journey.
+
+Over the field went the scurrying mass.  It was a handful of men
+splattered into the faces of the enemy.  Toward it instantly sprang the
+yellow tongues.  A vast quantity of blue smoke hung before them.  A
+mighty banging made ears valueless.
+
+The youth ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could
+discover him.  He ducked his head low, like a football player.  In his
+haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was a wild blur.  Pulsating
+saliva stood at the corners of his mouth.
+
+Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing
+fondness for this flag which was near him.  It was a creation of beauty
+and invulnerability.  It was a goddess, radiant, that bended its form
+with an imperious gesture to him.  It was a woman, red and white,
+hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes. Because
+no harm could come to it he endowed it with power.  He kept near, as if
+it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went from his mind.
+
+In the mad scramble he was aware that the color sergeant flinched
+suddenly, as if struck by a bludgeon.  He faltered, and then became
+motionless, save for his quivering knees.
+
+He made a spring and a clutch at the pole. At the same instant his
+friend grabbed it from the other side.  They jerked at it, stout and
+furious, but the color sergeant was dead, and the corpse would not
+relinquish its trust.  For a moment there was a grim encounter.  The
+dead man, swinging with bended back, seemed to be obstinately tugging,
+in ludicrous and awful ways, for the possession of the flag.
+
+It was past in an instant of time.  They wrenched the flag furiously
+from the dead man, and, as they turned again, the corpse swayed forward
+with bowed head.  One arm swung high, and the curved hand fell with
+heavy protest on the friend's unheeding shoulder.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the
+regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly
+back.  The men, having hurled themselves in projectile fashion, had
+presently expended their forces.  They slowly retreated, with their
+faces still toward the spluttering woods, and their hot rifles still
+replying to the din.  Several officers were giving orders, their voices
+keyed to screams.
+
+"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the lieutenant was asking in a sarcastic
+howl.  And a red-bearded officer, whose voice of triple brass could
+plainly be heard, was commanding: "Shoot into 'em! Shoot into 'em, Gawd
+damn their souls!"  There was a _melée_ of screeches, in which the men
+were ordered to do conflicting and impossible things.
+
+The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag.  "Give it
+t' me!"  "No, let me keep it!"  Each felt satisfied with the other's
+possession of it, but each felt bound to declare, by an offer to carry
+the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself.  The youth roughly
+pushed his friend away.
+
+The regiment fell back to the stolid trees. There it halted for a
+moment to blaze at some dark forms that had begun to steal upon its
+track. Presently it resumed its march again, curving among the tree
+trunks.  By the time the depleted regiment had again reached the first
+open space they were receiving a fast and merciless fire. There seemed
+to be mobs all about them.
+
+The greater part of the men, discouraged, their spirits worn by the
+turmoil, acted as if stunned.  They accepted the pelting of the bullets
+with bowed and weary heads.  It was of no purpose to strive against
+walls.  It was of no use to batter themselves against granite.  And
+from this consciousness that they had attempted to conquer an
+unconquerable thing there seemed to arise a feeling that they had been
+betrayed. They glowered with bent brows, but dangerously, upon some of
+the officers, more particularly upon the red-bearded one with the voice
+of triple brass.
+
+However, the rear of the regiment was fringed with men, who continued
+to shoot irritably at the advancing foes.  They seemed resolved to make
+every trouble.  The youthful lieutenant was perhaps the last man in the
+disordered mass.  His forgotten back was toward the enemy.  He had been
+shot in the arm.  It hung straight and rigid. Occasionally he would
+cease to remember it, and be about to emphasize an oath with a sweeping
+gesture.  The multiplied pain caused him to swear with incredible power.
+
+The youth went along with slipping, uncertain feet.  He kept watchful
+eyes rearward.  A scowl of mortification and rage was upon his face. He
+had thought of a fine revenge upon the officer who had referred to him
+and his fellows as mule drivers.  But he saw that it could not come to
+pass.  His dreams had collapsed when the mule drivers, dwindling
+rapidly, had wavered and hesitated on the little clearing, and then had
+recoiled. And now the retreat of the mule drivers was a march of shame
+to him.
+
+A dagger-pointed gaze from without his blackened face was held toward
+the enemy, but his greater hatred was riveted upon the man, who, not
+knowing him, had called him a mule driver.
+
+When he knew that he and his comrades had failed to do anything in
+successful ways that might bring the little pangs of a kind of remorse
+upon the officer, the youth allowed the rage of the baffled to possess
+him.  This cold officer upon a monument, who dropped epithets
+unconcernedly down, would be finer as a dead man, he thought. So
+grievous did he think it that he could never possess the secret right
+to taunt truly in answer.
+
+He had pictured red letters of curious revenge. "We ARE mule drivers,
+are we?"  And now he was compelled to throw them away.
+
+He presently wrapped his heart in the cloak of his pride and kept the
+flag erect.  He harangued his fellows, pushing against their chests
+with his free hand.  To those he knew well he made frantic appeals,
+beseeching them by name. Between him and the lieutenant, scolding and
+near to losing his mind with rage, there was felt a subtle fellowship
+and equality.  They supported each other in all manner of hoarse,
+howling protests.
+
+But the regiment was a machine run down. The two men babbled at a
+forceless thing.  The soldiers who had heart to go slowly were
+continually shaken in their resolves by a knowledge that comrades were
+slipping with speed back to the lines.  It was difficult to think of
+reputation when others were thinking of skins.  Wounded men were left
+crying on this black journey.
+
+The smoke fringes and flames blustered always.  The youth, peering once
+through a sudden rift in a cloud, saw a brown mass of troops,
+interwoven and magnified until they appeared to be thousands.  A
+fierce-hued flag flashed before his vision.
+
+Immediately, as if the uplifting of the smoke had been prearranged, the
+discovered troops burst into a rasping yell, and a hundred flames
+jetted toward the retreating band.  A rolling gray cloud again
+interposed as the regiment doggedly replied.  The youth had to depend
+again upon his misused ears, which were trembling and buzzing from the
+_melée_ of musketry and yells.
+
+The way seemed eternal.  In the clouded haze men became panicstricken
+with the thought that the regiment had lost its path, and was
+proceeding in a perilous direction.  Once the men who headed the wild
+procession turned and came pushing back against their comrades,
+screaming that they were being fired upon from points which they had
+considered to be toward their own lines. At this cry a hysterical fear
+and dismay beset the troops.  A soldier, who heretofore had been
+ambitious to make the regiment into a wise little band that would
+proceed calmly amid the huge-appearing difficulties, suddenly sank down
+and buried his face in his arms with an air of bowing to a doom.  From
+another a shrill lamentation rang out filled with profane allusions to
+a general. Men ran hither and thither, seeking with their eyes roads of
+escape.  With serene regularity, as if controlled by a schedule,
+bullets buffed into men.
+
+The youth walked stolidly into the midst of the mob, and with his flag
+in his hands took a stand as if he expected an attempt to push him to
+the ground.  He unconsciously assumed the attitude of the color bearer
+in the fight of the preceding day.  He passed over his brow a hand that
+trembled.  His breath did not come freely. He was choking during this
+small wait for the crisis.
+
+His friend came to him.  "Well, Henry, I guess this is good-by--John."
+
+"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied the youth, and he would not
+look at the other.
+
+The officers labored like politicians to beat the mass into a proper
+circle to face the menaces.  The ground was uneven and torn.  The men
+curled into depressions and fitted themselves snugly behind whatever
+would frustrate a bullet.
+
+The youth noted with vague surprise that the lieutenant was standing
+mutely with his legs far apart and his sword held in the manner of a
+cane. The youth wondered what had happened to his vocal organs that he
+no more cursed.
+
+There was something curious in this little intent pause of the
+lieutenant.  He was like a babe which, having wept its fill, raises its
+eyes and fixes upon a distant toy.  He was engrossed in this
+contemplation, and the soft under lip quivered from self-whispered
+words.
+
+Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly. The men, hiding from the
+bullets, waited anxiously for it to lift and disclose the plight of the
+regiment.
+
+The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the eager voice of the
+youthful lieutenant bawling out: "Here they come!  Right onto us,
+b'Gawd!"  His further words were lost in a roar of wicked thunder from
+the men's rifles.
+
+The youth's eyes had instantly turned in the direction indicated by the
+awakened and agitated lieutenant, and he had seen the haze of treachery
+disclosing a body of soldiers of the enemy.  They were so near that he
+could see their features. There was a recognition as he looked at the
+types of faces.  Also he perceived with dim amazement that their
+uniforms were rather gay in effect, being light gray, accented with a
+brilliant-hued facing.  Too, the clothes seemed new.
+
+These troops had apparently been going forward with caution, their
+rifles held in readiness, when the youthful lieutenant had discovered
+them and their movement had been interrupted by the volley from the
+blue regiment.  From the moment's glimpse, it was derived that they had
+been unaware of the proximity of their dark-suited foes or had mistaken
+the direction. Almost instantly they were shut utterly from the youth's
+sight by the smoke from the energetic rifles of his companions.  He
+strained his vision to learn the accomplishment of the volley, but the
+smoke hung before him.
+
+The two bodies of troops exchanged blows in the manner of a pair of
+boxers.  The fast angry firings went back and forth.  The men in blue
+were intent with the despair of their circumstances and they seized
+upon the revenge to be had at close range.  Their thunder swelled loud
+and valiant.  Their curving front bristled with flashes and the place
+resounded with the clangor of their ramrods.  The youth ducked and
+dodged for a time and achieved a few unsatisfactory views of the enemy.
+There appeared to be many of them and they were replying swiftly.  They
+seemed moving toward the blue regiment, step by step.  He seated
+himself gloomily on the ground with his flag between his knees.
+
+As he noted the vicious, wolflike temper of his comrades he had a sweet
+thought that if the enemy was about to swallow the regimental broom as
+a large prisoner, it could at least have the consolation of going down
+with bristles forward.
+
+But the blows of the antagonist began to grow more weak.  Fewer bullets
+ripped the air, and finally, when the men slackened to learn of the
+fight, they could see only dark, floating smoke.  The regiment lay
+still and gazed.  Presently some chance whim came to the pestering
+blur, and it began to coil heavily away.  The men saw a ground vacant
+of fighters.  It would have been an empty stage if it were not for a
+few corpses that lay thrown and twisted into fantastic shapes upon the
+sward.
+
+At sight of this tableau, many of the men in blue sprang from behind
+their covers and made an ungainly dance of joy.  Their eyes burned and
+a hoarse cheer of elation broke from their dry lips.
+
+It had begun to seem to them that events were trying to prove that they
+were impotent.  These little battles had evidently endeavored to
+demonstrate that the men could not fight well.  When on the verge of
+submission to these opinions, the small duel had showed them that the
+proportions were not impossible, and by it they had revenged themselves
+upon their misgivings and upon the foe.
+
+The impetus of enthusiasm was theirs again. They gazed about them with
+looks of uplifted pride, feeling new trust in the grim, always
+confident weapons in their hands.  And they were men.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Presently they knew that no firing threatened them.  All ways seemed
+once more opened to them.  The dusty blue lines of their friends were
+disclosed a short distance away.  In the distance there were many
+colossal noises, but in all this part of the field there was a sudden
+stillness.
+
+They perceived that they were free.  The depleted band drew a long
+breath of relief and gathered itself into a bunch to complete its trip.
+
+In this last length of journey the men began to show strange emotions.
+They hurried with nervous fear.  Some who had been dark and unfaltering
+in the grimmest moments now could not conceal an anxiety that made them
+frantic.  It was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed in
+insignificant ways after the times for proper military deaths had
+passed.  Or, perhaps, they thought it would be too ironical to get
+killed at the portals of safety.  With backward looks of perturbation,
+they hastened.
+
+As they approached their own lines there was some sarcasm exhibited on
+the part of a gaunt and bronzed regiment that lay resting in the shade
+of trees.  Questions were wafted to them.
+
+"Where th' hell yeh been?"
+
+"What yeh comin' back fer?"
+
+"Why didn't yeh stay there?"
+
+"Was it warm out there, sonny?"
+
+"Goin' home now, boys?"
+
+One shouted in taunting mimicry: "Oh, mother, come quick an' look at
+th' sojers!"
+
+There was no reply from the bruised and battered regiment, save that
+one man made broadcast challenges to fist fights and the red-bearded
+officer walked rather near and glared in great swashbuckler style at a
+tall captain in the other regiment.  But the lieutenant suppressed the
+man who wished to fist fight, and the tall captain, flushing at the
+little fanfare of the red-bearded one, was obliged to look intently at
+some trees.
+
+The youth's tender flesh was deeply stung by these remarks.  From under
+his creased brows he glowered with hate at the mockers.  He meditated
+upon a few revenges.  Still, many in the regiment hung their heads in
+criminal fashion, so that it came to pass that the men trudged with
+sudden heaviness, as if they bore upon their bended shoulders the
+coffin of their honor.  And the youthful lieutenant, recollecting
+himself, began to mutter softly in black curses.
+
+They turned when they arrived at their old position to regard the
+ground over which they had charged.
+
+The youth in this contemplation was smitten with a large astonishment.
+He discovered that the distances, as compared with the brilliant
+measurings of his mind, were trivial and ridiculous.  The stolid trees,
+where much had taken place, seemed incredibly near.  The time, too, now
+that he reflected, he saw to have been short. He wondered at the number
+of emotions and events that had been crowded into such little spaces.
+Elfin thoughts must have exaggerated and enlarged everything, he said.
+
+It seemed, then, that there was bitter justice in the speeches of the
+gaunt and bronzed veterans.  He veiled a glance of disdain at his
+fellows who strewed the ground, choking with dust, red from
+perspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
+
+They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to wring every mite of
+water from them, and they polished at their swollen and watery features
+with coat sleeves and bunches of grass.
+
+However, to the youth there was a considerable joy in musing upon his
+performances during the charge.  He had had very little time previously
+in which to appreciate himself, so that there was now much satisfaction
+in quietly thinking of his actions.  He recalled bits of color that in
+the flurry had stamped themselves unawares upon his engaged senses.
+
+As the regiment lay heaving from its hot exertions the officer who had
+named them as mule drivers came galloping along the line.  He had lost
+his cap.  His tousled hair streamed wildly, and his face was dark with
+vexation and wrath. His temper was displayed with more clearness by the
+way in which he managed his horse.  He jerked and wrenched savagely at
+his bridle, stopping the hard-breathing animal with a furious pull near
+the colonel of the regiment.  He immediately exploded in reproaches
+which came unbidden to the ears of the men.  They were suddenly alert,
+being always curious about black words between officers.
+
+"Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what an awful bull you made of this thing!"
+began the officer. He attempted low tones, but his indignation caused
+certain of the men to learn the sense of his words.  "What an awful
+mess you made! Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hundred feet this
+side of a very pretty success!  If your men had gone a hundred feet
+farther you would have made a great charge, but as it is--what a lot of
+mud diggers you've got anyway!"
+
+The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyes
+upon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair.
+
+The colonel was seen to straighten his form and put one hand forth in
+oratorical fashion. He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon had
+been accused of stealing.  The men were wiggling in an ecstasy of
+excitement.
+
+But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed from that of a deacon to
+that of a Frenchman. He shrugged his shoulders.  "Oh, well, general, we
+went as far as we could," he said calmly.
+
+"As far as you could?  Did you, b'Gawd?" snorted the other.  "Well,
+that wasn't very far, was it?" he added, with a glance of cold contempt
+into the other's eyes.  "Not very far, I think.  You were intended to
+make a diversion in favor of Whiterside.  How well you succeeded your
+own ears can now tell you."  He wheeled his horse and rode stiffly away.
+
+The colonel, bidden to hear the jarring noises of an engagement in the
+woods to the left, broke out in vague damnations.
+
+The lieutenant, who had listened with an air of impotent rage to the
+interview, spoke suddenly in firm and undaunted tones.  "I don't care
+what a man is--whether he is a general or what--if he says th' boys
+didn't put up a good fight out there he's a damned fool."
+
+"Lieutenant," began the colonel, severely, "this is my own affair, and
+I'll trouble you--"
+
+The lieutenant made an obedient gesture. "All right, colonel, all
+right," he said.  He sat down with an air of being content with himself.
+
+The news that the regiment had been reproached went along the line. For
+a time the men were bewildered by it.  "Good thunder!" they ejaculated,
+staring at the vanishing form of the general.  They conceived it to be
+a huge mistake.
+
+Presently, however, they began to believe that in truth their efforts
+had been called light.  The youth could see this conviction weigh upon
+the entire regiment until the men were like cuffed and cursed animals,
+but withal rebellious.
+
+The friend, with a grievance in his eye, went to the youth.  "I wonder
+what he does want," he said.  "He must think we went out there an'
+played marbles!  I never see sech a man!"
+
+The youth developed a tranquil philosophy for these moments of
+irritation.  "Oh, well," he rejoined, "he probably didn't see nothing
+of it at all and got mad as blazes, and concluded we were a lot of
+sheep, just because we didn't do what he wanted done.  It's a pity old
+Grandpa Henderson got killed yestirday--he'd have known that we did our
+best and fought good.  It's just our awful luck, that's what."
+
+"I should say so," replied the friend.  He seemed to be deeply wounded
+at an injustice. "I should say we did have awful luck!  There's no fun
+in fightin' fer people when everything yeh do--no matter what--ain't
+done right.  I have a notion t' stay behind next time an' let 'em take
+their ol' charge an' go t' th' devil with it."
+
+The youth spoke soothingly to his comrade. "Well, we both did good. I'd
+like to see the fool what'd say we both didn't do as good as we could!"
+
+"Of course we did," declared the friend stoutly.  "An' I'd break th'
+feller's neck if he was as big as a church.  But we're all right,
+anyhow, for I heard one feller say that we two fit th' best in th'
+reg'ment, an' they had a great argument 'bout it.  Another feller, 'a
+course, he had t' up an' say it was a lie--he seen all what was goin'
+on an' he never seen us from th' beginnin' t' th' end.  An' a lot more
+struck in an' ses it wasn't a lie--we did fight like thunder, an' they
+give us quite a send-off.  But this is what I can't stand--these
+everlastin' ol' soldiers, titterin' an' laughin', an' then that
+general, he's crazy."
+
+The youth exclaimed with sudden exasperation: "He's a lunkhead!  He
+makes me mad. I wish he'd come along next time.  We'd show 'im what--"
+
+He ceased because several men had come hurrying up.  Their faces
+expressed a bringing of great news.
+
+"O Flem, yeh jest oughta heard!" cried one, eagerly.
+
+"Heard what?" said the youth.
+
+"Yeh jest oughta heard!" repeated the other, and he arranged himself to
+tell his tidings.  The others made an excited circle.  "Well, sir, th'
+colonel met your lieutenant right by us--it was damnedest thing I ever
+heard--an' he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!' he ses.  'Mr. Hasbrouck!' he ses, 'by
+th' way, who was that lad what carried th' flag?' he ses.  There,
+Flemin', what d' yeh think 'a that?  'Who was th' lad what carried th'
+flag?' he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he speaks up right away: 'That's
+Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he ses, right away.  What?  I say he
+did.  'A jim-hickey,' he ses--those 'r his words.  He did, too. I say
+he did.  If you kin tell this story better than I kin, go ahead an'
+tell it.  Well, then, keep yer mouth shet.  Th' lieutenant, he ses:
+'He's a jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem! he is,
+indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem!  He kep' th' flag 'way t' th'
+front.  I saw 'im.  He's a good un,' ses th' colonel.  'You bet,' ses
+th' lieutenant, 'he an' a feller named Wilson was at th' head 'a th'
+charge, an' howlin' like Indians all th' time,' he ses.  'Head 'a th'
+charge all th' time,' he ses.  'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  There,
+Wilson, m'boy, put that in a letter an' send it hum t' yer mother, hay?
+'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  An' th' colonel, he ses: 'Were they,
+indeed?  Ahem! ahem!  My sakes!' he ses.  'At th' head 'a th'
+reg'ment?' he ses.  'They were,' ses th' lieutenant.  'My sakes!' ses
+th' colonel. He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he ses, 'those two babies?'
+'They were,' ses th' lieutenant. 'Well, well,' ses th' colonel, 'they
+deserve t' be major generals,' he ses.  'They deserve t' be
+major-generals.'"
+
+The youth and his friend had said: "Huh!" "Yer lyin', Thompson."  "Oh,
+go t' blazes!" "He never sed it."  "Oh, what a lie!"  "Huh!" But
+despite these youthful scoffings and embarrassments, they knew that
+their faces were deeply flushing from thrills of pleasure.  They
+exchanged a secret glance of joy and congratulation.
+
+They speedily forgot many things.  The past held no pictures of error
+and disappointment. They were very happy, and their hearts swelled with
+grateful affection for the colonel and the youthful lieutenant.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+When the woods again began to pour forth the dark-hued masses of the
+enemy the youth felt serene self-confidence.  He smiled briefly when he
+saw men dodge and duck at the long screechings of shells that were
+thrown in giant handfuls over them.  He stood, erect and tranquil,
+watching the attack begin against a part of the line that made a blue
+curve along the side of an adjacent hill.  His vision being unmolested
+by smoke from the rifles of his companions, he had opportunities to see
+parts of the hard fight.  It was a relief to perceive at last from
+whence came some of these noises which had been roared into his ears.
+
+Off a short way he saw two regiments fighting a little separate battle
+with two other regiments.  It was in a cleared space, wearing a
+set-apart look.  They were blazing as if upon a wager, giving and
+taking tremendous blows. The firings were incredibly fierce and rapid.
+These intent regiments apparently were oblivious of all larger purposes
+of war, and were slugging each other as if at a matched game.
+
+In another direction he saw a magnificent brigade going with the
+evident intention of driving the enemy from a wood.  They passed in out
+of sight and presently there was a most awe-inspiring racket in the
+wood.  The noise was unspeakable.  Having stirred this prodigious
+uproar, and, apparently, finding it too prodigious, the brigade, after
+a little time, came marching airily out again with its fine formation
+in nowise disturbed.  There were no traces of speed in its movements.
+The brigade was jaunty and seemed to point a proud thumb at the yelling
+wood.
+
+On a slope to the left there was a long row of guns, gruff and
+maddened, denouncing the enemy, who, down through the woods, were
+forming for another attack in the pitiless monotony of conflicts.  The
+round red discharges from the guns made a crimson flare and a high,
+thick smoke.  Occasional glimpses could be caught of groups of the
+toiling artillerymen.  In the rear of this row of guns stood a house,
+calm and white, amid bursting shells.  A congregation of horses, tied
+to a long railing, were tugging frenziedly at their bridles.  Men were
+running hither and thither.
+
+The detached battle between the four regiments lasted for some time.
+There chanced to be no interference, and they settled their dispute by
+themselves.  They struck savagely and powerfully at each other for a
+period of minutes, and then the lighter-hued regiments faltered and
+drew back, leaving the dark-blue lines shouting. The youth could see
+the two flags shaking with laughter amid the smoke remnants.
+
+Presently there was a stillness, pregnant with meaning.  The blue lines
+shifted and changed a trifle and stared expectantly at the silent woods
+and fields before them.  The hush was solemn and churchlike, save for a
+distant battery that, evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faint
+rolling thunder over the ground.  It irritated, like the noises of
+unimpressed boys.  The men imagined that it would prevent their perched
+ears from hearing the first words of the new battle.
+
+Of a sudden the guns on the slope roared out a message of warning.  A
+spluttering sound had begun in the woods.  It swelled with amazing
+speed to a profound clamor that involved the earth in noises.  The
+splitting crashes swept along the lines until an interminable roar was
+developed.  To those in the midst of it it became a din fitted to the
+universe.  It was the whirring and thumping of gigantic machinery,
+complications among the smaller stars.  The youth's ears were filled
+up.  They were incapable of hearing more.
+
+On an incline over which a road wound he saw wild and desperate rushes
+of men perpetually backward and forward in riotous surges. These parts
+of the opposing armies were two long waves that pitched upon each other
+madly at dictated points.  To and fro they swelled. Sometimes, one side
+by its yells and cheers would proclaim decisive blows, but a moment
+later the other side would be all yells and cheers. Once the youth saw
+a spray of light forms go in houndlike leaps toward the waving blue
+lines. There was much howling, and presently it went away with a vast
+mouthful of prisoners.  Again, he saw a blue wave dash with such
+thunderous force against a gray obstruction that it seemed to clear the
+earth of it and leave nothing but trampled sod.  And always in their
+swift and deadly rushes to and fro the men screamed and yelled like
+maniacs.
+
+Particular pieces of fence or secure positions behind collections of
+trees were wrangled over, as gold thrones or pearl bedsteads.  There
+were desperate lunges at these chosen spots seemingly every instant,
+and most of them were bandied like light toys between the contending
+forces.  The youth could not tell from the battle flags flying like
+crimson foam in many directions which color of cloth was winning.
+
+His emaciated regiment bustled forth with undiminished fierceness when
+its time came. When assaulted again by bullets, the men burst out in a
+barbaric cry of rage and pain.  They bent their heads in aims of intent
+hatred behind the projected hammers of their guns. Their ramrods
+clanged loud with fury as their eager arms pounded the cartridges into
+the rifle barrels.  The front of the regiment was a smoke-wall
+penetrated by the flashing points of yellow and red.
+
+Wallowing in the fight, they were in an astonishingly short time
+resmudged.  They surpassed in stain and dirt all their previous
+appearances.  Moving to and fro with strained exertion, jabbering the
+while, they were, with their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowing
+eyes, like strange and ugly friends jigging heavily in the smoke.
+
+The lieutenant, returning from a tour after a bandage, produced from a
+hidden receptacle of his mind new and portentous oaths suited to the
+emergency.  Strings of expletives he swung lashlike over the backs of
+his men, and it was evident that his previous efforts had in nowise
+impaired his resources.
+
+The youth, still the bearer of the colors, did not feel his idleness.
+He was deeply absorbed as a spectator.  The crash and swing of the
+great drama made him lean forward, intent-eyed, his face working in
+small contortions.  Sometimes he prattled, words coming unconsciously
+from him in grotesque exclamations.  He did not know that he breathed;
+that the flag hung silently over him, so absorbed was he.
+
+A formidable line of the enemy came within dangerous range.  They could
+be seen plainly--tall, gaunt men with excited faces running with long
+strides toward a wandering fence.
+
+At sight of this danger the men suddenly ceased their cursing monotone.
+There was an instant of strained silence before they threw up their
+rifles and fired a plumping volley at the foes.  There had been no
+order given; the men, upon recognizing the menace, had immediately let
+drive their flock of bullets without waiting for word of command.
+
+But the enemy were quick to gain the protection of the wandering line
+of fence.  They slid down behind it with remarkable celerity, and from
+this position they began briskly to slice up the blue men.
+
+These latter braced their energies for a great struggle.  Often, white
+clinched teeth shone from the dusky faces.  Many heads surged to and
+fro, floating upon a pale sea of smoke. Those behind the fence
+frequently shouted and yelped in taunts and gibelike cries, but the
+regiment maintained a stressed silence.  Perhaps, at this new assault
+the men recalled the fact that they had been named mud diggers, and it
+made their situation thrice bitter.  They were breathlessly intent upon
+keeping the ground and thrusting away the rejoicing body of the enemy.
+They fought swiftly and with a despairing savageness denoted in their
+expressions.
+
+The youth had resolved not to budge whatever should happen.  Some
+arrows of scorn that had buried themselves in his heart had generated
+strange and unspeakable hatred.  It was clear to him that his final and
+absolute revenge was to be achieved by his dead body lying, torn and
+gluttering, upon the field.  This was to be a poignant retaliation upon
+the officer who had said "mule drivers," and later "mud diggers," for
+in all the wild graspings of his mind for a unit responsible for his
+sufferings and commotions he always seized upon the man who had dubbed
+him wrongly.  And it was his idea, vaguely formulated, that his corpse
+would be for those eyes a great and salt reproach.
+
+The regiment bled extravagantly.  Grunting bundles of blue began to
+drop.  The orderly sergeant of the youth's company was shot through the
+cheeks.  Its supports being injured, his jaw hung afar down, disclosing
+in the wide cavern of his mouth a pulsing mass of blood and teeth. And
+with it all he made attempts to cry out. In his endeavor there was a
+dreadful earnestness, as if he conceived that one great shriek would
+make him well.
+
+The youth saw him presently go rearward. His strength seemed in nowise
+impaired.  He ran swiftly, casting wild glances for succor.
+
+Others fell down about the feet of their companions.  Some of the
+wounded crawled out and away, but many lay still, their bodies twisted
+into impossible shapes.
+
+The youth looked once for his friend.  He saw a vehement young man,
+powder-smeared and frowzled, whom he knew to be him.  The lieutenant,
+also, was unscathed in his position at the rear.  He had continued to
+curse, but it was now with the air of a man who was using his last box
+of oaths.
+
+For the fire of the regiment had begun to wane and drip.  The robust
+voice, that had come strangely from the thin ranks, was growing rapidly
+weak.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The colonel came running along back of the line.  There were other
+officers following him. "We must charge'm!" they shouted.  "We must
+charge'm!" they cried with resentful voices, as if anticipating a
+rebellion against this plan by the men.
+
+The youth, upon hearing the shouts, began to study the distance between
+him and the enemy. He made vague calculations.  He saw that to be firm
+soldiers they must go forward.  It would be death to stay in the
+present place, and with all the circumstances to go backward would
+exalt too many others.  Their hope was to push the galling foes away
+from the fence.
+
+He expected that his companions, weary and stiffened, would have to be
+driven to this assault, but as he turned toward them he perceived with
+a certain surprise that they were giving quick and unqualified
+expressions of assent.  There was an ominous, clanging overture to the
+charge when the shafts of the bayonets rattled upon the rifle barrels.
+At the yelled words of command the soldiers sprang forward in eager
+leaps. There was new and unexpected force in the movement of the
+regiment.  A knowledge of its faded and jaded condition made the charge
+appear like a paroxysm, a display of the strength that comes before a
+final feebleness.  The men scampered in insane fever of haste, racing
+as if to achieve a sudden success before an exhilarating fluid should
+leave them.  It was a blind and despairing rush by the collection of
+men in dusty and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire
+sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from behind which
+spluttered the fierce rifles of enemies.
+
+The youth kept the bright colors to the front. He was waving his free
+arm in furious circles, the while shrieking mad calls and appeals,
+urging on those that did not need to be urged, for it seemed that the
+mob of blue men hurling themselves on the dangerous group of rifles
+were again grown suddenly wild with an enthusiasm of unselfishness.
+From the many firings starting toward them, it looked as if they would
+merely succeed in making a great sprinkling of corpses on the grass
+between their former position and the fence.  But they were in a state
+of frenzy, perhaps because of forgotten vanities, and it made an
+exhibition of sublime recklessness.  There was no obvious questioning,
+nor figurings, nor diagrams.  There was, apparently, no considered
+loopholes.  It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would
+have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.
+
+He himself felt the daring spirit of a savage religion mad.  He was
+capable of profound sacrifices, a tremendous death.  He had no time for
+dissections, but he knew that he thought of the bullets only as things
+that could prevent him from reaching the place of his endeavor.  There
+were subtle flashings of joy within him that thus should be his mind.
+
+He strained all his strength.  His eyesight was shaken and dazzled by
+the tension of thought and muscle.  He did not see anything excepting
+the mist of smoke gashed by the little knives of fire, but he knew that
+in it lay the aged fence of a vanished farmer protecting the snuggled
+bodies of the gray men.
+
+As he ran a thought of the shock of contact gleamed in his mind.  He
+expected a great concussion when the two bodies of troops crashed
+together.  This became a part of his wild battle madness.  He could
+feel the onward swing of the regiment about him and he conceived of a
+thunderous, crushing blow that would prostrate the resistance and
+spread consternation and amazement for miles.  The flying regiment was
+going to have a catapultian effect.  This dream made him run faster
+among his comrades, who were giving vent to hoarse and frantic cheers.
+
+But presently he could see that many of the men in gray did not intend
+to abide the blow. The smoke, rolling, disclosed men who ran, their
+faces still turned.  These grew to a crowd, who retired stubbornly.
+Individuals wheeled frequently to send a bullet at the blue wave.
+
+But at one part of the line there was a grim and obdurate group that
+made no movement. They were settled firmly down behind posts and rails.
+A flag, ruffled and fierce, waved over them and their rifles dinned
+fiercely.
+
+The blue whirl of men got very near, until it seemed that in truth
+there would be a close and frightful scuffle.  There was an expressed
+disdain in the opposition of the little group, that changed the meaning
+of the cheers of the men in blue.  They became yells of wrath,
+directed, personal.  The cries of the two parties were now in sound an
+interchange of scathing insults.
+
+They in blue showed their teeth; their eyes shone all white.  They
+launched themselves as at the throats of those who stood resisting. The
+space between dwindled to an insignificant distance.
+
+The youth had centered the gaze of his soul upon that other flag.  Its
+possession would be high pride.  It would express bloody minglings,
+near blows.  He had a gigantic hatred for those who made great
+difficulties and complications. They caused it to be as a craved
+treasure of mythology, hung amid tasks and contrivances of danger.
+
+He plunged like a mad horse at it.  He was resolved it should not
+escape if wild blows and darings of blows could seize it.  His own
+emblem, quivering and aflare, was winging toward the other.  It seemed
+there would shortly be an encounter of strange beaks and claws, as of
+eagles.
+
+The swirling body of blue men came to a sudden halt at close and
+disastrous range and roared a swift volley.  The group in gray was
+split and broken by this fire, but its riddled body still fought.  The
+men in blue yelled again and rushed in upon it.
+
+The youth, in his leapings, saw, as through a mist, a picture of four
+or five men stretched upon the ground or writhing upon their knees with
+bowed heads as if they had been stricken by bolts from the sky.
+Tottering among them was the rival color bearer, whom the youth saw had
+been bitten vitally by the bullets of the last formidable volley.  He
+perceived this man fighting a last struggle, the struggle of one whose
+legs are grasped by demons.  It was a ghastly battle. Over his face was
+the bleach of death, but set upon it was the dark and hard lines of
+desperate purpose.  With this terrible grin of resolution he hugged his
+precious flag to him and was stumbling and staggering in his design to
+go the way that led to safety for it.
+
+But his wounds always made it seem that his feet were retarded, held,
+and he fought a grim fight, as with invisible ghouls fastened greedily
+upon his limbs.  Those in advance of the scampering blue men, howling
+cheers, leaped at the fence.  The despair of the lost was in his eyes
+as he glanced back at them.
+
+The youth's friend went over the obstruction in a tumbling heap and
+sprang at the flag as a panther at prey.  He pulled at it and,
+wrenching it free, swung up its red brilliancy with a mad cry of
+exultation even as the color bearer, gasping, lurched over in a final
+throe and, stiffening convulsively, turned his dead face to the ground.
+There was much blood upon the grass blades.
+
+At the place of success there began more wild clamorings of cheers. The
+men gesticulated and bellowed in an ecstasy.  When they spoke it was as
+if they considered their listener to be a mile away.  What hats and
+caps were left to them they often slung high in the air.
+
+At one part of the line four men had been swooped upon, and they now
+sat as prisoners. Some blue men were about them in an eager and curious
+circle.  The soldiers had trapped strange birds, and there was an
+examination.  A flurry of fast questions was in the air.
+
+One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial wound in the foot.  He
+cuddled it, baby-wise, but he looked up from it often to curse with an
+astonishing utter abandon straight at the noses of his captors.  He
+consigned them to red regions; he called upon the pestilential wrath of
+strange gods.  And with it all he was singularly free from recognition
+of the finer points of the conduct of prisoners of war.  It was as if a
+clumsy clod had trod upon his toe and he conceived it to be his
+privilege, his duty, to use deep, resentful oaths.
+
+Another, who was a boy in years, took his plight with great calmness
+and apparent good nature.  He conversed with the men in blue, studying
+their faces with his bright and keen eyes.  They spoke of battles and
+conditions. There was an acute interest in all their faces during this
+exchange of view points.  It seemed a great satisfaction to hear voices
+from where all had been darkness and speculation.
+
+The third captive sat with a morose countenance.  He preserved a
+stoical and cold attitude. To all advances he made one reply without
+variation, "Ah, go t' hell!"
+
+The last of the four was always silent and, for the most part, kept his
+face turned in unmolested directions.  From the views the youth
+received he seemed to be in a state of absolute dejection.  Shame was
+upon him, and with it profound regret that he was, perhaps, no more to
+be counted in the ranks of his fellows.  The youth could detect no
+expression that would allow him to believe that the other was giving a
+thought to his narrowed future, the pictured dungeons, perhaps, and
+starvations and brutalities, liable to the imagination.  All to be seen
+was shame for captivity and regret for the right to antagonize.
+
+After the men had celebrated sufficiently they settled down behind the
+old rail fence, on the opposite side to the one from which their foes
+had been driven.  A few shot perfunctorily at distant marks.
+
+There was some long grass.  The youth nestled in it and rested, making
+a convenient rail support the flag.  His friend, jubilant and
+glorified, holding his treasure with vanity, came to him there.  They
+sat side by side and congratulated each other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The roarings that had stretched in a long line of sound across the face
+of the forest began to grow intermittent and weaker.  The stentorian
+speeches of the artillery continued in some distant encounter, but the
+crashes of the musketry had almost ceased.  The youth and his friend of
+a sudden looked up, feeling a deadened form of distress at the waning
+of these noises, which had become a part of life.  They could see
+changes going on among the troops.  There were marchings this way and
+that way.  A battery wheeled leisurely.  On the crest of a small hill
+was the thick gleam of many departing muskets.
+
+The youth arose.  "Well, what now, I wonder?" he said.  By his tone he
+seemed to be preparing to resent some new monstrosity in the way of
+dins and smashes.  He shaded his eyes with his grimy hand and gazed
+over the field.
+
+His friend also arose and stared.  "I bet we're goin' t' git along out
+of this an' back over th' river," said he.
+
+"Well, I swan!" said the youth.
+
+They waited, watching.  Within a little while the regiment received
+orders to retrace its way. The men got up grunting from the grass,
+regretting the soft repose.  They jerked their stiffened legs, and
+stretched their arms over their heads. One man swore as he rubbed his
+eyes.  They all groaned "O Lord!"  They had as many objections to this
+change as they would have had to a proposal for a new battle.
+
+They trampled slowly back over the field across which they had run in a
+mad scamper.
+
+The regiment marched until it had joined its fellows.  The reformed
+brigade, in column, aimed through a wood at the road.  Directly they
+were in a mass of dust-covered troops, and were trudging along in a way
+parallel to the enemy's lines as these had been defined by the previous
+turmoil.
+
+They passed within view of a stolid white house, and saw in front of it
+groups of their comrades lying in wait behind a neat breastwork.  A row
+of guns were booming at a distant enemy. Shells thrown in reply were
+raising clouds of dust and splinters.  Horsemen dashed along the line
+of intrenchments.
+
+At this point of its march the division curved away from the field and
+went winding off in the direction of the river.  When the significance
+of this movement had impressed itself upon the youth he turned his head
+and looked over his shoulder toward the trampled and _débris_-strewed
+ground.  He breathed a breath of new satisfaction.  He finally nudged
+his friend.  "Well, it's all over," he said to him.
+
+His friend gazed backward.  "B'Gawd, it is," he assented.  They mused.
+
+For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain
+way.  His mind was undergoing a subtle change.  It took moments for it
+to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of
+thought.  Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at
+last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstance.
+
+He understood then that the existence of shot and counter-shot was in
+the past.  He had dwelt in a land of strange, squalling upheavals and
+had come forth.  He had been where there was red of blood and black of
+passion, and he was escaped.  His first thoughts were given to
+rejoicings at this fact.
+
+Later he began to study his deeds, his failures, and his achievements.
+Thus, fresh from scenes where many of his usual machines of reflection
+had been idle, from where he had proceeded sheeplike, he struggled to
+marshal all his acts.
+
+At last they marched before him clearly. From this present view point
+he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and to criticise
+them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated
+certain sympathies.
+
+Regarding his procession of memory he felt gleeful and unregretting,
+for in it his public deeds were paraded in great and shining
+prominence. Those performances which had been witnessed by his fellows
+marched now in wide purple and gold, having various deflections.  They
+went gayly with music.  It was pleasure to watch these things.  He
+spent delightful minutes viewing the gilded images of memory.
+
+He saw that he was good.  He recalled with a thrill of joy the
+respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
+
+Nevertheless, the ghost of his flight from the first engagement
+appeared to him and danced.  There were small shoutings in his brain
+about these matters.  For a moment he blushed, and the light of his
+soul flickered with shame.
+
+A specter of reproach came to him.  There loomed the dogging memory of
+the tattered soldier--he who, gored by bullets and faint for blood, had
+fretted concerning an imagined wound in another; he who had loaned his
+last of strength and intellect for the tall soldier; he who, blind with
+weariness and pain, had been deserted in the field.
+
+For an instant a wretched chill of sweat was upon him at the thought
+that he might be detected in the thing.  As he stood persistently
+before his vision, he gave vent to a cry of sharp irritation and agony.
+
+His friend turned.  "What's the matter, Henry?" he demanded.  The
+youth's reply was an outburst of crimson oaths.
+
+As he marched along the little branch-hung roadway among his prattling
+companions this vision of cruelty brooded over him.  It clung near him
+always and darkened his view of these deeds in purple and gold.
+Whichever way his thoughts turned they were followed by the somber
+phantom of the desertion in the fields. He looked stealthily at his
+companions, feeling sure that they must discern in his face evidences
+of this pursuit.  But they were plodding in ragged array, discussing
+with quick tongues the accomplishments of the late battle.
+
+"Oh, if a man should come up an' ask me, I'd say we got a dum good
+lickin'."
+
+"Lickin'--in yer eye!  We ain't licked, sonny. We're goin' down here
+aways, swing aroun', an' come in behint 'em."
+
+"Oh, hush, with your comin' in behint 'em. I've seen all 'a that I
+wanta.  Don't tell me about comin' in behint--"
+
+"Bill Smithers, he ses he'd rather been in ten hundred battles than
+been in that heluva hospital.  He ses they got shootin' in th'
+night-time, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital.  He ses
+sech hollerin' he never see."
+
+"Hasbrouck?  He's th' best off'cer in this here reg'ment.  He's a
+whale."
+
+"Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint 'em?  Didn't I tell yeh
+so?  We--"
+
+"Oh, shet yeh mouth!"
+
+For a time this pursuing recollection of the tattered man took all
+elation from the youth's veins.  He saw his vivid error, and he was
+afraid that it would stand before him all his life.  He took no share
+in the chatter of his comrades, nor did he look at them or know them,
+save when he felt sudden suspicion that they were seeing his thoughts
+and scrutinizing each detail of the scene with the tattered soldier.
+
+Yet gradually he mustered force to put the sin at a distance.  And at
+last his eyes seemed to open to some new ways.  He found that he could
+look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see
+them truly.  He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised
+them.
+
+With this conviction came a store of assurance.  He felt a quiet
+manhood, nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood.  He knew that he
+would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point.  He
+had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was
+but the great death.  He was a man.
+
+So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath
+his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover
+tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares were not.  Scars faded as
+flowers.
+
+It rained.  The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train,
+despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of
+liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky.  Yet the youth smiled, for
+he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to
+be made of oaths and walking sticks.  He had rid himself of the red
+sickness of battle.  The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been
+an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war.  He
+turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh
+meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal peace.
+
+Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden
+rain clouds.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: I have tried to retain the inconsistent renderings
+of contractions as joined or separate, e.g., "we 'll" or "we'll."
+
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+
+PAGE  PARA.  LINE  ORIGINAL          CHANGED TO
+  18     3      3  estabiish         establish
+  40     3      2  skirmish          skirmish-
+  78     4      4  a air             an air
+ 130            2  recognzied        recognized
+ 130     4     12  could a'          could 'a
+ 139     2      4  not began         not begun
+ 193     2     16  illusions to      allusions to]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Red Badge of Courage
+       An Episode of the American Civil War
+
+Author: Stephen Crane
+
+Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #463]
+Release Date: March, 1996
+[Last updated: August 3, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+The Red Badge of Courage
+</H1>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+An Episode of the American Civil War
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+by
+</H3>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+Stephen Crane
+</H2>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CONTENTS
+</H2>
+
+<P>
+<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%">
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%">
+<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%">
+<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%">
+<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%">
+<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER I.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs
+revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.  As the landscape
+changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble
+with eagerness at the noise of rumors.  It cast its eyes upon the
+roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper
+thoroughfares.  A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks,
+purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of
+a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam
+of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues and went resolutely to
+wash a shirt.  He came flying back from a brook waving his garment
+bannerlike.  He was swelled with a tale he had heard from a reliable
+friend, who had heard it from a truthful cavalryman, who had heard it
+from his trustworthy brother, one of the orderlies at division
+headquarters.  He adopted the important air of a herald in red and
+gold. "We're goin' t' move t'morrah&mdash;sure," he said pompously to a
+group in the company street.  "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut
+across, an' come around in behint 'em."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very
+brilliant campaign. When he had finished, the blue-clothed men
+scattered into small arguing groups between the rows of squat brown
+huts.  A negro teamster who had been dancing upon a cracker box with
+the hilarious encouragement of twoscore soldiers was deserted.  He sat
+mournfully down.  Smoke drifted lazily from a multitude of quaint
+chimneys.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's a lie! that's all it is&mdash;a thunderin' lie!" said another private
+loudly.  His smooth face was flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily
+into his trousers' pockets.  He took the matter as an affront to him.
+"I don't believe the derned old army's ever going to move.  We're set.
+I've got ready to move eight times in the last two weeks, and we ain't
+moved yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier felt called upon to defend the truth of a rumor he
+himself had introduced. He and the loud one came near to fighting over
+it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A corporal began to swear before the assemblage.  He had just put a
+costly board floor in his house, he said.  During the early spring he
+had refrained from adding extensively to the comfort of his environment
+because he had felt that the army might start on the march at any
+moment.  Of late, however, he had been impressed that they were in a
+sort of eternal camp.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate. One outlined in a
+peculiarly lucid manner all the plans of the commanding general.  He
+was opposed by men who advocated that there were other plans of
+campaign.  They clamored at each other, numbers making futile bids for
+the popular attention.  Meanwhile, the soldier who had fetched the
+rumor bustled about with much importance.  He was continually assailed
+by questions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's up, Jim?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Th' army's goin' t' move."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, what yeh talkin' about?  How yeh know it is?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, yeh kin b'lieve me er not, jest as yeh like.  I don't care a
+hang."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was much food for thought in the manner in which he replied.  He
+came near to convincing them by disdaining to produce proofs. They grew
+excited over it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a youthful private who listened with eager ears to the words
+of the tall soldier and to the varied comments of his comrades. After
+receiving a fill of discussions concerning marches and attacks, he went
+to his hut and crawled through an intricate hole that served it as a
+door.  He wished to be alone with some new thoughts that had lately
+come to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He lay down on a wide bank that stretched across the end of the room.
+In the other end, cracker boxes were made to serve as furniture. They
+were grouped about the fireplace.  A picture from an illustrated weekly
+was upon the log walls, and three rifles were paralleled on pegs.
+Equipments hung on handy projections, and some tin dishes lay upon a
+small pile of firewood.  A folded tent was serving as a roof.  The
+sunlight, without, beating upon it, made it glow a light yellow shade.
+A small window shot an oblique square of whiter light upon the
+cluttered floor. The smoke from the fire at times neglected the clay
+chimney and wreathed into the room, and this flimsy chimney of clay and
+sticks made endless threats to set ablaze the whole establishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth was in a little trance of astonishment. So they were at last
+going to fight.  On the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and
+he would be in it.  For a time he was obliged to labor to make himself
+believe.  He could not accept with assurance an omen that he was about
+to mingle in one of those great affairs of the earth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life&mdash;of vague and bloody
+conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.  In visions
+he had seen himself in many struggles.  He had imagined peoples secure
+in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess.  But awake he had regarded
+battles as crimson blotches on the pages of the past.  He had put them
+as things of the bygone with his thought-images of heavy crowns and
+high castles.  There was a portion of the world's history which he had
+regarded as the time of wars, but it, he thought, had been long gone
+over the horizon and had disappeared forever.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From his home his youthful eyes had looked upon the war in his own
+country with distrust. It must be some sort of a play affair.  He had
+long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle. Such would be no
+more, he had said.  Men were better, or more timid.  Secular and
+religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else
+firm finance held in check the passions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had burned several times to enlist.  Tales of great movements shook
+the land.  They might not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to be
+much glory in them.  He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he
+had longed to see it all. His busy mind had drawn for him large
+pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his mother had discouraged him.  She had affected to look with some
+contempt upon the quality of his war ardor and patriotism.  She could
+calmly seat herself and with no apparent difficulty give him many
+hundreds of reasons why he was of vastly more importance on the farm
+than on the field of battle.  She had had certain ways of expression
+that told him that her statements on the subject came from a deep
+conviction.  Moreover, on her side, was his belief that her ethical
+motive in the argument was impregnable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last, however, he had made firm rebellion against this yellow light
+thrown upon the color of his ambitions.  The newspapers, the gossip of
+the village, his own picturings had aroused him to an uncheckable
+degree.  They were in truth fighting finely down there.  Almost every
+day the newspapers printed accounts of a decisive victory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One night, as he lay in bed, the winds had carried to him the
+clangoring of the church bell as some enthusiast jerked the rope
+frantically to tell the twisted news of a great battle.  This voice of
+the people rejoicing in the night had made him shiver in a prolonged
+ecstasy of excitement.  Later, he had gone down to his mother's room
+and had spoken thus: "Ma, I'm going to enlist."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Henry, don't you be a fool," his mother had replied.  She had then
+covered her face with the quilt.  There was an end to the matter for
+that night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nevertheless, the next morning he had gone to a town that was near his
+mother's farm and had enlisted in a company that was forming there.
+When he had returned home his mother was milking the brindle cow.  Four
+others stood waiting.  "Ma, I've enlisted," he had said to her
+diffidently.  There was a short silence.  "The Lord's will be done,
+Henry," she had finally replied, and had then continued to milk the
+brindle cow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he had stood in the doorway with his soldier's clothes on his
+back, and with the light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes
+almost defeating the glow of regret for the home bonds, he had seen two
+tears leaving their trails on his mother's scarred cheeks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Still, she had disappointed him by saying nothing whatever about
+returning with his shield or on it.  He had privately primed himself
+for a beautiful scene.  He had prepared certain sentences which he
+thought could be used with touching effect.  But her words destroyed
+his plans.  She had doggedly peeled potatoes and addressed him as
+follows: "You watch out, Henry, an' take good care of yerself in this
+here fighting business&mdash;you watch out, an' take good care of yerself.
+Don't go a-thinkin' you can lick the hull rebel army at the start,
+because yeh can't.  Yer jest one little feller amongst a hull lot of
+others, and yeh've got to keep quiet an' do what they tell yeh.  I know
+how you are, Henry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've knet yeh eight pair of socks, Henry, and I've put in all yer best
+shirts, because I want my boy to be jest as warm and comf'able as
+anybody in the army.  Whenever they get holes in 'em, I want yeh to
+send 'em right-away back to me, so's I kin dern 'em.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An' allus be careful an' choose yer comp'ny. There's lots of bad men
+in the army, Henry. The army makes 'em wild, and they like nothing
+better than the job of leading off a young feller like you, as ain't
+never been away from home much and has allus had a mother, an'
+a-learning 'em to drink and swear.  Keep clear of them folks, Henry.  I
+don't want yeh to ever do anything, Henry, that yeh would be 'shamed to
+let me know about.  Jest think as if I was a-watchin' yeh.  If yeh keep
+that in yer mind allus, I guess yeh'll come out about right.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh must allus remember yer father, too, child, an' remember he never
+drunk a drop of licker in his life, and seldom swore a cross oath.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what else to tell yeh, Henry, excepting that yeh must
+never do no shirking, child, on my account.  If so be a time comes when
+yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of
+anything 'cept what's right, because there's many a woman has to bear
+up 'ginst sech things these times, and the Lord 'll take keer of us all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't forgit about the socks and the shirts, child; and I've put a cup
+of blackberry jam with yer bundle, because I know yeh like it above all
+things.  Good-by, Henry.  Watch out, and be a good boy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had, of course, been impatient under the ordeal of this speech.  It
+had not been quite what he expected, and he had borne it with an air of
+irritation.  He departed feeling vague relief.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Still, when he had looked back from the gate, he had seen his mother
+kneeling among the potato parings.  Her brown face, upraised, was
+stained with tears, and her spare form was quivering.  He bowed his
+head and went on, feeling suddenly ashamed of his purposes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From his home he had gone to the seminary to bid adieu to many
+schoolmates.  They had thronged about him with wonder and admiration.
+He had felt the gulf now between them and had swelled with calm pride.
+He and some of his fellows who had donned blue were quite overwhelmed
+with privileges for all of one afternoon, and it had been a very
+delicious thing.  They had strutted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A certain light-haired girl had made vivacious fun at his martial
+spirit, but there was another and darker girl whom he had gazed at
+steadfastly, and he thought she grew demure and sad at sight of his
+blue and brass.  As he had walked down the path between the rows of
+oaks, he had turned his head and detected her at a window watching his
+departure.  As he perceived her, she had immediately begun to stare up
+through the high tree branches at the sky.  He had seen a good deal of
+flurry and haste in her movement as she changed her attitude.  He often
+thought of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On the way to Washington his spirit had soared.  The regiment was fed
+and caressed at station after station until the youth had believed that
+he must be a hero.  There was a lavish expenditure of bread and cold
+meats, coffee, and pickles and cheese.  As he basked in the smiles of
+the girls and was patted and complimented by the old men, he had felt
+growing within him the strength to do mighty deeds of arms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After complicated journeyings with many pauses, there had come months
+of monotonous life in a camp.  He had had the belief that real war was
+a series of death struggles with small time in between for sleep and
+meals; but since his regiment had come to the field the army had done
+little but sit still and try to keep warm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was brought then gradually back to his old ideas.  Greeklike
+struggles would be no more. Men were better, or more timid.  Secular
+and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or
+else firm finance held in check the passions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had grown to regard himself merely as a part of a vast blue
+demonstration.  His province was to look out, as far as he could, for
+his personal comfort.  For recreation he could twiddle his thumbs and
+speculate on the thoughts which must agitate the minds of the generals.
+Also, he was drilled and drilled and reviewed, and drilled and drilled
+and reviewed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The only foes he had seen were some pickets along the river bank.  They
+were a sun-tanned, philosophical lot, who sometimes shot reflectively
+at the blue pickets.  When reproached for this afterward, they usually
+expressed sorrow, and swore by their gods that the guns had exploded
+without their permission.  The youth, on guard duty one night,
+conversed across the stream with one of them.  He was a slightly ragged
+man, who spat skillfully between his shoes and possessed a great fund
+of bland and infantile assurance.  The youth liked him personally.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yank," the other had informed him, "yer a right dum good feller." This
+sentiment, floating to him upon the still air, had made him temporarily
+regret war.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Various veterans had told him tales.  Some talked of gray, bewhiskered
+hordes who were advancing with relentless curses and chewing tobacco
+with unspeakable valor; tremendous bodies of fierce soldiery who were
+sweeping along like the Huns.  Others spoke of tattered and eternally
+hungry men who fired despondent powders.  "They'll charge through
+hell's fire an' brimstone t' git a holt on a haversack, an' sech
+stomachs ain't a-lastin' long," he was told.  From the stories, the
+youth imagined the red, live bones sticking out through slits in the
+faded uniforms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Still, he could not put a whole faith in veterans' tales, for recruits
+were their prey.  They talked much of smoke, fire, and blood, but he
+could not tell how much might be lies.  They persistently yelled "Fresh
+fish!" at him, and were in no wise to be trusted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+However, he perceived now that it did not greatly matter what kind of
+soldiers he was going to fight, so long as they fought, which fact no
+one disputed.  There was a more serious problem.  He lay in his bunk
+pondering upon it.  He tried to mathematically prove to himself that he
+would not run from a battle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too seriously with this
+question.  In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never
+challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about
+means and roads.  But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It
+had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He
+was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of
+himself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A sufficient time before he would have allowed the problem to kick its
+heels at the outer portals of his mind, but now he felt compelled to
+give serious attention to it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A little panic-fear grew in his mind.  As his imagination went forward
+to a fight, he saw hideous possibilities.  He contemplated the lurking
+menaces of the future, and failed in an effort to see himself standing
+stoutly in the midst of them. He recalled his visions of broken-bladed
+glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult he suspected them to
+be impossible pictures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He sprang from the bunk and began to pace nervously to and fro.  "Good
+Lord, what's th' matter with me?" he said aloud.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were useless.  Whatever he
+had learned of himself was here of no avail.  He was an unknown
+quantity. He saw that he would again be obliged to experiment as he had
+in early youth.  He must accumulate information of himself, and
+meanwhile he resolved to remain close upon his guard lest those
+qualities of which he knew nothing should everlastingly disgrace him.
+"Good Lord!" he repeated in dismay.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously through the hole.  The
+loud private followed. They were wrangling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's all right," said the tall soldier as he entered.  He waved his
+hand expressively.  "You can believe me or not, jest as you like.  All
+you got to do is to sit down and wait as quiet as you can.  Then pretty
+soon you'll find out I was right."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His comrade grunted stubbornly.  For a moment he seemed to be searching
+for a formidable reply.  Finally he said: "Well, you don't know
+everything in the world, do you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Didn't say I knew everything in the world," retorted the other
+sharply.  He began to stow various articles snugly into his knapsack.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure.
+"Going to be a battle, sure, is there, Jim?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier. "Of course there is.
+You jest wait 'til to-morrow, and you'll see one of the biggest battles
+ever was. You jest wait."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thunder!" said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy, what'll be regular
+out-and-out fighting," added the tall soldier, with the air of a man
+who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Huh!" said the loud one from a corner.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," remarked the youth, "like as not this story'll turn out jest
+like them others did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not much it won't," replied the tall soldier, exasperated.  "Not much
+it won't.  Didn't the cavalry all start this morning?"  He glared about
+him.  No one denied his statement.  "The cavalry started this morning,"
+he continued.  "They say there ain't hardly any cavalry left in camp.
+They're going to Richmond, or some place, while we fight all the
+Johnnies.  It's some dodge like that.  The regiment's got orders, too.
+A feller what seen 'em go to headquarters told me a little while ago.
+And they're raising blazes all over camp&mdash;anybody can see that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shucks!" said the loud one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth remained silent for a time.  At last he spoke to the tall
+soldier.  "Jim!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you think the reg'ment 'll do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, they'll fight all right, I guess, after they once get into it,"
+said the other with cold judgment.  He made a fine use of the third
+person. "There's been heaps of fun poked at 'em because they're new, of
+course, and all that; but they'll fight all right, I guess."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Think any of the boys 'll run?" persisted the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, there may be a few of 'em run, but there's them kind in every
+regiment, 'specially when they first goes under fire," said the other
+in a tolerant way.  "Of course it might happen that the hull
+kit-and-boodle might start and run, if some big fighting came
+first-off, and then again they might stay and fight like fun.  But you
+can't bet on nothing.  Of course they ain't never been under fire yet,
+and it ain't likely they'll lick the hull rebel army all-to-oncet the
+first time; but I think they'll fight better than some, if worse than
+others.  That's the way I figger.  They call the reg'ment 'Fresh fish'
+and everything; but the boys come of good stock, and most of 'em 'll
+fight like sin after they oncet git shootin'," he added, with a mighty
+emphasis on the last four words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you think you know&mdash;" began the loud soldier with scorn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other turned savagely upon him.  They had a rapid altercation, in
+which they fastened upon each other various strange epithets.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth at last interrupted them.  "Did you ever think you might run
+yourself, Jim?" he asked.  On concluding the sentence he laughed as if
+he had meant to aim a joke.  The loud soldier also giggled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall private waved his hand.  "Well," said he profoundly, "I've
+thought it might get too hot for Jim Conklin in some of them
+scrimmages, and if a whole lot of boys started and run, why, I s'pose
+I'd start and run.  And if I once started to run, I'd run like the
+devil, and no mistake.  But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting,
+why, I'd stand and fight.  Be jiminey, I would.  I'll bet on it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Huh!" said the loud one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these words of his comrade.
+He had feared that all of the untried men possessed a great and correct
+confidence.  He now was in a measure reassured.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER II.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The next morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been
+the fast-flying messenger of a mistake.  There was much scoffing at the
+latter by those who had yesterday been firm adherents of his views, and
+there was even a little sneering by men who had never believed the
+rumor.  The tall one fought with a man from Chatfield Corners and beat
+him severely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth felt, however, that his problem was in no wise lifted from
+him.  There was, on the contrary, an irritating prolongation.  The tale
+had created in him a great concern for himself. Now, with the newborn
+question in his mind, he was compelled to sink back into his old place
+as part of a blue demonstration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For days he made ceaseless calculations, but they were all wondrously
+unsatisfactory.  He found that he could establish nothing.  He finally
+concluded that the only way to prove himself was to go into the blaze,
+and then figuratively to watch his legs to discover their merits and
+faults. He reluctantly admitted that he could not sit still and with a
+mental slate and pencil derive an answer.  To gain it, he must have
+blaze, blood, and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that, and
+the other.  So he fretted for an opportunity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Meanwhile he continually tried to measure himself by his comrades.  The
+tall soldier, for one, gave him some assurance.  This man's serene
+unconcern dealt him a measure of confidence, for he had known him since
+childhood, and from his intimate knowledge he did not see how he could
+be capable of anything that was beyond him, the youth.  Still, he
+thought that his comrade might be mistaken about himself. Or, on the
+other hand, he might be a man heretofore doomed to peace and obscurity,
+but, in reality, made to shine in war.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth would have liked to have discovered another who suspected
+himself.  A sympathetic comparison of mental notes would have been a
+joy to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He occasionally tried to fathom a comrade with seductive sentences.  He
+looked about to find men in the proper mood.  All attempts failed to
+bring forth any statement which looked in any way like a confession to
+those doubts which he privately acknowledged in himself. He was afraid
+to make an open declaration of his concern, because he dreaded to place
+some unscrupulous confidant upon the high plane of the unconfessed from
+which elevation he could be derided.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In regard to his companions his mind wavered between two opinions,
+according to his mood.  Sometimes he inclined to believing them all
+heroes.  In fact, he usually admitted in secret the superior
+development of the higher qualities in others.  He could conceive of
+men going very insignificantly about the world bearing a load of
+courage unseen, and although he had known many of his comrades through
+boyhood, he began to fear that his judgment of them had been blind.
+Then, in other moments, he flouted these theories, and assured himself
+that his fellows were all privately wondering and quaking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His emotions made him feel strange in the presence of men who talked
+excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to
+witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their
+faces.  It was often that he suspected them to be liars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He did not pass such thoughts without severe condemnation of himself.
+He dinned reproaches at times.  He was convicted by himself of many
+shameful crimes against the gods of traditions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In his great anxiety his heart was continually clamoring at what he
+considered the intolerable slowness of the generals.  They seemed
+content to perch tranquilly on the river bank, and leave him bowed down
+by the weight of a great problem.  He wanted it settled forthwith.  He
+could not long bear such a load, he said.  Sometimes his anger at the
+commanders reached an acute stage, and he grumbled about the camp like
+a veteran.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One morning, however, he found himself in the ranks of his prepared
+regiment.  The men were whispering speculations and recounting the old
+rumors.  In the gloom before the break of the day their uniforms glowed
+a deep purple hue.  From across the river the red eyes were still
+peering.  In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid
+for the feet of the coming sun; and against it, black and patternlike,
+loomed the gigantic figure of the colonel on a gigantic horse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From off in the darkness came the trampling of feet.  The youth could
+occasionally see dark shadows that moved like monsters.  The regiment
+stood at rest for what seemed a long time. The youth grew impatient. It
+was unendurable the way these affairs were managed.  He wondered how
+long they were to be kept waiting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he looked all about him and pondered upon the mystic gloom, he began
+to believe that at any moment the ominous distance might be aflare, and
+the rolling crashes of an engagement come to his ears.  Staring once at
+the red eyes across the river, he conceived them to be growing larger,
+as the orbs of a row of dragons advancing.  He turned toward the
+colonel and saw him lift his gigantic arm and calmly stroke his
+mustache.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last he heard from along the road at the foot of the hill the
+clatter of a horse's galloping hoofs.  It must be the coming of orders.
+He bent forward, scarce breathing.  The exciting clickety-click, as it
+grew louder and louder, seemed to be beating upon his soul.  Presently
+a horseman with jangling equipment drew rein before the colonel of the
+regiment.  The two held a short, sharp-worded conversation.  The men in
+the foremost ranks craned their necks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the horseman wheeled his animal and galloped away he turned to shout
+over his shoulder, "Don't forget that box of cigars!"  The colonel
+mumbled in reply.  The youth wondered what a box of cigars had to do
+with war.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moment later the regiment went swinging off into the darkness.  It
+was now like one of those moving monsters wending with many feet. The
+air was heavy, and cold with dew.  A mass of wet grass, marched upon,
+rustled like silk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was an occasional flash and glimmer of steel from the backs of
+all these huge crawling reptiles.  From the road came creakings and
+grumblings as some surly guns were dragged away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men stumbled along still muttering speculations.  There was a
+subdued debate.  Once a man fell down, and as he reached for his rifle
+a comrade, unseeing, trod upon his hand.  He of the injured fingers
+swore bitterly and aloud.  A low, tittering laugh went among his
+fellows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently they passed into a roadway and marched forward with easy
+strides.  A dark regiment moved before them, and from behind also came
+the tinkle of equipments on the bodies of marching men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rushing yellow of the developing day went on behind their backs.
+When the sunrays at last struck full and mellowingly upon the earth,
+the youth saw that the landscape was streaked with two long, thin,
+black columns which disappeared on the brow of a hill in front and
+rearward vanished in a wood.  They were like two serpents crawling from
+the cavern of the night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The river was not in view.  The tall soldier burst into praises of what
+he thought to be his powers of perception.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some of the tall one's companions cried with emphasis that they, too,
+had evolved the same thing, and they congratulated themselves upon it.
+But there were others who said that the tall one's plan was not the
+true one at all.  They persisted with other theories.  There was a
+vigorous discussion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth took no part in them.  As he walked along in careless line he
+was engaged with his own eternal debate.  He could not hinder himself
+from dwelling upon it.  He was despondent and sullen, and threw
+shifting glances about him.  He looked ahead, often expecting to hear
+from the advance the rattle of firing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the long serpents crawled slowly from hill to hill without bluster
+of smoke.  A dun-colored cloud of dust floated away to the right. The
+sky overhead was of a fairy blue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth studied the faces of his companions, ever on the watch to
+detect kindred emotions.  He suffered disappointment.  Some ardor of
+the air which was causing the veteran commands to move with
+glee&mdash;almost with song&mdash;had infected the new regiment.  The men began
+to speak of victory as of a thing they knew. Also, the tall soldier
+received his vindication. They were certainly going to come around in
+behind the enemy.  They expressed commiseration for that part of the
+army which had been left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves
+upon being a part of a blasting host.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, considering himself as separated from the others, was
+saddened by the blithe and merry speeches that went from rank to rank.
+The company wags all made their best endeavors.  The regiment tramped
+to the tune of laughter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The blatant soldier often convulsed whole files by his biting sarcasms
+aimed at the tall one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And it was not long before all the men seemed to forget their mission.
+Whole brigades grinned in unison, and regiments laughed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse from a dooryard.  He
+planned to load his knap-sack upon it.  He was escaping with his prize
+when a young girl rushed from the house and grabbed the animal's mane.
+There followed a wrangle.  The young girl, with pink cheeks and shining
+eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The observant regiment, standing at rest in the roadway, whooped at
+once, and entered whole-souled upon the side of the maiden.  The men
+became so engrossed in this affair that they entirely ceased to
+remember their own large war. They jeered the piratical private, and
+called attention to various defects in his personal appearance; and
+they were wildly enthusiastic in support of the young girl.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To her, from some distance, came bold advice. "Hit him with a stick."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were crows and catcalls showered upon him when he retreated
+without the horse. The regiment rejoiced at his downfall.  Loud and
+vociferous congratulations were showered upon the maiden, who stood
+panting and regarding the troops with defiance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At nightfall the column broke into regimental pieces, and the fragments
+went into the fields to camp.  Tents sprang up like strange plants.
+Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth kept from intercourse with his companions as much as
+circumstances would allow him.  In the evening he wandered a few paces
+into the gloom.  From this little distance the many fires, with the
+black forms of men passing to and fro before the crimson rays, made
+weird and satanic effects.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He lay down in the grass.  The blades pressed tenderly against his
+cheek.  The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop. The liquid
+stillness of the night enveloping him made him feel vast pity for
+himself.  There was a caress in the soft winds; and the whole mood of
+the darkness, he thought, was one of sympathy for himself in his
+distress.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He wished, without reserve, that he was at home again making the
+endless rounds from the house to the barn, from the barn to the fields,
+from the fields to the barn, from the barn to the house.  He remembered
+he had often cursed the brindle cow and her mates, and had sometimes
+flung milking stools.  But, from his present point of view, there was a
+halo of happiness about each of their heads, and he would have
+sacrificed all the brass buttons on the continent to have been enabled
+to return to them.  He told himself that he was not formed for a
+soldier.  And he mused seriously upon the radical differences between
+himself and those men who were dodging imp-like around the fires.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass, and, upon turning his
+head, discovered the loud soldier.  He called out, "Oh, Wilson!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The latter approached and looked down. "Why, hello, Henry; is it you?
+What you doing here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, thinking," said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other sat down and carefully lighted his pipe.  "You're getting
+blue, my boy.  You're looking thundering peeked.  What the dickens is
+wrong with you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, nothing," said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The loud soldier launched then into the subject of the anticipated
+fight.  "Oh, we've got 'em now!"  As he spoke his boyish face was
+wreathed in a gleeful smile, and his voice had an exultant ring. "We've
+got 'em now.  At last, by the eternal thunders, we'll lick 'em good!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If the truth was known," he added, more soberly, "<i>They've</i> licked <i>us</i>
+about every clip up to now; but this time&mdash;this time&mdash;we'll lick 'em
+good!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you was objecting to this march a little while ago," said
+the youth coldly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, it wasn't that," explained the other.  "I don't mind marching, if
+there's going to be fighting at the end of it.  What I hate is this
+getting moved here and moved there, with no good coming of it, as far
+as I can see, excepting sore feet and damned short rations."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Jim Conklin says we'll get a plenty of fighting this time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He's right for once, I guess, though I can't see how it come.  This
+time we're in for a big battle, and we've got the best end of it,
+certain sure.  Gee rod! how we will thump 'em!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He arose and began to pace to and fro excitedly.  The thrill of his
+enthusiasm made him walk with an elastic step.  He was sprightly,
+vigorous, fiery in his belief in success.  He looked into the future
+with clear, proud eye, and he swore with the air of an old soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth watched him for a moment in silence.  When he finally spoke
+his voice was as bitter as dregs.  "Oh, you're going to do great
+things, I s'pose!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of smoke from his pipe.  "Oh,
+I don't know," he remarked with dignity; "I don't know.  I s'pose I'll
+do as well as the rest.  I'm going to try like thunder."  He evidently
+complimented himself upon the modesty of this statement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you know you won't run when the time comes?" asked the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Run?" said the loud one; "run?&mdash;of course not!"  He laughed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-a-'nough men have thought
+they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time
+come they skedaddled."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the other; "but I'm not going
+to skedaddle.  The man that bets on my running will lose his money,
+that's all."  He nodded confidently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, shucks!" said the youth.  "You ain't the bravest man in the world,
+are you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I ain't," exclaimed the loud soldier indignantly; "and I didn't
+say I was the bravest man in the world, neither.  I said I was going to
+do my share of fighting&mdash;that's what I said.  And I am, too.  Who are
+you, anyhow.  You talk as if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte."
+He glared at the youth for a moment, and then strode away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth called in a savage voice after his comrade: "Well, you
+needn't git mad about it!" But the other continued on his way and made
+no reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He felt alone in space when his injured comrade had disappeared.  His
+failure to discover any mite of resemblance in their view points made
+him more miserable than before.  No one seemed to be wrestling with
+such a terrific personal problem.  He was a mental outcast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went slowly to his tent and stretched himself on a blanket by the
+side of the snoring tall soldier.  In the darkness he saw visions of a
+thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to
+flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He
+admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster.  He felt
+that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while
+other men would remain stolid and deaf.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And as he sweated with the pain of these thoughts, he could hear low,
+serene sentences. "I'll bid five."  "Make it six."  "Seven." "Seven
+goes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He stared at the red, shivering reflection of a fire on the white wall
+of his tent until, exhausted and ill from the monotony of his
+suffering, he fell asleep.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER III.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+WHEN another night came the columns, changed to purple streaks, filed
+across two pontoon bridges.  A glaring fire wine-tinted the waters of
+the river.  Its rays, shining upon the moving masses of troops, brought
+forth here and there sudden gleams of silver or gold.  Upon the other
+shore a dark and mysterious range of hills was curved against the sky.
+The insect voices of the night sang solemnly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After this crossing the youth assured himself that at any moment they
+might be suddenly and fearfully assaulted from the caves of the
+lowering woods.  He kept his eyes watchfully upon the darkness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his regiment went unmolested to a camping place, and its soldiers
+slept the brave sleep of wearied men.  In the morning they were routed
+out with early energy, and hustled along a narrow road that led deep
+into the forest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was during this rapid march that the regiment lost many of the marks
+of a new command.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men had begun to count the miles upon their fingers, and they grew
+tired.  "Sore feet an' damned short rations, that's all," said the loud
+soldier.  There was perspiration and grumblings.  After a time they
+began to shed their knapsacks.  Some tossed them unconcernedly down;
+others hid them carefully, asserting their plans to return for them at
+some convenient time.  Men extricated themselves from thick shirts.
+Presently few carried anything but their necessary clothing, blankets,
+haversacks, canteens, and arms and ammunition.  "You can now eat and
+shoot," said the tall soldier to the youth. "That's all you want to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was sudden change from the ponderous infantry of theory to the
+light and speedy infantry of practice.  The regiment, relieved of a
+burden, received a new impetus.  But there was much loss of valuable
+knapsacks, and, on the whole, very good shirts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in appearance.  Veteran
+regiments in the army were likely to be very small aggregations of men.
+Once, when the command had first come to the field, some perambulating
+veterans, noting the length of their column, had accosted them thus:
+"Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?"  And when the men had replied
+that they formed a regiment and not a brigade, the older soldiers had
+laughed, and said, "O Gawd!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Also, there was too great a similarity in the hats.  The hats of a
+regiment should properly represent the history of headgear for a period
+of years.  And, moreover, there were no letters of faded gold speaking
+from the colors.  They were new and beautiful, and the color bearer
+habitually oiled the pole.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the army again sat down to think. The odor of the peaceful
+pines was in the men's nostrils.  The sound of monotonous axe blows
+rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding upon their perches,
+crooned like old women. The youth returned to his theory of a blue
+demonstration.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in the leg by the tall soldier,
+and then, before he was entirely awake, he found himself running down a
+wood road in the midst of men who were panting from the first effects
+of speed.  His canteen banged rhythmically upon his thigh, and his
+haversack bobbed softly.  His musket bounced a trifle from his shoulder
+at each stride and made his cap feel uncertain upon his head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He could hear the men whisper jerky sentences: "Say&mdash;what's all
+this&mdash;about?"  "What th' thunder&mdash;we&mdash;skedaddlin' this way fer?"
+"Billie&mdash;keep off m' feet.  Yeh run&mdash;like a cow." And the loud
+soldier's shrill voice could be heard: "What th' devil they in sich a
+hurry for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth thought the damp fog of early morning moved from the rush of
+a great body of troops.  From the distance came a sudden spatter of
+firing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was bewildered.  As he ran with his comrades he strenuously tried to
+think, but all he knew was that if he fell down those coming behind
+would tread upon him.  All his faculties seemed to be needed to guide
+him over and past obstructions.  He felt carried along by a mob.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sun spread disclosing rays, and, one by one, regiments burst into
+view like armed men just born of the earth.  The youth perceived that
+the time had come.  He was about to be measured.  For a moment he felt
+in the face of his great trial like a babe, and the flesh over his
+heart seemed very thin.  He seized time to look about him calculatingly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he instantly saw that it would be impossible for him to escape from
+the regiment.  It inclosed him.  And there were iron laws of tradition
+and law on four sides.  He was in a moving box.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished
+to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will.  He had been
+dragged by the merciless government.  And now they were taking him out
+to be slaughtered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed across a little stream.  The
+mournful current moved slowly on, and from the water, shaded black,
+some white bubble eyes looked at the men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they climbed the hill on the farther side artillery began to boom.
+Here the youth forgot many things as he felt a sudden impulse of
+curiosity.  He scrambled up the bank with a speed that could not be
+exceeded by a bloodthirsty man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He expected a battle scene.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were some little fields girted and squeezed by a forest.  Spread
+over the grass and in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and
+waving lines of skirmishers who were running hither and thither and
+firing at the landscape. A dark battle line lay upon a sunstruck
+clearing that gleamed orange color.  A flag fluttered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Other regiments floundered up the bank.  The brigade was formed in line
+of battle, and after a pause started slowly through the woods in the
+rear of the receding skirmishers, who were continually melting into the
+scene to appear again farther on.  They were always busy as bees,
+deeply absorbed in their little combats.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth tried to observe everything.  He did not use care to avoid
+trees and branches, and his forgotten feet were constantly knocking
+against stones or getting entangled in briers. He was aware that these
+battalions with their commotions were woven red and startling into the
+gentle fabric of softened greens and browns. It looked to be a wrong
+place for a battle field.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into thickets
+and at distant and prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies&mdash;hidden,
+mysterious, solemn.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once the line encountered the body of a dead soldier.  He lay upon his
+back staring at the sky. He was dressed in an awkward suit of yellowish
+brown.  The youth could see that the soles of his shoes had been worn
+to the thinness of writing paper, and from a great rent in one the dead
+foot projected piteously.  And it was as if fate had betrayed the
+soldier.  In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life
+he had perhaps concealed from his friends.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse. The invulnerable dead
+man forced a way for himself.  The youth looked keenly at the ashen
+face. The wind raised the tawny beard.  It moved as if a hand were
+stroking it.  He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and
+stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer
+to the Question.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During the march the ardor which the youth had acquired when out of
+view of the field rapidly faded to nothing.  His curiosity was quite
+easily satisfied.  If an intense scene had caught him with its wild
+swing as he came to the top of the bank, he might have gone roaring on.
+This advance upon Nature was too calm.  He had opportunity to reflect.
+He had time in which to wonder about himself and to attempt to probe
+his sensations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Absurd ideas took hold upon him.  He thought that he did not relish the
+landscape. It threatened him.  A coldness swept over his back, and it
+is true that his trousers felt to him that they were no fit for his
+legs at all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A house standing placidly in distant fields had to him an ominous look.
+The shadows of the woods were formidable.  He was certain that in this
+vista there lurked fierce-eyed hosts.  The swift thought came to him
+that the generals did not know what they were about.  It was all a
+trap.  Suddenly those close forests would bristle with rifle barrels.
+Ironlike brigades would appear in the rear.  They were all going to be
+sacrificed.  The generals were stupids.  The enemy would presently
+swallow the whole command.  He glared about him, expecting to see the
+stealthy approach of his death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He thought that he must break from the ranks and harangue his comrades.
+They must not all be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would come to
+pass unless they were informed of these dangers.  The generals were
+idiots to send them marching into a regular pen.  There was but one
+pair of eyes in the corps.  He would step forth and make a speech.
+Shrill and passionate words came to his lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on
+through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and
+saw, for the most part, expressions of deep interest, as if they were
+investigating something that had fascinated them.  One or two stepped
+with overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged into war.  Others
+walked as upon thin ice.  The greater part of the untested men appeared
+quiet and absorbed.  They were going to look at war, the red
+animal&mdash;war, the blood-swollen god.  And they were deeply engrossed in
+this march.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at his throat.  He saw that
+even if the men were tottering with fear they would laugh at his
+warning.  They would jeer him, and, if practicable, pelt him with
+missiles.  Admitting that he might be wrong, a frenzied declamation of
+the kind would turn him into a worm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who knows that he is doomed alone
+to unwritten responsibilities.  He lagged, with tragic glances at the
+sky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was surprised presently by the young lieutenant of his company, who
+began heartily to beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and
+insolent voice: "Come, young man, get up into ranks there.  No
+skulking'll do here."  He mended his pace with suitable haste.  And he
+hated the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine minds.  He was a
+mere brute.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time the brigade was halted in the cathedral light of a forest.
+The busy skirmishers were still popping.  Through the aisles of the
+wood could be seen the floating smoke from their rifles.  Sometimes it
+went up in little balls, white and compact.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During this halt many men in the regiment began erecting tiny hills in
+front of them.  They used stones, sticks, earth, and anything they
+thought might turn a bullet.  Some built comparatively large ones,
+while others seemed content with little ones.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This procedure caused a discussion among the men.  Some wished to fight
+like duelists, believing it to be correct to stand erect and be, from
+their feet to their foreheads, a mark.  They said they scorned the
+devices of the cautious.  But the others scoffed in reply, and pointed
+to the veterans on the flanks who were digging at the ground like
+terriers.  In a short time there was quite a barricade along the
+regimental fronts. Directly, however, they were ordered to withdraw
+from that place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This astounded the youth.  He forgot his stewing over the advance
+movement.  "Well, then, what did they march us out here for?" he
+demanded of the tall soldier.  The latter with calm faith began a heavy
+explanation, although he had been compelled to leave a little
+protection of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much care and
+skill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the regiment was aligned in another position each man's regard for
+his safety caused another line of small intrenchments.  They ate their
+noon meal behind a third one.  They were moved from this one also. They
+were marched from place to place with apparent aimlessness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle.
+He saw his salvation in such a change.  Hence this waiting was an
+ordeal to him.  He was in a fever of impatience.  He considered that
+there was denoted a lack of purpose on the part of the generals. He
+began to complain to the tall soldier.  "I can't stand this much
+longer," he cried.  "I don't see what good it does to make us wear out
+our legs for nothin'."  He wished to return to camp, knowing that this
+affair was a blue demonstration; or else to go into a battle and
+discover that he had been a fool in his doubts, and was, in truth, a
+man of traditional courage. The strain of present circumstances he felt
+to be intolerable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The philosophical tall soldier measured a sandwich of cracker and pork
+and swallowed it in a nonchalant manner.  "Oh, I suppose we must go
+reconnoitering around the country jest to keep 'em from getting too
+close, or to develop 'em, or something."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Huh!" said the loud soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd rather do anything 'most
+than go tramping 'round the country all day doing no good to nobody and
+jest tiring ourselves out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So would I," said the loud soldier.  "It ain't right.  I tell you if
+anybody with any sense was a-runnin' this army it&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private.  "You little fool.  You little
+damn' cuss.  You ain't had that there coat and them pants on for six
+months, and yet you talk as if&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway," interrupted the other.  "I
+didn't come here to walk.  I could 'ave walked to home&mdash;'round an'
+'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall one, red-faced, swallowed another sandwich as if taking poison
+in despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But gradually, as he chewed, his face became again quiet and contented.
+He could not rage in fierce argument in the presence of such
+sandwiches.  During his meals he always wore an air of blissful
+contemplation of the food he had swallowed.  His spirit seemed then to
+be communing with the viands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He accepted new environment and circumstance with great coolness,
+eating from his haversack at every opportunity.  On the march he went
+along with the stride of a hunter, objecting to neither gait nor
+distance.  And he had not raised his voice when he had been ordered
+away from three little protective piles of earth and stone, each of
+which had been an engineering feat worthy of being made sacred to the
+name of his grandmother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the afternoon the regiment went out over the same ground it had
+taken in the morning.  The landscape then ceased to threaten the youth.
+He had been close to it and become familiar with it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When, however, they began to pass into a new region, his old fears of
+stupidity and incompetence reassailed him, but this time he doggedly
+let them babble.  He was occupied with his problem, and in his
+desperation he concluded that the stupidity did not greatly matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he thought he had concluded that it would be better to get killed
+directly and end his troubles.  Regarding death thus out of the corner
+of his eye, he conceived it to be nothing but rest, and he was filled
+with a momentary astonishment that he should have made an extraordinary
+commotion over the mere matter of getting killed.  He would die; he
+would go to some place where he would be understood. It was useless to
+expect appreciation of his profound and fine senses from such men as
+the lieutenant.  He must look to the grave for comprehension.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The skirmish fire increased to a long chattering sound.  With it was
+mingled far-away cheering.  A battery spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Directly the youth would see the skirmishers running.  They were
+pursued by the sound of musketry fire.  After a time the hot, dangerous
+flashes of the rifles were visible.  Smoke clouds went slowly and
+insolently across the fields like observant phantoms.  The din became
+crescendo, like the roar of an oncoming train.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A brigade ahead of them and on the right went into action with a
+rending roar.  It was as if it had exploded.  And thereafter it lay
+stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall, that one was obliged
+to look twice at to make sure that it was smoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spell
+bound.  His eyes grew wide and busy with the action of the scene.  His
+mouth was a little ways open.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid upon his shoulder.
+Awakening from his trance of observation he turned and beheld the loud
+soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said the latter, with intense
+gloom.  He was quite pale and his girlish lip was trembling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Eh?" murmured the youth in great astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," continued the loud soldier.
+"Something tells me&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm a gone coon this first time and&mdash;and I w-want you to take these
+here things&mdash;to&mdash;my&mdash;folks."  He ended in a quavering sob of pity for
+himself.  He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow
+envelope.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, what the devil&mdash;" began the youth again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and
+raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner and turned away.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IV.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The brigade was halted in the fringe of a grove.  The men crouched
+among the trees and pointed their restless guns out at the fields. They
+tried to look beyond the smoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Out of this haze they could see running men. Some shouted information
+and gestured as they hurried.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men of the new regiment watched and listened eagerly, while their
+tongues ran on in gossip of the battle.  They mouthed rumors that had
+flown like birds out of the unknown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They say Perry has been driven in with big loss."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital.  He said he was sick.  That smart
+lieutenant is commanding 'G' Company.  Th' boys say they won't be under
+Carrott no more if they all have t' desert. They allus knew he was a&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hannises' batt'ry is took."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It ain't either.  I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on th' left not more'n
+fifteen minutes ago."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull cammand of th' 304th
+when we go inteh action, an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as
+never another one reg'ment done."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left. They say th' enemy driv'
+our line inteh a devil of a swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No sech thing.  Hannises' batt'ry was 'long here 'bout a minute ago."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a good off'cer.  He ain't afraid 'a
+nothin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he ses his brigade fit th' hull
+rebel army fer four hours over on th' turnpike road an' killed about
+five thousand of 'em.  He ses one more sech fight as that an' th' war
+'ll be over."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bill wasn't scared either.  No, sir!  It wasn't that.  Bill ain't
+a-gittin' scared easy.  He was jest mad, that's what he was.  When that
+feller trod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin' t' give his
+hand t' his country, but he be dumbed if he was goin' t' have every
+dumb bushwhacker in th' kentry walkin' 'round on it.  Se he went t' th'
+hospital disregardless of th' fight.  Three fingers was crunched.  Th'
+dern doctor wanted t' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he raised a heluva row, I
+hear.  He's a funny feller."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The din in front swelled to a tremendous chorus.  The youth and his
+fellows were frozen to silence.  They could see a flag that tossed in
+the smoke angrily.  Near it were the blurred and agitated forms of
+troops.  There came a turbulent stream of men across the fields.  A
+battery changing position at a frantic gallop scattered the stragglers
+right and left.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A shell screaming like a storm banshee went over the huddled heads of
+the reserves.  It landed in the grove, and exploding redly flung the
+brown earth.  There was a little shower of pine needles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Bullets began to whistle among the branches and nip at the trees. Twigs
+and leaves came sailing down.  It was as if a thousand axes, wee and
+invisible, were being wielded.  Many of the men were constantly dodging
+and ducking their heads.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant of the youth's company was shot in the hand.  He began
+to swear so wondrously that a nervous laugh went along the regimental
+line.  The officer's profanity sounded conventional.  It relieved the
+tightened senses of the new men.  It was as if he had hit his fingers
+with a tack hammer at home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He held the wounded member carefully away from his side so that the
+blood would not drip upon his trousers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The captain of the company, tucking his sword under his arm, produced a
+handkerchief and began to bind with it the lieutenant's wound. And they
+disputed as to how the binding should be done.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The battle flag in the distance jerked about madly.  It seemed to be
+struggling to free itself from an agony.  The billowing smoke was
+filled with horizontal flashes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Men running swiftly emerged from it.  They grew in numbers until it was
+seen that the whole command was fleeing.  The flag suddenly sank down
+as if dying.  Its motion as it fell was a gesture of despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wild yells came from behind the walls of smoke.  A sketch in gray and
+red dissolved into a moblike body of men who galloped like wild horses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The veteran regiments on the right and left of the 304th immediately
+began to jeer.  With the passionate song of the bullets and the banshee
+shrieks of shells were mingled loud catcalls and bits of facetious
+advice concerning places of safety.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the new regiment was breathless with horror.  "Gawd!  Saunders's
+got crushed!" whispered the man at the youth's elbow.  They shrank back
+and crouched as if compelled to await a flood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth shot a swift glance along the blue ranks of the regiment. The
+profiles were motionless, carven; and afterward he remembered that the
+color sergeant was standing with his legs apart, as if he expected to
+be pushed to the ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The following throng went whirling around the flank.  Here and there
+were officers carried along on the stream like exasperated chips.  They
+were striking about them with their swords and with their left fists,
+punching every head they could reach.  They cursed like highwaymen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A mounted officer displayed the furious anger of a spoiled child.  He
+raged with his head, his arms, and his legs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another, the commander of the brigade, was galloping about bawling. His
+hat was gone and his clothes were awry.  He resembled a man who has
+come from bed to go to a fire.  The hoofs of his horse often threatened
+the heads of the running men, but they scampered with singular fortune.
+In this rush they were apparently all deaf and blind.  They heeded not
+the largest and longest of the oaths that were thrown at them from all
+directions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Frequently over this tumult could be heard the grim jokes of the
+critical veterans; but the retreating men apparently were not even
+conscious of the presence of an audience.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The battle reflection that shone for an instant in the faces on the mad
+current made the youth feel that forceful hands from heaven would not
+have been able to have held him in place if he could have got
+intelligent control of his legs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was an appalling imprint upon these faces.  The struggle in the
+smoke had pictured an exaggeration of itself on the bleached cheeks and
+in the eyes wild with one desire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sight of this stampede exerted a floodlike force that seemed able
+to drag sticks and stones and men from the ground.  They of the
+reserves had to hold on.  They grew pale and firm, and red and quaking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth achieved one little thought in the midst of this chaos.  The
+composite monster which had caused the other troops to flee had not
+then appeared.  He resolved to get a view of it, and then, he thought
+he might very likely run better than the best of them.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER V.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There were moments of waiting.  The youth thought of the village street
+at home before the arrival of the circus parade on a day in the spring.
+He remembered how he had stood, a small, thrillful boy, prepared to
+follow the dingy lady upon the white horse, or the band in its faded
+chariot.  He saw the yellow road, the lines of expectant people, and
+the sober houses. He particularly remembered an old fellow who used to
+sit upon a cracker box in front of the store and feign to despise such
+exhibitions.  A thousand details of color and form surged in his mind.
+The old fellow upon the cracker box appeared in middle prominence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some one cried, "Here they come!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was rustling and muttering among the men.  They displayed a
+feverish desire to have every possible cartridge ready to their hands.
+The boxes were pulled around into various positions, and adjusted with
+great care.  It was as if seven hundred new bonnets were being tried on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier, having prepared his rifle, produced a red
+handkerchief of some kind.  He was engaged in knitting it about his
+throat with exquisite attention to its position, when the cry was
+repeated up and down the line in a muffled roar of sound.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here they come!  Here they come!"  Gun locks clicked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Across the smoke-infested fields came a brown swarm of running men who
+were giving shrill yells.  They came on, stooping and swinging their
+rifles at all angles.  A flag, tilted forward, sped near the front.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he caught sight of them the youth was momentarily startled by a
+thought that perhaps his gun was not loaded.  He stood trying to rally
+his faltering intellect so that he might recollect the moment when he
+had loaded, but he could not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A hatless general pulled his dripping horse to a stand near the colonel
+of the 304th.  He shook his fist in the other's face.  "You 've got to
+hold 'em back!" he shouted, savagely; "you 've got to hold 'em back!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In his agitation the colonel began to stammer. "A-all r-right, General,
+all right, by Gawd!  We&mdash;we'll do our&mdash;we-we'll d-d-do&mdash;do our best,
+General."  The general made a passionate gesture and galloped away. The
+colonel, perchance to relieve his feelings, began to scold like a wet
+parrot.  The youth, turning swiftly to make sure that the rear was
+unmolested, saw the commander regarding his men in a highly regretful
+manner, as if he regretted above everything his association with them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man at the youth's elbow was mumbling, as if to himself: "Oh, we
+'re in for it now! oh, we 're in for it now!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The captain of the company had been pacing excitedly to and fro in the
+rear.  He coaxed in schoolmistress fashion, as to a congregation of
+boys with primers.  His talk was an endless repetition.  "Reserve your
+fire, boys&mdash;don't shoot till I tell you&mdash;save your fire&mdash;wait till they
+get close up&mdash;don't be damned fools&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Perspiration streamed down the youth's face, which was soiled like that
+of a weeping urchin. He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped his
+eyes with his coat sleeve.  His mouth was still a little ways open.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He got the one glance at the foe-swarming field in front of him, and
+instantly ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded.
+Before he was ready to begin&mdash;before he had announced to himself that
+he was about to fight&mdash;he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into
+position and fired a first wild shot.  Directly he was working at his
+weapon like an automatic affair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing
+fate.  He became not a man but a member.  He felt that something of
+which he was a part&mdash;a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country&mdash;was in
+a crisis.  He was welded into a common personality which was dominated
+by a single desire.  For some moments he could not flee no more than a
+little finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If he had thought the regiment was about to be annihilated perhaps he
+could have amputated himself from it.  But its noise gave him
+assurance.  The regiment was like a firework that, once ignited,
+proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It
+wheezed and banged with a mighty power.  He pictured the ground before
+it as strewn with the discomfited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a consciousness always of the presence of his comrades about
+him.  He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the
+cause for which they were fighting.  It was a mysterious fraternity
+born of the smoke and danger of death.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was at a task.  He was like a carpenter who has made many boxes,
+making still another box, only there was furious haste in his
+movements.  He, in his thought, was careering off in other places, even
+as the carpenter who as he works whistles and thinks of his friend or
+his enemy, his home or a saloon.  And these jolted dreams were never
+perfect to him afterward, but remained a mass of blurred shapes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmosphere&mdash;a
+blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack
+like hot stones.  A burning roar filled his ears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Following this came a red rage.  He developed the acute exasperation of
+a pestered animal, a well-meaning cow worried by dogs.  He had a mad
+feeling against his rifle, which could only be used against one life at
+a time.  He wished to rush forward and strangle with his fingers.  He
+craved a power that would enable him to make a world-sweeping gesture
+and brush all back.  His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage
+into that of a driven beast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger was directed not so much
+against the men whom he knew were rushing toward him as against the
+swirling battle phantoms which were choking him, stuffing their smoke
+robes down his parched throat.  He fought frantically for respite for
+his senses, for air, as a babe being smothered attacks the deadly
+blankets.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a blare of heated rage mingled with a certain expression of
+intentness on all faces. Many of the men were making low-toned noises
+with their mouths, and these subdued cheers, snarls, imprecations,
+prayers, made a wild, barbaric song that went as an undercurrent of
+sound, strange and chantlike with the resounding chords of the war
+march.  The man at the youth's elbow was babbling.  In it there was
+something soft and tender like the monologue of a babe.  The tall
+soldier was swearing in a loud voice.  From his lips came a black
+procession of curious oaths.  Of a sudden another broke out in a
+querulous way like a man who has mislaid his hat.  "Well, why don't
+they support us?  Why don't they send supports?  Do they think&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth in his battle sleep heard this as one who dozes hears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a singular absence of heroic poses. The men bending and
+surging in their haste and rage were in every impossible attitude.  The
+steel ramrods clanked and clanged with incessant din as the men pounded
+them furiously into the hot rifle barrels.  The flaps of the cartridge
+boxes were all unfastened, and bobbed idiotically with each movement.
+The rifles, once loaded, were jerked to the shoulder and fired without
+apparent aim into the smoke or at one of the blurred and shifting forms
+which upon the field before the regiment had been growing larger and
+larger like puppets under a magician's hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The officers, at their intervals, rearward, neglected to stand in
+picturesque attitudes.  They were bobbing to and fro roaring directions
+and encouragements.  The dimensions of their howls were extraordinary.
+They expended their lungs with prodigal wills.  And often they nearly
+stood upon their heads in their anxiety to observe the enemy on the
+other side of the tumbling smoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant of the youth's company had encountered a soldier who had
+fled screaming at the first volley of his comrades.  Behind the lines
+these two were acting a little isolated scene.  The man was blubbering
+and staring with sheeplike eyes at the lieutenant, who had seized him
+by the collar and was pommeling him.  He drove him back into the ranks
+with many blows.  The soldier went mechanically, dully, with his
+animal-like eyes upon the officer.  Perhaps there was to him a divinity
+expressed in the voice of the other&mdash;stern, hard, with no reflection of
+fear in it.  He tried to reload his gun, but his shaking hands
+prevented.  The lieutenant was obliged to assist him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men dropped here and there like bundles. The captain of the youth's
+company had been killed in an early part of the action.  His body lay
+stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face
+there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some
+friend had done him an ill turn.  The babbling man was grazed by a shot
+that made the blood stream widely down his face.  He clapped both hands
+to his head.  "Oh!" he said, and ran.  Another grunted suddenly as if
+he had been struck by a club in the stomach.  He sat down and gazed
+ruefully.  In his eyes there was mute, indefinite reproach.  Farther up
+the line a man, standing behind a tree, had had his knee joint
+splintered by a ball.  Immediately he had dropped his rifle and gripped
+the tree with both arms.  And there he remained, clinging desperately
+and crying for assistance that he might withdraw his hold upon the tree.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last an exultant yell went along the quivering line.  The firing
+dwindled from an uproar to a last vindictive popping.  As the smoke
+slowly eddied away, the youth saw that the charge had been repulsed.
+The enemy were scattered into reluctant groups.  He saw a man climb to
+the top of the fence, straddle the rail, and fire a parting shot.  The
+waves had receded, leaving bits of dark <i>débris</i> upon the ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some in the regiment began to whoop frenziedly.  Many were silent.
+Apparently they were trying to contemplate themselves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the fever had left his veins, the youth thought that at last he
+was going to suffocate. He became aware of the foul atmosphere in which
+he had been struggling.  He was grimy and dripping like a laborer in a
+foundry.  He grasped his canteen and took a long swallow of the warmed
+water.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A sentence with variations went up and down the line.  "Well, we 've
+helt 'em back.  We 've helt 'em back; derned if we haven't."  The men
+said it blissfully, leering at each other with dirty smiles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth turned to look behind him and off to the right and off to the
+left.  He experienced the joy of a man who at last finds leisure in
+which to look about him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Under foot there were a few ghastly forms motionless.  They lay twisted
+in fantastic contortions.  Arms were bent and heads were turned in
+incredible ways.  It seemed that the dead men must have fallen from
+some great height to get into such positions.  They looked to be dumped
+out upon the ground from the sky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From a position in the rear of the grove a battery was throwing shells
+over it.  The flash of the guns startled the youth at first.  He
+thought they were aimed directly at him.  Through the trees he watched
+the black figures of the gunners as they worked swiftly and intently.
+Their labor seemed a complicated thing.  He wondered how they could
+remember its formula in the midst of confusion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs. They argued with abrupt
+violence.  It was a grim pow-wow.  Their busy servants ran hither and
+thither.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A small procession of wounded men were going drearily toward the rear.
+It was a flow of blood from the torn body of the brigade.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To the right and to the left were the dark lines of other troops.  Far
+in front he thought he could see lighter masses protruding in points
+from the forest.  They were suggestive of unnumbered thousands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing along the line of the horizon.
+The tiny riders were beating the tiny horses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From a sloping hill came the sound of cheerings and clashes.  Smoke
+welled slowly through the leaves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Batteries were speaking with thunderous oratorical effort.  Here and
+there were flags, the red in the stripes dominating.  They splashed
+bits of warm color upon the dark lines of troops.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblem.  They were
+like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in a storm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he listened to the din from the hillside, to a deep pulsating
+thunder that came from afar to the left, and to the lesser clamors
+which came from many directions, it occurred to him that they were
+fighting, too, over there, and over there, and over there.  Heretofore
+he had supposed that all the battle was directly under his nose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the
+blue, pure sky and the sun gleamings on the trees and fields.  It was
+surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process
+in the midst of so much devilment.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The youth awakened slowly.  He came gradually back to a position from
+which he could regard himself.  For moments he had been scrutinizing
+his person in a dazed way as if he had never before seen himself.  Then
+he picked up his cap from the ground.  He wriggled in his jacket to
+make a more comfortable fit, and kneeling relaced his shoe.  He
+thoughtfully mopped his reeking features.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So it was all over at last!  The supreme trial had been passed.  The
+red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went into an ecstasy of self-satisfaction. He had the most
+delightful sensations of his life. Standing as if apart from himself,
+he viewed that last scene.  He perceived that the man who had fought
+thus was magnificent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He felt that he was a fine fellow.  He saw himself even with those
+ideals which he had considered as far beyond him.  He smiled in deep
+gratification.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and good will.  "Gee! ain't it
+hot, hey?" he said affably to a man who was polishing his streaming
+face with his coat sleeves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You bet!" said the other, grinning sociably. "I never seen sech dumb
+hotness."  He sprawled out luxuriously on the ground.  "Gee, yes!  An'
+I hope we don't have no more fightin' till a week from Monday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were some handshakings and deep speeches with men whose features
+were familiar, but with whom the youth now felt the bonds of tied
+hearts.  He helped a cursing comrade to bind up a wound of the shin.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But, of a sudden, cries of amazement broke out along the ranks of the
+new regiment.  "Here they come ag'in!  Here they come ag'in!"  The man
+who had sprawled upon the ground started up and said, "Gosh!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth turned quick eyes upon the field. He discerned forms begin to
+swell in masses out of a distant wood.  He again saw the tilted flag
+speeding forward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The shells, which had ceased to trouble the regiment for a time, came
+swirling again, and exploded in the grass or among the leaves of the
+trees.  They looked to be strange war flowers bursting into fierce
+bloom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men groaned.  The luster faded from their eyes.  Their smudged
+countenances now expressed a profound dejection.  They moved their
+stiffened bodies slowly, and watched in sullen mood the frantic
+approach of the enemy.  The slaves toiling in the temple of this god
+began to feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They fretted and complained each to each. "Oh, say, this is too much of
+a good thing!  Why can't somebody send us supports?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We ain't never goin' to stand this second banging.  I didn't come here
+to fight the hull damn' rebel army."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was one who raised a doleful cry.  "I wish Bill Smithers had trod
+on my hand, insteader me treddin' on his'n."  The sore joints of the
+regiment creaked as it painfully floundered into position to repulse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth stared.  Surely, he thought, this impossible thing was not
+about to happen.  He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly
+stop, apologize, and retire bowing.  It was all a mistake.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the firing began somewhere on the regimental line and ripped along
+in both directions. The level sheets of flame developed great clouds of
+smoke that tumbled and tossed in the mild wind near the ground for a
+moment, and then rolled through the ranks as through a gate.  The
+clouds were tinged an earthlike yellow in the sunrays and in the shadow
+were a sorry blue. The flag was sometimes eaten and lost in this mass
+of vapor, but more often it projected, sun-touched, resplendent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Into the youth's eyes there came a look that one can see in the orbs of
+a jaded horse.  His neck was quivering with nervous weakness and the
+muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless. His hands, too, seemed
+large and awkward as if he was wearing invisible mittens.  And there
+was a great uncertainty about his knee joints.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The words that comrades had uttered previous to the firing began to
+recur to him.  "Oh, say, this is too much of a good thing!  What do
+they take us for&mdash;why don't they send supports?  I didn't come here to
+fight the hull damned rebel army."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He began to exaggerate the endurance, the skill, and the valor of those
+who were coming. Himself reeling from exhaustion, he was astonished
+beyond measure at such persistency.  They must be machines of steel. It
+was very gloomy struggling against such affairs, wound up perhaps to
+fight until sundown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He slowly lifted his rifle and catching a glimpse of the thickspread
+field he blazed at a cantering cluster.  He stopped then and began to
+peer as best he could through the smoke.  He caught changing views of
+the ground covered with men who were all running like pursued imps, and
+yelling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To the youth it was an onslaught of redoubtable dragons.  He became
+like the man who lost his legs at the approach of the red and green
+monster.  He waited in a sort of a horrified, listening attitude.  He
+seemed to shut his eyes and wait to be gobbled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A man near him who up to this time had been working feverishly at his
+rifle suddenly stopped and ran with howls.  A lad whose face had borne
+an expression of exalted courage, the majesty of he who dares give his
+life, was, at an instant, smitten abject.  He blanched like one who has
+come to the edge of a cliff at midnight and is suddenly made aware.
+There was a revelation.  He, too, threw down his gun and fled.  There
+was no shame in his face.  He ran like a rabbit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Others began to scamper away through the smoke.  The youth turned his
+head, shaken from his trance by this movement as if the regiment was
+leaving him behind.  He saw the few fleeting forms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He yelled then with fright and swung about. For a moment, in the great
+clamor, he was like a proverbial chicken.  He lost the direction of
+safety.  Destruction threatened him from all points.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Directly he began to speed toward the rear in great leaps.  His rifle
+and cap were gone.  His unbuttoned coat bulged in the wind.  The flap
+of his cartridge box bobbed wildly, and his canteen, by its slender
+cord, swung out behind.  On his face was all the horror of those things
+which he imagined.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant sprang forward bawling.  The youth saw his features
+wrathfully red, and saw him make a dab with his sword.  His one thought
+of the incident was that the lieutenant was a peculiar creature to feel
+interested in such matters upon this occasion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He ran like a blind man.  Two or three times he fell down.  Once he
+knocked his shoulder so heavily against a tree that he went headlong.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Since he had turned his back upon the fight his fears had been
+wondrously magnified.  Death about to thrust him between the shoulder
+blades was far more dreadful than death about to smite him between the
+eyes.  When he thought of it later, he conceived the impression that it
+is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing.  The
+noises of the battle were like stones; he believed himself liable to be
+crushed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he ran he mingled with others.  He dimly saw men on his right and on
+his left, and he heard footsteps behind him.  He thought that all the
+regiment was fleeing, pursued by these ominous crashes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In his flight the sound of these following footsteps gave him his one
+meager relief.  He felt vaguely that death must make a first choice of
+the men who were nearest; the initial morsels for the dragons would be
+then those who were following him.  So he displayed the zeal of an
+insane sprinter in his purpose to keep them in the rear. There was a
+race.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he, leading, went across a little field, he found himself in a
+region of shells.  They hurtled over his head with long wild screams.
+As he listened he imagined them to have rows of cruel teeth that
+grinned at him.  Once one lit before him and the livid lightning of the
+explosion effectually barred the way in his chosen direction.  He
+groveled on the ground and then springing up went careering off through
+some bushes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He experienced a thrill of amazement when he came within view of a
+battery in action.  The men there seemed to be in conventional moods,
+altogether unaware of the impending annihilation.  The battery was
+disputing with a distant antagonist and the gunners were wrapped in
+admiration of their shooting.  They were continually bending in coaxing
+postures over the guns.  They seemed to be patting them on the back and
+encouraging them with words.  The guns, stolid and undaunted, spoke
+with dogged valor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The precise gunners were coolly enthusiastic. They lifted their eyes
+every chance to the smoke-wreathed hillock from whence the hostile
+battery addressed them.  The youth pitied them as he ran.  Methodical
+idiots!  Machine-like fools!  The refined joy of planting shells in the
+midst of the other battery's formation would appear a little thing when
+the infantry came swooping out of the woods.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The face of a youthful rider, who was jerking his frantic horse with an
+abandon of temper he might display in a placid barnyard, was impressed
+deeply upon his mind.  He knew that he looked upon a man who would
+presently be dead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Too, he felt a pity for the guns, standing, six good comrades, in a
+bold row.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He saw a brigade going to the relief of its pestered fellows.  He
+scrambled upon a wee hill and watched it sweeping finely, keeping
+formation in difficult places.  The blue of the line was crusted with
+steel color, and the brilliant flags projected. Officers were shouting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This sight also filled him with wonder.  The brigade was hurrying
+briskly to be gulped into the infernal mouths of the war god.  What
+manner of men were they, anyhow?  Ah, it was some wondrous breed!  Or
+else they didn't comprehend&mdash;the fools.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A furious order caused commotion in the artillery.  An officer on a
+bounding horse made maniacal motions with his arms.  The teams went
+swinging up from the rear, the guns were whirled about, and the battery
+scampered away.  The cannon with their noses poked slantingly at the
+ground grunted and grumbled like stout men, brave but with objections
+to hurry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth went on, moderating his pace since he had left the place of
+noises.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Later he came upon a general of division seated upon a horse that
+pricked its ears in an interested way at the battle.  There was a great
+gleaming of yellow and patent leather about the saddle and bridle.  The
+quiet man astride looked mouse-colored upon such a splendid charger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A jingling staff was galloping hither and thither.  Sometimes the
+general was surrounded by horsemen and at other times he was quite
+alone.  He looked to be much harassed.  He had the appearance of a
+business man whose market is swinging up and down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth went slinking around this spot. He went as near as he dared
+trying to overhear words.  Perhaps the general, unable to comprehend
+chaos, might call upon him for information. And he could tell him.  He
+knew all concerning it.  Of a surety the force was in a fix, and any
+fool could see that if they did not retreat while they had
+opportunity&mdash;why&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He felt that he would like to thrash the general, or at least approach
+and tell him in plain words exactly what he thought him to be.  It was
+criminal to stay calmly in one spot and make no effort to stay
+destruction.  He loitered in a fever of eagerness for the division
+commander to apply to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he warily moved about, he heard the general call out irritably:
+"Tompkins, go over an' see Taylor, an' tell him not t' be in such an
+all-fired hurry; tell him t' halt his brigade in th' edge of th' woods;
+tell him t' detach a reg'ment&mdash;say I think th' center 'll break if we
+don't help it out some; tell him t' hurry up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A slim youth on a fine chestnut horse caught these swift words from the
+mouth of his superior. He made his horse bound into a gallop almost
+from a walk in his haste to go upon his mission. There was a cloud of
+dust.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moment later the youth saw the general bounce excitedly in his saddle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, by heavens, they have!"  The officer leaned forward.  His face
+was aflame with excitement.  "Yes, by heavens, they 've held 'im! They
+'ve held 'im!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He began to blithely roar at his staff: "We 'll wallop 'im now.  We 'll
+wallop 'im now.  We 've got 'em sure."  He turned suddenly upon an aid:
+"Here&mdash;you&mdash;Jones&mdash;quick&mdash;ride after Tompkins&mdash;see Taylor&mdash;tell him t'
+go in&mdash;everlastingly&mdash;like blazes&mdash;anything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As another officer sped his horse after the first messenger, the
+general beamed upon the earth like a sun.  In his eyes was a desire to
+chant a paean.  He kept repeating, "They 've held 'em, by heavens!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His excitement made his horse plunge, and he merrily kicked and swore
+at it.  He held a little carnival of joy on horseback.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The youth cringed as if discovered in a crime. By heavens, they had won
+after all!  The imbecile line had remained and become victors. He could
+hear cheering.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He lifted himself upon his toes and looked in the direction of the
+fight.  A yellow fog lay wallowing on the treetops.  From beneath it
+came the clatter of musketry.  Hoarse cries told of an advance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He turned away amazed and angry.  He felt that he had been wronged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached.  He had
+done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army.
+He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty
+of every little piece to rescue itself if possible.  Later the officers
+could fit the little pieces together again, and make a battle front. If
+none of the little pieces were wise enough to save themselves from the
+flurry of death at such a time, why, then, where would be the army? It
+was all plain that he had proceeded according to very correct and
+commendable rules.  His actions had been sagacious things.  They had
+been full of strategy.  They were the work of a master's legs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Thoughts of his comrades came to him.  The brittle blue line had
+withstood the blows and won. He grew bitter over it.  It seemed that
+the blind ignorance and stupidity of those little pieces had betrayed
+him.  He had been overturned and crushed by their lack of sense in
+holding the position, when intelligent deliberation would have
+convinced them that it was impossible.  He, the enlightened man who
+looks afar in the dark, had fled because of his superior perceptions
+and knowledge.  He felt a great anger against his comrades.  He knew it
+could be proved that they had been fools.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He wondered what they would remark when later he appeared in camp.  His
+mind heard howls of derision.  Their density would not enable them to
+understand his sharper point of view.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He began to pity himself acutely.  He was ill used.  He was trodden
+beneath the feet of an iron injustice.  He had proceeded with wisdom
+and from the most righteous motives under heaven's blue only to be
+frustrated by hateful circumstances.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A dull, animal-like rebellion against his fellows, war in the abstract,
+and fate grew within him.  He shambled along with bowed head, his brain
+in a tumult of agony and despair.  When he looked loweringly up,
+quivering at each sound, his eyes had the expression of those of a
+criminal who thinks his guilt and his punishment great, and knows that
+he can find no words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went from the fields into a thick woods, as if resolved to bury
+himself.  He wished to get out of hearing of the crackling shots which
+were to him like voices.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The ground was cluttered with vines and bushes, and the trees grew
+close and spread out like bouquets.  He was obliged to force his way
+with much noise.  The creepers, catching against his legs, cried out
+harshly as their sprays were torn from the barks of trees.  The
+swishing saplings tried to make known his presence to the world.  He
+could not conciliate the forest.  As he made his way, it was always
+calling out protestations.  When he separated embraces of trees and
+vines the disturbed foliages waved their arms and turned their face
+leaves toward him.  He dreaded lest these noisy motions and cries
+should bring men to look at him.  So he went far, seeking dark and
+intricate places.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time the sound of musketry grew faint and the cannon boomed in
+the distance.  The sun, suddenly apparent, blazed among the trees.  The
+insects were making rhythmical noises.  They seemed to be grinding
+their teeth in unison.  A woodpecker stuck his impudent head around the
+side of a tree.  A bird flew on lighthearted wing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Off was the rumble of death.  It seemed now that Nature had no ears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This landscape gave him assurance.  A fair field holding life.  It was
+the religion of peace. It would die if its timid eyes were compelled to
+see blood.  He conceived Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to
+tragedy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering
+fear.  High in a treetop he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously
+from behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepidation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition. There was the law, he
+said.  Nature had given him a sign.  The squirrel, immediately upon
+recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado.  He did not
+stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an
+upward glance at the sympathetic heavens.  On the contrary, he had fled
+as fast as his legs could carry him; and he was but an ordinary
+squirrel, too&mdash;doubtless no philosopher of his race.  The youth wended,
+feeling that Nature was of his mind. She re-enforced his argument with
+proofs that lived where the sun shone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he found himself almost into a swamp. He was obliged to walk upon
+bog tufts and watch his feet to keep from the oily mire.  Pausing at
+one time to look about him he saw, out at some black water, a small
+animal pounce in and emerge directly with a gleaming fish.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth went again into the deep thickets. The brushed branches made
+a noise that drowned the sounds of cannon.  He walked on, going from
+obscurity into promises of a greater obscurity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At length he reached a place where the high, arching boughs made a
+chapel.  He softly pushed the green doors aside and entered.  Pine
+needles were a gentle brown carpet.  There was a religious half light.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Near the threshold he stopped, horror-stricken at the sight of a thing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was being looked at by a dead man who was seated with his back
+against a columnlike tree.  The corpse was dressed in a uniform that
+once had been blue, but was now faded to a melancholy shade of green.
+The eyes, staring at the youth, had changed to the dull hue to be seen
+on the side of a dead fish.  The mouth was open. Its red had changed to
+an appalling yellow. Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants.
+One was trundling some sort of a bundle along the upper lip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing.  He was for moments
+turned to stone before it.  He remained staring into the liquid-looking
+eyes.  The dead man and the living man exchanged a long look.  Then the
+youth cautiously put one hand behind him and brought it against a tree.
+Leaning upon this he retreated, step by step, with his face still
+toward the thing.  He feared that if he turned his back the body might
+spring up and stealthily pursue him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The branches, pushing against him, threatened to throw him over upon
+it.  His unguided feet, too, caught aggravatingly in brambles; and with
+it all he received a subtle suggestion to touch the corpse.  As he
+thought of his hand upon it he shuddered profoundly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last he burst the bonds which had fastened him to the spot and fled,
+unheeding the underbrush.  He was pursued by a sight of the black ants
+swarming greedily upon the gray face and venturing horribly near to the
+eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time he paused, and, breathless and panting, listened.  He
+imagined some strange voice would come from the dead throat and squawk
+after him in horrible menaces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft
+wind.  A sad silence was upon the little guarding edifice.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VIII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The trees began softly to sing a hymn of twilight.  The sun sank until
+slanted bronze rays struck the forest.  There was a lull in the noises
+of insects as if they had bowed their beaks and were making a
+devotional pause.  There was silence save for the chanted chorus of the
+trees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke a tremendous clangor of
+sounds.  A crimson roar came from the distance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth stopped.  He was transfixed by this terrific medley of all
+noises.  It was as if worlds were being rended.  There was the ripping
+sound of musketry and the breaking crash of the artillery.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His mind flew in all directions.  He conceived the two armies to be at
+each other panther fashion.  He listened for a time.  Then he began to
+run in the direction of the battle.  He saw that it was an ironical
+thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such
+pains to avoid.  But he said, in substance, to himself that if the
+earth and the moon were about to clash, many persons would doubtless
+plan to get upon the roofs to witness the collision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he ran, he became aware that the forest had stopped its music, as if
+at last becoming capable of hearing the foreign sounds.  The trees
+hushed and stood motionless.  Everything seemed to be listening to the
+crackle and clatter and earshaking thunder.  The chorus pealed over the
+still earth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It suddenly occurred to the youth that the fight in which he had been
+was, after all, but perfunctory popping.  In the hearing of this
+present din he was doubtful if he had seen real battle scenes.  This
+uproar explained a celestial battle; it was tumbling hordes a-struggle
+in the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Reflecting, he saw a sort of a humor in the point of view of himself
+and his fellows during the late encounter.  They had taken themselves
+and the enemy very seriously and had imagined that they were deciding
+the war.  Individuals must have supposed that they were cutting the
+letters of their names deep into everlasting tablets of brass, or
+enshrining their reputations forever in the hearts of their countrymen,
+while, as to fact, the affair would appear in printed reports under a
+meek and immaterial title.  But he saw that it was good, else, he said,
+in battle every one would surely run save forlorn hopes and their ilk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He went rapidly on.  He wished to come to the edge of the forest that
+he might peer out.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he hastened, there passed through his mind pictures of stupendous
+conflicts.  His accumulated thought upon such subjects was used to form
+scenes.  The noise was as the voice of an eloquent being, describing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Sometimes the brambles formed chains and tried to hold him back. Trees,
+confronting him, stretched out their arms and forbade him to pass.
+After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled
+him with a fine bitterness.  It seemed that Nature could not be quite
+ready to kill him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he obstinately took roundabout ways, and presently he was where he
+could see long gray walls of vapor where lay battle lines.  The voices
+of cannon shook him.  The musketry sounded in long irregular surges
+that played havoc with his ears.  He stood regardant for a moment.  His
+eyes had an awestruck expression.  He gawked in the direction of the
+fight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently he proceeded again on his forward way.  The battle was like
+the grinding of an immense and terrible machine to him.  Its
+complexities and powers, its grim processes, fascinated him.  He must
+go close and see it produce corpses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He came to a fence and clambered over it. On the far side, the ground
+was littered with clothes and guns.  A newspaper, folded up, lay in the
+dirt.  A dead soldier was stretched with his face hidden in his arm.
+Farther off there was a group of four or five corpses keeping mournful
+company.  A hot sun had blazed upon the spot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In this place the youth felt that he was an invader.  This forgotten
+part of the battle ground was owned by the dead men, and he hurried, in
+the vague apprehension that one of the swollen forms would rise and
+tell him to begone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He came finally to a road from which he could see in the distance dark
+and agitated bodies of troops, smoke-fringed.  In the lane was a
+blood-stained crowd streaming to the rear. The wounded men were
+cursing, groaning, and wailing.  In the air, always, was a mighty swell
+of sound that it seemed could sway the earth. With the courageous words
+of the artillery and the spiteful sentences of the musketry mingled red
+cheers.  And from this region of noises came the steady current of the
+maimed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the wounded men had a shoeful of blood.  He hopped like a
+schoolboy in a game. He was laughing hysterically.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One was swearing that he had been shot in the arm through the
+commanding general's mismanagement of the army.  One was marching with
+an air imitative of some sublime drum major. Upon his features was an
+unholy mixture of merriment and agony.  As he marched he sang a bit of
+doggerel in a high and quavering voice:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+  "Sing a song 'a vic'try,<BR>
+    A pocketful 'a bullets,<BR>
+  Five an' twenty dead men<BR>
+    Baked in a&mdash;pie."<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Parts of the procession limped and staggered to this tune.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another had the gray seal of death already upon his face.  His lips
+were curled in hard lines and his teeth were clinched.  His hands were
+bloody from where he had pressed them upon his wound.  He seemed to be
+awaiting the moment when he should pitch headlong.  He stalked like the
+specter of a soldier, his eyes burning with the power of a stare into
+the unknown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were some who proceeded sullenly, full of anger at their wounds,
+and ready to turn upon anything as an obscure cause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+An officer was carried along by two privates. He was peevish.  "Don't
+joggle so, Johnson, yeh fool," he cried.  "Think m' leg is made of
+iron? If yeh can't carry me decent, put me down an' let some one else
+do it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He bellowed at the tottering crowd who blocked the quick march of his
+bearers.  "Say, make way there, can't yeh?  Make way, dickens take it
+all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They sulkily parted and went to the roadsides.  As he was carried past
+they made pert remarks to him.  When he raged in reply and threatened
+them, they told him to be damned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The shoulder of one of the tramping bearers knocked heavily against the
+spectral soldier who was staring into the unknown.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth joined this crowd and marched along with it.  The torn bodies
+expressed the awful machinery in which the men had been entangled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Orderlies and couriers occasionally broke through the throng in the
+roadway, scattering wounded men right and left, galloping on followed
+by howls.  The melancholy march was continually disturbed by the
+messengers, and sometimes by bustling batteries that came swinging and
+thumping down upon them, the officers shouting orders to clear the way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from
+hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youth's side.  He was
+listening with eagerness and much humility to the lurid descriptions of
+a bearded sergeant.  His lean features wore an expression of awe and
+admiration.  He was like a listener in a country store to wondrous
+tales told among the sugar barrels.  He eyed the story-teller with
+unspeakable wonder.  His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sergeant, taking note of this, gave pause to his elaborate history
+while he administered a sardonic comment.  "Be keerful, honey, you 'll
+be a-ketchin' flies," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man shrank back abashed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time he began to sidle near to the youth, and in a different
+way try to make him a friend.  His voice was gentle as a girl's voice
+and his eyes were pleading.  The youth saw with surprise that the
+soldier had two wounds, one in the head, bound with a blood-soaked rag,
+and the other in the arm, making that member dangle like a broken bough.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After they had walked together for some time the tattered man mustered
+sufficient courage to speak.  "Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he
+timidly said.  The youth, deep in thought, glanced up at the bloody and
+grim figure with its lamblike eyes.  "What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," said the youth shortly.  He quickened his pace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the other hobbled industriously after him. There was an air of
+apology in his manner, but he evidently thought that he needed only to
+talk for a time, and the youth would perceive that he was a good fellow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he began in a small voice, and then
+he achieved the fortitude to continue.  "Dern me if I ever see fellers
+fight so.  Laws, how they did fight!  I knowed th' boys 'd like when
+they onct got square at it. Th' boys ain't had no fair chanct up t'
+now, but this time they showed what they was.  I knowed it 'd turn out
+this way.  Yeh can't lick them boys. No, sir!  They're fighters, they
+be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He breathed a deep breath of humble admiration.  He had looked at the
+youth for encouragement several times.  He received none, but gradually
+he seemed to get absorbed in his subject.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was talkin' 'cross pickets with a boy from Georgie, onct, an' that
+boy, he ses, 'Your fellers 'll all run like hell when they onct hearn a
+gun,' he ses.  'Mebbe they will,' I ses, 'but I don't b'lieve none of
+it,' I ses; 'an' b'jiminey,' I ses back t' 'um, 'mebbe your fellers 'll
+all run like hell when they onct hearn a gun,' I ses.  He larfed. Well,
+they didn't run t' day, did they, hey?  No, sir!  They fit, an' fit,
+an' fit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His homely face was suffused with a light of love for the army which
+was to him all things beautiful and powerful.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time he turned to the youth.  "Where yeh hit, ol' boy?" he
+asked in a brotherly tone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth felt instant panic at this question, although at first its
+full import was not borne in upon him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where yeh hit?" repeated the tattered man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why," began the youth, "I&mdash;I&mdash;that is&mdash;why&mdash;I&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He turned away suddenly and slid through the crowd.  His brow was
+heavily flushed, and his fingers were picking nervously at one of his
+buttons.  He bent his head and fastened his eyes studiously upon the
+button as if it were a little problem.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man looked after him in astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IX.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was
+not in sight.  Then he started to walk on with the others.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But he was amid wounds.  The mob of men was bleeding.  Because of the
+tattered soldier's question he now felt that his shame could be viewed.
+He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were
+contemplating the letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way.  He
+conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy.  He wished
+that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The spectral soldier was at his side like a stalking reproach.  The
+man's eyes were still fixed in a stare into the unknown.  His gray,
+appalling face had attracted attention in the crowd, and men, slowing
+to his dreary pace, were walking with him.  They were discussing his
+plight, questioning him and giving him advice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a dogged way he repelled them, signing to them to go on and leave
+him alone.  The shadows of his face were deepening and his tight lips
+seemed holding in check the moan of great despair. There could be seen
+a certain stiffness in the movements of his body, as if he were taking
+infinite care not to arouse the passion of his wounds.  As he went on,
+he seemed always looking for a place, like one who goes to choose a
+grave.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Something in the gesture of the man as he waved the bloody and pitying
+soldiers away made the youth start as if bitten.  He yelled in horror.
+Tottering forward he laid a quivering hand upon the man's arm.  As the
+latter slowly turned his waxlike features toward him, the youth
+screamed:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gawd!  Jim Conklin!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier made a little commonplace smile.  "Hello, Henry," he
+said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth swayed on his legs and glared strangely.  He stuttered and
+stammered.  "Oh, Jim&mdash;oh, Jim&mdash;oh, Jim&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier held out his gory hand.  There was a curious red and
+black combination of new blood and old blood upon it.  "Where yeh been,
+Henry?" he asked.  He continued in a monotonous voice, "I thought mebbe
+yeh got keeled over.  There 's been thunder t' pay t'-day.  I was
+worryin' about it a good deal."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth still lamented.  "Oh, Jim&mdash;oh, Jim&mdash;oh, Jim&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh know," said the tall soldier, "I was out there."  He made a
+careful gesture.  "An', Lord, what a circus!  An', b'jiminey, I got
+shot&mdash;I got shot.  Yes, b'jiminey, I got shot."  He reiterated this
+fact in a bewildered way, as if he did not know how it came about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth put forth anxious arms to assist him, but the tall soldier
+went firmly on as if propelled.  Since the youth's arrival as a
+guardian for his friend, the other wounded men had ceased to display
+much interest.  They occupied themselves again in dragging their own
+tragedies toward the rear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Suddenly, as the two friends marched on, the tall soldier seemed to be
+overcome by a terror. His face turned to a semblance of gray paste. He
+clutched the youth's arm and looked all about him, as if dreading to be
+overheard.  Then he began to speak in a shaking whisper:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, Henry&mdash;I 'll tell yeh what I 'm 'fraid
+of.  I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down&mdash;an' then yeh know&mdash;them damned
+artillery wagons&mdash;they like as not 'll run over me.  That 's what I 'm
+'fraid of&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth cried out to him hysterically: "I 'll take care of yeh, Jim!
+I'll take care of yeh!  I swear t' Gawd I will!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sure&mdash;will yeh, Henry?" the tall soldier beseeched.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes&mdash;yes&mdash;I tell yeh&mdash;I'll take care of yeh, Jim!" protested the
+youth.  He could not speak accurately because of the gulpings in his
+throat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the tall soldier continued to beg in a lowly way.  He now hung
+babelike to the youth's arm.  His eyes rolled in the wildness of his
+terror.  "I was allus a good friend t' yeh, wa'n't I, Henry?  I 've
+allus been a pretty good feller, ain't I?  An' it ain't much t' ask, is
+it?  Jest t' pull me along outer th' road?  I 'd do it fer you,
+Wouldn't I, Henry?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He paused in piteous anxiety to await his friend's reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had reached an anguish where the sobs scorched him.  He
+strove to express his loyalty, but he could only make fantastic
+gestures.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+However, the tall soldier seemed suddenly to forget all those fears. He
+became again the grim, stalking specter of a soldier.  He went stonily
+forward.  The youth wished his friend to lean upon him, but the other
+always shook his head and strangely protested. "No&mdash;no&mdash;no&mdash;leave me
+be&mdash;leave me be&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His look was fixed again upon the unknown. He moved with mysterious
+purpose, and all of the youth's offers he brushed aside. "No&mdash;no&mdash;leave
+me be&mdash;leave me be&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had to follow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the latter heard a voice talking softly near his shoulders.
+Turning he saw that it belonged to the tattered soldier.  "Ye 'd better
+take 'im outa th' road, pardner.  There 's a batt'ry comin' helitywhoop
+down th' road an' he 'll git runned over.  He 's a goner anyhow in
+about five minutes&mdash;yeh kin see that.  Ye 'd better take 'im outa th'
+road.  Where th' blazes does he git his stren'th from?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lord knows!" cried the youth.  He was shaking his hands helplessly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He ran forward presently and grasped the tall soldier by the arm. "Jim!
+Jim!" he coaxed, "come with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier weakly tried to wrench himself free.  "Huh," he said
+vacantly.  He stared at the youth for a moment.  At last he spoke as if
+dimly comprehending.  "Oh!  Inteh th' fields?  Oh!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He started blindly through the grass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth turned once to look at the lashing riders and jouncing guns
+of the battery.  He was startled from this view by a shrill outcry from
+the tattered man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gawd!  He's runnin'!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Turning his head swiftly, the youth saw his friend running in a
+staggering and stumbling way toward a little clump of bushes.  His
+heart seemed to wrench itself almost free from his body at this sight.
+He made a noise of pain. He and the tattered man began a pursuit. There
+was a singular race.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he overtook the tall soldier he began to plead with all the words
+he could find. "Jim&mdash;Jim&mdash;what are you doing&mdash;what makes you do this
+way&mdash;you 'll hurt yerself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face. He protested in a
+dulled way, keeping his eyes fastened on the mystic place of his
+intentions. "No&mdash;no&mdash;don't tech me&mdash;leave me be&mdash;leave me be&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at the tall soldier, began
+quaveringly to question him. "Where yeh goin', Jim?  What you thinking
+about?  Where you going?  Tell me, won't you, Jim?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier faced about as upon relentless pursuers.  In his eyes
+there was a great appeal. "Leave me be, can't yeh?  Leave me be fer a
+minnit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth recoiled.  "Why, Jim," he said, in a dazed way, "what's the
+matter with you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier turned and, lurching dangerously, went on.  The youth
+and the tattered soldier followed, sneaking as if whipped, feeling
+unable to face the stricken man if he should again confront them.  They
+began to have thoughts of a solemn ceremony.  There was something
+rite-like in these movements of the doomed soldier. And there was a
+resemblance in him to a devotee of a mad religion, blood-sucking,
+muscle-wrenching, bone-crushing.  They were awed and afraid. They hung
+back lest he have at command a dreadful weapon.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last, they saw him stop and stand motionless.  Hastening up, they
+perceived that his face wore an expression telling that he had at last
+found the place for which he had struggled.  His spare figure was
+erect; his bloody hands were quietly at his side.  He was waiting with
+patience for something that he had come to meet.  He was at the
+rendezvous.  They paused and stood, expectant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Finally, the chest of the doomed soldier began to heave with a strained
+motion.  It increased in violence until it was as if an animal was
+within and was kicking and tumbling furiously to be free.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This spectacle of gradual strangulation made the youth writhe, and once
+as his friend rolled his eyes, he saw something in them that made him
+sink wailing to the ground.  He raised his voice in a last supreme call.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Jim&mdash;Jim&mdash;Jim&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke. He made a gesture.  "Leave
+me be&mdash;don't tech me&mdash;leave me be&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was another silence while he waited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Suddenly, his form stiffened and straightened. Then it was shaken by a
+prolonged ague.  He stared into space.  To the two watchers there was a
+curious and profound dignity in the firm lines of his awful face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was invaded by a creeping strangeness that slowly enveloped him. For
+a moment the tremor of his legs caused him to dance a sort of hideous
+hornpipe.  His arms beat wildly about his head in expression of implike
+enthusiasm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His tall figure stretched itself to its full height. There was a slight
+rending sound.  Then it began to swing forward, slow and straight, in
+the manner of a falling tree.  A swift muscular contortion made the
+left shoulder strike the ground first.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The body seemed to bounce a little way from the earth.  "God!" said the
+tattered soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had watched, spellbound, this ceremony at the place of
+meeting.  His face had been twisted into an expression of every agony
+he had imagined for his friend.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He now sprang to his feet and, going closer, gazed upon the pastelike
+face.  The mouth was open and the teeth showed in a laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from the body, he could see
+that the side looked as if it had been chewed by wolves.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage, toward the battlefield.  He
+shook his fist.  He seemed about to deliver a philippic.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hell&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER X.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man stood musing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, he was reg'lar jim-dandy fer nerve, wa'n't he," said he finally
+in a little awestruck voice.  "A reg'lar jim-dandy."  He thoughtfully
+poked one of the docile hands with his foot.  "I wonner where he got
+'is stren'th from?  I never seen a man do like that before.  It was a
+funny thing.  Well, he was a reg'lar jim-dandy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth desired to screech out his grief. He was stabbed, but his
+tongue lay dead in the tomb of his mouth.  He threw himself again upon
+the ground and began to brood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man stood musing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Look-a-here, pardner," he said, after a time. He regarded the corpse
+as he spoke.  "He 's up an' gone, ain't 'e, an' we might as well begin
+t' look out fer ol' number one.  This here thing is all over.  He 's up
+an' gone, ain't 'e?  An' he 's all right here.  Nobody won't bother
+'im.  An' I must say I ain't enjoying any great health m'self these
+days."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, awakened by the tattered soldier's tone, looked quickly up.
+He saw that he was swinging uncertainly on his legs and that his face
+had turned to a shade of blue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good Lord!" he cried, "you ain't goin' t'&mdash;not you, too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man waved his hand.  "Nary die," he said.  "All I want is
+some pea soup an' a good bed.  Some pea soup," he repeated dreamfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth arose from the ground.  "I wonder where he came from.  I left
+him over there." He pointed.  "And now I find 'im here.  And he was
+coming from over there, too."  He indicated a new direction.  They both
+turned toward the body as if to ask of it a question.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," at length spoke the tattered man, "there ain't no use in our
+stayin' here an' tryin' t' ask him anything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth nodded an assent wearily.  They both turned to gaze for a
+moment at the corpse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth murmured something.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, he was a jim-dandy, wa'n't 'e?" said the tattered man as if in
+response.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They turned their backs upon it and started away.  For a time they
+stole softly, treading with their toes.  It remained laughing there in
+the grass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm commencin' t' feel pretty bad," said the tattered man, suddenly
+breaking one of his little silences.  "I'm commencin' t' feel pretty
+damn' bad."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth groaned.  "O Lord!"  He wondered if he was to be the tortured
+witness of another grim encounter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his companion waved his hand reassuringly.  "Oh, I'm not goin' t'
+die yit!  There too much dependin' on me fer me t' die yit.  No, sir!
+Nary die!  I <i>can't</i>!  Ye'd oughta see th' swad a' chil'ren I've got, an'
+all like that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth glancing at his companion could see by the shadow of a smile
+that he was making some kind of fun.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they plodded on the tattered soldier continued to talk.  "Besides,
+if I died, I wouldn't die th' way that feller did.  That was th'
+funniest thing.  I'd jest flop down, I would.  I never seen a feller
+die th' way that feller did.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh know Tom Jamison, he lives next door t' me up home.  He's a nice
+feller, he is, an' we was allus good friends.  Smart, too.  Smart as a
+steel trap.  Well, when we was a-fightin' this atternoon,
+all-of-a-sudden he begin t' rip up an' cuss an' beller at me.  'Yer
+shot, yeh blamed infernal!'&mdash;he swear horrible&mdash;he ses t' me.  I put up
+m' hand t' m' head an' when I looked at m' fingers, I seen, sure
+'nough, I was shot.  I give a holler an' begin t' run, but b'fore I
+could git away another one hit me in th' arm an' whirl' me clean
+'round.  I got skeared when they was all a-shootin' b'hind me an' I run
+t' beat all, but I cotch it pretty bad.  I've an idee I'd a' been
+fightin' yit, if t'was n't fer Tom Jamison."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then he made a calm announcement: "There's two of 'em&mdash;little ones&mdash;but
+they 're beginnin' t' have fun with me now.  I don't b'lieve I kin walk
+much furder."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They went slowly on in silence.  "Yeh look pretty peek-ed yerself,"
+said the tattered man at last.  "I bet yeh 've got a worser one than
+yeh think.  Ye'd better take keer of yer hurt.  It don't do t' let sech
+things go.  It might be inside mostly, an' them plays thunder.  Where
+is it located?"  But he continued his harangue without waiting for a
+reply.  "I see 'a feller git hit plum in th' head when my reg'ment was
+a-standin' at ease onct.  An' everybody yelled out to 'im: Hurt, John?
+Are yeh hurt much?  'No,' ses he. He looked kinder surprised, an' he
+went on tellin' 'em how he felt.  He sed he didn't feel nothin'. But,
+by dad, th' first thing that feller knowed he was dead.  Yes, he was
+dead&mdash;stone dead.  So, yeh wanta watch out.  Yeh might have some queer
+kind 'a hurt yerself.  Yeh can't never tell. Where is your'n located?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had been wriggling since the introduction of this topic.  He
+now gave a cry of exasperation and made a furious motion with his hand.
+"Oh, don't bother me!" he said.  He was enraged against the tattered
+man, and could have strangled him.  His companions seemed ever to play
+intolerable parts.  They were ever upraising the ghost of shame on the
+stick of their curiosity.  He turned toward the tattered man as one at
+bay.  "Now, don't bother me," he repeated with desperate menace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother anybody," said the other.  There
+was a little accent of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord knows
+I 've gota 'nough m' own t' tend to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and
+casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke
+in a hard voice.  "Good-by," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement.  "Why&mdash;why,
+pardner, where yeh goin'?" he asked unsteadily.  The youth looking at
+him, could see that he, too, like that other one, was beginning to act
+dumb and animal-like.  His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in
+his head.  "Now&mdash;now&mdash;look&mdash;a&mdash;here, you Tom Jamison&mdash;now&mdash;I won't have
+this&mdash;this here won't do.  Where&mdash;where yeh goin'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth pointed vaguely.  "Over there," he replied.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, now look&mdash;a&mdash;here&mdash;now," said the tattered man, rambling on in
+idiot fashion.  His head was hanging forward and his words were
+slurred.  "This thing won't do, now, Tom Jamison.  It won't do.  I know
+yeh, yeh pig-headed devil.  Yeh wanta go trompin' off with a bad hurt.
+It ain't right&mdash;now&mdash;Tom Jamison&mdash;it ain't. Yeh wanta leave me take
+keer of yeh, Tom Jamison.  It ain't&mdash;right&mdash;it ain't&mdash;fer yeh t'
+go&mdash;trompin' off&mdash;with a bad hurt&mdash;it ain't&mdash;ain't&mdash;ain't right&mdash;it
+ain't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In reply the youth climbed a fence and started away.  He could hear the
+tattered man bleating plaintively.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he faced about angrily.  "What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Look&mdash;a&mdash;here, now, Tom Jamison&mdash;now&mdash;it ain't&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth went on.  Turning at a distance he saw the tattered man
+wandering about helplessly in the field.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and on
+the fallen leaves of the forest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The simple questions of the tattered man had been knife thrusts to him.
+They asserted a society that probes pitilessly at secrets until all is
+apparent.  His late companion's chance persistency made him feel that
+he could not keep his crime concealed in his bosom.  It was sure to be
+brought plain by one of those arrows which cloud the air and are
+constantly pricking, discovering, proclaiming those things which are
+willed to be forever hidden.  He admitted that he could not defend
+himself against this agency. It was not within the power of vigilance.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap11"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+He became aware that the furnace roar of the battle was growing louder.
+Great brown clouds had floated to the still heights of air before him.
+The noise, too, was approaching.  The woods filtered men and the fields
+became dotted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he rounded a hillock, he perceived that the roadway was now a crying
+mass of wagons, teams, and men.  From the heaving tangle issued
+exhortations, commands, imprecations.  Fear was sweeping it all along.
+The cracking whips bit and horses plunged and tugged.  The white-topped
+wagons strained and stumbled in their exertions like fat sheep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth felt comforted in a measure by this sight.  They were all
+retreating.  Perhaps, then, he was not so bad after all.  He seated
+himself and watched the terror-stricken wagons.  They fled like soft,
+ungainly animals.  All the roarers and lashers served to help him to
+magnify the dangers and horrors of the engagement that he might try to
+prove to himself that the thing with which men could charge him was in
+truth a symmetrical act.  There was an amount of pleasure to him in
+watching the wild march of this vindication.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the calm head of a forward-going column of infantry appeared
+in the road.  It came swiftly on.  Avoiding the obstructions gave it
+the sinuous movement of a serpent.  The men at the head butted mules
+with their musket stocks.  They prodded teamsters indifferent to all
+howls.  The men forced their way through parts of the dense mass by
+strength.  The blunt head of the column pushed.  The raving teamsters
+swore many strange oaths.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The commands to make way had the ring of a great importance in them.
+The men were going forward to the heart of the din.  They were to
+confront the eager rush of the enemy.  They felt the pride of their
+onward movement when the remainder of the army seemed trying to dribble
+down this road.  They tumbled teams about with a fine feeling that it
+was no matter so long as their column got to the front in time.  This
+importance made their faces grave and stern. And the backs of the
+officers were very rigid.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the youth looked at them the black weight of his woe returned to
+him.  He felt that he was regarding a procession of chosen beings.  The
+separation was as great to him as if they had marched with weapons of
+flame and banners of sunlight.  He could never be like them.  He could
+have wept in his longings.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He searched about in his mind for an adequate malediction for the
+indefinite cause, the thing upon which men turn the words of final
+blame.  It&mdash;whatever it was&mdash;was responsible for him, he said.  There
+lay the fault.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The haste of the column to reach the battle seemed to the forlorn young
+man to be something much finer than stout fighting.  Heroes, he
+thought, could find excuses in that long seething lane.  They could
+retire with perfect self-respect and make excuses to the stars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He wondered what those men had eaten that they could be in such haste
+to force their way to grim chances of death.  As he watched his envy
+grew until he thought that he wished to change lives with one of them.
+He would have liked to have used a tremendous force, he said, throw off
+himself and become a better.  Swift pictures of himself, apart, yet in
+himself, came to him&mdash;a blue desperate figure leading lurid charges
+with one knee forward and a broken blade high&mdash;a blue, determined
+figure standing before a crimson and steel assault, getting calmly
+killed on a high place before the eyes of all.  He thought of the
+magnificent pathos of his dead body.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These thoughts uplifted him.  He felt the quiver of war desire.  In his
+ears, he heard the ring of victory.  He knew the frenzy of a rapid
+successful charge.  The music of the trampling feet, the sharp voices,
+the clanking arms of the column near him made him soar on the red wings
+of war.  For a few moments he was sublime.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He thought that he was about to start for the front.  Indeed, he saw a
+picture of himself, dust-stained, haggard, panting, flying to the front
+at the proper moment to seize and throttle the dark, leering witch of
+calamity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then the difficulties of the thing began to drag at him.  He hesitated,
+balancing awkwardly on one foot.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had no rifle; he could not fight with his hands, said he resentfully
+to his plan.  Well, rifles could be had for the picking.  They were
+extraordinarily profuse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Also, he continued, it would be a miracle if he found his regiment.
+Well, he could fight with any regiment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He started forward slowly.  He stepped as if he expected to tread upon
+some explosive thing. Doubts and he were struggling.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He would truly be a worm if any of his comrades should see him
+returning thus, the marks of his flight upon him.  There was a reply
+that the intent fighters did not care for what happened rearward saving
+that no hostile bayonets appeared there.  In the battle-blur his face
+would, in a way be hidden, like the face of a cowled man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But then he said that his tireless fate would bring forth, when the
+strife lulled for a moment, a man to ask of him an explanation.  In
+imagination he felt the scrutiny of his companions as he painfully
+labored through some lies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Eventually, his courage expended itself upon these objections.  The
+debates drained him of his fire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was not cast down by this defeat of his plan, for, upon studying the
+affair carefully, he could not but admit that the objections were very
+formidable.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Furthermore, various ailments had begun to cry out.  In their presence
+he could not persist in flying high with the wings of war; they
+rendered it almost impossible for him to see himself in a heroic light.
+He tumbled headlong.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He discovered that he had a scorching thirst. His face was so dry and
+grimy that he thought he could feel his skin crackle.  Each bone of his
+body had an ache in it, and seemingly threatened to break with each
+movement.  His feet were like two sores.  Also, his body was calling
+for food.  It was more powerful than a direct hunger. There was a dull,
+weight like feeling in his stomach, and, when he tried to walk, his
+head swayed and he tottered.  He could not see with distinctness. Small
+patches of green mist floated before his vision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While he had been tossed by many emotions, he had not been aware of
+ailments.  Now they beset him and made clamor.  As he was at last
+compelled to pay attention to them, his capacity for self-hate was
+multiplied.  In despair, he declared that he was not like those others.
+He now conceded it to be impossible that he should ever become a hero.
+He was a craven loon. Those pictures of glory were piteous things.  He
+groaned from his heart and went staggering off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A certain mothlike quality within him kept him in the vicinity of the
+battle.  He had a great desire to see, and to get news.  He wished to
+know who was winning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He told himself that, despite his unprecedented suffering, he had never
+lost his greed for a victory, yet, he said, in a half-apologetic manner
+to his conscience, he could not but know that a defeat for the army
+this time might mean many favorable things for him.  The blows of the
+enemy would splinter regiments into fragments.  Thus, many men of
+courage, he considered, would be obliged to desert the colors and
+scurry like chickens.  He would appear as one of them. They would be
+sullen brothers in distress, and he could then easily believe he had
+not run any farther or faster than they.  And if he himself could
+believe in his virtuous perfection, he conceived that there would be
+small trouble in convincing all others.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He said, as if in excuse for this hope, that previously the army had
+encountered great defeats and in a few months had shaken off all blood
+and tradition of them, emerging as bright and valiant as a new one;
+thrusting out of sight the memory of disaster, and appearing with the
+valor and confidence of unconquered legions. The shrilling voices of
+the people at home would pipe dismally for a time, but various generals
+were usually compelled to listen to these ditties. He of course felt no
+compunctions for proposing a general as a sacrifice.  He could not tell
+who the chosen for the barbs might be, so he could center no direct
+sympathy upon him.  The people were afar and he did not conceive public
+opinion to be accurate at long range.  It was quite probable they would
+hit the wrong man who, after he had recovered from his amazement would
+perhaps spend the rest of his days in writing replies to the songs of
+his alleged failure.  It would be very unfortunate, no doubt, but in
+this case a general was of no consequence to the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a defeat there would be a roundabout vindication of himself.  He
+thought it would prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because of
+his superior powers of perception.  A serious prophet upon predicting a
+flood should be the first man to climb a tree.  This would demonstrate
+that he was indeed a seer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moral vindication was regarded by the youth as a very important
+thing.  Without salve, he could not, he thought, wear the sore badge of
+his dishonor through life.  With his heart continually assuring him
+that he was despicable, he could not exist without making it, through
+his actions, apparent to all men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If the army had gone gloriously on he would be lost.  If the din meant
+that now his army's flags were tilted forward he was a condemned
+wretch.  He would be compelled to doom himself to isolation.  If the
+men were advancing, their indifferent feet were trampling upon his
+chances for a successful life.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As these thoughts went rapidly through his mind, he turned upon them
+and tried to thrust them away.  He denounced himself as a villain. He
+said that he was the most unutterably selfish man in existence.  His
+mind pictured the soldiers who would place their defiant bodies before
+the spear of the yelling battle fiend, and as he saw their dripping
+corpses on an imagined field, he said that he was their murderer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Again he thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+a corpse.  Thinking of the slain, he achieved a great contempt for some
+of them, as if they were guilty for thus becoming lifeless.  They might
+have been killed by lucky chances, he said, before they had had
+opportunities to flee or before they had been really tested.  Yet they
+would receive laurels from tradition.  He cried out bitterly that their
+crowns were stolen and their robes of glorious memories were shams.
+However, he still said that it was a great pity he was not as they.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A defeat of the army had suggested itself to him as a means of escape
+from the consequences of his fall.  He considered, now, however, that
+it was useless to think of such a possibility.  His education had been
+that success for that mighty blue machine was certain; that it would
+make victories as a contrivance turns out buttons.  He presently
+discarded all his speculations in the other direction.  He returned to
+the creed of soldiers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he perceived again that it was not possible for the army to be
+defeated, he tried to bethink him of a fine tale which he could take
+back to his regiment, and with it turn the expected shafts of derision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But, as he mortally feared these shafts, it became impossible for him
+to invent a tale he felt he could trust.  He experimented with many
+schemes, but threw them aside one by one as flimsy.  He was quick to
+see vulnerable places in them all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Furthermore, he was much afraid that some arrow of scorn might lay him
+mentally low before he could raise his protecting tale.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He imagined the whole regiment saying: "Where's Henry Fleming?  He run,
+didn't 'e? Oh, my!"  He recalled various persons who would be quite
+sure to leave him no peace about it.  They would doubtless question him
+with sneers, and laugh at his stammering hesitation.  In the next
+engagement they would try to keep watch of him to discover when he
+would run.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wherever he went in camp, he would encounter insolent and lingeringly
+cruel stares.  As he imagined himself passing near a crowd of comrades,
+he could hear some one say, "There he goes!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then, as if the heads were moved by one muscle, all the faces were
+turned toward him with wide, derisive grins.  He seemed to hear some
+one make a humorous remark in a low tone. At it the others all crowed
+and cackled.  He was a slang phrase.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap12"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The column that had butted stoutly at the obstacles in the roadway was
+barely out of the youth's sight before he saw dark waves of men come
+sweeping out of the woods and down through the fields.  He knew at once
+that the steel fibers had been washed from their hearts. They were
+bursting from their coats and their equipments as from entanglements.
+They charged down upon him like terrified buffaloes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Behind them blue smoke curled and clouded above the treetops, and
+through the thickets he could sometimes see a distant pink glare.  The
+voices of the cannon were clamoring in interminable chorus.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth was horrorstricken.  He stared in agony and amazement.  He
+forgot that he was engaged in combating the universe.  He threw aside
+his mental pamphlets on the philosophy of the retreated and rules for
+the guidance of the damned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The fight was lost.  The dragons were coming with invincible strides.
+The army, helpless in the matted thickets and blinded by the
+overhanging night, was going to be swallowed.  War, the red animal,
+war, the blood-swollen god, would have bloated fill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Within him something bade to cry out.  He had the impulse to make a
+rallying speech, to sing a battle hymn, but he could only get his
+tongue to call into the air: "Why&mdash;why&mdash;what&mdash;what 's th' matter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Soon he was in the midst of them.  They were leaping and scampering all
+about him. Their blanched faces shone in the dusk.  They seemed, for
+the most part, to be very burly men. The youth turned from one to
+another of them as they galloped along.  His incoherent questions were
+lost.  They were heedless of his appeals. They did not seem to see him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They sometimes gabbled insanely.  One huge man was asking of the sky:
+"Say, where de plank road?  Where de plank road!"  It was as if he had
+lost a child.  He wept in his pain and dismay.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently, men were running hither and thither in all ways.  The
+artillery booming, forward, rearward, and on the flanks made jumble of
+ideas of direction.  Landmarks had vanished into the gathered gloom.
+The youth began to imagine that he had got into the center of the
+tremendous quarrel, and he could perceive no way out of it.  From the
+mouths of the fleeing men came a thousand wild questions, but no one
+made answers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, after rushing about and throwing interrogations at the
+heedless bands of retreating infantry, finally clutched a man by the
+arm.  They swung around face to face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why&mdash;why&mdash;" stammered the youth struggling with his balking tongue.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The man screamed: "Let go me!  Let go me!"  His face was livid and his
+eyes were rolling uncontrolled.  He was heaving and panting. He still
+grasped his rifle, perhaps having forgotten to release his hold upon
+it.  He tugged frantically, and the youth being compelled to lean
+forward was dragged several paces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let go me!  Let go me!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why&mdash;why&mdash;" stuttered the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, then!" bawled the man in a lurid rage.  He adroitly and fiercely
+swung his rifle. It crushed upon the youth's head.  The man ran on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's fingers had turned to paste upon the other's arm.  The
+energy was smitten from his muscles.  He saw the flaming wings of
+lightning flash before his vision.  There was a deafening rumble of
+thunder within his head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Suddenly his legs seemed to die.  He sank writhing to the ground.  He
+tried to arise.  In his efforts against the numbing pain he was like a
+man wrestling with a creature of the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a sinister struggle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Sometimes he would achieve a position half erect, battle with the air
+for a moment, and then fall again, grabbing at the grass.  His face was
+of a clammy pallor.  Deep groans were wrenched from him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last, with a twisting movement, he got upon his hands and knees, and
+from thence, like a babe trying to walk, to his feet.  Pressing his
+hands to his temples he went lurching over the grass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He fought an intense battle with his body. His dulled senses wished him
+to swoon and he opposed them stubbornly, his mind portraying unknown
+dangers and mutilations if he should fall upon the field.  He went tall
+soldier fashion. He imagined secluded spots where he could fall and be
+unmolested.  To search for one he strove against the tide of his pain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he put his hand to the top of his head and timidly touched the
+wound.  The scratching pain of the contact made him draw a long breath
+through his clinched teeth.  His fingers were dabbled with blood.  He
+regarded them with a fixed stare.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Around him he could hear the grumble of jolted cannon as the scurrying
+horses were lashed toward the front.  Once, a young officer on a
+besplashed charger nearly ran him down.  He turned and watched the mass
+of guns, men, and horses sweeping in a wide curve toward a gap in a
+fence.  The officer was making excited motions with a gauntleted hand.
+The guns followed the teams with an air of unwillingness, of being
+dragged by the heels.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some officers of the scattered infantry were cursing and railing like
+fishwives.  Their scolding voices could be heard above the din.  Into
+the unspeakable jumble in the roadway rode a squadron of cavalry.  The
+faded yellow of their facings shone bravely.  There was a mighty
+altercation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The artillery were assembling as if for a conference.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The blue haze of evening was upon the field. The lines of forest were
+long purple shadows. One cloud lay along the western sky partly
+smothering the red.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the youth left the scene behind him, he heard the guns suddenly roar
+out.  He imagined them shaking in black rage.  They belched and howled
+like brass devils guarding a gate.  The soft air was filled with the
+tremendous remonstrance.  With it came the shattering peal of opposing
+infantry.  Turning to look behind him, he could see sheets of orange
+light illumine the shadowy distance.  There were subtle and sudden
+lightnings in the far air.  At times he thought he could see heaving
+masses of men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He hurried on in the dusk.  The day had faded until he could barely
+distinguish place for his feet.  The purple darkness was filled with
+men who lectured and jabbered.  Sometimes he could see them
+gesticulating against the blue and somber sky.  There seemed to be a
+great ruck of men and munitions spread about in the forest and in the
+fields.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The little narrow roadway now lay lifeless. There were overturned
+wagons like sun-dried bowlders.  The bed of the former torrent was
+choked with the bodies of horses and splintered parts of war machines.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It had come to pass that his wound pained him but little.  He was
+afraid to move rapidly, however, for a dread of disturbing it.  He held
+his head very still and took many precautions against stumbling.  He
+was filled with anxiety, and his face was pinched and drawn in
+anticipation of the pain of any sudden mistake of his feet in the gloom.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His thoughts, as he walked, fixed intently upon his hurt.  There was a
+cool, liquid feeling about it and he imagined blood moving slowly down
+under his hair.  His head seemed swollen to a size that made him think
+his neck to be inadequate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The new silence of his wound made much worriment.  The little
+blistering voices of pain that had called out from his scalp were, he
+thought, definite in their expression of danger. By them he believed
+that he could measure his plight.  But when they remained ominously
+silent he became frightened and imagined terrible fingers that clutched
+into his brain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Amid it he began to reflect upon various incidents and conditions of
+the past.  He bethought him of certain meals his mother had cooked at
+home, in which those dishes of which he was particularly fond had
+occupied prominent positions.  He saw the spread table.  The pine walls
+of the kitchen were glowing in the warm light from the stove.  Too, he
+remembered how he and his companions used to go from the schoolhouse to
+the bank of a shaded pool.  He saw his clothes in disorderly array upon
+the grass of the bank.  He felt the swash of the fragrant water upon
+his body.  The leaves of the overhanging maple rustled with melody in
+the wind of youthful summer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was overcome presently by a dragging weariness.  His head hung
+forward and his shoulders were stooped as if he were bearing a great
+bundle.  His feet shuffled along the ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He held continuous arguments as to whether he should lie down and sleep
+at some near spot, or force himself on until he reached a certain
+haven.  He often tried to dismiss the question, but his body persisted
+in rebellion and his senses nagged at him like pampered babies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last he heard a cheery voice near his shoulder: "Yeh seem t' be in a
+pretty bad way, boy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth did not look up, but he assented with thick tongue.  "Uh!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The owner of the cheery voice took him firmly by the arm.  "Well," he
+said, with a round laugh, "I'm goin' your way.  Th' hull gang is goin'
+your way.  An' I guess I kin give yeh a lift."  They began to walk like
+a drunken man and his friend.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they went along, the man questioned the youth and assisted him with
+the replies like one manipulating the mind of a child.  Sometimes he
+interjected anecdotes.  "What reg'ment do yeh b'long teh?  Eh?  What's
+that?  Th' 304th N' York?  Why, what corps is that in?  Oh, it is? Why,
+I thought they wasn't engaged t'-day&mdash;they 're 'way over in th' center.
+Oh, they was, eh?  Well, pretty nearly everybody got their share 'a
+fightin' t'-day.  By dad, I give myself up fer dead any number 'a
+times.  There was shootin' here an' shootin' there, an' hollerin' here
+an' hollerin' there, in th' damn' darkness, until I couldn't tell t'
+save m' soul which side I was on. Sometimes I thought I was sure 'nough
+from Ohier, an' other times I could 'a swore I was from th' bitter end
+of Florida.  It was th' most mixed up dern thing I ever see.  An' these
+here hull woods is a reg'lar mess.  It'll be a miracle if we find our
+reg'ments t'-night.  Pretty soon, though, we 'll meet a-plenty of
+guards an' provost-guards, an' one thing an' another.  Ho! there they
+go with an off'cer, I guess.  Look at his hand a-draggin'.  He 's got
+all th' war he wants, I bet. He won't be talkin' so big about his
+reputation an' all when they go t' sawin' off his leg.  Poor feller! My
+brother 's got whiskers jest like that. How did yeh git 'way over here,
+anyhow?  Your reg'ment is a long way from here, ain't it?  Well, I
+guess we can find it.  Yeh know there was a boy killed in my comp'ny
+t'-day that I thought th' world an' all of.  Jack was a nice feller. By
+ginger, it hurt like thunder t' see ol' Jack jest git knocked flat. We
+was a-standin' purty peaceable fer a spell, 'though there was men
+runnin' ev'ry way all 'round us, an' while we was a-standin' like that,
+'long come a big fat feller.  He began t' peck at Jack's elbow, an' he
+ses: 'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  An' Jack, he never paid no
+attention, an' th' feller kept on a-peckin' at his elbow an' sayin':
+'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  Jack was a-lookin' ahead all
+th' time tryin' t' see th' Johnnies comin' through th' woods, an' he
+never paid no attention t' this big fat feller fer a long time, but at
+last he turned 'round an' he ses: 'Ah, go t' hell an' find th' road t'
+th' river!'  An' jest then a shot slapped him bang on th' side th'
+head.  He was a sergeant, too.  Them was his last words.  Thunder, I
+wish we was sure 'a findin' our reg'ments t'-night.  It 's goin' t' be
+long huntin'.  But I guess we kin do it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the search which followed, the man of the cheery voice seemed to the
+youth to possess a wand of a magic kind.  He threaded the mazes of the
+tangled forest with a strange fortune.  In encounters with guards and
+patrols he displayed the keenness of a detective and the valor of a
+gamin.  Obstacles fell before him and became of assistance.  The youth,
+with his chin still on his breast, stood woodenly by while his
+companion beat ways and means out of sullen things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The forest seemed a vast hive of men buzzing about in frantic circles,
+but the cheery man conducted the youth without mistakes, until at last
+he began to chuckle with glee and self-satisfaction. "Ah, there yeh
+are!  See that fire?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth nodded stupidly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, there 's where your reg'ment is.  An' now, good-by, ol' boy,
+good luck t' yeh."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A warm and strong hand clasped the youth's languid fingers for an
+instant, and then he heard a cheerful and audacious whistling as the
+man strode away.  As he who had so befriended him was thus passing out
+of his life, it suddenly occurred to the youth that he had not once
+seen his face.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap13"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The youth went slowly toward the fire indicated by his departed friend.
+As he reeled, he bethought him of the welcome his comrades would give
+him.  He had a conviction that he would soon feel in his sore heart the
+barbed missiles of ridicule.  He had no strength to invent a tale; he
+would be a soft target.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He made vague plans to go off into the deeper darkness and hide, but
+they were all destroyed by the voices of exhaustion and pain from his
+body.  His ailments, clamoring, forced him to seek the place of food
+and rest, at whatever cost.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He swung unsteadily toward the fire.  He could see the forms of men
+throwing black shadows in the red light, and as he went nearer it
+became known to him in some way that the ground was strewn with
+sleeping men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of a sudden he confronted a black and monstrous figure.  A rifle barrel
+caught some glinting beams.  "Halt! halt!"  He was dismayed for a
+moment, but he presently thought that he recognized the nervous voice.
+As he stood tottering before the rifle barrel, he called out: "Why,
+hello, Wilson, you&mdash;you here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rifle was lowered to a position of caution and the loud soldier
+came slowly forward.  He peered into the youth's face.  "That you,
+Henry?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, it's&mdash;it's me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, well, ol' boy," said the other, "by ginger, I'm glad t' see yeh!
+I give yeh up fer a goner.  I thought yeh was dead sure enough."  There
+was husky emotion in his voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth found that now he could barely stand upon his feet.  There
+was a sudden sinking of his forces.  He thought he must hasten to
+produce his tale to protect him from the missiles already at the lips
+of his redoubtable comrades. So, staggering before the loud soldier, he
+began: "Yes, yes.  I've&mdash;I've had an awful time.  I've been all over.
+Way over on th' right.  Ter'ble fightin' over there.  I had an awful
+time.  I got separated from th' reg'ment.  Over on th' right, I got
+shot.  In th' head.  I never see sech fightin'.  Awful time.  I don't
+see how I could 'a got separated from th' reg'ment.  I got shot, too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend had stepped forward quickly. "What?  Got shot?  Why didn't
+yeh say so first?  Poor ol' boy, we must&mdash;hol' on a minnit; what am I
+doin'.  I'll call Simpson."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another figure at that moment loomed in the gloom.  They could see that
+it was the corporal. "Who yeh talkin' to, Wilson?" he demanded. His
+voice was anger-toned.  "Who yeh talkin' to?  Yeh th' derndest
+sentinel&mdash;why&mdash;hello, Henry, you here?  Why, I thought you was dead
+four hours ago!  Great Jerusalem, they keep turnin' up every ten
+minutes or so!  We thought we'd lost forty-two men by straight count,
+but if they keep on a-comin' this way, we'll git th' comp'ny all back
+by mornin' yit.  Where was yeh?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Over on th' right.  I got separated"&mdash;began the youth with
+considerable glibness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his friend had interrupted hastily.  "Yes, an' he got shot in th'
+head an' he's in a fix, an' we must see t' him right away."  He rested
+his rifle in the hollow of his left arm and his right around the
+youth's shoulder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gee, it must hurt like thunder!" he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth leaned heavily upon his friend. "Yes, it hurts&mdash;hurts a good
+deal," he replied. There was a faltering in his voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh," said the corporal.  He linked his arm in the youth's and drew him
+forward.  "Come on, Henry.  I'll take keer 'a yeh."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they went on together the loud private called out after them: "Put
+'im t' sleep in my blanket, Simpson.  An'&mdash;hol' on a minnit&mdash;here's my
+canteen.  It's full 'a coffee.  Look at his head by th' fire an' see
+how it looks.  Maybe it's a pretty bad un.  When I git relieved in a
+couple 'a minnits, I'll be over an' see t' him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's senses were so deadened that his friend's voice sounded
+from afar and he could scarcely feel the pressure of the corporal's
+arm. He submitted passively to the latter's directing strength.  His
+head was in the old manner hanging forward upon his breast.  His knees
+wobbled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The corporal led him into the glare of the fire.  "Now, Henry," he
+said, "let's have look at yer ol' head."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth sat down obediently and the corporal, laying aside his rifle,
+began to fumble in the bushy hair of his comrade.  He was obliged to
+turn the other's head so that the full flush of the fire light would
+beam upon it.  He puckered his mouth with a critical air.  He drew back
+his lips and whistled through his teeth when his fingers came in
+contact with the splashed blood and the rare wound.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ah, here we are!" he said.  He awkwardly made further investigations.
+"Jest as I thought," he added, presently.  "Yeh've been grazed by a
+ball.  It's raised a queer lump jest as if some feller had lammed yeh
+on th' head with a club. It stopped a-bleedin' long time ago.  Th' most
+about it is that in th' mornin' yeh'll feel that a number ten hat
+wouldn't fit yeh.  An' your head'll be all het up an' feel as dry as
+burnt pork. An' yeh may git a lot 'a other sicknesses, too, by mornin'.
+Yeh can't never tell.  Still, I don't much think so.  It's jest a damn'
+good belt on th' head, an' nothin' more.  Now, you jest sit here an'
+don't move, while I go rout out th' relief. Then I'll send Wilson t'
+take keer 'a yeh."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The corporal went away.  The youth remained on the ground like a
+parcel.  He stared with a vacant look into the fire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a time he aroused, for some part, and the things about him began
+to take form.  He saw that the ground in the deep shadows was cluttered
+with men, sprawling in every conceivable posture.  Glancing narrowly
+into the more distant darkness, he caught occasional glimpses of
+visages that loomed pallid and ghostly, lit with a phosphorescent glow.
+These faces expressed in their lines the deep stupor of the tired
+soldiers.  They made them appear like men drunk with wine.  This bit of
+forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the
+result of some frightful debauch.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On the other side of the fire the youth observed an officer asleep,
+seated bolt upright, with his back against a tree.  There was something
+perilous in his position.  Badgered by dreams, perhaps, he swayed with
+little bounces and starts, like an old toddy-stricken grandfather in a
+chimney corner.  Dust and stains were upon his face.  His lower jaw
+hung down as if lacking strength to assume its normal position.  He was
+the picture of an exhausted soldier after a feast of war.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had evidently gone to sleep with his sword in his arms.  These two
+had slumbered in an embrace, but the weapon had been allowed in time to
+fall unheeded to the ground.  The brass-mounted hilt lay in contact
+with some parts of the fire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Within the gleam of rose and orange light from the burning sticks were
+other soldiers, snoring and heaving, or lying deathlike in slumber.  A
+few pairs of legs were stuck forth, rigid and straight.  The shoes
+displayed the mud or dust of marches and bits of rounded trousers,
+protruding from the blankets, showed rents and tears from hurried
+pitchings through the dense brambles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The fire crackled musically.  From it swelled light smoke.  Overhead
+the foliage moved softly.  The leaves, with their faces turned toward
+the blaze, were colored shifting hues of silver, often edged with red.
+Far off to the right, through a window in the forest could be seen a
+handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of
+the night.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Occasionally, in this low-arched hall, a soldier would arouse and turn
+his body to a new position, the experience of his sleep having taught
+him of uneven and objectionable places upon the ground under him.  Or,
+perhaps, he would lift himself to a sitting posture, blink at the fire
+for an unintelligent moment, throw a swift glance at his prostrate
+companion, and then cuddle down again with a grunt of sleepy content.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth sat in a forlorn heap until his friend the loud young soldier
+came, swinging two canteens by their light strings.  "Well, now, Henry,
+ol' boy," said the latter, "we'll have yeh fixed up in jest about a
+minnit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had the bustling ways of an amateur nurse.  He fussed around the
+fire and stirred the sticks to brilliant exertions.  He made his
+patient drink largely from the canteen that contained the coffee.  It
+was to the youth a delicious draught. He tilted his head afar back and
+held the canteen long to his lips.  The cool mixture went caressingly
+down his blistered throat.  Having finished, he sighed with comfortable
+delight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The loud young soldier watched his comrade with an air of satisfaction.
+He later produced an extensive handkerchief from his pocket.  He folded
+it into a manner of bandage and soused water from the other canteen
+upon the middle of it.  This crude arrangement he bound over the
+youth's head, tying the ends in a queer knot at the back of the neck.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There," he said, moving off and surveying his deed, "yeh look like th'
+devil, but I bet yeh feel better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth contemplated his friend with grateful eyes.  Upon his aching
+and swelling head the cold cloth was like a tender woman's hand.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh don't holler ner say nothin'," remarked his friend approvingly. "I
+know I'm a blacksmith at takin' keer 'a sick folks, an' yeh never
+squeaked.  Yer a good un, Henry.  Most 'a men would a' been in th'
+hospital long ago.  A shot in th' head ain't foolin' business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth made no reply, but began to fumble with the buttons of his
+jacket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, come, now," continued his friend, "come on.  I must put yeh t'
+bed an' see that yeh git a good night's rest."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other got carefully erect, and the loud young soldier led him among
+the sleeping forms lying in groups and rows.  Presently he stooped and
+picked up his blankets.  He spread the rubber one upon the ground and
+placed the woolen one about the youth's shoulders.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There now," he said, "lie down an' git some sleep."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, with his manner of doglike obedience, got carefully down
+like a crone stooping.  He stretched out with a murmur of relief and
+comfort.  The ground felt like the softest couch.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But of a sudden he ejaculated: "Hol' on a minnit!  Where you goin' t'
+sleep?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend waved his hand impatiently. "Right down there by yeh."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, but hol' on a minnit," continued the youth.  "What yeh goin' t'
+sleep in?  I've got your&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The loud young soldier snarled: "Shet up an' go on t' sleep.  Don't be
+makin' a damn' fool 'a yerself," he said severely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the reproof the youth said no more. An exquisite drowsiness had
+spread through him. The warm comfort of the blanket enveloped him and
+made a gentle languor.  His head fell forward on his crooked arm and
+his weighted lids went softly down over his eyes.  Hearing a splatter
+of musketry from the distance, he wondered indifferently if those men
+sometimes slept.  He gave a long sigh, snuggled down into his blanket,
+and in a moment was like his comrades.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap14"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIV.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When the youth awoke it seemed to him that he had been asleep for a
+thousand years, and he felt sure that he opened his eyes upon an
+unexpected world.  Gray mists were slowly shifting before the first
+efforts of the sun rays.  An impending splendor could be seen in the
+eastern sky.  An icy dew had chilled his face, and immediately upon
+arousing he curled farther down into his blanket.  He stared for a
+while at the leaves overhead, moving in a heraldic wind of the day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The distance was splintering and blaring with the noise of fighting.
+There was in the sound an expression of a deadly persistency, as if it
+had not begun and was not to cease.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+About him were the rows and groups of men that he had dimly seen the
+previous night.  They were getting a last draught of sleep before the
+awakening.  The gaunt, careworn features and dusty figures were made
+plain by this quaint light at the dawning, but it dressed the skin of
+the men in corpselike hues and made the tangled limbs appear pulseless
+and dead.  The youth started up with a little cry when his eyes first
+swept over this motionless mass of men, thick-spread upon the ground,
+pallid, and in strange postures.  His disordered mind interpreted the
+hall of the forest as a charnel place.  He believed for an instant that
+he was in the house of the dead, and he did not dare to move lest these
+corpses start up, squalling and squawking.  In a second, however, he
+achieved his proper mind. He swore a complicated oath at himself.  He
+saw that this somber picture was not a fact of the present, but a mere
+prophecy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He heard then the noise of a fire crackling briskly in the cold air,
+and, turning his head, he saw his friend pottering busily about a small
+blaze.  A few other figures moved in the fog, and he heard the hard
+cracking of axe blows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Suddenly there was a hollow rumble of drums.  A distant bugle sang
+faintly.  Similar sounds, varying in strength, came from near and far
+over the forest.  The bugles called to each other like brazen
+gamecocks.  The near thunder of the regimental drums rolled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The body of men in the woods rustled.  There was a general uplifting of
+heads.  A murmuring of voices broke upon the air.  In it there was much
+bass of grumbling oaths.  Strange gods were addressed in condemnation
+of the early hours necessary to correct war.  An officer's peremptory
+tenor rang out and quickened the stiffened movement of the men.  The
+tangled limbs unraveled.  The corpse-hued faces were hidden behind
+fists that twisted slowly in the eye sockets.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth sat up and gave vent to an enormous yawn.  "Thunder!" he
+remarked petulantly. He rubbed his eyes, and then putting up his hand
+felt carefully of the bandage over his wound. His friend, perceiving
+him to be awake, came from the fire.  "Well, Henry, ol' man, how do yeh
+feel this mornin'?" he demanded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth yawned again.  Then he puckered his mouth to a little pucker.
+His head, in truth, felt precisely like a melon, and there was an
+unpleasant sensation at his stomach.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, Lord, I feel pretty bad," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Thunder!" exclaimed the other.  "I hoped ye'd feel all right this
+mornin'.  Let's see th' bandage&mdash;I guess it's slipped."  He began to
+tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way until the youth exploded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Gosh-dern it!" he said in sharp irritation; "you're the hangdest man I
+ever saw!  You wear muffs on your hands.  Why in good thunderation
+can't you be more easy?  I'd rather you'd stand off an' throw guns at
+it.  Now, go slow, an' don't act as if you was nailing down carpet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He glared with insolent command at his friend, but the latter answered
+soothingly. "Well, well, come now, an' git some grub," he said.  "Then,
+maybe, yeh'll feel better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the fireside the loud young soldier watched over his comrade's wants
+with tenderness and care.  He was very busy marshaling the little black
+vagabonds of tin cups and pouring into them the streaming, iron colored
+mixture from a small and sooty tin pail.  He had some fresh meat, which
+he roasted hurriedly upon a stick.  He sat down then and contemplated
+the youth's appetite with glee.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth took note of a remarkable change in his comrade since those
+days of camp life upon the river bank.  He seemed no more to be
+continually regarding the proportions of his personal prowess.  He was
+not furious at small words that pricked his conceits.  He was no more a
+loud young soldier.  There was about him now a fine reliance.  He
+showed a quiet belief in his purposes and his abilities.  And this
+inward confidence evidently enabled him to be indifferent to little
+words of other men aimed at him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth reflected.  He had been used to regarding his comrade as a
+blatant child with an audacity grown from his inexperience,
+thoughtless, headstrong, jealous, and filled with a tinsel courage.  A
+swaggering babe accustomed to strut in his own dooryard.  The youth
+wondered where had been born these new eyes; when his comrade had made
+the great discovery that there were many men who would refuse to be
+subjected by him.  Apparently, the other had now climbed a peak of
+wisdom from which he could perceive himself as a very wee thing.  And
+the youth saw that ever after it would be easier to live in his
+friend's neighborhood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His comrade balanced his ebony coffee-cup on his knee.  "Well, Henry,"
+he said, "what d'yeh think th' chances are?  D'yeh think we'll wallop
+'em?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth considered for a moment.  "Day-b'fore-yesterday," he finally
+replied, with boldness, "you would 'a' bet you'd lick the hull
+kit-an'-boodle all by yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend looked a trifle amazed.  "Would I?" he asked.  He pondered.
+"Well, perhaps I would," he decided at last.  He stared humbly at the
+fire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth was quite disconcerted at this surprising reception of his
+remarks.  "Oh, no, you wouldn't either," he said, hastily trying to
+retrace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the other made a deprecating gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry," he said.  "I believe I was a pretty big fool in those days." He
+spoke as after a lapse of years.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a little pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All th' officers say we've got th' rebs in a pretty tight box," said
+the friend, clearing his throat in a commonplace way.  "They all seem
+t' think we've got 'em jest where we want 'em."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know about that," the youth replied. "What I seen over on th'
+right makes me think it was th' other way about.  From where I was, it
+looked as if we was gettin' a good poundin' yestirday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"D'yeh think so?" inquired the friend.  "I thought we handled 'em
+pretty rough yestirday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not a bit," said the youth.  "Why, lord, man, you didn't see nothing
+of the fight.  Why!" Then a sudden thought came to him.  "Oh! Jim
+Conklin's dead."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend started.  "What?  Is he?  Jim Conklin?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth spoke slowly.  "Yes.  He's dead. Shot in th' side."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh don't say so.  Jim Conklin. . . . poor cuss!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+All about them were other small fires surrounded by men with their
+little black utensils. From one of these near came sudden sharp voices
+in a row.  It appeared that two light-footed soldiers had been teasing
+a huge, bearded man, causing him to spill coffee upon his blue knees.
+The man had gone into a rage and had sworn comprehensively.  Stung by
+his language, his tormentors had immediately bristled at him with a
+great show of resenting unjust oaths. Possibly there was going to be a
+fight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend arose and went over to them, making pacific motions with his
+arms.  "Oh, here, now, boys, what's th' use?" he said.  "We'll be at
+th' rebs in less'n an hour.  What's th' good fightin' 'mong ourselves?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the light-footed soldiers turned upon him red-faced and violent.
+"Yeh needn't come around here with yer preachin'.  I s'pose yeh don't
+approve 'a fightin' since Charley Morgan licked yeh; but I don't see
+what business this here is 'a yours or anybody else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it ain't," said the friend mildly.  "Still I hate t' see&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a tangled argument.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, he&mdash;," said the two, indicating their opponent with accusative
+forefingers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The huge soldier was quite purple with rage. He pointed at the two
+soldiers with his great hand, extended clawlike.  "Well, they&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But during this argumentative time the desire to deal blows seemed to
+pass, although they said much to each other.  Finally the friend
+returned to his old seat.  In a short while the three antagonists could
+be seen together in an amiable bunch.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Jimmie Rogers ses I'll have t' fight him after th' battle t'-day,"
+announced the friend as he again seated himself.  "He ses he don't
+allow no interferin' in his business.  I hate t' see th' boys fightin'
+'mong themselves."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth laughed.  "Yer changed a good bit.  Yeh ain't at all like yeh
+was.  I remember when you an' that Irish feller&mdash;"  He stopped and
+laughed again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I didn't use t' be that way," said his friend thoughtfully.
+"That's true 'nough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I didn't mean&mdash;" began the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend made another deprecatory gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was another little pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Th' reg'ment lost over half th' men yestirday," remarked the friend
+eventually.  "I thought a course they was all dead, but, laws, they
+kep' a-comin' back last night until it seems, after all, we didn't lose
+but a few.  They'd been scattered all over, wanderin' around in th'
+woods, fightin' with other reg'ments, an' everything.  Jest like you
+done."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So?" said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap15"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XV.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The regiment was standing at order arms at the side of a lane, waiting
+for the command to march, when suddenly the youth remembered the little
+packet enwrapped in a faded yellow envelope which the loud young
+soldier with lugubrious words had intrusted to him.  It made him start.
+He uttered an exclamation and turned toward his comrade.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wilson!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend, at his side in the ranks, was thoughtfully staring down the
+road.  From some cause his expression was at that moment very meek. The
+youth, regarding him with sidelong glances, felt impelled to change his
+purpose.  "Oh, nothing," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend turned his head in some surprise, "Why, what was yeh goin'
+t' say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, nothing," repeated the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He resolved not to deal the little blow.  It was sufficient that the
+fact made him glad.  It was not necessary to knock his friend on the
+head with the misguided packet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily
+questionings could make holes in his feelings.  Lately, he had assured
+himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a
+persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period
+of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the
+previous day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He now rejoiced in the possession of a small weapon with which he could
+prostrate his comrade at the first signs of a cross-examination.  He
+was master.  It would now be he who could laugh and shoot the shafts of
+derision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend had, in a weak hour, spoken with sobs of his own death.  He
+had delivered a melancholy oration previous to his funeral, and had
+doubtless in the packet of letters, presented various keepsakes to
+relatives.  But he had not died, and thus he had delivered himself into
+the hands of the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The latter felt immensely superior to his friend, but he inclined to
+condescension.  He adopted toward him an air of patronizing good humor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His self-pride was now entirely restored.  In the shade of its
+flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and
+since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an
+encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own
+to keep him from an attitude of manfulness.  He had performed his
+mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Indeed, when he remembered his fortunes of yesterday, and looked at
+them from a distance he began to see something fine there.  He had
+license to be pompous and veteranlike.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His panting agonies of the past he put out of his sight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the present, he declared to himself that it was only the doomed and
+the damned who roared with sincerity at circumstance.  Few but they
+ever did it.  A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows
+had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong
+in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society.  Let the
+unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He did not give a great deal of thought to these battles that lay
+directly before him.  It was not essential that he should plan his ways
+in regard to them.  He had been taught that many obligations of a life
+were easily avoided.  The lessons of yesterday had been that
+retribution was a laggard and blind.  With these facts before him he
+did not deem it necessary that he should become feverish over the
+possibilities of the ensuing twenty-four hours.  He could leave much to
+chance.  Besides, a faith in himself had secretly blossomed.  There was
+a little flower of confidence growing within him.  He was now a man of
+experience.  He had been out among the dragons, he said, and he assured
+himself that they were not so hideous as he had imagined them. Also,
+they were inaccurate; they did not sting with precision.  A stout heart
+often defied, and defying, escaped.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And, furthermore, how could they kill him who was the chosen of gods
+and doomed to greatness?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He remembered how some of the men had run from the battle.  As he
+recalled their terror-struck faces he felt a scorn for them.  They had
+surely been more fleet and more wild than was absolutely necessary.
+They were weak mortals. As for himself, he had fled with discretion and
+dignity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was aroused from this reverie by his friend, who, having hitched
+about nervously and blinked at the trees for a time, suddenly coughed
+in an introductory way, and spoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Fleming!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend put his hand up to his mouth and coughed again.  He fidgeted
+in his jacket.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," he gulped, at last, "I guess yeh might as well give me back
+them letters."  Dark, prickling blood had flushed into his cheeks and
+brow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All right, Wilson," said the youth.  He loosened two buttons of his
+coat, thrust in his hand, and brought forth the packet.  As he extended
+it to his friend the latter's face was turned from him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had been slow in the act of producing the packet because during it
+he had been trying to invent a remarkable comment upon the affair. He
+could conjure nothing of sufficient point.  He was compelled to allow
+his friend to escape unmolested with his packet.  And for this he took
+unto himself considerable credit.  It was a generous thing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend at his side seemed suffering great shame.  As he
+contemplated him, the youth felt his heart grow more strong and stout.
+He had never been compelled to blush in such manner for his acts; he
+was an individual of extraordinary virtues.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He reflected, with condescending pity: "Too bad!  Too bad!  The poor
+devil, it makes him feel tough!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After this incident, and as he reviewed the battle pictures he had
+seen, he felt quite competent to return home and make the hearts of the
+people glow with stories of war.  He could see himself in a room of
+warm tints telling tales to listeners.  He could exhibit laurels.  They
+were insignificant; still, in a district where laurels were infrequent,
+they might shine.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He saw his gaping audience picturing him as the central figure in
+blazing scenes.  And he imagined the consternation and the ejaculations
+of his mother and the young lady at the seminary as they drank his
+recitals.  Their vague feminine formula for beloved ones doing brave
+deeds on the field of battle without risk of life would be destroyed.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap16"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A sputtering of musketry was always to be heard.  Later, the cannon had
+entered the dispute.  In the fog-filled air their voices made a
+thudding sound.  The reverberations were continued.  This part of the
+world led a strange, battleful existence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's regiment was marched to relieve a command that had lain
+long in some damp trenches.  The men took positions behind a curving
+line of rifle pits that had been turned up, like a large furrow, along
+the line of woods.  Before them was a level stretch, peopled with
+short, deformed stumps.  From the woods beyond came the dull popping of
+the skirmishers and pickets, firing in the fog.  From the right came
+the noise of a terrific fracas.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men cuddled behind the small embankment and sat in easy attitudes
+awaiting their turn.  Many had their backs to the firing.  The youth's
+friend lay down, buried his face in his arms, and almost instantly, it
+seemed, he was in a deep sleep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth leaned his breast against the brown dirt and peered over at
+the woods and up and down the line.  Curtains of trees interfered with
+his ways of vision.  He could see the low line of trenches but for a
+short distance.  A few idle flags were perched on the dirt hills.
+Behind them were rows of dark bodies with a few heads sticking
+curiously over the top.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Always the noise of skirmishers came from the woods on the front and
+left, and the din on the right had grown to frightful proportions. The
+guns were roaring without an instant's pause for breath.  It seemed
+that the cannon had come from all parts and were engaged in a
+stupendous wrangle.  It became impossible to make a sentence heard.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth wished to launch a joke&mdash;a quotation from newspapers.  He
+desired to say, "All quiet on the Rappahannock," but the guns refused
+to permit even a comment upon their uproar. He never successfully
+concluded the sentence. But at last the guns stopped, and among the men
+in the rifle pits rumors again flew, like birds, but they were now for
+the most part black creatures who flapped their wings drearily near to
+the ground and refused to rise on any wings of hope.  The men's faces
+grew doleful from the interpreting of omens.  Tales of hesitation and
+uncertainty on the part of those high in place and responsibility came
+to their ears.  Stories of disaster were borne into their minds with
+many proofs.  This din of musketry on the right, growing like a
+released genie of sound, expressed and emphasized the army's plight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men were disheartened and began to mutter.  They made gestures
+expressive of the sentence: "Ah, what more can we do?"  And it could
+always be seen that they were bewildered by the alleged news and could
+not fully comprehend a defeat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Before the gray mists had been totally obliterated by the sun rays, the
+regiment was marching in a spread column that was retiring carefully
+through the woods.  The disordered, hurrying lines of the enemy could
+sometimes be seen down through the groves and little fields.  They were
+yelling, shrill and exultant.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At this sight the youth forgot many personal matters and became greatly
+enraged.  He exploded in loud sentences.  "B'jiminey, we're generaled
+by a lot 'a lunkheads."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"More than one feller has said that t'-day," observed a man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend, recently aroused, was still very drowsy.  He looked behind
+him until his mind took in the meaning of the movement.  Then he
+sighed.  "Oh, well, I s'pose we got licked," he remarked sadly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had a thought that it would not be handsome for him to freely
+condemn other men. He made an attempt to restrain himself, but the
+words upon his tongue were too bitter.  He presently began a long and
+intricate denunciation of the commander of the forces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mebbe, it wa'n't all his fault&mdash;not all together.  He did th' best he
+knowed.  It's our luck t' git licked often," said his friend in a weary
+tone.  He was trudging along with stooped shoulders and shifting eyes
+like a man who has been caned and kicked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, don't we fight like the devil?  Don't we do all that men can?"
+demanded the youth loudly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was secretly dumfounded at this sentiment when it came from his
+lips.  For a moment his face lost its valor and he looked guiltily
+about him.  But no one questioned his right to deal in such words, and
+presently he recovered his air of courage.  He went on to repeat a
+statement he had heard going from group to group at the camp that
+morning.  "The brigadier said he never saw a new reg'ment fight the way
+we fought yestirday, didn't he?  And we didn't do better than many
+another reg'ment, did we? Well, then, you can't say it's th' army's
+fault, can you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In his reply, the friend's voice was stern.  "'A course not," he said.
+"No man dare say we don't fight like th' devil.  No man will ever dare
+say it.  Th' boys fight like hell-roosters.  But still&mdash;still, we don't
+have no luck."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, then, if we fight like the devil an' don't ever whip, it must be
+the general's fault," said the youth grandly and decisively.  "And I
+don't see any sense in fighting and fighting and fighting, yet always
+losing through some derned old lunkhead of a general."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A sarcastic man who was tramping at the youth's side, then spoke
+lazily.  "Mebbe yeh think yeh fit th' hull battle yestirday, Fleming,"
+he remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The speech pierced the youth.  Inwardly he was reduced to an abject
+pulp by these chance words.  His legs quaked privately.  He cast a
+frightened glance at the sarcastic man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no," he hastened to say in a conciliating voice, "I don't think I
+fought the whole battle yesterday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the other seemed innocent of any deeper meaning.  Apparently, he
+had no information. It was merely his habit.  "Oh!" he replied in the
+same tone of calm derision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, nevertheless, felt a threat.  His mind shrank from going
+near to the danger, and thereafter he was silent.  The significance of
+the sarcastic man's words took from him all loud moods that would make
+him appear prominent. He became suddenly a modest person.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was low-toned talk among the troops. The officers were impatient
+and snappy, their countenances clouded with the tales of misfortune.
+The troops, sifting through the forest, were sullen.  In the youth's
+company once a man's laugh rang out.  A dozen soldiers turned their
+faces quickly toward him and frowned with vague displeasure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The noise of firing dogged their footsteps. Sometimes, it seemed to be
+driven a little way, but it always returned again with increased
+insolence.  The men muttered and cursed, throwing black looks in its
+direction.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a clear space the troops were at last halted. Regiments and
+brigades, broken and detached through their encounters with thickets,
+grew together again and lines were faced toward the pursuing bark of
+the enemy's infantry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This noise, following like the yellings of eager, metallic hounds,
+increased to a loud and joyous burst, and then, as the sun went
+serenely up the sky, throwing illuminating rays into the gloomy
+thickets, it broke forth into prolonged pealings. The woods began to
+crackle as if afire.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Whoop-a-dadee," said a man, "here we are! Everybody fightin'.  Blood
+an' destruction."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was willin' t' bet they'd attack as soon as th' sun got fairly up,"
+savagely asserted the lieutenant who commanded the youth's company. He
+jerked without mercy at his little mustache. He strode to and fro with
+dark dignity in the rear of his men, who were lying down behind
+whatever protection they had collected.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A battery had trundled into position in the rear and was thoughtfully
+shelling the distance. The regiment, unmolested as yet, awaited the
+moment when the gray shadows of the woods before them should be slashed
+by the lines of flame.  There was much growling and swearing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good Gawd," the youth grumbled, "we're always being chased around like
+rats!  It makes me sick.  Nobody seems to know where we go or why we
+go.  We just get fired around from pillar to post and get licked here
+and get licked there, and nobody knows what it's done for.  It makes a
+man feel like a damn' kitten in a bag. Now, I'd like to know what the
+eternal thunders we was marched into these woods for anyhow, unless it
+was to give the rebs a regular pot shot at us.  We came in here and got
+our legs all tangled up in these cussed briers, and then we begin to
+fight and the rebs had an easy time of it. Don't tell me it's just
+luck!  I know better.  It's this derned old&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend seemed jaded, but he interrupted his comrade with a voice of
+calm confidence. "It'll turn out all right in th' end," he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, the devil it will!  You always talk like a dog-hanged parson.
+Don't tell me!  I know&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At this time there was an interposition by the savage-minded
+lieutenant, who was obliged to vent some of his inward dissatisfaction
+upon his men.  "You boys shut right up!  There no need 'a your wastin'
+your breath in long-winded arguments about this an' that an' th' other.
+You've been jawin' like a lot 'a old hens.  All you've got t' do is to
+fight, an' you'll get plenty 'a that t' do in about ten minutes.  Less
+talkin' an' more fightin' is what's best for you boys.  I never saw
+sech gabbling jackasses."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He paused, ready to pounce upon any man who might have the temerity to
+reply.  No words being said, he resumed his dignified pacing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's too much chin music an' too little fightin' in this war,
+anyhow," he said to them, turning his head for a final remark.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The day had grown more white, until the sun shed his full radiance upon
+the thronged forest. A sort of a gust of battle came sweeping toward
+that part of the line where lay the youth's regiment.  The front
+shifted a trifle to meet it squarely.  There was a wait.  In this part
+of the field there passed slowly the intense moments that precede the
+tempest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A single rifle flashed in a thicket before the regiment.  In an instant
+it was joined by many others.  There was a mighty song of clashes and
+crashes that went sweeping through the woods. The guns in the rear,
+aroused and enraged by shells that had been thrown burlike at them,
+suddenly involved themselves in a hideous altercation with another band
+of guns.  The battle roar settled to a rolling thunder, which was a
+single, long explosion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the regiment there was a peculiar kind of hesitation denoted in the
+attitudes of the men. They were worn, exhausted, having slept but
+little and labored much.  They rolled their eyes toward the advancing
+battle as they stood awaiting the shock.  Some shrank and flinched.
+They stood as men tied to stakes.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap17"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+This advance of the enemy had seemed to the youth like a ruthless
+hunting.  He began to fume with rage and exasperation.  He beat his
+foot upon the ground, and scowled with hate at the swirling smoke that
+was approaching like a phantom flood.  There was a maddening quality in
+this seeming resolution of the foe to give him no rest, to give him no
+time to sit down and think. Yesterday he had fought and had fled
+rapidly. There had been many adventures.  For to-day he felt that he
+had earned opportunities for contemplative repose.  He could have
+enjoyed portraying to uninitiated listeners various scenes at which he
+had been a witness or ably discussing the processes of war with other
+proved men.  Too it was important that he should have time for physical
+recuperation.  He was sore and stiff from his experiences.  He had
+received his fill of all exertions, and he wished to rest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But those other men seemed never to grow weary; they were fighting with
+their old speed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had a wild hate for the relentless foe.  Yesterday, when he had
+imagined the universe to be against him, he had hated it, little gods
+and big gods; to-day he hated the army of the foe with the same great
+hatred.  He was not going to be badgered of his life, like a kitten
+chased by boys, he said.  It was not well to drive men into final
+corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He leaned and spoke into his friend's ear.  He menaced the woods with a
+gesture.  "If they keep on chasing us, by Gawd, they'd better watch
+out.  Can't stand <i>too</i> much."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend twisted his head and made a calm reply.  "If they keep on
+a-chasin' us they'll drive us all inteh th' river."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth cried out savagely at this statement.  He crouched behind a
+little tree, with his eyes burning hatefully and his teeth set in a
+curlike snarl.  The awkward bandage was still about his head, and upon
+it, over his wound, there was a spot of dry blood.  His hair was
+wondrously tousled, and some straggling, moving locks hung over the
+cloth of the bandage down toward his forehead.  His jacket and shirt
+were open at the throat, and exposed his young bronzed neck. There
+could be seen spasmodic gulpings at his throat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His fingers twined nervously about his rifle. He wished that it was an
+engine of annihilating power.  He felt that he and his companions were
+being taunted and derided from sincere convictions that they were poor
+and puny.  His knowledge of his inability to take vengeance for it made
+his rage into a dark and stormy specter, that possessed him and made
+him dream of abominable cruelties.  The tormentors were flies sucking
+insolently at his blood, and he thought that he would have given his
+life for a revenge of seeing their faces in pitiful plights.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The winds of battle had swept all about the regiment, until the one
+rifle, instantly followed by others, flashed in its front.  A moment
+later the regiment roared forth its sudden and valiant retort.  A dense
+wall of smoke settled slowly down. It was furiously slit and slashed by
+the knifelike fire from the rifles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To the youth the fighters resembled animals tossed for a death struggle
+into a dark pit.  There was a sensation that he and his fellows, at
+bay, were pushing back, always pushing fierce onslaughts of creatures
+who were slippery.  Their beams of crimson seemed to get no purchase
+upon the bodies of their foes; the latter seemed to evade them with
+ease, and come through, between, around, and about with unopposed skill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When, in a dream, it occurred to the youth that his rifle was an
+impotent stick, he lost sense of everything but his hate, his desire to
+smash into pulp the glittering smile of victory which he could feel
+upon the faces of his enemies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The blue smoke-swallowed line curled and writhed like a snake stepped
+upon.  It swung its ends to and fro in an agony of fear and rage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth was not conscious that he was erect upon his feet.  He did
+not know the direction of the ground.  Indeed, once he even lost the
+habit of balance and fell heavily.  He was up again immediately.  One
+thought went through the chaos of his brain at the time.  He wondered
+if he had fallen because he had been shot.  But the suspicion flew away
+at once.  He did not think more of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had taken up a first position behind the little tree, with a direct
+determination to hold it against the world.  He had not deemed it
+possible that his army could that day succeed, and from this he felt
+the ability to fight harder.  But the throng had surged in all ways,
+until he lost directions and locations, save that he knew where lay the
+enemy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The flames bit him, and the hot smoke broiled his skin.  His rifle
+barrel grew so hot that ordinarily he could not have borne it upon his
+palms; but he kept on stuffing cartridges into it, and pounding them
+with his clanking, bending ramrod.  If he aimed at some changing form
+through the smoke, he pulled his trigger with a fierce grunt, as if he
+were dealing a blow of the fist with all his strength.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When the enemy seemed falling back before him and his fellows, he went
+instantly forward, like a dog who, seeing his foes lagging, turns and
+insists upon being pursued.  And when he was compelled to retire again,
+he did it slowly, sullenly, taking steps of wrathful despair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he, in his intent hate, was almost alone, and was firing, when all
+those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that
+he was not aware of a lull.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He was recalled by a hoarse laugh and a sentence that came to his ears
+in a voice of contempt and amazement.  "Yeh infernal fool, don't yeh
+know enough t' quit when there ain't anything t' shoot at?  Good Gawd!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He turned then and, pausing with his rifle thrown half into position,
+looked at the blue line of his comrades.  During this moment of leisure
+they seemed all to be engaged in staring with astonishment at him. They
+had become spectators.  Turning to the front again he saw, under the
+lifted smoke, a deserted ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He looked bewildered for a moment.  Then there appeared upon the glazed
+vacancy of his eyes a diamond point of intelligence.  "Oh," he said,
+comprehending.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He returned to his comrades and threw himself upon the ground.  He
+sprawled like a man who had been thrashed.  His flesh seemed strangely
+on fire, and the sounds of the battle continued in his ears.  He groped
+blindly for his canteen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant was crowing.  He seemed drunk with fighting.  He called
+out to the youth: "By heavens, if I had ten thousand wild cats like you
+I could tear th' stomach outa this war in less'n a week!"  He puffed
+out his chest with large dignity as he said it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some of the men muttered and looked at the youth in awe-struck ways. It
+was plain that as he had gone on loading and firing and cursing without
+the proper intermission, they had found time to regard him. And they
+now looked upon him as a war devil.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend came staggering to him.  There was some fright and dismay in
+his voice.  "Are yeh all right, Fleming?  Do yeh feel all right?  There
+ain't nothin' th' matter with yeh, Henry, is there?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No," said the youth with difficulty.  His throat seemed full of knobs
+and burs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These incidents made the youth ponder.  It was revealed to him that he
+had been a barbarian, a beast.  He had fought like a pagan who defends
+his religion.  Regarding it, he saw that it was fine, wild, and, in
+some ways, easy.  He had been a tremendous figure, no doubt.  By this
+struggle he had overcome obstacles which he had admitted to be
+mountains.  They had fallen like paper peaks, and he was now what he
+called a hero.  And he had not been aware of the process.  He had slept
+and, awakening, found himself a knight.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He lay and basked in the occasional stares of his comrades.  Their
+faces were varied in degrees of blackness from the burned powder. Some
+were utterly smudged.  They were reeking with perspiration, and their
+breaths came hard and wheezing.  And from these soiled expanses they
+peered at him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hot work!  Hot work!" cried the lieutenant deliriously.  He walked up
+and down, restless and eager.  Sometimes his voice could be heard in a
+wild, incomprehensible laugh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he had a particularly profound thought upon the science of war he
+always unconsciously addressed himself to the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was some grim rejoicing by the men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By thunder, I bet this army'll never see another new reg'ment like us!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You bet!"
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+  "A dog, a woman, an' a walnut tree,<BR>
+   Th' more yeh beat 'em, th' better they be!<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That's like us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lost a piler men, they did.  If an' ol' woman swep' up th' woods she'd
+git a dustpanful."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, an' if she'll come around ag'in in 'bout an' hour she'll git a
+pile more."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The forest still bore its burden of clamor. From off under the trees
+came the rolling clatter of the musketry.  Each distant thicket seemed
+a strange porcupine with quills of flame.  A cloud of dark smoke, as
+from smoldering ruins, went up toward the sun now bright and gay in the
+blue, enameled sky.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap18"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The ragged line had respite for some minutes, but during its pause the
+struggle in the forest became magnified until the trees seemed to
+quiver from the firing and the ground to shake from the rushing of the
+men.  The voices of the cannon were mingled in a long and interminable
+row.  It seemed difficult to live in such an atmosphere.  The chests of
+the men strained for a bit of freshness, and their throats craved water.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was one shot through the body, who raised a cry of bitter
+lamentation when came this lull.  Perhaps he had been calling out
+during the fighting also, but at that time no one had heard him.  But
+now the men turned at the woeful complaints of him upon the ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is it?  Who is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's Jimmie Rogers.  Jimmie Rogers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When their eyes first encountered him there was a sudden halt, as if
+they feared to go near. He was thrashing about in the grass, twisting
+his shuddering body into many strange postures. He was screaming
+loudly.  This instant's hesitation seemed to fill him with a
+tremendous, fantastic contempt, and he damned them in shrieked
+sentences.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's friend had a geographical illusion concerning a stream, and
+he obtained permission to go for some water.  Immediately canteens were
+showered upon him.  "Fill mine, will yeh?"  "Bring me some, too."  "And
+me, too." He departed, ladened.  The youth went with his friend,
+feeling a desire to throw his heated body onto the stream and, soaking
+there, drink quarts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They made a hurried search for the supposed stream, but did not find
+it.  "No water here," said the youth.  They turned without delay and
+began to retrace their steps.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From their position as they again faced toward the place of the
+fighting, they could of course comprehend a greater amount of the
+battle than when their visions had been blurred by the hurling smoke of
+the line.  They could see dark stretches winding along the land, and on
+one cleared space there was a row of guns making gray clouds, which
+were filled with large flashes of orange-colored flame.  Over some
+foliage they could see the roof of a house.  One window, glowing a deep
+murder red, shone squarely through the leaves.  From the edifice a tall
+leaning tower of smoke went far into the sky.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Looking over their own troops, they saw mixed masses slowly getting
+into regular form. The sunlight made twinkling points of the bright
+steel.  To the rear there was a glimpse of a distant roadway as it
+curved over a slope.  It was crowded with retreating infantry.  From
+all the interwoven forest arose the smoke and bluster of the battle.
+The air was always occupied by a blaring.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Near where they stood shells were flip-flapping and hooting. Occasional
+bullets buzzed in the air and spanged into tree trunks. Wounded men and
+other stragglers were slinking through the woods.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Looking down an aisle of the grove, the youth and his companion saw a
+jangling general and his staff almost ride upon a wounded man, who was
+crawling on his hands and knees.  The general reined strongly at his
+charger's opened and foamy mouth and guided it with dexterous
+horsemanship past the man.  The latter scrambled in wild and torturing
+haste.  His strength evidently failed him as he reached a place of
+safety.  One of his arms suddenly weakened, and he fell, sliding over
+upon his back.  He lay stretched out, breathing gently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moment later the small, creaking cavalcade was directly in front of
+the two soldiers.  Another officer, riding with the skillful abandon of
+a cowboy, galloped his horse to a position directly before the general.
+The two unnoticed foot soldiers made a little show of going on, but
+they lingered near in the desire to overhear the conversation. Perhaps,
+they thought, some great inner historical things would be said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The general, whom the boys knew as the commander of their division,
+looked at the other officer and spoke coolly, as if he were criticising
+his clothes.  "Th' enemy's formin' over there for another charge," he
+said.  "It'll be directed against Whiterside, an' I fear they'll break
+through there unless we work like thunder t' stop them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other swore at his restive horse, and then cleared his throat.  He
+made a gesture toward his cap.  "It'll be hell t' pay stoppin' them,"
+he said shortly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I presume so," remarked the general.  Then he began to talk rapidly
+and in a lower tone.  He frequently illustrated his words with a
+pointing finger.  The two infantrymen could hear nothing until finally
+he asked: "What troops can you spare?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The officer who rode like a cowboy reflected for an instant.  "Well,"
+he said, "I had to order in th' 12th to help th' 76th, an' I haven't
+really got any.  But there's th' 304th.  They fight like a lot 'a mule
+drivers.  I can spare them best of any."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth and his friend exchanged glances of astonishment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The general spoke sharply.  "Get 'em ready, then.  I'll watch
+developments from here, an' send you word when t' start them.  It'll
+happen in five minutes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the other officer tossed his fingers toward his cap and wheeling his
+horse, started away, the general called out to him in a sober voice: "I
+don't believe many of your mule drivers will get back."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The other shouted something in reply.  He smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With scared faces, the youth and his companion hurried back to the line.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These happenings had occupied an incredibly short time, yet the youth
+felt that in them he had been made aged.  New eyes were given to him.
+And the most startling thing was to learn suddenly that he was very
+insignificant.  The officer spoke of the regiment as if he referred to
+a broom.  Some part of the woods needed sweeping, perhaps, and he
+merely indicated a broom in a tone properly indifferent to its fate. It
+was war, no doubt, but it appeared strange.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the two boys approached the line, the lieutenant perceived them and
+swelled with wrath. "Fleming&mdash;Wilson&mdash;how long does it take yeh to git
+water, anyhow&mdash;where yeh been to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his oration ceased as he saw their eyes, which were large with
+great tales.  "We're goin' t' charge&mdash;we're goin' t' charge!" cried the
+youth's friend, hastening with his news.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Charge?" said the lieutenant.  "Charge? Well, b'Gawd!  Now, this is
+real fightin'."  Over his soiled countenance there went a boastful
+smile.  "Charge?  Well, b'Gawd!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A little group of soldiers surrounded the two youths.  "Are we, sure
+'nough?  Well, I'll be derned!  Charge?  What fer?  What at?  Wilson,
+you're lyin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope to die," said the youth, pitching his tones to the key of angry
+remonstrance.  "Sure as shooting, I tell you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And his friend spoke in re-enforcement.  "Not by a blame sight, he
+ain't lyin'.  We heard 'em talkin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They caught sight of two mounted figures a short distance from them.
+One was the colonel of the regiment and the other was the officer who
+had received orders from the commander of the division.  They were
+gesticulating at each other. The soldier, pointing at them, interpreted
+the scene.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One man had a final objection: "How could yeh hear 'em talkin'?"  But
+the men, for a large part, nodded, admitting that previously the two
+friends had spoken truth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They settled back into reposeful attitudes with airs of having accepted
+the matter.  And they mused upon it, with a hundred varieties of
+expression.  It was an engrossing thing to think about.  Many tightened
+their belts carefully and hitched at their trousers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A moment later the officers began to bustle among the men, pushing them
+into a more compact mass and into a better alignment.  They chased
+those that straggled and fumed at a few men who seemed to show by their
+attitudes that they had decided to remain at that spot.  They were like
+critical shepherds struggling with sheep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently, the regiment seemed to draw itself up and heave a deep
+breath.  None of the men's faces were mirrors of large thoughts.  The
+soldiers were bended and stooped like sprinters before a signal.  Many
+pairs of glinting eyes peered from the grimy faces toward the curtains
+of the deeper woods.  They seemed to be engaged in deep calculations of
+time and distance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They were surrounded by the noises of the monstrous altercation between
+the two armies. The world was fully interested in other matters.
+Apparently, the regiment had its small affair to itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, turning, shot a quick, inquiring glance at his friend.  The
+latter returned to him the same manner of look.  They were the only
+ones who possessed an inner knowledge.  "Mule drivers&mdash;hell t'
+pay&mdash;don't believe many will get back."  It was an ironical secret.
+Still, they saw no hesitation in each other's faces, and they nodded a
+mute and unprotesting assent when a shaggy man near them said in a meek
+voice: "We'll git swallowed."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap19"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XIX.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The youth stared at the land in front of him. Its foliages now seemed
+to veil powers and horrors.  He was unaware of the machinery of orders
+that started the charge, although from the corners of his eyes he saw
+an officer, who looked like a boy a-horseback, come galloping, waving
+his hat.  Suddenly he felt a straining and heaving among the men.  The
+line fell slowly forward like a toppling wall, and, with a convulsive
+gasp that was intended for a cheer, the regiment began its journey. The
+youth was pushed and jostled for a moment before he understood the
+movement at all, but directly he lunged ahead and began to run.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He fixed his eye upon a distant and prominent clump of trees where he
+had concluded the enemy were to be met, and he ran toward it as toward
+a goal.  He had believed throughout that it was a mere question of
+getting over an unpleasant matter as quickly as possible, and he ran
+desperately, as if pursued for a murder.  His face was drawn hard and
+tight with the stress of his endeavor.  His eyes were fixed in a lurid
+glare.  And with his soiled and disordered dress, his red and inflamed
+features surmounted by the dingy rag with its spot of blood, his wildly
+swinging rifle and banging accouterments, he looked to be an insane
+soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the regiment swung from its position out into a cleared space the
+woods and thickets before it awakened.  Yellow flames leaped toward it
+from many directions.  The forest made a tremendous objection.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The line lurched straight for a moment.  Then the right wing swung
+forward; it in turn was surpassed by the left.  Afterward the center
+careered to the front until the regiment was a wedge-shaped mass, but
+an instant later the opposition of the bushes, trees, and uneven places
+on the ground split the command and scattered it into detached clusters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, light-footed, was unconsciously in advance.  His eyes still
+kept note of the clump of trees.  From all places near it the clannish
+yell of the enemy could be heard.  The little flames of rifles leaped
+from it.  The song of the bullets was in the air and shells snarled
+among the tree-tops.  One tumbled directly into the middle of a
+hurrying group and exploded in crimson fury. There was an instant's
+spectacle of a man, almost over it, throwing up his hands to shield his
+eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Other men, punched by bullets, fell in grotesque agonies.  The regiment
+left a coherent trail of bodies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They had passed into a clearer atmosphere. There was an effect like a
+revelation in the new appearance of the landscape.  Some men working
+madly at a battery were plain to them, and the opposing infantry's
+lines were defined by the gray walls and fringes of smoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It seemed to the youth that he saw everything.  Each blade of the green
+grass was bold and clear.  He thought that he was aware of every change
+in the thin, transparent vapor that floated idly in sheets.  The brown
+or gray trunks of the trees showed each roughness of their surfaces.
+And the men of the regiment, with their starting eyes and sweating
+faces, running madly, or falling, as if thrown headlong, to queer,
+heaped-up corpses&mdash;all were comprehended.  His mind took a mechanical
+but firm impression, so that afterward everything was pictured and
+explained to him, save why he himself was there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But there was a frenzy made from this furious rush.  The men, pitching
+forward insanely, had burst into cheerings, moblike and barbaric, but
+tuned in strange keys that can arouse the dullard and the stoic.  It
+made a mad enthusiasm that, it seemed, would be incapable of checking
+itself before granite and brass.  There was the delirium that
+encounters despair and death, and is heedless and blind to the odds. It
+is a temporary but sublime absence of selfishness.  And because it was
+of this order was the reason, perhaps, why the youth wondered,
+afterward, what reasons he could have had for being there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently the straining pace ate up the energies of the men.  As if by
+agreement, the leaders began to slacken their speed.  The volleys
+directed against them had had a seeming windlike effect.  The regiment
+snorted and blew.  Among some stolid trees it began to falter and
+hesitate. The men, staring intently, began to wait for some of the
+distant walls of smoke to move and disclose to them the scene.  Since
+much of their strength and their breath had vanished, they returned to
+caution.  They were become men again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had a vague belief that he had run miles, and he thought, in
+a way, that he was now in some new and unknown land.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The moment the regiment ceased its advance the protesting splutter of
+musketry became a steadied roar.  Long and accurate fringes of smoke
+spread out.  From the top of a small hill came level belchings of
+yellow flame that caused an inhuman whistling in the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men, halted, had opportunity to see some of their comrades dropping
+with moans and shrieks.  A few lay under foot, still or wailing. And
+now for an instant the men stood, their rifles slack in their hands,
+and watched the regiment dwindle.  They appeared dazed and stupid. This
+spectacle seemed to paralyze them, overcome them with a fatal
+fascination.  They stared woodenly at the sights, and, lowering their
+eyes, looked from face to face.  It was a strange pause, and a strange
+silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then, above the sounds of the outside commotion, arose the roar of the
+lieutenant.  He strode suddenly forth, his infantile features black
+with rage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed.  "Come on!  Yeh can't stay here. Yeh
+must come on." He said more, but much of it could not be understood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He started rapidly forward, with his head turned toward the men.  "Come
+on," he was shouting.  The men stared with blank and yokel-like eyes at
+him.  He was obliged to halt and retrace his steps.  He stood then with
+his back to the enemy and delivered gigantic curses into the faces of
+the men.  His body vibrated from the weight and force of his
+imprecations.  And he could string oaths with the facility of a maiden
+who strings beads.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend of the youth aroused.  Lurching suddenly forward and
+dropping to his knees, he fired an angry shot at the persistent woods.
+This action awakened the men.  They huddled no more like sheep.  They
+seemed suddenly to bethink them of their weapons, and at once commenced
+firing.  Belabored by their officers, they began to move forward.  The
+regiment, involved like a cart involved in mud and muddle, started
+unevenly with many jolts and jerks.  The men stopped now every few
+paces to fire and load, and in this manner moved slowly on from trees
+to trees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The flaming opposition in their front grew with their advance until it
+seemed that all forward ways were barred by the thin leaping tongues,
+and off to the right an ominous demonstration could sometimes be dimly
+discerned. The smoke lately generated was in confusing clouds that made
+it difficult for the regiment to proceed with intelligence.  As he
+passed through each curling mass the youth wondered what would confront
+him on the farther side.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The command went painfully forward until an open space interposed
+between them and the lurid lines.  Here, crouching and cowering behind
+some trees, the men clung with desperation, as if threatened by a wave.
+They looked wild-eyed, and as if amazed at this furious disturbance
+they had stirred.  In the storm there was an ironical expression of
+their importance.  The faces of the men, too, showed a lack of a
+certain feeling of responsibility for being there.  It was as if they
+had been driven.  It was the dominant animal failing to remember in the
+supreme moments the forceful causes of various superficial qualities.
+The whole affair seemed incomprehensible to many of them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they halted thus the lieutenant again began to bellow profanely.
+Regardless of the vindictive threats of the bullets, he went about
+coaxing, berating, and bedamning.  His lips, that were habitually in a
+soft and childlike curve, were now writhed into unholy contortions.  He
+swore by all possible deities.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Once he grabbed the youth by the arm. "Come on, yeh lunkhead!" he
+roared.  "Come on!  We'll all git killed if we stay here.  We've on'y
+got t' go across that lot.  An' then"&mdash;the remainder of his idea
+disappeared in a blue haze of curses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth stretched forth his arm.  "Cross there?"  His mouth was
+puckered in doubt and awe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly.  Jest 'cross th' lot!  We can't stay here," screamed the
+lieutenant.  He poked his face close to the youth and waved his
+bandaged hand.  "Come on!"  Presently he grappled with him as if for a
+wrestling bout.  It was as if he planned to drag the youth by the ear
+on to the assault.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The private felt a sudden unspeakable indignation against his officer.
+He wrenched fiercely and shook him off.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come on yerself, then," he yelled.  There was a bitter challenge in
+his voice.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They galloped together down the regimental front.  The friend scrambled
+after them.  In front of the colors the three men began to bawl: "Come
+on! come on!"  They danced and gyrated like tortured savages.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The flag, obedient to these appeals, bended its glittering form and
+swept toward them.  The men wavered in indecision for a moment, and
+then with a long, wailful cry the dilapidated regiment surged forward
+and began its new journey.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Over the field went the scurrying mass.  It was a handful of men
+splattered into the faces of the enemy.  Toward it instantly sprang the
+yellow tongues.  A vast quantity of blue smoke hung before them.  A
+mighty banging made ears valueless.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could
+discover him.  He ducked his head low, like a football player.  In his
+haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was a wild blur.  Pulsating
+saliva stood at the corners of his mouth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing
+fondness for this flag which was near him.  It was a creation of beauty
+and invulnerability.  It was a goddess, radiant, that bended its form
+with an imperious gesture to him.  It was a woman, red and white,
+hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes. Because
+no harm could come to it he endowed it with power.  He kept near, as if
+it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went from his mind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the mad scramble he was aware that the color sergeant flinched
+suddenly, as if struck by a bludgeon.  He faltered, and then became
+motionless, save for his quivering knees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He made a spring and a clutch at the pole. At the same instant his
+friend grabbed it from the other side.  They jerked at it, stout and
+furious, but the color sergeant was dead, and the corpse would not
+relinquish its trust.  For a moment there was a grim encounter.  The
+dead man, swinging with bended back, seemed to be obstinately tugging,
+in ludicrous and awful ways, for the possession of the flag.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was past in an instant of time.  They wrenched the flag furiously
+from the dead man, and, as they turned again, the corpse swayed forward
+with bowed head.  One arm swung high, and the curved hand fell with
+heavy protest on the friend's unheeding shoulder.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap20"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XX.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the
+regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly
+back.  The men, having hurled themselves in projectile fashion, had
+presently expended their forces.  They slowly retreated, with their
+faces still toward the spluttering woods, and their hot rifles still
+replying to the din.  Several officers were giving orders, their voices
+keyed to screams.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the lieutenant was asking in a sarcastic
+howl.  And a red-bearded officer, whose voice of triple brass could
+plainly be heard, was commanding: "Shoot into 'em! Shoot into 'em, Gawd
+damn their souls!"  There was a <i>melée</i> of screeches, in which the men
+were ordered to do conflicting and impossible things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag.  "Give it
+t' me!"  "No, let me keep it!"  Each felt satisfied with the other's
+possession of it, but each felt bound to declare, by an offer to carry
+the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself.  The youth roughly
+pushed his friend away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The regiment fell back to the stolid trees. There it halted for a
+moment to blaze at some dark forms that had begun to steal upon its
+track. Presently it resumed its march again, curving among the tree
+trunks.  By the time the depleted regiment had again reached the first
+open space they were receiving a fast and merciless fire. There seemed
+to be mobs all about them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The greater part of the men, discouraged, their spirits worn by the
+turmoil, acted as if stunned.  They accepted the pelting of the bullets
+with bowed and weary heads.  It was of no purpose to strive against
+walls.  It was of no use to batter themselves against granite.  And
+from this consciousness that they had attempted to conquer an
+unconquerable thing there seemed to arise a feeling that they had been
+betrayed. They glowered with bent brows, but dangerously, upon some of
+the officers, more particularly upon the red-bearded one with the voice
+of triple brass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+However, the rear of the regiment was fringed with men, who continued
+to shoot irritably at the advancing foes.  They seemed resolved to make
+every trouble.  The youthful lieutenant was perhaps the last man in the
+disordered mass.  His forgotten back was toward the enemy.  He had been
+shot in the arm.  It hung straight and rigid. Occasionally he would
+cease to remember it, and be about to emphasize an oath with a sweeping
+gesture.  The multiplied pain caused him to swear with incredible power.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth went along with slipping, uncertain feet.  He kept watchful
+eyes rearward.  A scowl of mortification and rage was upon his face. He
+had thought of a fine revenge upon the officer who had referred to him
+and his fellows as mule drivers.  But he saw that it could not come to
+pass.  His dreams had collapsed when the mule drivers, dwindling
+rapidly, had wavered and hesitated on the little clearing, and then had
+recoiled. And now the retreat of the mule drivers was a march of shame
+to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A dagger-pointed gaze from without his blackened face was held toward
+the enemy, but his greater hatred was riveted upon the man, who, not
+knowing him, had called him a mule driver.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When he knew that he and his comrades had failed to do anything in
+successful ways that might bring the little pangs of a kind of remorse
+upon the officer, the youth allowed the rage of the baffled to possess
+him.  This cold officer upon a monument, who dropped epithets
+unconcernedly down, would be finer as a dead man, he thought. So
+grievous did he think it that he could never possess the secret right
+to taunt truly in answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He had pictured red letters of curious revenge. "We <i>are</i> mule drivers,
+are we?"  And now he was compelled to throw them away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He presently wrapped his heart in the cloak of his pride and kept the
+flag erect.  He harangued his fellows, pushing against their chests
+with his free hand.  To those he knew well he made frantic appeals,
+beseeching them by name. Between him and the lieutenant, scolding and
+near to losing his mind with rage, there was felt a subtle fellowship
+and equality.  They supported each other in all manner of hoarse,
+howling protests.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the regiment was a machine run down. The two men babbled at a
+forceless thing.  The soldiers who had heart to go slowly were
+continually shaken in their resolves by a knowledge that comrades were
+slipping with speed back to the lines.  It was difficult to think of
+reputation when others were thinking of skins.  Wounded men were left
+crying on this black journey.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The smoke fringes and flames blustered always.  The youth, peering once
+through a sudden rift in a cloud, saw a brown mass of troops,
+interwoven and magnified until they appeared to be thousands.  A
+fierce-hued flag flashed before his vision.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Immediately, as if the uplifting of the smoke had been prearranged, the
+discovered troops burst into a rasping yell, and a hundred flames
+jetted toward the retreating band.  A rolling gray cloud again
+interposed as the regiment doggedly replied.  The youth had to depend
+again upon his misused ears, which were trembling and buzzing from the
+<i>melée</i> of musketry and yells.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The way seemed eternal.  In the clouded haze men became panicstricken
+with the thought that the regiment had lost its path, and was
+proceeding in a perilous direction.  Once the men who headed the wild
+procession turned and came pushing back against their comrades,
+screaming that they were being fired upon from points which they had
+considered to be toward their own lines. At this cry a hysterical fear
+and dismay beset the troops.  A soldier, who heretofore had been
+ambitious to make the regiment into a wise little band that would
+proceed calmly amid the huge-appearing difficulties, suddenly sank down
+and buried his face in his arms with an air of bowing to a doom.  From
+another a shrill lamentation rang out filled with profane allusions to
+a general. Men ran hither and thither, seeking with their eyes roads of
+escape.  With serene regularity, as if controlled by a schedule,
+bullets buffed into men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth walked stolidly into the midst of the mob, and with his flag
+in his hands took a stand as if he expected an attempt to push him to
+the ground.  He unconsciously assumed the attitude of the color bearer
+in the fight of the preceding day.  He passed over his brow a hand that
+trembled.  His breath did not come freely. He was choking during this
+small wait for the crisis.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend came to him.  "Well, Henry, I guess this is good-by&mdash;John."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied the youth, and he would not
+look at the other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The officers labored like politicians to beat the mass into a proper
+circle to face the menaces.  The ground was uneven and torn.  The men
+curled into depressions and fitted themselves snugly behind whatever
+would frustrate a bullet.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth noted with vague surprise that the lieutenant was standing
+mutely with his legs far apart and his sword held in the manner of a
+cane. The youth wondered what had happened to his vocal organs that he
+no more cursed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was something curious in this little intent pause of the
+lieutenant.  He was like a babe which, having wept its fill, raises its
+eyes and fixes upon a distant toy.  He was engrossed in this
+contemplation, and the soft under lip quivered from self-whispered
+words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly. The men, hiding from the
+bullets, waited anxiously for it to lift and disclose the plight of the
+regiment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the eager voice of the
+youthful lieutenant bawling out: "Here they come!  Right onto us,
+b'Gawd!"  His further words were lost in a roar of wicked thunder from
+the men's rifles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's eyes had instantly turned in the direction indicated by the
+awakened and agitated lieutenant, and he had seen the haze of treachery
+disclosing a body of soldiers of the enemy.  They were so near that he
+could see their features. There was a recognition as he looked at the
+types of faces.  Also he perceived with dim amazement that their
+uniforms were rather gay in effect, being light gray, accented with a
+brilliant-hued facing.  Too, the clothes seemed new.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These troops had apparently been going forward with caution, their
+rifles held in readiness, when the youthful lieutenant had discovered
+them and their movement had been interrupted by the volley from the
+blue regiment.  From the moment's glimpse, it was derived that they had
+been unaware of the proximity of their dark-suited foes or had mistaken
+the direction. Almost instantly they were shut utterly from the youth's
+sight by the smoke from the energetic rifles of his companions.  He
+strained his vision to learn the accomplishment of the volley, but the
+smoke hung before him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The two bodies of troops exchanged blows in the manner of a pair of
+boxers.  The fast angry firings went back and forth.  The men in blue
+were intent with the despair of their circumstances and they seized
+upon the revenge to be had at close range.  Their thunder swelled loud
+and valiant.  Their curving front bristled with flashes and the place
+resounded with the clangor of their ramrods.  The youth ducked and
+dodged for a time and achieved a few unsatisfactory views of the enemy.
+There appeared to be many of them and they were replying swiftly.  They
+seemed moving toward the blue regiment, step by step.  He seated
+himself gloomily on the ground with his flag between his knees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he noted the vicious, wolflike temper of his comrades he had a sweet
+thought that if the enemy was about to swallow the regimental broom as
+a large prisoner, it could at least have the consolation of going down
+with bristles forward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the blows of the antagonist began to grow more weak.  Fewer bullets
+ripped the air, and finally, when the men slackened to learn of the
+fight, they could see only dark, floating smoke.  The regiment lay
+still and gazed.  Presently some chance whim came to the pestering
+blur, and it began to coil heavily away.  The men saw a ground vacant
+of fighters.  It would have been an empty stage if it were not for a
+few corpses that lay thrown and twisted into fantastic shapes upon the
+sward.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At sight of this tableau, many of the men in blue sprang from behind
+their covers and made an ungainly dance of joy.  Their eyes burned and
+a hoarse cheer of elation broke from their dry lips.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It had begun to seem to them that events were trying to prove that they
+were impotent.  These little battles had evidently endeavored to
+demonstrate that the men could not fight well.  When on the verge of
+submission to these opinions, the small duel had showed them that the
+proportions were not impossible, and by it they had revenged themselves
+upon their misgivings and upon the foe.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The impetus of enthusiasm was theirs again. They gazed about them with
+looks of uplifted pride, feeling new trust in the grim, always
+confident weapons in their hands.  And they were men.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap21"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Presently they knew that no firing threatened them.  All ways seemed
+once more opened to them.  The dusty blue lines of their friends were
+disclosed a short distance away.  In the distance there were many
+colossal noises, but in all this part of the field there was a sudden
+stillness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They perceived that they were free.  The depleted band drew a long
+breath of relief and gathered itself into a bunch to complete its trip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In this last length of journey the men began to show strange emotions.
+They hurried with nervous fear.  Some who had been dark and unfaltering
+in the grimmest moments now could not conceal an anxiety that made them
+frantic.  It was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed in
+insignificant ways after the times for proper military deaths had
+passed.  Or, perhaps, they thought it would be too ironical to get
+killed at the portals of safety.  With backward looks of perturbation,
+they hastened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As they approached their own lines there was some sarcasm exhibited on
+the part of a gaunt and bronzed regiment that lay resting in the shade
+of trees.  Questions were wafted to them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where th' hell yeh been?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What yeh comin' back fer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't yeh stay there?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was it warm out there, sonny?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Goin' home now, boys?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One shouted in taunting mimicry: "Oh, mother, come quick an' look at
+th' sojers!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was no reply from the bruised and battered regiment, save that
+one man made broadcast challenges to fist fights and the red-bearded
+officer walked rather near and glared in great swashbuckler style at a
+tall captain in the other regiment.  But the lieutenant suppressed the
+man who wished to fist fight, and the tall captain, flushing at the
+little fanfare of the red-bearded one, was obliged to look intently at
+some trees.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's tender flesh was deeply stung by these remarks.  From under
+his creased brows he glowered with hate at the mockers.  He meditated
+upon a few revenges.  Still, many in the regiment hung their heads in
+criminal fashion, so that it came to pass that the men trudged with
+sudden heaviness, as if they bore upon their bended shoulders the
+coffin of their honor.  And the youthful lieutenant, recollecting
+himself, began to mutter softly in black curses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They turned when they arrived at their old position to regard the
+ground over which they had charged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth in this contemplation was smitten with a large astonishment.
+He discovered that the distances, as compared with the brilliant
+measurings of his mind, were trivial and ridiculous.  The stolid trees,
+where much had taken place, seemed incredibly near.  The time, too, now
+that he reflected, he saw to have been short. He wondered at the number
+of emotions and events that had been crowded into such little spaces.
+Elfin thoughts must have exaggerated and enlarged everything, he said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It seemed, then, that there was bitter justice in the speeches of the
+gaunt and bronzed veterans.  He veiled a glance of disdain at his
+fellows who strewed the ground, choking with dust, red from
+perspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to wring every mite of
+water from them, and they polished at their swollen and watery features
+with coat sleeves and bunches of grass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+However, to the youth there was a considerable joy in musing upon his
+performances during the charge.  He had had very little time previously
+in which to appreciate himself, so that there was now much satisfaction
+in quietly thinking of his actions.  He recalled bits of color that in
+the flurry had stamped themselves unawares upon his engaged senses.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As the regiment lay heaving from its hot exertions the officer who had
+named them as mule drivers came galloping along the line.  He had lost
+his cap.  His tousled hair streamed wildly, and his face was dark with
+vexation and wrath. His temper was displayed with more clearness by the
+way in which he managed his horse.  He jerked and wrenched savagely at
+his bridle, stopping the hard-breathing animal with a furious pull near
+the colonel of the regiment.  He immediately exploded in reproaches
+which came unbidden to the ears of the men.  They were suddenly alert,
+being always curious about black words between officers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what an awful bull you made of this thing!"
+began the officer. He attempted low tones, but his indignation caused
+certain of the men to learn the sense of his words.  "What an awful
+mess you made! Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hundred feet this
+side of a very pretty success!  If your men had gone a hundred feet
+farther you would have made a great charge, but as it is&mdash;what a lot of
+mud diggers you've got anyway!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyes
+upon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The colonel was seen to straighten his form and put one hand forth in
+oratorical fashion. He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon had
+been accused of stealing.  The men were wiggling in an ecstasy of
+excitement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed from that of a deacon to
+that of a Frenchman. He shrugged his shoulders.  "Oh, well, general, we
+went as far as we could," he said calmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As far as you could?  Did you, b'Gawd?" snorted the other.  "Well,
+that wasn't very far, was it?" he added, with a glance of cold contempt
+into the other's eyes.  "Not very far, I think.  You were intended to
+make a diversion in favor of Whiterside.  How well you succeeded your
+own ears can now tell you."  He wheeled his horse and rode stiffly away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The colonel, bidden to hear the jarring noises of an engagement in the
+woods to the left, broke out in vague damnations.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant, who had listened with an air of impotent rage to the
+interview, spoke suddenly in firm and undaunted tones.  "I don't care
+what a man is&mdash;whether he is a general or what&mdash;if he says th' boys
+didn't put up a good fight out there he's a damned fool."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lieutenant," began the colonel, severely, "this is my own affair, and
+I'll trouble you&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant made an obedient gesture. "All right, colonel, all
+right," he said.  He sat down with an air of being content with himself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The news that the regiment had been reproached went along the line. For
+a time the men were bewildered by it.  "Good thunder!" they ejaculated,
+staring at the vanishing form of the general.  They conceived it to be
+a huge mistake.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently, however, they began to believe that in truth their efforts
+had been called light.  The youth could see this conviction weigh upon
+the entire regiment until the men were like cuffed and cursed animals,
+but withal rebellious.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The friend, with a grievance in his eye, went to the youth.  "I wonder
+what he does want," he said.  "He must think we went out there an'
+played marbles!  I never see sech a man!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth developed a tranquil philosophy for these moments of
+irritation.  "Oh, well," he rejoined, "he probably didn't see nothing
+of it at all and got mad as blazes, and concluded we were a lot of
+sheep, just because we didn't do what he wanted done.  It's a pity old
+Grandpa Henderson got killed yestirday&mdash;he'd have known that we did our
+best and fought good.  It's just our awful luck, that's what."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should say so," replied the friend.  He seemed to be deeply wounded
+at an injustice. "I should say we did have awful luck!  There's no fun
+in fightin' fer people when everything yeh do&mdash;no matter what&mdash;ain't
+done right.  I have a notion t' stay behind next time an' let 'em take
+their ol' charge an' go t' th' devil with it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth spoke soothingly to his comrade. "Well, we both did good. I'd
+like to see the fool what'd say we both didn't do as good as we could!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course we did," declared the friend stoutly.  "An' I'd break th'
+feller's neck if he was as big as a church.  But we're all right,
+anyhow, for I heard one feller say that we two fit th' best in th'
+reg'ment, an' they had a great argument 'bout it.  Another feller, 'a
+course, he had t' up an' say it was a lie&mdash;he seen all what was goin'
+on an' he never seen us from th' beginnin' t' th' end.  An' a lot more
+struck in an' ses it wasn't a lie&mdash;we did fight like thunder, an' they
+give us quite a send-off.  But this is what I can't stand&mdash;these
+everlastin' ol' soldiers, titterin' an' laughin', an' then that
+general, he's crazy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth exclaimed with sudden exasperation: "He's a lunkhead!  He
+makes me mad. I wish he'd come along next time.  We'd show 'im what&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He ceased because several men had come hurrying up.  Their faces
+expressed a bringing of great news.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Flem, yeh jest oughta heard!" cried one, eagerly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Heard what?" said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yeh jest oughta heard!" repeated the other, and he arranged himself to
+tell his tidings.  The others made an excited circle.  "Well, sir, th'
+colonel met your lieutenant right by us&mdash;it was damnedest thing I ever
+heard&mdash;an' he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!' he ses.  'Mr. Hasbrouck!' he ses, 'by
+th' way, who was that lad what carried th' flag?' he ses.  There,
+Flemin', what d' yeh think 'a that?  'Who was th' lad what carried th'
+flag?' he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he speaks up right away: 'That's
+Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he ses, right away.  What?  I say he
+did.  'A jim-hickey,' he ses&mdash;those 'r his words.  He did, too. I say
+he did.  If you kin tell this story better than I kin, go ahead an'
+tell it.  Well, then, keep yer mouth shet.  Th' lieutenant, he ses:
+'He's a jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem! he is,
+indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem!  He kep' th' flag 'way t' th'
+front.  I saw 'im.  He's a good un,' ses th' colonel.  'You bet,' ses
+th' lieutenant, 'he an' a feller named Wilson was at th' head 'a th'
+charge, an' howlin' like Indians all th' time,' he ses.  'Head 'a th'
+charge all th' time,' he ses.  'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  There,
+Wilson, m'boy, put that in a letter an' send it hum t' yer mother, hay?
+'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  An' th' colonel, he ses: 'Were they,
+indeed?  Ahem! ahem!  My sakes!' he ses.  'At th' head 'a th'
+reg'ment?' he ses.  'They were,' ses th' lieutenant.  'My sakes!' ses
+th' colonel. He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he ses, 'those two babies?'
+'They were,' ses th' lieutenant. 'Well, well,' ses th' colonel, 'they
+deserve t' be major generals,' he ses.  'They deserve t' be
+major-generals.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth and his friend had said: "Huh!" "Yer lyin', Thompson."  "Oh,
+go t' blazes!" "He never sed it."  "Oh, what a lie!"  "Huh!" But
+despite these youthful scoffings and embarrassments, they knew that
+their faces were deeply flushing from thrills of pleasure.  They
+exchanged a secret glance of joy and congratulation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They speedily forgot many things.  The past held no pictures of error
+and disappointment. They were very happy, and their hearts swelled with
+grateful affection for the colonel and the youthful lieutenant.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap22"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+When the woods again began to pour forth the dark-hued masses of the
+enemy the youth felt serene self-confidence.  He smiled briefly when he
+saw men dodge and duck at the long screechings of shells that were
+thrown in giant handfuls over them.  He stood, erect and tranquil,
+watching the attack begin against a part of the line that made a blue
+curve along the side of an adjacent hill.  His vision being unmolested
+by smoke from the rifles of his companions, he had opportunities to see
+parts of the hard fight.  It was a relief to perceive at last from
+whence came some of these noises which had been roared into his ears.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Off a short way he saw two regiments fighting a little separate battle
+with two other regiments.  It was in a cleared space, wearing a
+set-apart look.  They were blazing as if upon a wager, giving and
+taking tremendous blows. The firings were incredibly fierce and rapid.
+These intent regiments apparently were oblivious of all larger purposes
+of war, and were slugging each other as if at a matched game.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In another direction he saw a magnificent brigade going with the
+evident intention of driving the enemy from a wood.  They passed in out
+of sight and presently there was a most awe-inspiring racket in the
+wood.  The noise was unspeakable.  Having stirred this prodigious
+uproar, and, apparently, finding it too prodigious, the brigade, after
+a little time, came marching airily out again with its fine formation
+in nowise disturbed.  There were no traces of speed in its movements.
+The brigade was jaunty and seemed to point a proud thumb at the yelling
+wood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On a slope to the left there was a long row of guns, gruff and
+maddened, denouncing the enemy, who, down through the woods, were
+forming for another attack in the pitiless monotony of conflicts.  The
+round red discharges from the guns made a crimson flare and a high,
+thick smoke.  Occasional glimpses could be caught of groups of the
+toiling artillerymen.  In the rear of this row of guns stood a house,
+calm and white, amid bursting shells.  A congregation of horses, tied
+to a long railing, were tugging frenziedly at their bridles.  Men were
+running hither and thither.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The detached battle between the four regiments lasted for some time.
+There chanced to be no interference, and they settled their dispute by
+themselves.  They struck savagely and powerfully at each other for a
+period of minutes, and then the lighter-hued regiments faltered and
+drew back, leaving the dark-blue lines shouting. The youth could see
+the two flags shaking with laughter amid the smoke remnants.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Presently there was a stillness, pregnant with meaning.  The blue lines
+shifted and changed a trifle and stared expectantly at the silent woods
+and fields before them.  The hush was solemn and churchlike, save for a
+distant battery that, evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faint
+rolling thunder over the ground.  It irritated, like the noises of
+unimpressed boys.  The men imagined that it would prevent their perched
+ears from hearing the first words of the new battle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Of a sudden the guns on the slope roared out a message of warning.  A
+spluttering sound had begun in the woods.  It swelled with amazing
+speed to a profound clamor that involved the earth in noises.  The
+splitting crashes swept along the lines until an interminable roar was
+developed.  To those in the midst of it it became a din fitted to the
+universe.  It was the whirring and thumping of gigantic machinery,
+complications among the smaller stars.  The youth's ears were filled
+up.  They were incapable of hearing more.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On an incline over which a road wound he saw wild and desperate rushes
+of men perpetually backward and forward in riotous surges. These parts
+of the opposing armies were two long waves that pitched upon each other
+madly at dictated points.  To and fro they swelled. Sometimes, one side
+by its yells and cheers would proclaim decisive blows, but a moment
+later the other side would be all yells and cheers. Once the youth saw
+a spray of light forms go in houndlike leaps toward the waving blue
+lines. There was much howling, and presently it went away with a vast
+mouthful of prisoners.  Again, he saw a blue wave dash with such
+thunderous force against a gray obstruction that it seemed to clear the
+earth of it and leave nothing but trampled sod.  And always in their
+swift and deadly rushes to and fro the men screamed and yelled like
+maniacs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Particular pieces of fence or secure positions behind collections of
+trees were wrangled over, as gold thrones or pearl bedsteads.  There
+were desperate lunges at these chosen spots seemingly every instant,
+and most of them were bandied like light toys between the contending
+forces.  The youth could not tell from the battle flags flying like
+crimson foam in many directions which color of cloth was winning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His emaciated regiment bustled forth with undiminished fierceness when
+its time came. When assaulted again by bullets, the men burst out in a
+barbaric cry of rage and pain.  They bent their heads in aims of intent
+hatred behind the projected hammers of their guns. Their ramrods
+clanged loud with fury as their eager arms pounded the cartridges into
+the rifle barrels.  The front of the regiment was a smoke-wall
+penetrated by the flashing points of yellow and red.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Wallowing in the fight, they were in an astonishingly short time
+resmudged.  They surpassed in stain and dirt all their previous
+appearances.  Moving to and fro with strained exertion, jabbering the
+while, they were, with their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowing
+eyes, like strange and ugly friends jigging heavily in the smoke.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The lieutenant, returning from a tour after a bandage, produced from a
+hidden receptacle of his mind new and portentous oaths suited to the
+emergency.  Strings of expletives he swung lashlike over the backs of
+his men, and it was evident that his previous efforts had in nowise
+impaired his resources.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, still the bearer of the colors, did not feel his idleness.
+He was deeply absorbed as a spectator.  The crash and swing of the
+great drama made him lean forward, intent-eyed, his face working in
+small contortions.  Sometimes he prattled, words coming unconsciously
+from him in grotesque exclamations.  He did not know that he breathed;
+that the flag hung silently over him, so absorbed was he.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A formidable line of the enemy came within dangerous range.  They could
+be seen plainly&mdash;tall, gaunt men with excited faces running with long
+strides toward a wandering fence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At sight of this danger the men suddenly ceased their cursing monotone.
+There was an instant of strained silence before they threw up their
+rifles and fired a plumping volley at the foes.  There had been no
+order given; the men, upon recognizing the menace, had immediately let
+drive their flock of bullets without waiting for word of command.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the enemy were quick to gain the protection of the wandering line
+of fence.  They slid down behind it with remarkable celerity, and from
+this position they began briskly to slice up the blue men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+These latter braced their energies for a great struggle.  Often, white
+clinched teeth shone from the dusky faces.  Many heads surged to and
+fro, floating upon a pale sea of smoke. Those behind the fence
+frequently shouted and yelped in taunts and gibelike cries, but the
+regiment maintained a stressed silence.  Perhaps, at this new assault
+the men recalled the fact that they had been named mud diggers, and it
+made their situation thrice bitter.  They were breathlessly intent upon
+keeping the ground and thrusting away the rejoicing body of the enemy.
+They fought swiftly and with a despairing savageness denoted in their
+expressions.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had resolved not to budge whatever should happen.  Some
+arrows of scorn that had buried themselves in his heart had generated
+strange and unspeakable hatred.  It was clear to him that his final and
+absolute revenge was to be achieved by his dead body lying, torn and
+gluttering, upon the field.  This was to be a poignant retaliation upon
+the officer who had said "mule drivers," and later "mud diggers," for
+in all the wild graspings of his mind for a unit responsible for his
+sufferings and commotions he always seized upon the man who had dubbed
+him wrongly.  And it was his idea, vaguely formulated, that his corpse
+would be for those eyes a great and salt reproach.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The regiment bled extravagantly.  Grunting bundles of blue began to
+drop.  The orderly sergeant of the youth's company was shot through the
+cheeks.  Its supports being injured, his jaw hung afar down, disclosing
+in the wide cavern of his mouth a pulsing mass of blood and teeth. And
+with it all he made attempts to cry out. In his endeavor there was a
+dreadful earnestness, as if he conceived that one great shriek would
+make him well.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth saw him presently go rearward. His strength seemed in nowise
+impaired.  He ran swiftly, casting wild glances for succor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Others fell down about the feet of their companions.  Some of the
+wounded crawled out and away, but many lay still, their bodies twisted
+into impossible shapes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth looked once for his friend.  He saw a vehement young man,
+powder-smeared and frowzled, whom he knew to be him.  The lieutenant,
+also, was unscathed in his position at the rear.  He had continued to
+curse, but it was now with the air of a man who was using his last box
+of oaths.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the fire of the regiment had begun to wane and drip.  The robust
+voice, that had come strangely from the thin ranks, was growing rapidly
+weak.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap23"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The colonel came running along back of the line.  There were other
+officers following him. "We must charge'm!" they shouted.  "We must
+charge'm!" they cried with resentful voices, as if anticipating a
+rebellion against this plan by the men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, upon hearing the shouts, began to study the distance between
+him and the enemy. He made vague calculations.  He saw that to be firm
+soldiers they must go forward.  It would be death to stay in the
+present place, and with all the circumstances to go backward would
+exalt too many others.  Their hope was to push the galling foes away
+from the fence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He expected that his companions, weary and stiffened, would have to be
+driven to this assault, but as he turned toward them he perceived with
+a certain surprise that they were giving quick and unqualified
+expressions of assent.  There was an ominous, clanging overture to the
+charge when the shafts of the bayonets rattled upon the rifle barrels.
+At the yelled words of command the soldiers sprang forward in eager
+leaps. There was new and unexpected force in the movement of the
+regiment.  A knowledge of its faded and jaded condition made the charge
+appear like a paroxysm, a display of the strength that comes before a
+final feebleness.  The men scampered in insane fever of haste, racing
+as if to achieve a sudden success before an exhilarating fluid should
+leave them.  It was a blind and despairing rush by the collection of
+men in dusty and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire
+sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from behind which
+spluttered the fierce rifles of enemies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth kept the bright colors to the front. He was waving his free
+arm in furious circles, the while shrieking mad calls and appeals,
+urging on those that did not need to be urged, for it seemed that the
+mob of blue men hurling themselves on the dangerous group of rifles
+were again grown suddenly wild with an enthusiasm of unselfishness.
+From the many firings starting toward them, it looked as if they would
+merely succeed in making a great sprinkling of corpses on the grass
+between their former position and the fence.  But they were in a state
+of frenzy, perhaps because of forgotten vanities, and it made an
+exhibition of sublime recklessness.  There was no obvious questioning,
+nor figurings, nor diagrams.  There was, apparently, no considered
+loopholes.  It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would
+have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He himself felt the daring spirit of a savage religion mad.  He was
+capable of profound sacrifices, a tremendous death.  He had no time for
+dissections, but he knew that he thought of the bullets only as things
+that could prevent him from reaching the place of his endeavor.  There
+were subtle flashings of joy within him that thus should be his mind.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He strained all his strength.  His eyesight was shaken and dazzled by
+the tension of thought and muscle.  He did not see anything excepting
+the mist of smoke gashed by the little knives of fire, but he knew that
+in it lay the aged fence of a vanished farmer protecting the snuggled
+bodies of the gray men.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he ran a thought of the shock of contact gleamed in his mind.  He
+expected a great concussion when the two bodies of troops crashed
+together.  This became a part of his wild battle madness.  He could
+feel the onward swing of the regiment about him and he conceived of a
+thunderous, crushing blow that would prostrate the resistance and
+spread consternation and amazement for miles.  The flying regiment was
+going to have a catapultian effect.  This dream made him run faster
+among his comrades, who were giving vent to hoarse and frantic cheers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But presently he could see that many of the men in gray did not intend
+to abide the blow. The smoke, rolling, disclosed men who ran, their
+faces still turned.  These grew to a crowd, who retired stubbornly.
+Individuals wheeled frequently to send a bullet at the blue wave.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But at one part of the line there was a grim and obdurate group that
+made no movement. They were settled firmly down behind posts and rails.
+A flag, ruffled and fierce, waved over them and their rifles dinned
+fiercely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The blue whirl of men got very near, until it seemed that in truth
+there would be a close and frightful scuffle.  There was an expressed
+disdain in the opposition of the little group, that changed the meaning
+of the cheers of the men in blue.  They became yells of wrath,
+directed, personal.  The cries of the two parties were now in sound an
+interchange of scathing insults.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They in blue showed their teeth; their eyes shone all white.  They
+launched themselves as at the throats of those who stood resisting. The
+space between dwindled to an insignificant distance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth had centered the gaze of his soul upon that other flag.  Its
+possession would be high pride.  It would express bloody minglings,
+near blows.  He had a gigantic hatred for those who made great
+difficulties and complications. They caused it to be as a craved
+treasure of mythology, hung amid tasks and contrivances of danger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He plunged like a mad horse at it.  He was resolved it should not
+escape if wild blows and darings of blows could seize it.  His own
+emblem, quivering and aflare, was winging toward the other.  It seemed
+there would shortly be an encounter of strange beaks and claws, as of
+eagles.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The swirling body of blue men came to a sudden halt at close and
+disastrous range and roared a swift volley.  The group in gray was
+split and broken by this fire, but its riddled body still fought.  The
+men in blue yelled again and rushed in upon it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth, in his leapings, saw, as through a mist, a picture of four
+or five men stretched upon the ground or writhing upon their knees with
+bowed heads as if they had been stricken by bolts from the sky.
+Tottering among them was the rival color bearer, whom the youth saw had
+been bitten vitally by the bullets of the last formidable volley.  He
+perceived this man fighting a last struggle, the struggle of one whose
+legs are grasped by demons.  It was a ghastly battle. Over his face was
+the bleach of death, but set upon it was the dark and hard lines of
+desperate purpose.  With this terrible grin of resolution he hugged his
+precious flag to him and was stumbling and staggering in his design to
+go the way that led to safety for it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But his wounds always made it seem that his feet were retarded, held,
+and he fought a grim fight, as with invisible ghouls fastened greedily
+upon his limbs.  Those in advance of the scampering blue men, howling
+cheers, leaped at the fence.  The despair of the lost was in his eyes
+as he glanced back at them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth's friend went over the obstruction in a tumbling heap and
+sprang at the flag as a panther at prey.  He pulled at it and,
+wrenching it free, swung up its red brilliancy with a mad cry of
+exultation even as the color bearer, gasping, lurched over in a final
+throe and, stiffening convulsively, turned his dead face to the ground.
+There was much blood upon the grass blades.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the place of success there began more wild clamorings of cheers. The
+men gesticulated and bellowed in an ecstasy.  When they spoke it was as
+if they considered their listener to be a mile away.  What hats and
+caps were left to them they often slung high in the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At one part of the line four men had been swooped upon, and they now
+sat as prisoners. Some blue men were about them in an eager and curious
+circle.  The soldiers had trapped strange birds, and there was an
+examination.  A flurry of fast questions was in the air.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial wound in the foot.  He
+cuddled it, baby-wise, but he looked up from it often to curse with an
+astonishing utter abandon straight at the noses of his captors.  He
+consigned them to red regions; he called upon the pestilential wrath of
+strange gods.  And with it all he was singularly free from recognition
+of the finer points of the conduct of prisoners of war.  It was as if a
+clumsy clod had trod upon his toe and he conceived it to be his
+privilege, his duty, to use deep, resentful oaths.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another, who was a boy in years, took his plight with great calmness
+and apparent good nature.  He conversed with the men in blue, studying
+their faces with his bright and keen eyes.  They spoke of battles and
+conditions. There was an acute interest in all their faces during this
+exchange of view points.  It seemed a great satisfaction to hear voices
+from where all had been darkness and speculation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The third captive sat with a morose countenance.  He preserved a
+stoical and cold attitude. To all advances he made one reply without
+variation, "Ah, go t' hell!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The last of the four was always silent and, for the most part, kept his
+face turned in unmolested directions.  From the views the youth
+received he seemed to be in a state of absolute dejection.  Shame was
+upon him, and with it profound regret that he was, perhaps, no more to
+be counted in the ranks of his fellows.  The youth could detect no
+expression that would allow him to believe that the other was giving a
+thought to his narrowed future, the pictured dungeons, perhaps, and
+starvations and brutalities, liable to the imagination.  All to be seen
+was shame for captivity and regret for the right to antagonize.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the men had celebrated sufficiently they settled down behind the
+old rail fence, on the opposite side to the one from which their foes
+had been driven.  A few shot perfunctorily at distant marks.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was some long grass.  The youth nestled in it and rested, making
+a convenient rail support the flag.  His friend, jubilant and
+glorified, holding his treasure with vanity, came to him there.  They
+sat side by side and congratulated each other.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap24"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The roarings that had stretched in a long line of sound across the face
+of the forest began to grow intermittent and weaker.  The stentorian
+speeches of the artillery continued in some distant encounter, but the
+crashes of the musketry had almost ceased.  The youth and his friend of
+a sudden looked up, feeling a deadened form of distress at the waning
+of these noises, which had become a part of life.  They could see
+changes going on among the troops.  There were marchings this way and
+that way.  A battery wheeled leisurely.  On the crest of a small hill
+was the thick gleam of many departing muskets.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The youth arose.  "Well, what now, I wonder?" he said.  By his tone he
+seemed to be preparing to resent some new monstrosity in the way of
+dins and smashes.  He shaded his eyes with his grimy hand and gazed
+over the field.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend also arose and stared.  "I bet we're goin' t' git along out
+of this an' back over th' river," said he.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I swan!" said the youth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They waited, watching.  Within a little while the regiment received
+orders to retrace its way. The men got up grunting from the grass,
+regretting the soft repose.  They jerked their stiffened legs, and
+stretched their arms over their heads. One man swore as he rubbed his
+eyes.  They all groaned "O Lord!"  They had as many objections to this
+change as they would have had to a proposal for a new battle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They trampled slowly back over the field across which they had run in a
+mad scamper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The regiment marched until it had joined its fellows.  The reformed
+brigade, in column, aimed through a wood at the road.  Directly they
+were in a mass of dust-covered troops, and were trudging along in a way
+parallel to the enemy's lines as these had been defined by the previous
+turmoil.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They passed within view of a stolid white house, and saw in front of it
+groups of their comrades lying in wait behind a neat breastwork.  A row
+of guns were booming at a distant enemy. Shells thrown in reply were
+raising clouds of dust and splinters.  Horsemen dashed along the line
+of intrenchments.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At this point of its march the division curved away from the field and
+went winding off in the direction of the river.  When the significance
+of this movement had impressed itself upon the youth he turned his head
+and looked over his shoulder toward the trampled and <i>débris</i>-strewed
+ground.  He breathed a breath of new satisfaction.  He finally nudged
+his friend.  "Well, it's all over," he said to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend gazed backward.  "B'Gawd, it is," he assented.  They mused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain
+way.  His mind was undergoing a subtle change.  It took moments for it
+to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of
+thought.  Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at
+last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He understood then that the existence of shot and counter-shot was in
+the past.  He had dwelt in a land of strange, squalling upheavals and
+had come forth.  He had been where there was red of blood and black of
+passion, and he was escaped.  His first thoughts were given to
+rejoicings at this fact.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Later he began to study his deeds, his failures, and his achievements.
+Thus, fresh from scenes where many of his usual machines of reflection
+had been idle, from where he had proceeded sheeplike, he struggled to
+marshal all his acts.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At last they marched before him clearly. From this present view point
+he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and to criticise
+them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated
+certain sympathies.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Regarding his procession of memory he felt gleeful and unregretting,
+for in it his public deeds were paraded in great and shining
+prominence. Those performances which had been witnessed by his fellows
+marched now in wide purple and gold, having various deflections.  They
+went gayly with music.  It was pleasure to watch these things.  He
+spent delightful minutes viewing the gilded images of memory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He saw that he was good.  He recalled with a thrill of joy the
+respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nevertheless, the ghost of his flight from the first engagement
+appeared to him and danced.  There were small shoutings in his brain
+about these matters.  For a moment he blushed, and the light of his
+soul flickered with shame.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A specter of reproach came to him.  There loomed the dogging memory of
+the tattered soldier&mdash;he who, gored by bullets and faint for blood, had
+fretted concerning an imagined wound in another; he who had loaned his
+last of strength and intellect for the tall soldier; he who, blind with
+weariness and pain, had been deserted in the field.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For an instant a wretched chill of sweat was upon him at the thought
+that he might be detected in the thing.  As he stood persistently
+before his vision, he gave vent to a cry of sharp irritation and agony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+His friend turned.  "What's the matter, Henry?" he demanded.  The
+youth's reply was an outburst of crimson oaths.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As he marched along the little branch-hung roadway among his prattling
+companions this vision of cruelty brooded over him.  It clung near him
+always and darkened his view of these deeds in purple and gold.
+Whichever way his thoughts turned they were followed by the somber
+phantom of the desertion in the fields. He looked stealthily at his
+companions, feeling sure that they must discern in his face evidences
+of this pursuit.  But they were plodding in ragged array, discussing
+with quick tongues the accomplishments of the late battle.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, if a man should come up an' ask me, I'd say we got a dum good
+lickin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lickin'&mdash;in yer eye!  We ain't licked, sonny. We're goin' down here
+aways, swing aroun', an' come in behint 'em."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, hush, with your comin' in behint 'em. I've seen all 'a that I
+wanta.  Don't tell me about comin' in behint&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bill Smithers, he ses he'd rather been in ten hundred battles than
+been in that heluva hospital.  He ses they got shootin' in th'
+night-time, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital.  He ses
+sech hollerin' he never see."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hasbrouck?  He's th' best off'cer in this here reg'ment.  He's a
+whale."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint 'em?  Didn't I tell yeh
+so?  We&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, shet yeh mouth!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For a time this pursuing recollection of the tattered man took all
+elation from the youth's veins.  He saw his vivid error, and he was
+afraid that it would stand before him all his life.  He took no share
+in the chatter of his comrades, nor did he look at them or know them,
+save when he felt sudden suspicion that they were seeing his thoughts
+and scrutinizing each detail of the scene with the tattered soldier.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Yet gradually he mustered force to put the sin at a distance.  And at
+last his eyes seemed to open to some new ways.  He found that he could
+look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see
+them truly.  He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised
+them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With this conviction came a store of assurance.  He felt a quiet
+manhood, nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood.  He knew that he
+would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point.  He
+had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was
+but the great death.  He was a man.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath
+his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover
+tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares were not.  Scars faded as
+flowers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It rained.  The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train,
+despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of
+liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky.  Yet the youth smiled, for
+he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to
+be made of oaths and walking sticks.  He had rid himself of the red
+sickness of battle.  The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been
+an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war.  He
+turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh
+meadows, cool brooks&mdash;an existence of soft and eternal peace.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden
+rain clouds.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<PRE>
+[Transcriber's Note: I have tried to retain the inconsistent renderings
+of contractions as joined or separate, e.g., "we 'll" or "we'll."
+
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+
+PAGE  PARA.  LINE  ORIGINAL          CHANGED TO
+  18     3      3  estabiish         establish
+  40     3      2  skirmish          skirmish-
+  78     4      4  a air             an air
+ 130            2  recognzied        recognized
+ 130     4     12  could a'          could 'a
+ 139     2      4  not began         not begun
+ 193     2     16  illusions to      allusions to]
+</PRE>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Red Badge of Courage
+       An Episode of the American Civil War
+
+Author: Stephen Crane
+
+Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #463]
+Release Date: March, 1996
+[Last updated: August 3, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Red Badge of Courage
+
+An Episode of the American Civil War
+
+
+by
+
+Stephen Crane
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs
+revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.  As the landscape
+changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble
+with eagerness at the noise of rumors.  It cast its eyes upon the
+roads, which were growing from long troughs of liquid mud to proper
+thoroughfares.  A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks,
+purled at the army's feet; and at night, when the stream had become of
+a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam
+of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills.
+
+Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues and went resolutely to
+wash a shirt.  He came flying back from a brook waving his garment
+bannerlike.  He was swelled with a tale he had heard from a reliable
+friend, who had heard it from a truthful cavalryman, who had heard it
+from his trustworthy brother, one of the orderlies at division
+headquarters.  He adopted the important air of a herald in red and
+gold. "We're goin' t' move t'morrah--sure," he said pompously to a
+group in the company street.  "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut
+across, an' come around in behint 'em."
+
+To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very
+brilliant campaign. When he had finished, the blue-clothed men
+scattered into small arguing groups between the rows of squat brown
+huts.  A negro teamster who had been dancing upon a cracker box with
+the hilarious encouragement of twoscore soldiers was deserted.  He sat
+mournfully down.  Smoke drifted lazily from a multitude of quaint
+chimneys.
+
+"It's a lie! that's all it is--a thunderin' lie!" said another private
+loudly.  His smooth face was flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily
+into his trousers' pockets.  He took the matter as an affront to him.
+"I don't believe the derned old army's ever going to move.  We're set.
+I've got ready to move eight times in the last two weeks, and we ain't
+moved yet."
+
+The tall soldier felt called upon to defend the truth of a rumor he
+himself had introduced. He and the loud one came near to fighting over
+it.
+
+A corporal began to swear before the assemblage.  He had just put a
+costly board floor in his house, he said.  During the early spring he
+had refrained from adding extensively to the comfort of his environment
+because he had felt that the army might start on the march at any
+moment.  Of late, however, he had been impressed that they were in a
+sort of eternal camp.
+
+Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate. One outlined in a
+peculiarly lucid manner all the plans of the commanding general.  He
+was opposed by men who advocated that there were other plans of
+campaign.  They clamored at each other, numbers making futile bids for
+the popular attention.  Meanwhile, the soldier who had fetched the
+rumor bustled about with much importance.  He was continually assailed
+by questions.
+
+"What's up, Jim?"
+
+"Th' army's goin' t' move."
+
+"Ah, what yeh talkin' about?  How yeh know it is?"
+
+"Well, yeh kin b'lieve me er not, jest as yeh like.  I don't care a
+hang."
+
+There was much food for thought in the manner in which he replied.  He
+came near to convincing them by disdaining to produce proofs. They grew
+excited over it.
+
+There was a youthful private who listened with eager ears to the words
+of the tall soldier and to the varied comments of his comrades. After
+receiving a fill of discussions concerning marches and attacks, he went
+to his hut and crawled through an intricate hole that served it as a
+door.  He wished to be alone with some new thoughts that had lately
+come to him.
+
+He lay down on a wide bank that stretched across the end of the room.
+In the other end, cracker boxes were made to serve as furniture. They
+were grouped about the fireplace.  A picture from an illustrated weekly
+was upon the log walls, and three rifles were paralleled on pegs.
+Equipments hung on handy projections, and some tin dishes lay upon a
+small pile of firewood.  A folded tent was serving as a roof.  The
+sunlight, without, beating upon it, made it glow a light yellow shade.
+A small window shot an oblique square of whiter light upon the
+cluttered floor. The smoke from the fire at times neglected the clay
+chimney and wreathed into the room, and this flimsy chimney of clay and
+sticks made endless threats to set ablaze the whole establishment.
+
+The youth was in a little trance of astonishment. So they were at last
+going to fight.  On the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and
+he would be in it.  For a time he was obliged to labor to make himself
+believe.  He could not accept with assurance an omen that he was about
+to mingle in one of those great affairs of the earth.
+
+He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody
+conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire.  In visions
+he had seen himself in many struggles.  He had imagined peoples secure
+in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess.  But awake he had regarded
+battles as crimson blotches on the pages of the past.  He had put them
+as things of the bygone with his thought-images of heavy crowns and
+high castles.  There was a portion of the world's history which he had
+regarded as the time of wars, but it, he thought, had been long gone
+over the horizon and had disappeared forever.
+
+From his home his youthful eyes had looked upon the war in his own
+country with distrust. It must be some sort of a play affair.  He had
+long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle. Such would be no
+more, he had said.  Men were better, or more timid.  Secular and
+religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else
+firm finance held in check the passions.
+
+He had burned several times to enlist.  Tales of great movements shook
+the land.  They might not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to be
+much glory in them.  He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he
+had longed to see it all. His busy mind had drawn for him large
+pictures extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.
+
+But his mother had discouraged him.  She had affected to look with some
+contempt upon the quality of his war ardor and patriotism.  She could
+calmly seat herself and with no apparent difficulty give him many
+hundreds of reasons why he was of vastly more importance on the farm
+than on the field of battle.  She had had certain ways of expression
+that told him that her statements on the subject came from a deep
+conviction.  Moreover, on her side, was his belief that her ethical
+motive in the argument was impregnable.
+
+At last, however, he had made firm rebellion against this yellow light
+thrown upon the color of his ambitions.  The newspapers, the gossip of
+the village, his own picturings had aroused him to an uncheckable
+degree.  They were in truth fighting finely down there.  Almost every
+day the newspapers printed accounts of a decisive victory.
+
+One night, as he lay in bed, the winds had carried to him the
+clangoring of the church bell as some enthusiast jerked the rope
+frantically to tell the twisted news of a great battle.  This voice of
+the people rejoicing in the night had made him shiver in a prolonged
+ecstasy of excitement.  Later, he had gone down to his mother's room
+and had spoken thus: "Ma, I'm going to enlist."
+
+"Henry, don't you be a fool," his mother had replied.  She had then
+covered her face with the quilt.  There was an end to the matter for
+that night.
+
+Nevertheless, the next morning he had gone to a town that was near his
+mother's farm and had enlisted in a company that was forming there.
+When he had returned home his mother was milking the brindle cow.  Four
+others stood waiting.  "Ma, I've enlisted," he had said to her
+diffidently.  There was a short silence.  "The Lord's will be done,
+Henry," she had finally replied, and had then continued to milk the
+brindle cow.
+
+When he had stood in the doorway with his soldier's clothes on his
+back, and with the light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes
+almost defeating the glow of regret for the home bonds, he had seen two
+tears leaving their trails on his mother's scarred cheeks.
+
+Still, she had disappointed him by saying nothing whatever about
+returning with his shield or on it.  He had privately primed himself
+for a beautiful scene.  He had prepared certain sentences which he
+thought could be used with touching effect.  But her words destroyed
+his plans.  She had doggedly peeled potatoes and addressed him as
+follows: "You watch out, Henry, an' take good care of yerself in this
+here fighting business--you watch out, an' take good care of yerself.
+Don't go a-thinkin' you can lick the hull rebel army at the start,
+because yeh can't.  Yer jest one little feller amongst a hull lot of
+others, and yeh've got to keep quiet an' do what they tell yeh.  I know
+how you are, Henry.
+
+"I've knet yeh eight pair of socks, Henry, and I've put in all yer best
+shirts, because I want my boy to be jest as warm and comf'able as
+anybody in the army.  Whenever they get holes in 'em, I want yeh to
+send 'em right-away back to me, so's I kin dern 'em.
+
+"An' allus be careful an' choose yer comp'ny. There's lots of bad men
+in the army, Henry. The army makes 'em wild, and they like nothing
+better than the job of leading off a young feller like you, as ain't
+never been away from home much and has allus had a mother, an'
+a-learning 'em to drink and swear.  Keep clear of them folks, Henry.  I
+don't want yeh to ever do anything, Henry, that yeh would be 'shamed to
+let me know about.  Jest think as if I was a-watchin' yeh.  If yeh keep
+that in yer mind allus, I guess yeh'll come out about right.
+
+"Yeh must allus remember yer father, too, child, an' remember he never
+drunk a drop of licker in his life, and seldom swore a cross oath.
+
+"I don't know what else to tell yeh, Henry, excepting that yeh must
+never do no shirking, child, on my account.  If so be a time comes when
+yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of
+anything 'cept what's right, because there's many a woman has to bear
+up 'ginst sech things these times, and the Lord 'll take keer of us all.
+
+"Don't forgit about the socks and the shirts, child; and I've put a cup
+of blackberry jam with yer bundle, because I know yeh like it above all
+things.  Good-by, Henry.  Watch out, and be a good boy."
+
+He had, of course, been impatient under the ordeal of this speech.  It
+had not been quite what he expected, and he had borne it with an air of
+irritation.  He departed feeling vague relief.
+
+Still, when he had looked back from the gate, he had seen his mother
+kneeling among the potato parings.  Her brown face, upraised, was
+stained with tears, and her spare form was quivering.  He bowed his
+head and went on, feeling suddenly ashamed of his purposes.
+
+From his home he had gone to the seminary to bid adieu to many
+schoolmates.  They had thronged about him with wonder and admiration.
+He had felt the gulf now between them and had swelled with calm pride.
+He and some of his fellows who had donned blue were quite overwhelmed
+with privileges for all of one afternoon, and it had been a very
+delicious thing.  They had strutted.
+
+A certain light-haired girl had made vivacious fun at his martial
+spirit, but there was another and darker girl whom he had gazed at
+steadfastly, and he thought she grew demure and sad at sight of his
+blue and brass.  As he had walked down the path between the rows of
+oaks, he had turned his head and detected her at a window watching his
+departure.  As he perceived her, she had immediately begun to stare up
+through the high tree branches at the sky.  He had seen a good deal of
+flurry and haste in her movement as she changed her attitude.  He often
+thought of it.
+
+On the way to Washington his spirit had soared.  The regiment was fed
+and caressed at station after station until the youth had believed that
+he must be a hero.  There was a lavish expenditure of bread and cold
+meats, coffee, and pickles and cheese.  As he basked in the smiles of
+the girls and was patted and complimented by the old men, he had felt
+growing within him the strength to do mighty deeds of arms.
+
+After complicated journeyings with many pauses, there had come months
+of monotonous life in a camp.  He had had the belief that real war was
+a series of death struggles with small time in between for sleep and
+meals; but since his regiment had come to the field the army had done
+little but sit still and try to keep warm.
+
+He was brought then gradually back to his old ideas.  Greeklike
+struggles would be no more. Men were better, or more timid.  Secular
+and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or
+else firm finance held in check the passions.
+
+He had grown to regard himself merely as a part of a vast blue
+demonstration.  His province was to look out, as far as he could, for
+his personal comfort.  For recreation he could twiddle his thumbs and
+speculate on the thoughts which must agitate the minds of the generals.
+Also, he was drilled and drilled and reviewed, and drilled and drilled
+and reviewed.
+
+The only foes he had seen were some pickets along the river bank.  They
+were a sun-tanned, philosophical lot, who sometimes shot reflectively
+at the blue pickets.  When reproached for this afterward, they usually
+expressed sorrow, and swore by their gods that the guns had exploded
+without their permission.  The youth, on guard duty one night,
+conversed across the stream with one of them.  He was a slightly ragged
+man, who spat skillfully between his shoes and possessed a great fund
+of bland and infantile assurance.  The youth liked him personally.
+
+"Yank," the other had informed him, "yer a right dum good feller." This
+sentiment, floating to him upon the still air, had made him temporarily
+regret war.
+
+Various veterans had told him tales.  Some talked of gray, bewhiskered
+hordes who were advancing with relentless curses and chewing tobacco
+with unspeakable valor; tremendous bodies of fierce soldiery who were
+sweeping along like the Huns.  Others spoke of tattered and eternally
+hungry men who fired despondent powders.  "They'll charge through
+hell's fire an' brimstone t' git a holt on a haversack, an' sech
+stomachs ain't a-lastin' long," he was told.  From the stories, the
+youth imagined the red, live bones sticking out through slits in the
+faded uniforms.
+
+Still, he could not put a whole faith in veterans' tales, for recruits
+were their prey.  They talked much of smoke, fire, and blood, but he
+could not tell how much might be lies.  They persistently yelled "Fresh
+fish!" at him, and were in no wise to be trusted.
+
+However, he perceived now that it did not greatly matter what kind of
+soldiers he was going to fight, so long as they fought, which fact no
+one disputed.  There was a more serious problem.  He lay in his bunk
+pondering upon it.  He tried to mathematically prove to himself that he
+would not run from a battle.
+
+Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle too seriously with this
+question.  In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never
+challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about
+means and roads.  But here he was confronted with a thing of moment. It
+had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He
+was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of
+himself.
+
+A sufficient time before he would have allowed the problem to kick its
+heels at the outer portals of his mind, but now he felt compelled to
+give serious attention to it.
+
+A little panic-fear grew in his mind.  As his imagination went forward
+to a fight, he saw hideous possibilities.  He contemplated the lurking
+menaces of the future, and failed in an effort to see himself standing
+stoutly in the midst of them. He recalled his visions of broken-bladed
+glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult he suspected them to
+be impossible pictures.
+
+He sprang from the bunk and began to pace nervously to and fro.  "Good
+Lord, what's th' matter with me?" he said aloud.
+
+He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were useless.  Whatever he
+had learned of himself was here of no avail.  He was an unknown
+quantity. He saw that he would again be obliged to experiment as he had
+in early youth.  He must accumulate information of himself, and
+meanwhile he resolved to remain close upon his guard lest those
+qualities of which he knew nothing should everlastingly disgrace him.
+"Good Lord!" he repeated in dismay.
+
+After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously through the hole.  The
+loud private followed. They were wrangling.
+
+"That's all right," said the tall soldier as he entered.  He waved his
+hand expressively.  "You can believe me or not, jest as you like.  All
+you got to do is to sit down and wait as quiet as you can.  Then pretty
+soon you'll find out I was right."
+
+His comrade grunted stubbornly.  For a moment he seemed to be searching
+for a formidable reply.  Finally he said: "Well, you don't know
+everything in the world, do you?"
+
+"Didn't say I knew everything in the world," retorted the other
+sharply.  He began to stow various articles snugly into his knapsack.
+
+The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure.
+"Going to be a battle, sure, is there, Jim?" he asked.
+
+"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier. "Of course there is.
+You jest wait 'til to-morrow, and you'll see one of the biggest battles
+ever was. You jest wait."
+
+"Thunder!" said the youth.
+
+"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy, what'll be regular
+out-and-out fighting," added the tall soldier, with the air of a man
+who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends.
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one from a corner.
+
+"Well," remarked the youth, "like as not this story'll turn out jest
+like them others did."
+
+"Not much it won't," replied the tall soldier, exasperated.  "Not much
+it won't.  Didn't the cavalry all start this morning?"  He glared about
+him.  No one denied his statement.  "The cavalry started this morning,"
+he continued.  "They say there ain't hardly any cavalry left in camp.
+They're going to Richmond, or some place, while we fight all the
+Johnnies.  It's some dodge like that.  The regiment's got orders, too.
+A feller what seen 'em go to headquarters told me a little while ago.
+And they're raising blazes all over camp--anybody can see that."
+
+"Shucks!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth remained silent for a time.  At last he spoke to the tall
+soldier.  "Jim!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"How do you think the reg'ment 'll do?"
+
+"Oh, they'll fight all right, I guess, after they once get into it,"
+said the other with cold judgment.  He made a fine use of the third
+person. "There's been heaps of fun poked at 'em because they're new, of
+course, and all that; but they'll fight all right, I guess."
+
+"Think any of the boys 'll run?" persisted the youth.
+
+"Oh, there may be a few of 'em run, but there's them kind in every
+regiment, 'specially when they first goes under fire," said the other
+in a tolerant way.  "Of course it might happen that the hull
+kit-and-boodle might start and run, if some big fighting came
+first-off, and then again they might stay and fight like fun.  But you
+can't bet on nothing.  Of course they ain't never been under fire yet,
+and it ain't likely they'll lick the hull rebel army all-to-oncet the
+first time; but I think they'll fight better than some, if worse than
+others.  That's the way I figger.  They call the reg'ment 'Fresh fish'
+and everything; but the boys come of good stock, and most of 'em 'll
+fight like sin after they oncet git shootin'," he added, with a mighty
+emphasis on the last four words.
+
+"Oh, you think you know--" began the loud soldier with scorn.
+
+The other turned savagely upon him.  They had a rapid altercation, in
+which they fastened upon each other various strange epithets.
+
+The youth at last interrupted them.  "Did you ever think you might run
+yourself, Jim?" he asked.  On concluding the sentence he laughed as if
+he had meant to aim a joke.  The loud soldier also giggled.
+
+The tall private waved his hand.  "Well," said he profoundly, "I've
+thought it might get too hot for Jim Conklin in some of them
+scrimmages, and if a whole lot of boys started and run, why, I s'pose
+I'd start and run.  And if I once started to run, I'd run like the
+devil, and no mistake.  But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting,
+why, I'd stand and fight.  Be jiminey, I would.  I'll bet on it."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these words of his comrade.
+He had feared that all of the untried men possessed a great and correct
+confidence.  He now was in a measure reassured.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+The next morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been
+the fast-flying messenger of a mistake.  There was much scoffing at the
+latter by those who had yesterday been firm adherents of his views, and
+there was even a little sneering by men who had never believed the
+rumor.  The tall one fought with a man from Chatfield Corners and beat
+him severely.
+
+The youth felt, however, that his problem was in no wise lifted from
+him.  There was, on the contrary, an irritating prolongation.  The tale
+had created in him a great concern for himself. Now, with the newborn
+question in his mind, he was compelled to sink back into his old place
+as part of a blue demonstration.
+
+For days he made ceaseless calculations, but they were all wondrously
+unsatisfactory.  He found that he could establish nothing.  He finally
+concluded that the only way to prove himself was to go into the blaze,
+and then figuratively to watch his legs to discover their merits and
+faults. He reluctantly admitted that he could not sit still and with a
+mental slate and pencil derive an answer.  To gain it, he must have
+blaze, blood, and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that, and
+the other.  So he fretted for an opportunity.
+
+Meanwhile he continually tried to measure himself by his comrades.  The
+tall soldier, for one, gave him some assurance.  This man's serene
+unconcern dealt him a measure of confidence, for he had known him since
+childhood, and from his intimate knowledge he did not see how he could
+be capable of anything that was beyond him, the youth.  Still, he
+thought that his comrade might be mistaken about himself. Or, on the
+other hand, he might be a man heretofore doomed to peace and obscurity,
+but, in reality, made to shine in war.
+
+The youth would have liked to have discovered another who suspected
+himself.  A sympathetic comparison of mental notes would have been a
+joy to him.
+
+He occasionally tried to fathom a comrade with seductive sentences.  He
+looked about to find men in the proper mood.  All attempts failed to
+bring forth any statement which looked in any way like a confession to
+those doubts which he privately acknowledged in himself. He was afraid
+to make an open declaration of his concern, because he dreaded to place
+some unscrupulous confidant upon the high plane of the unconfessed from
+which elevation he could be derided.
+
+In regard to his companions his mind wavered between two opinions,
+according to his mood.  Sometimes he inclined to believing them all
+heroes.  In fact, he usually admitted in secret the superior
+development of the higher qualities in others.  He could conceive of
+men going very insignificantly about the world bearing a load of
+courage unseen, and although he had known many of his comrades through
+boyhood, he began to fear that his judgment of them had been blind.
+Then, in other moments, he flouted these theories, and assured himself
+that his fellows were all privately wondering and quaking.
+
+His emotions made him feel strange in the presence of men who talked
+excitedly of a prospective battle as of a drama they were about to
+witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity apparent in their
+faces.  It was often that he suspected them to be liars.
+
+He did not pass such thoughts without severe condemnation of himself.
+He dinned reproaches at times.  He was convicted by himself of many
+shameful crimes against the gods of traditions.
+
+In his great anxiety his heart was continually clamoring at what he
+considered the intolerable slowness of the generals.  They seemed
+content to perch tranquilly on the river bank, and leave him bowed down
+by the weight of a great problem.  He wanted it settled forthwith.  He
+could not long bear such a load, he said.  Sometimes his anger at the
+commanders reached an acute stage, and he grumbled about the camp like
+a veteran.
+
+One morning, however, he found himself in the ranks of his prepared
+regiment.  The men were whispering speculations and recounting the old
+rumors.  In the gloom before the break of the day their uniforms glowed
+a deep purple hue.  From across the river the red eyes were still
+peering.  In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid
+for the feet of the coming sun; and against it, black and patternlike,
+loomed the gigantic figure of the colonel on a gigantic horse.
+
+From off in the darkness came the trampling of feet.  The youth could
+occasionally see dark shadows that moved like monsters.  The regiment
+stood at rest for what seemed a long time. The youth grew impatient. It
+was unendurable the way these affairs were managed.  He wondered how
+long they were to be kept waiting.
+
+As he looked all about him and pondered upon the mystic gloom, he began
+to believe that at any moment the ominous distance might be aflare, and
+the rolling crashes of an engagement come to his ears.  Staring once at
+the red eyes across the river, he conceived them to be growing larger,
+as the orbs of a row of dragons advancing.  He turned toward the
+colonel and saw him lift his gigantic arm and calmly stroke his
+mustache.
+
+At last he heard from along the road at the foot of the hill the
+clatter of a horse's galloping hoofs.  It must be the coming of orders.
+He bent forward, scarce breathing.  The exciting clickety-click, as it
+grew louder and louder, seemed to be beating upon his soul.  Presently
+a horseman with jangling equipment drew rein before the colonel of the
+regiment.  The two held a short, sharp-worded conversation.  The men in
+the foremost ranks craned their necks.
+
+As the horseman wheeled his animal and galloped away he turned to shout
+over his shoulder, "Don't forget that box of cigars!"  The colonel
+mumbled in reply.  The youth wondered what a box of cigars had to do
+with war.
+
+A moment later the regiment went swinging off into the darkness.  It
+was now like one of those moving monsters wending with many feet. The
+air was heavy, and cold with dew.  A mass of wet grass, marched upon,
+rustled like silk.
+
+There was an occasional flash and glimmer of steel from the backs of
+all these huge crawling reptiles.  From the road came creakings and
+grumblings as some surly guns were dragged away.
+
+The men stumbled along still muttering speculations.  There was a
+subdued debate.  Once a man fell down, and as he reached for his rifle
+a comrade, unseeing, trod upon his hand.  He of the injured fingers
+swore bitterly and aloud.  A low, tittering laugh went among his
+fellows.
+
+Presently they passed into a roadway and marched forward with easy
+strides.  A dark regiment moved before them, and from behind also came
+the tinkle of equipments on the bodies of marching men.
+
+The rushing yellow of the developing day went on behind their backs.
+When the sunrays at last struck full and mellowingly upon the earth,
+the youth saw that the landscape was streaked with two long, thin,
+black columns which disappeared on the brow of a hill in front and
+rearward vanished in a wood.  They were like two serpents crawling from
+the cavern of the night.
+
+The river was not in view.  The tall soldier burst into praises of what
+he thought to be his powers of perception.
+
+Some of the tall one's companions cried with emphasis that they, too,
+had evolved the same thing, and they congratulated themselves upon it.
+But there were others who said that the tall one's plan was not the
+true one at all.  They persisted with other theories.  There was a
+vigorous discussion.
+
+The youth took no part in them.  As he walked along in careless line he
+was engaged with his own eternal debate.  He could not hinder himself
+from dwelling upon it.  He was despondent and sullen, and threw
+shifting glances about him.  He looked ahead, often expecting to hear
+from the advance the rattle of firing.
+
+But the long serpents crawled slowly from hill to hill without bluster
+of smoke.  A dun-colored cloud of dust floated away to the right. The
+sky overhead was of a fairy blue.
+
+The youth studied the faces of his companions, ever on the watch to
+detect kindred emotions.  He suffered disappointment.  Some ardor of
+the air which was causing the veteran commands to move with
+glee--almost with song--had infected the new regiment.  The men began
+to speak of victory as of a thing they knew. Also, the tall soldier
+received his vindication. They were certainly going to come around in
+behind the enemy.  They expressed commiseration for that part of the
+army which had been left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves
+upon being a part of a blasting host.
+
+The youth, considering himself as separated from the others, was
+saddened by the blithe and merry speeches that went from rank to rank.
+The company wags all made their best endeavors.  The regiment tramped
+to the tune of laughter.
+
+The blatant soldier often convulsed whole files by his biting sarcasms
+aimed at the tall one.
+
+And it was not long before all the men seemed to forget their mission.
+Whole brigades grinned in unison, and regiments laughed.
+
+A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse from a dooryard.  He
+planned to load his knap-sack upon it.  He was escaping with his prize
+when a young girl rushed from the house and grabbed the animal's mane.
+There followed a wrangle.  The young girl, with pink cheeks and shining
+eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.
+
+The observant regiment, standing at rest in the roadway, whooped at
+once, and entered whole-souled upon the side of the maiden.  The men
+became so engrossed in this affair that they entirely ceased to
+remember their own large war. They jeered the piratical private, and
+called attention to various defects in his personal appearance; and
+they were wildly enthusiastic in support of the young girl.
+
+To her, from some distance, came bold advice. "Hit him with a stick."
+
+There were crows and catcalls showered upon him when he retreated
+without the horse. The regiment rejoiced at his downfall.  Loud and
+vociferous congratulations were showered upon the maiden, who stood
+panting and regarding the troops with defiance.
+
+At nightfall the column broke into regimental pieces, and the fragments
+went into the fields to camp.  Tents sprang up like strange plants.
+Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.
+
+The youth kept from intercourse with his companions as much as
+circumstances would allow him.  In the evening he wandered a few paces
+into the gloom.  From this little distance the many fires, with the
+black forms of men passing to and fro before the crimson rays, made
+weird and satanic effects.
+
+He lay down in the grass.  The blades pressed tenderly against his
+cheek.  The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop. The liquid
+stillness of the night enveloping him made him feel vast pity for
+himself.  There was a caress in the soft winds; and the whole mood of
+the darkness, he thought, was one of sympathy for himself in his
+distress.
+
+He wished, without reserve, that he was at home again making the
+endless rounds from the house to the barn, from the barn to the fields,
+from the fields to the barn, from the barn to the house.  He remembered
+he had often cursed the brindle cow and her mates, and had sometimes
+flung milking stools.  But, from his present point of view, there was a
+halo of happiness about each of their heads, and he would have
+sacrificed all the brass buttons on the continent to have been enabled
+to return to them.  He told himself that he was not formed for a
+soldier.  And he mused seriously upon the radical differences between
+himself and those men who were dodging imp-like around the fires.
+
+As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass, and, upon turning his
+head, discovered the loud soldier.  He called out, "Oh, Wilson!"
+
+The latter approached and looked down. "Why, hello, Henry; is it you?
+What you doing here?"
+
+"Oh, thinking," said the youth.
+
+The other sat down and carefully lighted his pipe.  "You're getting
+blue, my boy.  You're looking thundering peeked.  What the dickens is
+wrong with you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," said the youth.
+
+The loud soldier launched then into the subject of the anticipated
+fight.  "Oh, we've got 'em now!"  As he spoke his boyish face was
+wreathed in a gleeful smile, and his voice had an exultant ring. "We've
+got 'em now.  At last, by the eternal thunders, we'll lick 'em good!"
+
+"If the truth was known," he added, more soberly, "THEY'VE licked US
+about every clip up to now; but this time--this time--we'll lick 'em
+good!"
+
+"I thought you was objecting to this march a little while ago," said
+the youth coldly.
+
+"Oh, it wasn't that," explained the other.  "I don't mind marching, if
+there's going to be fighting at the end of it.  What I hate is this
+getting moved here and moved there, with no good coming of it, as far
+as I can see, excepting sore feet and damned short rations."
+
+"Well, Jim Conklin says we'll get a plenty of fighting this time."
+
+"He's right for once, I guess, though I can't see how it come.  This
+time we're in for a big battle, and we've got the best end of it,
+certain sure.  Gee rod! how we will thump 'em!"
+
+He arose and began to pace to and fro excitedly.  The thrill of his
+enthusiasm made him walk with an elastic step.  He was sprightly,
+vigorous, fiery in his belief in success.  He looked into the future
+with clear, proud eye, and he swore with the air of an old soldier.
+
+The youth watched him for a moment in silence.  When he finally spoke
+his voice was as bitter as dregs.  "Oh, you're going to do great
+things, I s'pose!"
+
+The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of smoke from his pipe.  "Oh,
+I don't know," he remarked with dignity; "I don't know.  I s'pose I'll
+do as well as the rest.  I'm going to try like thunder."  He evidently
+complimented himself upon the modesty of this statement.
+
+"How do you know you won't run when the time comes?" asked the youth.
+
+"Run?" said the loud one; "run?--of course not!"  He laughed.
+
+"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-a-'nough men have thought
+they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time
+come they skedaddled."
+
+"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the other; "but I'm not going
+to skedaddle.  The man that bets on my running will lose his money,
+that's all."  He nodded confidently.
+
+"Oh, shucks!" said the youth.  "You ain't the bravest man in the world,
+are you?"
+
+"No, I ain't," exclaimed the loud soldier indignantly; "and I didn't
+say I was the bravest man in the world, neither.  I said I was going to
+do my share of fighting--that's what I said.  And I am, too.  Who are
+you, anyhow.  You talk as if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte."
+He glared at the youth for a moment, and then strode away.
+
+The youth called in a savage voice after his comrade: "Well, you
+needn't git mad about it!" But the other continued on his way and made
+no reply.
+
+He felt alone in space when his injured comrade had disappeared.  His
+failure to discover any mite of resemblance in their view points made
+him more miserable than before.  No one seemed to be wrestling with
+such a terrific personal problem.  He was a mental outcast.
+
+He went slowly to his tent and stretched himself on a blanket by the
+side of the snoring tall soldier.  In the darkness he saw visions of a
+thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to
+flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He
+admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster.  He felt
+that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while
+other men would remain stolid and deaf.
+
+And as he sweated with the pain of these thoughts, he could hear low,
+serene sentences. "I'll bid five."  "Make it six."  "Seven." "Seven
+goes."
+
+He stared at the red, shivering reflection of a fire on the white wall
+of his tent until, exhausted and ill from the monotony of his
+suffering, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHEN another night came the columns, changed to purple streaks, filed
+across two pontoon bridges.  A glaring fire wine-tinted the waters of
+the river.  Its rays, shining upon the moving masses of troops, brought
+forth here and there sudden gleams of silver or gold.  Upon the other
+shore a dark and mysterious range of hills was curved against the sky.
+The insect voices of the night sang solemnly.
+
+After this crossing the youth assured himself that at any moment they
+might be suddenly and fearfully assaulted from the caves of the
+lowering woods.  He kept his eyes watchfully upon the darkness.
+
+But his regiment went unmolested to a camping place, and its soldiers
+slept the brave sleep of wearied men.  In the morning they were routed
+out with early energy, and hustled along a narrow road that led deep
+into the forest.
+
+It was during this rapid march that the regiment lost many of the marks
+of a new command.
+
+The men had begun to count the miles upon their fingers, and they grew
+tired.  "Sore feet an' damned short rations, that's all," said the loud
+soldier.  There was perspiration and grumblings.  After a time they
+began to shed their knapsacks.  Some tossed them unconcernedly down;
+others hid them carefully, asserting their plans to return for them at
+some convenient time.  Men extricated themselves from thick shirts.
+Presently few carried anything but their necessary clothing, blankets,
+haversacks, canteens, and arms and ammunition.  "You can now eat and
+shoot," said the tall soldier to the youth. "That's all you want to do."
+
+There was sudden change from the ponderous infantry of theory to the
+light and speedy infantry of practice.  The regiment, relieved of a
+burden, received a new impetus.  But there was much loss of valuable
+knapsacks, and, on the whole, very good shirts.
+
+But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in appearance.  Veteran
+regiments in the army were likely to be very small aggregations of men.
+Once, when the command had first come to the field, some perambulating
+veterans, noting the length of their column, had accosted them thus:
+"Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?"  And when the men had replied
+that they formed a regiment and not a brigade, the older soldiers had
+laughed, and said, "O Gawd!"
+
+Also, there was too great a similarity in the hats.  The hats of a
+regiment should properly represent the history of headgear for a period
+of years.  And, moreover, there were no letters of faded gold speaking
+from the colors.  They were new and beautiful, and the color bearer
+habitually oiled the pole.
+
+Presently the army again sat down to think. The odor of the peaceful
+pines was in the men's nostrils.  The sound of monotonous axe blows
+rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding upon their perches,
+crooned like old women. The youth returned to his theory of a blue
+demonstration.
+
+One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in the leg by the tall soldier,
+and then, before he was entirely awake, he found himself running down a
+wood road in the midst of men who were panting from the first effects
+of speed.  His canteen banged rhythmically upon his thigh, and his
+haversack bobbed softly.  His musket bounced a trifle from his shoulder
+at each stride and made his cap feel uncertain upon his head.
+
+He could hear the men whisper jerky sentences: "Say--what's all
+this--about?"  "What th' thunder--we--skedaddlin' this way fer?"
+"Billie--keep off m' feet.  Yeh run--like a cow." And the loud
+soldier's shrill voice could be heard: "What th' devil they in sich a
+hurry for?"
+
+The youth thought the damp fog of early morning moved from the rush of
+a great body of troops.  From the distance came a sudden spatter of
+firing.
+
+He was bewildered.  As he ran with his comrades he strenuously tried to
+think, but all he knew was that if he fell down those coming behind
+would tread upon him.  All his faculties seemed to be needed to guide
+him over and past obstructions.  He felt carried along by a mob.
+
+The sun spread disclosing rays, and, one by one, regiments burst into
+view like armed men just born of the earth.  The youth perceived that
+the time had come.  He was about to be measured.  For a moment he felt
+in the face of his great trial like a babe, and the flesh over his
+heart seemed very thin.  He seized time to look about him calculatingly.
+
+But he instantly saw that it would be impossible for him to escape from
+the regiment.  It inclosed him.  And there were iron laws of tradition
+and law on four sides.  He was in a moving box.
+
+As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished
+to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will.  He had been
+dragged by the merciless government.  And now they were taking him out
+to be slaughtered.
+
+The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed across a little stream.  The
+mournful current moved slowly on, and from the water, shaded black,
+some white bubble eyes looked at the men.
+
+As they climbed the hill on the farther side artillery began to boom.
+Here the youth forgot many things as he felt a sudden impulse of
+curiosity.  He scrambled up the bank with a speed that could not be
+exceeded by a bloodthirsty man.
+
+He expected a battle scene.
+
+There were some little fields girted and squeezed by a forest.  Spread
+over the grass and in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and
+waving lines of skirmishers who were running hither and thither and
+firing at the landscape. A dark battle line lay upon a sunstruck
+clearing that gleamed orange color.  A flag fluttered.
+
+Other regiments floundered up the bank.  The brigade was formed in line
+of battle, and after a pause started slowly through the woods in the
+rear of the receding skirmishers, who were continually melting into the
+scene to appear again farther on.  They were always busy as bees,
+deeply absorbed in their little combats.
+
+The youth tried to observe everything.  He did not use care to avoid
+trees and branches, and his forgotten feet were constantly knocking
+against stones or getting entangled in briers. He was aware that these
+battalions with their commotions were woven red and startling into the
+gentle fabric of softened greens and browns. It looked to be a wrong
+place for a battle field.
+
+The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into thickets
+and at distant and prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies--hidden,
+mysterious, solemn.
+
+Once the line encountered the body of a dead soldier.  He lay upon his
+back staring at the sky. He was dressed in an awkward suit of yellowish
+brown.  The youth could see that the soles of his shoes had been worn
+to the thinness of writing paper, and from a great rent in one the dead
+foot projected piteously.  And it was as if fate had betrayed the
+soldier.  In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life
+he had perhaps concealed from his friends.
+
+The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse. The invulnerable dead
+man forced a way for himself.  The youth looked keenly at the ashen
+face. The wind raised the tawny beard.  It moved as if a hand were
+stroking it.  He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and
+stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer
+to the Question.
+
+During the march the ardor which the youth had acquired when out of
+view of the field rapidly faded to nothing.  His curiosity was quite
+easily satisfied.  If an intense scene had caught him with its wild
+swing as he came to the top of the bank, he might have gone roaring on.
+This advance upon Nature was too calm.  He had opportunity to reflect.
+He had time in which to wonder about himself and to attempt to probe
+his sensations.
+
+Absurd ideas took hold upon him.  He thought that he did not relish the
+landscape. It threatened him.  A coldness swept over his back, and it
+is true that his trousers felt to him that they were no fit for his
+legs at all.
+
+A house standing placidly in distant fields had to him an ominous look.
+The shadows of the woods were formidable.  He was certain that in this
+vista there lurked fierce-eyed hosts.  The swift thought came to him
+that the generals did not know what they were about.  It was all a
+trap.  Suddenly those close forests would bristle with rifle barrels.
+Ironlike brigades would appear in the rear.  They were all going to be
+sacrificed.  The generals were stupids.  The enemy would presently
+swallow the whole command.  He glared about him, expecting to see the
+stealthy approach of his death.
+
+He thought that he must break from the ranks and harangue his comrades.
+They must not all be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would come to
+pass unless they were informed of these dangers.  The generals were
+idiots to send them marching into a regular pen.  There was but one
+pair of eyes in the corps.  He would step forth and make a speech.
+Shrill and passionate words came to his lips.
+
+The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on
+through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and
+saw, for the most part, expressions of deep interest, as if they were
+investigating something that had fascinated them.  One or two stepped
+with overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged into war.  Others
+walked as upon thin ice.  The greater part of the untested men appeared
+quiet and absorbed.  They were going to look at war, the red
+animal--war, the blood-swollen god.  And they were deeply engrossed in
+this march.
+
+As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at his throat.  He saw that
+even if the men were tottering with fear they would laugh at his
+warning.  They would jeer him, and, if practicable, pelt him with
+missiles.  Admitting that he might be wrong, a frenzied declamation of
+the kind would turn him into a worm.
+
+He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who knows that he is doomed alone
+to unwritten responsibilities.  He lagged, with tragic glances at the
+sky.
+
+He was surprised presently by the young lieutenant of his company, who
+began heartily to beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and
+insolent voice: "Come, young man, get up into ranks there.  No
+skulking'll do here."  He mended his pace with suitable haste.  And he
+hated the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine minds.  He was a
+mere brute.
+
+After a time the brigade was halted in the cathedral light of a forest.
+The busy skirmishers were still popping.  Through the aisles of the
+wood could be seen the floating smoke from their rifles.  Sometimes it
+went up in little balls, white and compact.
+
+During this halt many men in the regiment began erecting tiny hills in
+front of them.  They used stones, sticks, earth, and anything they
+thought might turn a bullet.  Some built comparatively large ones,
+while others seemed content with little ones.
+
+This procedure caused a discussion among the men.  Some wished to fight
+like duelists, believing it to be correct to stand erect and be, from
+their feet to their foreheads, a mark.  They said they scorned the
+devices of the cautious.  But the others scoffed in reply, and pointed
+to the veterans on the flanks who were digging at the ground like
+terriers.  In a short time there was quite a barricade along the
+regimental fronts. Directly, however, they were ordered to withdraw
+from that place.
+
+This astounded the youth.  He forgot his stewing over the advance
+movement.  "Well, then, what did they march us out here for?" he
+demanded of the tall soldier.  The latter with calm faith began a heavy
+explanation, although he had been compelled to leave a little
+protection of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much care and
+skill.
+
+When the regiment was aligned in another position each man's regard for
+his safety caused another line of small intrenchments.  They ate their
+noon meal behind a third one.  They were moved from this one also. They
+were marched from place to place with apparent aimlessness.
+
+The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle.
+He saw his salvation in such a change.  Hence this waiting was an
+ordeal to him.  He was in a fever of impatience.  He considered that
+there was denoted a lack of purpose on the part of the generals. He
+began to complain to the tall soldier.  "I can't stand this much
+longer," he cried.  "I don't see what good it does to make us wear out
+our legs for nothin'."  He wished to return to camp, knowing that this
+affair was a blue demonstration; or else to go into a battle and
+discover that he had been a fool in his doubts, and was, in truth, a
+man of traditional courage. The strain of present circumstances he felt
+to be intolerable.
+
+The philosophical tall soldier measured a sandwich of cracker and pork
+and swallowed it in a nonchalant manner.  "Oh, I suppose we must go
+reconnoitering around the country jest to keep 'em from getting too
+close, or to develop 'em, or something."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud soldier.
+
+"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd rather do anything 'most
+than go tramping 'round the country all day doing no good to nobody and
+jest tiring ourselves out."
+
+"So would I," said the loud soldier.  "It ain't right.  I tell you if
+anybody with any sense was a-runnin' this army it--"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private.  "You little fool.  You little
+damn' cuss.  You ain't had that there coat and them pants on for six
+months, and yet you talk as if--"
+
+"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway," interrupted the other.  "I
+didn't come here to walk.  I could 'ave walked to home--'round an'
+'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk."
+
+The tall one, red-faced, swallowed another sandwich as if taking poison
+in despair.
+
+But gradually, as he chewed, his face became again quiet and contented.
+He could not rage in fierce argument in the presence of such
+sandwiches.  During his meals he always wore an air of blissful
+contemplation of the food he had swallowed.  His spirit seemed then to
+be communing with the viands.
+
+He accepted new environment and circumstance with great coolness,
+eating from his haversack at every opportunity.  On the march he went
+along with the stride of a hunter, objecting to neither gait nor
+distance.  And he had not raised his voice when he had been ordered
+away from three little protective piles of earth and stone, each of
+which had been an engineering feat worthy of being made sacred to the
+name of his grandmother.
+
+In the afternoon the regiment went out over the same ground it had
+taken in the morning.  The landscape then ceased to threaten the youth.
+He had been close to it and become familiar with it.
+
+When, however, they began to pass into a new region, his old fears of
+stupidity and incompetence reassailed him, but this time he doggedly
+let them babble.  He was occupied with his problem, and in his
+desperation he concluded that the stupidity did not greatly matter.
+
+Once he thought he had concluded that it would be better to get killed
+directly and end his troubles.  Regarding death thus out of the corner
+of his eye, he conceived it to be nothing but rest, and he was filled
+with a momentary astonishment that he should have made an extraordinary
+commotion over the mere matter of getting killed.  He would die; he
+would go to some place where he would be understood. It was useless to
+expect appreciation of his profound and fine senses from such men as
+the lieutenant.  He must look to the grave for comprehension.
+
+The skirmish fire increased to a long chattering sound.  With it was
+mingled far-away cheering.  A battery spoke.
+
+Directly the youth would see the skirmishers running.  They were
+pursued by the sound of musketry fire.  After a time the hot, dangerous
+flashes of the rifles were visible.  Smoke clouds went slowly and
+insolently across the fields like observant phantoms.  The din became
+crescendo, like the roar of an oncoming train.
+
+A brigade ahead of them and on the right went into action with a
+rending roar.  It was as if it had exploded.  And thereafter it lay
+stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall, that one was obliged
+to look twice at to make sure that it was smoke.
+
+The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spell
+bound.  His eyes grew wide and busy with the action of the scene.  His
+mouth was a little ways open.
+
+Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid upon his shoulder.
+Awakening from his trance of observation he turned and beheld the loud
+soldier.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said the latter, with intense
+gloom.  He was quite pale and his girlish lip was trembling.
+
+"Eh?" murmured the youth in great astonishment.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," continued the loud soldier.
+"Something tells me--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I'm a gone coon this first time and--and I w-want you to take these
+here things--to--my--folks."  He ended in a quavering sob of pity for
+himself.  He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow
+envelope.
+
+"Why, what the devil--" began the youth again.
+
+But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and
+raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner and turned away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The brigade was halted in the fringe of a grove.  The men crouched
+among the trees and pointed their restless guns out at the fields. They
+tried to look beyond the smoke.
+
+Out of this haze they could see running men. Some shouted information
+and gestured as they hurried.
+
+The men of the new regiment watched and listened eagerly, while their
+tongues ran on in gossip of the battle.  They mouthed rumors that had
+flown like birds out of the unknown.
+
+"They say Perry has been driven in with big loss."
+
+"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital.  He said he was sick.  That smart
+lieutenant is commanding 'G' Company.  Th' boys say they won't be under
+Carrott no more if they all have t' desert. They allus knew he was a--"
+
+"Hannises' batt'ry is took."
+
+"It ain't either.  I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on th' left not more'n
+fifteen minutes ago."
+
+"Well--"
+
+"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull cammand of th' 304th
+when we go inteh action, an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as
+never another one reg'ment done."
+
+"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left. They say th' enemy driv'
+our line inteh a devil of a swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."
+
+"No sech thing.  Hannises' batt'ry was 'long here 'bout a minute ago."
+
+"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a good off'cer.  He ain't afraid 'a
+nothin'."
+
+"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he ses his brigade fit th' hull
+rebel army fer four hours over on th' turnpike road an' killed about
+five thousand of 'em.  He ses one more sech fight as that an' th' war
+'ll be over."
+
+"Bill wasn't scared either.  No, sir!  It wasn't that.  Bill ain't
+a-gittin' scared easy.  He was jest mad, that's what he was.  When that
+feller trod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin' t' give his
+hand t' his country, but he be dumbed if he was goin' t' have every
+dumb bushwhacker in th' kentry walkin' 'round on it.  Se he went t' th'
+hospital disregardless of th' fight.  Three fingers was crunched.  Th'
+dern doctor wanted t' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he raised a heluva row, I
+hear.  He's a funny feller."
+
+The din in front swelled to a tremendous chorus.  The youth and his
+fellows were frozen to silence.  They could see a flag that tossed in
+the smoke angrily.  Near it were the blurred and agitated forms of
+troops.  There came a turbulent stream of men across the fields.  A
+battery changing position at a frantic gallop scattered the stragglers
+right and left.
+
+A shell screaming like a storm banshee went over the huddled heads of
+the reserves.  It landed in the grove, and exploding redly flung the
+brown earth.  There was a little shower of pine needles.
+
+Bullets began to whistle among the branches and nip at the trees. Twigs
+and leaves came sailing down.  It was as if a thousand axes, wee and
+invisible, were being wielded.  Many of the men were constantly dodging
+and ducking their heads.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company was shot in the hand.  He began
+to swear so wondrously that a nervous laugh went along the regimental
+line.  The officer's profanity sounded conventional.  It relieved the
+tightened senses of the new men.  It was as if he had hit his fingers
+with a tack hammer at home.
+
+He held the wounded member carefully away from his side so that the
+blood would not drip upon his trousers.
+
+The captain of the company, tucking his sword under his arm, produced a
+handkerchief and began to bind with it the lieutenant's wound. And they
+disputed as to how the binding should be done.
+
+The battle flag in the distance jerked about madly.  It seemed to be
+struggling to free itself from an agony.  The billowing smoke was
+filled with horizontal flashes.
+
+Men running swiftly emerged from it.  They grew in numbers until it was
+seen that the whole command was fleeing.  The flag suddenly sank down
+as if dying.  Its motion as it fell was a gesture of despair.
+
+Wild yells came from behind the walls of smoke.  A sketch in gray and
+red dissolved into a moblike body of men who galloped like wild horses.
+
+The veteran regiments on the right and left of the 304th immediately
+began to jeer.  With the passionate song of the bullets and the banshee
+shrieks of shells were mingled loud catcalls and bits of facetious
+advice concerning places of safety.
+
+But the new regiment was breathless with horror.  "Gawd!  Saunders's
+got crushed!" whispered the man at the youth's elbow.  They shrank back
+and crouched as if compelled to await a flood.
+
+The youth shot a swift glance along the blue ranks of the regiment. The
+profiles were motionless, carven; and afterward he remembered that the
+color sergeant was standing with his legs apart, as if he expected to
+be pushed to the ground.
+
+The following throng went whirling around the flank.  Here and there
+were officers carried along on the stream like exasperated chips.  They
+were striking about them with their swords and with their left fists,
+punching every head they could reach.  They cursed like highwaymen.
+
+A mounted officer displayed the furious anger of a spoiled child.  He
+raged with his head, his arms, and his legs.
+
+Another, the commander of the brigade, was galloping about bawling. His
+hat was gone and his clothes were awry.  He resembled a man who has
+come from bed to go to a fire.  The hoofs of his horse often threatened
+the heads of the running men, but they scampered with singular fortune.
+In this rush they were apparently all deaf and blind.  They heeded not
+the largest and longest of the oaths that were thrown at them from all
+directions.
+
+Frequently over this tumult could be heard the grim jokes of the
+critical veterans; but the retreating men apparently were not even
+conscious of the presence of an audience.
+
+The battle reflection that shone for an instant in the faces on the mad
+current made the youth feel that forceful hands from heaven would not
+have been able to have held him in place if he could have got
+intelligent control of his legs.
+
+There was an appalling imprint upon these faces.  The struggle in the
+smoke had pictured an exaggeration of itself on the bleached cheeks and
+in the eyes wild with one desire.
+
+The sight of this stampede exerted a floodlike force that seemed able
+to drag sticks and stones and men from the ground.  They of the
+reserves had to hold on.  They grew pale and firm, and red and quaking.
+
+The youth achieved one little thought in the midst of this chaos.  The
+composite monster which had caused the other troops to flee had not
+then appeared.  He resolved to get a view of it, and then, he thought
+he might very likely run better than the best of them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+There were moments of waiting.  The youth thought of the village street
+at home before the arrival of the circus parade on a day in the spring.
+He remembered how he had stood, a small, thrillful boy, prepared to
+follow the dingy lady upon the white horse, or the band in its faded
+chariot.  He saw the yellow road, the lines of expectant people, and
+the sober houses. He particularly remembered an old fellow who used to
+sit upon a cracker box in front of the store and feign to despise such
+exhibitions.  A thousand details of color and form surged in his mind.
+The old fellow upon the cracker box appeared in middle prominence.
+
+Some one cried, "Here they come!"
+
+There was rustling and muttering among the men.  They displayed a
+feverish desire to have every possible cartridge ready to their hands.
+The boxes were pulled around into various positions, and adjusted with
+great care.  It was as if seven hundred new bonnets were being tried on.
+
+The tall soldier, having prepared his rifle, produced a red
+handkerchief of some kind.  He was engaged in knitting it about his
+throat with exquisite attention to its position, when the cry was
+repeated up and down the line in a muffled roar of sound.
+
+"Here they come!  Here they come!"  Gun locks clicked.
+
+Across the smoke-infested fields came a brown swarm of running men who
+were giving shrill yells.  They came on, stooping and swinging their
+rifles at all angles.  A flag, tilted forward, sped near the front.
+
+As he caught sight of them the youth was momentarily startled by a
+thought that perhaps his gun was not loaded.  He stood trying to rally
+his faltering intellect so that he might recollect the moment when he
+had loaded, but he could not.
+
+A hatless general pulled his dripping horse to a stand near the colonel
+of the 304th.  He shook his fist in the other's face.  "You 've got to
+hold 'em back!" he shouted, savagely; "you 've got to hold 'em back!"
+
+In his agitation the colonel began to stammer. "A-all r-right, General,
+all right, by Gawd!  We--we'll do our--we-we'll d-d-do--do our best,
+General."  The general made a passionate gesture and galloped away. The
+colonel, perchance to relieve his feelings, began to scold like a wet
+parrot.  The youth, turning swiftly to make sure that the rear was
+unmolested, saw the commander regarding his men in a highly regretful
+manner, as if he regretted above everything his association with them.
+
+The man at the youth's elbow was mumbling, as if to himself: "Oh, we
+'re in for it now! oh, we 're in for it now!"
+
+The captain of the company had been pacing excitedly to and fro in the
+rear.  He coaxed in schoolmistress fashion, as to a congregation of
+boys with primers.  His talk was an endless repetition.  "Reserve your
+fire, boys--don't shoot till I tell you--save your fire--wait till they
+get close up--don't be damned fools--"
+
+Perspiration streamed down the youth's face, which was soiled like that
+of a weeping urchin. He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped his
+eyes with his coat sleeve.  His mouth was still a little ways open.
+
+He got the one glance at the foe-swarming field in front of him, and
+instantly ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded.
+Before he was ready to begin--before he had announced to himself that
+he was about to fight--he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into
+position and fired a first wild shot.  Directly he was working at his
+weapon like an automatic affair.
+
+He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing
+fate.  He became not a man but a member.  He felt that something of
+which he was a part--a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country--was in
+a crisis.  He was welded into a common personality which was dominated
+by a single desire.  For some moments he could not flee no more than a
+little finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
+
+If he had thought the regiment was about to be annihilated perhaps he
+could have amputated himself from it.  But its noise gave him
+assurance.  The regiment was like a firework that, once ignited,
+proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It
+wheezed and banged with a mighty power.  He pictured the ground before
+it as strewn with the discomfited.
+
+There was a consciousness always of the presence of his comrades about
+him.  He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the
+cause for which they were fighting.  It was a mysterious fraternity
+born of the smoke and danger of death.
+
+He was at a task.  He was like a carpenter who has made many boxes,
+making still another box, only there was furious haste in his
+movements.  He, in his thought, was careering off in other places, even
+as the carpenter who as he works whistles and thinks of his friend or
+his enemy, his home or a saloon.  And these jolted dreams were never
+perfect to him afterward, but remained a mass of blurred shapes.
+
+Presently he began to feel the effects of the war atmosphere--a
+blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs were about to crack
+like hot stones.  A burning roar filled his ears.
+
+Following this came a red rage.  He developed the acute exasperation of
+a pestered animal, a well-meaning cow worried by dogs.  He had a mad
+feeling against his rifle, which could only be used against one life at
+a time.  He wished to rush forward and strangle with his fingers.  He
+craved a power that would enable him to make a world-sweeping gesture
+and brush all back.  His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage
+into that of a driven beast.
+
+Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger was directed not so much
+against the men whom he knew were rushing toward him as against the
+swirling battle phantoms which were choking him, stuffing their smoke
+robes down his parched throat.  He fought frantically for respite for
+his senses, for air, as a babe being smothered attacks the deadly
+blankets.
+
+There was a blare of heated rage mingled with a certain expression of
+intentness on all faces. Many of the men were making low-toned noises
+with their mouths, and these subdued cheers, snarls, imprecations,
+prayers, made a wild, barbaric song that went as an undercurrent of
+sound, strange and chantlike with the resounding chords of the war
+march.  The man at the youth's elbow was babbling.  In it there was
+something soft and tender like the monologue of a babe.  The tall
+soldier was swearing in a loud voice.  From his lips came a black
+procession of curious oaths.  Of a sudden another broke out in a
+querulous way like a man who has mislaid his hat.  "Well, why don't
+they support us?  Why don't they send supports?  Do they think--"
+
+The youth in his battle sleep heard this as one who dozes hears.
+
+There was a singular absence of heroic poses. The men bending and
+surging in their haste and rage were in every impossible attitude.  The
+steel ramrods clanked and clanged with incessant din as the men pounded
+them furiously into the hot rifle barrels.  The flaps of the cartridge
+boxes were all unfastened, and bobbed idiotically with each movement.
+The rifles, once loaded, were jerked to the shoulder and fired without
+apparent aim into the smoke or at one of the blurred and shifting forms
+which upon the field before the regiment had been growing larger and
+larger like puppets under a magician's hand.
+
+The officers, at their intervals, rearward, neglected to stand in
+picturesque attitudes.  They were bobbing to and fro roaring directions
+and encouragements.  The dimensions of their howls were extraordinary.
+They expended their lungs with prodigal wills.  And often they nearly
+stood upon their heads in their anxiety to observe the enemy on the
+other side of the tumbling smoke.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company had encountered a soldier who had
+fled screaming at the first volley of his comrades.  Behind the lines
+these two were acting a little isolated scene.  The man was blubbering
+and staring with sheeplike eyes at the lieutenant, who had seized him
+by the collar and was pommeling him.  He drove him back into the ranks
+with many blows.  The soldier went mechanically, dully, with his
+animal-like eyes upon the officer.  Perhaps there was to him a divinity
+expressed in the voice of the other--stern, hard, with no reflection of
+fear in it.  He tried to reload his gun, but his shaking hands
+prevented.  The lieutenant was obliged to assist him.
+
+The men dropped here and there like bundles. The captain of the youth's
+company had been killed in an early part of the action.  His body lay
+stretched out in the position of a tired man resting, but upon his face
+there was an astonished and sorrowful look, as if he thought some
+friend had done him an ill turn.  The babbling man was grazed by a shot
+that made the blood stream widely down his face.  He clapped both hands
+to his head.  "Oh!" he said, and ran.  Another grunted suddenly as if
+he had been struck by a club in the stomach.  He sat down and gazed
+ruefully.  In his eyes there was mute, indefinite reproach.  Farther up
+the line a man, standing behind a tree, had had his knee joint
+splintered by a ball.  Immediately he had dropped his rifle and gripped
+the tree with both arms.  And there he remained, clinging desperately
+and crying for assistance that he might withdraw his hold upon the tree.
+
+At last an exultant yell went along the quivering line.  The firing
+dwindled from an uproar to a last vindictive popping.  As the smoke
+slowly eddied away, the youth saw that the charge had been repulsed.
+The enemy were scattered into reluctant groups.  He saw a man climb to
+the top of the fence, straddle the rail, and fire a parting shot.  The
+waves had receded, leaving bits of dark debris upon the ground.
+
+Some in the regiment began to whoop frenziedly.  Many were silent.
+Apparently they were trying to contemplate themselves.
+
+After the fever had left his veins, the youth thought that at last he
+was going to suffocate. He became aware of the foul atmosphere in which
+he had been struggling.  He was grimy and dripping like a laborer in a
+foundry.  He grasped his canteen and took a long swallow of the warmed
+water.
+
+A sentence with variations went up and down the line.  "Well, we 've
+helt 'em back.  We 've helt 'em back; derned if we haven't."  The men
+said it blissfully, leering at each other with dirty smiles.
+
+The youth turned to look behind him and off to the right and off to the
+left.  He experienced the joy of a man who at last finds leisure in
+which to look about him.
+
+Under foot there were a few ghastly forms motionless.  They lay twisted
+in fantastic contortions.  Arms were bent and heads were turned in
+incredible ways.  It seemed that the dead men must have fallen from
+some great height to get into such positions.  They looked to be dumped
+out upon the ground from the sky.
+
+From a position in the rear of the grove a battery was throwing shells
+over it.  The flash of the guns startled the youth at first.  He
+thought they were aimed directly at him.  Through the trees he watched
+the black figures of the gunners as they worked swiftly and intently.
+Their labor seemed a complicated thing.  He wondered how they could
+remember its formula in the midst of confusion.
+
+The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs. They argued with abrupt
+violence.  It was a grim pow-wow.  Their busy servants ran hither and
+thither.
+
+A small procession of wounded men were going drearily toward the rear.
+It was a flow of blood from the torn body of the brigade.
+
+To the right and to the left were the dark lines of other troops.  Far
+in front he thought he could see lighter masses protruding in points
+from the forest.  They were suggestive of unnumbered thousands.
+
+Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing along the line of the horizon.
+The tiny riders were beating the tiny horses.
+
+From a sloping hill came the sound of cheerings and clashes.  Smoke
+welled slowly through the leaves.
+
+Batteries were speaking with thunderous oratorical effort.  Here and
+there were flags, the red in the stripes dominating.  They splashed
+bits of warm color upon the dark lines of troops.
+
+The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblem.  They were
+like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in a storm.
+
+As he listened to the din from the hillside, to a deep pulsating
+thunder that came from afar to the left, and to the lesser clamors
+which came from many directions, it occurred to him that they were
+fighting, too, over there, and over there, and over there.  Heretofore
+he had supposed that all the battle was directly under his nose.
+
+As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash of astonishment at the
+blue, pure sky and the sun gleamings on the trees and fields.  It was
+surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process
+in the midst of so much devilment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The youth awakened slowly.  He came gradually back to a position from
+which he could regard himself.  For moments he had been scrutinizing
+his person in a dazed way as if he had never before seen himself.  Then
+he picked up his cap from the ground.  He wriggled in his jacket to
+make a more comfortable fit, and kneeling relaced his shoe.  He
+thoughtfully mopped his reeking features.
+
+So it was all over at last!  The supreme trial had been passed.  The
+red, formidable difficulties of war had been vanquished.
+
+He went into an ecstasy of self-satisfaction. He had the most
+delightful sensations of his life. Standing as if apart from himself,
+he viewed that last scene.  He perceived that the man who had fought
+thus was magnificent.
+
+He felt that he was a fine fellow.  He saw himself even with those
+ideals which he had considered as far beyond him.  He smiled in deep
+gratification.
+
+Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and good will.  "Gee! ain't it
+hot, hey?" he said affably to a man who was polishing his streaming
+face with his coat sleeves.
+
+"You bet!" said the other, grinning sociably. "I never seen sech dumb
+hotness."  He sprawled out luxuriously on the ground.  "Gee, yes!  An'
+I hope we don't have no more fightin' till a week from Monday."
+
+There were some handshakings and deep speeches with men whose features
+were familiar, but with whom the youth now felt the bonds of tied
+hearts.  He helped a cursing comrade to bind up a wound of the shin.
+
+But, of a sudden, cries of amazement broke out along the ranks of the
+new regiment.  "Here they come ag'in!  Here they come ag'in!"  The man
+who had sprawled upon the ground started up and said, "Gosh!"
+
+The youth turned quick eyes upon the field. He discerned forms begin to
+swell in masses out of a distant wood.  He again saw the tilted flag
+speeding forward.
+
+The shells, which had ceased to trouble the regiment for a time, came
+swirling again, and exploded in the grass or among the leaves of the
+trees.  They looked to be strange war flowers bursting into fierce
+bloom.
+
+The men groaned.  The luster faded from their eyes.  Their smudged
+countenances now expressed a profound dejection.  They moved their
+stiffened bodies slowly, and watched in sullen mood the frantic
+approach of the enemy.  The slaves toiling in the temple of this god
+began to feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.
+
+They fretted and complained each to each. "Oh, say, this is too much of
+a good thing!  Why can't somebody send us supports?"
+
+"We ain't never goin' to stand this second banging.  I didn't come here
+to fight the hull damn' rebel army."
+
+There was one who raised a doleful cry.  "I wish Bill Smithers had trod
+on my hand, insteader me treddin' on his'n."  The sore joints of the
+regiment creaked as it painfully floundered into position to repulse.
+
+The youth stared.  Surely, he thought, this impossible thing was not
+about to happen.  He waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly
+stop, apologize, and retire bowing.  It was all a mistake.
+
+But the firing began somewhere on the regimental line and ripped along
+in both directions. The level sheets of flame developed great clouds of
+smoke that tumbled and tossed in the mild wind near the ground for a
+moment, and then rolled through the ranks as through a gate.  The
+clouds were tinged an earthlike yellow in the sunrays and in the shadow
+were a sorry blue. The flag was sometimes eaten and lost in this mass
+of vapor, but more often it projected, sun-touched, resplendent.
+
+Into the youth's eyes there came a look that one can see in the orbs of
+a jaded horse.  His neck was quivering with nervous weakness and the
+muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless. His hands, too, seemed
+large and awkward as if he was wearing invisible mittens.  And there
+was a great uncertainty about his knee joints.
+
+The words that comrades had uttered previous to the firing began to
+recur to him.  "Oh, say, this is too much of a good thing!  What do
+they take us for--why don't they send supports?  I didn't come here to
+fight the hull damned rebel army."
+
+He began to exaggerate the endurance, the skill, and the valor of those
+who were coming. Himself reeling from exhaustion, he was astonished
+beyond measure at such persistency.  They must be machines of steel. It
+was very gloomy struggling against such affairs, wound up perhaps to
+fight until sundown.
+
+He slowly lifted his rifle and catching a glimpse of the thickspread
+field he blazed at a cantering cluster.  He stopped then and began to
+peer as best he could through the smoke.  He caught changing views of
+the ground covered with men who were all running like pursued imps, and
+yelling.
+
+To the youth it was an onslaught of redoubtable dragons.  He became
+like the man who lost his legs at the approach of the red and green
+monster.  He waited in a sort of a horrified, listening attitude.  He
+seemed to shut his eyes and wait to be gobbled.
+
+A man near him who up to this time had been working feverishly at his
+rifle suddenly stopped and ran with howls.  A lad whose face had borne
+an expression of exalted courage, the majesty of he who dares give his
+life, was, at an instant, smitten abject.  He blanched like one who has
+come to the edge of a cliff at midnight and is suddenly made aware.
+There was a revelation.  He, too, threw down his gun and fled.  There
+was no shame in his face.  He ran like a rabbit.
+
+Others began to scamper away through the smoke.  The youth turned his
+head, shaken from his trance by this movement as if the regiment was
+leaving him behind.  He saw the few fleeting forms.
+
+He yelled then with fright and swung about. For a moment, in the great
+clamor, he was like a proverbial chicken.  He lost the direction of
+safety.  Destruction threatened him from all points.
+
+Directly he began to speed toward the rear in great leaps.  His rifle
+and cap were gone.  His unbuttoned coat bulged in the wind.  The flap
+of his cartridge box bobbed wildly, and his canteen, by its slender
+cord, swung out behind.  On his face was all the horror of those things
+which he imagined.
+
+The lieutenant sprang forward bawling.  The youth saw his features
+wrathfully red, and saw him make a dab with his sword.  His one thought
+of the incident was that the lieutenant was a peculiar creature to feel
+interested in such matters upon this occasion.
+
+He ran like a blind man.  Two or three times he fell down.  Once he
+knocked his shoulder so heavily against a tree that he went headlong.
+
+Since he had turned his back upon the fight his fears had been
+wondrously magnified.  Death about to thrust him between the shoulder
+blades was far more dreadful than death about to smite him between the
+eyes.  When he thought of it later, he conceived the impression that it
+is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing.  The
+noises of the battle were like stones; he believed himself liable to be
+crushed.
+
+As he ran he mingled with others.  He dimly saw men on his right and on
+his left, and he heard footsteps behind him.  He thought that all the
+regiment was fleeing, pursued by these ominous crashes.
+
+In his flight the sound of these following footsteps gave him his one
+meager relief.  He felt vaguely that death must make a first choice of
+the men who were nearest; the initial morsels for the dragons would be
+then those who were following him.  So he displayed the zeal of an
+insane sprinter in his purpose to keep them in the rear. There was a
+race.
+
+As he, leading, went across a little field, he found himself in a
+region of shells.  They hurtled over his head with long wild screams.
+As he listened he imagined them to have rows of cruel teeth that
+grinned at him.  Once one lit before him and the livid lightning of the
+explosion effectually barred the way in his chosen direction.  He
+groveled on the ground and then springing up went careering off through
+some bushes.
+
+He experienced a thrill of amazement when he came within view of a
+battery in action.  The men there seemed to be in conventional moods,
+altogether unaware of the impending annihilation.  The battery was
+disputing with a distant antagonist and the gunners were wrapped in
+admiration of their shooting.  They were continually bending in coaxing
+postures over the guns.  They seemed to be patting them on the back and
+encouraging them with words.  The guns, stolid and undaunted, spoke
+with dogged valor.
+
+The precise gunners were coolly enthusiastic. They lifted their eyes
+every chance to the smoke-wreathed hillock from whence the hostile
+battery addressed them.  The youth pitied them as he ran.  Methodical
+idiots!  Machine-like fools!  The refined joy of planting shells in the
+midst of the other battery's formation would appear a little thing when
+the infantry came swooping out of the woods.
+
+The face of a youthful rider, who was jerking his frantic horse with an
+abandon of temper he might display in a placid barnyard, was impressed
+deeply upon his mind.  He knew that he looked upon a man who would
+presently be dead.
+
+Too, he felt a pity for the guns, standing, six good comrades, in a
+bold row.
+
+He saw a brigade going to the relief of its pestered fellows.  He
+scrambled upon a wee hill and watched it sweeping finely, keeping
+formation in difficult places.  The blue of the line was crusted with
+steel color, and the brilliant flags projected. Officers were shouting.
+
+This sight also filled him with wonder.  The brigade was hurrying
+briskly to be gulped into the infernal mouths of the war god.  What
+manner of men were they, anyhow?  Ah, it was some wondrous breed!  Or
+else they didn't comprehend--the fools.
+
+A furious order caused commotion in the artillery.  An officer on a
+bounding horse made maniacal motions with his arms.  The teams went
+swinging up from the rear, the guns were whirled about, and the battery
+scampered away.  The cannon with their noses poked slantingly at the
+ground grunted and grumbled like stout men, brave but with objections
+to hurry.
+
+The youth went on, moderating his pace since he had left the place of
+noises.
+
+Later he came upon a general of division seated upon a horse that
+pricked its ears in an interested way at the battle.  There was a great
+gleaming of yellow and patent leather about the saddle and bridle.  The
+quiet man astride looked mouse-colored upon such a splendid charger.
+
+A jingling staff was galloping hither and thither.  Sometimes the
+general was surrounded by horsemen and at other times he was quite
+alone.  He looked to be much harassed.  He had the appearance of a
+business man whose market is swinging up and down.
+
+The youth went slinking around this spot. He went as near as he dared
+trying to overhear words.  Perhaps the general, unable to comprehend
+chaos, might call upon him for information. And he could tell him.  He
+knew all concerning it.  Of a surety the force was in a fix, and any
+fool could see that if they did not retreat while they had
+opportunity--why--
+
+He felt that he would like to thrash the general, or at least approach
+and tell him in plain words exactly what he thought him to be.  It was
+criminal to stay calmly in one spot and make no effort to stay
+destruction.  He loitered in a fever of eagerness for the division
+commander to apply to him.
+
+As he warily moved about, he heard the general call out irritably:
+"Tompkins, go over an' see Taylor, an' tell him not t' be in such an
+all-fired hurry; tell him t' halt his brigade in th' edge of th' woods;
+tell him t' detach a reg'ment--say I think th' center 'll break if we
+don't help it out some; tell him t' hurry up."
+
+A slim youth on a fine chestnut horse caught these swift words from the
+mouth of his superior. He made his horse bound into a gallop almost
+from a walk in his haste to go upon his mission. There was a cloud of
+dust.
+
+A moment later the youth saw the general bounce excitedly in his saddle.
+
+"Yes, by heavens, they have!"  The officer leaned forward.  His face
+was aflame with excitement.  "Yes, by heavens, they 've held 'im! They
+'ve held 'im!"
+
+He began to blithely roar at his staff: "We 'll wallop 'im now.  We 'll
+wallop 'im now.  We 've got 'em sure."  He turned suddenly upon an aid:
+"Here--you--Jones--quick--ride after Tompkins--see Taylor--tell him t'
+go in--everlastingly--like blazes--anything."
+
+As another officer sped his horse after the first messenger, the
+general beamed upon the earth like a sun.  In his eyes was a desire to
+chant a paean.  He kept repeating, "They 've held 'em, by heavens!"
+
+His excitement made his horse plunge, and he merrily kicked and swore
+at it.  He held a little carnival of joy on horseback.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The youth cringed as if discovered in a crime. By heavens, they had won
+after all!  The imbecile line had remained and become victors. He could
+hear cheering.
+
+He lifted himself upon his toes and looked in the direction of the
+fight.  A yellow fog lay wallowing on the treetops.  From beneath it
+came the clatter of musketry.  Hoarse cries told of an advance.
+
+He turned away amazed and angry.  He felt that he had been wronged.
+
+He had fled, he told himself, because annihilation approached.  He had
+done a good part in saving himself, who was a little piece of the army.
+He had considered the time, he said, to be one in which it was the duty
+of every little piece to rescue itself if possible.  Later the officers
+could fit the little pieces together again, and make a battle front. If
+none of the little pieces were wise enough to save themselves from the
+flurry of death at such a time, why, then, where would be the army? It
+was all plain that he had proceeded according to very correct and
+commendable rules.  His actions had been sagacious things.  They had
+been full of strategy.  They were the work of a master's legs.
+
+Thoughts of his comrades came to him.  The brittle blue line had
+withstood the blows and won. He grew bitter over it.  It seemed that
+the blind ignorance and stupidity of those little pieces had betrayed
+him.  He had been overturned and crushed by their lack of sense in
+holding the position, when intelligent deliberation would have
+convinced them that it was impossible.  He, the enlightened man who
+looks afar in the dark, had fled because of his superior perceptions
+and knowledge.  He felt a great anger against his comrades.  He knew it
+could be proved that they had been fools.
+
+He wondered what they would remark when later he appeared in camp.  His
+mind heard howls of derision.  Their density would not enable them to
+understand his sharper point of view.
+
+He began to pity himself acutely.  He was ill used.  He was trodden
+beneath the feet of an iron injustice.  He had proceeded with wisdom
+and from the most righteous motives under heaven's blue only to be
+frustrated by hateful circumstances.
+
+A dull, animal-like rebellion against his fellows, war in the abstract,
+and fate grew within him.  He shambled along with bowed head, his brain
+in a tumult of agony and despair.  When he looked loweringly up,
+quivering at each sound, his eyes had the expression of those of a
+criminal who thinks his guilt and his punishment great, and knows that
+he can find no words.
+
+He went from the fields into a thick woods, as if resolved to bury
+himself.  He wished to get out of hearing of the crackling shots which
+were to him like voices.
+
+The ground was cluttered with vines and bushes, and the trees grew
+close and spread out like bouquets.  He was obliged to force his way
+with much noise.  The creepers, catching against his legs, cried out
+harshly as their sprays were torn from the barks of trees.  The
+swishing saplings tried to make known his presence to the world.  He
+could not conciliate the forest.  As he made his way, it was always
+calling out protestations.  When he separated embraces of trees and
+vines the disturbed foliages waved their arms and turned their face
+leaves toward him.  He dreaded lest these noisy motions and cries
+should bring men to look at him.  So he went far, seeking dark and
+intricate places.
+
+After a time the sound of musketry grew faint and the cannon boomed in
+the distance.  The sun, suddenly apparent, blazed among the trees.  The
+insects were making rhythmical noises.  They seemed to be grinding
+their teeth in unison.  A woodpecker stuck his impudent head around the
+side of a tree.  A bird flew on lighthearted wing.
+
+Off was the rumble of death.  It seemed now that Nature had no ears.
+
+This landscape gave him assurance.  A fair field holding life.  It was
+the religion of peace. It would die if its timid eyes were compelled to
+see blood.  He conceived Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to
+tragedy.
+
+He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering
+fear.  High in a treetop he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously
+from behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepidation.
+
+The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition. There was the law, he
+said.  Nature had given him a sign.  The squirrel, immediately upon
+recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado.  He did not
+stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an
+upward glance at the sympathetic heavens.  On the contrary, he had fled
+as fast as his legs could carry him; and he was but an ordinary
+squirrel, too--doubtless no philosopher of his race.  The youth wended,
+feeling that Nature was of his mind. She re-enforced his argument with
+proofs that lived where the sun shone.
+
+Once he found himself almost into a swamp. He was obliged to walk upon
+bog tufts and watch his feet to keep from the oily mire.  Pausing at
+one time to look about him he saw, out at some black water, a small
+animal pounce in and emerge directly with a gleaming fish.
+
+The youth went again into the deep thickets. The brushed branches made
+a noise that drowned the sounds of cannon.  He walked on, going from
+obscurity into promises of a greater obscurity.
+
+At length he reached a place where the high, arching boughs made a
+chapel.  He softly pushed the green doors aside and entered.  Pine
+needles were a gentle brown carpet.  There was a religious half light.
+
+Near the threshold he stopped, horror-stricken at the sight of a thing.
+
+He was being looked at by a dead man who was seated with his back
+against a columnlike tree.  The corpse was dressed in a uniform that
+once had been blue, but was now faded to a melancholy shade of green.
+The eyes, staring at the youth, had changed to the dull hue to be seen
+on the side of a dead fish.  The mouth was open. Its red had changed to
+an appalling yellow. Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants.
+One was trundling some sort of a bundle along the upper lip.
+
+The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing.  He was for moments
+turned to stone before it.  He remained staring into the liquid-looking
+eyes.  The dead man and the living man exchanged a long look.  Then the
+youth cautiously put one hand behind him and brought it against a tree.
+Leaning upon this he retreated, step by step, with his face still
+toward the thing.  He feared that if he turned his back the body might
+spring up and stealthily pursue him.
+
+The branches, pushing against him, threatened to throw him over upon
+it.  His unguided feet, too, caught aggravatingly in brambles; and with
+it all he received a subtle suggestion to touch the corpse.  As he
+thought of his hand upon it he shuddered profoundly.
+
+At last he burst the bonds which had fastened him to the spot and fled,
+unheeding the underbrush.  He was pursued by a sight of the black ants
+swarming greedily upon the gray face and venturing horribly near to the
+eyes.
+
+After a time he paused, and, breathless and panting, listened.  He
+imagined some strange voice would come from the dead throat and squawk
+after him in horrible menaces.
+
+The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft
+wind.  A sad silence was upon the little guarding edifice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The trees began softly to sing a hymn of twilight.  The sun sank until
+slanted bronze rays struck the forest.  There was a lull in the noises
+of insects as if they had bowed their beaks and were making a
+devotional pause.  There was silence save for the chanted chorus of the
+trees.
+
+Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke a tremendous clangor of
+sounds.  A crimson roar came from the distance.
+
+The youth stopped.  He was transfixed by this terrific medley of all
+noises.  It was as if worlds were being rended.  There was the ripping
+sound of musketry and the breaking crash of the artillery.
+
+His mind flew in all directions.  He conceived the two armies to be at
+each other panther fashion.  He listened for a time.  Then he began to
+run in the direction of the battle.  He saw that it was an ironical
+thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such
+pains to avoid.  But he said, in substance, to himself that if the
+earth and the moon were about to clash, many persons would doubtless
+plan to get upon the roofs to witness the collision.
+
+As he ran, he became aware that the forest had stopped its music, as if
+at last becoming capable of hearing the foreign sounds.  The trees
+hushed and stood motionless.  Everything seemed to be listening to the
+crackle and clatter and earshaking thunder.  The chorus pealed over the
+still earth.
+
+It suddenly occurred to the youth that the fight in which he had been
+was, after all, but perfunctory popping.  In the hearing of this
+present din he was doubtful if he had seen real battle scenes.  This
+uproar explained a celestial battle; it was tumbling hordes a-struggle
+in the air.
+
+Reflecting, he saw a sort of a humor in the point of view of himself
+and his fellows during the late encounter.  They had taken themselves
+and the enemy very seriously and had imagined that they were deciding
+the war.  Individuals must have supposed that they were cutting the
+letters of their names deep into everlasting tablets of brass, or
+enshrining their reputations forever in the hearts of their countrymen,
+while, as to fact, the affair would appear in printed reports under a
+meek and immaterial title.  But he saw that it was good, else, he said,
+in battle every one would surely run save forlorn hopes and their ilk.
+
+He went rapidly on.  He wished to come to the edge of the forest that
+he might peer out.
+
+As he hastened, there passed through his mind pictures of stupendous
+conflicts.  His accumulated thought upon such subjects was used to form
+scenes.  The noise was as the voice of an eloquent being, describing.
+
+Sometimes the brambles formed chains and tried to hold him back. Trees,
+confronting him, stretched out their arms and forbade him to pass.
+After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled
+him with a fine bitterness.  It seemed that Nature could not be quite
+ready to kill him.
+
+But he obstinately took roundabout ways, and presently he was where he
+could see long gray walls of vapor where lay battle lines.  The voices
+of cannon shook him.  The musketry sounded in long irregular surges
+that played havoc with his ears.  He stood regardant for a moment.  His
+eyes had an awestruck expression.  He gawked in the direction of the
+fight.
+
+Presently he proceeded again on his forward way.  The battle was like
+the grinding of an immense and terrible machine to him.  Its
+complexities and powers, its grim processes, fascinated him.  He must
+go close and see it produce corpses.
+
+He came to a fence and clambered over it. On the far side, the ground
+was littered with clothes and guns.  A newspaper, folded up, lay in the
+dirt.  A dead soldier was stretched with his face hidden in his arm.
+Farther off there was a group of four or five corpses keeping mournful
+company.  A hot sun had blazed upon the spot.
+
+In this place the youth felt that he was an invader.  This forgotten
+part of the battle ground was owned by the dead men, and he hurried, in
+the vague apprehension that one of the swollen forms would rise and
+tell him to begone.
+
+He came finally to a road from which he could see in the distance dark
+and agitated bodies of troops, smoke-fringed.  In the lane was a
+blood-stained crowd streaming to the rear. The wounded men were
+cursing, groaning, and wailing.  In the air, always, was a mighty swell
+of sound that it seemed could sway the earth. With the courageous words
+of the artillery and the spiteful sentences of the musketry mingled red
+cheers.  And from this region of noises came the steady current of the
+maimed.
+
+One of the wounded men had a shoeful of blood.  He hopped like a
+schoolboy in a game. He was laughing hysterically.
+
+One was swearing that he had been shot in the arm through the
+commanding general's mismanagement of the army.  One was marching with
+an air imitative of some sublime drum major. Upon his features was an
+unholy mixture of merriment and agony.  As he marched he sang a bit of
+doggerel in a high and quavering voice:
+
+
+  "Sing a song 'a vic'try,
+    A pocketful 'a bullets,
+  Five an' twenty dead men
+    Baked in a--pie."
+
+Parts of the procession limped and staggered to this tune.
+
+Another had the gray seal of death already upon his face.  His lips
+were curled in hard lines and his teeth were clinched.  His hands were
+bloody from where he had pressed them upon his wound.  He seemed to be
+awaiting the moment when he should pitch headlong.  He stalked like the
+specter of a soldier, his eyes burning with the power of a stare into
+the unknown.
+
+There were some who proceeded sullenly, full of anger at their wounds,
+and ready to turn upon anything as an obscure cause.
+
+An officer was carried along by two privates. He was peevish.  "Don't
+joggle so, Johnson, yeh fool," he cried.  "Think m' leg is made of
+iron? If yeh can't carry me decent, put me down an' let some one else
+do it."
+
+He bellowed at the tottering crowd who blocked the quick march of his
+bearers.  "Say, make way there, can't yeh?  Make way, dickens take it
+all."
+
+They sulkily parted and went to the roadsides.  As he was carried past
+they made pert remarks to him.  When he raged in reply and threatened
+them, they told him to be damned.
+
+The shoulder of one of the tramping bearers knocked heavily against the
+spectral soldier who was staring into the unknown.
+
+The youth joined this crowd and marched along with it.  The torn bodies
+expressed the awful machinery in which the men had been entangled.
+
+Orderlies and couriers occasionally broke through the throng in the
+roadway, scattering wounded men right and left, galloping on followed
+by howls.  The melancholy march was continually disturbed by the
+messengers, and sometimes by bustling batteries that came swinging and
+thumping down upon them, the officers shouting orders to clear the way.
+
+There was a tattered man, fouled with dust, blood and powder stain from
+hair to shoes, who trudged quietly at the youth's side.  He was
+listening with eagerness and much humility to the lurid descriptions of
+a bearded sergeant.  His lean features wore an expression of awe and
+admiration.  He was like a listener in a country store to wondrous
+tales told among the sugar barrels.  He eyed the story-teller with
+unspeakable wonder.  His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.
+
+The sergeant, taking note of this, gave pause to his elaborate history
+while he administered a sardonic comment.  "Be keerful, honey, you 'll
+be a-ketchin' flies," he said.
+
+The tattered man shrank back abashed.
+
+After a time he began to sidle near to the youth, and in a different
+way try to make him a friend.  His voice was gentle as a girl's voice
+and his eyes were pleading.  The youth saw with surprise that the
+soldier had two wounds, one in the head, bound with a blood-soaked rag,
+and the other in the arm, making that member dangle like a broken bough.
+
+After they had walked together for some time the tattered man mustered
+sufficient courage to speak.  "Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he
+timidly said.  The youth, deep in thought, glanced up at the bloody and
+grim figure with its lamblike eyes.  "What?"
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?
+
+"Yes," said the youth shortly.  He quickened his pace.
+
+But the other hobbled industriously after him. There was an air of
+apology in his manner, but he evidently thought that he needed only to
+talk for a time, and the youth would perceive that he was a good fellow.
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he began in a small voice, and then
+he achieved the fortitude to continue.  "Dern me if I ever see fellers
+fight so.  Laws, how they did fight!  I knowed th' boys 'd like when
+they onct got square at it. Th' boys ain't had no fair chanct up t'
+now, but this time they showed what they was.  I knowed it 'd turn out
+this way.  Yeh can't lick them boys. No, sir!  They're fighters, they
+be."
+
+He breathed a deep breath of humble admiration.  He had looked at the
+youth for encouragement several times.  He received none, but gradually
+he seemed to get absorbed in his subject.
+
+"I was talkin' 'cross pickets with a boy from Georgie, onct, an' that
+boy, he ses, 'Your fellers 'll all run like hell when they onct hearn a
+gun,' he ses.  'Mebbe they will,' I ses, 'but I don't b'lieve none of
+it,' I ses; 'an' b'jiminey,' I ses back t' 'um, 'mebbe your fellers 'll
+all run like hell when they onct hearn a gun,' I ses.  He larfed. Well,
+they didn't run t' day, did they, hey?  No, sir!  They fit, an' fit,
+an' fit."
+
+His homely face was suffused with a light of love for the army which
+was to him all things beautiful and powerful.
+
+After a time he turned to the youth.  "Where yeh hit, ol' boy?" he
+asked in a brotherly tone.
+
+The youth felt instant panic at this question, although at first its
+full import was not borne in upon him.
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"Where yeh hit?" repeated the tattered man.
+
+"Why," began the youth, "I--I--that is--why--I--"
+
+He turned away suddenly and slid through the crowd.  His brow was
+heavily flushed, and his fingers were picking nervously at one of his
+buttons.  He bent his head and fastened his eyes studiously upon the
+button as if it were a little problem.
+
+The tattered man looked after him in astonishment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was
+not in sight.  Then he started to walk on with the others.
+
+But he was amid wounds.  The mob of men was bleeding.  Because of the
+tattered soldier's question he now felt that his shame could be viewed.
+He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were
+contemplating the letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
+
+At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way.  He
+conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy.  He wished
+that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
+
+The spectral soldier was at his side like a stalking reproach.  The
+man's eyes were still fixed in a stare into the unknown.  His gray,
+appalling face had attracted attention in the crowd, and men, slowing
+to his dreary pace, were walking with him.  They were discussing his
+plight, questioning him and giving him advice.
+
+In a dogged way he repelled them, signing to them to go on and leave
+him alone.  The shadows of his face were deepening and his tight lips
+seemed holding in check the moan of great despair. There could be seen
+a certain stiffness in the movements of his body, as if he were taking
+infinite care not to arouse the passion of his wounds.  As he went on,
+he seemed always looking for a place, like one who goes to choose a
+grave.
+
+Something in the gesture of the man as he waved the bloody and pitying
+soldiers away made the youth start as if bitten.  He yelled in horror.
+Tottering forward he laid a quivering hand upon the man's arm.  As the
+latter slowly turned his waxlike features toward him, the youth
+screamed:
+
+"Gawd!  Jim Conklin!"
+
+The tall soldier made a little commonplace smile.  "Hello, Henry," he
+said.
+
+The youth swayed on his legs and glared strangely.  He stuttered and
+stammered.  "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier held out his gory hand.  There was a curious red and
+black combination of new blood and old blood upon it.  "Where yeh been,
+Henry?" he asked.  He continued in a monotonous voice, "I thought mebbe
+yeh got keeled over.  There 's been thunder t' pay t'-day.  I was
+worryin' about it a good deal."
+
+The youth still lamented.  "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"
+
+"Yeh know," said the tall soldier, "I was out there."  He made a
+careful gesture.  "An', Lord, what a circus!  An', b'jiminey, I got
+shot--I got shot.  Yes, b'jiminey, I got shot."  He reiterated this
+fact in a bewildered way, as if he did not know how it came about.
+
+The youth put forth anxious arms to assist him, but the tall soldier
+went firmly on as if propelled.  Since the youth's arrival as a
+guardian for his friend, the other wounded men had ceased to display
+much interest.  They occupied themselves again in dragging their own
+tragedies toward the rear.
+
+Suddenly, as the two friends marched on, the tall soldier seemed to be
+overcome by a terror. His face turned to a semblance of gray paste. He
+clutched the youth's arm and looked all about him, as if dreading to be
+overheard.  Then he began to speak in a shaking whisper:
+
+"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, Henry--I 'll tell yeh what I 'm 'fraid
+of.  I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down--an' then yeh know--them damned
+artillery wagons--they like as not 'll run over me.  That 's what I 'm
+'fraid of--"
+
+The youth cried out to him hysterically: "I 'll take care of yeh, Jim!
+I'll take care of yeh!  I swear t' Gawd I will!"
+
+"Sure--will yeh, Henry?" the tall soldier beseeched.
+
+"Yes--yes--I tell yeh--I'll take care of yeh, Jim!" protested the
+youth.  He could not speak accurately because of the gulpings in his
+throat.
+
+But the tall soldier continued to beg in a lowly way.  He now hung
+babelike to the youth's arm.  His eyes rolled in the wildness of his
+terror.  "I was allus a good friend t' yeh, wa'n't I, Henry?  I 've
+allus been a pretty good feller, ain't I?  An' it ain't much t' ask, is
+it?  Jest t' pull me along outer th' road?  I 'd do it fer you,
+Wouldn't I, Henry?"
+
+He paused in piteous anxiety to await his friend's reply.
+
+The youth had reached an anguish where the sobs scorched him.  He
+strove to express his loyalty, but he could only make fantastic
+gestures.
+
+However, the tall soldier seemed suddenly to forget all those fears. He
+became again the grim, stalking specter of a soldier.  He went stonily
+forward.  The youth wished his friend to lean upon him, but the other
+always shook his head and strangely protested. "No--no--no--leave me
+be--leave me be--"
+
+His look was fixed again upon the unknown. He moved with mysterious
+purpose, and all of the youth's offers he brushed aside. "No--no--leave
+me be--leave me be--"
+
+The youth had to follow.
+
+Presently the latter heard a voice talking softly near his shoulders.
+Turning he saw that it belonged to the tattered soldier.  "Ye 'd better
+take 'im outa th' road, pardner.  There 's a batt'ry comin' helitywhoop
+down th' road an' he 'll git runned over.  He 's a goner anyhow in
+about five minutes--yeh kin see that.  Ye 'd better take 'im outa th'
+road.  Where th' blazes does he git his stren'th from?"
+
+"Lord knows!" cried the youth.  He was shaking his hands helplessly.
+
+He ran forward presently and grasped the tall soldier by the arm. "Jim!
+Jim!" he coaxed, "come with me."
+
+The tall soldier weakly tried to wrench himself free.  "Huh," he said
+vacantly.  He stared at the youth for a moment.  At last he spoke as if
+dimly comprehending.  "Oh!  Inteh th' fields?  Oh!"
+
+He started blindly through the grass.
+
+The youth turned once to look at the lashing riders and jouncing guns
+of the battery.  He was startled from this view by a shrill outcry from
+the tattered man.
+
+"Gawd!  He's runnin'!"
+
+Turning his head swiftly, the youth saw his friend running in a
+staggering and stumbling way toward a little clump of bushes.  His
+heart seemed to wrench itself almost free from his body at this sight.
+He made a noise of pain. He and the tattered man began a pursuit. There
+was a singular race.
+
+When he overtook the tall soldier he began to plead with all the words
+he could find. "Jim--Jim--what are you doing--what makes you do this
+way--you 'll hurt yerself."
+
+The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face. He protested in a
+dulled way, keeping his eyes fastened on the mystic place of his
+intentions. "No--no--don't tech me--leave me be--leave me be--"
+
+The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at the tall soldier, began
+quaveringly to question him. "Where yeh goin', Jim?  What you thinking
+about?  Where you going?  Tell me, won't you, Jim?"
+
+The tall soldier faced about as upon relentless pursuers.  In his eyes
+there was a great appeal. "Leave me be, can't yeh?  Leave me be fer a
+minnit."
+
+The youth recoiled.  "Why, Jim," he said, in a dazed way, "what's the
+matter with you?"
+
+The tall soldier turned and, lurching dangerously, went on.  The youth
+and the tattered soldier followed, sneaking as if whipped, feeling
+unable to face the stricken man if he should again confront them.  They
+began to have thoughts of a solemn ceremony.  There was something
+rite-like in these movements of the doomed soldier. And there was a
+resemblance in him to a devotee of a mad religion, blood-sucking,
+muscle-wrenching, bone-crushing.  They were awed and afraid. They hung
+back lest he have at command a dreadful weapon.
+
+At last, they saw him stop and stand motionless.  Hastening up, they
+perceived that his face wore an expression telling that he had at last
+found the place for which he had struggled.  His spare figure was
+erect; his bloody hands were quietly at his side.  He was waiting with
+patience for something that he had come to meet.  He was at the
+rendezvous.  They paused and stood, expectant.
+
+There was a silence.
+
+Finally, the chest of the doomed soldier began to heave with a strained
+motion.  It increased in violence until it was as if an animal was
+within and was kicking and tumbling furiously to be free.
+
+This spectacle of gradual strangulation made the youth writhe, and once
+as his friend rolled his eyes, he saw something in them that made him
+sink wailing to the ground.  He raised his voice in a last supreme call.
+
+"Jim--Jim--Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke. He made a gesture.  "Leave
+me be--don't tech me--leave me be--"
+
+There was another silence while he waited.
+
+Suddenly, his form stiffened and straightened. Then it was shaken by a
+prolonged ague.  He stared into space.  To the two watchers there was a
+curious and profound dignity in the firm lines of his awful face.
+
+He was invaded by a creeping strangeness that slowly enveloped him. For
+a moment the tremor of his legs caused him to dance a sort of hideous
+hornpipe.  His arms beat wildly about his head in expression of implike
+enthusiasm.
+
+His tall figure stretched itself to its full height. There was a slight
+rending sound.  Then it began to swing forward, slow and straight, in
+the manner of a falling tree.  A swift muscular contortion made the
+left shoulder strike the ground first.
+
+The body seemed to bounce a little way from the earth.  "God!" said the
+tattered soldier.
+
+The youth had watched, spellbound, this ceremony at the place of
+meeting.  His face had been twisted into an expression of every agony
+he had imagined for his friend.
+
+He now sprang to his feet and, going closer, gazed upon the pastelike
+face.  The mouth was open and the teeth showed in a laugh.
+
+As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from the body, he could see
+that the side looked as if it had been chewed by wolves.
+
+The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage, toward the battlefield.  He
+shook his fist.  He seemed about to deliver a philippic.
+
+"Hell--"
+
+The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+The tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Well, he was reg'lar jim-dandy fer nerve, wa'n't he," said he finally
+in a little awestruck voice.  "A reg'lar jim-dandy."  He thoughtfully
+poked one of the docile hands with his foot.  "I wonner where he got
+'is stren'th from?  I never seen a man do like that before.  It was a
+funny thing.  Well, he was a reg'lar jim-dandy."
+
+The youth desired to screech out his grief. He was stabbed, but his
+tongue lay dead in the tomb of his mouth.  He threw himself again upon
+the ground and began to brood.
+
+The tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Look-a-here, pardner," he said, after a time. He regarded the corpse
+as he spoke.  "He 's up an' gone, ain't 'e, an' we might as well begin
+t' look out fer ol' number one.  This here thing is all over.  He 's up
+an' gone, ain't 'e?  An' he 's all right here.  Nobody won't bother
+'im.  An' I must say I ain't enjoying any great health m'self these
+days."
+
+The youth, awakened by the tattered soldier's tone, looked quickly up.
+He saw that he was swinging uncertainly on his legs and that his face
+had turned to a shade of blue.
+
+"Good Lord!" he cried, "you ain't goin' t'--not you, too."
+
+The tattered man waved his hand.  "Nary die," he said.  "All I want is
+some pea soup an' a good bed.  Some pea soup," he repeated dreamfully.
+
+The youth arose from the ground.  "I wonder where he came from.  I left
+him over there." He pointed.  "And now I find 'im here.  And he was
+coming from over there, too."  He indicated a new direction.  They both
+turned toward the body as if to ask of it a question.
+
+"Well," at length spoke the tattered man, "there ain't no use in our
+stayin' here an' tryin' t' ask him anything."
+
+The youth nodded an assent wearily.  They both turned to gaze for a
+moment at the corpse.
+
+The youth murmured something.
+
+"Well, he was a jim-dandy, wa'n't 'e?" said the tattered man as if in
+response.
+
+They turned their backs upon it and started away.  For a time they
+stole softly, treading with their toes.  It remained laughing there in
+the grass.
+
+"I'm commencin' t' feel pretty bad," said the tattered man, suddenly
+breaking one of his little silences.  "I'm commencin' t' feel pretty
+damn' bad."
+
+The youth groaned.  "O Lord!"  He wondered if he was to be the tortured
+witness of another grim encounter.
+
+But his companion waved his hand reassuringly.  "Oh, I'm not goin' t'
+die yit!  There too much dependin' on me fer me t' die yit.  No, sir!
+Nary die!  I CAN'T!  Ye'd oughta see th' swad a' chil'ren I've got, an'
+all like that."
+
+The youth glancing at his companion could see by the shadow of a smile
+that he was making some kind of fun.
+
+As they plodded on the tattered soldier continued to talk.  "Besides,
+if I died, I wouldn't die th' way that feller did.  That was th'
+funniest thing.  I'd jest flop down, I would.  I never seen a feller
+die th' way that feller did.
+
+"Yeh know Tom Jamison, he lives next door t' me up home.  He's a nice
+feller, he is, an' we was allus good friends.  Smart, too.  Smart as a
+steel trap.  Well, when we was a-fightin' this atternoon,
+all-of-a-sudden he begin t' rip up an' cuss an' beller at me.  'Yer
+shot, yeh blamed infernal!'--he swear horrible--he ses t' me.  I put up
+m' hand t' m' head an' when I looked at m' fingers, I seen, sure
+'nough, I was shot.  I give a holler an' begin t' run, but b'fore I
+could git away another one hit me in th' arm an' whirl' me clean
+'round.  I got skeared when they was all a-shootin' b'hind me an' I run
+t' beat all, but I cotch it pretty bad.  I've an idee I'd a' been
+fightin' yit, if t'was n't fer Tom Jamison."
+
+Then he made a calm announcement: "There's two of 'em--little ones--but
+they 're beginnin' t' have fun with me now.  I don't b'lieve I kin walk
+much furder."
+
+They went slowly on in silence.  "Yeh look pretty peek-ed yerself,"
+said the tattered man at last.  "I bet yeh 've got a worser one than
+yeh think.  Ye'd better take keer of yer hurt.  It don't do t' let sech
+things go.  It might be inside mostly, an' them plays thunder.  Where
+is it located?"  But he continued his harangue without waiting for a
+reply.  "I see 'a feller git hit plum in th' head when my reg'ment was
+a-standin' at ease onct.  An' everybody yelled out to 'im: Hurt, John?
+Are yeh hurt much?  'No,' ses he. He looked kinder surprised, an' he
+went on tellin' 'em how he felt.  He sed he didn't feel nothin'. But,
+by dad, th' first thing that feller knowed he was dead.  Yes, he was
+dead--stone dead.  So, yeh wanta watch out.  Yeh might have some queer
+kind 'a hurt yerself.  Yeh can't never tell. Where is your'n located?"
+
+The youth had been wriggling since the introduction of this topic.  He
+now gave a cry of exasperation and made a furious motion with his hand.
+"Oh, don't bother me!" he said.  He was enraged against the tattered
+man, and could have strangled him.  His companions seemed ever to play
+intolerable parts.  They were ever upraising the ghost of shame on the
+stick of their curiosity.  He turned toward the tattered man as one at
+bay.  "Now, don't bother me," he repeated with desperate menace.
+
+"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother anybody," said the other.  There
+was a little accent of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord knows
+I 've gota 'nough m' own t' tend to."
+
+The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and
+casting glances of hatred and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke
+in a hard voice.  "Good-by," he said.
+
+The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement.  "Why--why,
+pardner, where yeh goin'?" he asked unsteadily.  The youth looking at
+him, could see that he, too, like that other one, was beginning to act
+dumb and animal-like.  His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in
+his head.  "Now--now--look--a--here, you Tom Jamison--now--I won't have
+this--this here won't do.  Where--where yeh goin'?"
+
+The youth pointed vaguely.  "Over there," he replied.
+
+"Well, now look--a--here--now," said the tattered man, rambling on in
+idiot fashion.  His head was hanging forward and his words were
+slurred.  "This thing won't do, now, Tom Jamison.  It won't do.  I know
+yeh, yeh pig-headed devil.  Yeh wanta go trompin' off with a bad hurt.
+It ain't right--now--Tom Jamison--it ain't. Yeh wanta leave me take
+keer of yeh, Tom Jamison.  It ain't--right--it ain't--fer yeh t'
+go--trompin' off--with a bad hurt--it ain't--ain't--ain't right--it
+ain't."
+
+In reply the youth climbed a fence and started away.  He could hear the
+tattered man bleating plaintively.
+
+Once he faced about angrily.  "What?"
+
+"Look--a--here, now, Tom Jamison--now--it ain't--"
+
+The youth went on.  Turning at a distance he saw the tattered man
+wandering about helplessly in the field.
+
+He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and on
+the fallen leaves of the forest.
+
+The simple questions of the tattered man had been knife thrusts to him.
+They asserted a society that probes pitilessly at secrets until all is
+apparent.  His late companion's chance persistency made him feel that
+he could not keep his crime concealed in his bosom.  It was sure to be
+brought plain by one of those arrows which cloud the air and are
+constantly pricking, discovering, proclaiming those things which are
+willed to be forever hidden.  He admitted that he could not defend
+himself against this agency. It was not within the power of vigilance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+He became aware that the furnace roar of the battle was growing louder.
+Great brown clouds had floated to the still heights of air before him.
+The noise, too, was approaching.  The woods filtered men and the fields
+became dotted.
+
+As he rounded a hillock, he perceived that the roadway was now a crying
+mass of wagons, teams, and men.  From the heaving tangle issued
+exhortations, commands, imprecations.  Fear was sweeping it all along.
+The cracking whips bit and horses plunged and tugged.  The white-topped
+wagons strained and stumbled in their exertions like fat sheep.
+
+The youth felt comforted in a measure by this sight.  They were all
+retreating.  Perhaps, then, he was not so bad after all.  He seated
+himself and watched the terror-stricken wagons.  They fled like soft,
+ungainly animals.  All the roarers and lashers served to help him to
+magnify the dangers and horrors of the engagement that he might try to
+prove to himself that the thing with which men could charge him was in
+truth a symmetrical act.  There was an amount of pleasure to him in
+watching the wild march of this vindication.
+
+Presently the calm head of a forward-going column of infantry appeared
+in the road.  It came swiftly on.  Avoiding the obstructions gave it
+the sinuous movement of a serpent.  The men at the head butted mules
+with their musket stocks.  They prodded teamsters indifferent to all
+howls.  The men forced their way through parts of the dense mass by
+strength.  The blunt head of the column pushed.  The raving teamsters
+swore many strange oaths.
+
+The commands to make way had the ring of a great importance in them.
+The men were going forward to the heart of the din.  They were to
+confront the eager rush of the enemy.  They felt the pride of their
+onward movement when the remainder of the army seemed trying to dribble
+down this road.  They tumbled teams about with a fine feeling that it
+was no matter so long as their column got to the front in time.  This
+importance made their faces grave and stern. And the backs of the
+officers were very rigid.
+
+As the youth looked at them the black weight of his woe returned to
+him.  He felt that he was regarding a procession of chosen beings.  The
+separation was as great to him as if they had marched with weapons of
+flame and banners of sunlight.  He could never be like them.  He could
+have wept in his longings.
+
+He searched about in his mind for an adequate malediction for the
+indefinite cause, the thing upon which men turn the words of final
+blame.  It--whatever it was--was responsible for him, he said.  There
+lay the fault.
+
+The haste of the column to reach the battle seemed to the forlorn young
+man to be something much finer than stout fighting.  Heroes, he
+thought, could find excuses in that long seething lane.  They could
+retire with perfect self-respect and make excuses to the stars.
+
+He wondered what those men had eaten that they could be in such haste
+to force their way to grim chances of death.  As he watched his envy
+grew until he thought that he wished to change lives with one of them.
+He would have liked to have used a tremendous force, he said, throw off
+himself and become a better.  Swift pictures of himself, apart, yet in
+himself, came to him--a blue desperate figure leading lurid charges
+with one knee forward and a broken blade high--a blue, determined
+figure standing before a crimson and steel assault, getting calmly
+killed on a high place before the eyes of all.  He thought of the
+magnificent pathos of his dead body.
+
+These thoughts uplifted him.  He felt the quiver of war desire.  In his
+ears, he heard the ring of victory.  He knew the frenzy of a rapid
+successful charge.  The music of the trampling feet, the sharp voices,
+the clanking arms of the column near him made him soar on the red wings
+of war.  For a few moments he was sublime.
+
+He thought that he was about to start for the front.  Indeed, he saw a
+picture of himself, dust-stained, haggard, panting, flying to the front
+at the proper moment to seize and throttle the dark, leering witch of
+calamity.
+
+Then the difficulties of the thing began to drag at him.  He hesitated,
+balancing awkwardly on one foot.
+
+He had no rifle; he could not fight with his hands, said he resentfully
+to his plan.  Well, rifles could be had for the picking.  They were
+extraordinarily profuse.
+
+Also, he continued, it would be a miracle if he found his regiment.
+Well, he could fight with any regiment.
+
+He started forward slowly.  He stepped as if he expected to tread upon
+some explosive thing. Doubts and he were struggling.
+
+He would truly be a worm if any of his comrades should see him
+returning thus, the marks of his flight upon him.  There was a reply
+that the intent fighters did not care for what happened rearward saving
+that no hostile bayonets appeared there.  In the battle-blur his face
+would, in a way be hidden, like the face of a cowled man.
+
+But then he said that his tireless fate would bring forth, when the
+strife lulled for a moment, a man to ask of him an explanation.  In
+imagination he felt the scrutiny of his companions as he painfully
+labored through some lies.
+
+Eventually, his courage expended itself upon these objections.  The
+debates drained him of his fire.
+
+He was not cast down by this defeat of his plan, for, upon studying the
+affair carefully, he could not but admit that the objections were very
+formidable.
+
+Furthermore, various ailments had begun to cry out.  In their presence
+he could not persist in flying high with the wings of war; they
+rendered it almost impossible for him to see himself in a heroic light.
+He tumbled headlong.
+
+He discovered that he had a scorching thirst. His face was so dry and
+grimy that he thought he could feel his skin crackle.  Each bone of his
+body had an ache in it, and seemingly threatened to break with each
+movement.  His feet were like two sores.  Also, his body was calling
+for food.  It was more powerful than a direct hunger. There was a dull,
+weight like feeling in his stomach, and, when he tried to walk, his
+head swayed and he tottered.  He could not see with distinctness. Small
+patches of green mist floated before his vision.
+
+While he had been tossed by many emotions, he had not been aware of
+ailments.  Now they beset him and made clamor.  As he was at last
+compelled to pay attention to them, his capacity for self-hate was
+multiplied.  In despair, he declared that he was not like those others.
+He now conceded it to be impossible that he should ever become a hero.
+He was a craven loon. Those pictures of glory were piteous things.  He
+groaned from his heart and went staggering off.
+
+A certain mothlike quality within him kept him in the vicinity of the
+battle.  He had a great desire to see, and to get news.  He wished to
+know who was winning.
+
+He told himself that, despite his unprecedented suffering, he had never
+lost his greed for a victory, yet, he said, in a half-apologetic manner
+to his conscience, he could not but know that a defeat for the army
+this time might mean many favorable things for him.  The blows of the
+enemy would splinter regiments into fragments.  Thus, many men of
+courage, he considered, would be obliged to desert the colors and
+scurry like chickens.  He would appear as one of them. They would be
+sullen brothers in distress, and he could then easily believe he had
+not run any farther or faster than they.  And if he himself could
+believe in his virtuous perfection, he conceived that there would be
+small trouble in convincing all others.
+
+He said, as if in excuse for this hope, that previously the army had
+encountered great defeats and in a few months had shaken off all blood
+and tradition of them, emerging as bright and valiant as a new one;
+thrusting out of sight the memory of disaster, and appearing with the
+valor and confidence of unconquered legions. The shrilling voices of
+the people at home would pipe dismally for a time, but various generals
+were usually compelled to listen to these ditties. He of course felt no
+compunctions for proposing a general as a sacrifice.  He could not tell
+who the chosen for the barbs might be, so he could center no direct
+sympathy upon him.  The people were afar and he did not conceive public
+opinion to be accurate at long range.  It was quite probable they would
+hit the wrong man who, after he had recovered from his amazement would
+perhaps spend the rest of his days in writing replies to the songs of
+his alleged failure.  It would be very unfortunate, no doubt, but in
+this case a general was of no consequence to the youth.
+
+In a defeat there would be a roundabout vindication of himself.  He
+thought it would prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because of
+his superior powers of perception.  A serious prophet upon predicting a
+flood should be the first man to climb a tree.  This would demonstrate
+that he was indeed a seer.
+
+A moral vindication was regarded by the youth as a very important
+thing.  Without salve, he could not, he thought, wear the sore badge of
+his dishonor through life.  With his heart continually assuring him
+that he was despicable, he could not exist without making it, through
+his actions, apparent to all men.
+
+If the army had gone gloriously on he would be lost.  If the din meant
+that now his army's flags were tilted forward he was a condemned
+wretch.  He would be compelled to doom himself to isolation.  If the
+men were advancing, their indifferent feet were trampling upon his
+chances for a successful life.
+
+As these thoughts went rapidly through his mind, he turned upon them
+and tried to thrust them away.  He denounced himself as a villain. He
+said that he was the most unutterably selfish man in existence.  His
+mind pictured the soldiers who would place their defiant bodies before
+the spear of the yelling battle fiend, and as he saw their dripping
+corpses on an imagined field, he said that he was their murderer.
+
+Again he thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied
+a corpse.  Thinking of the slain, he achieved a great contempt for some
+of them, as if they were guilty for thus becoming lifeless.  They might
+have been killed by lucky chances, he said, before they had had
+opportunities to flee or before they had been really tested.  Yet they
+would receive laurels from tradition.  He cried out bitterly that their
+crowns were stolen and their robes of glorious memories were shams.
+However, he still said that it was a great pity he was not as they.
+
+A defeat of the army had suggested itself to him as a means of escape
+from the consequences of his fall.  He considered, now, however, that
+it was useless to think of such a possibility.  His education had been
+that success for that mighty blue machine was certain; that it would
+make victories as a contrivance turns out buttons.  He presently
+discarded all his speculations in the other direction.  He returned to
+the creed of soldiers.
+
+When he perceived again that it was not possible for the army to be
+defeated, he tried to bethink him of a fine tale which he could take
+back to his regiment, and with it turn the expected shafts of derision.
+
+But, as he mortally feared these shafts, it became impossible for him
+to invent a tale he felt he could trust.  He experimented with many
+schemes, but threw them aside one by one as flimsy.  He was quick to
+see vulnerable places in them all.
+
+Furthermore, he was much afraid that some arrow of scorn might lay him
+mentally low before he could raise his protecting tale.
+
+He imagined the whole regiment saying: "Where's Henry Fleming?  He run,
+didn't 'e? Oh, my!"  He recalled various persons who would be quite
+sure to leave him no peace about it.  They would doubtless question him
+with sneers, and laugh at his stammering hesitation.  In the next
+engagement they would try to keep watch of him to discover when he
+would run.
+
+Wherever he went in camp, he would encounter insolent and lingeringly
+cruel stares.  As he imagined himself passing near a crowd of comrades,
+he could hear some one say, "There he goes!"
+
+Then, as if the heads were moved by one muscle, all the faces were
+turned toward him with wide, derisive grins.  He seemed to hear some
+one make a humorous remark in a low tone. At it the others all crowed
+and cackled.  He was a slang phrase.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The column that had butted stoutly at the obstacles in the roadway was
+barely out of the youth's sight before he saw dark waves of men come
+sweeping out of the woods and down through the fields.  He knew at once
+that the steel fibers had been washed from their hearts. They were
+bursting from their coats and their equipments as from entanglements.
+They charged down upon him like terrified buffaloes.
+
+Behind them blue smoke curled and clouded above the treetops, and
+through the thickets he could sometimes see a distant pink glare.  The
+voices of the cannon were clamoring in interminable chorus.
+
+The youth was horrorstricken.  He stared in agony and amazement.  He
+forgot that he was engaged in combating the universe.  He threw aside
+his mental pamphlets on the philosophy of the retreated and rules for
+the guidance of the damned.
+
+The fight was lost.  The dragons were coming with invincible strides.
+The army, helpless in the matted thickets and blinded by the
+overhanging night, was going to be swallowed.  War, the red animal,
+war, the blood-swollen god, would have bloated fill.
+
+Within him something bade to cry out.  He had the impulse to make a
+rallying speech, to sing a battle hymn, but he could only get his
+tongue to call into the air: "Why--why--what--what 's th' matter?"
+
+Soon he was in the midst of them.  They were leaping and scampering all
+about him. Their blanched faces shone in the dusk.  They seemed, for
+the most part, to be very burly men. The youth turned from one to
+another of them as they galloped along.  His incoherent questions were
+lost.  They were heedless of his appeals. They did not seem to see him.
+
+They sometimes gabbled insanely.  One huge man was asking of the sky:
+"Say, where de plank road?  Where de plank road!"  It was as if he had
+lost a child.  He wept in his pain and dismay.
+
+Presently, men were running hither and thither in all ways.  The
+artillery booming, forward, rearward, and on the flanks made jumble of
+ideas of direction.  Landmarks had vanished into the gathered gloom.
+The youth began to imagine that he had got into the center of the
+tremendous quarrel, and he could perceive no way out of it.  From the
+mouths of the fleeing men came a thousand wild questions, but no one
+made answers.
+
+The youth, after rushing about and throwing interrogations at the
+heedless bands of retreating infantry, finally clutched a man by the
+arm.  They swung around face to face.
+
+"Why--why--" stammered the youth struggling with his balking tongue.
+
+The man screamed: "Let go me!  Let go me!"  His face was livid and his
+eyes were rolling uncontrolled.  He was heaving and panting. He still
+grasped his rifle, perhaps having forgotten to release his hold upon
+it.  He tugged frantically, and the youth being compelled to lean
+forward was dragged several paces.
+
+"Let go me!  Let go me!"
+
+"Why--why--" stuttered the youth.
+
+"Well, then!" bawled the man in a lurid rage.  He adroitly and fiercely
+swung his rifle. It crushed upon the youth's head.  The man ran on.
+
+The youth's fingers had turned to paste upon the other's arm.  The
+energy was smitten from his muscles.  He saw the flaming wings of
+lightning flash before his vision.  There was a deafening rumble of
+thunder within his head.
+
+Suddenly his legs seemed to die.  He sank writhing to the ground.  He
+tried to arise.  In his efforts against the numbing pain he was like a
+man wrestling with a creature of the air.
+
+There was a sinister struggle.
+
+Sometimes he would achieve a position half erect, battle with the air
+for a moment, and then fall again, grabbing at the grass.  His face was
+of a clammy pallor.  Deep groans were wrenched from him.
+
+At last, with a twisting movement, he got upon his hands and knees, and
+from thence, like a babe trying to walk, to his feet.  Pressing his
+hands to his temples he went lurching over the grass.
+
+He fought an intense battle with his body. His dulled senses wished him
+to swoon and he opposed them stubbornly, his mind portraying unknown
+dangers and mutilations if he should fall upon the field.  He went tall
+soldier fashion. He imagined secluded spots where he could fall and be
+unmolested.  To search for one he strove against the tide of his pain.
+
+Once he put his hand to the top of his head and timidly touched the
+wound.  The scratching pain of the contact made him draw a long breath
+through his clinched teeth.  His fingers were dabbled with blood.  He
+regarded them with a fixed stare.
+
+Around him he could hear the grumble of jolted cannon as the scurrying
+horses were lashed toward the front.  Once, a young officer on a
+besplashed charger nearly ran him down.  He turned and watched the mass
+of guns, men, and horses sweeping in a wide curve toward a gap in a
+fence.  The officer was making excited motions with a gauntleted hand.
+The guns followed the teams with an air of unwillingness, of being
+dragged by the heels.
+
+Some officers of the scattered infantry were cursing and railing like
+fishwives.  Their scolding voices could be heard above the din.  Into
+the unspeakable jumble in the roadway rode a squadron of cavalry.  The
+faded yellow of their facings shone bravely.  There was a mighty
+altercation.
+
+The artillery were assembling as if for a conference.
+
+The blue haze of evening was upon the field. The lines of forest were
+long purple shadows. One cloud lay along the western sky partly
+smothering the red.
+
+As the youth left the scene behind him, he heard the guns suddenly roar
+out.  He imagined them shaking in black rage.  They belched and howled
+like brass devils guarding a gate.  The soft air was filled with the
+tremendous remonstrance.  With it came the shattering peal of opposing
+infantry.  Turning to look behind him, he could see sheets of orange
+light illumine the shadowy distance.  There were subtle and sudden
+lightnings in the far air.  At times he thought he could see heaving
+masses of men.
+
+He hurried on in the dusk.  The day had faded until he could barely
+distinguish place for his feet.  The purple darkness was filled with
+men who lectured and jabbered.  Sometimes he could see them
+gesticulating against the blue and somber sky.  There seemed to be a
+great ruck of men and munitions spread about in the forest and in the
+fields.
+
+The little narrow roadway now lay lifeless. There were overturned
+wagons like sun-dried bowlders.  The bed of the former torrent was
+choked with the bodies of horses and splintered parts of war machines.
+
+It had come to pass that his wound pained him but little.  He was
+afraid to move rapidly, however, for a dread of disturbing it.  He held
+his head very still and took many precautions against stumbling.  He
+was filled with anxiety, and his face was pinched and drawn in
+anticipation of the pain of any sudden mistake of his feet in the gloom.
+
+His thoughts, as he walked, fixed intently upon his hurt.  There was a
+cool, liquid feeling about it and he imagined blood moving slowly down
+under his hair.  His head seemed swollen to a size that made him think
+his neck to be inadequate.
+
+The new silence of his wound made much worriment.  The little
+blistering voices of pain that had called out from his scalp were, he
+thought, definite in their expression of danger. By them he believed
+that he could measure his plight.  But when they remained ominously
+silent he became frightened and imagined terrible fingers that clutched
+into his brain.
+
+Amid it he began to reflect upon various incidents and conditions of
+the past.  He bethought him of certain meals his mother had cooked at
+home, in which those dishes of which he was particularly fond had
+occupied prominent positions.  He saw the spread table.  The pine walls
+of the kitchen were glowing in the warm light from the stove.  Too, he
+remembered how he and his companions used to go from the schoolhouse to
+the bank of a shaded pool.  He saw his clothes in disorderly array upon
+the grass of the bank.  He felt the swash of the fragrant water upon
+his body.  The leaves of the overhanging maple rustled with melody in
+the wind of youthful summer.
+
+He was overcome presently by a dragging weariness.  His head hung
+forward and his shoulders were stooped as if he were bearing a great
+bundle.  His feet shuffled along the ground.
+
+He held continuous arguments as to whether he should lie down and sleep
+at some near spot, or force himself on until he reached a certain
+haven.  He often tried to dismiss the question, but his body persisted
+in rebellion and his senses nagged at him like pampered babies.
+
+At last he heard a cheery voice near his shoulder: "Yeh seem t' be in a
+pretty bad way, boy?"
+
+The youth did not look up, but he assented with thick tongue.  "Uh!"
+
+The owner of the cheery voice took him firmly by the arm.  "Well," he
+said, with a round laugh, "I'm goin' your way.  Th' hull gang is goin'
+your way.  An' I guess I kin give yeh a lift."  They began to walk like
+a drunken man and his friend.
+
+As they went along, the man questioned the youth and assisted him with
+the replies like one manipulating the mind of a child.  Sometimes he
+interjected anecdotes.  "What reg'ment do yeh b'long teh?  Eh?  What's
+that?  Th' 304th N' York?  Why, what corps is that in?  Oh, it is? Why,
+I thought they wasn't engaged t'-day--they 're 'way over in th' center.
+Oh, they was, eh?  Well, pretty nearly everybody got their share 'a
+fightin' t'-day.  By dad, I give myself up fer dead any number 'a
+times.  There was shootin' here an' shootin' there, an' hollerin' here
+an' hollerin' there, in th' damn' darkness, until I couldn't tell t'
+save m' soul which side I was on. Sometimes I thought I was sure 'nough
+from Ohier, an' other times I could 'a swore I was from th' bitter end
+of Florida.  It was th' most mixed up dern thing I ever see.  An' these
+here hull woods is a reg'lar mess.  It'll be a miracle if we find our
+reg'ments t'-night.  Pretty soon, though, we 'll meet a-plenty of
+guards an' provost-guards, an' one thing an' another.  Ho! there they
+go with an off'cer, I guess.  Look at his hand a-draggin'.  He 's got
+all th' war he wants, I bet. He won't be talkin' so big about his
+reputation an' all when they go t' sawin' off his leg.  Poor feller! My
+brother 's got whiskers jest like that. How did yeh git 'way over here,
+anyhow?  Your reg'ment is a long way from here, ain't it?  Well, I
+guess we can find it.  Yeh know there was a boy killed in my comp'ny
+t'-day that I thought th' world an' all of.  Jack was a nice feller. By
+ginger, it hurt like thunder t' see ol' Jack jest git knocked flat. We
+was a-standin' purty peaceable fer a spell, 'though there was men
+runnin' ev'ry way all 'round us, an' while we was a-standin' like that,
+'long come a big fat feller.  He began t' peck at Jack's elbow, an' he
+ses: 'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  An' Jack, he never paid no
+attention, an' th' feller kept on a-peckin' at his elbow an' sayin':
+'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?'  Jack was a-lookin' ahead all
+th' time tryin' t' see th' Johnnies comin' through th' woods, an' he
+never paid no attention t' this big fat feller fer a long time, but at
+last he turned 'round an' he ses: 'Ah, go t' hell an' find th' road t'
+th' river!'  An' jest then a shot slapped him bang on th' side th'
+head.  He was a sergeant, too.  Them was his last words.  Thunder, I
+wish we was sure 'a findin' our reg'ments t'-night.  It 's goin' t' be
+long huntin'.  But I guess we kin do it."
+
+In the search which followed, the man of the cheery voice seemed to the
+youth to possess a wand of a magic kind.  He threaded the mazes of the
+tangled forest with a strange fortune.  In encounters with guards and
+patrols he displayed the keenness of a detective and the valor of a
+gamin.  Obstacles fell before him and became of assistance.  The youth,
+with his chin still on his breast, stood woodenly by while his
+companion beat ways and means out of sullen things.
+
+The forest seemed a vast hive of men buzzing about in frantic circles,
+but the cheery man conducted the youth without mistakes, until at last
+he began to chuckle with glee and self-satisfaction. "Ah, there yeh
+are!  See that fire?"
+
+The youth nodded stupidly.
+
+"Well, there 's where your reg'ment is.  An' now, good-by, ol' boy,
+good luck t' yeh."
+
+A warm and strong hand clasped the youth's languid fingers for an
+instant, and then he heard a cheerful and audacious whistling as the
+man strode away.  As he who had so befriended him was thus passing out
+of his life, it suddenly occurred to the youth that he had not once
+seen his face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The youth went slowly toward the fire indicated by his departed friend.
+As he reeled, he bethought him of the welcome his comrades would give
+him.  He had a conviction that he would soon feel in his sore heart the
+barbed missiles of ridicule.  He had no strength to invent a tale; he
+would be a soft target.
+
+He made vague plans to go off into the deeper darkness and hide, but
+they were all destroyed by the voices of exhaustion and pain from his
+body.  His ailments, clamoring, forced him to seek the place of food
+and rest, at whatever cost.
+
+He swung unsteadily toward the fire.  He could see the forms of men
+throwing black shadows in the red light, and as he went nearer it
+became known to him in some way that the ground was strewn with
+sleeping men.
+
+Of a sudden he confronted a black and monstrous figure.  A rifle barrel
+caught some glinting beams.  "Halt! halt!"  He was dismayed for a
+moment, but he presently thought that he recognized the nervous voice.
+As he stood tottering before the rifle barrel, he called out: "Why,
+hello, Wilson, you--you here?"
+
+The rifle was lowered to a position of caution and the loud soldier
+came slowly forward.  He peered into the youth's face.  "That you,
+Henry?"
+
+"Yes, it's--it's me."
+
+"Well, well, ol' boy," said the other, "by ginger, I'm glad t' see yeh!
+I give yeh up fer a goner.  I thought yeh was dead sure enough."  There
+was husky emotion in his voice.
+
+The youth found that now he could barely stand upon his feet.  There
+was a sudden sinking of his forces.  He thought he must hasten to
+produce his tale to protect him from the missiles already at the lips
+of his redoubtable comrades. So, staggering before the loud soldier, he
+began: "Yes, yes.  I've--I've had an awful time.  I've been all over.
+Way over on th' right.  Ter'ble fightin' over there.  I had an awful
+time.  I got separated from th' reg'ment.  Over on th' right, I got
+shot.  In th' head.  I never see sech fightin'.  Awful time.  I don't
+see how I could 'a got separated from th' reg'ment.  I got shot, too."
+
+His friend had stepped forward quickly. "What?  Got shot?  Why didn't
+yeh say so first?  Poor ol' boy, we must--hol' on a minnit; what am I
+doin'.  I'll call Simpson."
+
+Another figure at that moment loomed in the gloom.  They could see that
+it was the corporal. "Who yeh talkin' to, Wilson?" he demanded. His
+voice was anger-toned.  "Who yeh talkin' to?  Yeh th' derndest
+sentinel--why--hello, Henry, you here?  Why, I thought you was dead
+four hours ago!  Great Jerusalem, they keep turnin' up every ten
+minutes or so!  We thought we'd lost forty-two men by straight count,
+but if they keep on a-comin' this way, we'll git th' comp'ny all back
+by mornin' yit.  Where was yeh?"
+
+"Over on th' right.  I got separated"--began the youth with
+considerable glibness.
+
+But his friend had interrupted hastily.  "Yes, an' he got shot in th'
+head an' he's in a fix, an' we must see t' him right away."  He rested
+his rifle in the hollow of his left arm and his right around the
+youth's shoulder.
+
+"Gee, it must hurt like thunder!" he said.
+
+The youth leaned heavily upon his friend. "Yes, it hurts--hurts a good
+deal," he replied. There was a faltering in his voice.
+
+"Oh," said the corporal.  He linked his arm in the youth's and drew him
+forward.  "Come on, Henry.  I'll take keer 'a yeh."
+
+As they went on together the loud private called out after them: "Put
+'im t' sleep in my blanket, Simpson.  An'--hol' on a minnit--here's my
+canteen.  It's full 'a coffee.  Look at his head by th' fire an' see
+how it looks.  Maybe it's a pretty bad un.  When I git relieved in a
+couple 'a minnits, I'll be over an' see t' him."
+
+The youth's senses were so deadened that his friend's voice sounded
+from afar and he could scarcely feel the pressure of the corporal's
+arm. He submitted passively to the latter's directing strength.  His
+head was in the old manner hanging forward upon his breast.  His knees
+wobbled.
+
+The corporal led him into the glare of the fire.  "Now, Henry," he
+said, "let's have look at yer ol' head."
+
+The youth sat down obediently and the corporal, laying aside his rifle,
+began to fumble in the bushy hair of his comrade.  He was obliged to
+turn the other's head so that the full flush of the fire light would
+beam upon it.  He puckered his mouth with a critical air.  He drew back
+his lips and whistled through his teeth when his fingers came in
+contact with the splashed blood and the rare wound.
+
+"Ah, here we are!" he said.  He awkwardly made further investigations.
+"Jest as I thought," he added, presently.  "Yeh've been grazed by a
+ball.  It's raised a queer lump jest as if some feller had lammed yeh
+on th' head with a club. It stopped a-bleedin' long time ago.  Th' most
+about it is that in th' mornin' yeh'll feel that a number ten hat
+wouldn't fit yeh.  An' your head'll be all het up an' feel as dry as
+burnt pork. An' yeh may git a lot 'a other sicknesses, too, by mornin'.
+Yeh can't never tell.  Still, I don't much think so.  It's jest a damn'
+good belt on th' head, an' nothin' more.  Now, you jest sit here an'
+don't move, while I go rout out th' relief. Then I'll send Wilson t'
+take keer 'a yeh."
+
+The corporal went away.  The youth remained on the ground like a
+parcel.  He stared with a vacant look into the fire.
+
+After a time he aroused, for some part, and the things about him began
+to take form.  He saw that the ground in the deep shadows was cluttered
+with men, sprawling in every conceivable posture.  Glancing narrowly
+into the more distant darkness, he caught occasional glimpses of
+visages that loomed pallid and ghostly, lit with a phosphorescent glow.
+These faces expressed in their lines the deep stupor of the tired
+soldiers.  They made them appear like men drunk with wine.  This bit of
+forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the
+result of some frightful debauch.
+
+On the other side of the fire the youth observed an officer asleep,
+seated bolt upright, with his back against a tree.  There was something
+perilous in his position.  Badgered by dreams, perhaps, he swayed with
+little bounces and starts, like an old toddy-stricken grandfather in a
+chimney corner.  Dust and stains were upon his face.  His lower jaw
+hung down as if lacking strength to assume its normal position.  He was
+the picture of an exhausted soldier after a feast of war.
+
+He had evidently gone to sleep with his sword in his arms.  These two
+had slumbered in an embrace, but the weapon had been allowed in time to
+fall unheeded to the ground.  The brass-mounted hilt lay in contact
+with some parts of the fire.
+
+Within the gleam of rose and orange light from the burning sticks were
+other soldiers, snoring and heaving, or lying deathlike in slumber.  A
+few pairs of legs were stuck forth, rigid and straight.  The shoes
+displayed the mud or dust of marches and bits of rounded trousers,
+protruding from the blankets, showed rents and tears from hurried
+pitchings through the dense brambles.
+
+The fire crackled musically.  From it swelled light smoke.  Overhead
+the foliage moved softly.  The leaves, with their faces turned toward
+the blaze, were colored shifting hues of silver, often edged with red.
+Far off to the right, through a window in the forest could be seen a
+handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on the black level of
+the night.
+
+Occasionally, in this low-arched hall, a soldier would arouse and turn
+his body to a new position, the experience of his sleep having taught
+him of uneven and objectionable places upon the ground under him.  Or,
+perhaps, he would lift himself to a sitting posture, blink at the fire
+for an unintelligent moment, throw a swift glance at his prostrate
+companion, and then cuddle down again with a grunt of sleepy content.
+
+The youth sat in a forlorn heap until his friend the loud young soldier
+came, swinging two canteens by their light strings.  "Well, now, Henry,
+ol' boy," said the latter, "we'll have yeh fixed up in jest about a
+minnit."
+
+He had the bustling ways of an amateur nurse.  He fussed around the
+fire and stirred the sticks to brilliant exertions.  He made his
+patient drink largely from the canteen that contained the coffee.  It
+was to the youth a delicious draught. He tilted his head afar back and
+held the canteen long to his lips.  The cool mixture went caressingly
+down his blistered throat.  Having finished, he sighed with comfortable
+delight.
+
+The loud young soldier watched his comrade with an air of satisfaction.
+He later produced an extensive handkerchief from his pocket.  He folded
+it into a manner of bandage and soused water from the other canteen
+upon the middle of it.  This crude arrangement he bound over the
+youth's head, tying the ends in a queer knot at the back of the neck.
+
+"There," he said, moving off and surveying his deed, "yeh look like th'
+devil, but I bet yeh feel better."
+
+The youth contemplated his friend with grateful eyes.  Upon his aching
+and swelling head the cold cloth was like a tender woman's hand.
+
+"Yeh don't holler ner say nothin'," remarked his friend approvingly. "I
+know I'm a blacksmith at takin' keer 'a sick folks, an' yeh never
+squeaked.  Yer a good un, Henry.  Most 'a men would a' been in th'
+hospital long ago.  A shot in th' head ain't foolin' business."
+
+The youth made no reply, but began to fumble with the buttons of his
+jacket.
+
+"Well, come, now," continued his friend, "come on.  I must put yeh t'
+bed an' see that yeh git a good night's rest."
+
+The other got carefully erect, and the loud young soldier led him among
+the sleeping forms lying in groups and rows.  Presently he stooped and
+picked up his blankets.  He spread the rubber one upon the ground and
+placed the woolen one about the youth's shoulders.
+
+"There now," he said, "lie down an' git some sleep."
+
+The youth, with his manner of doglike obedience, got carefully down
+like a crone stooping.  He stretched out with a murmur of relief and
+comfort.  The ground felt like the softest couch.
+
+But of a sudden he ejaculated: "Hol' on a minnit!  Where you goin' t'
+sleep?"
+
+His friend waved his hand impatiently. "Right down there by yeh."
+
+"Well, but hol' on a minnit," continued the youth.  "What yeh goin' t'
+sleep in?  I've got your--"
+
+The loud young soldier snarled: "Shet up an' go on t' sleep.  Don't be
+makin' a damn' fool 'a yerself," he said severely.
+
+After the reproof the youth said no more. An exquisite drowsiness had
+spread through him. The warm comfort of the blanket enveloped him and
+made a gentle languor.  His head fell forward on his crooked arm and
+his weighted lids went softly down over his eyes.  Hearing a splatter
+of musketry from the distance, he wondered indifferently if those men
+sometimes slept.  He gave a long sigh, snuggled down into his blanket,
+and in a moment was like his comrades.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+When the youth awoke it seemed to him that he had been asleep for a
+thousand years, and he felt sure that he opened his eyes upon an
+unexpected world.  Gray mists were slowly shifting before the first
+efforts of the sun rays.  An impending splendor could be seen in the
+eastern sky.  An icy dew had chilled his face, and immediately upon
+arousing he curled farther down into his blanket.  He stared for a
+while at the leaves overhead, moving in a heraldic wind of the day.
+
+The distance was splintering and blaring with the noise of fighting.
+There was in the sound an expression of a deadly persistency, as if it
+had not begun and was not to cease.
+
+About him were the rows and groups of men that he had dimly seen the
+previous night.  They were getting a last draught of sleep before the
+awakening.  The gaunt, careworn features and dusty figures were made
+plain by this quaint light at the dawning, but it dressed the skin of
+the men in corpselike hues and made the tangled limbs appear pulseless
+and dead.  The youth started up with a little cry when his eyes first
+swept over this motionless mass of men, thick-spread upon the ground,
+pallid, and in strange postures.  His disordered mind interpreted the
+hall of the forest as a charnel place.  He believed for an instant that
+he was in the house of the dead, and he did not dare to move lest these
+corpses start up, squalling and squawking.  In a second, however, he
+achieved his proper mind. He swore a complicated oath at himself.  He
+saw that this somber picture was not a fact of the present, but a mere
+prophecy.
+
+He heard then the noise of a fire crackling briskly in the cold air,
+and, turning his head, he saw his friend pottering busily about a small
+blaze.  A few other figures moved in the fog, and he heard the hard
+cracking of axe blows.
+
+Suddenly there was a hollow rumble of drums.  A distant bugle sang
+faintly.  Similar sounds, varying in strength, came from near and far
+over the forest.  The bugles called to each other like brazen
+gamecocks.  The near thunder of the regimental drums rolled.
+
+The body of men in the woods rustled.  There was a general uplifting of
+heads.  A murmuring of voices broke upon the air.  In it there was much
+bass of grumbling oaths.  Strange gods were addressed in condemnation
+of the early hours necessary to correct war.  An officer's peremptory
+tenor rang out and quickened the stiffened movement of the men.  The
+tangled limbs unraveled.  The corpse-hued faces were hidden behind
+fists that twisted slowly in the eye sockets.
+
+The youth sat up and gave vent to an enormous yawn.  "Thunder!" he
+remarked petulantly. He rubbed his eyes, and then putting up his hand
+felt carefully of the bandage over his wound. His friend, perceiving
+him to be awake, came from the fire.  "Well, Henry, ol' man, how do yeh
+feel this mornin'?" he demanded.
+
+The youth yawned again.  Then he puckered his mouth to a little pucker.
+His head, in truth, felt precisely like a melon, and there was an
+unpleasant sensation at his stomach.
+
+"Oh, Lord, I feel pretty bad," he said.
+
+"Thunder!" exclaimed the other.  "I hoped ye'd feel all right this
+mornin'.  Let's see th' bandage--I guess it's slipped."  He began to
+tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way until the youth exploded.
+
+"Gosh-dern it!" he said in sharp irritation; "you're the hangdest man I
+ever saw!  You wear muffs on your hands.  Why in good thunderation
+can't you be more easy?  I'd rather you'd stand off an' throw guns at
+it.  Now, go slow, an' don't act as if you was nailing down carpet."
+
+He glared with insolent command at his friend, but the latter answered
+soothingly. "Well, well, come now, an' git some grub," he said.  "Then,
+maybe, yeh'll feel better."
+
+At the fireside the loud young soldier watched over his comrade's wants
+with tenderness and care.  He was very busy marshaling the little black
+vagabonds of tin cups and pouring into them the streaming, iron colored
+mixture from a small and sooty tin pail.  He had some fresh meat, which
+he roasted hurriedly upon a stick.  He sat down then and contemplated
+the youth's appetite with glee.
+
+The youth took note of a remarkable change in his comrade since those
+days of camp life upon the river bank.  He seemed no more to be
+continually regarding the proportions of his personal prowess.  He was
+not furious at small words that pricked his conceits.  He was no more a
+loud young soldier.  There was about him now a fine reliance.  He
+showed a quiet belief in his purposes and his abilities.  And this
+inward confidence evidently enabled him to be indifferent to little
+words of other men aimed at him.
+
+The youth reflected.  He had been used to regarding his comrade as a
+blatant child with an audacity grown from his inexperience,
+thoughtless, headstrong, jealous, and filled with a tinsel courage.  A
+swaggering babe accustomed to strut in his own dooryard.  The youth
+wondered where had been born these new eyes; when his comrade had made
+the great discovery that there were many men who would refuse to be
+subjected by him.  Apparently, the other had now climbed a peak of
+wisdom from which he could perceive himself as a very wee thing.  And
+the youth saw that ever after it would be easier to live in his
+friend's neighborhood.
+
+His comrade balanced his ebony coffee-cup on his knee.  "Well, Henry,"
+he said, "what d'yeh think th' chances are?  D'yeh think we'll wallop
+'em?"
+
+The youth considered for a moment.  "Day-b'fore-yesterday," he finally
+replied, with boldness, "you would 'a' bet you'd lick the hull
+kit-an'-boodle all by yourself."
+
+His friend looked a trifle amazed.  "Would I?" he asked.  He pondered.
+"Well, perhaps I would," he decided at last.  He stared humbly at the
+fire.
+
+The youth was quite disconcerted at this surprising reception of his
+remarks.  "Oh, no, you wouldn't either," he said, hastily trying to
+retrace.
+
+But the other made a deprecating gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry," he said.  "I believe I was a pretty big fool in those days." He
+spoke as after a lapse of years.
+
+There was a little pause.
+
+"All th' officers say we've got th' rebs in a pretty tight box," said
+the friend, clearing his throat in a commonplace way.  "They all seem
+t' think we've got 'em jest where we want 'em."
+
+"I don't know about that," the youth replied. "What I seen over on th'
+right makes me think it was th' other way about.  From where I was, it
+looked as if we was gettin' a good poundin' yestirday."
+
+"D'yeh think so?" inquired the friend.  "I thought we handled 'em
+pretty rough yestirday."
+
+"Not a bit," said the youth.  "Why, lord, man, you didn't see nothing
+of the fight.  Why!" Then a sudden thought came to him.  "Oh! Jim
+Conklin's dead."
+
+His friend started.  "What?  Is he?  Jim Conklin?"
+
+The youth spoke slowly.  "Yes.  He's dead. Shot in th' side."
+
+"Yeh don't say so.  Jim Conklin. . . . poor cuss!"
+
+All about them were other small fires surrounded by men with their
+little black utensils. From one of these near came sudden sharp voices
+in a row.  It appeared that two light-footed soldiers had been teasing
+a huge, bearded man, causing him to spill coffee upon his blue knees.
+The man had gone into a rage and had sworn comprehensively.  Stung by
+his language, his tormentors had immediately bristled at him with a
+great show of resenting unjust oaths. Possibly there was going to be a
+fight.
+
+The friend arose and went over to them, making pacific motions with his
+arms.  "Oh, here, now, boys, what's th' use?" he said.  "We'll be at
+th' rebs in less'n an hour.  What's th' good fightin' 'mong ourselves?"
+
+One of the light-footed soldiers turned upon him red-faced and violent.
+"Yeh needn't come around here with yer preachin'.  I s'pose yeh don't
+approve 'a fightin' since Charley Morgan licked yeh; but I don't see
+what business this here is 'a yours or anybody else."
+
+"Well, it ain't," said the friend mildly.  "Still I hate t' see--"
+
+There was a tangled argument.
+
+"Well, he--," said the two, indicating their opponent with accusative
+forefingers.
+
+The huge soldier was quite purple with rage. He pointed at the two
+soldiers with his great hand, extended clawlike.  "Well, they--"
+
+But during this argumentative time the desire to deal blows seemed to
+pass, although they said much to each other.  Finally the friend
+returned to his old seat.  In a short while the three antagonists could
+be seen together in an amiable bunch.
+
+"Jimmie Rogers ses I'll have t' fight him after th' battle t'-day,"
+announced the friend as he again seated himself.  "He ses he don't
+allow no interferin' in his business.  I hate t' see th' boys fightin'
+'mong themselves."
+
+The youth laughed.  "Yer changed a good bit.  Yeh ain't at all like yeh
+was.  I remember when you an' that Irish feller--"  He stopped and
+laughed again.
+
+"No, I didn't use t' be that way," said his friend thoughtfully.
+"That's true 'nough."
+
+"Well, I didn't mean--" began the youth.
+
+The friend made another deprecatory gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind,
+Henry."
+
+There was another little pause.
+
+"Th' reg'ment lost over half th' men yestirday," remarked the friend
+eventually.  "I thought a course they was all dead, but, laws, they
+kep' a-comin' back last night until it seems, after all, we didn't lose
+but a few.  They'd been scattered all over, wanderin' around in th'
+woods, fightin' with other reg'ments, an' everything.  Jest like you
+done."
+
+"So?" said the youth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+The regiment was standing at order arms at the side of a lane, waiting
+for the command to march, when suddenly the youth remembered the little
+packet enwrapped in a faded yellow envelope which the loud young
+soldier with lugubrious words had intrusted to him.  It made him start.
+He uttered an exclamation and turned toward his comrade.
+
+"Wilson!"
+
+"What?"
+
+His friend, at his side in the ranks, was thoughtfully staring down the
+road.  From some cause his expression was at that moment very meek. The
+youth, regarding him with sidelong glances, felt impelled to change his
+purpose.  "Oh, nothing," he said.
+
+His friend turned his head in some surprise, "Why, what was yeh goin'
+t' say?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," repeated the youth.
+
+He resolved not to deal the little blow.  It was sufficient that the
+fact made him glad.  It was not necessary to knock his friend on the
+head with the misguided packet.
+
+He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily
+questionings could make holes in his feelings.  Lately, he had assured
+himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a
+persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period
+of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the
+previous day.
+
+He now rejoiced in the possession of a small weapon with which he could
+prostrate his comrade at the first signs of a cross-examination.  He
+was master.  It would now be he who could laugh and shoot the shafts of
+derision.
+
+The friend had, in a weak hour, spoken with sobs of his own death.  He
+had delivered a melancholy oration previous to his funeral, and had
+doubtless in the packet of letters, presented various keepsakes to
+relatives.  But he had not died, and thus he had delivered himself into
+the hands of the youth.
+
+The latter felt immensely superior to his friend, but he inclined to
+condescension.  He adopted toward him an air of patronizing good humor.
+
+His self-pride was now entirely restored.  In the shade of its
+flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and
+since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an
+encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own
+to keep him from an attitude of manfulness.  He had performed his
+mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man.
+
+Indeed, when he remembered his fortunes of yesterday, and looked at
+them from a distance he began to see something fine there.  He had
+license to be pompous and veteranlike.
+
+His panting agonies of the past he put out of his sight.
+
+In the present, he declared to himself that it was only the doomed and
+the damned who roared with sincerity at circumstance.  Few but they
+ever did it.  A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows
+had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong
+in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society.  Let the
+unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.
+
+He did not give a great deal of thought to these battles that lay
+directly before him.  It was not essential that he should plan his ways
+in regard to them.  He had been taught that many obligations of a life
+were easily avoided.  The lessons of yesterday had been that
+retribution was a laggard and blind.  With these facts before him he
+did not deem it necessary that he should become feverish over the
+possibilities of the ensuing twenty-four hours.  He could leave much to
+chance.  Besides, a faith in himself had secretly blossomed.  There was
+a little flower of confidence growing within him.  He was now a man of
+experience.  He had been out among the dragons, he said, and he assured
+himself that they were not so hideous as he had imagined them. Also,
+they were inaccurate; they did not sting with precision.  A stout heart
+often defied, and defying, escaped.
+
+And, furthermore, how could they kill him who was the chosen of gods
+and doomed to greatness?
+
+He remembered how some of the men had run from the battle.  As he
+recalled their terror-struck faces he felt a scorn for them.  They had
+surely been more fleet and more wild than was absolutely necessary.
+They were weak mortals. As for himself, he had fled with discretion and
+dignity.
+
+He was aroused from this reverie by his friend, who, having hitched
+about nervously and blinked at the trees for a time, suddenly coughed
+in an introductory way, and spoke.
+
+"Fleming!"
+
+"What?"
+
+The friend put his hand up to his mouth and coughed again.  He fidgeted
+in his jacket.
+
+"Well," he gulped, at last, "I guess yeh might as well give me back
+them letters."  Dark, prickling blood had flushed into his cheeks and
+brow.
+
+"All right, Wilson," said the youth.  He loosened two buttons of his
+coat, thrust in his hand, and brought forth the packet.  As he extended
+it to his friend the latter's face was turned from him.
+
+He had been slow in the act of producing the packet because during it
+he had been trying to invent a remarkable comment upon the affair. He
+could conjure nothing of sufficient point.  He was compelled to allow
+his friend to escape unmolested with his packet.  And for this he took
+unto himself considerable credit.  It was a generous thing.
+
+His friend at his side seemed suffering great shame.  As he
+contemplated him, the youth felt his heart grow more strong and stout.
+He had never been compelled to blush in such manner for his acts; he
+was an individual of extraordinary virtues.
+
+He reflected, with condescending pity: "Too bad!  Too bad!  The poor
+devil, it makes him feel tough!"
+
+After this incident, and as he reviewed the battle pictures he had
+seen, he felt quite competent to return home and make the hearts of the
+people glow with stories of war.  He could see himself in a room of
+warm tints telling tales to listeners.  He could exhibit laurels.  They
+were insignificant; still, in a district where laurels were infrequent,
+they might shine.
+
+He saw his gaping audience picturing him as the central figure in
+blazing scenes.  And he imagined the consternation and the ejaculations
+of his mother and the young lady at the seminary as they drank his
+recitals.  Their vague feminine formula for beloved ones doing brave
+deeds on the field of battle without risk of life would be destroyed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A sputtering of musketry was always to be heard.  Later, the cannon had
+entered the dispute.  In the fog-filled air their voices made a
+thudding sound.  The reverberations were continued.  This part of the
+world led a strange, battleful existence.
+
+The youth's regiment was marched to relieve a command that had lain
+long in some damp trenches.  The men took positions behind a curving
+line of rifle pits that had been turned up, like a large furrow, along
+the line of woods.  Before them was a level stretch, peopled with
+short, deformed stumps.  From the woods beyond came the dull popping of
+the skirmishers and pickets, firing in the fog.  From the right came
+the noise of a terrific fracas.
+
+The men cuddled behind the small embankment and sat in easy attitudes
+awaiting their turn.  Many had their backs to the firing.  The youth's
+friend lay down, buried his face in his arms, and almost instantly, it
+seemed, he was in a deep sleep.
+
+The youth leaned his breast against the brown dirt and peered over at
+the woods and up and down the line.  Curtains of trees interfered with
+his ways of vision.  He could see the low line of trenches but for a
+short distance.  A few idle flags were perched on the dirt hills.
+Behind them were rows of dark bodies with a few heads sticking
+curiously over the top.
+
+Always the noise of skirmishers came from the woods on the front and
+left, and the din on the right had grown to frightful proportions. The
+guns were roaring without an instant's pause for breath.  It seemed
+that the cannon had come from all parts and were engaged in a
+stupendous wrangle.  It became impossible to make a sentence heard.
+
+The youth wished to launch a joke--a quotation from newspapers.  He
+desired to say, "All quiet on the Rappahannock," but the guns refused
+to permit even a comment upon their uproar. He never successfully
+concluded the sentence. But at last the guns stopped, and among the men
+in the rifle pits rumors again flew, like birds, but they were now for
+the most part black creatures who flapped their wings drearily near to
+the ground and refused to rise on any wings of hope.  The men's faces
+grew doleful from the interpreting of omens.  Tales of hesitation and
+uncertainty on the part of those high in place and responsibility came
+to their ears.  Stories of disaster were borne into their minds with
+many proofs.  This din of musketry on the right, growing like a
+released genie of sound, expressed and emphasized the army's plight.
+
+The men were disheartened and began to mutter.  They made gestures
+expressive of the sentence: "Ah, what more can we do?"  And it could
+always be seen that they were bewildered by the alleged news and could
+not fully comprehend a defeat.
+
+Before the gray mists had been totally obliterated by the sun rays, the
+regiment was marching in a spread column that was retiring carefully
+through the woods.  The disordered, hurrying lines of the enemy could
+sometimes be seen down through the groves and little fields.  They were
+yelling, shrill and exultant.
+
+At this sight the youth forgot many personal matters and became greatly
+enraged.  He exploded in loud sentences.  "B'jiminey, we're generaled
+by a lot 'a lunkheads."
+
+"More than one feller has said that t'-day," observed a man.
+
+His friend, recently aroused, was still very drowsy.  He looked behind
+him until his mind took in the meaning of the movement.  Then he
+sighed.  "Oh, well, I s'pose we got licked," he remarked sadly.
+
+The youth had a thought that it would not be handsome for him to freely
+condemn other men. He made an attempt to restrain himself, but the
+words upon his tongue were too bitter.  He presently began a long and
+intricate denunciation of the commander of the forces.
+
+"Mebbe, it wa'n't all his fault--not all together.  He did th' best he
+knowed.  It's our luck t' git licked often," said his friend in a weary
+tone.  He was trudging along with stooped shoulders and shifting eyes
+like a man who has been caned and kicked.
+
+"Well, don't we fight like the devil?  Don't we do all that men can?"
+demanded the youth loudly.
+
+He was secretly dumfounded at this sentiment when it came from his
+lips.  For a moment his face lost its valor and he looked guiltily
+about him.  But no one questioned his right to deal in such words, and
+presently he recovered his air of courage.  He went on to repeat a
+statement he had heard going from group to group at the camp that
+morning.  "The brigadier said he never saw a new reg'ment fight the way
+we fought yestirday, didn't he?  And we didn't do better than many
+another reg'ment, did we? Well, then, you can't say it's th' army's
+fault, can you?"
+
+In his reply, the friend's voice was stern.  "'A course not," he said.
+"No man dare say we don't fight like th' devil.  No man will ever dare
+say it.  Th' boys fight like hell-roosters.  But still--still, we don't
+have no luck."
+
+"Well, then, if we fight like the devil an' don't ever whip, it must be
+the general's fault," said the youth grandly and decisively.  "And I
+don't see any sense in fighting and fighting and fighting, yet always
+losing through some derned old lunkhead of a general."
+
+A sarcastic man who was tramping at the youth's side, then spoke
+lazily.  "Mebbe yeh think yeh fit th' hull battle yestirday, Fleming,"
+he remarked.
+
+The speech pierced the youth.  Inwardly he was reduced to an abject
+pulp by these chance words.  His legs quaked privately.  He cast a
+frightened glance at the sarcastic man.
+
+"Why, no," he hastened to say in a conciliating voice, "I don't think I
+fought the whole battle yesterday."
+
+But the other seemed innocent of any deeper meaning.  Apparently, he
+had no information. It was merely his habit.  "Oh!" he replied in the
+same tone of calm derision.
+
+The youth, nevertheless, felt a threat.  His mind shrank from going
+near to the danger, and thereafter he was silent.  The significance of
+the sarcastic man's words took from him all loud moods that would make
+him appear prominent. He became suddenly a modest person.
+
+There was low-toned talk among the troops. The officers were impatient
+and snappy, their countenances clouded with the tales of misfortune.
+The troops, sifting through the forest, were sullen.  In the youth's
+company once a man's laugh rang out.  A dozen soldiers turned their
+faces quickly toward him and frowned with vague displeasure.
+
+The noise of firing dogged their footsteps. Sometimes, it seemed to be
+driven a little way, but it always returned again with increased
+insolence.  The men muttered and cursed, throwing black looks in its
+direction.
+
+In a clear space the troops were at last halted. Regiments and
+brigades, broken and detached through their encounters with thickets,
+grew together again and lines were faced toward the pursuing bark of
+the enemy's infantry.
+
+This noise, following like the yellings of eager, metallic hounds,
+increased to a loud and joyous burst, and then, as the sun went
+serenely up the sky, throwing illuminating rays into the gloomy
+thickets, it broke forth into prolonged pealings. The woods began to
+crackle as if afire.
+
+"Whoop-a-dadee," said a man, "here we are! Everybody fightin'.  Blood
+an' destruction."
+
+"I was willin' t' bet they'd attack as soon as th' sun got fairly up,"
+savagely asserted the lieutenant who commanded the youth's company. He
+jerked without mercy at his little mustache. He strode to and fro with
+dark dignity in the rear of his men, who were lying down behind
+whatever protection they had collected.
+
+A battery had trundled into position in the rear and was thoughtfully
+shelling the distance. The regiment, unmolested as yet, awaited the
+moment when the gray shadows of the woods before them should be slashed
+by the lines of flame.  There was much growling and swearing.
+
+"Good Gawd," the youth grumbled, "we're always being chased around like
+rats!  It makes me sick.  Nobody seems to know where we go or why we
+go.  We just get fired around from pillar to post and get licked here
+and get licked there, and nobody knows what it's done for.  It makes a
+man feel like a damn' kitten in a bag. Now, I'd like to know what the
+eternal thunders we was marched into these woods for anyhow, unless it
+was to give the rebs a regular pot shot at us.  We came in here and got
+our legs all tangled up in these cussed briers, and then we begin to
+fight and the rebs had an easy time of it. Don't tell me it's just
+luck!  I know better.  It's this derned old--"
+
+The friend seemed jaded, but he interrupted his comrade with a voice of
+calm confidence. "It'll turn out all right in th' end," he said.
+
+"Oh, the devil it will!  You always talk like a dog-hanged parson.
+Don't tell me!  I know--"
+
+At this time there was an interposition by the savage-minded
+lieutenant, who was obliged to vent some of his inward dissatisfaction
+upon his men.  "You boys shut right up!  There no need 'a your wastin'
+your breath in long-winded arguments about this an' that an' th' other.
+You've been jawin' like a lot 'a old hens.  All you've got t' do is to
+fight, an' you'll get plenty 'a that t' do in about ten minutes.  Less
+talkin' an' more fightin' is what's best for you boys.  I never saw
+sech gabbling jackasses."
+
+He paused, ready to pounce upon any man who might have the temerity to
+reply.  No words being said, he resumed his dignified pacing.
+
+"There's too much chin music an' too little fightin' in this war,
+anyhow," he said to them, turning his head for a final remark.
+
+The day had grown more white, until the sun shed his full radiance upon
+the thronged forest. A sort of a gust of battle came sweeping toward
+that part of the line where lay the youth's regiment.  The front
+shifted a trifle to meet it squarely.  There was a wait.  In this part
+of the field there passed slowly the intense moments that precede the
+tempest.
+
+A single rifle flashed in a thicket before the regiment.  In an instant
+it was joined by many others.  There was a mighty song of clashes and
+crashes that went sweeping through the woods. The guns in the rear,
+aroused and enraged by shells that had been thrown burlike at them,
+suddenly involved themselves in a hideous altercation with another band
+of guns.  The battle roar settled to a rolling thunder, which was a
+single, long explosion.
+
+In the regiment there was a peculiar kind of hesitation denoted in the
+attitudes of the men. They were worn, exhausted, having slept but
+little and labored much.  They rolled their eyes toward the advancing
+battle as they stood awaiting the shock.  Some shrank and flinched.
+They stood as men tied to stakes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+This advance of the enemy had seemed to the youth like a ruthless
+hunting.  He began to fume with rage and exasperation.  He beat his
+foot upon the ground, and scowled with hate at the swirling smoke that
+was approaching like a phantom flood.  There was a maddening quality in
+this seeming resolution of the foe to give him no rest, to give him no
+time to sit down and think. Yesterday he had fought and had fled
+rapidly. There had been many adventures.  For to-day he felt that he
+had earned opportunities for contemplative repose.  He could have
+enjoyed portraying to uninitiated listeners various scenes at which he
+had been a witness or ably discussing the processes of war with other
+proved men.  Too it was important that he should have time for physical
+recuperation.  He was sore and stiff from his experiences.  He had
+received his fill of all exertions, and he wished to rest.
+
+But those other men seemed never to grow weary; they were fighting with
+their old speed.
+
+He had a wild hate for the relentless foe.  Yesterday, when he had
+imagined the universe to be against him, he had hated it, little gods
+and big gods; to-day he hated the army of the foe with the same great
+hatred.  He was not going to be badgered of his life, like a kitten
+chased by boys, he said.  It was not well to drive men into final
+corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.
+
+He leaned and spoke into his friend's ear.  He menaced the woods with a
+gesture.  "If they keep on chasing us, by Gawd, they'd better watch
+out.  Can't stand TOO much."
+
+The friend twisted his head and made a calm reply.  "If they keep on
+a-chasin' us they'll drive us all inteh th' river."
+
+The youth cried out savagely at this statement.  He crouched behind a
+little tree, with his eyes burning hatefully and his teeth set in a
+curlike snarl.  The awkward bandage was still about his head, and upon
+it, over his wound, there was a spot of dry blood.  His hair was
+wondrously tousled, and some straggling, moving locks hung over the
+cloth of the bandage down toward his forehead.  His jacket and shirt
+were open at the throat, and exposed his young bronzed neck. There
+could be seen spasmodic gulpings at his throat.
+
+His fingers twined nervously about his rifle. He wished that it was an
+engine of annihilating power.  He felt that he and his companions were
+being taunted and derided from sincere convictions that they were poor
+and puny.  His knowledge of his inability to take vengeance for it made
+his rage into a dark and stormy specter, that possessed him and made
+him dream of abominable cruelties.  The tormentors were flies sucking
+insolently at his blood, and he thought that he would have given his
+life for a revenge of seeing their faces in pitiful plights.
+
+The winds of battle had swept all about the regiment, until the one
+rifle, instantly followed by others, flashed in its front.  A moment
+later the regiment roared forth its sudden and valiant retort.  A dense
+wall of smoke settled slowly down. It was furiously slit and slashed by
+the knifelike fire from the rifles.
+
+To the youth the fighters resembled animals tossed for a death struggle
+into a dark pit.  There was a sensation that he and his fellows, at
+bay, were pushing back, always pushing fierce onslaughts of creatures
+who were slippery.  Their beams of crimson seemed to get no purchase
+upon the bodies of their foes; the latter seemed to evade them with
+ease, and come through, between, around, and about with unopposed skill.
+
+When, in a dream, it occurred to the youth that his rifle was an
+impotent stick, he lost sense of everything but his hate, his desire to
+smash into pulp the glittering smile of victory which he could feel
+upon the faces of his enemies.
+
+The blue smoke-swallowed line curled and writhed like a snake stepped
+upon.  It swung its ends to and fro in an agony of fear and rage.
+
+The youth was not conscious that he was erect upon his feet.  He did
+not know the direction of the ground.  Indeed, once he even lost the
+habit of balance and fell heavily.  He was up again immediately.  One
+thought went through the chaos of his brain at the time.  He wondered
+if he had fallen because he had been shot.  But the suspicion flew away
+at once.  He did not think more of it.
+
+He had taken up a first position behind the little tree, with a direct
+determination to hold it against the world.  He had not deemed it
+possible that his army could that day succeed, and from this he felt
+the ability to fight harder.  But the throng had surged in all ways,
+until he lost directions and locations, save that he knew where lay the
+enemy.
+
+The flames bit him, and the hot smoke broiled his skin.  His rifle
+barrel grew so hot that ordinarily he could not have borne it upon his
+palms; but he kept on stuffing cartridges into it, and pounding them
+with his clanking, bending ramrod.  If he aimed at some changing form
+through the smoke, he pulled his trigger with a fierce grunt, as if he
+were dealing a blow of the fist with all his strength.
+
+When the enemy seemed falling back before him and his fellows, he went
+instantly forward, like a dog who, seeing his foes lagging, turns and
+insists upon being pursued.  And when he was compelled to retire again,
+he did it slowly, sullenly, taking steps of wrathful despair.
+
+Once he, in his intent hate, was almost alone, and was firing, when all
+those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that
+he was not aware of a lull.
+
+He was recalled by a hoarse laugh and a sentence that came to his ears
+in a voice of contempt and amazement.  "Yeh infernal fool, don't yeh
+know enough t' quit when there ain't anything t' shoot at?  Good Gawd!"
+
+He turned then and, pausing with his rifle thrown half into position,
+looked at the blue line of his comrades.  During this moment of leisure
+they seemed all to be engaged in staring with astonishment at him. They
+had become spectators.  Turning to the front again he saw, under the
+lifted smoke, a deserted ground.
+
+He looked bewildered for a moment.  Then there appeared upon the glazed
+vacancy of his eyes a diamond point of intelligence.  "Oh," he said,
+comprehending.
+
+He returned to his comrades and threw himself upon the ground.  He
+sprawled like a man who had been thrashed.  His flesh seemed strangely
+on fire, and the sounds of the battle continued in his ears.  He groped
+blindly for his canteen.
+
+The lieutenant was crowing.  He seemed drunk with fighting.  He called
+out to the youth: "By heavens, if I had ten thousand wild cats like you
+I could tear th' stomach outa this war in less'n a week!"  He puffed
+out his chest with large dignity as he said it.
+
+Some of the men muttered and looked at the youth in awe-struck ways. It
+was plain that as he had gone on loading and firing and cursing without
+the proper intermission, they had found time to regard him. And they
+now looked upon him as a war devil.
+
+The friend came staggering to him.  There was some fright and dismay in
+his voice.  "Are yeh all right, Fleming?  Do yeh feel all right?  There
+ain't nothin' th' matter with yeh, Henry, is there?"
+
+"No," said the youth with difficulty.  His throat seemed full of knobs
+and burs.
+
+These incidents made the youth ponder.  It was revealed to him that he
+had been a barbarian, a beast.  He had fought like a pagan who defends
+his religion.  Regarding it, he saw that it was fine, wild, and, in
+some ways, easy.  He had been a tremendous figure, no doubt.  By this
+struggle he had overcome obstacles which he had admitted to be
+mountains.  They had fallen like paper peaks, and he was now what he
+called a hero.  And he had not been aware of the process.  He had slept
+and, awakening, found himself a knight.
+
+He lay and basked in the occasional stares of his comrades.  Their
+faces were varied in degrees of blackness from the burned powder. Some
+were utterly smudged.  They were reeking with perspiration, and their
+breaths came hard and wheezing.  And from these soiled expanses they
+peered at him.
+
+"Hot work!  Hot work!" cried the lieutenant deliriously.  He walked up
+and down, restless and eager.  Sometimes his voice could be heard in a
+wild, incomprehensible laugh.
+
+When he had a particularly profound thought upon the science of war he
+always unconsciously addressed himself to the youth.
+
+There was some grim rejoicing by the men.
+
+"By thunder, I bet this army'll never see another new reg'ment like us!"
+
+"You bet!"
+
+  "A dog, a woman, an' a walnut tree,
+   Th' more yeh beat 'em, th' better they be!
+
+That's like us."
+
+"Lost a piler men, they did.  If an' ol' woman swep' up th' woods she'd
+git a dustpanful."
+
+"Yes, an' if she'll come around ag'in in 'bout an' hour she'll git a
+pile more."
+
+The forest still bore its burden of clamor. From off under the trees
+came the rolling clatter of the musketry.  Each distant thicket seemed
+a strange porcupine with quills of flame.  A cloud of dark smoke, as
+from smoldering ruins, went up toward the sun now bright and gay in the
+blue, enameled sky.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The ragged line had respite for some minutes, but during its pause the
+struggle in the forest became magnified until the trees seemed to
+quiver from the firing and the ground to shake from the rushing of the
+men.  The voices of the cannon were mingled in a long and interminable
+row.  It seemed difficult to live in such an atmosphere.  The chests of
+the men strained for a bit of freshness, and their throats craved water.
+
+There was one shot through the body, who raised a cry of bitter
+lamentation when came this lull.  Perhaps he had been calling out
+during the fighting also, but at that time no one had heard him.  But
+now the men turned at the woeful complaints of him upon the ground.
+
+"Who is it?  Who is it?"
+
+"It's Jimmie Rogers.  Jimmie Rogers."
+
+When their eyes first encountered him there was a sudden halt, as if
+they feared to go near. He was thrashing about in the grass, twisting
+his shuddering body into many strange postures. He was screaming
+loudly.  This instant's hesitation seemed to fill him with a
+tremendous, fantastic contempt, and he damned them in shrieked
+sentences.
+
+The youth's friend had a geographical illusion concerning a stream, and
+he obtained permission to go for some water.  Immediately canteens were
+showered upon him.  "Fill mine, will yeh?"  "Bring me some, too."  "And
+me, too." He departed, ladened.  The youth went with his friend,
+feeling a desire to throw his heated body onto the stream and, soaking
+there, drink quarts.
+
+They made a hurried search for the supposed stream, but did not find
+it.  "No water here," said the youth.  They turned without delay and
+began to retrace their steps.
+
+From their position as they again faced toward the place of the
+fighting, they could of course comprehend a greater amount of the
+battle than when their visions had been blurred by the hurling smoke of
+the line.  They could see dark stretches winding along the land, and on
+one cleared space there was a row of guns making gray clouds, which
+were filled with large flashes of orange-colored flame.  Over some
+foliage they could see the roof of a house.  One window, glowing a deep
+murder red, shone squarely through the leaves.  From the edifice a tall
+leaning tower of smoke went far into the sky.
+
+Looking over their own troops, they saw mixed masses slowly getting
+into regular form. The sunlight made twinkling points of the bright
+steel.  To the rear there was a glimpse of a distant roadway as it
+curved over a slope.  It was crowded with retreating infantry.  From
+all the interwoven forest arose the smoke and bluster of the battle.
+The air was always occupied by a blaring.
+
+Near where they stood shells were flip-flapping and hooting. Occasional
+bullets buzzed in the air and spanged into tree trunks. Wounded men and
+other stragglers were slinking through the woods.
+
+Looking down an aisle of the grove, the youth and his companion saw a
+jangling general and his staff almost ride upon a wounded man, who was
+crawling on his hands and knees.  The general reined strongly at his
+charger's opened and foamy mouth and guided it with dexterous
+horsemanship past the man.  The latter scrambled in wild and torturing
+haste.  His strength evidently failed him as he reached a place of
+safety.  One of his arms suddenly weakened, and he fell, sliding over
+upon his back.  He lay stretched out, breathing gently.
+
+A moment later the small, creaking cavalcade was directly in front of
+the two soldiers.  Another officer, riding with the skillful abandon of
+a cowboy, galloped his horse to a position directly before the general.
+The two unnoticed foot soldiers made a little show of going on, but
+they lingered near in the desire to overhear the conversation. Perhaps,
+they thought, some great inner historical things would be said.
+
+The general, whom the boys knew as the commander of their division,
+looked at the other officer and spoke coolly, as if he were criticising
+his clothes.  "Th' enemy's formin' over there for another charge," he
+said.  "It'll be directed against Whiterside, an' I fear they'll break
+through there unless we work like thunder t' stop them."
+
+The other swore at his restive horse, and then cleared his throat.  He
+made a gesture toward his cap.  "It'll be hell t' pay stoppin' them,"
+he said shortly.
+
+"I presume so," remarked the general.  Then he began to talk rapidly
+and in a lower tone.  He frequently illustrated his words with a
+pointing finger.  The two infantrymen could hear nothing until finally
+he asked: "What troops can you spare?"
+
+The officer who rode like a cowboy reflected for an instant.  "Well,"
+he said, "I had to order in th' 12th to help th' 76th, an' I haven't
+really got any.  But there's th' 304th.  They fight like a lot 'a mule
+drivers.  I can spare them best of any."
+
+The youth and his friend exchanged glances of astonishment.
+
+The general spoke sharply.  "Get 'em ready, then.  I'll watch
+developments from here, an' send you word when t' start them.  It'll
+happen in five minutes."
+
+As the other officer tossed his fingers toward his cap and wheeling his
+horse, started away, the general called out to him in a sober voice: "I
+don't believe many of your mule drivers will get back."
+
+The other shouted something in reply.  He smiled.
+
+With scared faces, the youth and his companion hurried back to the line.
+
+These happenings had occupied an incredibly short time, yet the youth
+felt that in them he had been made aged.  New eyes were given to him.
+And the most startling thing was to learn suddenly that he was very
+insignificant.  The officer spoke of the regiment as if he referred to
+a broom.  Some part of the woods needed sweeping, perhaps, and he
+merely indicated a broom in a tone properly indifferent to its fate. It
+was war, no doubt, but it appeared strange.
+
+As the two boys approached the line, the lieutenant perceived them and
+swelled with wrath. "Fleming--Wilson--how long does it take yeh to git
+water, anyhow--where yeh been to."
+
+But his oration ceased as he saw their eyes, which were large with
+great tales.  "We're goin' t' charge--we're goin' t' charge!" cried the
+youth's friend, hastening with his news.
+
+"Charge?" said the lieutenant.  "Charge? Well, b'Gawd!  Now, this is
+real fightin'."  Over his soiled countenance there went a boastful
+smile.  "Charge?  Well, b'Gawd!"
+
+A little group of soldiers surrounded the two youths.  "Are we, sure
+'nough?  Well, I'll be derned!  Charge?  What fer?  What at?  Wilson,
+you're lyin'."
+
+"I hope to die," said the youth, pitching his tones to the key of angry
+remonstrance.  "Sure as shooting, I tell you."
+
+And his friend spoke in re-enforcement.  "Not by a blame sight, he
+ain't lyin'.  We heard 'em talkin'."
+
+They caught sight of two mounted figures a short distance from them.
+One was the colonel of the regiment and the other was the officer who
+had received orders from the commander of the division.  They were
+gesticulating at each other. The soldier, pointing at them, interpreted
+the scene.
+
+One man had a final objection: "How could yeh hear 'em talkin'?"  But
+the men, for a large part, nodded, admitting that previously the two
+friends had spoken truth.
+
+They settled back into reposeful attitudes with airs of having accepted
+the matter.  And they mused upon it, with a hundred varieties of
+expression.  It was an engrossing thing to think about.  Many tightened
+their belts carefully and hitched at their trousers.
+
+A moment later the officers began to bustle among the men, pushing them
+into a more compact mass and into a better alignment.  They chased
+those that straggled and fumed at a few men who seemed to show by their
+attitudes that they had decided to remain at that spot.  They were like
+critical shepherds struggling with sheep.
+
+Presently, the regiment seemed to draw itself up and heave a deep
+breath.  None of the men's faces were mirrors of large thoughts.  The
+soldiers were bended and stooped like sprinters before a signal.  Many
+pairs of glinting eyes peered from the grimy faces toward the curtains
+of the deeper woods.  They seemed to be engaged in deep calculations of
+time and distance.
+
+They were surrounded by the noises of the monstrous altercation between
+the two armies. The world was fully interested in other matters.
+Apparently, the regiment had its small affair to itself.
+
+The youth, turning, shot a quick, inquiring glance at his friend.  The
+latter returned to him the same manner of look.  They were the only
+ones who possessed an inner knowledge.  "Mule drivers--hell t'
+pay--don't believe many will get back."  It was an ironical secret.
+Still, they saw no hesitation in each other's faces, and they nodded a
+mute and unprotesting assent when a shaggy man near them said in a meek
+voice: "We'll git swallowed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The youth stared at the land in front of him. Its foliages now seemed
+to veil powers and horrors.  He was unaware of the machinery of orders
+that started the charge, although from the corners of his eyes he saw
+an officer, who looked like a boy a-horseback, come galloping, waving
+his hat.  Suddenly he felt a straining and heaving among the men.  The
+line fell slowly forward like a toppling wall, and, with a convulsive
+gasp that was intended for a cheer, the regiment began its journey. The
+youth was pushed and jostled for a moment before he understood the
+movement at all, but directly he lunged ahead and began to run.
+
+He fixed his eye upon a distant and prominent clump of trees where he
+had concluded the enemy were to be met, and he ran toward it as toward
+a goal.  He had believed throughout that it was a mere question of
+getting over an unpleasant matter as quickly as possible, and he ran
+desperately, as if pursued for a murder.  His face was drawn hard and
+tight with the stress of his endeavor.  His eyes were fixed in a lurid
+glare.  And with his soiled and disordered dress, his red and inflamed
+features surmounted by the dingy rag with its spot of blood, his wildly
+swinging rifle and banging accouterments, he looked to be an insane
+soldier.
+
+As the regiment swung from its position out into a cleared space the
+woods and thickets before it awakened.  Yellow flames leaped toward it
+from many directions.  The forest made a tremendous objection.
+
+The line lurched straight for a moment.  Then the right wing swung
+forward; it in turn was surpassed by the left.  Afterward the center
+careered to the front until the regiment was a wedge-shaped mass, but
+an instant later the opposition of the bushes, trees, and uneven places
+on the ground split the command and scattered it into detached clusters.
+
+The youth, light-footed, was unconsciously in advance.  His eyes still
+kept note of the clump of trees.  From all places near it the clannish
+yell of the enemy could be heard.  The little flames of rifles leaped
+from it.  The song of the bullets was in the air and shells snarled
+among the tree-tops.  One tumbled directly into the middle of a
+hurrying group and exploded in crimson fury. There was an instant's
+spectacle of a man, almost over it, throwing up his hands to shield his
+eyes.
+
+Other men, punched by bullets, fell in grotesque agonies.  The regiment
+left a coherent trail of bodies.
+
+They had passed into a clearer atmosphere. There was an effect like a
+revelation in the new appearance of the landscape.  Some men working
+madly at a battery were plain to them, and the opposing infantry's
+lines were defined by the gray walls and fringes of smoke.
+
+It seemed to the youth that he saw everything.  Each blade of the green
+grass was bold and clear.  He thought that he was aware of every change
+in the thin, transparent vapor that floated idly in sheets.  The brown
+or gray trunks of the trees showed each roughness of their surfaces.
+And the men of the regiment, with their starting eyes and sweating
+faces, running madly, or falling, as if thrown headlong, to queer,
+heaped-up corpses--all were comprehended.  His mind took a mechanical
+but firm impression, so that afterward everything was pictured and
+explained to him, save why he himself was there.
+
+But there was a frenzy made from this furious rush.  The men, pitching
+forward insanely, had burst into cheerings, moblike and barbaric, but
+tuned in strange keys that can arouse the dullard and the stoic.  It
+made a mad enthusiasm that, it seemed, would be incapable of checking
+itself before granite and brass.  There was the delirium that
+encounters despair and death, and is heedless and blind to the odds. It
+is a temporary but sublime absence of selfishness.  And because it was
+of this order was the reason, perhaps, why the youth wondered,
+afterward, what reasons he could have had for being there.
+
+Presently the straining pace ate up the energies of the men.  As if by
+agreement, the leaders began to slacken their speed.  The volleys
+directed against them had had a seeming windlike effect.  The regiment
+snorted and blew.  Among some stolid trees it began to falter and
+hesitate. The men, staring intently, began to wait for some of the
+distant walls of smoke to move and disclose to them the scene.  Since
+much of their strength and their breath had vanished, they returned to
+caution.  They were become men again.
+
+The youth had a vague belief that he had run miles, and he thought, in
+a way, that he was now in some new and unknown land.
+
+The moment the regiment ceased its advance the protesting splutter of
+musketry became a steadied roar.  Long and accurate fringes of smoke
+spread out.  From the top of a small hill came level belchings of
+yellow flame that caused an inhuman whistling in the air.
+
+The men, halted, had opportunity to see some of their comrades dropping
+with moans and shrieks.  A few lay under foot, still or wailing. And
+now for an instant the men stood, their rifles slack in their hands,
+and watched the regiment dwindle.  They appeared dazed and stupid. This
+spectacle seemed to paralyze them, overcome them with a fatal
+fascination.  They stared woodenly at the sights, and, lowering their
+eyes, looked from face to face.  It was a strange pause, and a strange
+silence.
+
+Then, above the sounds of the outside commotion, arose the roar of the
+lieutenant.  He strode suddenly forth, his infantile features black
+with rage.
+
+"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed.  "Come on!  Yeh can't stay here. Yeh
+must come on." He said more, but much of it could not be understood.
+
+He started rapidly forward, with his head turned toward the men.  "Come
+on," he was shouting.  The men stared with blank and yokel-like eyes at
+him.  He was obliged to halt and retrace his steps.  He stood then with
+his back to the enemy and delivered gigantic curses into the faces of
+the men.  His body vibrated from the weight and force of his
+imprecations.  And he could string oaths with the facility of a maiden
+who strings beads.
+
+The friend of the youth aroused.  Lurching suddenly forward and
+dropping to his knees, he fired an angry shot at the persistent woods.
+This action awakened the men.  They huddled no more like sheep.  They
+seemed suddenly to bethink them of their weapons, and at once commenced
+firing.  Belabored by their officers, they began to move forward.  The
+regiment, involved like a cart involved in mud and muddle, started
+unevenly with many jolts and jerks.  The men stopped now every few
+paces to fire and load, and in this manner moved slowly on from trees
+to trees.
+
+The flaming opposition in their front grew with their advance until it
+seemed that all forward ways were barred by the thin leaping tongues,
+and off to the right an ominous demonstration could sometimes be dimly
+discerned. The smoke lately generated was in confusing clouds that made
+it difficult for the regiment to proceed with intelligence.  As he
+passed through each curling mass the youth wondered what would confront
+him on the farther side.
+
+The command went painfully forward until an open space interposed
+between them and the lurid lines.  Here, crouching and cowering behind
+some trees, the men clung with desperation, as if threatened by a wave.
+They looked wild-eyed, and as if amazed at this furious disturbance
+they had stirred.  In the storm there was an ironical expression of
+their importance.  The faces of the men, too, showed a lack of a
+certain feeling of responsibility for being there.  It was as if they
+had been driven.  It was the dominant animal failing to remember in the
+supreme moments the forceful causes of various superficial qualities.
+The whole affair seemed incomprehensible to many of them.
+
+As they halted thus the lieutenant again began to bellow profanely.
+Regardless of the vindictive threats of the bullets, he went about
+coaxing, berating, and bedamning.  His lips, that were habitually in a
+soft and childlike curve, were now writhed into unholy contortions.  He
+swore by all possible deities.
+
+Once he grabbed the youth by the arm. "Come on, yeh lunkhead!" he
+roared.  "Come on!  We'll all git killed if we stay here.  We've on'y
+got t' go across that lot.  An' then"--the remainder of his idea
+disappeared in a blue haze of curses.
+
+The youth stretched forth his arm.  "Cross there?"  His mouth was
+puckered in doubt and awe.
+
+"Certainly.  Jest 'cross th' lot!  We can't stay here," screamed the
+lieutenant.  He poked his face close to the youth and waved his
+bandaged hand.  "Come on!"  Presently he grappled with him as if for a
+wrestling bout.  It was as if he planned to drag the youth by the ear
+on to the assault.
+
+The private felt a sudden unspeakable indignation against his officer.
+He wrenched fiercely and shook him off.
+
+"Come on yerself, then," he yelled.  There was a bitter challenge in
+his voice.
+
+They galloped together down the regimental front.  The friend scrambled
+after them.  In front of the colors the three men began to bawl: "Come
+on! come on!"  They danced and gyrated like tortured savages.
+
+The flag, obedient to these appeals, bended its glittering form and
+swept toward them.  The men wavered in indecision for a moment, and
+then with a long, wailful cry the dilapidated regiment surged forward
+and began its new journey.
+
+Over the field went the scurrying mass.  It was a handful of men
+splattered into the faces of the enemy.  Toward it instantly sprang the
+yellow tongues.  A vast quantity of blue smoke hung before them.  A
+mighty banging made ears valueless.
+
+The youth ran like a madman to reach the woods before a bullet could
+discover him.  He ducked his head low, like a football player.  In his
+haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was a wild blur.  Pulsating
+saliva stood at the corners of his mouth.
+
+Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing
+fondness for this flag which was near him.  It was a creation of beauty
+and invulnerability.  It was a goddess, radiant, that bended its form
+with an imperious gesture to him.  It was a woman, red and white,
+hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes. Because
+no harm could come to it he endowed it with power.  He kept near, as if
+it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went from his mind.
+
+In the mad scramble he was aware that the color sergeant flinched
+suddenly, as if struck by a bludgeon.  He faltered, and then became
+motionless, save for his quivering knees.
+
+He made a spring and a clutch at the pole. At the same instant his
+friend grabbed it from the other side.  They jerked at it, stout and
+furious, but the color sergeant was dead, and the corpse would not
+relinquish its trust.  For a moment there was a grim encounter.  The
+dead man, swinging with bended back, seemed to be obstinately tugging,
+in ludicrous and awful ways, for the possession of the flag.
+
+It was past in an instant of time.  They wrenched the flag furiously
+from the dead man, and, as they turned again, the corpse swayed forward
+with bowed head.  One arm swung high, and the curved hand fell with
+heavy protest on the friend's unheeding shoulder.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the
+regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly
+back.  The men, having hurled themselves in projectile fashion, had
+presently expended their forces.  They slowly retreated, with their
+faces still toward the spluttering woods, and their hot rifles still
+replying to the din.  Several officers were giving orders, their voices
+keyed to screams.
+
+"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the lieutenant was asking in a sarcastic
+howl.  And a red-bearded officer, whose voice of triple brass could
+plainly be heard, was commanding: "Shoot into 'em! Shoot into 'em, Gawd
+damn their souls!"  There was a melee of screeches, in which the men
+were ordered to do conflicting and impossible things.
+
+The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag.  "Give it
+t' me!"  "No, let me keep it!"  Each felt satisfied with the other's
+possession of it, but each felt bound to declare, by an offer to carry
+the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself.  The youth roughly
+pushed his friend away.
+
+The regiment fell back to the stolid trees. There it halted for a
+moment to blaze at some dark forms that had begun to steal upon its
+track. Presently it resumed its march again, curving among the tree
+trunks.  By the time the depleted regiment had again reached the first
+open space they were receiving a fast and merciless fire. There seemed
+to be mobs all about them.
+
+The greater part of the men, discouraged, their spirits worn by the
+turmoil, acted as if stunned.  They accepted the pelting of the bullets
+with bowed and weary heads.  It was of no purpose to strive against
+walls.  It was of no use to batter themselves against granite.  And
+from this consciousness that they had attempted to conquer an
+unconquerable thing there seemed to arise a feeling that they had been
+betrayed. They glowered with bent brows, but dangerously, upon some of
+the officers, more particularly upon the red-bearded one with the voice
+of triple brass.
+
+However, the rear of the regiment was fringed with men, who continued
+to shoot irritably at the advancing foes.  They seemed resolved to make
+every trouble.  The youthful lieutenant was perhaps the last man in the
+disordered mass.  His forgotten back was toward the enemy.  He had been
+shot in the arm.  It hung straight and rigid. Occasionally he would
+cease to remember it, and be about to emphasize an oath with a sweeping
+gesture.  The multiplied pain caused him to swear with incredible power.
+
+The youth went along with slipping, uncertain feet.  He kept watchful
+eyes rearward.  A scowl of mortification and rage was upon his face. He
+had thought of a fine revenge upon the officer who had referred to him
+and his fellows as mule drivers.  But he saw that it could not come to
+pass.  His dreams had collapsed when the mule drivers, dwindling
+rapidly, had wavered and hesitated on the little clearing, and then had
+recoiled. And now the retreat of the mule drivers was a march of shame
+to him.
+
+A dagger-pointed gaze from without his blackened face was held toward
+the enemy, but his greater hatred was riveted upon the man, who, not
+knowing him, had called him a mule driver.
+
+When he knew that he and his comrades had failed to do anything in
+successful ways that might bring the little pangs of a kind of remorse
+upon the officer, the youth allowed the rage of the baffled to possess
+him.  This cold officer upon a monument, who dropped epithets
+unconcernedly down, would be finer as a dead man, he thought. So
+grievous did he think it that he could never possess the secret right
+to taunt truly in answer.
+
+He had pictured red letters of curious revenge. "We ARE mule drivers,
+are we?"  And now he was compelled to throw them away.
+
+He presently wrapped his heart in the cloak of his pride and kept the
+flag erect.  He harangued his fellows, pushing against their chests
+with his free hand.  To those he knew well he made frantic appeals,
+beseeching them by name. Between him and the lieutenant, scolding and
+near to losing his mind with rage, there was felt a subtle fellowship
+and equality.  They supported each other in all manner of hoarse,
+howling protests.
+
+But the regiment was a machine run down. The two men babbled at a
+forceless thing.  The soldiers who had heart to go slowly were
+continually shaken in their resolves by a knowledge that comrades were
+slipping with speed back to the lines.  It was difficult to think of
+reputation when others were thinking of skins.  Wounded men were left
+crying on this black journey.
+
+The smoke fringes and flames blustered always.  The youth, peering once
+through a sudden rift in a cloud, saw a brown mass of troops,
+interwoven and magnified until they appeared to be thousands.  A
+fierce-hued flag flashed before his vision.
+
+Immediately, as if the uplifting of the smoke had been prearranged, the
+discovered troops burst into a rasping yell, and a hundred flames
+jetted toward the retreating band.  A rolling gray cloud again
+interposed as the regiment doggedly replied.  The youth had to depend
+again upon his misused ears, which were trembling and buzzing from the
+melee of musketry and yells.
+
+The way seemed eternal.  In the clouded haze men became panicstricken
+with the thought that the regiment had lost its path, and was
+proceeding in a perilous direction.  Once the men who headed the wild
+procession turned and came pushing back against their comrades,
+screaming that they were being fired upon from points which they had
+considered to be toward their own lines. At this cry a hysterical fear
+and dismay beset the troops.  A soldier, who heretofore had been
+ambitious to make the regiment into a wise little band that would
+proceed calmly amid the huge-appearing difficulties, suddenly sank down
+and buried his face in his arms with an air of bowing to a doom.  From
+another a shrill lamentation rang out filled with profane allusions to
+a general. Men ran hither and thither, seeking with their eyes roads of
+escape.  With serene regularity, as if controlled by a schedule,
+bullets buffed into men.
+
+The youth walked stolidly into the midst of the mob, and with his flag
+in his hands took a stand as if he expected an attempt to push him to
+the ground.  He unconsciously assumed the attitude of the color bearer
+in the fight of the preceding day.  He passed over his brow a hand that
+trembled.  His breath did not come freely. He was choking during this
+small wait for the crisis.
+
+His friend came to him.  "Well, Henry, I guess this is good-by--John."
+
+"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied the youth, and he would not
+look at the other.
+
+The officers labored like politicians to beat the mass into a proper
+circle to face the menaces.  The ground was uneven and torn.  The men
+curled into depressions and fitted themselves snugly behind whatever
+would frustrate a bullet.
+
+The youth noted with vague surprise that the lieutenant was standing
+mutely with his legs far apart and his sword held in the manner of a
+cane. The youth wondered what had happened to his vocal organs that he
+no more cursed.
+
+There was something curious in this little intent pause of the
+lieutenant.  He was like a babe which, having wept its fill, raises its
+eyes and fixes upon a distant toy.  He was engrossed in this
+contemplation, and the soft under lip quivered from self-whispered
+words.
+
+Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly. The men, hiding from the
+bullets, waited anxiously for it to lift and disclose the plight of the
+regiment.
+
+The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the eager voice of the
+youthful lieutenant bawling out: "Here they come!  Right onto us,
+b'Gawd!"  His further words were lost in a roar of wicked thunder from
+the men's rifles.
+
+The youth's eyes had instantly turned in the direction indicated by the
+awakened and agitated lieutenant, and he had seen the haze of treachery
+disclosing a body of soldiers of the enemy.  They were so near that he
+could see their features. There was a recognition as he looked at the
+types of faces.  Also he perceived with dim amazement that their
+uniforms were rather gay in effect, being light gray, accented with a
+brilliant-hued facing.  Too, the clothes seemed new.
+
+These troops had apparently been going forward with caution, their
+rifles held in readiness, when the youthful lieutenant had discovered
+them and their movement had been interrupted by the volley from the
+blue regiment.  From the moment's glimpse, it was derived that they had
+been unaware of the proximity of their dark-suited foes or had mistaken
+the direction. Almost instantly they were shut utterly from the youth's
+sight by the smoke from the energetic rifles of his companions.  He
+strained his vision to learn the accomplishment of the volley, but the
+smoke hung before him.
+
+The two bodies of troops exchanged blows in the manner of a pair of
+boxers.  The fast angry firings went back and forth.  The men in blue
+were intent with the despair of their circumstances and they seized
+upon the revenge to be had at close range.  Their thunder swelled loud
+and valiant.  Their curving front bristled with flashes and the place
+resounded with the clangor of their ramrods.  The youth ducked and
+dodged for a time and achieved a few unsatisfactory views of the enemy.
+There appeared to be many of them and they were replying swiftly.  They
+seemed moving toward the blue regiment, step by step.  He seated
+himself gloomily on the ground with his flag between his knees.
+
+As he noted the vicious, wolflike temper of his comrades he had a sweet
+thought that if the enemy was about to swallow the regimental broom as
+a large prisoner, it could at least have the consolation of going down
+with bristles forward.
+
+But the blows of the antagonist began to grow more weak.  Fewer bullets
+ripped the air, and finally, when the men slackened to learn of the
+fight, they could see only dark, floating smoke.  The regiment lay
+still and gazed.  Presently some chance whim came to the pestering
+blur, and it began to coil heavily away.  The men saw a ground vacant
+of fighters.  It would have been an empty stage if it were not for a
+few corpses that lay thrown and twisted into fantastic shapes upon the
+sward.
+
+At sight of this tableau, many of the men in blue sprang from behind
+their covers and made an ungainly dance of joy.  Their eyes burned and
+a hoarse cheer of elation broke from their dry lips.
+
+It had begun to seem to them that events were trying to prove that they
+were impotent.  These little battles had evidently endeavored to
+demonstrate that the men could not fight well.  When on the verge of
+submission to these opinions, the small duel had showed them that the
+proportions were not impossible, and by it they had revenged themselves
+upon their misgivings and upon the foe.
+
+The impetus of enthusiasm was theirs again. They gazed about them with
+looks of uplifted pride, feeling new trust in the grim, always
+confident weapons in their hands.  And they were men.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Presently they knew that no firing threatened them.  All ways seemed
+once more opened to them.  The dusty blue lines of their friends were
+disclosed a short distance away.  In the distance there were many
+colossal noises, but in all this part of the field there was a sudden
+stillness.
+
+They perceived that they were free.  The depleted band drew a long
+breath of relief and gathered itself into a bunch to complete its trip.
+
+In this last length of journey the men began to show strange emotions.
+They hurried with nervous fear.  Some who had been dark and unfaltering
+in the grimmest moments now could not conceal an anxiety that made them
+frantic.  It was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed in
+insignificant ways after the times for proper military deaths had
+passed.  Or, perhaps, they thought it would be too ironical to get
+killed at the portals of safety.  With backward looks of perturbation,
+they hastened.
+
+As they approached their own lines there was some sarcasm exhibited on
+the part of a gaunt and bronzed regiment that lay resting in the shade
+of trees.  Questions were wafted to them.
+
+"Where th' hell yeh been?"
+
+"What yeh comin' back fer?"
+
+"Why didn't yeh stay there?"
+
+"Was it warm out there, sonny?"
+
+"Goin' home now, boys?"
+
+One shouted in taunting mimicry: "Oh, mother, come quick an' look at
+th' sojers!"
+
+There was no reply from the bruised and battered regiment, save that
+one man made broadcast challenges to fist fights and the red-bearded
+officer walked rather near and glared in great swashbuckler style at a
+tall captain in the other regiment.  But the lieutenant suppressed the
+man who wished to fist fight, and the tall captain, flushing at the
+little fanfare of the red-bearded one, was obliged to look intently at
+some trees.
+
+The youth's tender flesh was deeply stung by these remarks.  From under
+his creased brows he glowered with hate at the mockers.  He meditated
+upon a few revenges.  Still, many in the regiment hung their heads in
+criminal fashion, so that it came to pass that the men trudged with
+sudden heaviness, as if they bore upon their bended shoulders the
+coffin of their honor.  And the youthful lieutenant, recollecting
+himself, began to mutter softly in black curses.
+
+They turned when they arrived at their old position to regard the
+ground over which they had charged.
+
+The youth in this contemplation was smitten with a large astonishment.
+He discovered that the distances, as compared with the brilliant
+measurings of his mind, were trivial and ridiculous.  The stolid trees,
+where much had taken place, seemed incredibly near.  The time, too, now
+that he reflected, he saw to have been short. He wondered at the number
+of emotions and events that had been crowded into such little spaces.
+Elfin thoughts must have exaggerated and enlarged everything, he said.
+
+It seemed, then, that there was bitter justice in the speeches of the
+gaunt and bronzed veterans.  He veiled a glance of disdain at his
+fellows who strewed the ground, choking with dust, red from
+perspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
+
+They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to wring every mite of
+water from them, and they polished at their swollen and watery features
+with coat sleeves and bunches of grass.
+
+However, to the youth there was a considerable joy in musing upon his
+performances during the charge.  He had had very little time previously
+in which to appreciate himself, so that there was now much satisfaction
+in quietly thinking of his actions.  He recalled bits of color that in
+the flurry had stamped themselves unawares upon his engaged senses.
+
+As the regiment lay heaving from its hot exertions the officer who had
+named them as mule drivers came galloping along the line.  He had lost
+his cap.  His tousled hair streamed wildly, and his face was dark with
+vexation and wrath. His temper was displayed with more clearness by the
+way in which he managed his horse.  He jerked and wrenched savagely at
+his bridle, stopping the hard-breathing animal with a furious pull near
+the colonel of the regiment.  He immediately exploded in reproaches
+which came unbidden to the ears of the men.  They were suddenly alert,
+being always curious about black words between officers.
+
+"Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what an awful bull you made of this thing!"
+began the officer. He attempted low tones, but his indignation caused
+certain of the men to learn the sense of his words.  "What an awful
+mess you made! Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hundred feet this
+side of a very pretty success!  If your men had gone a hundred feet
+farther you would have made a great charge, but as it is--what a lot of
+mud diggers you've got anyway!"
+
+The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyes
+upon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair.
+
+The colonel was seen to straighten his form and put one hand forth in
+oratorical fashion. He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon had
+been accused of stealing.  The men were wiggling in an ecstasy of
+excitement.
+
+But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed from that of a deacon to
+that of a Frenchman. He shrugged his shoulders.  "Oh, well, general, we
+went as far as we could," he said calmly.
+
+"As far as you could?  Did you, b'Gawd?" snorted the other.  "Well,
+that wasn't very far, was it?" he added, with a glance of cold contempt
+into the other's eyes.  "Not very far, I think.  You were intended to
+make a diversion in favor of Whiterside.  How well you succeeded your
+own ears can now tell you."  He wheeled his horse and rode stiffly away.
+
+The colonel, bidden to hear the jarring noises of an engagement in the
+woods to the left, broke out in vague damnations.
+
+The lieutenant, who had listened with an air of impotent rage to the
+interview, spoke suddenly in firm and undaunted tones.  "I don't care
+what a man is--whether he is a general or what--if he says th' boys
+didn't put up a good fight out there he's a damned fool."
+
+"Lieutenant," began the colonel, severely, "this is my own affair, and
+I'll trouble you--"
+
+The lieutenant made an obedient gesture. "All right, colonel, all
+right," he said.  He sat down with an air of being content with himself.
+
+The news that the regiment had been reproached went along the line. For
+a time the men were bewildered by it.  "Good thunder!" they ejaculated,
+staring at the vanishing form of the general.  They conceived it to be
+a huge mistake.
+
+Presently, however, they began to believe that in truth their efforts
+had been called light.  The youth could see this conviction weigh upon
+the entire regiment until the men were like cuffed and cursed animals,
+but withal rebellious.
+
+The friend, with a grievance in his eye, went to the youth.  "I wonder
+what he does want," he said.  "He must think we went out there an'
+played marbles!  I never see sech a man!"
+
+The youth developed a tranquil philosophy for these moments of
+irritation.  "Oh, well," he rejoined, "he probably didn't see nothing
+of it at all and got mad as blazes, and concluded we were a lot of
+sheep, just because we didn't do what he wanted done.  It's a pity old
+Grandpa Henderson got killed yestirday--he'd have known that we did our
+best and fought good.  It's just our awful luck, that's what."
+
+"I should say so," replied the friend.  He seemed to be deeply wounded
+at an injustice. "I should say we did have awful luck!  There's no fun
+in fightin' fer people when everything yeh do--no matter what--ain't
+done right.  I have a notion t' stay behind next time an' let 'em take
+their ol' charge an' go t' th' devil with it."
+
+The youth spoke soothingly to his comrade. "Well, we both did good. I'd
+like to see the fool what'd say we both didn't do as good as we could!"
+
+"Of course we did," declared the friend stoutly.  "An' I'd break th'
+feller's neck if he was as big as a church.  But we're all right,
+anyhow, for I heard one feller say that we two fit th' best in th'
+reg'ment, an' they had a great argument 'bout it.  Another feller, 'a
+course, he had t' up an' say it was a lie--he seen all what was goin'
+on an' he never seen us from th' beginnin' t' th' end.  An' a lot more
+struck in an' ses it wasn't a lie--we did fight like thunder, an' they
+give us quite a send-off.  But this is what I can't stand--these
+everlastin' ol' soldiers, titterin' an' laughin', an' then that
+general, he's crazy."
+
+The youth exclaimed with sudden exasperation: "He's a lunkhead!  He
+makes me mad. I wish he'd come along next time.  We'd show 'im what--"
+
+He ceased because several men had come hurrying up.  Their faces
+expressed a bringing of great news.
+
+"O Flem, yeh jest oughta heard!" cried one, eagerly.
+
+"Heard what?" said the youth.
+
+"Yeh jest oughta heard!" repeated the other, and he arranged himself to
+tell his tidings.  The others made an excited circle.  "Well, sir, th'
+colonel met your lieutenant right by us--it was damnedest thing I ever
+heard--an' he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!' he ses.  'Mr. Hasbrouck!' he ses, 'by
+th' way, who was that lad what carried th' flag?' he ses.  There,
+Flemin', what d' yeh think 'a that?  'Who was th' lad what carried th'
+flag?' he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he speaks up right away: 'That's
+Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he ses, right away.  What?  I say he
+did.  'A jim-hickey,' he ses--those 'r his words.  He did, too. I say
+he did.  If you kin tell this story better than I kin, go ahead an'
+tell it.  Well, then, keep yer mouth shet.  Th' lieutenant, he ses:
+'He's a jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem! he is,
+indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem!  He kep' th' flag 'way t' th'
+front.  I saw 'im.  He's a good un,' ses th' colonel.  'You bet,' ses
+th' lieutenant, 'he an' a feller named Wilson was at th' head 'a th'
+charge, an' howlin' like Indians all th' time,' he ses.  'Head 'a th'
+charge all th' time,' he ses.  'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  There,
+Wilson, m'boy, put that in a letter an' send it hum t' yer mother, hay?
+'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  An' th' colonel, he ses: 'Were they,
+indeed?  Ahem! ahem!  My sakes!' he ses.  'At th' head 'a th'
+reg'ment?' he ses.  'They were,' ses th' lieutenant.  'My sakes!' ses
+th' colonel. He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he ses, 'those two babies?'
+'They were,' ses th' lieutenant. 'Well, well,' ses th' colonel, 'they
+deserve t' be major generals,' he ses.  'They deserve t' be
+major-generals.'"
+
+The youth and his friend had said: "Huh!" "Yer lyin', Thompson."  "Oh,
+go t' blazes!" "He never sed it."  "Oh, what a lie!"  "Huh!" But
+despite these youthful scoffings and embarrassments, they knew that
+their faces were deeply flushing from thrills of pleasure.  They
+exchanged a secret glance of joy and congratulation.
+
+They speedily forgot many things.  The past held no pictures of error
+and disappointment. They were very happy, and their hearts swelled with
+grateful affection for the colonel and the youthful lieutenant.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+When the woods again began to pour forth the dark-hued masses of the
+enemy the youth felt serene self-confidence.  He smiled briefly when he
+saw men dodge and duck at the long screechings of shells that were
+thrown in giant handfuls over them.  He stood, erect and tranquil,
+watching the attack begin against a part of the line that made a blue
+curve along the side of an adjacent hill.  His vision being unmolested
+by smoke from the rifles of his companions, he had opportunities to see
+parts of the hard fight.  It was a relief to perceive at last from
+whence came some of these noises which had been roared into his ears.
+
+Off a short way he saw two regiments fighting a little separate battle
+with two other regiments.  It was in a cleared space, wearing a
+set-apart look.  They were blazing as if upon a wager, giving and
+taking tremendous blows. The firings were incredibly fierce and rapid.
+These intent regiments apparently were oblivious of all larger purposes
+of war, and were slugging each other as if at a matched game.
+
+In another direction he saw a magnificent brigade going with the
+evident intention of driving the enemy from a wood.  They passed in out
+of sight and presently there was a most awe-inspiring racket in the
+wood.  The noise was unspeakable.  Having stirred this prodigious
+uproar, and, apparently, finding it too prodigious, the brigade, after
+a little time, came marching airily out again with its fine formation
+in nowise disturbed.  There were no traces of speed in its movements.
+The brigade was jaunty and seemed to point a proud thumb at the yelling
+wood.
+
+On a slope to the left there was a long row of guns, gruff and
+maddened, denouncing the enemy, who, down through the woods, were
+forming for another attack in the pitiless monotony of conflicts.  The
+round red discharges from the guns made a crimson flare and a high,
+thick smoke.  Occasional glimpses could be caught of groups of the
+toiling artillerymen.  In the rear of this row of guns stood a house,
+calm and white, amid bursting shells.  A congregation of horses, tied
+to a long railing, were tugging frenziedly at their bridles.  Men were
+running hither and thither.
+
+The detached battle between the four regiments lasted for some time.
+There chanced to be no interference, and they settled their dispute by
+themselves.  They struck savagely and powerfully at each other for a
+period of minutes, and then the lighter-hued regiments faltered and
+drew back, leaving the dark-blue lines shouting. The youth could see
+the two flags shaking with laughter amid the smoke remnants.
+
+Presently there was a stillness, pregnant with meaning.  The blue lines
+shifted and changed a trifle and stared expectantly at the silent woods
+and fields before them.  The hush was solemn and churchlike, save for a
+distant battery that, evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faint
+rolling thunder over the ground.  It irritated, like the noises of
+unimpressed boys.  The men imagined that it would prevent their perched
+ears from hearing the first words of the new battle.
+
+Of a sudden the guns on the slope roared out a message of warning.  A
+spluttering sound had begun in the woods.  It swelled with amazing
+speed to a profound clamor that involved the earth in noises.  The
+splitting crashes swept along the lines until an interminable roar was
+developed.  To those in the midst of it it became a din fitted to the
+universe.  It was the whirring and thumping of gigantic machinery,
+complications among the smaller stars.  The youth's ears were filled
+up.  They were incapable of hearing more.
+
+On an incline over which a road wound he saw wild and desperate rushes
+of men perpetually backward and forward in riotous surges. These parts
+of the opposing armies were two long waves that pitched upon each other
+madly at dictated points.  To and fro they swelled. Sometimes, one side
+by its yells and cheers would proclaim decisive blows, but a moment
+later the other side would be all yells and cheers. Once the youth saw
+a spray of light forms go in houndlike leaps toward the waving blue
+lines. There was much howling, and presently it went away with a vast
+mouthful of prisoners.  Again, he saw a blue wave dash with such
+thunderous force against a gray obstruction that it seemed to clear the
+earth of it and leave nothing but trampled sod.  And always in their
+swift and deadly rushes to and fro the men screamed and yelled like
+maniacs.
+
+Particular pieces of fence or secure positions behind collections of
+trees were wrangled over, as gold thrones or pearl bedsteads.  There
+were desperate lunges at these chosen spots seemingly every instant,
+and most of them were bandied like light toys between the contending
+forces.  The youth could not tell from the battle flags flying like
+crimson foam in many directions which color of cloth was winning.
+
+His emaciated regiment bustled forth with undiminished fierceness when
+its time came. When assaulted again by bullets, the men burst out in a
+barbaric cry of rage and pain.  They bent their heads in aims of intent
+hatred behind the projected hammers of their guns. Their ramrods
+clanged loud with fury as their eager arms pounded the cartridges into
+the rifle barrels.  The front of the regiment was a smoke-wall
+penetrated by the flashing points of yellow and red.
+
+Wallowing in the fight, they were in an astonishingly short time
+resmudged.  They surpassed in stain and dirt all their previous
+appearances.  Moving to and fro with strained exertion, jabbering the
+while, they were, with their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowing
+eyes, like strange and ugly friends jigging heavily in the smoke.
+
+The lieutenant, returning from a tour after a bandage, produced from a
+hidden receptacle of his mind new and portentous oaths suited to the
+emergency.  Strings of expletives he swung lashlike over the backs of
+his men, and it was evident that his previous efforts had in nowise
+impaired his resources.
+
+The youth, still the bearer of the colors, did not feel his idleness.
+He was deeply absorbed as a spectator.  The crash and swing of the
+great drama made him lean forward, intent-eyed, his face working in
+small contortions.  Sometimes he prattled, words coming unconsciously
+from him in grotesque exclamations.  He did not know that he breathed;
+that the flag hung silently over him, so absorbed was he.
+
+A formidable line of the enemy came within dangerous range.  They could
+be seen plainly--tall, gaunt men with excited faces running with long
+strides toward a wandering fence.
+
+At sight of this danger the men suddenly ceased their cursing monotone.
+There was an instant of strained silence before they threw up their
+rifles and fired a plumping volley at the foes.  There had been no
+order given; the men, upon recognizing the menace, had immediately let
+drive their flock of bullets without waiting for word of command.
+
+But the enemy were quick to gain the protection of the wandering line
+of fence.  They slid down behind it with remarkable celerity, and from
+this position they began briskly to slice up the blue men.
+
+These latter braced their energies for a great struggle.  Often, white
+clinched teeth shone from the dusky faces.  Many heads surged to and
+fro, floating upon a pale sea of smoke. Those behind the fence
+frequently shouted and yelped in taunts and gibelike cries, but the
+regiment maintained a stressed silence.  Perhaps, at this new assault
+the men recalled the fact that they had been named mud diggers, and it
+made their situation thrice bitter.  They were breathlessly intent upon
+keeping the ground and thrusting away the rejoicing body of the enemy.
+They fought swiftly and with a despairing savageness denoted in their
+expressions.
+
+The youth had resolved not to budge whatever should happen.  Some
+arrows of scorn that had buried themselves in his heart had generated
+strange and unspeakable hatred.  It was clear to him that his final and
+absolute revenge was to be achieved by his dead body lying, torn and
+gluttering, upon the field.  This was to be a poignant retaliation upon
+the officer who had said "mule drivers," and later "mud diggers," for
+in all the wild graspings of his mind for a unit responsible for his
+sufferings and commotions he always seized upon the man who had dubbed
+him wrongly.  And it was his idea, vaguely formulated, that his corpse
+would be for those eyes a great and salt reproach.
+
+The regiment bled extravagantly.  Grunting bundles of blue began to
+drop.  The orderly sergeant of the youth's company was shot through the
+cheeks.  Its supports being injured, his jaw hung afar down, disclosing
+in the wide cavern of his mouth a pulsing mass of blood and teeth. And
+with it all he made attempts to cry out. In his endeavor there was a
+dreadful earnestness, as if he conceived that one great shriek would
+make him well.
+
+The youth saw him presently go rearward. His strength seemed in nowise
+impaired.  He ran swiftly, casting wild glances for succor.
+
+Others fell down about the feet of their companions.  Some of the
+wounded crawled out and away, but many lay still, their bodies twisted
+into impossible shapes.
+
+The youth looked once for his friend.  He saw a vehement young man,
+powder-smeared and frowzled, whom he knew to be him.  The lieutenant,
+also, was unscathed in his position at the rear.  He had continued to
+curse, but it was now with the air of a man who was using his last box
+of oaths.
+
+For the fire of the regiment had begun to wane and drip.  The robust
+voice, that had come strangely from the thin ranks, was growing rapidly
+weak.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The colonel came running along back of the line.  There were other
+officers following him. "We must charge'm!" they shouted.  "We must
+charge'm!" they cried with resentful voices, as if anticipating a
+rebellion against this plan by the men.
+
+The youth, upon hearing the shouts, began to study the distance between
+him and the enemy. He made vague calculations.  He saw that to be firm
+soldiers they must go forward.  It would be death to stay in the
+present place, and with all the circumstances to go backward would
+exalt too many others.  Their hope was to push the galling foes away
+from the fence.
+
+He expected that his companions, weary and stiffened, would have to be
+driven to this assault, but as he turned toward them he perceived with
+a certain surprise that they were giving quick and unqualified
+expressions of assent.  There was an ominous, clanging overture to the
+charge when the shafts of the bayonets rattled upon the rifle barrels.
+At the yelled words of command the soldiers sprang forward in eager
+leaps. There was new and unexpected force in the movement of the
+regiment.  A knowledge of its faded and jaded condition made the charge
+appear like a paroxysm, a display of the strength that comes before a
+final feebleness.  The men scampered in insane fever of haste, racing
+as if to achieve a sudden success before an exhilarating fluid should
+leave them.  It was a blind and despairing rush by the collection of
+men in dusty and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire
+sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from behind which
+spluttered the fierce rifles of enemies.
+
+The youth kept the bright colors to the front. He was waving his free
+arm in furious circles, the while shrieking mad calls and appeals,
+urging on those that did not need to be urged, for it seemed that the
+mob of blue men hurling themselves on the dangerous group of rifles
+were again grown suddenly wild with an enthusiasm of unselfishness.
+From the many firings starting toward them, it looked as if they would
+merely succeed in making a great sprinkling of corpses on the grass
+between their former position and the fence.  But they were in a state
+of frenzy, perhaps because of forgotten vanities, and it made an
+exhibition of sublime recklessness.  There was no obvious questioning,
+nor figurings, nor diagrams.  There was, apparently, no considered
+loopholes.  It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would
+have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.
+
+He himself felt the daring spirit of a savage religion mad.  He was
+capable of profound sacrifices, a tremendous death.  He had no time for
+dissections, but he knew that he thought of the bullets only as things
+that could prevent him from reaching the place of his endeavor.  There
+were subtle flashings of joy within him that thus should be his mind.
+
+He strained all his strength.  His eyesight was shaken and dazzled by
+the tension of thought and muscle.  He did not see anything excepting
+the mist of smoke gashed by the little knives of fire, but he knew that
+in it lay the aged fence of a vanished farmer protecting the snuggled
+bodies of the gray men.
+
+As he ran a thought of the shock of contact gleamed in his mind.  He
+expected a great concussion when the two bodies of troops crashed
+together.  This became a part of his wild battle madness.  He could
+feel the onward swing of the regiment about him and he conceived of a
+thunderous, crushing blow that would prostrate the resistance and
+spread consternation and amazement for miles.  The flying regiment was
+going to have a catapultian effect.  This dream made him run faster
+among his comrades, who were giving vent to hoarse and frantic cheers.
+
+But presently he could see that many of the men in gray did not intend
+to abide the blow. The smoke, rolling, disclosed men who ran, their
+faces still turned.  These grew to a crowd, who retired stubbornly.
+Individuals wheeled frequently to send a bullet at the blue wave.
+
+But at one part of the line there was a grim and obdurate group that
+made no movement. They were settled firmly down behind posts and rails.
+A flag, ruffled and fierce, waved over them and their rifles dinned
+fiercely.
+
+The blue whirl of men got very near, until it seemed that in truth
+there would be a close and frightful scuffle.  There was an expressed
+disdain in the opposition of the little group, that changed the meaning
+of the cheers of the men in blue.  They became yells of wrath,
+directed, personal.  The cries of the two parties were now in sound an
+interchange of scathing insults.
+
+They in blue showed their teeth; their eyes shone all white.  They
+launched themselves as at the throats of those who stood resisting. The
+space between dwindled to an insignificant distance.
+
+The youth had centered the gaze of his soul upon that other flag.  Its
+possession would be high pride.  It would express bloody minglings,
+near blows.  He had a gigantic hatred for those who made great
+difficulties and complications. They caused it to be as a craved
+treasure of mythology, hung amid tasks and contrivances of danger.
+
+He plunged like a mad horse at it.  He was resolved it should not
+escape if wild blows and darings of blows could seize it.  His own
+emblem, quivering and aflare, was winging toward the other.  It seemed
+there would shortly be an encounter of strange beaks and claws, as of
+eagles.
+
+The swirling body of blue men came to a sudden halt at close and
+disastrous range and roared a swift volley.  The group in gray was
+split and broken by this fire, but its riddled body still fought.  The
+men in blue yelled again and rushed in upon it.
+
+The youth, in his leapings, saw, as through a mist, a picture of four
+or five men stretched upon the ground or writhing upon their knees with
+bowed heads as if they had been stricken by bolts from the sky.
+Tottering among them was the rival color bearer, whom the youth saw had
+been bitten vitally by the bullets of the last formidable volley.  He
+perceived this man fighting a last struggle, the struggle of one whose
+legs are grasped by demons.  It was a ghastly battle. Over his face was
+the bleach of death, but set upon it was the dark and hard lines of
+desperate purpose.  With this terrible grin of resolution he hugged his
+precious flag to him and was stumbling and staggering in his design to
+go the way that led to safety for it.
+
+But his wounds always made it seem that his feet were retarded, held,
+and he fought a grim fight, as with invisible ghouls fastened greedily
+upon his limbs.  Those in advance of the scampering blue men, howling
+cheers, leaped at the fence.  The despair of the lost was in his eyes
+as he glanced back at them.
+
+The youth's friend went over the obstruction in a tumbling heap and
+sprang at the flag as a panther at prey.  He pulled at it and,
+wrenching it free, swung up its red brilliancy with a mad cry of
+exultation even as the color bearer, gasping, lurched over in a final
+throe and, stiffening convulsively, turned his dead face to the ground.
+There was much blood upon the grass blades.
+
+At the place of success there began more wild clamorings of cheers. The
+men gesticulated and bellowed in an ecstasy.  When they spoke it was as
+if they considered their listener to be a mile away.  What hats and
+caps were left to them they often slung high in the air.
+
+At one part of the line four men had been swooped upon, and they now
+sat as prisoners. Some blue men were about them in an eager and curious
+circle.  The soldiers had trapped strange birds, and there was an
+examination.  A flurry of fast questions was in the air.
+
+One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial wound in the foot.  He
+cuddled it, baby-wise, but he looked up from it often to curse with an
+astonishing utter abandon straight at the noses of his captors.  He
+consigned them to red regions; he called upon the pestilential wrath of
+strange gods.  And with it all he was singularly free from recognition
+of the finer points of the conduct of prisoners of war.  It was as if a
+clumsy clod had trod upon his toe and he conceived it to be his
+privilege, his duty, to use deep, resentful oaths.
+
+Another, who was a boy in years, took his plight with great calmness
+and apparent good nature.  He conversed with the men in blue, studying
+their faces with his bright and keen eyes.  They spoke of battles and
+conditions. There was an acute interest in all their faces during this
+exchange of view points.  It seemed a great satisfaction to hear voices
+from where all had been darkness and speculation.
+
+The third captive sat with a morose countenance.  He preserved a
+stoical and cold attitude. To all advances he made one reply without
+variation, "Ah, go t' hell!"
+
+The last of the four was always silent and, for the most part, kept his
+face turned in unmolested directions.  From the views the youth
+received he seemed to be in a state of absolute dejection.  Shame was
+upon him, and with it profound regret that he was, perhaps, no more to
+be counted in the ranks of his fellows.  The youth could detect no
+expression that would allow him to believe that the other was giving a
+thought to his narrowed future, the pictured dungeons, perhaps, and
+starvations and brutalities, liable to the imagination.  All to be seen
+was shame for captivity and regret for the right to antagonize.
+
+After the men had celebrated sufficiently they settled down behind the
+old rail fence, on the opposite side to the one from which their foes
+had been driven.  A few shot perfunctorily at distant marks.
+
+There was some long grass.  The youth nestled in it and rested, making
+a convenient rail support the flag.  His friend, jubilant and
+glorified, holding his treasure with vanity, came to him there.  They
+sat side by side and congratulated each other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The roarings that had stretched in a long line of sound across the face
+of the forest began to grow intermittent and weaker.  The stentorian
+speeches of the artillery continued in some distant encounter, but the
+crashes of the musketry had almost ceased.  The youth and his friend of
+a sudden looked up, feeling a deadened form of distress at the waning
+of these noises, which had become a part of life.  They could see
+changes going on among the troops.  There were marchings this way and
+that way.  A battery wheeled leisurely.  On the crest of a small hill
+was the thick gleam of many departing muskets.
+
+The youth arose.  "Well, what now, I wonder?" he said.  By his tone he
+seemed to be preparing to resent some new monstrosity in the way of
+dins and smashes.  He shaded his eyes with his grimy hand and gazed
+over the field.
+
+His friend also arose and stared.  "I bet we're goin' t' git along out
+of this an' back over th' river," said he.
+
+"Well, I swan!" said the youth.
+
+They waited, watching.  Within a little while the regiment received
+orders to retrace its way. The men got up grunting from the grass,
+regretting the soft repose.  They jerked their stiffened legs, and
+stretched their arms over their heads. One man swore as he rubbed his
+eyes.  They all groaned "O Lord!"  They had as many objections to this
+change as they would have had to a proposal for a new battle.
+
+They trampled slowly back over the field across which they had run in a
+mad scamper.
+
+The regiment marched until it had joined its fellows.  The reformed
+brigade, in column, aimed through a wood at the road.  Directly they
+were in a mass of dust-covered troops, and were trudging along in a way
+parallel to the enemy's lines as these had been defined by the previous
+turmoil.
+
+They passed within view of a stolid white house, and saw in front of it
+groups of their comrades lying in wait behind a neat breastwork.  A row
+of guns were booming at a distant enemy. Shells thrown in reply were
+raising clouds of dust and splinters.  Horsemen dashed along the line
+of intrenchments.
+
+At this point of its march the division curved away from the field and
+went winding off in the direction of the river.  When the significance
+of this movement had impressed itself upon the youth he turned his head
+and looked over his shoulder toward the trampled and debris-strewed
+ground.  He breathed a breath of new satisfaction.  He finally nudged
+his friend.  "Well, it's all over," he said to him.
+
+His friend gazed backward.  "B'Gawd, it is," he assented.  They mused.
+
+For a time the youth was obliged to reflect in a puzzled and uncertain
+way.  His mind was undergoing a subtle change.  It took moments for it
+to cast off its battleful ways and resume its accustomed course of
+thought.  Gradually his brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at
+last he was enabled to more closely comprehend himself and circumstance.
+
+He understood then that the existence of shot and counter-shot was in
+the past.  He had dwelt in a land of strange, squalling upheavals and
+had come forth.  He had been where there was red of blood and black of
+passion, and he was escaped.  His first thoughts were given to
+rejoicings at this fact.
+
+Later he began to study his deeds, his failures, and his achievements.
+Thus, fresh from scenes where many of his usual machines of reflection
+had been idle, from where he had proceeded sheeplike, he struggled to
+marshal all his acts.
+
+At last they marched before him clearly. From this present view point
+he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and to criticise
+them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated
+certain sympathies.
+
+Regarding his procession of memory he felt gleeful and unregretting,
+for in it his public deeds were paraded in great and shining
+prominence. Those performances which had been witnessed by his fellows
+marched now in wide purple and gold, having various deflections.  They
+went gayly with music.  It was pleasure to watch these things.  He
+spent delightful minutes viewing the gilded images of memory.
+
+He saw that he was good.  He recalled with a thrill of joy the
+respectful comments of his fellows upon his conduct.
+
+Nevertheless, the ghost of his flight from the first engagement
+appeared to him and danced.  There were small shoutings in his brain
+about these matters.  For a moment he blushed, and the light of his
+soul flickered with shame.
+
+A specter of reproach came to him.  There loomed the dogging memory of
+the tattered soldier--he who, gored by bullets and faint for blood, had
+fretted concerning an imagined wound in another; he who had loaned his
+last of strength and intellect for the tall soldier; he who, blind with
+weariness and pain, had been deserted in the field.
+
+For an instant a wretched chill of sweat was upon him at the thought
+that he might be detected in the thing.  As he stood persistently
+before his vision, he gave vent to a cry of sharp irritation and agony.
+
+His friend turned.  "What's the matter, Henry?" he demanded.  The
+youth's reply was an outburst of crimson oaths.
+
+As he marched along the little branch-hung roadway among his prattling
+companions this vision of cruelty brooded over him.  It clung near him
+always and darkened his view of these deeds in purple and gold.
+Whichever way his thoughts turned they were followed by the somber
+phantom of the desertion in the fields. He looked stealthily at his
+companions, feeling sure that they must discern in his face evidences
+of this pursuit.  But they were plodding in ragged array, discussing
+with quick tongues the accomplishments of the late battle.
+
+"Oh, if a man should come up an' ask me, I'd say we got a dum good
+lickin'."
+
+"Lickin'--in yer eye!  We ain't licked, sonny. We're goin' down here
+aways, swing aroun', an' come in behint 'em."
+
+"Oh, hush, with your comin' in behint 'em. I've seen all 'a that I
+wanta.  Don't tell me about comin' in behint--"
+
+"Bill Smithers, he ses he'd rather been in ten hundred battles than
+been in that heluva hospital.  He ses they got shootin' in th'
+night-time, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital.  He ses
+sech hollerin' he never see."
+
+"Hasbrouck?  He's th' best off'cer in this here reg'ment.  He's a
+whale."
+
+"Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint 'em?  Didn't I tell yeh
+so?  We--"
+
+"Oh, shet yeh mouth!"
+
+For a time this pursuing recollection of the tattered man took all
+elation from the youth's veins.  He saw his vivid error, and he was
+afraid that it would stand before him all his life.  He took no share
+in the chatter of his comrades, nor did he look at them or know them,
+save when he felt sudden suspicion that they were seeing his thoughts
+and scrutinizing each detail of the scene with the tattered soldier.
+
+Yet gradually he mustered force to put the sin at a distance.  And at
+last his eyes seemed to open to some new ways.  He found that he could
+look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see
+them truly.  He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised
+them.
+
+With this conviction came a store of assurance.  He felt a quiet
+manhood, nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood.  He knew that he
+would no more quail before his guides wherever they should point.  He
+had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was
+but the great death.  He was a man.
+
+So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath
+his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover
+tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares were not.  Scars faded as
+flowers.
+
+It rained.  The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train,
+despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of
+liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky.  Yet the youth smiled, for
+he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to
+be made of oaths and walking sticks.  He had rid himself of the red
+sickness of battle.  The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been
+an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war.  He
+turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh
+meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal peace.
+
+Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden
+rain clouds.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: I have tried to retain the inconsistent renderings
+of contractions as joined or separate, e.g., "we 'll" or "we'll."
+
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+
+PAGE  PARA.  LINE  ORIGINAL          CHANGED TO
+  18     3      3  estabiish         establish
+  40     3      2  skirmish          skirmish-
+  78     4      4  a air             an air
+ 130            2  recognzied        recognized
+ 130     4     12  could a'          could 'a
+ 139     2      4  not began         not begun
+ 193     2     16  illusions to      allusions to]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
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+****The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Red Badge of Courage****
+#1a in our series by Stephen Crane
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+The Red Badge of Courage
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+by Stephen Crane
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+March, 1996 [Etext #463]
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+****The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Red Badge of Courage****
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+
+Note: I have tried to retain the inconsistent renderings of
+contractions as joined or separate, e.g., "we 'll" or "we'll."
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+PAGE  PARA.  LINE  ORIGINAL          CHANGED TO
+  18     3      3  estabiish         establish
+  40     3      2  skirmish          skirmish-
+  78     4      4  a air             an air
+ 130            2  recognzied        recognized
+ 130     4     12  could a'          could 'a
+ 139     2      4  not began         not begun
+ 193     2     16  illusions to      allusions to
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Red Badge of Courage
+
+by Stephen Crane
+
+
+An Episode of the
+American Civil War
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE cold passed reluctantly from the earth,
+and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched
+out on the hills, resting.  As the landscape
+changed from brown to green, the army awak-
+ened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the
+noise of rumors.  It cast its eyes upon the roads,
+which were growing from long troughs of liquid
+mud to proper thoroughfares.  A river, amber-
+tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the
+army's feet; and at night, when the stream had
+become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see
+across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp-
+fires set in the low brows of distant hills.
+
+Once a certain tall soldier developed virtues
+and went resolutely to wash a shirt.  He came
+flying back from a brook waving his garment
+bannerlike.  He was swelled with a tale he had
+heard from a reliable friend, who had heard it
+from a truthful cavalryman, who had heard it
+from his trustworthy brother, one of the order-
+lies at division headquarters.  He adopted the
+important air of a herald in red and gold.
+"We're goin' t' move t' morrah--sure," he
+said pompously to a group in the company
+street.  "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut
+across, an' come around in behint 'em."
+
+To his attentive audience he drew a loud
+and elaborate plan of a very brilliant campaign.
+When he had finished, the blue-clothed men
+scattered into small arguing groups between the
+rows of squat brown huts.  A negro teamster who
+had been dancing upon a cracker box with the
+hilarious encouragement of twoscore soldiers
+was deserted.  He sat mournfully down.  Smoke
+drifted lazily from a multitude of quaint chim-
+neys.
+
+"It's a lie! that's all it is--a thunderin' lie!"
+said another private loudly.  His smooth face was
+flushed, and his hands were thrust sulkily into his
+trousers' pockets.  He took the matter as an
+affront to him.  "I don't believe the derned old
+army's ever going to move.  We're set.  I've
+got ready to move eight times in the last two
+weeks, and we ain't moved yet."
+
+The tall soldier felt called upon to defend
+the truth of a rumor he himself had intro-
+duced.  He and the loud one came near to fight-
+ing over it.
+
+A corporal began to swear before the assem-
+blage.  He had just put a costly board floor in
+his house, he said.  During the early spring he
+had refrained from adding extensively to the
+comfort of his environment because he had felt
+that the army might start on the march at any
+moment.  Of late, however, he had been im-
+pressed that they were in a sort of eternal camp.
+
+Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate.
+One outlined in a peculiarly lucid manner all the
+plans of the commanding general.  He was op-
+posed by men who advocated that there were
+other plans of campaign.  They clamored at each
+other, numbers making futile bids for the pop-
+ular attention.  Meanwhile, the soldier who had
+fetched the rumor bustled about with much
+importance.  He was continually assailed by
+questions.
+
+"What's up, Jim?"
+
+"Th' army's goin' t' move."
+
+"Ah, what yeh talkin' about?  How yeh know
+it is?"
+
+"Well, yeh kin b'lieve me er not, jest as yeh
+like.  I don't care a hang."
+
+There was much food for thought in the man-
+ner in which he replied.  He came near to con-
+vincing them by disdaining to produce proofs.
+They grew excited over it.
+
+There was a youthful private who listened
+with eager ears to the words of the tall soldier
+and to the varied comments of his comrades.
+After receiving a fill of discussions concerning
+marches and attacks, he went to his hut and
+crawled through an intricate hole that served it
+as a door.  He wished to be alone with some
+new thoughts that had lately come to him.
+
+He lay down on a wide bank that stretched
+across the end of the room.  In the other end,
+cracker boxes were made to serve as furniture.
+They were grouped about the fireplace.  A pic-
+ture from an illustrated weekly was upon the log
+walls, and three rifles were paralleled on pegs.
+Equipments hunt on handy projections, and some
+tin dishes lay upon a small pile of firewood.  A
+folded tent was serving as a roof.  The sunlight,
+without, beating upon it, made it glow a light
+yellow shade.  A small window shot an oblique
+square of whiter light upon the cluttered floor.
+The smoke from the fire at times neglected the
+clay chimney and wreathed into the room, and
+this flimsy chimney of clay and sticks made end-
+less threats to set ablaze the whole establishment.
+
+The youth was in a little trance of astonish-
+ment.  So they were at last going to fight.  On
+the morrow, perhaps, there would be a battle, and
+he would be in it.  For a time he was obliged
+to labor to make himself believe.  He could not
+accept with assurance an omen that he was about
+to mingle in one of those great affairs of the earth.
+
+He had, of course, dreamed of battles all
+his life--of vague and bloody conflicts that had
+thrilled him with their sweep and fire.  In visions
+he had seen himself in many struggles.  He had
+imagined peoples secure in the shadow of his
+eagle-eyed prowess.  But awake he had regarded
+battles as crimson blotches on the pages of the
+past.  He had put them as things of the bygone
+with his thought-images of heavy crowns and
+high castles.  There was a portion of the world's
+history which he had regarded as the time of
+wars, but it, he thought, had been long gone over
+the horizon and had disappeared forever.
+
+From his home his youthful eyes had looked
+upon the war in his own country with distrust.
+It must be some sort of a play affair.  He had
+long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle.
+Such would be no more, he had said.  Men were
+better, or more timid.  Secular and religious
+education had effaced the throat-grappling in-
+stinct, or else firm finance held in check the pas-
+sions.
+
+He had burned several times to enlist.  Tales
+of great movements shook the land.  They might
+not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to
+be much glory in them.  He had read of marches,
+sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all.
+His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures
+extravagant in color, lurid with breathless deeds.
+
+But his mother had discouraged him.  She
+had affected to look with some contempt upon
+the quality of his war ardor and patriotism.  She
+could calmly seat herself and with no apparent
+difficulty give him many hundreds of reasons
+why he was of vastly more importance on the
+farm than on the field of battle.  She had had
+certain ways of expression that told him that her
+statements on the subject came from a deep con-
+viction.  Moreover, on her side, was his belief
+that her ethical motive in the argument was
+impregnable.
+
+At last, however, he had made firm rebellion
+against this yellow light thrown upon the color of
+his ambitions.  The newspapers, the gossip of the
+village, his own picturings had aroused him to
+an uncheckable degree.  They were in truth
+fighting finely down there.  Almost every day
+the newspapers printed accounts of a decisive
+victory.
+
+One night, as he lay in bed, the winds had
+carried to him the clangoring of the church bell
+as some enthusiast jerked the rope frantically to
+tell the twisted news of a great battle.  This
+voice of the people rejoicing in the night had
+made him shiver in a prolonged ecstasy of ex-
+citement.  Later, he had gone down to his
+mother's room and had spoken thus: "Ma, I'm
+going to enlist."
+
+"Henry, don't you be a fool," his mother had
+replied.  She had then covered her face with the
+quilt.  There was an end to the matter for that
+night.
+
+Nevertheless, the next morning he had gone
+to a town that was near his mother's farm and
+had enlisted in a company that was forming there.
+When he had returned home his mother was
+milking the brindle cow.  Four others stood
+waiting.  "Ma, I've enlisted," he had said to her
+diffidently.  There was a short silence.  "The
+Lord's will be done, Henry," she had finally
+replied, and had then continued to milk the
+brindle cow.
+
+When he had stood in the doorway with his
+soldier's clothes on his back, and with the light of
+excitement and expectancy in his eyes almost
+defeating the glow of regret for the home bonds,
+he had seen two tears leaving their trails on his
+mother's scarred cheeks.
+
+Still, she had disappointed him by saying
+nothing whatever about returning with his shield
+or on it.  He had privately primed himself for a
+beautiful scene.  He had prepared certain sen-
+tences which he thought could be used with
+touching effect.  But her words destroyed his
+plans.  She had doggedly peeled potatoes and
+addressed him as follows: "You watch out,
+Henry, an' take good care of yerself in this here
+fighting business--you watch out, an' take good
+care of yerself.  Don't go a-thinkin' you can
+lick the hull rebel army at the start, because yeh
+can't.  Yer jest one little feller amongst a hull lot
+of others, and yeh've got to keep quiet an' do what
+they tell yeh.  I know how you are, Henry.
+
+"I've knet yeh eight pair of socks, Henry, and
+I've put in all yer best shirts, because I want my
+boy to be jest as warm and comf'able as anybody
+in the army.  Whenever they get holes in 'em, I
+want yeh to send 'em right-away back to me, so's
+I kin dern 'em.
+
+"An' allus be careful an' choose yer comp'ny.
+There's lots of bad men in the army, Henry.
+The army makes 'em wild, and they like nothing
+better than the job of leading off a young feller
+like you, as ain't never been away from home
+much and has allus had a mother, an' a-learning
+'em to drink and swear.  Keep clear of them
+folks, Henry.  I don't want yeh to ever do any-
+thing, Henry, that yeh would be 'shamed to let
+me know about.  Jest think as if I was a-watchin'
+yeh.  If yeh keep that in yer mind allus, I guess
+yeh'll come out about right.
+
+"Yeh must allus remember yer father, too,
+child, an' remember he never drunk a drop of
+licker in his life, and seldom swore a cross oath.
+
+"I don't know what else to tell yeh, Henry,
+excepting that yeh must never do no shirking,
+child, on my account.  If so be a time comes when
+yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why,
+Henry, don't think of anything 'cept what's right,
+because there's many a woman has to bear up
+'ginst sech things these times, and the Lord 'll
+take keer of us all.
+
+"Don't forgit about the socks and the shirts,
+child; and I've put a cup of blackberry jam with
+yer bundle, because I know yeh like it above all
+things.  Good-by, Henry.  Watch out, and be a
+good boy."
+
+He had, of course, been impatient under the
+ordeal of this speech.  It had not been quite what
+he expected, and he had borne it with an air of
+irritation.  He departed feeling vague relief.
+
+Still, when he had looked back from the gate,
+he had seen his mother kneeling among the po-
+tato parings.  Her brown face, upraised, was
+stained with tears, and her spare form was quiver-
+
+
+10 RED BADGE OF COURAGE.
+
+ing.  He bowed his head and went on, feeling
+suddenly ashamed of his purposes.
+
+From his home he had gone to the seminary
+to bid adieu to many schoolmates.  They had
+thronged about him with wonder and admiration.
+He had felt the gulf now between them and had
+swelled with calm pride.  He and some of his
+fellows who had donned blue were quite over-
+whelmed with privileges for all of one afternoon,
+and it had been a very delicious thing.  They had
+strutted.
+
+A certain light-haired girl had made vivacious
+fun at his martial spirit, but there was another and
+darker girl whom he had gazed at steadfastly, and
+he thought she grew demure and sad at sight of
+his blue and brass.  As he had walked down the
+path between the rows of oaks, he had turned his
+head and detected her at a window watching his
+departure.  As he perceived her, she had im-
+mediately begun to stare up through the high
+tree branches at the sky.  He had seen a good
+deal of flurry and haste in her movement as she
+changed her attitude.  He often thought of it.
+
+On the way to Washington his spirit had
+soared.  The regiment was fed and caressed at
+station after station until the youth had believed
+that he must be a hero.  There was a lavish ex-
+penditure of bread and cold meats, coffee, and
+pickles and cheese.  As he basked in the smiles
+of the girls and was patted and complimented by
+the old men, he had felt growing within him the
+strength to do mighty deeds of arms.
+
+After complicated journeyings with many
+pauses, there had come months of monotonous
+life in a camp.  He had had the belief that real
+war was a series of death struggles with small
+time in between for sleep and meals; but since his
+regiment had come to the field the army had done
+little but sit still and try to keep warm.
+
+He was brought then gradually back to his old
+ideas.  Greeklike struggles would be no more.
+Men were better, or more timid.  Secular and
+religious education had effaced the throat-grap-
+pling instinct, or else firm finance held in check
+the passions.
+
+He had grown to regard himself merely as a
+part of a vast blue demonstration.  His province
+was to look out, as far as he could, for his per-
+sonal comfort.  For recreation he could twiddle
+his thumbs and speculate on the thoughts which
+must agitate the minds of the generals.  Also, he
+was drilled and drilled and reviewed, and drilled
+and drilled and reviewed.
+
+The only foes he had seen were some pickets
+along the river bank.  They were a sun-tanned,
+philosophical lot, who sometimes shot reflectively
+at the blue pickets.  When reproached for this
+afterward, they usually expressed sorrow, and
+swore by their gods that the guns had exploded
+without their permission.  The youth, on guard
+duty one night, conversed across the stream with
+one of them.  He was a slightly ragged man, who
+spat skillfully between his shoes and possessed a
+great fund of bland and infantile assurance.  The
+youth liked him personally.
+
+"Yank," the other had informed him, "yer a
+right dum good feller."  This sentiment, floating
+to him upon the still air, had made him tempo-
+rarily regret war.
+
+Various veterans had told him tales.  Some
+talked of gray, bewhiskered hordes who were
+advancing with relentless curses and chewing
+tobacco with unspeakable valor; tremendous
+bodies of fierce soldiery who were sweeping
+along like the Huns.  Others spoke of tattered
+and eternally hungry men who fired despondent
+powders.  "They'll charge through hell's fire an'
+brimstone t' git a holt on a haversack, an' sech
+stomachs ain't a-lastin' long," he was told.  From
+the stories, the youth imagined the red, live bones
+sticking out through slits in the faded uniforms.
+
+Still, he could not put a whole faith in veter-
+ans' tales, for recruits were their prey.  They
+talked much of smoke, fire, and blood, but he
+could not tell how much might be lies.  They
+persistently yelled "Fresh fish!" at him, and were
+in no wise to be trusted.
+
+However, he perceived now that it did not
+greatly matter what kind of soldiers he was going
+to fight, so long as they fought, which fact no one
+disputed.  There was a more serious problem.  He
+lay in his bunk pondering upon it.  He tried to
+mathematically prove to himself that he would
+not run from a battle.
+
+Previously he had never felt obliged to wrestle
+too seriously with this question.  In his life he had
+taken certain things for granted, never challeng-
+ing his belief in ultimate success, and bothering
+little about means and roads.  But here he was
+confronted with a thing of moment.  It had sud-
+denly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he
+might run.  He was forced to admit that as far as
+war was concerned he knew nothing of himself.
+
+A sufficient time before he would have allowed
+the problem to kick its heels at the outer portals
+of his mind, but now he felt compelled to give
+serious attention to it.
+
+A little panic-fear grew in his mind.  As his
+imagination went forward to a fight, he saw hide-
+ous possibilities.  He contemplated the lurking
+menaces of the future, and failed in an effort to
+see himself standing stoutly in the midst of them.
+He recalled his visions of broken-bladed glory,
+but in the shadow of the impending tumult he
+suspected them to be impossible pictures.
+
+He sprang from the bunk and began to pace
+nervously to and fro.  "Good Lord, what's th'
+matter with me?" he said aloud.
+
+He felt that in this crisis his laws of life were
+useless.  Whatever he had learned of himself was
+here of no avail.  He was an unknown quantity.
+He saw that he would again be obliged to experi-
+ment as he had in early youth.  He must accumu-
+late information of himself, and meanwhile he re-
+solved to remain close upon his guard lest those
+qualities of which he knew nothing should ever-
+lastingly disgrace him.  "Good Lord!" he re-
+peated in dismay.
+
+After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously
+through the hole.  The loud private followed.
+They were wrangling.
+
+"That's all right," said the tall soldier as he
+entered.  He waved his hand expressively.  "You
+can believe me or not, jest as you like.  All you
+got to do is to sit down and wait as quiet as you
+can.  Then pretty soon you'll find out I was right."
+
+His comrade grunted stubbornly.  For a mo-
+ment he seemed to be searching for a formidable
+reply.  Finally he said: "Well, you don't know
+everything in the world, do you?"
+
+"Didn't say I knew everything in the world,"
+retorted the other sharply.  He began to stow
+various articles snugly into his knapsack.
+
+The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked
+down at the busy figure.  "Going to be a battle,
+sure, is there, Jim?" he asked.
+
+"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier.
+"Of course there is.  You jest wait 'til to-morrow,
+and you'll see one of the biggest battles ever was.
+You jest wait."
+
+"Thunder!der!" said the youth.
+
+"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy,
+what'll be regular out-and-out fighting," added
+the tall soldier, with the air of a man who is
+about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his
+friends.
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one from a corner.
+
+"Well," remarked the youth, "like as not this
+story'll turn out jest like them others did."
+
+"Not much it won't," replied the tall soldier,
+exasperated.  "Not much it won't.  Didn't the
+cavalry all start this morning?"  He glared about
+him.  No one denied his statement.  "The cav-
+alry started this morning," he continued.  "They
+say there ain't hardly any cavalry left in camp.
+They're going to Richmond, or some place, while
+we fight all the Johnnies.  It's some dodge like
+that.  The regiment's got orders, too.  A feller
+what seen 'em go to headquarters told me a little
+while ago.  And they're raising blazes all over
+camp--anybody can see that."
+
+"Shucks!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth remained silent for a time.  At last
+he spoke to the tall soldier.  "Jim!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"How do you think the reg'ment 'll do?"
+
+"Oh, they'll fight all right, I guess, after they
+once get into it," said the other with cold judg-
+ment.  He made a fine use of the third person.
+"There's been heaps of fun poked at 'em because
+they're new, of course, and all that; but they'll
+fight all right, I guess."
+
+"Think any of the boys 'll run?" persisted the
+youth.
+
+"Oh, there may be a few of 'em run, but
+there's them kind in every regiment, 'specially
+when they first goes under fire," said the other
+in a tolerant way.  "Of course it might happen
+that the hull kit-and-boodle might start and run,
+if some big fighting came first-off, and then again
+they might stay and fight like fun.  But you can't
+bet on nothing.  Of course they ain't never been
+under fire yet, and it ain't likely they'll lick the
+hull rebel army all-to-oncet the first time; but I
+think they'll fight better than some, if worse than
+others.  That's the way I figger.  They call the
+reg'ment 'Fresh fish' and everything; but the
+boys come of good stock, and most of 'em 'll fight
+like sin after they oncet git shootin'," he added,
+with a mighty emphasis on the last four words.
+
+"Oh, you think you know--" began the loud
+soldier with scorn.
+
+The other turned savagely upon him.  They
+had a rapid altercation, in which they fastened
+upon each other various strange epithets.
+
+The youth at last interrupted them.  "Did
+you ever think you might run yourself, Jim?" he
+asked.  On concluding the sentence he laughed
+as if he had meant to aim a joke.  The loud sol-
+dier also giggled.
+
+The tall private waved his hand.  "Well," said
+he profoundly, "I've thought it might get too hot
+for Jim Conklin in some of them scrimmages, and
+if a whole lot of boys started and run, why, I
+s'pose I'd start and run.  And if I once started to
+run, I'd run like the devil, and no mistake.  But
+if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting, why,
+I'd stand and fight.  Be jiminey, I would.  I'll
+bet on it."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud one.
+
+The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these
+words of his comrade.  He had feared that all of
+the untried men possessed a great and correct
+confidence.  He now was in a measure reassured.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+THE next morning the youth discovered that
+his tall comrade had been the fast-flying messen-
+ger of a mistake.  There was much scoffing at
+the latter by those who had yesterday been firm
+adherents of his views, and there was even a lit-
+tle sneering by men who had never believed the
+rumor.  The tall one fought with a man from
+Chatfield Corners and beat him severely.
+
+The youth felt, however, that his problem was
+in no wise lifted from him.  There was, on the
+contrary, an irritating prolongation.  The tale
+had created in him a great concern for himself.
+Now, with the newborn question in his mind, he
+was compelled to sink back into his old place as
+part of a blue demonstration.
+
+For days he made ceaseless calculations, but
+they were all wondrously unsatisfactory.  He
+found that he could establish nothing.  He final-
+ly concluded that the only way to prove himself
+was to go into the blaze, and then figuratively to
+
+18
+watch his legs to discover their merits and faults.
+He reluctantly admitted that he could not sit
+still and with a mental slate and pencil derive an
+answer.  To gain it, he must have blaze, blood,
+and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that,
+and the other.  So he fretted for an opportunity.
+
+Meanwhile he continually tried to measure
+himself by his comrades.  The tall soldier, for
+one, gave him some assurance.  This man's se-
+rene unconcern dealt him a measure of con-
+fidence, for he had known him since childhood,
+and from his intimate knowledge he did not see
+how he could be capable of anything that was
+beyond him, the youth.  Still, he thought that
+his comrade might be mistaken about himself.
+Or, on the other hand, he might be a man here-
+tofore doomed to peace and obscurity, but, in
+reality, made to shine in war.
+
+The youth would have liked to have discov-
+ered another who suspected himself.  A sympa-
+thetic comparison of mental notes would have
+been a joy to him.
+
+He occasionally tried to fathom a comrade
+with seductive sentences.  He looked about to
+find men in the proper mood.  All attempts
+failed to bring forth any statement which looked
+in any way like a confession to those doubts
+which he privately acknowledged in himself.
+He was afraid to make an open declaration of
+his concern, because he dreaded to place some
+unscrupulous confidant upon the high plane of
+the unconfessed from which elevation he could
+be derided.
+
+In regard to his companions his mind wa-
+vered between two opinions, according to his
+mood.  Sometimes he inclined to believing them
+all heroes.  In fact, he usually admitted in secret
+the superior development of the higher qualities
+in others.  He could conceive of men going very
+insignificantly about the world bearing a load of
+courage unseen, and although he had known
+many of his comrades through boyhood, he be-
+gan to fear that his judgment of them had been
+blind.  Then, in other moments, he flouted these
+theories, and assured himself that his fellows
+were all privately wondering and quaking.
+
+His emotions made him feel strange in the
+presence of men who talked excitedly of a pro-
+spective battle as of a drama they were about to
+witness, with nothing but eagerness and curiosity
+apparent in their faces.  It was often that he sus-
+pected them to be liars.
+
+He did not pass such thoughts without severe
+condemnation of himself.  He dinned reproaches
+at times.  He was convicted by himself of many
+shameful crimes against the gods of traditions.
+
+In his great anxiety his heart was continually
+clamoring at what he considered the intolerable
+slowness of the generals.  They seemed content
+to perch tranquilly on the river bank, and leave
+him bowed down by the weight of a great prob-
+lem.  He wanted it settled forthwith.  He could
+not long bear such a load, he said.  Sometimes
+his anger at the commanders reached an acute
+stage, and he grumbled about the camp like a
+veteran.
+
+One morning, however, he found himself in
+the ranks of his prepared regiment.  The men
+were whispering speculations and recounting the
+old rumors.  In the gloom before the break of
+the day their uniforms glowed a deep purple
+hue.  From across the river the red eyes were
+still peering.  In the eastern sky there was a yel-
+low patch like a rug laid for the feet of the com-
+ing sun; and against it, black and patternlike,
+loomed the gigantic figure of the colonel on a
+gigantic horse.
+
+From off in the darkness came the trampling
+of feet.  The youth could occasionally see dark
+shadows that moved like monsters.  The regi-
+ment stood at rest for what seemed a long time.
+The youth grew impatient.  It was unendurable
+the way these affairs were managed.  He won-
+dered how long they were to be kept waiting.
+
+As he looked all about him and pondered
+upon the mystic gloom, he began to believe that
+at any moment the ominous distance might be
+aflare, and the rolling crashes of an engagement
+come to his ears.  Staring once at the red eyes
+across the river, he conceived them to be grow-
+ing larger, as the orbs of a row of dragons ad-
+vancing.  He turned toward the colonel and saw
+him lift his gigantic arm and calmly stroke his
+mustache.
+
+At last he heard from along the road at the
+foot of the hill the clatter of a horse's galloping
+hoofs.  It must be the coming of orders.  He
+bent forward, scarce breathing.  The exciting
+clickety-click, as it grew louder and louder,
+seemed to be beating upon his soul.  Presently a
+horseman with jangling equipment drew rein be-
+fore the colonel of the regiment.  The two held
+a short, sharp-worded conversation.  The men in
+the foremost ranks craned their necks.
+
+As the horseman wheeled his animal and gal-
+loped away he turned to shout over his shoulder,
+"Don't forget that box of cigars!"  The colonel
+mumbled in reply.  The youth wondered what a
+box of cigars had to do with war.
+
+A moment later the regiment went swinging
+off into the darkness.  It was now like one of
+those moving monsters wending with many feet.
+The air was heavy, and cold with dew.  A mass
+of wet grass, marched upon, rustled like silk.
+
+There was an occasional flash and glimmer
+of steel from the backs of all these huge crawl-
+ing reptiles.  From the road came creakings and
+grumblings as some surly guns were dragged
+away.
+
+The men stumbled along still muttering specu-
+lations.  There was a subdued debate.  Once a
+man fell down, and as he reached for his rifle a
+comrade, unseeing, trod upon his hand.  He of
+the injured fingers swore bitterly and aloud.  A
+low, tittering laugh went among his fellows.
+
+Presently they passed into a roadway and
+marched forward with easy strides.  A dark
+regiment moved before them, and from behind
+also came the tinkle of equipments on the bodies
+of marching men.
+
+The rushing yellow of the developing day
+went on behind their backs.  When the sunrays
+at last struck full and mellowingly upon the
+earth, the youth saw that the landscape was
+streaked with two long, thin, black columns
+which disappeared on the brow of a hill in front
+and rearward vanished in a wood.  They were
+like two serpents crawling from the cavern of the
+night.
+
+The river was not in view.  The tall soldier
+burst into praises of what he thought to be his
+powers of perception.
+
+Some of the tall one's companions cried with
+emphasis that they, too, had evolved the same
+thing, and they congratulated themselves upon
+it.  But there were others who said that the tall
+one's plan was not the true one at all.  They per-
+sisted with other theories.  There was a vigorous
+discussion.
+
+The youth took no part in them.  As he
+walked along in careless line he was engaged
+with his own eternal debate.  He could not hin-
+der himself from dwelling upon it.  He was de-
+spondent and sullen, and threw shifting glances
+about him.  He looked ahead, often expecting to
+hear from the advance the rattle of firing.
+
+But the long serpents crawled slowly from
+hill to hill without bluster of smoke.  A dun-col-
+ored cloud of dust floated away to the right.
+The sky overhead was of a fairy blue.
+
+The youth studied the faces of his compan-
+ions, ever on the watch to detect kindred emo-
+tions.  He suffered disappointment.  Some ardor
+of the air which was causing the veteran com-
+mands to move with glee--almost with song--
+had infected the new regiment.  The men began
+to speak of victory as of a thing they knew.
+Also, the tall soldier received his vindication.
+They were certainly going to come around in
+behind the enemy.  They expressed commisera-
+tion for that part of the army which had been
+left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves
+upon being a part of a blasting host.
+
+The youth, considering himself as separated
+from the others, was saddened by the blithe and
+merry speeches that went from rank to rank.
+The company wags all made their best endeav-
+ors.  The regiment tramped to the tune of
+laughter.
+
+The blatant soldier often convulsed whole
+files by his biting sarcasms aimed at the tall one.
+
+And it was not long before all the men seemed
+to forget their mission.  Whole brigades grinned
+in unison, and regiments laughed.
+
+A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse
+from a dooryard.  He planned to load his knap-
+sack upon it.  He was escaping with his prize
+when a young girl rushed from the house and
+grabbed the animal's mane.  There followed a
+wrangle.  The young girl, with pink cheeks and
+shining eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.
+
+The observant regiment, standing at rest in
+the roadway, whooped at once, and entered
+whole-souled upon the side of the maiden.  The
+men became so engrossed in this affair that they
+entirely ceased to remember their own large war.
+They jeered the piratical private, and called
+attention to various defects in his personal ap-
+pearance; and they were wildly enthusiastic in
+support of the young girl.
+
+To her, from some distance, came bold advice.
+"Hit him with a stick."
+
+There were crows and catcalls showered
+upon him when he retreated without the horse.
+The regiment rejoiced at his downfall.  Loud
+and vociferous congratulations were showered
+upon the maiden, who stood panting and regard-
+ing the troops with defiance.
+
+At nightfall the column broke into regimental
+pieces, and the fragments went into the fields to
+camp.  Tents sprang up like strange plants.
+Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted
+the night.
+
+The youth kept from intercourse with his
+companions as much as circumstances would
+allow him.  In the evening he wandered a few
+paces into the gloom.  From this little distance
+the many fires, with the black forms of men pass-
+ing to and fro before the crimson rays, made
+weird and satanic effects.
+
+He lay down in the grass.  The blades
+pressed tenderly against his cheek.  The moon
+had been lighted and was hung in a treetop.
+The liquid stillness of the night enveloping him
+made him feel vast pity for himself.  There was
+a caress in the soft winds; and the whole mood
+of the darkness, he thought, was one of sympathy
+for himself in his distress.
+
+He wished, without reserve, that he was at
+home again making the endless rounds from the
+house to the barn, from the barn to the fields,
+from the fields to the barn, from the barn to the
+house.  He remembered he had often cursed the
+brindle cow and her mates, and had sometimes
+flung milking stools.  But, from his present point
+of view, there was a halo of happiness about each
+of their heads, and he would have sacrificed all
+the brass buttons on the continent to have been
+enabled to return to them.  He told himself that
+he was not formed for a soldier.  And he mused
+seriously upon the radical differences between
+himself and those men who were dodging imp-
+like around the fires.
+
+As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass,
+and, upon turning his head, discovered the loud
+soldier.  He called out, "Oh, Wilson!"
+
+The latter approached and looked down.
+"Why, hello, Henry; is it you?  What you do-
+ing here?"
+
+"Oh, thinking," said the youth.
+
+The other sat down and carefully lighted his
+pipe.  "You're getting blue, my boy.  You're
+looking thundering peeked.  What the dickens
+is wrong with you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," said the youth.
+
+The loud soldier launched then into the sub-
+ject of the anticipated fight.  "Oh, we've got
+'em now!"  As he spoke his boyish face was
+wreathed in a gleeful smile, and his voice had
+an exultant ring.  "We've got 'em now.  At
+last, by the eternal thunders, we'll lick 'em
+good!"
+
+"If the truth was known," he added, more
+soberly, "THEY'VE licked US about every clip up to
+now; but this time--this time--we'll lick 'em
+good!"
+
+"I thought you was objecting to this march
+a little while ago," said the youth coldly.
+
+"Oh, it wasn't that," explained the other.  "I
+don't mind marching, if there's going to be fight-
+ing at the end of it.  What I hate is this getting
+moved here and moved there, with no good com-
+ing of it, as far as I can see, excepting sore feet
+and damned short rations."
+
+"Well, Jim Conklin says we'll get a plenty of
+fighting this time."
+
+"He's right for once, I guess, though I can't
+see how it come.  This time we're in for a big
+battle, and we've got the best end of it, certain
+sure.  Gee rod! how we will thump 'em!"
+
+He arose and began to pace to and fro excit-
+edly.  The thrill of his enthusiasm made him
+walk with an elastic step.  He was sprightly,
+vigorous, fiery in his belief in success.  He
+looked into the future with clear, proud eye, and
+he swore with the air of an old soldier.
+
+The youth watched him for a moment in
+silence.  When he finally spoke his voice was as
+bitter as dregs.  "Oh, you're going to do great
+things, I s'pose!"
+
+The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of
+smoke from his pipe.  "Oh, I don't know," he
+remarked with dignity; "I don't know.  I s'pose
+I'll do as well as the rest.  I'm going to try like
+thunder."  He evidently complimented himself
+upon the modesty of this statement.
+
+"How do you know you won't run when the
+time comes?" asked the youth.
+
+"Run?" said the loud one; "run?--of course
+not!"  He laughed.
+
+"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-
+a-'nough men have thought they was going to do
+great things before the fight, but when the time
+come they skedaddled."
+
+"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the
+other; "but I'm not going to skedaddle.  The
+man that bets on my running will lose his money,
+that's all."  He nodded confidently.
+
+"Oh, shucks!" said the youth.  "You ain't
+the bravest man in the world, are you?"
+
+"No, I ain't," exclaimed the loud soldier in-
+dignantly; "and I didn't say I was the bravest
+man in the world, neither.  I said I was going to
+do my share of fighting--that's what I said.  And
+I am, too.  Who are you, anyhow.  You talk as
+if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte."
+He glared at the youth for a moment, and then
+strode away.
+
+The youth called in a savage voice after his
+comrade: "Well, you needn't git mad about it!"
+But the other continued on his way and made no
+reply.
+
+He felt alone in space when his injured com-
+rade had disappeared.  His failure to discover
+any mite of resemblance in their view points
+made him more miserable than before.  No one
+seemed to be wrestling with such a terrific per-
+sonal problem.  He was a mental outcast.
+
+He went slowly to his tent and stretched him-
+self on a blanket by the side of the snoring tall
+soldier.  In the darkness he saw visions of a thou-
+sand-tongued fear that would babble at his back
+and cause him to flee, while others were going
+coolly about their country's business.  He admit-
+ted that he would not be able to cope with this
+monster.  He felt that every nerve in his body
+would be an ear to hear the voices, while other
+men would remain stolid and deaf.
+
+And as he sweated with the pain of these
+thoughts, he could hear low, serene sentences.
+"I'll bid five."  "Make it six."  "Seven."
+"Seven goes."
+
+He stared at the red, shivering reflection of
+a fire on the white wall of his tent until, ex-
+hausted and ill from the monotony of his suf-
+fering, he fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+WHEN another night came the columns,
+changed to purple streaks, filed across two pon-
+toon bridges.  A glaring fire wine-tinted the
+waters of the river.  Its rays, shining upon the
+moving masses of troops, brought forth here and
+there sudden gleams of silver or gold.  Upon
+the other shore a dark and mysterious range of
+hills was curved against the sky.  The insect
+voices of the night sang solemnly.
+
+After this crossing the youth assured himself
+that at any moment they might be suddenly and
+fearfully assaulted from the caves of the lowering
+woods.  He kept his eyes watchfully upon the
+darkness.
+
+But his regiment went unmolested to a camp-
+ing place, and its soldiers slept the brave sleep
+of wearied men.  In the morning they were
+routed out with early energy, and hustled along
+a narrow road that led deep into the forest.
+
+It was during this rapid march that the regi-
+
+32
+ment lost many of the marks of a new com-
+mand.
+
+The men had begun to count the miles upon
+their fingers, and they grew tired.  "Sore feet
+an' damned short rations, that's all," said the
+loud soldier.  There was perspiration and grum-
+blings.  After a time they began to shed their
+knapsacks.  Some tossed them unconcernedly
+down; others hid them carefully, asserting their
+plans to return for them at some convenient
+time.  Men extricated themselves from thick
+shirts.  Presently few carried anything but their
+necessary clothing, blankets, haversacks, canteens,
+and arms and ammunition.  "You can now eat
+and shoot," said the tall soldier to the youth.
+"That's all you want to do."
+
+There was sudden change from the ponderous
+infantry of theory to the light and speedy infantry
+of practice.  The regiment, relieved of a burden,
+received a new impetus.  But there was much
+loss of valuable knapsacks, and, on the whole,
+very good shirts.
+
+But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in
+appearance.  Veteran regiments in the army
+were likely to be very small aggregations of men.
+Once, when the command had first come to the
+field, some perambulating veterans, noting the
+length of their column, had accosted them thus:
+"Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?"  And when
+the men had replied that they formed a regiment
+and not a brigade, the older soldiers had laughed,
+and said, "O Gawd!"
+
+Also, there was too great a similarity in the
+hats.  The hats of a regiment should properly
+represent the history of headgear for a period of
+years.  And, moreover, there were no letters of
+faded gold speaking from the colors.  They were
+new and beautiful, and the color bearer habitu-
+ally oiled the pole.
+
+Presently the army again sat down to think.
+The odor of the peaceful pines was in the men's
+nostrils.  The sound of monotonous axe blows
+rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding
+upon their perches, crooned like old women.
+The youth returned to his theory of a blue dem-
+onstration.
+
+One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in
+the leg by the tall soldier, and then, before he
+was entirely awake, he found himself running
+down a wood road in the midst of men who were
+panting from the first effects of speed.  His can-
+teen banged rhythmically upon his thigh, and his
+haversack bobbed softly.  His musket bounced
+a trifle from his shoulder at each stride and made
+his cap feel uncertain upon his head.
+
+He could hear the men whisper jerky sen-
+tences: "Say--what's all this--about?"  "What
+th' thunder--we--skedaddlin' this way fer?"
+"Billie--keep off m' feet.  Yeh run--like a cow."
+And the loud soldier's shrill voice could be
+heard: "What th' devil they in sich a hurry for?"
+
+The youth thought the damp fog of early
+morning moved from the rush of a great body
+of troops.  From the distance came a sudden
+spatter of firing.
+
+He was bewildered.  As he ran with his com-
+rades he strenuously tried to think, but all he knew
+was that if he fell down those coming behind
+would tread upon him.  All his faculties seemed
+to be needed to guide him over and past obstruc-
+tions.  He felt carried along by a mob.
+
+The sun spread disclosing rays, and, one by
+one, regiments burst into view like armed men
+just born of the earth.  The youth perceived
+that the time had come.  He was about to be
+measured.  For a moment he felt in the face of
+his great trial like a babe, and the flesh over
+his heart seemed very thin.  He seized time to
+look about him calculatingly.
+
+But he instantly saw that it would be impossi-
+ble for him to escape from the regiment.  It in-
+closed him.  And there were iron laws of tradi-
+tion and law on four sides.  He was in a moving
+box.
+
+As he perceived this fact it occurred to him
+that he had never wished to come to the war.
+He had not enlisted of his free will.  He had
+been dragged by the merciless government.  And
+now they were taking him out to be slaughtered.
+
+The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed
+across a little stream.  The mournful current
+moved slowly on, and from the water, shaded
+black, some white bubble eyes looked at the men.
+
+As they climbed the hill on the farther side
+artillery began to boom.  Here the youth forgot
+many things as he felt a sudden impulse of curi-
+osity.  He scrambled up the bank with a speed
+that could not be exceeded by a bloodthirsty
+man.
+
+He expected a battle scene.
+
+There were some little fields girted and
+squeezed by a forest.  Spread over the grass and
+in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and
+waving lines of skirmishers who were running
+hither and thither and firing at the landscape.
+A dark battle line lay upon a sunstruck clearing
+that gleamed orange color.  A flag fluttered.
+
+Other regiments floundered up the bank.  The
+brigade was formed in line of battle, and after a
+pause started slowly through the woods in the
+rear of the receding skirmishers, who were con-
+tinually melting into the scene to appear again
+farther on.  They were always busy as bees,
+deeply absorbed in their little combats.
+
+The youth tried to observe everything.  He
+did not use care to avoid trees and branches,
+and his forgotten feet were constantly knocking
+against stones or getting entangled in briers.
+He was aware that these battalions with their
+commotions were woven red and startling into
+the gentle fabric of softened greens and browns.
+It looked to be a wrong place for a battle field.
+
+The skirmishers in advance fascinated him.
+Their shots into thickets and at distant and
+prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies--hid-
+den, mysterious, solemn.
+
+Once the line encountered the body of a dead
+soldier.  He lay upon his back staring at the sky.
+He was dressed in an awkward suit of yellowish
+brown.  The youth could see that the soles of his
+shoes had been worn to the thinness of writing
+paper, and from a great rent in one the dead foot
+projected piteously.  And it was as if fate had
+betrayed the soldier.  In death it exposed to his
+enemies that poverty which in life he had perhaps
+concealed from his friends.
+
+The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse.
+The invulnerable dead man forced a way for him-
+self.  The youth looked keenly at the ashen face.
+The wind raised the tawny beard.  It moved as
+if a hand were stroking it.  He vaguely desired
+to walk around and around the body and stare;
+the impulse of the living to try to read in dead
+eyes the answer to the Question.
+
+During the march the ardor which the youth
+had acquired when out of view of the field rapidly
+faded to nothing.  His curiosity was quite easily
+satisfied.  If an intense scene had caught him with
+its wild swing as he came to the top of the bank,
+he might have gone roaring on.  This advance
+upon Nature was too calm.  He had opportunity
+to reflect.  He had time in which to wonder
+about himself and to attempt to probe his sensa-
+tions.
+
+Absurd ideas took hold upon him.  He
+thought that he did not relish the landscape.
+It threatened him.  A coldness swept over his
+back, and it is true that his trousers felt to him
+that they were no fit for his legs at all.
+
+A house standing placidly in distant fields
+had to him an ominous look.  The shadows of
+the woods were formidable.  He was certain that
+in this vista there lurked fierce-eyed hosts.  The
+swift thought came to him that the generals did
+not know what they were about.  It was all a
+trap.  Suddenly those close forests would bristle
+with rifle barrels.  Ironlike brigades would ap-
+pear in the rear.  They were all going to be
+sacrificed.  The generals were stupids.  The
+enemy would presently swallow the whole com-
+mand.  He glared about him, expecting to see
+the stealthy approach of his death.
+
+He thought that he must break from the ranks
+and harangue his comrades.  They must not all
+be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would
+come to pass unless they were informed of these
+dangers.  The generals were idiots to send them
+marching into a regular pen.  There was but one
+pair of eyes in the corps.  He would step forth
+and make a speech.  Shrill and passionate words
+came to his lips.
+
+The line, broken into moving fragments by the
+ground, went calmly on through fields and woods.
+The youth looked at the men nearest him, and
+saw, for the most part, expressions of deep inter-
+est, as if they were investigating something that
+had fascinated them.  One or two stepped with
+overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged
+into war.  Others walked as upon thin ice.  The
+greater part of the untested men appeared quiet
+and absorbed.  They were going to look at war,
+the red animal--war, the blood-swollen god.  And
+they were deeply engrossed in this march.
+
+As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at
+his throat.  He saw that even if the men were
+tottering with fear they would laugh at his warn-
+ing.  They would jeer him, and, if practicable,
+pelt him with missiles.  Admitting that he might
+be wrong, a frenzied declamation of the kind
+would turn him into a worm.
+
+He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who
+knows that he is doomed alone to unwritten re-
+sponsibilities.  He lagged, with tragic glances at
+the sky.
+
+He was surprised presently by the young lieu-
+tenant of his company, who began heartily to
+beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and
+insolent voice: "Come, young man, get up into
+ranks there.  No skulking'll do here."  He mend-
+ed his pace with suitable haste.  And he hated
+the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine
+minds.  He was a mere brute.
+
+After a time the brigade was halted in the
+cathedral light of a forest.  The busy skirmish-
+ers were still popping.  Through the aisles of
+the wood could be seen the floating smoke from
+their rifles.  Sometimes it went up in little balls,
+white and compact.
+
+During this halt many men in the regiment
+began erecting tiny hills in front of them.  They
+used stones, sticks, earth, and anything they
+thought might turn a bullet.  Some built com-
+paratively large ones, while others seemed con-
+tent with little ones.
+
+This procedure caused a discussion among the
+men.  Some wished to fight like duelists, believ-
+ing it to be correct to stand erect and be, from
+their feet to their foreheads, a mark.  They said
+they scorned the devices of the cautious.  But
+the others scoffed in reply, and pointed to the
+veterans on the flanks who were digging at the
+ground like terriers.  In a short time there was
+quite a barricade along the regimental fronts.
+Directly, however, they were ordered to with-
+draw from that place.
+
+This astounded the youth.  He forgot his
+stewing over the advance movement.  "Well,
+then, what did they march us out here for?" he
+demanded of the tall soldier.  The latter with
+calm faith began a heavy explanation, although
+he had been compelled to leave a little protection
+of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much
+care and skill.
+
+When the regiment was aligned in another
+position each man's regard for his safety caused
+another line of small intrenchments.  They ate
+their noon meal behind a third one.  They were
+moved from this one also.  They were marched
+from place to place with apparent aimlessness.
+
+The youth had been taught that a man be-
+came another thing in a battle.  He saw his sal-
+vation in such a change.  Hence this waiting
+was an ordeal to him.  He was in a fever of im-
+patience.  He considered that there was denoted
+a lack of purpose on the part of the generals.
+He began to complain to the tall soldier.  "I
+can't stand this much longer," he cried.  "I
+don't see what good it does to make us wear
+out our legs for nothin'."  He wished to return
+to camp, knowing that this affair was a blue
+demonstration; or else to go into a battle and
+discover that he had been a fool in his doubts,
+and was, in truth, a man of traditional courage.
+The strain of present circumstances he felt to be
+intolerable.
+
+The philosophical tall soldier measured a sand-
+wich of cracker and pork and swallowed it in a
+nonchalant manner.  "Oh, I suppose we must go
+reconnoitering around the country jest to keep
+'em from getting too close, or to develop 'em, or
+something."
+
+"Huh!" said the loud soldier.
+
+"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd
+rather do anything 'most than go tramping 'round
+the country all day doing no good to nobody and
+jest tiring ourselves out."
+
+"So would I," said the loud soldier.  "It ain't
+right.  I tell you if anybody with any sense was
+a-runnin' this army it--"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private.  "You
+little fool.  You little damn' cuss.  You ain't had
+that there coat and them pants on for six months,
+and yet you talk as if--"
+
+"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway,"
+interrupted the other.  "I didn't come here to
+walk.  I could 'ave walked to home--'round an'
+'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk."
+
+The tall one, red-faced, swallowed another
+sandwich as if taking poison in despair.
+
+But gradually, as he chewed, his face became
+again quiet and contented.  He could not rage
+in fierce argument in the presence of such sand-
+wiches.  During his meals he always wore an air
+of blissful contemplation of the food he had swal-
+lowed.  His spirit seemed then to be communing
+with the viands.
+
+He accepted new environment and circum-
+stance with great coolness, eating from his haver-
+sack at every opportunity.  On the march he
+went along with the stride of a hunter, object-
+ing to neither gait nor distance.  And he had
+not raised his voice when he had been ordered
+away from three little protective piles of earth
+and stone, each of which had been an engineer-
+ing feat worthy of being made sacred to the name
+of his grandmother.
+
+In the afternoon the regiment went out over
+the same ground it had taken in the morn-
+ing.  The landscape then ceased to threaten the
+youth.  He had been close to it and become
+familiar with it.
+
+When, however, they began to pass into a
+new region, his old fears of stupidity and in-
+competence reassailed him, but this time he dog-
+gedly let them babble.  He was occupied with
+his problem, and in his desperation he concluded
+that the stupidity did not greatly matter.
+
+Once he thought he had concluded that it
+would be better to get killed directly and end
+his troubles.  Regarding death thus out of the
+corner of his eye, he conceived it to be noth-
+ing but rest, and he was filled with a momen-
+tary astonishment that he should have made an
+extraordinary commotion over the mere matter
+of getting killed.  He would die; he would go
+to some place where he would be understood.
+It was useless to expect appreciation of his pro-
+found and fine senses from such men as the lieu-
+tenant.  He must look to the grave for compre-
+hension.
+
+The skirmish fire increased to a long chatter-
+ing sound.  With it was mingled far-away cheer-
+ing.  A battery spoke.
+
+Directly the youth would see the skirmishers
+running.  They were pursued by the sound of
+musketry fire.  After a time the hot, dangerous
+flashes of the rifles were visible.  Smoke clouds
+went slowly and insolently across the fields like
+observant phantoms.  The din became crescendo,
+like the roar of an oncoming train.
+
+A brigade ahead of them and on the right
+went into action with a rending roar.  It was
+as if it had exploded.  And thereafter it lay
+stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall,
+that one was obliged to look twice at to make
+sure that it was smoke.
+
+The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting
+killed, gazed spell bound.  His eyes grew wide
+and busy with the action of the scene.  His
+mouth was a little ways open.
+
+Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid
+upon his shoulder.  Awakening from his trance
+of observation he turned and beheld the loud
+soldier.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said
+the latter, with intense gloom.  He was quite
+pale and his girlish lip was trembling.
+
+"Eh?" murmured the youth in great aston-
+ishment.
+
+"It's my first and last battle, old boy,"
+continued the loud soldier.  "Something tells
+me--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I'm a gone coon this first time and--and I
+w-want you to take these here things--to--my--
+folks."  He ended in a quavering sob of pity for
+himself.  He handed the youth a little packet
+done up in a yellow envelope.
+
+"Why, what the devil--" began the youth
+again.
+
+But the other gave him a glance as from the
+depths of a tomb, and raised his limp hand in a
+prophetic manner and turned away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+THE brigade was halted in the fringe of a
+grove.  The men crouched among the trees and
+pointed their restless guns out at the fields.
+They tried to look beyond the smoke.
+
+Out of this haze they could see running men.
+Some shouted information and gestured as they
+hurried.
+
+The men of the new regiment watched and
+listened eagerly, while their tongues ran on in
+gossip of the battle.  They mouthed rumors that
+had flown like birds out of the unknown.
+
+"They say Perry has been driven in with big
+loss."
+
+"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital.  He said he
+was sick.  That smart lieutenant is commanding
+'G' Company.  Th' boys say they won't be
+under Carrott no more if they all have t' desert.
+They allus knew he was a--"
+
+"Hannises' batt'ry is took."
+
+"It ain't either.  I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on
+th' left not more'n fifteen minutes ago."
+
+47
+
+
+"Well--"
+
+"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull
+cammand of th' 304th when we go inteh action,
+an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as never
+another one reg'ment done."
+
+"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left.
+They say th' enemy driv' our line inteh a devil of
+a swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."
+
+"No sech thing.  Hannises' batt'ry was 'long
+here 'bout a minute ago."
+
+"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a good
+off'cer.  He ain't afraid 'a nothin'."
+
+"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he ses
+his brigade fit th' hull rebel army fer four hours
+over on th' turnpike road an' killed about five
+thousand of 'em.  He ses one more sech fight as
+that an' th' war 'll be over."
+
+"Bill wasn't scared either.  No, sir!  It wasn't
+that.  Bill ain't a-gittin' scared easy.  He was
+jest mad, that's what he was.  When that feller
+trod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin'
+t' give his hand t' his country, but he be dumbed
+if he was goin' t' have every dumb bushwhacker
+in th' kentry walkin' 'round on it.  Se he went t'
+th' hospital disregardless of th' fight.  Three
+fingers was crunched.  Th' dern doctor wanted
+t' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he raised a heluva row, I
+hear.  He's a funny feller."
+
+The din in front swelled to a tremendous
+chorus.  The youth and his fellows were frozen
+to silence.  They could see a flag that tossed in
+the smoke angrily.  Near it were the blurred and
+agitated forms of troops.  There came a turbulent
+stream of men across the fields.  A battery chang-
+ing position at a frantic gallop scattered the
+stragglers right and left.
+
+A shell screaming like a storm banshee went
+over the huddled heads of the reserves.  It landed
+in the grove, and exploding redly flung the brown
+earth.  There was a little shower of pine needles.
+
+Bullets began to whistle among the branches
+and nip at the trees.  Twigs and leaves came
+sailing down.  It was as if a thousand axes, wee
+and invisible, were being wielded.  Many of the
+men were constantly dodging and ducking their
+heads.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company was
+shot in the hand.  He began to swear so won-
+drously that a nervous laugh went along the regi-
+mental line.  The officer's profanity sounded
+conventional.  It relieved the tightened senses of
+the new men.  It was as if he had hit his fingers
+with a tack hammer at home.
+
+He held the wounded member carefully away
+from his side so that the blood would not drip
+upon his trousers.
+
+The captain of the company, tucking his sword
+under his arm, produced a handkerchief and
+began to bind with it the lieutenant's wound.
+And they disputed as to how the binding should
+be done.
+
+The battle flag in the distance jerked about
+madly.  It seemed to be struggling to free itself
+from an agony.  The billowing smoke was filled
+with horizontal flashes.
+
+Men running swiftly emerged from it.  They
+grew in numbers until it was seen that the whole
+command was fleeing.  The flag suddenly sank
+down as if dying.  Its motion as it fell was a
+gesture of despair.
+
+Wild yells came from behind the walls of
+smoke.  A sketch in gray and red dissolved into
+a moblike body of men who galloped like wild
+horses.
+
+The veteran regiments on the right and left of
+the 304th immediately began to jeer.  With the
+passionate song of the bullets and the banshee
+shrieks of shells were mingled loud catcalls and
+bits of facetious advice concerning places of safety.
+
+But the new regiment was breathless with hor-
+ror.  "Gawd!  Saunders's got crushed!" whis-
+pered the man at the youth's elbow.  They
+shrank back and crouched as if compelled to
+await a flood.
+
+The youth shot a swift glance along the blue
+ranks of the regiment.  The profiles were motion-
+less, carven; and afterward he remembered that
+the color sergeant was standing with his legs
+apart, as if he expected to be pushed to the
+ground.
+
+The following throng went whirling around
+the flank.  Here and there were officers carried
+along on the stream like exasperated chips.  They
+were striking about them with their swords
+and with their left fists, punching every head
+they could reach.  They cursed like highway-
+men.
+
+A mounted officer displayed the furious anger
+of a spoiled child.  He raged with his head, his
+arms, and his legs.
+
+Another, the commander of the brigade, was
+galloping about bawling.  His hat was gone and
+his clothes were awry.  He resembled a man
+who has come from bed to go to a fire.  The
+hoofs of his horse often threatened the heads of
+the running men, but they scampered with sin-
+gular fortune.  In this rush they were apparently
+all deaf and blind.  They heeded not the largest
+and longest of the oaths that were thrown at
+them from all directions.
+
+Frequently over this tumult could be heard
+the grim jokes of the critical veterans; but the
+retreating men apparently were not even con-
+scious of the presence of an audience.
+
+The battle reflection that shone for an instant
+in the faces on the mad current made the youth
+feel that forceful hands from heaven would not
+have been able to have held him in place if he
+could have got intelligent control of his legs.
+
+There was an appalling imprint upon these
+faces.  The struggle in the smoke had pictured
+an exaggeration of itself on the bleached cheeks
+and in the eyes wild with one desire.
+
+The sight of this stampede exerted a floodlike
+force that seemed able to drag sticks and stones
+and men from the ground.  They of the reserves
+had to hold on.  They grew pale and firm, and
+red and quaking.
+
+The youth achieved one little thought in the
+midst of this chaos.  The composite monster
+which had caused the other troops to flee had
+not then appeared.  He resolved to get a view
+of it, and then, he thought he might very likely
+run better than the best of them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+THERE were moments of waiting.  The youth
+thought of the village street at home before the
+arrival of the circus parade on a day in the
+spring.  He remembered how he had stood, a
+small, thrillful boy, prepared to follow the dingy
+lady upon the white horse, or the band in its
+faded chariot.  He saw the yellow road, the
+lines of expectant people, and the sober houses.
+He particularly remembered an old fellow who
+used to sit upon a cracker box in front of the
+store and feign to despise such exhibitions.  A
+thousand details of color and form surged in his
+mind.  The old fellow upon the cracker box ap-
+peared in middle prominence.
+
+Some one cried, "Here they come!"
+
+There was rustling and muttering among the
+men.  They displayed a feverish desire to have
+every possible cartridge ready to their hands.
+The boxes were pulled around into various posi-
+tions, and adjusted with great care.  It was as if
+seven hundred new bonnets were being tried on.
+
+53
+
+The tall soldier, having prepared his rifle, pro-
+duced a red handkerchief of some kind.  He was
+engaged in knitting it about his throat with ex-
+quisite attention to its position, when the cry was
+repeated up and down the line in a muffled roar
+of sound.
+
+"Here they come!  Here they come!"  Gun
+locks clicked.
+
+Across the smoke-infested fields came a brown
+swarm of running men who were giving shrill
+yells.  They came on, stooping and swinging
+their rifles at all angles.  A flag, tilted forward,
+sped near the front.
+
+As he caught sight of them the youth was
+momentarily startled by a thought that perhaps
+his gun was not loaded.  He stood trying to
+rally his faltering intellect so that he might rec-
+ollect the moment when he had loaded, but he
+could not.
+
+A hatless general pulled his dripping horse to
+a stand near the colonel of the 304th.  He shook
+his fist in the other's face.  "You 've got to hold
+'em back!" he shouted, savagely; "you 've got
+to hold 'em back!"
+
+In his agitation the colonel began to stammer.
+"A-all r-right, General, all right, by Gawd!  We-
+we'll do our--we-we'll d-d-do--do our best, Gen-
+eral."  The general made a passionate gesture
+and galloped away.  The colonel, perchance to
+relieve his feelings, began to scold like a wet
+parrot.  The youth, turning swiftly to make
+sure that the rear was unmolested, saw the com-
+mander regarding his men in a highly regretful
+manner, as if he regretted above everything his
+association with them.
+
+The man at the youth's elbow was mumbling,
+as if to himself: "Oh, we 're in for it now! oh,
+we 're in for it now!"
+
+The captain of the company had been pacing
+excitedly to and fro in the rear.  He coaxed in
+schoolmistress fashion, as to a congregation of
+boys with primers.  His talk was an endless
+repetition.  "Reserve your fire, boys--don't
+shoot till I tell you--save your fire--wait till
+they get close up--don't be damned fools--"
+
+Perspiration streamed down the youth's face,
+which was soiled like that of a weeping urchin.
+He frequently, with a nervous movement, wiped
+his eyes with his coat sleeve.  His mouth was
+still a little ways open.
+
+He got the one glance at the foe-swarming
+field in front of him, and instantly ceased to de-
+bate the question of his piece being loaded.  Be-
+fore he was ready to begin--before he had an-
+nounced to himself that he was about to fight--
+he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle into
+position and fired a first wild shot.  Directly he
+was working at his weapon like an automatic
+affair.
+
+He suddenly lost concern for himself, and for-
+got to look at a menacing fate.  He became not a
+man but a member.  He felt that something of
+which he was a part--a regiment, an army, a
+cause, or a country--was in a crisis.  He was
+welded into a common personality which was
+dominated by a single desire.  For some mo-
+ments he could not flee no more than a little
+finger can commit a revolution from a hand.
+
+If he had thought the regiment was about to
+be annihilated perhaps he could have amputated
+himself from it.  But its noise gave him assur-
+ance.  The regiment was like a firework that,
+once ignited, proceeds superior to circumstances
+until its blazing vitality fades.  It wheezed and
+banged with a mighty power.  He pictured the
+ground before it as strewn with the discom-
+fited.
+
+There was a consciousness always of the pres-
+ence of his comrades about him.  He felt the
+subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than
+the cause for which they were fighting.  It was a
+mysterious fraternity born of the smoke and dan-
+ger of death.
+
+He was at a task.  He was like a carpenter
+who has made many boxes, making still another
+box, only there was furious haste in his move-
+ments.  He, in his thought, was careering off in
+other places, even as the carpenter who as he
+works whistles and thinks of his friend or his
+enemy, his home or a saloon.  And these jolted
+dreams were never perfect to him afterward, but
+remained a mass of blurred shapes.
+
+Presently he began to feel the effects of the
+war atmosphere--a blistering sweat, a sensation
+that his eyeballs were about to crack like hot
+stones.  A burning roar filled his ears.
+
+Following this came a red rage.  He devel-
+oped the acute exasperation of a pestered animal,
+a well-meaning cow worried by dogs.  He had a
+mad feeling against his rifle, which could only be
+used against one life at a time.  He wished to
+rush forward and strangle with his fingers.  He
+craved a power that would enable him to make a
+world-sweeping gesture and brush all back.  His
+impotency appeared to him, and made his rage
+into that of a driven beast.
+
+Buried in the smoke of many rifles his anger
+was directed not so much against the men whom
+he knew were rushing toward him as against the
+swirling battle phantoms which were choking
+him, stuffing their smoke robes down his parched
+throat.  He fought frantically for respite for his
+senses, for air, as a babe being smothered attacks
+the deadly blankets.
+
+There was a blare of heated rage mingled with
+a certain expression of intentness on all faces.
+Many of the men were making low-toned noises
+with their mouths, and these subdued cheers,
+snarls, imprecations, prayers, made a wild, bar-
+baric song that went as an undercurrent of sound,
+strange and chantlike with the resounding chords
+of the war march.  The man at the youth's elbow
+was babbling.  In it there was something soft and
+tender like the monologue of a babe.  The tall
+soldier was swearing in a loud voice.  From his
+lips came a black procession of curious oaths.  Of
+a sudden another broke out in a querulous way
+like a man who has mislaid his hat.  "Well, why
+don't they support us?  Why don't they send
+supports?  Do they think--"
+
+The youth in his battle sleep heard this as one
+who dozes hears.
+
+There was a singular absence of heroic poses.
+The men bending and surging in their haste and
+rage were in every impossible attitude.  The steel
+ramrods clanked and clanged with incessant din
+as the men pounded them furiously into the hot
+rifle barrels.  The flaps of the cartridge boxes were
+all unfastened, and bobbed idiotically with each
+movement.  The rifles, once loaded, were jerked
+to the shoulder and fired without apparent aim
+into the smoke or at one of the blurred and shift-
+ing forms which upon the field before the regi-
+ment had been growing larger and larger like
+puppets under a magician's hand.
+
+The officers, at their intervals, rearward, neg-
+lected to stand in picturesque attitudes.  They
+were bobbing to and fro roaring directions and
+encouragements.  The dimensions of their howls
+were extraordinary.  They expended their lungs
+with prodigal wills.  And often they nearly stood
+upon their heads in their anxiety to observe the
+enemy on the other side of the tumbling smoke.
+
+The lieutenant of the youth's company had en-
+countered a soldier who had fled screaming at
+the first volley of his comrades.  Behind the lines
+these two were acting a little isolated scene.  The
+man was blubbering and staring with sheeplike
+eyes at the lieutenant, who had seized him by the
+collar and was pommeling him.  He drove him
+back into the ranks with many blows.  The sol-
+dier went mechanically, dully, with his animal-
+like eyes upon the officer.  Perhaps there was to
+him a divinity expressed in the voice of the other
+--stern, hard, with no reflection of fear in it.  He
+tried to reload his gun, but his shaking hands pre-
+vented.  The lieutenant was obliged to assist him.
+
+The men dropped here and there like bundles.
+The captain of the youth's company had been
+killed in an early part of the action.  His body
+lay stretched out in the position of a tired man
+resting, but upon his face there was an astonished
+and sorrowful look, as if he thought some friend
+had done him an ill turn.  The babbling man was
+grazed by a shot that made the blood stream
+widely down his face.  He clapped both hands
+to his head.  "Oh!" he said, and ran.  Another
+grunted suddenly as if he had been struck by a
+club in the stomach.  He sat down and gazed
+ruefully.  In his eyes there was mute, indefinite
+reproach.  Farther up the line a man, standing
+behind a tree, had had his knee joint splintered
+by a ball.  Immediately he had dropped his rifle
+and gripped the tree with both arms.  And there
+he remained, clinging desperately and crying for
+assistance that he might withdraw his hold upon
+the tree.
+
+At last an exultant yell went along the quiver-
+ing line.  The firing dwindled from an uproar to
+a last vindictive popping.  As the smoke slowly
+eddied away, the youth saw that the charge had
+been repulsed.  The enemy were scattered into
+reluctant groups.  He saw a man climb to the
+top of the fence, straddle the rail, and fire a part-
+ing shot.  The waves had receded, leaving bits of
+dark debris upon the ground.
+
+Some in the regiment began to whoop fren-
+ziedly.  Many were silent.  Apparently they were
+trying to contemplate themselves.
+
+After the fever had left his veins, the youth
+thought that at last he was going to suffocate.
+He became aware of the foul atmosphere in
+which he had been struggling.  He was grimy
+and dripping like a laborer in a foundry.  He
+grasped his canteen and took a long swallow of
+the warmed water.
+
+A sentence with variations went up and down
+the line.  "Well, we 've helt 'em back.  We 've
+helt 'em back; derned if we haven't."  The men
+said it blissfully, leering at each other with dirty
+smiles.
+
+The youth turned to look behind him and off
+to the right and off to the left.  He experienced
+the joy of a man who at last finds leisure in which
+to look about him.
+
+Under foot there were a few ghastly forms
+motionless.  They lay twisted in fantastic contor-
+tions.  Arms were bent and heads were turned
+in incredible ways.  It seemed that the dead men
+must have fallen from some great height to get
+into such positions.  They looked to be dumped
+out upon the ground from the sky.
+
+From a position in the rear of the grove a bat-
+tery was throwing shells over it.  The flash of
+the guns startled the youth at first.  He thought
+they were aimed directly at him.  Through the
+trees he watched the black figures of the gunners
+as they worked swiftly and intently.  Their labor
+seemed a complicated thing.  He wondered how
+they could remember its formula in the midst of
+confusion.
+
+The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs.
+They argued with abrupt violence.  It was a
+grim pow-wow.  Their busy servants ran hither
+and thither.
+
+A small procession of wounded men were go-
+ing drearily toward the rear.  It was a flow of
+blood from the torn body of the brigade.
+
+To the right and to the left were the dark
+lines of other troops.  Far in front he thought he
+could see lighter masses protruding in points
+from the forest.  They were suggestive of un-
+numbered thousands.
+
+Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing along
+the line of the horizon.  The tiny riders were
+beating the tiny horses.
+
+From a sloping hill came the sound of cheer-
+ings and clashes.  Smoke welled slowly through
+the leaves.
+
+Batteries were speaking with thunderous ora-
+torical effort.  Here and there were flags, the
+red in the stripes dominating.  They splashed
+bits of warm color upon the dark lines of
+troops.
+
+The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of
+the emblem.  They were like beautiful birds
+strangely undaunted in a storm.
+
+As he listened to the din from the hillside, to
+a deep pulsating thunder that came from afar to
+the left, and to the lesser clamors which came
+from many directions, it occurred to him that
+they were fighting, too, over there, and over
+there, and over there.  Heretofore he had sup-
+posed that all the battle was directly under his
+nose.
+
+As he gazed around him the youth felt a flash
+of astonishment at the blue, pure sky and the
+sun gleamings on the trees and fields.  It was
+surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on
+with her golden process in the midst of so much
+devilment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+THE youth awakened slowly.  He came grad-
+ually back to a position from which he could re-
+gard himself.  For moments he had been scruti-
+nizing his person in a dazed way as if he had
+never before seen himself.  Then he picked up
+his cap from the ground.  He wriggled in his
+jacket to make a more comfortable fit, and kneel-
+ing relaced his shoe.  He thoughtfully mopped
+his reeking features.
+
+So it was all over at last!  The supreme trial
+had been passed.  The red, formidable difficulties
+of war had been vanquished.
+
+He went into an ecstasy of self-satisfaction.
+He had the most delightful sensations of his life.
+Standing as if apart from himself, he viewed that
+last scene.  He perceived that the man who had
+fought thus was magnificent.
+
+He felt that he was a fine fellow.  He saw
+himself even with those ideals which he had con-
+sidered as far beyond him.  He smiled in deep
+gratification.
+
+64
+
+Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and
+good will.  "Gee! ain't it hot, hey?" he said
+affably to a man who was polishing his stream-
+ing face with his coat sleeves.
+
+"You bet!" said the other, grinning sociably.
+"I never seen sech dumb hotness."  He sprawled
+out luxuriously on the ground.  "Gee, yes!  An'
+I hope we don't have no more fightin' till a week
+from Monday."
+
+There were some handshakings and deep
+speeches with men whose features were familiar,
+but with whom the youth now felt the bonds of
+tied hearts.  He helped a cursing comrade to
+bind up a wound of the shin.
+
+But, of a sudden, cries of amazement broke
+out along the ranks of the new regiment.  "Here
+they come ag'in!  Here they come ag'in!"  The
+man who had sprawled upon the ground started
+up and said, "Gosh!"
+
+The youth turned quick eyes upon the field.
+He discerned forms begin to swell in masses out
+of a distant wood.  He again saw the tilted flag
+speeding forward.
+
+The shells, which had ceased to trouble the
+regiment for a time, came swirling again, and ex-
+ploded in the grass or among the leaves of the
+trees.  They looked to be strange war flowers
+bursting into fierce bloom.
+
+The men groaned.  The luster faded from
+their eyes.  Their smudged countenances now
+expressed a profound dejection.  They moved
+their stiffened bodies slowly, and watched in sul-
+len mood the frantic approach of the enemy.  The
+slaves toiling in the temple of this god began to
+feel rebellion at his harsh tasks.
+
+They fretted and complained each to each.
+"Oh, say, this is too much of a good thing!  Why
+can't somebody send us supports?"
+
+"We ain't never goin' to stand this second
+banging.  I didn't come here to fight the hull
+damn' rebel army."
+
+There was one who raised a doleful cry.  "I
+wish Bill Smithers had trod on my hand, in-
+steader me treddin' on his'n."  The sore joints of
+the regiment creaked as it painfully floundered
+into position to repulse.
+
+The youth stared.  Surely, he thought, this
+impossible thing was not about to happen.  He
+waited as if he expected the enemy to suddenly
+stop, apologize, and retire bowing.  It was all a
+mistake.
+
+But the firing began somewhere on the regi-
+mental line and ripped along in both directions.
+The level sheets of flame developed great clouds
+of smoke that tumbled and tossed in the mild
+wind near the ground for a moment, and then
+rolled through the ranks as through a gate.  The
+clouds were tinged an earthlike yellow in the
+sunrays and in the shadow were a sorry blue.
+The flag was sometimes eaten and lost in this
+mass of vapor, but more often it projected, sun-
+touched, resplendent.
+
+Into the youth's eyes there came a look that
+one can see in the orbs of a jaded horse.  His
+neck was quivering with nervous weakness and
+the muscles of his arms felt numb and bloodless.
+His hands, too, seemed large and awkward as if
+he was wearing invisible mittens.  And there was
+a great uncertainty about his knee joints.
+
+The words that comrades had uttered previous
+to the firing began to recur to him.  "Oh, say,
+this is too much of a good thing!  What do they
+take us for--why don't they send supports?  I
+didn't come here to fight the hull damned rebel
+army."
+
+He began to exaggerate the endurance, the
+skill, and the valor of those who were coming.
+Himself reeling from exhaustion, he was aston-
+ished beyond measure at such persistency.  They
+must be machines of steel.  It was very gloomy
+struggling against such affairs, wound up perhaps
+to fight until sundown.
+
+He slowly lifted his rifle and catching a
+glimpse of the thickspread field he blazed at a
+cantering cluster.  He stopped then and began
+to peer as best he could through the smoke.  He
+caught changing views of the ground covered
+with men who were all running like pursued
+imps, and yelling.
+
+To the youth it was an onslaught of redoubt-
+able dragons.  He became like the man who lost
+his legs at the approach of the red and green
+monster.  He waited in a sort of a horrified,
+listening attitude.  He seemed to shut his eyes
+and wait to be gobbled.
+
+A man near him who up to this time had been
+working feverishly at his rifle suddenly stopped
+and ran with howls.  A lad whose face had borne
+an expression of exalted courage, the majesty of
+he who dares give his life, was, at an instant,
+smitten abject.  He blanched like one who has
+come to the edge of a cliff at midnight and is sud-
+denly made aware.  There was a revelation.  He,
+too, threw down his gun and fled.  There was no
+shame in his face.  He ran like a rabbit.
+
+Others began to scamper away through the
+smoke.  The youth turned his head, shaken from
+his trance by this movement as if the regiment
+was leaving him behind.  He saw the few fleeting
+forms.
+
+He yelled then with fright and swung about.
+For a moment, in the great clamor, he was like a
+proverbial chicken.  He lost the direction of
+safety.  Destruction threatened him from all
+points.
+
+Directly he began to speed toward the rear in
+great leaps.  His rifle and cap were gone.  His
+unbuttoned coat bulged in the wind.  The flap of
+his cartridge box bobbed wildly, and his canteen,
+by its slender cord, swung out behind.  On his
+face was all the horror of those things which he
+imagined.
+
+The lieutenant sprang forward bawling.  The
+youth saw his features wrathfully red, and saw
+him make a dab with his sword.  His one thought
+of the incident was that the lieutenant was a pecul-
+iar creature to feel interested in such matters
+upon this occasion.
+
+He ran like a blind man.  Two or three times
+he fell down.  Once he knocked his shoulder so
+heavily against a tree that he went headlong.
+
+Since he had turned his back upon the fight
+his fears had been wondrously magnified.  Death
+about to thrust him between the shoulder blades
+was far more dreadful than death about to smite
+him between the eyes.  When he thought of it
+later, he conceived the impression that it is better
+to view the appalling than to be merely within
+hearing.  The noises of the battle were like
+stones; he believed himself liable to be crushed.
+
+As he ran he mingled with others.  He
+dimly saw men on his right and on his left, and
+he heard footsteps behind him.  He thought that
+all the regiment was fleeing, pursued by these
+ominous crashes.
+
+In his flight the sound of these following foot-
+steps gave him his one meager relief.  He felt
+vaguely that death must make a first choice of
+the men who were nearest; the initial morsels for
+the dragons would be then those who were fol-
+lowing him.  So he displayed the zeal of an insane
+sprinter in his purpose to keep them in the rear.
+There was a race.
+
+As he, leading, went across a little field, he
+found himself in a region of shells.  They hurtled
+over his head with long wild screams.  As he
+listened he imagined them to have rows of cruel
+teeth that grinned at him.  Once one lit before
+him and the livid lightning of the explosion
+effectually barred the way in his chosen direc-
+tion.  He groveled on the ground and then
+springing up went careering off through some
+bushes.
+
+He experienced a thrill of amazement when
+he came within view of a battery in action.  The
+men there seemed to be in conventional moods,
+altogether unaware of the impending annihila-
+tion.  The battery was disputing with a distant
+antagonist and the gunners were wrapped in
+admiration of their shooting.  They were con-
+tinually bending in coaxing postures over the
+guns.  They seemed to be patting them on the
+back and encouraging them with words.  The
+guns, stolid and undaunted, spoke with dogged
+valor.
+
+The precise gunners were coolly enthusiastic.
+They lifted their eyes every chance to the smoke-
+wreathed hillock from whence the hostile battery
+addressed them.  The youth pitied them as he
+ran.  Methodical idiots!  Machine-like fools!  The
+refined joy of planting shells in the midst of the
+other battery's formation would appear a little
+thing when the infantry came swooping out of
+the woods.
+
+The face of a youthful rider, who was jerking
+his frantic horse with an abandon of temper
+he might display in a placid barnyard, was im-
+pressed deeply upon his mind.  He knew that
+he looked upon a man who would presently be
+dead.
+
+Too, he felt a pity for the guns, standing, six
+good comrades, in a bold row.
+
+He saw a brigade going to the relief of its pes-
+tered fellows.  He scrambled upon a wee hill and
+watched it sweeping finely, keeping formation in
+difficult places.  The blue of the line was crusted
+with steel color, and the brilliant flags projected.
+Officers were shouting.
+
+This sight also filled him with wonder.  The
+brigade was hurrying briskly to be gulped into
+the infernal mouths of the war god.  What man-
+ner of men were they, anyhow?  Ah, it was some
+wondrous breed!  Or else they didn't compre-
+hend--the fools.
+
+A furious order caused commotion in the artil-
+lery.  An officer on a bounding horse made mani-
+acal motions with his arms.  The teams went
+swinging up from the rear, the guns were whirled
+about, and the battery scampered away.  The
+cannon with their noses poked slantingly at the
+ground grunted and grumbled like stout men,
+brave but with objections to hurry.
+
+The youth went on, moderating his pace since
+he had left the place of noises.
+
+Later he came upon a general of division
+seated upon a horse that pricked its ears in
+an interested way at the battle.  There was a
+great gleaming of yellow and patent leather
+about the saddle and bridle.  The quiet man
+astride looked mouse-colored upon such a splen-
+did charger.
+
+A jingling staff was galloping hither and
+thither.  Sometimes the general was surrounded
+by horsemen and at other times he was quite
+alone.  He looked to be much harassed.  He had
+the appearance of a business man whose market
+is swinging up and down.
+
+The youth went slinking around this spot.
+He went as near as he dared trying to overhear
+words.  Perhaps the general, unable to compre-
+hend chaos, might call upon him for information.
+And he could tell him.  He knew all concerning
+it.  Of a surety the force was in a fix, and any
+fool could see that if they did not retreat while
+they had opportunity--why--
+
+He felt that he would like to thrash the gen-
+eral, or at least approach and tell him in plain
+words exactly what he thought him to be.  It
+was criminal to stay calmly in one spot and make
+no effort to stay destruction.  He loitered in a
+fever of eagerness for the division commander to
+apply to him.
+
+As he warily moved about, he heard the gen-
+eral call out irritably: "Tompkins, go over an'
+see Taylor, an' tell him not t' be in such an all-
+fired hurry; tell him t' halt his brigade in th'
+edge of th' woods; tell him t' detach a reg'ment
+--say I think th' center 'll break if we don't help
+it out some; tell him t' hurry up."
+
+A slim youth on a fine chestnut horse caught
+these swift words from the mouth of his superior.
+He made his horse bound into a gallop almost
+from a walk in his haste to go upon his mission.
+There was a cloud of dust.
+
+A moment later the youth saw the general
+bounce excitedly in his saddle.
+
+"Yes, by heavens, they have!"  The officer
+leaned forward.  His face was aflame with excite-
+ment.  "Yes, by heavens, they 've held 'im!
+They 've held 'im!"
+
+He began to blithely roar at his staff: "We 'll
+wallop 'im now.  We 'll wallop 'im now.  We 've
+got 'em sure."  He turned suddenly upon an aid:
+"Here--you--Jones--quick--ride after Tompkins
+--see Taylor--tell him t' go in--everlastingly--
+like blazes--anything."
+
+As another officer sped his horse after the first
+messenger, the general beamed upon the earth
+like a sun.  In his eyes was a desire to chant a
+paean.  He kept repeating, "They 've held 'em,
+by heavens!"
+
+His excitement made his horse plunge, and he
+merrily kicked and swore at it.  He held a little
+carnival of joy on horseback.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+THE youth cringed as if discovered in a crime.
+By heavens, they had won after all!  The im-
+becile line had remained and become victors.
+He could hear cheering.
+
+He lifted himself upon his toes and looked in
+the direction of the fight.  A yellow fog lay wal-
+lowing on the treetops.  From beneath it came
+the clatter of musketry.  Hoarse cries told of an
+advance.
+
+He turned away amazed and angry.  He felt
+that he had been wronged.
+
+He had fled, he told himself, because annihila-
+tion approached.  He had done a good part in
+saving himself, who was a little piece of the army.
+He had considered the time, he said, to be one in
+which it was the duty of every little piece to res-
+cue itself if possible.  Later the officers could fit
+the little pieces together again, and make a battle
+front.  If none of the little pieces were wise enough
+to save themselves from the flurry of death at such
+
+75
+a time, why, then, where would be the army?  It
+was all plain that he had proceeded according to
+very correct and commendable rules.  His ac-
+tions had been sagacious things.  They had been
+full of strategy.  They were the work of a mas-
+ter's legs.
+
+Thoughts of his comrades came to him.  The
+brittle blue line had withstood the blows and won.
+He grew bitter over it.  It seemed that the blind
+ignorance and stupidity of those little pieces had
+betrayed him.  He had been overturned and
+crushed by their lack of sense in holding the po-
+sition, when intelligent deliberation would have
+convinced them that it was impossible.  He, the
+enlightened man who looks afar in the dark, had
+fled because of his superior perceptions and
+knowledge.  He felt a great anger against his
+comrades.  He knew it could be proved that
+they had been fools.
+
+He wondered what they would remark when
+later he appeared in camp.  His mind heard
+howls of derision.  Their density would not en-
+able them to understand his sharper point of
+view.
+
+He began to pity himself acutely.  He was
+ill used.  He was trodden beneath the feet of an
+iron injustice.  He had proceeded with wisdom
+and from the most righteous motives under
+heaven's blue only to be frustrated by hateful
+circumstances.
+
+A dull, animal-like rebellion against his fel-
+lows, war in the abstract, and fate grew within
+him.  He shambled along with bowed head, his
+brain in a tumult of agony and despair.  When
+he looked loweringly up, quivering at each
+sound, his eyes had the expression of those of
+a criminal who thinks his guilt and his pun-
+ishment great, and knows that he can find no
+words.
+
+He went from the fields into a thick woods, as
+if resolved to bury himself.  He wished to get
+out of hearing of the crackling shots which were
+to him like voices.
+
+The ground was cluttered with vines and
+bushes, and the trees grew close and spread out
+like bouquets.  He was obliged to force his way
+with much noise.  The creepers, catching against
+his legs, cried out harshly as their sprays were
+torn from the barks of trees.  The swishing sap-
+lings tried to make known his presence to the
+world.  He could not conciliate the forest.  As
+he made his way, it was always calling out prot-
+estations.  When he separated embraces of trees
+and vines the disturbed foliages waved their arms
+and turned their face leaves toward him.  He
+dreaded lest these noisy motions and cries should
+bring men to look at him.  So he went far, seek-
+ing dark and intricate places.
+
+After a time the sound of musketry grew faint
+and the cannon boomed in the distance.  The sun,
+suddenly apparent, blazed among the trees.  The
+insects were making rhythmical noises.  They
+seemed to be grinding their teeth in unison.  A
+woodpecker stuck his impudent head around the
+side of a tree.  A bird flew on lighthearted wing.
+
+Off was the rumble of death.  It seemed now
+that Nature had no ears.
+
+This landscape gave him assurance.  A fair
+field holding life.  It was the religion of peace.
+It would die if its timid eyes were compelled to
+see blood.  He conceived Nature to be a woman
+with a deep aversion to tragedy.
+
+He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and
+he ran with chattering fear.  High in a treetop
+he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously from
+behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepi-
+dation.
+
+The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition.
+There was the law, he said.  Nature had given
+him a sign.  The squirrel, immediately upon rec-
+ognizing danger, had taken to his legs without
+ado.  He did not stand stolidly baring his furry
+belly to the missile, and die with an upward
+glance at the sympathetic heavens.  On the con-
+trary, he had fled as fast as his legs could carry
+him; and he was but an ordinary squirrel, too--
+doubtless no philosopher of his race.  The youth
+wended, feeling that Nature was of his mind.
+She re-enforced his argument with proofs that
+lived where the sun shone.
+
+Once he found himself almost into a swamp.
+He was obliged to walk upon bog tufts and
+watch his feet to keep from the oily mire.  Paus-
+ing at one time to look about him he saw, out at
+some black water, a small animal pounce in and
+emerge directly with a gleaming fish.
+
+The youth went again into the deep thickets.
+The brushed branches made a noise that drowned
+the sounds of cannon.  He walked on, going from
+obscurity into promises of a greater obscurity.
+
+At length he reached a place where the high,
+arching boughs made a chapel.  He softly pushed
+the green doors aside and entered.  Pine needles
+were a gentle brown carpet.  There was a reli-
+gious half light.
+
+Near the threshold he stopped, horror-stricken
+at the sight of a thing.
+
+He was being looked at by a dead man who
+was seated with his back against a columnlike
+tree.  The corpse was dressed in a uniform that
+once had been blue, but was now faded to a mel-
+ancholy shade of green.  The eyes, staring at the
+youth, had changed to the dull hue to be seen on
+the side of a dead fish.  The mouth was open.
+Its red had changed to an appalling yellow.
+Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants.
+One was trundling some sort of a bundle along
+the upper lip.
+
+The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the
+thing.  He was for moments turned to stone be-
+fore it.  He remained staring into the liquid-look-
+ing eyes.  The dead man and the living man ex-
+changed a long look.  Then the youth cautiously
+put one hand behind him and brought it against
+a tree.  Leaning upon this he retreated, step by
+step, with his face still toward the thing.  He
+feared that if he turned his back the body might
+spring up and stealthily pursue him.
+
+The branches, pushing against him, threat-
+ened to throw him over upon it.  His unguided
+feet, too, caught aggravatingly in brambles; and
+with it all he received a subtle suggestion to
+touch the corpse.  As he thought of his hand
+upon it he shuddered profoundly.
+
+At last he burst the bonds which had fastened
+him to the spot and fled, unheeding the under-
+brush.  He was pursued by a sight of the black
+ants swarming greedily upon the gray face and
+venturing horribly near to the eyes.
+
+After a time he paused, and, breathless and
+panting, listened.  He imagined some strange
+voice would come from the dead throat and
+squawk after him in horrible menaces.
+
+The trees about the portal of the chapel
+moved soughingly in a soft wind.  A sad silence
+was upon the little guarding edifice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+THE trees began softly to sing a hymn of twi-
+light.  The sun sank until slanted bronze rays
+struck the forest.  There was a lull in the noises
+of insects as if they had bowed their beaks and
+were making a devotional pause.  There was
+silence save for the chanted chorus of the trees.
+
+Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke
+a tremendous clangor of sounds.  A crimson roar
+came from the distance.
+
+The youth stopped.  He was transfixed by
+this terrific medley of all noises.  It was as if
+worlds were being rended.  There was the rip-
+ping sound of musketry and the breaking crash
+of the artillery.
+
+His mind flew in all directions.  He conceived
+the two armies to be at each other panther
+fashion.  He listened for a time.  Then he began
+to run in the direction of the battle.  He saw
+that it was an ironical thing for him to be run-
+ning thus toward that which he had been at such
+
+82
+pains to avoid.  But he said, in substance, to him-
+self that if the earth and the moon were about to
+clash, many persons would doubtless plan to get
+upon the roofs to witness the collision.
+
+As he ran, he became aware that the forest
+had stopped its music, as if at last becoming
+capable of hearing the foreign sounds.  The trees
+hushed and stood motionless.  Everything seemed
+to be listening to the crackle and clatter and ear-
+shaking thunder.  The chorus pealed over the
+still earth.
+
+It suddenly occurred to the youth that the
+fight in which he had been was, after all, but
+perfunctory popping.  In the hearing of this
+present din he was doubtful if he had seen real
+battle scenes.  This uproar explained a celes-
+tial battle; it was tumbling hordes a-struggle in
+the air.
+
+Reflecting, he saw a sort of a humor in the
+point of view of himself and his fellows during
+the late encounter.  They had taken themselves
+and the enemy very seriously and had imagined
+that they were deciding the war.  Individuals
+must have supposed that they were cutting the
+letters of their names deep into everlasting tablets
+of brass, or enshrining their reputations forever in
+the hearts of their countrymen, while, as to fact,
+the affair would appear in printed reports under a
+meek and immaterial title.  But he saw that it was
+good, else, he said, in battle every one would
+surely run save forlorn hopes and their ilk.
+
+He went rapidly on.  He wished to come to
+the edge of the forest that he might peer out.
+
+As he hastened, there passed through his mind
+pictures of stupendous conflicts.  His accumulated
+thought upon such subjects was used to form
+scenes.  The noise was as the voice of an eloquent
+being, describing.
+
+Sometimes the brambles formed chains and
+tried to hold him back.  Trees, confronting him,
+stretched out their arms and forbade him to pass.
+After its previous hostility this new resistance of
+the forest filled him with a fine bitterness.  It
+seemed that Nature could not be quite ready to
+kill him.
+
+But he obstinately took roundabout ways, and
+presently he was where he could see long gray
+walls of vapor where lay battle lines.  The voices
+of cannon shook him.  The musketry sounded in
+long irregular surges that played havoc with his
+ears.  He stood regardant for a moment.  His
+eyes had an awestruck expression.  He gawked
+in the direction of the fight.
+
+Presently he proceeded again on his forward
+way.  The battle was like the grinding of an
+immense and terrible machine to him.  Its com-
+plexities and powers, its grim processes, fascinated
+him.  He must go close and see it produce
+corpses.
+
+He came to a fence and clambered over it.
+On the far side, the ground was littered with
+clothes and guns.  A newspaper, folded up, lay
+in the dirt.  A dead soldier was stretched with
+his face hidden in his arm.  Farther off there
+was a group of four or five corpses keeping
+mournful company.  A hot sun had blazed upon
+the spot.
+
+In this place the youth felt that he was an
+invader.  This forgotten part of the battle ground
+was owned by the dead men, and he hurried, in
+the vague apprehension that one of the swollen
+forms would rise and tell him to begone.
+
+He came finally to a road from which he
+could see in the distance dark and agitated
+bodies of troops, smoke-fringed.  In the lane
+was a blood-stained crowd streaming to the rear.
+The wounded men were cursing, groaning, and
+wailing.  In the air, always, was a mighty swell
+of sound that it seemed could sway the earth.
+With the courageous words of the artillery and
+the spiteful sentences of the musketry mingled
+red cheers.  And from this region of noises came
+the steady current of the maimed.
+
+One of the wounded men had a shoeful of
+blood.  He hopped like a schoolboy in a game.
+He was laughing hysterically.
+
+One was swearing that he had been shot in the
+arm through the commanding general's misman-
+agement of the army.  One was marching with
+an air imitative of some sublime drum major.
+Upon his features was an unholy mixture of
+merriment and agony.  As he marched he sang
+a bit of doggerel in a high and quavering voice:
+
+
+"Sing a song 'a vic'try,
+   A pocketful 'a bullets,
+Five an' twenty dead men
+   Baked in a--pie."
+
+Parts of the procession limped and staggered to
+this tune.
+
+Another had the gray seal of death already
+upon his face.  His lips were curled in hard lines
+and his teeth were clinched.  His hands were
+bloody from where he had pressed them upon his
+wound.  He seemed to be awaiting the moment
+when he should pitch headlong.  He stalked like
+the specter of a soldier, his eyes burning with the
+power of a stare into the unknown.
+
+There were some who proceeded sullenly, full
+of anger at their wounds, and ready to turn upon
+anything as an obscure cause.
+
+An officer was carried along by two privates.
+He was peevish.  "Don't joggle so, Johnson, yeh
+fool," he cried.  "Think m' leg is made of iron?
+If yeh can't carry me decent, put me down an'
+let some one else do it."
+
+He bellowed at the tottering crowd who
+blocked the quick march of his bearers.  "Say,
+make way there, can't yeh?  Make way, dickens
+take it all."
+
+They sulkily parted and went to the road-
+sides.  As he was carried past they made pert
+remarks to him.  When he raged in reply and
+threatened them, they told him to be damned.
+
+The shoulder of one of the tramping bearers
+knocked heavily against the spectral soldier who
+was staring into the unknown.
+
+The youth joined this crowd and marched
+along with it.  The torn bodies expressed the
+awful machinery in which the men had been
+entangled.
+
+Orderlies and couriers occasionally broke
+through the throng in the roadway, scattering
+wounded men right and left, galloping on fol-
+lowed by howls.  The melancholy march was
+continually disturbed by the messengers, and
+sometimes by bustling batteries that came swing-
+ing and thumping down upon them, the officers
+shouting orders to clear the way.
+
+There was a tattered man, fouled with dust,
+blood and powder stain from hair to shoes, who
+trudged quietly at the youth's side.  He was lis-
+tening with eagerness and much humility to the
+lurid descriptions of a bearded sergeant.  His
+lean features wore an expression of awe and ad-
+miration.  He was like a listener in a country
+store to wondrous tales told among the sugar
+barrels.  He eyed the story-teller with unspeak-
+able wonder.  His mouth was agape in yokel
+fashion.
+
+The sergeant, taking note of this, gave pause
+to his elaborate history while he administered a
+sardonic comment.  "Be keerful, honey, you 'll
+be a-ketchin' flies," he said.
+
+The tattered man shrank back abashed.
+
+After a time he began to sidle near to the
+youth, and in a different way try to make him a
+friend.  His voice was gentle as a girl's voice
+and his eyes were pleading.  The youth saw
+with surprise that the soldier had two wounds,
+one in the head, bound with a blood-soaked rag,
+and the other in the arm, making that member
+dangle like a broken bough.
+
+After they had walked together for some time
+the tattered man mustered sufficient courage to
+speak.  "Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?"
+he timidly said.  The youth, deep in thought,
+glanced up at the bloody and grim figure with
+its lamblike eyes.  "What?"
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?
+
+"Yes," said the youth shortly.  He quick-
+ened his pace.
+
+But the other hobbled industriously after him.
+There was an air of apology in his manner, but
+he evidently thought that he needed only to talk
+for a time, and the youth would perceive that he
+was a good fellow.
+
+"Was pretty good fight, wa'n't it?" he began
+in a small voice, and then he achieved the forti-
+tude to continue.  "Dern me if I ever see fellers
+fight so.  Laws, how they did fight!  I knowed
+th' boys 'd like when they onct got square at it.
+Th' boys ain't had no fair chanct up t' now, but
+this time they showed what they was.  I knowed
+it 'd turn out this way.  Yeh can't lick them boys.
+No, sir!  They're fighters, they be."
+
+He breathed a deep breath of humble ad-
+miration.  He had looked at the youth for en-
+couragement several times.  He received none,
+but gradually he seemed to get absorbed in his
+subject.
+
+"I was talkin' 'cross pickets with a boy from
+Georgie, onct, an' that boy, he ses, 'Your fellers
+'ll all run like hell when they onct hearn a gun,'
+he ses.  'Mebbe they will,' I ses, 'but I don't
+b'lieve none of it,' I ses; 'an' b'jiminey,' I ses back
+t' 'um, 'mebbe your fellers 'll all run like hell
+when they onct hearn a gun,' I ses.  He larfed.
+Well, they didn't run t' day, did they, hey?  No,
+sir!  They fit, an' fit, an' fit."
+
+His homely face was suffused with a light of
+love for the army which was to him all things
+beautiful and powerful.
+
+After a time he turned to the youth.  "Where
+yeh hit, ol' boy?" he asked in a brotherly tone.
+
+The youth felt instant panic at this question,
+although at first its full import was not borne in
+upon him.
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"Where yeh hit?" repeated the tattered man.
+
+"Why," began the youth, "I--I--that is--
+why--I--"
+
+He turned away suddenly and slid through
+the crowd.  His brow was heavily flushed, and
+his fingers were picking nervously at one of his
+buttons.  He bent his head and fastened his eyes
+studiously upon the button as if it were a little
+problem.
+
+The tattered man looked after him in aston-
+ishment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+THE youth fell back in the procession until
+the tattered soldier was not in sight.  Then he
+started to walk on with the others.
+
+But he was amid wounds.  The mob of men
+was bleeding.  Because of the tattered soldier's
+question he now felt that his shame could be
+viewed.  He was continually casting sidelong
+glances to see if the men were contemplating the
+letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
+
+At times he regarded the wounded soldiers
+in an envious way.  He conceived persons with
+torn bodies to be peculiarly happy.  He wished
+that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of cour-
+age.
+
+The spectral soldier was at his side like a
+stalking reproach.  The man's eyes were still
+fixed in a stare into the unknown.  His gray,
+appalling face had attracted attention in the
+crowd, and men, slowing to his dreary pace, were
+walking with him.  They were discussing his
+plight, questioning him and giving him advice.
+
+91
+In a dogged way he repelled them, signing to them
+to go on and leave him alone.  The shadows of
+his face were deepening and his tight lips seemed
+holding in check the moan of great despair.
+There could be seen a certain stiffness in the
+movements of his body, as if he were taking
+infinite care not to arouse the passion of his
+wounds.  As he went on, he seemed always look-
+ing for a place, like one who goes to choose a
+grave.
+
+Something in the gesture of the man as he
+waved the bloody and pitying soldiers away
+made the youth start as if bitten.  He yelled in
+horror.  Tottering forward he laid a quivering
+hand upon the man's arm.  As the latter slowly
+turned his waxlike features toward him, the
+youth screamed:
+
+"Gawd!  Jim Conklin!"
+
+The tall soldier made a little commonplace
+smile.  "Hello, Henry," he said.
+
+The youth swayed on his legs and glared
+strangely.  He stuttered and stammered.  "Oh,
+Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier held out his gory hand.  There
+was a curious red and black combination of new
+blood and old blood upon it.  "Where yeh been,
+Henry?" he asked.  He continued in a monoto-
+nous voice, "I thought mebbe yeh got keeled
+over.  There 's been thunder t' pay t'-day.  I was
+worryin' about it a good deal."
+
+The youth still lamented.  "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim
+--oh, Jim--"
+
+"Yeh know," said the tall soldier, "I was out
+there."  He made a careful gesture.  "An',
+Lord, what a circus!  An', b'jiminey, I got shot--
+I got shot.  Yes, b'jiminey, I got shot."  He
+reiterated this fact in a bewildered way, as if he
+did not know how it came about.
+
+The youth put forth anxious arms to assist
+him, but the tall soldier went firmly on as if pro-
+pelled.  Since the youth's arrival as a guardian
+for his friend, the other wounded men had ceased
+to display much interest.  They occupied them-
+selves again in dragging their own tragedies
+toward the rear.
+
+Suddenly, as the two friends marched on, the
+tall soldier seemed to be overcome by a terror.
+His face turned to a semblance of gray paste.
+He clutched the youth's arm and looked all about
+him, as if dreading to be overheard.  Then he
+began to speak in a shaking whisper:
+
+"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, Henry--I 'll tell
+yeh what I 'm 'fraid of.  I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down
+--an' then yeh know--them damned artillery
+wagons--they like as not 'll run over me.  That 's
+what I 'm 'fraid of--"
+
+The youth cried out to him hysterically: "I 'll
+take care of yeh, Jim!  I'll take care of yeh!  I
+swear t' Gawd I will!"
+
+"Sure--will yeh, Henry?" the tall soldier
+beseeched.
+
+"Yes--yes--I tell yeh--I'll take care of yeh,
+Jim!" protested the youth.  He could not speak
+accurately because of the gulpings in his throat.
+
+But the tall soldier continued to beg in a
+lowly way.  He now hung babelike to the
+youth's arm.  His eyes rolled in the wildness of
+his terror.  "I was allus a good friend t' yeh,
+wa'n't I, Henry?  I 've allus been a pretty good
+feller, ain't I?  An' it ain't much t' ask, is it?  Jest
+t' pull me along outer th' road?  I 'd do it fer you,
+Wouldn't I, Henry?"
+
+He paused in piteous anxiety to await his
+friend's reply.
+
+The youth had reached an anguish where the
+sobs scorched him.  He strove to express his
+loyalty, but he could only make fantastic gestures.
+
+However, the tall soldier seemed suddenly to
+forget all those fears.  He became again the
+grim, stalking specter of a soldier.  He went
+stonily forward.  The youth wished his friend to
+lean upon him, but the other always shook his
+head and strangely protested.  "No--no--no--
+leave me be--leave me be--"
+
+His look was fixed again upon the unknown.
+He moved with mysterious purpose, and all of
+the youth's offers he brushed aside.  "No--no--
+leave me be--leave me be--"
+
+The youth had to follow.
+
+Presently the latter heard a voice talking
+softly near his shoulders.  Turning he saw that it
+belonged to the tattered soldier.  "Ye 'd better
+take 'im outa th' road, pardner.  There 's a batt'ry
+comin' helitywhoop down th' road an' he 'll git
+runned over.  He 's a goner anyhow in about five
+minutes--yeh kin see that.  Ye 'd better take 'im
+outa th' road.  Where th' blazes does he git his
+stren'th from?"
+
+"Lord knows!" cried the youth.  He was
+shaking his hands helplessly.
+
+He ran forward presently and grasped the
+tall soldier by the arm.  "Jim!  Jim!" he coaxed,
+"come with me."
+
+The tall soldier weakly tried to wrench himself
+free.  "Huh," he said vacantly.  He stared at the
+youth for a moment.  At last he spoke as if dimly
+comprehending.  "Oh!  Inteh th' fields?  Oh!"
+
+He started blindly through the grass.
+
+The youth turned once to look at the lashing
+riders and jouncing guns of the battery.  He was
+startled from this view by a shrill outcry from
+the tattered man.
+
+"Gawd!  He's runnin'!"
+
+Turning his head swiftly, the youth saw his
+friend running in a staggering and stumbling
+way toward a little clump of bushes.  His heart
+seemed to wrench itself almost free from his
+body at this sight.  He made a noise of pain.
+He and the tattered man began a pursuit.  There
+was a singular race.
+
+When he overtook the tall soldier he began
+to plead with all the words he could find.  "Jim
+--Jim--what are you doing--what makes you do
+this way--you 'll hurt yerself."
+
+The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face.
+He protested in a dulled way, keeping his eyes
+fastened on the mystic place of his intentions.
+"No--no--don't tech me--leave me be--leave
+me be--"
+
+The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at the
+tall soldier, began quaveringly to question him.
+"Where yeh goin', Jim?  What you thinking
+about?  Where you going?  Tell me, won't you,
+Jim?"
+
+The tall soldier faced about as upon relentless
+pursuers.  In his eyes there was a great appeal.
+"Leave me be, can't yeh?  Leave me be fer a
+minnit."
+
+The youth recoiled.  "Why, Jim," he said, in
+a dazed way, "what's the matter with you?"
+
+The tall soldier turned and, lurching danger-
+ously, went on.  The youth and the tattered
+soldier followed, sneaking as if whipped, feeling
+unable to face the stricken man if he should again
+confront them.  They began to have thoughts of
+a solemn ceremony.  There was something rite-
+like in these movements of the doomed soldier.
+And there was a resemblance in him to a devotee
+of a mad religion, blood-sucking, muscle-wrench-
+ing, bone-crushing.  They were awed and afraid.
+They hung back lest he have at command a
+dreadful weapon.
+
+At last, they saw him stop and stand motion-
+less.  Hastening up, they perceived that his face
+wore an expression telling that he had at last
+found the place for which he had struggled.  His
+spare figure was erect; his bloody hands were
+quietly at his side.  He was waiting with patience
+for something that he had come to meet.  He was
+at the rendezvous.  They paused and stood, ex-
+pectant.
+
+There was a silence.
+
+Finally, the chest of the doomed soldier began
+to heave with a strained motion.  It increased in
+violence until it was as if an animal was within
+and was kicking and tumbling furiously to be
+free.
+
+This spectacle of gradual strangulation made
+the youth writhe, and once as his friend rolled his
+eyes, he saw something in them that made him
+sink wailing to the ground.  He raised his voice
+in a last supreme call.
+
+"Jim--Jim--Jim--"
+
+The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke.
+He made a gesture.  "Leave me be--don't tech
+me--leave me be--"
+
+There was another silence while he waited.
+
+Suddenly, his form stiffened and straightened.
+Then it was shaken by a prolonged ague.  He
+stared into space.  To the two watchers there
+was a curious and profound dignity in the firm
+lines of his awful face.
+
+He was invaded by a creeping strangeness
+that slowly enveloped him.  For a moment the
+tremor of his legs caused him to dance a sort of
+hideous hornpipe.  His arms beat wildly about
+his head in expression of implike enthusiasm.
+
+His tall figure stretched itself to its full height.
+There was a slight rending sound.  Then it began
+to swing forward, slow and straight, in the man-
+ner of a falling tree.  A swift muscular contortion
+made the left shoulder strike the ground first.
+
+The body seemed to bounce a little way from
+the earth.  "God!" said the tattered soldier.
+
+The youth had watched, spellbound, this
+ceremony at the place of meeting.  His face
+had been twisted into an expression of every
+agony he had imagined for his friend.
+
+He now sprang to his feet and, going closer,
+gazed upon the pastelike face.  The mouth was
+open and the teeth showed in a laugh.
+
+As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from
+the body, he could see that the side looked as if it
+had been chewed by wolves.
+
+The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage,
+toward the battlefield.  He shook his fist.  He
+seemed about to deliver a philippic.
+
+"Hell--"
+
+The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+THE tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Well, he was reg'lar jim-dandy fer nerve,
+wa'n't he," said he finally in a little awestruck
+voice.  "A reg'lar jim-dandy."  He thoughtfully
+poked one of the docile hands with his foot.  "I
+wonner where he got 'is stren'th from?  I never
+seen a man do like that before.  It was a funny
+thing.  Well, he was a reg'lar jim-dandy."
+
+The youth desired to screech out his grief.
+He was stabbed, but his tongue lay dead in the
+tomb of his mouth.  He threw himself again
+upon the ground and began to brood.
+
+The tattered man stood musing.
+
+"Look-a-here, pardner," he said, after a time.
+He regarded the corpse as he spoke.  "He 's up
+an' gone, ain't 'e, an' we might as well begin t'
+look out fer ol' number one.  This here thing is
+all over.  He 's up an' gone, ain't 'e?  An' he 's all
+right here.  Nobody won't bother 'im.  An' I
+must say I ain't enjoying any great health m'self
+these days."
+
+100
+
+The youth, awakened by the tattered soldier's
+tone, looked quickly up.  He saw that he was
+swinging uncertainly on his legs and that his face
+had turned to a shade of blue.
+
+"Good Lord!" he cried, "you ain't goin' t'--
+not you, too."
+
+The tattered man waved his hand.  "Nary
+die," he said.  "All I want is some pea soup an'
+a good bed.  Some pea soup," he repeated
+dreamfully.
+
+The youth arose from the ground.  "I wonder
+where he came from.  I left him over there."
+He pointed.  "And now I find 'im here.  And
+he was coming from over there, too."  He in-
+dicated a new direction.  They both turned
+toward the body as if to ask of it a question.
+
+"Well," at length spoke the tattered man,
+"there ain't no use in our stayin' here an' tryin' t'
+ask him anything."
+
+The youth nodded an assent wearily.  They
+both turned to gaze for a moment at the corpse.
+
+The youth murmured something.
+
+"Well, he was a jim-dandy, wa'n't 'e?" said
+the tattered man as if in response.
+
+They turned their backs upon it and started
+away.  For a time they stole softly, treading
+with their toes.  It remained laughing there in
+the grass.
+
+"I'm commencin' t' feel pretty bad," said the
+tattered man, suddenly breaking one of his little
+silences.  "I'm commencin' t' feel pretty damn'
+bad."
+
+The youth groaned.  "O Lord!"  He won-
+dered if he was to be the tortured witness of
+another grim encounter.
+
+But his companion waved his hand reassur-
+ingly.  "Oh, I'm not goin' t' die yit!  There too
+much dependin' on me fer me t' die yit.  No, sir!
+Nary die!  I CAN'T!  Ye'd oughta see th' swad
+a' chil'ren I've got, an' all like that."
+
+The youth glancing at his companion could
+see by the shadow of a smile that he was making
+some kind of fun.
+
+As they plodded on the tattered soldier con-
+tinued to talk.  "Besides, if I died, I wouldn't
+die th' way that feller did.  That was th' funniest
+thing.  I'd jest flop down, I would.  I never seen
+a feller die th' way that feller did.
+
+"Yeh know Tom Jamison, he lives next door
+t' me up home.  He's a nice feller, he is, an' we
+was allus good friends.  Smart, too.  Smart as a
+steel trap.  Well, when we was a-fightin' this
+atternoon, all-of-a-sudden he begin t' rip up an'
+cuss an' beller at me.  'Yer shot, yeh blamed
+infernal!'--he swear horrible--he ses t' me.  I
+put up m' hand t' m' head an' when I looked at
+m' fingers, I seen, sure 'nough, I was shot.  I
+give a holler an' begin t' run, but b'fore I could
+git away another one hit me in th' arm an' whirl'
+me clean 'round.  I got skeared when they was
+all a-shootin' b'hind me an' I run t' beat all,
+but I cotch it pretty bad.  I've an idee I'd
+a' been fightin' yit, if t'was n't fer Tom Jami-
+son."
+
+Then he made a calm announcement: "There's
+two of 'em--little ones--but they 're beginnin' t'
+have fun with me now.  I don't b'lieve I kin walk
+much furder."
+
+They went slowly on in silence.  "Yeh look
+pretty peek-ed yerself," said the tattered man at
+last.  "I bet yeh 've got a worser one than yeh
+think.  Ye'd better take keer of yer hurt.  It
+don't do t' let sech things go.  It might be inside
+mostly, an' them plays thunder.  Where is it
+located?"  But he continued his harangue with-
+out waiting for a reply.  "I see 'a feller git hit
+plum in th' head when my reg'ment was a-standin'
+at ease onct.  An' everybody yelled out to 'im:
+Hurt, John?  Are yeh hurt much?  'No," ses he.
+He looked kinder surprised, an' he went on tellin'
+'em how he felt.  He sed he didn't feel nothin'.
+But, by dad, th' first thing that feller knowed he
+was dead.  Yes, he was dead--stone dead.  So,
+yeh wanta watch out.  Yeh might have some
+queer kind 'a hurt yerself.  Yeh can't never tell.
+Where is your'n located?"
+
+The youth had been wriggling since the intro-
+duction of this topic.  He now gave a cry of ex-
+asperation and made a furious motion with his
+hand.  "Oh, don't bother me!" he said.  He was
+enraged against the tattered man, and could have
+strangled him.  His companions seemed ever to
+play intolerable parts.  They were ever uprais-
+ing the ghost of shame on the stick of their
+curiosity.  He turned toward the tattered man as
+one at bay.  "Now, don't bother me," he re-
+peated with desperate menace.
+
+"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother any-
+body," said the other.  There was a little accent
+of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord
+knows I 've gota 'nough m' own t' tend to."
+
+The youth, who had been holding a bitter de-
+bate with himself and casting glances of hatred
+and contempt at the tattered man, here spoke in
+a hard voice.  "Good-by," he said.
+
+The tattered man looked at him in gaping
+amazement.  "Why--why, pardner, where yeh
+goin'?" he asked unsteadily.  The youth looking
+at him, could see that he, too, like that other one,
+was beginning to act dumb and animal-like.  His
+thoughts seemed to be floundering about in his
+head.  "Now--now--look--a--here, you Tom
+Jamison--now--I won't have this--this here
+won't do.  Where--where yeh goin'?"
+
+The youth pointed vaguely.  "Over there,"
+he replied.
+
+"Well, now look--a--here--now," said the
+tattered man, rambling on in idiot fashion.  His
+head was hanging forward and his words were
+slurred.  "This thing won't do, now, Tom Jami-
+son.  It won't do.  I know yeh, yeh pig-headed
+devil.  Yeh wanta go trompin' off with a bad
+hurt.  It ain't right--now--Tom Jamison--it ain't.
+Yeh wanta leave me take keer of yeh, Tom Jami-
+son.  It ain't--right--it ain't--fer yeh t' go--
+trompin' off--with a bad hurt--it ain't--ain't--
+ain't right--it ain't."
+
+In reply the youth climbed a fence and
+started away.  He could hear the tattered man
+bleating plaintively.
+
+Once he faced about angrily.  "What?"
+
+"Look--a--here, now, Tom Jamison--now--
+it ain't--"
+
+The youth went on.  Turning at a distance he
+saw the tattered man wandering about helplessly
+in the field.
+
+He now thought that he wished he was dead.
+He believed that he envied those men whose
+bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and
+on the fallen leaves of the forest.
+
+The simple questions of the tattered man had
+been knife thrusts to him.  They asserted a
+society that probes pitilessly at secrets until all is
+apparent.  His late companion's chance persist-
+ency made him feel that he could not keep his
+crime concealed in his bosom.  It was sure to be
+brought plain by one of those arrows which
+cloud the air and are constantly pricking, dis-
+covering, proclaiming those things which are
+willed to be forever hidden.  He admitted that
+he could not defend himself against this agency.
+It was not within the power of vigilance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+HE became aware that the furnace roar of the
+battle was growing louder.  Great brown clouds
+had floated to the still heights of air before him.
+The noise, too, was approaching.  The woods
+filtered men and the fields became dotted.
+
+As he rounded a hillock, he perceived that the
+roadway was now a crying mass of wagons,
+teams, and men.  From the heaving tangle issued
+exhortations, commands, imprecations.  Fear was
+sweeping it all along.  The cracking whips bit
+and horses plunged and tugged.  The white-
+topped wagons strained and stumbled in their
+exertions like fat sheep.
+
+The youth felt comforted in a measure by this
+sight.  They were all retreating.  Perhaps, then,
+he was not so bad after all.  He seated himself
+and watched the terror-stricken wagons.  They
+fled like soft, ungainly animals.  All the roarers
+and lashers served to help him to magnify the
+dangers and horrors of the engagement that he
+
+107
+might try to prove to himself that the thing with
+which men could charge him was in truth a
+symmetrical act.  There was an amount of pleas-
+ure to him in watching the wild march of this
+vindication.
+
+Presently the calm head of a forward-going
+column of infantry appeared in the road.  It
+came swiftly on.  Avoiding the obstructions gave
+it the sinuous movement of a serpent.  The men
+at the head butted mules with their musket
+stocks.  They prodded teamsters indifferent to
+all howls.  The men forced their way through
+parts of the dense mass by strength.  The blunt
+head of the column pushed.  The raving team-
+sters swore many strange oaths.
+
+The commands to make way had the ring of a
+great importance in them.  The men were going
+forward to the heart of the din.  They were to
+confront the eager rush of the enemy.  They felt
+the pride of their onward movement when the
+remainder of the army seemed trying to dribble
+down this road.  They tumbled teams about
+with a fine feeling that it was no matter so long
+as their column got to the front in time.  This
+importance made their faces grave and stern.
+And the backs of the officers were very rigid.
+
+As the youth looked at them the black weight
+of his woe returned to him.  He felt that he was
+regarding a procession of chosen beings.  The
+separation was as great to him as if they had
+marched with weapons of flame and banners of
+sunlight.  He could never be like them.  He
+could have wept in his longings.
+
+He searched about in his mind for an ade-
+quate malediction for the indefinite cause, the
+thing upon which men turn the words of final
+blame.  It--whatever it was--was responsible for
+him, he said.  There lay the fault.
+
+The haste of the column to reach the battle
+seemed to the forlorn young man to be some-
+thing much finer than stout fighting.  Heroes, he
+thought, could find excuses in that long seething
+lane.  They could retire with perfect self-respect
+and make excuses to the stars.
+
+He wondered what those men had eaten that
+they could be in such haste to force their way to
+grim chances of death.  As he watched his envy
+grew until he thought that he wished to change
+lives with one of them.  He would have liked to
+have used a tremendous force, he said, throw off
+himself and become a better.  Swift pictures of
+himself, apart, yet in himself, came to him--a
+blue desperate figure leading lurid charges with
+one knee forward and a broken blade high--a
+blue, determined figure standing before a crimson
+and steel assault, getting calmly killed on a high
+place before the eyes of all.  He thought of the
+magnificent pathos of his dead body.
+
+These thoughts uplifted him.  He felt the
+quiver of war desire.  In his ears, he heard the
+ring of victory.  He knew the frenzy of a rapid
+successful charge.  The music of the trampling
+feet, the sharp voices, the clanking arms of the
+column near him made him soar on the red wings
+of war.  For a few moments he was sublime.
+
+He thought that he was about to start for the
+front.  Indeed, he saw a picture of himself, dust-
+stained, haggard, panting, flying to the front at
+the proper moment to seize and throttle the dark,
+leering witch of calamity.
+
+Then the difficulties of the thing began to
+drag at him.  He hesitated, balancing awkwardly
+on one foot.
+
+He had no rifle; he could not fight with his
+hands, said he resentfully to his plan.  Well,
+rifles could be had for the picking.  They were
+extraordinarily profuse.
+
+Also, he continued, it would be a miracle if he
+found his regiment.  Well, he could fight with
+any regiment.
+
+He started forward slowly.  He stepped as if
+he expected to tread upon some explosive thing.
+Doubts and he were struggling.
+
+He would truly be a worm if any of his com-
+rades should see him returning thus, the marks of
+his flight upon him.  There was a reply that the
+intent fighters did not care for what happened
+rearward saving that no hostile bayonets ap-
+peared there.  In the battle-blur his face would,
+in a way be hidden, like the face of a cowled
+man.
+
+But then he said that his tireless fate would
+bring forth, when the strife lulled for a moment,
+a man to ask of him an explanation.  In imagina-
+tion he felt the scrutiny of his companions as he
+painfully labored through some lies.
+
+Eventually, his courage expended itself upon
+these objections.  The debates drained him of his
+fire.
+
+He was not cast down by this defeat of his
+plan, for, upon studying the affair carefully, he
+could not but admit that the objections were very
+formidable.
+
+Furthermore, various ailments had begun to
+cry out.  In their presence he could not persist
+in flying high with the wings of war; they
+rendered it almost impossible for him to see him-
+self in a heroic light.  He tumbled headlong.
+
+He discovered that he had a scorching thirst.
+His face was so dry and grimy that he thought
+he could feel his skin crackle.  Each bone of his
+body had an ache in it, and seemingly threatened
+to break with each movement.  His feet were
+like two sores.  Also, his body was calling for
+food.  It was more powerful than a direct hunger.
+There was a dull, weight like feeling in his stom-
+ach, and, when he tried to walk, his head swayed
+and he tottered.  He could not see with distinct-
+ness.  Small patches of green mist floated before
+his vision.
+
+While he had been tossed by many emotions,
+he had not been aware of ailments.  Now they
+beset him and made clamor.  As he was at last
+compelled to pay attention to them, his capacity
+for self-hate was multiplied.  In despair, he
+declared that he was not like those others.  He
+now conceded it to be impossible that he should
+ever become a hero.  He was a craven loon.
+Those pictures of glory were piteous things.  He
+groaned from his heart and went staggering off.
+
+A certain mothlike quality within him kept
+him in the vicinity of the battle.  He had a great
+desire to see, and to get news.  He wished to
+know who was winning.
+
+He told himself that, despite his unprecedented
+suffering, he had never lost his greed for a victory,
+yet, he said, in a half-apologetic manner to his
+conscience, he could not but know that a defeat
+for the army this time might mean many favor-
+able things for him.  The blows of the enemy
+would splinter regiments into fragments.  Thus,
+many men of courage, he considered, would be
+obliged to desert the colors and scurry like
+chickens.  He would appear as one of them.
+They would be sullen brothers in distress, and he
+could then easily believe he had not run any
+farther or faster than they.  And if he himself
+could believe in his virtuous perfection, he con-
+ceived that there would be small trouble in con-
+vincing all others.
+
+He said, as if in excuse for this hope, that
+previously the army had encountered great
+defeats and in a few months had shaken off all
+blood and tradition of them, emerging as bright
+and valiant as a new one; thrusting out of sight
+the memory of disaster, and appearing with the
+valor and confidence of unconquered legions.
+The shrilling voices of the people at home would
+pipe dismally for a time, but various generals
+were usually compelled to listen to these ditties.
+He of course felt no compunctions for proposing
+a general as a sacrifice.  He could not tell who
+the chosen for the barbs might be, so he could
+center no direct sympathy upon him.  The
+people were afar and he did not conceive public
+opinion to be accurate at long range.  It was
+quite probable they would hit the wrong man
+who, after he had recovered from his amazement
+would perhaps spend the rest of his days in writ-
+ing replies to the songs of his alleged failure.  It
+would be very unfortunate, no doubt, but in this
+case a general was of no consequence to the
+youth.
+
+In a defeat there would be a roundabout
+vindication of himself.  He thought it would
+prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because
+of his superior powers of perception.  A serious
+prophet upon predicting a flood should be the
+first man to climb a tree.  This would demon-
+strate that he was indeed a seer.
+
+A moral vindication was regarded by the
+youth as a very important thing.  Without salve,
+he could not, he thought, wear the sore badge of
+his dishonor through life.  With his heart con-
+tinually assuring him that he was despicable, he
+could not exist without making it, through his
+actions, apparent to all men.
+
+If the army had gone gloriously on he would
+be lost.  If the din meant that now his army's
+flags were tilted forward he was a condemned
+wretch.  He would be compelled to doom
+himself to isolation.  If the men were advancing,
+their indifferent feet were trampling upon his
+chances for a successful life.
+
+As these thoughts went rapidly through his
+mind, he turned upon them and tried to thrust
+them away.  He denounced himself as a villain.
+He said that he was the most unutterably selfish
+man in existence.  His mind pictured the soldiers
+who would place their defiant bodies before the
+spear of the yelling battle fiend, and as he saw
+their dripping corpses on an imagined field, he
+said that he was their murderer.
+
+Again he thought that he wished he was dead.
+He believed that he envied a corpse.  Thinking
+of the slain, he achieved a great contempt for
+some of them, as if they were guilty for thus
+becoming lifeless.  They might have been killed
+by lucky chances, he said, before they had had
+opportunities to flee or before they had been
+really tested.  Yet they would receive laurels
+from tradition.  He cried out bitterly that their
+crowns were stolen and their robes of glori-
+ous memories were shams.  However, he still
+said that it was a great pity he was not as
+they.
+
+A defeat of the army had suggested itself to
+him as a means of escape from the consequences
+of his fall.  He considered, now, however, that it
+was useless to think of such a possibility.  His
+education had been that success for that mighty
+blue machine was certain; that it would make
+victories as a contrivance turns out buttons.  He
+presently discarded all his speculations in the
+other direction.  He returned to the creed of
+soldiers.
+
+When he perceived again that it was not
+possible for the army to be defeated, he tried
+to bethink him of a fine tale which he could take
+back to his regiment, and with it turn the expected
+shafts of derision.
+
+But, as he mortally feared these shafts, it
+became impossible for him to invent a tale he felt
+he could trust.  He experimented with many
+schemes, but threw them aside one by one as
+flimsy.  He was quick to see vulnerable places in
+them all.
+
+Furthermore, he was much afraid that some
+arrow of scorn might lay him mentally low before
+he could raise his protecting tale.
+
+He imagined the whole regiment saying:
+"Where's Henry Fleming?  He run, didn't 'e?
+Oh, my!"  He recalled various persons who
+would be quite sure to leave him no peace
+about it.  They would doubtless question him
+with sneers, and laugh at his stammering hesi-
+tation.  In the next engagement they would
+try to keep watch of him to discover when he
+would run.
+
+Wherever he went in camp, he would en-
+counter insolent and lingeringly cruel stares.  As
+he imagined himself passing near a crowd of
+comrades, he could hear some one say, "There
+he goes!"
+
+Then, as if the heads were moved by one
+muscle, all the faces were turned toward him
+with wide, derisive grins.  He seemed to hear
+some one make a humorous remark in a low tone.
+At it the others all crowed and cackled.  He was
+a slang phrase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+THE column that had butted stoutly at the
+obstacles in the roadway was barely out of the
+youth's sight before he saw dark waves of men
+come sweeping out of the woods and down
+through the fields.  He knew at once that the
+steel fibers had been washed from their hearts.
+They were bursting from their coats and
+their equipments as from entanglements.  They
+charged down upon him like terrified buffaloes.
+
+Behind them blue smoke curled and clouded
+above the treetops, and through the thickets he
+could sometimes see a distant pink glare.  The
+voices of the cannon were clamoring in intermi-
+nable chorus.
+
+The youth was horrorstricken.  He stared
+in agony and amazement.  He forgot that he
+was engaged in combating the universe.  He
+threw aside his mental pamphlets on the philoso-
+phy of the retreated and rules for the guidance
+of the damned.
+
+118
+
+The fight was lost.  The dragons were com-
+ing with invincible strides.  The army, helpless
+in the matted thickets and blinded by the over-
+hanging night, was going to be swallowed.  War,
+the red animal, war, the blood-swollen god, would
+have bloated fill.
+
+Within him something bade to cry out.  He
+had the impulse to make a rallying speech, to sing
+a battle hymn, but he could only get his tongue to
+call into the air: "Why--why--what--what 's
+th' matter?"
+
+Soon he was in the midst of them.  They
+were leaping and scampering all about him.
+Their blanched faces shone in the dusk.  They
+seemed, for the most part, to be very burly men.
+The youth turned from one to another of them as
+they galloped along.  His incoherent questions
+were lost.  They were heedless of his appeals.
+They did not seem to see him.
+
+They sometimes gabbled insanely.  One huge
+man was asking of the sky: "Say, where de
+plank road?  Where de plank road!"  It was as if
+he had lost a child.  He wept in his pain and
+dismay.
+
+Presently, men were running hither and
+thither in all ways.  The artillery booming,
+forward, rearward, and on the flanks made
+jumble of ideas of direction.  Landmarks had
+vanished into the gathered gloom.  The youth
+began to imagine that he had got into the
+center of the tremendous quarrel, and he could
+perceive no way out of it.  From the mouths of
+the fleeing men came a thousand wild questions,
+but no one made answers.
+
+The youth, after rushing about and throwing
+interrogations at the heedless bands of retreating
+infantry, finally clutched a man by the arm.  They
+swung around face to face.
+
+"Why--why--" stammered the youth strug-
+gling with his balking tongue.
+
+The man screamed: "Let go me!  Let go
+me!"  His face was livid and his eyes were roll-
+ing uncontrolled.  He was heaving and panting.
+He still grasped his rifle, perhaps having for-
+gotten to release his hold upon it.  He tugged
+frantically, and the youth being compelled to lean
+forward was dragged several paces.
+
+"Let go me!  Let go me!"
+
+"Why--why--" stuttered the youth.
+
+"Well, then!" bawled the man in a lurid
+rage.  He adroitly and fiercely swung his rifle.
+It crushed upon the youth's head.  The man
+ran on.
+
+The youth's fingers had turned to paste upon
+the other's arm.  The energy was smitten from
+his muscles.  He saw the flaming wings of light-
+ning flash before his vision.  There was a deaf-
+ening rumble of thunder within his head.
+
+Suddenly his legs seemed to die.  He sank
+writhing to the ground.  He tried to arise.  In
+his efforts against the numbing pain he was like a
+man wrestling with a creature of the air.
+
+There was a sinister struggle.
+
+Sometimes he would achieve a position half
+erect, battle with the air for a moment, and
+then fall again, grabbing at the grass.  His face
+was of a clammy pallor.  Deep groans were
+wrenched from him.
+
+At last, with a twisting movement, he got
+upon his hands and knees, and from thence, like a
+babe trying to walk, to his feet.  Pressing his
+hands to his temples he went lurching over the
+grass.
+
+He fought an intense battle with his body.
+His dulled senses wished him to swoon and he
+opposed them stubbornly, his mind portraying
+unknown dangers and mutilations if he should
+fall upon the field.  He went tall soldier fashion.
+He imagined secluded spots where he could fall
+and be unmolested.  To search for one he strove
+against the tide of his pain.
+
+Once he put his hand to the top of his head
+and timidly touched the wound.  The scratching
+pain of the contact made him draw a long breath
+through his clinched teeth.  His fingers were
+dabbled with blood.  He regarded them with a
+fixed stare.
+
+Around him he could hear the grumble of
+jolted cannon as the scurrying horses were lashed
+toward the front.  Once, a young officer on a
+besplashed charger nearly ran him down.  He
+turned and watched the mass of guns, men, and
+horses sweeping in a wide curve toward a gap in
+a fence.  The officer was making excited motions
+with a gauntleted hand.  The guns followed the
+teams with an air of unwillingness, of being
+dragged by the heels.
+
+Some officers of the scattered infantry were
+cursing and railing like fishwives.  Their scold-
+ing voices could be heard above the din.  Into
+the unspeakable jumble in the roadway rode a
+squadron of cavalry.  The faded yellow of their
+facings shone bravely.  There was a mighty
+altercation.
+
+The artillery were assembling as if for a con-
+ference.
+
+The blue haze of evening was upon the field.
+The lines of forest were long purple shadows.
+One cloud lay along the western sky partly
+smothering the red.
+
+As the youth left the scene behind him, he
+heard the guns suddenly roar out.  He imagined
+them shaking in black rage.  They belched and
+howled like brass devils guarding a gate.  The
+soft air was filled with the tremendous remon-
+strance.  With it came the shattering peal of
+opposing infantry.  Turning to look behind him,
+he could see sheets of orange light illumine the
+shadowy distance.  There were subtle and sudden
+lightnings in the far air.  At times he thought he
+could see heaving masses of men.
+
+He hurried on in the dusk.  The day had
+faded until he could barely distinguish place for
+his feet.  The purple darkness was filled with
+men who lectured and jabbered.  Sometimes he
+could see them gesticulating against the blue and
+somber sky.  There seemed to be a great ruck of
+men and munitions spread about in the forest and
+in the fields.
+
+The little narrow roadway now lay lifeless.
+There were overturned wagons like sun-dried
+bowlders.  The bed of the former torrent was
+choked with the bodies of horses and splintered
+parts of war machines.
+
+It had come to pass that his wound pained him
+but little.  He was afraid to move rapidly, how-
+ever, for a dread of disturbing it.  He held his
+head very still and took many precautions against
+stumbling.  He was filled with anxiety, and his
+face was pinched and drawn in anticipation of the
+pain of any sudden mistake of his feet in the
+gloom.
+
+His thoughts, as he walked, fixed intently
+upon his hurt.  There was a cool, liquid feeling
+about it and he imagined blood moving slowly
+down under his hair.  His head seemed swollen
+to a size that made him think his neck to be
+inadequate.
+
+The new silence of his wound made much
+worriment.  The little blistering voices of pain
+that had called out from his scalp were, he
+thought, definite in their expression of danger.
+By them he believed that he could measure his
+plight.  But when they remained ominously
+silent he became frightened and imagined ter-
+rible fingers that clutched into his brain.
+
+Amid it he began to reflect upon various
+incidents and conditions of the past.  He be-
+thought him of certain meals his mother had
+cooked at home, in which those dishes of which
+he was particularly fond had occupied prominent
+positions.  He saw the spread table.  The pine
+walls of the kitchen were glowing in the warm
+light from the stove.  Too, he remembered how
+he and his companions used to go from the school-
+house to the bank of a shaded pool.  He saw his
+clothes in disorderly array upon the grass of the
+bank.  He felt the swash of the fragrant water
+upon his body.  The leaves of the overhanging
+maple rustled with melody in the wind of youth-
+ful summer.
+
+He was overcome presently by a dragging
+weariness.  His head hung forward and his
+shoulders were stooped as if he were bearing a
+great bundle.  His feet shuffled along the
+ground.
+
+He held continuous arguments as to whether
+he should lie down and sleep at some near spot,
+or force himself on until he reached a certain
+haven.  He often tried to dismiss the question,
+but his body persisted in rebellion and his senses
+nagged at him like pampered babies.
+
+At last he heard a cheery voice near his
+shoulder: "Yeh seem t' be in a pretty bad way,
+boy?"
+
+The youth did not look up, but he assented
+with thick tongue.  "Uh!"
+
+The owner of the cheery voice took him firmly
+by the arm.  "Well," he said, with a round
+laugh, "I'm goin' your way.  Th' hull gang is
+goin' your way.  An' I guess I kin give yeh a
+lift."  They began to walk like a drunken man
+and his friend.
+
+As they went along, the man questioned the
+youth and assisted him with the replies like one
+manipulating the mind of a child.  Sometimes he
+interjected anecdotes.  "What reg'ment do yeh
+b'long teh?  Eh?  What's that?  Th' 304th N'
+York?  Why, what corps is that in?  Oh, it is?
+Why, I thought they wasn't engaged t'-day--
+they 're 'way over in th' center.  Oh, they was,
+eh?  Well, pretty nearly everybody got their
+share 'a fightin' t'-day.  By dad, I give myself up
+fer dead any number 'a times.  There was shootin'
+here an' shootin' there, an' hollerin' here an'
+hollerin' there, in th' damn' darkness, until I
+couldn't tell t' save m' soul which side I was on.
+Sometimes I thought I was sure 'nough from
+Ohier, an' other times I could 'a swore I was
+from th' bitter end of Florida.  It was th' most
+mixed up dern thing I ever see.  An' these here
+hull woods is a reg'lar mess.  It'll be a miracle
+if we find our reg'ments t'-night.  Pretty soon,
+though, we 'll meet a-plenty of guards an' provost-
+guards, an' one thing an' another.  Ho! there they
+go with an off'cer, I guess.  Look at his hand
+a-draggin'.  He 's got all th' war he wants, I bet.
+He won't be talkin' so big about his reputation
+an' all when they go t' sawin' off his leg.  Poor
+feller!  My brother 's got whiskers jest like that.
+How did yeh git 'way over here, anyhow?  Your
+reg'ment is a long way from here, ain't it?  Well,
+I guess we can find it.  Yeh know there was a
+boy killed in my comp'ny t'-day that I thought
+th' world an' all of.  Jack was a nice feller.  By
+ginger, it hurt like thunder t' see ol' Jack jest git
+knocked flat.  We was a-standin' purty peaceable
+fer a spell, 'though there was men runnin' ev'ry
+way all 'round us, an' while we was a-standin'
+like that, 'long come a big fat feller.  He began
+t' peck at Jack's elbow, an' he ses: 'Say, where 's
+th' road t' th' river?'  An' Jack, he never paid no
+attention, an' th' feller kept on a-peckin' at his
+elbow an' sayin': 'Say, where 's th' road t' th'
+river?'  Jack was a-lookin' ahead all th' time
+tryin' t' see th' Johnnies comin' through th'
+woods, an' he never paid no attention t' this big
+fat feller fer a long time, but at last he turned
+'round an' he ses: 'Ah, go t' hell an' find th'
+road t' th' river!'  An' jest then a shot slapped
+him bang on th' side th' head.  He was a sergeant,
+too.  Them was his last words.  Thunder, I wish
+we was sure 'a findin' our reg'ments t'-night.  It 's
+goin' t' be long huntin'.  But I guess we kin
+do it."
+
+In the search which followed, the man of the
+cheery voice seemed to the youth to possess a
+wand of a magic kind.  He threaded the mazes
+of the tangled forest with a strange fortune.  In
+encounters with guards and patrols he displayed
+the keenness of a detective and the valor of a
+gamin.  Obstacles fell before him and became of
+assistance.  The youth, with his chin still on his
+breast, stood woodenly by while his companion
+beat ways and means out of sullen things.
+
+The forest seemed a vast hive of men buzzing
+about in frantic circles, but the cheery man con-
+ducted the youth without mistakes, until at last
+he began to chuckle with glee and self-satisfaction.
+"Ah, there yeh are!  See that fire?"
+
+The youth nodded stupidly.
+
+"Well, there 's where your reg'ment is.  An'
+now, good-by, ol' boy, good luck t' yeh."
+
+A warm and strong hand clasped the youth's
+languid fingers for an instant, and then he heard
+a cheerful and audacious whistling as the man
+strode away.  As he who had so befriended him
+was thus passing out of his life, it suddenly oc-
+curred to the youth that he had not once seen his
+face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+THE youth went slowly toward the fire in-
+dicated by his departed friend.  As he reeled, he
+bethought him of the welcome his comrades
+would give him.  He had a conviction that he
+would soon feel in his sore heart the barbed
+missiles of ridicule.  He had no strength to in-
+vent a tale; he would be a soft target.
+
+He made vague plans to go off into the deeper
+darkness and hide, but they were all destroyed
+by the voices of exhaustion and pain from his
+body.  His ailments, clamoring, forced him to
+seek the place of food and rest, at whatever cost.
+
+He swung unsteadily toward the fire.  He
+could see the forms of men throwing black
+shadows in the red light, and as he went nearer
+it became known to him in some way that the
+ground was strewn with sleeping men.
+
+Of a sudden he confronted a black and
+monstrous figure.  A rifle barrel caught some
+glinting beams.  "Halt! halt!"  He was dis-
+
+129
+mayed for a moment, but he presently thought
+that he recognized the nervous voice.  As he
+stood tottering before the rifle barrel, he called
+out: "Why, hello, Wilson, you--you here?"
+
+The rifle was lowered to a position of caution
+and the loud soldier came slowly forward.  He
+peered into the youth's face.  "That you,
+Henry?"
+
+"Yes, it's--it's me."
+
+"Well, well, ol' boy," said the other, "by
+ginger, I'm glad t' see yeh!  I give yeh up
+fer a goner.  I thought yeh was dead sure
+enough."  There was husky emotion in his
+voice.
+
+The youth found that now he could barely
+stand upon his feet.  There was a sudden sinking
+of his forces.  He thought he must hasten to pro-
+duce his tale to protect him from the missiles
+already at the lips of his redoubtable comrades.
+So, staggering before the loud soldier, he began:
+"Yes, yes.  I've--I've had an awful time.  I've
+been all over.  Way over on th' right.  Ter'ble
+fightin' over there.  I had an awful time.  I got
+separated from th' reg'ment.  Over on th' right,
+I got shot.  In th' head.  I never see sech
+fightin'.  Awful time.  I don't see how I could 'a
+got separated from th' reg'ment.  I got shot,
+too."
+His friend had stepped forward quickly.
+"What?  Got shot?  Why didn't yeh say so
+first?  Poor ol' boy, we must--hol' on a minnit;
+what am I doin'.  I'll call Simpson."
+
+Another figure at that moment loomed in the
+gloom.  They could see that it was the corporal.
+"Who yeh talkin' to, Wilson?" he demanded.
+His voice was anger-toned.  "Who yeh talkin'
+to?  Yeh th' derndest sentinel--why--hello,
+Henry, you here?  Why, I thought you was
+dead four hours ago!  Great Jerusalem, they
+keep turnin' up every ten minutes or so!  We
+thought we'd lost forty-two men by straight
+count, but if they keep on a-comin' this way, we'll
+git th' comp'ny all back by mornin' yit.  Where
+was yeh?"
+
+"Over on th' right.  I got separated"--began
+the youth with considerable glibness.
+
+But his friend had interrupted hastily.  "Yes,
+an' he got shot in th' head an' he's in a fix, an' we
+must see t' him right away."  He rested his rifle
+in the hollow of his left arm and his right around
+the youth's shoulder.
+
+"Gee, it must hurt like thunder!" he said.
+
+The youth leaned heavily upon his friend.
+"Yes, it hurts--hurts a good deal," he replied.
+There was a faltering in his voice.
+
+"Oh," said the corporal.  He linked his arm
+in the youth's and drew him forward.  "Come
+on, Henry.  I'll take keer 'a yeh."
+
+As they went on together the loud private
+called out after them: "Put 'im t' sleep in my
+blanket, Simpson.  An'--hol' on a minnit--here's
+my canteen.  It's full 'a coffee.  Look at his head
+by th' fire an' see how it looks.  Maybe it's a
+pretty bad un.  When I git relieved in a couple
+'a minnits, I'll be over an' see t' him."
+
+The youth's senses were so deadened that his
+friend's voice sounded from afar and he could
+scarcely feel the pressure of the corporal's arm.
+He submitted passively to the latter's directing
+strength.  His head was in the old manner hang-
+ing forward upon his breast.  His knees wobbled.
+
+The corporal led him into the glare of the
+fire.  "Now, Henry," he said, "let's have look at
+yer ol' head."
+
+The youth sat down obediently and the cor-
+poral, laying aside his rifle, began to fumble in the
+bushy hair of his comrade.  He was obliged to
+turn the other's head so that the full flush of the
+fire light would beam upon it.  He puckered his
+mouth with a critical air.  He drew back his lips
+and whistled through his teeth when his fingers
+came in contact with the splashed blood and the
+rare wound.
+
+"Ah, here we are!" he said.  He awkwardly
+made further investigations.  "Jest as I thought,"
+he added, presently.  "Yeh've been grazed by a
+ball.  It's raised a queer lump jest as if some
+feller had lammed yeh on th' head with a club.
+It stopped a-bleedin' long time ago.  Th' most
+about it is that in th' mornin' yeh'll feel that a
+number ten hat wouldn't fit yeh.  An' your
+head'll be all het up an' feel as dry as burnt pork.
+An' yeh may git a lot 'a other sicknesses, too, by
+mornin'.  Yeh can't never tell.  Still, I don't
+much think so.  It's jest a damn' good belt on th'
+head, an' nothin' more.  Now, you jest sit here
+an' don't move, while I go rout out th' relief.
+Then I'll send Wilson t' take keer 'a yeh."
+
+The corporal went away.  The youth re-
+mained on the ground like a parcel.  He stared
+with a vacant look into the fire.
+
+After a time he aroused, for some part, and
+the things about him began to take form.  He
+saw that the ground in the deep shadows was
+cluttered with men, sprawling in every con-
+ceivable posture.  Glancing narrowly into the
+more distant darkness, he caught occasional
+glimpses of visages that loomed pallid and
+ghostly, lit with a phosphorescent glow.  These
+faces expressed in their lines the deep stupor of
+the tired soldiers.  They made them appear like
+men drunk with wine.  This bit of forest might
+have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene
+of the result of some frightful debauch.
+
+On the other side of the fire the youth
+observed an officer asleep, seated bolt upright,
+with his back against a tree.  There was some-
+thing perilous in his position.  Badgered by
+dreams, perhaps, he swayed with little bounces
+and starts, like an old toddy-stricken grandfather
+in a chimney corner.  Dust and stains were upon
+his face.  His lower jaw hung down as if lacking
+strength to assume its normal position.  He was
+the picture of an exhausted soldier after a feast of
+war.
+
+He had evidently gone to sleep with his
+sword in his arms.  These two had slumbered in
+an embrace, but the weapon had been allowed
+in time to fall unheeded to the ground.  The
+brass-mounted hilt lay in contact with some parts
+of the fire.
+
+Within the gleam of rose and orange light
+from the burning sticks were other soldiers,
+snoring and heaving, or lying deathlike in
+slumber.  A few pairs of legs were stuck forth,
+rigid and straight.  The shoes displayed the mud
+or dust of marches and bits of rounded trousers,
+protruding from the blankets, showed rents and
+tears from hurried pitchings through the dense
+brambles.
+
+The fire crackled musically.  From it swelled
+light smoke.  Overhead the foliage moved
+softly.  The leaves, with their faces turned
+toward the blaze, were colored shifting hues of
+silver, often edged with red.  Far off to the right,
+through a window in the forest could be seen a
+handful of stars lying, like glittering pebbles, on
+the black level of the night.
+
+Occasionally, in this low-arched hall, a soldier
+would arouse and turn his body to a new posi-
+tion, the experience of his sleep having taught
+him of uneven and objectionable places upon the
+ground under him.  Or, perhaps, he would lift
+himself to a sitting posture, blink at the fire for
+an unintelligent moment, throw a swift glance at
+his prostrate companion, and then cuddle down
+again with a grunt of sleepy content.
+
+The youth sat in a forlorn heap until his
+friend the loud young soldier came, swinging two
+canteens by their light strings.  "Well, now,
+Henry, ol' boy," said the latter, "we'll have yeh
+fixed up in jest about a minnit."
+
+He had the bustling ways of an amateur
+nurse.  He fussed around the fire and stirred the
+sticks to brilliant exertions.  He made his patient
+drink largely from the canteen that contained the
+coffee.  It was to the youth a delicious draught.
+He tilted his head afar back and held the canteen
+long to his lips.  The cool mixture went caress-
+ingly down his blistered throat.  Having finished,
+he sighed with comfortable delight.
+
+The loud young soldier watched his comrade
+with an air of satisfaction.  He later produced
+an extensive handkerchief from his pocket.  He
+folded it into a manner of bandage and soused
+water from the other canteen upon the middle of
+it.  This crude arrangement he bound over the
+youth's head, tying the ends in a queer knot at
+the back of the neck.
+
+"There," he said, moving off and surveying
+his deed, "yeh look like th' devil, but I bet yeh
+feel better."
+
+The youth contemplated his friend with grate-
+ful eyes.  Upon his aching and swelling head the
+cold cloth was like a tender woman's hand.
+
+"Yeh don't holler ner say nothin'," remarked
+his friend approvingly.  "I know I'm a black-
+smith at takin' keer 'a sick folks, an' yeh never
+squeaked.  Yer a good un, Henry.  Most 'a men
+would a' been in th' hospital long ago.  A shot in
+th' head ain't foolin' business."
+
+The youth made no reply, but began to fumble
+with the buttons of his jacket.
+
+"Well, come, now," continued his friend,
+"come on.  I must put yeh t' bed an' see that yeh
+git a good night's rest."
+
+The other got carefully erect, and the loud
+young soldier led him among the sleeping forms
+lying in groups and rows.  Presently he stooped
+and picked up his blankets.  He spread the rubber
+one upon the ground and placed the woolen one
+about the youth's shoulders.
+
+"There now," he said, "lie down an' git some
+sleep."
+
+The youth, with his manner of doglike obe-
+dience, got carefully down like a crone stoop-
+ing.  He stretched out with a murmur of relief
+and comfort.  The ground felt like the softest
+couch.
+
+But of a sudden he ejaculated: "Hol' on a
+minnit!  Where you goin' t' sleep?"
+
+His friend waved his hand impatiently.
+"Right down there by yeh."
+
+"Well, but hol' on a minnit," continued the
+youth.  "What yeh goin' t' sleep in?  I've got
+your--"
+
+The loud young soldier snarled: "Shet up
+an' go on t' sleep.  Don't be makin' a damn' fool
+'a yerself," he said severely.
+
+After the reproof the youth said no more.
+An exquisite drowsiness had spread through him.
+The warm comfort of the blanket enveloped him
+and made a gentle languor.  His head fell for-
+ward on his crooked arm and his weighted lids
+went softly down over his eyes.  Hearing a
+splatter of musketry from the distance, he
+wondered indifferently if those men sometimes
+slept.  He gave a long sigh, snuggled down into
+his blanket, and in a moment was like his com-
+rades.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+WHEN the youth awoke it seemed to him that
+he had been asleep for a thousand years, and he
+felt sure that he opened his eyes upon an unex-
+pected world.  Gray mists were slowly shifting
+before the first efforts of the sun rays.  An im-
+pending splendor could be seen in the eastern
+sky.  An icy dew had chilled his face, and im-
+mediately upon arousing he curled farther down
+into his blanket.  He stared for a while at the
+leaves overhead, moving in a heraldic wind of
+the day.
+
+The distance was splintering and blaring with
+the noise of fighting.  There was in the sound
+an expression of a deadly persistency, as if it had
+not begun and was not to cease.
+
+About him were the rows and groups of men
+that he had dimly seen the previous night.  They
+were getting a last draught of sleep before the
+awakening.  The gaunt, careworn features and
+dusty figures were made plain by this quaint
+
+139
+light at the dawning, but it dressed the skin of
+the men in corpselike hues and made the tangled
+limbs appear pulseless and dead.  The youth
+started up with a little cry when his eyes first
+swept over this motionless mass of men, thick-
+spread upon the ground, pallid, and in strange
+postures.  His disordered mind interpreted the
+hall of the forest as a charnel place.  He believed
+for an instant that he was in the house of the
+dead, and he did not dare to move lest these
+corpses start up, squalling and squawking.  In a
+second, however, he achieved his proper mind.
+He swore a complicated oath at himself.  He
+saw that this somber picture was not a fact of
+the present, but a mere prophecy.
+
+He heard then the noise of a fire crackling
+briskly in the cold air, and, turning his head, he
+saw his friend pottering busily about a small
+blaze.  A few other figures moved in the fog, and
+he heard the hard cracking of axe blows.
+
+Suddenly there was a hollow rumble of
+drums.  A distant bugle sang faintly.  Similar
+sounds, varying in strength, came from near and
+far over the forest.  The bugles called to each
+other like brazen gamecocks.  The near thunder
+of the regimental drums rolled.
+
+The body of men in the woods rustled.  There
+was a general uplifting of heads.  A murmuring
+of voices broke upon the air.  In it there was
+much bass of grumbling oaths.  Strange gods
+were addressed in condemnation of the early
+hours necessary to correct war.  An officer's
+peremptory tenor rang out and quickened the
+stiffened movement of the men.  The tangled
+limbs unraveled.  The corpse-hued faces were
+hidden behind fists that twisted slowly in the eye
+sockets.
+
+The youth sat up and gave vent to an enormous
+yawn.  "Thunder!" he remarked petulantly.
+He rubbed his eyes, and then putting up his hand
+felt carefully of the bandage over his wound.
+His friend, perceiving him to be awake, came
+from the fire.  "Well, Henry, ol' man, how do
+yeh feel this mornin'?" he demanded.
+
+The youth yawned again.  Then he puckered
+his mouth to a little pucker.  His head, in truth,
+felt precisely like a melon, and there was an un-
+pleasant sensation at his stomach.
+
+"Oh, Lord, I feel pretty bad," he said.
+
+"Thunder!" exclaimed the other.  "I hoped
+ye'd feel all right this mornin'.  Let's see th'
+bandage--I guess it's slipped."  He began to
+tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way until
+the youth exploded.
+
+"Gosh-dern it!" he said in sharp irritation;
+"you're the hangdest man I ever saw!  You
+wear muffs on your hands.  Why in good
+thunderation can't you be more easy?  I'd rather
+you'd stand off an' throw guns at it.  Now, go
+slow, an' don't act as if you was nailing down
+carpet."
+
+He glared with insolent command at his
+friend, but the latter answered soothingly.
+"Well, well, come now, an' git some grub," he
+said.  "Then, maybe, yeh'll feel better."
+
+At the fireside the loud young soldier
+watched over his comrade's wants with tender-
+ness and care.  He was very busy marshaling
+the little black vagabonds of tin cups and pour-
+ing into them the streaming, iron colored mixture
+from a small and sooty tin pail.  He had some
+fresh meat, which he roasted hurriedly upon a
+stick.  He sat down then and contemplated the
+youth's appetite with glee.
+
+The youth took note of a remarkable change
+in his comrade since those days of camp life upon
+the river bank.  He seemed no more to be con-
+tinually regarding the proportions of his personal
+prowess.  He was not furious at small words that
+pricked his conceits.  He was no more a loud
+young soldier.  There was about him now a
+fine reliance.  He showed a quiet belief in
+his purposes and his abilities.  And this in-
+ward confidence evidently enabled him to be
+indifferent to little words of other men aimed
+at him.
+
+The youth reflected.  He had been used to
+regarding his comrade as a blatant child with an
+audacity grown from his inexperience, thought-
+less, headstrong, jealous, and filled with a tinsel
+courage.  A swaggering babe accustomed to strut
+in his own dooryard.  The youth wondered
+where had been born these new eyes; when his
+comrade had made the great discovery that
+there were many men who would refuse to be
+subjected by him.  Apparently, the other had
+now climbed a peak of wisdom from which he
+could perceive himself as a very wee thing.  And
+the youth saw that ever after it would be easier
+to live in his friend's neighborhood.
+
+His comrade balanced his ebony coffee-cup on
+his knee.  "Well, Henry," he said, "what d'yeh
+think th' chances are?  D'yeh think we'll wal-
+lop 'em?"
+
+The youth considered for a moment.  "Day-
+b'fore-yesterday," he finally replied, with boldness,
+"you would 'a' bet you'd lick the hull kit-an'-
+boodle all by yourself."
+
+His friend looked a trifle amazed.  "Would
+I?" he asked.  He pondered.  "Well, perhaps I
+would," he decided at last.  He stared humbly at
+the fire.
+
+The youth was quite disconcerted at this sur-
+prising reception of his remarks.  "Oh, no, you
+wouldn't either," he said, hastily trying to re-
+trace.
+
+But the other made a deprecating gesture.
+"Oh, yeh needn't mind, Henry," he said.  "I be-
+lieve I was a pretty big fool in those days."  He
+spoke as after a lapse of years.
+
+There was a little pause.
+
+"All th' officers say we've got th' rebs in
+a pretty tight box," said the friend, clearing
+his throat in a commonplace way.  "They all
+seem t' think we've got 'em jest where we
+want 'em."
+
+"I don't know about that," the youth replied.
+"What I seen over on th' right makes me think
+it was th' other way about.  From where I was,
+it looked as if we was gettin' a good poundin'
+yestirday."
+
+"D'yeh think so?" inquired the friend.  "I
+thought we handled 'em pretty rough yestir-
+day."
+
+"Not a bit," said the youth.  "Why, lord,
+man, you didn't see nothing of the fight.  Why!"
+Then a sudden thought came to him.  "Oh!
+Jim Conklin's dead."
+
+His friend started.  "What?  Is he?  Jim
+Conklin?"
+
+The youth spoke slowly.  "Yes.  He's dead.
+Shot in th' side."
+
+"Yeh don't say so.  Jim Conklin. . . . poor
+cuss!"
+
+All about them were other small fires sur-
+rounded by men with their little black utensils.
+From one of these near came sudden sharp
+voices in a row.  It appeared that two light-
+footed soldiers had been teasing a huge, bearded
+man, causing him to spill coffee upon his blue
+knees.  The man had gone into a rage and had
+sworn comprehensively.  Stung by his language,
+his tormentors had immediately bristled at him
+with a great show of resenting unjust oaths.
+Possibly there was going to be a fight.
+
+The friend arose and went over to them, mak-
+ing pacific motions with his arms.  "Oh, here,
+now, boys, what's th' use?" he said.  "We'll
+be at th' rebs in less'n an hour.  What's th'
+good fightin' 'mong ourselves?"
+
+One of the light-footed soldiers turned upon
+him red-faced and violent.  "Yeh needn't come
+around here with yer preachin'.  I s'pose yeh
+don't approve 'a fightin' since Charley Morgan
+licked yeh; but I don't see what business this
+here is 'a yours or anybody else."
+
+"Well, it ain't," said the friend mildly.  "Still
+I hate t' see--"
+
+There was a tangled argument.
+
+"Well, he--," said the two, indicating their
+opponent with accusative forefingers.
+
+The huge soldier was quite purple with rage.
+He pointed at the two soldiers with his great
+hand, extended clawlike.  "Well, they--"
+
+But during this argumentative time the de-
+sire to deal blows seemed to pass, although they
+said much to each other.  Finally the friend re-
+turned to his old seat.  In a short while the
+three antagonists could be seen together in an
+amiable bunch.
+
+"Jimmie Rogers ses I'll have t' fight him
+after th' battle t'-day," announced the friend as
+he again seated himself.  "He ses he don't
+allow no interferin' in his business.  I hate t' see
+th' boys fightin' 'mong themselves."
+
+The youth laughed.  "Yer changed a good
+bit.  Yeh ain't at all like yeh was.  I remember
+when you an' that Irish feller--"  He stopped
+and laughed again.
+
+"No, I didn't use t' be that way," said his
+friend thoughtfully.  "That's true 'nough."
+
+"Well, I didn't mean--" began the youth.
+
+The friend made another deprecatory gesture.
+"Oh, yeh needn't mind, Henry."
+
+There was another little pause.
+
+"Th' reg'ment lost over half th' men yestir-
+day," remarked the friend eventually.  "I thought
+a course they was all dead, but, laws, they kep'
+a-comin' back last night until it seems, after all,
+we didn't lose but a few.  They'd been scattered
+all over, wanderin' around in th' woods, fightin'
+with other reg'ments, an' everything.  Jest like
+you done."
+
+"So?" said the youth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+THE regiment was standing at order arms at
+the side of a lane, waiting for the command to
+march, when suddenly the youth remembered
+the little packet enwrapped in a faded yellow
+envelope which the loud young soldier with lugu-
+brious words had intrusted to him.  It made him
+start.  He uttered an exclamation and turned
+toward his comrade.
+
+"Wilson!"
+
+"What?"
+
+His friend, at his side in the ranks, was thought-
+fully staring down the road.  From some cause
+his expression was at that moment very meek.
+The youth, regarding him with sidelong glances,
+felt impelled to change his purpose.  "Oh, noth-
+ing," he said.
+
+His friend turned his head in some surprise,
+"Why, what was yeh goin' t' say?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," repeated the youth.
+
+He resolved not to deal the little blow.  It
+
+148
+was sufficient that the fact made him glad.  It
+was not necessary to knock his friend on the head
+with the misguided packet.
+
+He had been possessed of much fear of his
+friend, for he saw how easily questionings could
+make holes in his feelings.  Lately, he had as-
+sured himself that the altered comrade would not
+tantalize him with a persistent curiosity, but he
+felt certain that during the first period of leisure
+his friend would ask him to relate his adventures
+of the previous day.
+
+He now rejoiced in the possession of a small
+weapon with which he could prostrate his com-
+rade at the first signs of a cross-examination.  He
+was master.  It would now be he who could
+laugh and shoot the shafts of derision.
+
+The friend had, in a weak hour, spoken with
+sobs of his own death.  He had delivered a mel-
+ancholy oration previous to his funeral, and had
+doubtless in the packet of letters, presented vari-
+ous keepsakes to relatives.  But he had not died,
+and thus he had delivered himself into the hands
+of the youth.
+
+The latter felt immensely superior to his
+friend, but he inclined to condescension.  He
+adopted toward him an air of patronizing good
+humor.
+
+His self-pride was now entirely restored.  In
+the shade of its flourishing growth he stood with
+braced and self-confident legs, and since nothing
+could now be discovered he did not shrink from
+an encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed
+no thoughts of his own to keep him from an
+attitude of manfulness.  He had performed his
+mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man.
+
+Indeed, when he remembered his fortunes of
+yesterday, and looked at them from a distance he
+began to see something fine there.  He had
+license to be pompous and veteranlike.
+
+His panting agonies of the past he put out of
+his sight.
+
+In the present, he declared to himself that it
+was only the doomed and the damned who roared
+with sincerity at circumstance.  Few but they
+ever did it.  A man with a full stomach and the
+respect of his fellows had no business to scold
+about anything that he might think to be wrong
+in the ways of the universe, or even with the
+ways of society.  Let the unfortunates rail; the
+others may play marbles.
+
+He did not give a great deal of thought to
+these battles that lay directly before him.  It was
+not essential that he should plan his ways in
+regard to them.  He had been taught that many
+obligations of a life were easily avoided.  The
+lessons of yesterday had been that retribution
+was a laggard and blind.  With these facts before
+him he did not deem it necessary that he should
+become feverish over the possibilities of the
+ensuing twenty-four hours.  He could leave
+much to chance.  Besides, a faith in himself had
+secretly blossomed.  There was a little flower of
+confidence growing within him.  He was now a
+man of experience.  He had been out among the
+dragons, he said, and he assured himself that they
+were not so hideous as he had imagined them.
+Also, they were inaccurate; they did not sting
+with precision.  A stout heart often defied, and
+defying, escaped.
+
+And, furthermore, how could they kill him
+who was the chosen of gods and doomed to
+greatness?
+
+He remembered how some of the men had
+run from the battle.  As he recalled their terror-
+struck faces he felt a scorn for them.  They had
+surely been more fleet and more wild than was
+absolutely necessary.  They were weak mortals.
+As for himself, he had fled with discretion and
+dignity.
+
+He was aroused from this reverie by his
+friend, who, having hitched about nervously and
+blinked at the trees for a time, suddenly coughed
+in an introductory way, and spoke.
+
+"Fleming!"
+
+"What?"
+
+The friend put his hand up to his mouth and
+coughed again.  He fidgeted in his jacket.
+
+"Well," he gulped, at last, "I guess yeh might
+as well give me back them letters."  Dark, prick-
+ling blood had flushed into his cheeks and brow.
+
+"All right, Wilson," said the youth.  He
+loosened two buttons of his coat, thrust in his
+hand, and brought forth the packet.  As he ex-
+tended it to his friend the latter's face was turned
+from him.
+
+He had been slow in the act of producing the
+packet because during it he had been trying to
+invent a remarkable comment upon the affair.
+He could conjure nothing of sufficient point.  He
+was compelled to allow his friend to escape
+unmolested with his packet.  And for this he
+took unto himself considerable credit.  It was a
+generous thing.
+
+His friend at his side seemed suffering great
+shame.  As he contemplated him, the youth felt
+his heart grow more strong and stout.  He had
+never been compelled to blush in such manner
+for his acts; he was an individual of extraordi-
+nary virtues.
+
+He reflected, with condescending pity: "Too
+bad!  Too bad!  The poor devil, it makes him
+feel tough!"
+
+After this incident, and as he reviewed the
+battle pictures he had seen, he felt quite com-
+petent to return home and make the hearts of
+the people glow with stories of war.  He could
+see himself in a room of warm tints telling tales
+to listeners.  He could exhibit laurels.  They
+were insignificant; still, in a district where
+laurels were infrequent, they might shine.
+
+He saw his gaping audience picturing him as
+the central figure in blazing scenes.  And he
+imagined the consternation and the ejaculations
+of his mother and the young lady at the seminary
+as they drank his recitals.  Their vague feminine
+formula for beloved ones doing brave deeds on
+the field of battle without risk of life would be
+destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+A SPUTTERING of musketry was always to be
+heard.  Later, the cannon had entered the dis-
+pute.  In the fog-filled air their voices made a
+thudding sound.  The reverberations were con-
+tinued.  This part of the world led a strange,
+battleful existence.
+
+The youth's regiment was marched to relieve
+a command that had lain long in some damp
+trenches.  The men took positions behind a curv-
+ing line of rifle pits that had been turned up, like
+a large furrow, along the line of woods.  Before
+them was a level stretch, peopled with short,
+deformed stumps.  From the woods beyond
+came the dull popping of the skirmishers and
+pickets, firing in the fog.  From the right came
+the noise of a terrific fracas.
+
+The men cuddled behind the small embank-
+ment and sat in easy attitudes awaiting their
+turn.  Many had their backs to the firing.  The
+youth's friend lay down, buried his face in his
+
+154
+arms, and almost instantly, it seemed, he was in a
+deep sleep.
+
+The youth leaned his breast against the
+brown dirt and peered over at the woods and up
+and down the line.  Curtains of trees interfered
+with his ways of vision.  He could see the low
+line of trenches but for a short distance.  A few
+idle flags were perched on the dirt hills.  Behind
+them were rows of dark bodies with a few heads
+sticking curiously over the top.
+
+Always the noise of skirmishers came from
+the woods on the front and left, and the din on
+the right had grown to frightful proportions.
+The guns were roaring without an instant's pause
+for breath.  It seemed that the cannon had come
+from all parts and were engaged in a stupendous
+wrangle.  It became impossible to make a sen-
+tence heard.
+
+The youth wished to launch a joke--a quota-
+tion from newspapers.  He desired to say, "All
+quiet on the Rappahannock," but the guns refused
+to permit even a comment upon their uproar.
+He never successfully concluded the sentence.
+But at last the guns stopped, and among the
+men in the rifle pits rumors again flew, like birds,
+but they were now for the most part black
+creatures who flapped their wings drearily near
+to the ground and refused to rise on any wings of
+hope.  The men's faces grew doleful from the
+interpreting of omens.  Tales of hesitation and
+uncertainty on the part of those high in place and
+responsibility came to their ears.  Stories of
+disaster were borne into their minds with many
+proofs.  This din of musketry on the right, grow-
+ing like a released genie of sound, expressed and
+emphasized the army's plight.
+
+The men were disheartened and began to
+mutter.  They made gestures expressive of the
+sentence: "Ah, what more can we do?"  And it
+could always be seen that they were bewildered
+by the alleged news and could not fully compre-
+hend a defeat.
+
+Before the gray mists had been totally ob-
+literated by the sun rays, the regiment was march-
+ing in a spread column that was retiring carefully
+through the woods.  The disordered, hurrying
+lines of the enemy could sometimes be seen down
+through the groves and little fields.  They were
+yelling, shrill and exultant.
+
+At this sight the youth forgot many personal
+matters and became greatly enraged.  He ex-
+ploded in loud sentences.  "B'jiminey, we're
+generaled by a lot 'a lunkheads."
+
+"More than one feller has said that t'-day,"
+observed a man.
+
+His friend, recently aroused, was still very
+drowsy.  He looked behind him until his mind
+took in the meaning of the movement.  Then he
+sighed.  "Oh, well, I s'pose we got licked," he
+remarked sadly.
+
+The youth had a thought that it would not be
+handsome for him to freely condemn other men.
+He made an attempt to restrain himself, but the
+words upon his tongue were too bitter.  He
+presently began a long and intricate denunciation
+of the commander of the forces.
+
+"Mebbe, it wa'n't all his fault--not all to-
+gether.  He did th' best he knowed.  It's our
+luck t' git licked often," said his friend in a weary
+tone.  He was trudging along with stooped
+shoulders and shifting eyes like a man who has
+been caned and kicked.
+
+"Well, don't we fight like the devil?  Don't
+we do all that men can?" demanded the youth
+loudly.
+
+He was secretly dumfounded at this sentiment
+when it came from his lips.  For a moment his
+face lost its valor and he looked guiltily about
+him.  But no one questioned his right to deal in
+such words, and presently he recovered his air
+of courage.  He went on to repeat a statement
+he had heard going from group to group at the
+camp that morning.  "The brigadier said he
+never saw a new reg'ment fight the way we
+fought yestirday, didn't he?  And we didn't do
+better than many another reg'ment, did we?
+Well, then, you can't say it's th' army's fault, can
+you?"
+
+In his reply, the friend's voice was stern.  "'A
+course not," he said.  "No man dare say we
+don't fight like th' devil.  No man will ever dare
+say it.  Th' boys fight like hell-roosters.  But
+still--still, we don't have no luck."
+
+"Well, then, if we fight like the devil an'
+don't ever whip, it must be the general's fault,"
+said the youth grandly and decisively.  "And I
+don't see any sense in fighting and fighting and
+fighting, yet always losing through some derned
+old lunkhead of a general."
+
+A sarcastic man who was tramping at the
+youth's side, then spoke lazily.  "Mebbe yeh
+think yeh fit th' hull battle yestirday, Fleming,"
+he remarked.
+
+The speech pierced the youth.  Inwardly he
+was reduced to an abject pulp by these chance
+words.  His legs quaked privately.  He cast a
+frightened glance at the sarcastic man.
+
+"Why, no," he hastened to say in a concili-
+ating voice, "I don't think I fought the whole
+battle yesterday."
+
+But the other seemed innocent of any deeper
+meaning.  Apparently, he had no information.
+It was merely his habit.  "Oh!" he replied in the
+same tone of calm derision.
+
+The youth, nevertheless, felt a threat.  His
+mind shrank from going near to the danger, and
+thereafter he was silent.  The significance of the
+sarcastic man's words took from him all loud
+moods that would make him appear prominent.
+He became suddenly a modest person.
+
+There was low-toned talk among the troops.
+The officers were impatient and snappy, their
+countenances clouded with the tales of misfor-
+tune.  The troops, sifting through the forest,
+were sullen.  In the youth's company once a
+man's laugh rang out.  A dozen soldiers turned
+their faces quickly toward him and frowned with
+vague displeasure.
+
+The noise of firing dogged their footsteps.
+Sometimes, it seemed to be driven a little way,
+but it always returned again with increased
+insolence.  The men muttered and cursed,
+throwing black looks in its direction.
+
+In a clear space the troops were at last halted.
+Regiments and brigades, broken and detached
+through their encounters with thickets, grew
+together again and lines were faced toward the
+pursuing bark of the enemy's infantry.
+
+This noise, following like the yellings of eager,
+metallic hounds, increased to a loud and joyous
+burst, and then, as the sun went serenely up the
+sky, throwing illuminating rays into the gloomy
+thickets, it broke forth into prolonged pealings.
+The woods began to crackle as if afire.
+
+"Whoop-a-dadee," said a man, "here we are!
+Everybody fightin'.  Blood an' destruction."
+
+"I was willin' t' bet they'd attack as soon as
+th' sun got fairly up," savagely asserted the
+lieutenant who commanded the youth's company.
+He jerked without mercy at his little mustache.
+He strode to and fro with dark dignity in the
+rear of his men, who were lying down behind
+whatever protection they had collected.
+
+A battery had trundled into position in the
+rear and was thoughtfully shelling the distance.
+The regiment, unmolested as yet, awaited the
+moment when the gray shadows of the woods
+before them should be slashed by the lines of
+flame.  There was much growling and swearing.
+
+"Good Gawd," the youth grumbled, "we're
+always being chased around like rats!  It makes
+me sick.  Nobody seems to know where we go
+or why we go.  We just get fired around from
+pillar to post and get licked here and get licked
+there, and nobody knows what it's done for.  It
+makes a man feel like a damn' kitten in a bag.
+Now, I'd like to know what the eternal thunders
+we was marched into these woods for anyhow,
+
+
+THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE 161
+
+unless it was to give the rebs a regular pot shot
+at us.  We came in here and got our legs all
+tangled up in these cussed briers, and then we
+begin to fight and the rebs had an easy time of it.
+Don't tell me it's just luck!  I know better.  It's
+this derned old--"
+
+The friend seemed jaded, but he interrupted
+his comrade with a voice of calm confidence.
+"It'll turn out all right in th' end," he said.
+
+"Oh, the devil it will!  You always talk like a
+dog-hanged parson.  Don't tell me!  I know--"
+
+At this time there was an interposition by the
+savage-minded lieutenant, who was obliged to
+vent some of his inward dissatisfaction upon his
+men.  "You boys shut right up!  There no
+need 'a your wastin' your breath in long-winded
+arguments about this an' that an' th' other.
+You've been jawin' like a lot 'a old hens.  All
+you've got t' do is to fight, an' you'll get plenty 'a
+that t' do in about ten minutes.  Less talkin' an'
+more fightin' is what's best for you boys.  I never
+saw sech gabbling jackasses."
+
+He paused, ready to pounce upon any man
+who might have the temerity to reply.  No words
+being said, he resumed his dignified pacing.
+
+"There's too much chin music an' too little
+fightin' in this war, anyhow," he said to them,
+turning his head for a final remark.
+
+The day had grown more white, until the sun
+shed his full radiance upon the thronged forest.
+A sort of a gust of battle came sweeping toward
+that part of the line where lay the youth's regi-
+ment.  The front shifted a trifle to meet it square-
+ly.  There was a wait.  In this part of the field
+there passed slowly the intense moments that pre-
+cede the tempest.
+
+A single rifle flashed in a thicket before the
+regiment.  In an instant it was joined by many
+others.  There was a mighty song of clashes and
+crashes that went sweeping through the woods.
+The guns in the rear, aroused and enraged by
+shells that had been thrown burlike at them,
+suddenly involved themselves in a hideous alter-
+cation with another band of guns.  The battle
+roar settled to a rolling thunder, which was a
+single, long explosion.
+
+In the regiment there was a peculiar kind of
+hesitation denoted in the attitudes of the men.
+They were worn, exhausted, having slept but lit-
+tle and labored much.  They rolled their eyes
+toward the advancing battle as they stood await-
+ing the shock.  Some shrank and flinched.  They
+stood as men tied to stakes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+THIS advance of the enemy had seemed to the
+youth like a ruthless hunting.  He began to fume
+with rage and exasperation.  He beat his foot
+upon the ground, and scowled with hate at the
+swirling smoke that was approaching like a phan-
+tom flood.  There was a maddening quality in
+this seeming resolution of the foe to give him no
+rest, to give him no time to sit down and think.
+Yesterday he had fought and had fled rapidly.
+There had been many adventures.  For to-day he
+felt that he had earned opportunities for contem-
+plative repose.  He could have enjoyed portraying
+to uninitiated listeners various scenes at which he
+had been a witness or ably discussing the pro-
+cesses of war with other proved men.  Too it was
+important that he should have time for physical
+recuperation.  He was sore and stiff from his ex-
+periences.  He had received his fill of all exer-
+tions, and he wished to rest.
+
+But those other men seemed never to grow
+weary; they were fighting with their old speed.
+
+163
+He had a wild hate for the relentless foe.  Yester-
+day, when he had imagined the universe to be
+against him, he had hated it, little gods and big
+gods; to-day he hated the army of the foe with
+the same great hatred.  He was not going to be
+badgered of his life, like a kitten chased by boys,
+he said.  It was not well to drive men into final
+corners; at those moments they could all develop
+teeth and claws.
+
+He leaned and spoke into his friend's ear.  He
+menaced the woods with a gesture.  "If they
+keep on chasing us, by Gawd, they'd better watch
+out.  Can't stand TOO much."
+
+The friend twisted his head and made a calm
+reply.  "If they keep on a-chasin' us they'll drive
+us all inteh th' river."
+
+The youth cried out savagely at this state-
+ment.  He crouched behind a little tree, with his
+eyes burning hatefully and his teeth set in a cur-
+like snarl.  The awkward bandage was still about
+his head, and upon it, over his wound, there was
+a spot of dry blood.  His hair was wondrously
+tousled, and some straggling, moving locks hung
+over the cloth of the bandage down toward his
+forehead.  His jacket and shirt were open at the
+throat, and exposed his young bronzed neck.
+There could be seen spasmodic gulpings at his
+throat.
+
+His fingers twined nervously about his rifle.
+He wished that it was an engine of annihilating
+power.  He felt that he and his companions were
+being taunted and derided from sincere convic-
+tions that they were poor and puny.  His knowl-
+edge of his inability to take vengeance for it made
+his rage into a dark and stormy specter, that pos-
+sessed him and made him dream of abominable
+cruelties.  The tormentors were flies sucking in-
+solently at his blood, and he thought that he would
+have given his life for a revenge of seeing their
+faces in pitiful plights.
+
+The winds of battle had swept all about the
+regiment, until the one rifle, instantly followed by
+others, flashed in its front.  A moment later the
+regiment roared forth its sudden and valiant re-
+tort.  A dense wall of smoke settled slowly down.
+It was furiously slit and slashed by the knifelike
+fire from the rifles.
+
+To the youth the fighters resembled animals
+tossed for a death struggle into a dark pit.  There
+was a sensation that he and his fellows, at bay,
+were pushing back, always pushing fierce on-
+slaughts of creatures who were slippery.  Their
+beams of crimson seemed to get no purchase upon
+the bodies of their foes; the latter seemed to evade
+them with ease, and come through, between,
+around, and about with unopposed skill.
+
+When, in a dream, it occurred to the youth
+that his rifle was an impotent stick, he lost sense
+of everything but his hate, his desire to smash
+into pulp the glittering smile of victory which he
+could feel upon the faces of his enemies.
+
+The blue smoke-swallowed line curled and
+writhed like a snake stepped upon.  It swung its
+ends to and fro in an agony of fear and rage.
+
+The youth was not conscious that he was erect
+upon his feet.  He did not know the direction of
+the ground.  Indeed, once he even lost the habit
+of balance and fell heavily.  He was up again
+immediately.  One thought went through the
+chaos of his brain at the time.  He wondered if
+he had fallen because he had been shot.  But the
+suspicion flew away at once.  He did not think
+more of it.
+
+He had taken up a first position behind the lit-
+tle tree, with a direct determination to hold it
+against the world.  He had not deemed it possi-
+ble that his army could that day succeed, and
+from this he felt the ability to fight harder.  But
+the throng had surged in all ways, until he lost
+directions and locations, save that he knew where
+lay the enemy.
+
+The flames bit him, and the hot smoke broiled
+his skin.  His rifle barrel grew so hot that ordi-
+narily he could not have borne it upon his palms;
+but he kept on stuffing cartridges into it, and
+pounding them with his clanking, bending ram-
+rod.  If he aimed at some changing form through
+the smoke, he pulled his trigger with a fierce
+grunt, as if he were dealing a blow of the fist with
+all his strength.
+
+When the enemy seemed falling back before
+him and his fellows, he went instantly forward,
+like a dog who, seeing his foes lagging, turns and
+insists upon being pursued.  And when he was
+compelled to retire again, he did it slowly, sul-
+lenly, taking steps of wrathful despair.
+
+Once he, in his intent hate, was almost alone,
+and was firing, when all those near him had ceased.
+He was so engrossed in his occupation that he
+was not aware of a lull.
+
+He was recalled by a hoarse laugh and a sen-
+tence that came to his ears in a voice of contempt
+and amazement.  "Yeh infernal fool, don't yeh
+know enough t' quit when there ain't anything t'
+shoot at?  Good Gawd!"
+
+He turned then and, pausing with his rifle
+thrown half into position, looked at the blue line
+of his comrades.  During this moment of leisure
+they seemed all to be engaged in staring with
+astonishment at him.  They had become specta-
+tors.  Turning to the front again he saw, under
+the lifted smoke, a deserted ground.
+
+He looked bewildered for a moment.  Then
+there appeared upon the glazed vacancy of his
+eyes a diamond point of intelligence.  "Oh," he
+said, comprehending.
+
+He returned to his comrades and threw him-
+self upon the ground.  He sprawled like a man
+who had been thrashed.  His flesh seemed strange-
+ly on fire, and the sounds of the battle continued
+in his ears.  He groped blindly for his canteen.
+
+The lieutenant was crowing.  He seemed
+drunk with fighting.  He called out to the youth:
+"By heavens, if I had ten thousand wild cats like
+you I could tear th' stomach outa this war in
+less'n a week!"  He puffed out his chest with
+large dignity as he said it.
+
+Some of the men muttered and looked at the
+youth in awe-struck ways.  It was plain that as
+he had gone on loading and firing and cursing
+without the proper intermission, they had found
+time to regard him.  And they now looked upon
+him as a war devil.
+
+The friend came staggering to him.  There
+was some fright and dismay in his voice.  "Are yeh
+all right, Fleming?  Do yeh feel all right?  There
+ain't nothin' th' matter with yeh, Henry, is there?"
+
+"No," said the youth with difficulty.  His
+throat seemed full of knobs and burs.
+
+These incidents made the youth ponder.  It
+was revealed to him that he had been a barbarian,
+a beast.  He had fought like a pagan who de-
+fends his religion.  Regarding it, he saw that it
+was fine, wild, and, in some ways, easy.  He had
+been a tremendous figure, no doubt.  By this
+struggle he had overcome obstacles which he
+had admitted to be mountains.  They had fallen
+like paper peaks, and he was now what he called
+a hero.  And he had not been aware of the pro-
+cess.  He had slept and, awakening, found him-
+self a knight.
+
+He lay and basked in the occasional stares of
+his comrades.  Their faces were varied in de-
+grees of blackness from the burned powder.
+Some were utterly smudged.  They were reek-
+ing with perspiration, and their breaths came
+hard and wheezing.  And from these soiled ex-
+panses they peered at him.
+
+"Hot work!  Hot work!" cried the lieu-
+tenant deliriously.  He walked up and down,
+restless and eager.  Sometimes his voice could
+be heard in a wild, incomprehensible laugh.
+
+When he had a particularly profound thought
+upon the science of war he always unconsciously
+addressed himself to the youth.
+
+There was some grim rejoicing by the men.
+"By thunder, I bet this army'll never see another
+new reg'ment like us!"
+"You bet!"
+
+
+  "A dog, a woman, an' a walnut tree,
+   Th' more yeh beat 'em, th' better they be!
+
+That's like us."
+
+"Lost a piler men, they did.  If an' ol' woman
+swep' up th' woods she'd git a dustpanful."
+
+"Yes, an' if she'll come around ag'in in 'bout
+an' hour she'll git a pile more."
+
+The forest still bore its burden of clamor.
+From off under the trees came the rolling clatter
+of the musketry.  Each distant thicket seemed a
+strange porcupine with quills of flame.  A cloud
+of dark smoke, as from smoldering ruins, went
+up toward the sun now bright and gay in the
+blue, enameled sky.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+THE ragged line had respite for some min-
+utes, but during its pause the struggle in the
+forest became magnified until the trees seemed to
+quiver from the firing and the ground to shake
+from the rushing of the men.  The voices of the
+cannon were mingled in a long and interminable
+row.  It seemed difficult to live in such an atmos-
+phere.  The chests of the men strained for a bit
+of freshness, and their throats craved water.
+
+There was one shot through the body, who
+raised a cry of bitter lamentation when came this
+lull.  Perhaps he had been calling out during
+the fighting also, but at that time no one had
+heard him.  But now the men turned at the woe-
+ful complaints of him upon the ground.
+
+"Who is it?  Who is it?"
+
+"It's Jimmie Rogers.  Jimmie Rogers."
+
+When their eyes first encountered him there
+was a sudden halt, as if they feared to go near.
+He was thrashing about in the grass, twisting his
+
+171
+shuddering body into many strange postures.
+He was screaming loudly.  This instant's hesita-
+tion seemed to fill him with a tremendous, fantas-
+tic contempt, and he damned them in shrieked
+sentences.
+
+The youth's friend had a geographical illusion
+concerning a stream, and he obtained permission
+to go for some water.  Immediately canteens
+were showered upon him.  "Fill mine, will
+yeh?"  "Bring me some, too."  "And me, too."
+He departed, ladened.  The youth went with his
+friend, feeling a desire to throw his heated body
+onto the stream and, soaking there, drink quarts.
+
+They made a hurried search for the supposed
+stream, but did not find it.  "No water here,"
+said the youth.  They turned without delay and
+began to retrace their steps.
+
+From their position as they again faced to-
+ward the place of the fighting, they could of
+course comprehend a greater amount of the bat-
+tle than when their visions had been blurred by
+the hurling smoke of the line.  They could see
+dark stretches winding along the land, and on
+one cleared space there was a row of guns mak-
+ing gray clouds, which were filled with large
+flashes of orange-colored flame.  Over some foli-
+age they could see the roof of a house.  One win-
+dow, glowing a deep murder red, shone squarely
+through the leaves.  From the edifice a tall lean-
+ing tower of smoke went far into the sky.
+
+Looking over their own troops, they saw
+mixed masses slowly getting into regular form.
+The sunlight made twinkling points of the bright
+steel.  To the rear there was a glimpse of a dis-
+tant roadway as it curved over a slope.  It was
+crowded with retreating infantry.  From all the
+interwoven forest arose the smoke and bluster
+of the battle.  The air was always occupied by
+a blaring.
+
+Near where they stood shells were flip-flap-
+ping and hooting.  Occasional bullets buzzed in
+the air and spanged into tree trunks.  Wounded
+men and other stragglers were slinking through
+the woods.
+
+Looking down an aisle of the grove, the
+youth and his companion saw a jangling general
+and his staff almost ride upon a wounded man,
+who was crawling on his hands and knees.  The
+general reined strongly at his charger's opened
+and foamy mouth and guided it with dexterous
+horsemanship past the man.  The latter scram-
+bled in wild and torturing haste.  His strength
+evidently failed him as he reached a place of
+safety.  One of his arms suddenly weakened, and
+he fell, sliding over upon his back.  He lay
+stretched out, breathing gently.
+
+A moment later the small, creaking cavalcade
+was directly in front of the two soldiers.  An-
+other officer, riding with the skillful abandon of a
+cowboy, galloped his horse to a position directly
+before the general.  The two unnoticed foot sol-
+diers made a little show of going on, but they
+lingered near in the desire to overhear the con-
+versation.  Perhaps, they thought, some great
+inner historical things would be said.
+
+The general, whom the boys knew as the com-
+mander of their division, looked at the other
+officer and spoke coolly, as if he were criticising
+his clothes.  "Th' enemy's formin' over there for
+another charge," he said.  "It'll be directed
+against Whiterside, an' I fear they'll break
+through there unless we work like thunder t' stop
+them."
+
+The other swore at his restive horse, and then
+cleared his throat.  He made a gesture toward
+his cap.  "It'll be hell t' pay stoppin' them," he
+said shortly.
+
+"I presume so," remarked the general.  Then
+he began to talk rapidly and in a lower tone.  He
+frequently illustrated his words with a pointing
+finger.  The two infantrymen could hear nothing
+until finally he asked: "What troops can you
+spare?"
+
+The officer who rode like a cowboy reflected
+for an instant.  "Well," he said, "I had to order
+in th' 12th to help th' 76th, an' I haven't really got
+any.  But there's th' 304th.  They fight like a
+lot 'a mule drivers.  I can spare them best
+of any."
+
+The youth and his friend exchanged glances
+of astonishment.
+
+The general spoke sharply.  "Get 'em ready,
+then.  I'll watch developments from here, an'
+send you word when t' start them.  It'll happen
+in five minutes."
+
+As the other officer tossed his fingers toward
+his cap and wheeling his horse, started away, the
+general called out to him in a sober voice: "I
+don't believe many of your mule drivers will get
+back."
+
+The other shouted something in reply.  He
+smiled.
+
+With scared faces, the youth and his compan-
+ion hurried back to the line.
+
+These happenings had occupied an incredibly
+short time, yet the youth felt that in them he had
+been made aged.  New eyes were given to him.
+And the most startling thing was to learn sud-
+denly that he was very insignificant.  The officer
+spoke of the regiment as if he referred to a
+broom.  Some part of the woods needed sweep-
+ing, perhaps, and he merely indicated a broom in
+a tone properly indifferent to its fate.  It was
+war, no doubt, but it appeared strange.
+
+As the two boys approached the line, the lieu-
+tenant perceived them and swelled with wrath.
+"Fleming--Wilson--how long does it take yeh
+to git water, anyhow--where yeh been to."
+
+But his oration ceased as he saw their eyes,
+which were large with great tales.  "We're goin'
+t' charge--we're goin' t' charge!" cried the
+youth's friend, hastening with his news.
+
+"Charge?" said the lieutenant.  "Charge?
+Well, b'Gawd!  Now, this is real fightin'."  Over
+his soiled countenance there went a boastful
+smile.  "Charge?  Well, b'Gawd!"
+
+A little group of soldiers surrounded the two
+youths.  "Are we, sure 'nough?  Well, I'll be
+derned!  Charge?  What fer?  What at?  Wil-
+son, you're lyin'."
+
+"I hope to die," said the youth, pitching his
+tones to the key of angry remonstrance.  "Sure
+as shooting, I tell you."
+
+And his friend spoke in re-enforcement.  "Not
+by a blame sight, he ain't lyin'.  We heard 'em
+talkin'."
+
+They caught sight of two mounted figures a
+short distance from them.  One was the colonel
+of the regiment and the other was the officer who
+had received orders from the commander of the
+division.  They were gesticulating at each other.
+The soldier, pointing at them, interpreted the
+scene.
+
+One man had a final objection: "How could
+yeh hear 'em talkin'?"  But the men, for a large
+part, nodded, admitting that previously the two
+friends had spoken truth.
+
+They settled back into reposeful attitudes
+with airs of having accepted the matter.  And
+they mused upon it, with a hundred varieties of
+expression.  It was an engrossing thing to think
+about.  Many tightened their belts carefully and
+hitched at their trousers.
+
+A moment later the officers began to bustle
+among the men, pushing them into a more com-
+pact mass and into a better alignment.  They
+chased those that straggled and fumed at a few
+men who seemed to show by their attitudes that
+they had decided to remain at that spot.  They
+were like critical shepherds struggling with sheep.
+
+Presently, the regiment seemed to draw itself
+up and heave a deep breath.  None of the men's
+faces were mirrors of large thoughts.  The sol-
+diers were bended and stooped like sprinters be-
+fore a signal.  Many pairs of glinting eyes peered
+from the grimy faces toward the curtains of the
+deeper woods.  They seemed to be engaged in
+deep calculations of time and distance.
+
+They were surrounded by the noises of the
+monstrous altercation between the two armies.
+The world was fully interested in other matters.
+Apparently, the regiment had its small affair to
+itself.
+
+The youth, turning, shot a quick, inquiring
+glance at his friend.  The latter returned to him
+the same manner of look.  They were the only
+ones who possessed an inner knowledge.  "Mule
+drivers--hell t' pay--don't believe many will get
+back."  It was an ironical secret.  Still, they saw
+no hesitation in each other's faces, and they nod-
+ded a mute and unprotesting assent when a shag-
+gy man near them said in a meek voice: "We'll
+git swallowed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+THE youth stared at the land in front of him.
+Its foliages now seemed to veil powers and hor-
+rors.  He was unaware of the machinery of orders
+that started the charge, although from the cor-
+ners of his eyes he saw an officer, who looked
+like a boy a-horseback, come galloping, waving
+his hat.  Suddenly he felt a straining and heaving
+among the men.  The line fell slowly forward
+like a toppling wall, and, with a convulsive gasp
+that was intended for a cheer, the regiment began
+its journey.  The youth was pushed and jostled
+for a moment before he understood the move-
+ment at all, but directly he lunged ahead and
+began to run.
+
+He fixed his eye upon a distant and promi-
+nent clump of trees where he had concluded the
+enemy were to be met, and he ran toward it as
+toward a goal.  He had believed throughout that
+it was a mere question of getting over an unpleas-
+ant matter as quickly as possible, and he ran
+
+179
+desperately, as if pursued for a murder.  His
+face was drawn hard and tight with the stress of
+his endeavor.  His eyes were fixed in a lurid
+glare.  And with his soiled and disordered dress,
+his red and inflamed features surmounted by the
+dingy rag with its spot of blood, his wildly
+swinging rifle and banging accouterments, he
+looked to be an insane soldier.
+
+As the regiment swung from its position out
+into a cleared space the woods and thickets be-
+fore it awakened.  Yellow flames leaped toward
+it from many directions.  The forest made a tre-
+mendous objection.
+
+The line lurched straight for a moment.  Then
+the right wing swung forward; it in turn was
+surpassed by the left.  Afterward the center
+careered to the front until the regiment was a
+wedge-shaped mass, but an instant later the
+opposition of the bushes, trees, and uneven places
+on the ground split the command and scattered
+it into detached clusters.
+
+The youth, light-footed, was unconsciously in
+advance.  His eyes still kept note of the clump of
+trees.  From all places near it the clannish yell
+of the enemy could be heard.  The little flames
+of rifles leaped from it.  The song of the bullets
+was in the air and shells snarled among the tree-
+tops.  One tumbled directly into the middle of a
+hurrying group and exploded in crimson fury.
+There was an instant's spectacle of a man, almost
+over it, throwing up his hands to shield his eyes.
+
+Other men, punched by bullets, fell in gro-
+tesque agonies.  The regiment left a coherent
+trail of bodies.
+
+They had passed into a clearer atmosphere.
+There was an effect like a revelation in the new
+appearance of the landscape.  Some men work-
+ing madly at a battery were plain to them, and
+the opposing infantry's lines were defined by the
+gray walls and fringes of smoke.
+
+It seemed to the youth that he saw every-
+thing.  Each blade of the green grass was bold
+and clear.  He thought that he was aware of
+every change in the thin, transparent vapor that
+floated idly in sheets.  The brown or gray trunks
+of the trees showed each roughness of their sur-
+faces.  And the men of the regiment, with their
+starting eyes and sweating faces, running madly,
+or falling, as if thrown headlong, to queer,
+heaped-up corpses--all were comprehended.  His
+mind took a mechanical but firm impression, so
+that afterward everything was pictured and ex-
+plained to him, save why he himself was there.
+
+But there was a frenzy made from this furious
+rush.  The men, pitching forward insanely, had
+burst into cheerings, moblike and barbaric, but
+tuned in strange keys that can arouse the dullard
+and the stoic.  It made a mad enthusiasm that, it
+seemed, would be incapable of checking itself
+before granite and brass.  There was the deli-
+rium that encounters despair and death, and is
+heedless and blind to the odds.  It is a temporary
+but sublime absence of selfishness.  And because
+it was of this order was the reason, perhaps, why
+the youth wondered, afterward, what reasons he
+could have had for being there.
+
+Presently the straining pace ate up the ener-
+gies of the men.  As if by agreement, the leaders
+began to slacken their speed.  The volleys di-
+rected against them had had a seeming windlike
+effect.  The regiment snorted and blew.  Among
+some stolid trees it began to falter and hesitate.
+The men, staring intently, began to wait for some
+of the distant walls of smoke to move and dis-
+close to them the scene.  Since much of their
+strength and their breath had vanished, they re-
+turned to caution.  They were become men
+again.
+
+The youth had a vague belief that he had run
+miles, and he thought, in a way, that he was now
+in some new and unknown land.
+
+The moment the regiment ceased its advance
+the protesting splutter of musketry became a
+steadied roar.  Long and accurate fringes of
+smoke spread out.  From the top of a small hill
+came level belchings of yellow flame that caused
+an inhuman whistling in the air.
+
+The men, halted, had opportunity to see some
+of their comrades dropping with moans and
+shrieks.  A few lay under foot, still or wailing.
+And now for an instant the men stood, their rifles
+slack in their hands, and watched the regiment
+dwindle.  They appeared dazed and stupid.  This
+spectacle seemed to paralyze them, overcome
+them with a fatal fascination.  They stared wood-
+enly at the sights, and, lowering their eyes, looked
+from face to face.  It was a strange pause, and a
+strange silence.
+
+Then, above the sounds of the outside commo-
+tion, arose the roar of the lieutenant.  He strode
+suddenly forth, his infantile features black with
+rage.
+
+"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed.  "Come
+on!  Yeh can't stay here.  Yeh must come on."
+He said more, but much of it could not be under-
+stood.
+
+He started rapidly forward, with his head
+turned toward the men.  "Come on," he was
+shouting.  The men stared with blank and yokel-
+like eyes at him.  He was obliged to halt and
+retrace his steps.  He stood then with his back
+to the enemy and delivered gigantic curses into
+the faces of the men.  His body vibrated from
+the weight and force of his imprecations.  And
+he could string oaths with the facility of a maiden
+who strings beads.
+
+The friend of the youth aroused.  Lurching
+suddenly forward and dropping to his knees, he
+fired an angry shot at the persistent woods.  This
+action awakened the men.  They huddled no
+more like sheep.  They seemed suddenly to be-
+think them of their weapons, and at once com-
+menced firing.  Belabored by their officers, they
+began to move forward.  The regiment, involved
+like a cart involved in mud and muddle, started
+unevenly with many jolts and jerks.  The men
+stopped now every few paces to fire and load,
+and in this manner moved slowly on from trees
+to trees.
+
+The flaming opposition in their front grew
+with their advance until it seemed that all for-
+ward ways were barred by the thin leaping
+tongues, and off to the right an ominous demon-
+stration could sometimes be dimly discerned.
+The smoke lately generated was in confusing
+clouds that made it difficult for the regiment to
+proceed with intelligence.  As he passed through
+each curling mass the youth wondered what
+would confront him on the farther side.
+
+The command went painfully forward until an
+open space interposed between them and the
+lurid lines.  Here, crouching and cowering be-
+hind some trees, the men clung with desperation,
+as if threatened by a wave.  They looked wild-
+eyed, and as if amazed at this furious disturbance
+they had stirred.  In the storm there was an
+ironical expression of their importance.  The
+faces of the men, too, showed a lack of a certain
+feeling of responsibility for being there.  It was
+as if they had been driven.  It was the dominant
+animal failing to remember in the supreme mo-
+ments the forceful causes of various superficial
+qualities.  The whole affair seemed incompre-
+hensible to many of them.
+
+As they halted thus the lieutenant again be-
+gan to bellow profanely.  Regardless of the vin-
+dictive threats of the bullets, he went about
+coaxing, berating, and bedamning.  His lips,
+that were habitually in a soft and childlike curve,
+were now writhed into unholy contortions.  He
+swore by all possible deities.
+
+Once he grabbed the youth by the arm.
+"Come on, yeh lunkhead!" he roared.  "Come
+on!  We'll all git killed if we stay here.  We've
+on'y got t' go across that lot.  An' then"--the
+remainder of his idea disappeared in a blue haze
+of curses.
+
+The youth stretched forth his arm.  "Cross
+there?"  His mouth was puckered in doubt and
+awe.
+
+"Certainly.  Jest 'cross th' lot!  We can't
+stay here," screamed the lieutenant.  He poked
+his face close to the youth and waved his ban-
+daged hand.  "Come on!"  Presently he grap-
+pled with him as if for a wrestling bout.  It was
+as if he planned to drag the youth by the ear on
+to the assault.
+
+The private felt a sudden unspeakable indig-
+nation against his officer.  He wrenched fiercely
+and shook him off.
+
+"Come on herself, then," he yelled.  There
+was a bitter challenge in his voice.
+
+They galloped together down the regimental
+front.  The friend scrambled after them.  In front
+of the colors the three men began to bawl:
+"Come on! come on!"  They danced and gy-
+rated like tortured savages.
+
+The flag, obedient to these appeals, bended its
+glittering form and swept toward them.  The
+men wavered in indecision for a moment, and then
+with a long, wailful cry the dilapidated regiment
+surged forward and began its new journey.
+
+Over the field went the scurrying mass.  It
+was a handful of men splattered into the faces of
+the enemy.  Toward it instantly sprang the yel-
+low tongues.  A vast quantity of blue smoke
+hung before them.  A mighty banging made ears
+valueless.
+
+The youth ran like a madman to reach the
+woods before a bullet could discover him.  He
+ducked his head low, like a football player.  In
+his haste his eyes almost closed, and the scene was
+a wild blur.  Pulsating saliva stood at the corners
+of his mouth.
+
+Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was
+born a love, a despairing fondness for this flag
+which was near him.  It was a creation of beauty
+and invulnerability.  It was a goddess, radiant,
+that bended its form with an imperious gesture to
+him.  It was a woman, red and white, hating and
+loving, that called him with the voice of his
+hopes.  Because no harm could come to it he en-
+dowed it with power.  He kept near, as if it
+could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry
+went from his mind.
+
+In the mad scramble he was aware that the
+color sergeant flinched suddenly, as if struck by a
+bludgeon.  He faltered, and then became motion-
+less, save for his quivering knees.
+
+He made a spring and a clutch at the pole.
+At the same instant his friend grabbed it from the
+other side.  They jerked at it, stout and furious,
+but the color sergeant was dead, and the corpse
+would not relinquish its trust.  For a moment
+there was a grim encounter.  The dead man,
+swinging with bended back, seemed to be obsti-
+nately tugging, in ludicrous and awful ways, for
+the possession of the flag.
+
+It was past in an instant of time.  They
+wrenched the flag furiously from the dead man,
+and, as they turned again, the corpse swayed for-
+ward with bowed head.  One arm swung high,
+and the curved hand fell with heavy protest on
+the friend's unheeding shoulder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+WHEN the two youths turned with the flag
+they saw that much of the regiment had crum-
+bled away, and the dejected remnant was coming
+slowly back.  The men, having hurled themselves
+in projectile fashion, had presently expended their
+forces.  They slowly retreated, with their faces
+still toward the spluttering woods, and their hot
+rifles still replying to the din.  Several officers
+were giving orders, their voices keyed to screams.
+
+"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the lieutenant was
+asking in a sarcastic howl.  And a red-bearded
+officer, whose voice of triple brass could plainly
+be heard, was commanding: "Shoot into 'em!
+Shoot into 'em, Gawd damn their souls!"  There
+was a melee of screeches, in which the men were
+ordered to do conflicting and impossible things.
+
+The youth and his friend had a small scuffle
+over the flag.  "Give it t' me!"  "No, let me
+keep it!"  Each felt satisfied with the other's pos-
+session of it, but each felt bound to declare, by
+
+189
+an offer to carry the emblem, his willingness to
+further risk himself.  The youth roughly pushed
+his friend away.
+
+The regiment fell back to the stolid trees.
+There it halted for a moment to blaze at some
+dark forms that had begun to steal upon its track.
+Presently it resumed its march again, curving
+among the tree trunks.  By the time the depleted
+regiment had again reached the first open space
+they were receiving a fast and merciless fire.
+There seemed to be mobs all about them.
+
+The greater part of the men, discouraged,
+their spirits worn by the turmoil, acted as if
+stunned.  They accepted the pelting of the bul-
+lets with bowed and weary heads.  It was of no
+purpose to strive against walls.  It was of no use
+to batter themselves against granite.  And from
+this consciousness that they had attempted to
+conquer an unconquerable thing there seemed
+to arise a feeling that they had been betrayed.
+They glowered with bent brows, but danger-
+ously, upon some of the officers, more particu-
+larly upon the red-bearded one with the voice of
+triple brass.
+
+However, the rear of the regiment was fringed
+with men, who continued to shoot irritably at the
+advancing foes.  They seemed resolved to make
+every trouble.  The youthful lieutenant was per-
+haps the last man in the disordered mass.  His
+forgotten back was toward the enemy.  He had
+been shot in the arm.  It hung straight and rigid.
+Occasionally he would cease to remember it, and
+be about to emphasize an oath with a sweeping
+gesture.  The multiplied pain caused him to
+swear with incredible power.
+
+The youth went along with slipping, uncertain
+feet.  He kept watchful eyes rearward.  A scowl
+of mortification and rage was upon his face.  He
+had thought of a fine revenge upon the officer
+who had referred to him and his fellows as mule
+drivers.  But he saw that it could not come to
+pass.  His dreams had collapsed when the mule
+drivers, dwindling rapidly, had wavered and hes-
+itated on the little clearing, and then had recoiled.
+And now the retreat of the mule drivers was a
+march of shame to him.
+
+A dagger-pointed gaze from without his black-
+ened face was held toward the enemy, but his
+greater hatred was riveted upon the man, who,
+not knowing him, had called him a mule driver.
+
+When he knew that he and his comrades had
+failed to do anything in successful ways that might
+bring the little pangs of a kind of remorse upon
+the officer, the youth allowed the rage of the baf-
+fled to possess him.  This cold officer upon a
+monument, who dropped epithets unconcernedly
+down, would be finer as a dead man, he thought.
+So grievous did he think it that he could
+never possess the secret right to taunt truly in
+answer.
+
+He had pictured red letters of curious revenge.
+"We ARE mule drivers, are we?"  And now he
+was compelled to throw them away.
+
+He presently wrapped his heart in the cloak
+of his pride and kept the flag erect.  He ha-
+rangued his fellows, pushing against their chests
+with his free hand.  To those he knew well he
+made frantic appeals, beseeching them by name.
+Between him and the lieutenant, scolding and
+near to losing his mind with rage, there was felt a
+subtle fellowship and equality.  They supported
+each other in all manner of hoarse, howling pro-
+tests.
+
+But the regiment was a machine run down.
+The two men babbled at a forceless thing.  The
+soldiers who had heart to go slowly were con-
+tinually shaken in their resolves by a knowledge
+that comrades were slipping with speed back to
+the lines.  It was difficult to think of reputation
+when others were thinking of skins.  Wounded
+men were left crying on this black journey.
+
+The smoke fringes and flames blustered al-
+ways.  The youth, peering once through a sud-
+den rift in a cloud, saw a brown mass of troops,
+interwoven and magnified until they appeared to
+be thousands.  A fierce-hued flag flashed before
+his vision.
+
+Immediately, as if the uplifting of the smoke
+had been prearranged, the discovered troops
+burst into a rasping yell, and a hundred flames
+jetted toward the retreating band.  A rolling
+gray cloud again interposed as the regiment dog-
+gedly replied.  The youth had to depend again
+upon his misused ears, which were trembling
+and buzzing from the melee of musketry and yells.
+
+The way seemed eternal.  In the clouded haze
+men became panicstricken with the thought that
+the regiment had lost its path, and was proceed-
+ing in a perilous direction.  Once the men who
+headed the wild procession turned and came push-
+ing back against their comrades, screaming that
+they were being fired upon from points which
+they had considered to be toward their own lines.
+At this cry a hysterical fear and dismay beset the
+troops.  A soldier, who heretofore had been am-
+bitious to make the regiment into a wise little
+band that would proceed calmly amid the huge-
+appearing difficulties, suddenly sank down and
+buried his face in his arms with an air of bowing
+to a doom.  From another a shrill lamentation
+rang out filled with profane allusions to a general.
+Men ran hither and thither, seeking with their
+eyes roads of escape.  With serene regularity, as
+if controlled by a schedule, bullets buffed into
+men.
+
+The youth walked stolidly into the midst of
+the mob, and with his flag in his hands took a
+stand as if he expected an attempt to push him to
+the ground.  He unconsciously assumed the atti-
+tude of the color bearer in the fight of the pre-
+ceding day.  He passed over his brow a hand
+that trembled.  His breath did not come freely.
+He was choking during this small wait for the
+crisis.
+
+His friend came to him.  "Well, Henry, I
+guess this is good-by--John."
+
+"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied the
+youth, and he would not look at the other.
+
+The officers labored like politicians to beat
+the mass into a proper circle to face the men-
+aces.  The ground was uneven and torn.  The
+men curled into depressions and fitted them-
+selves snugly behind whatever would frustrate
+a bullet.
+
+The youth noted with vague surprise that the
+lieutenant was standing mutely with his legs far
+apart and his sword held in the manner of a cane.
+The youth wondered what had happened to his
+vocal organs that he no more cursed.
+
+There was something curious in this little in-
+tent pause of the lieutenant.  He was like a babe
+which, having wept its fill, raises its eyes and
+fixes upon a distant toy.  He was engrossed in
+this contemplation, and the soft under lip quivered
+from self-whispered words.
+
+Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly.
+The men, hiding from the bullets, waited anx-
+iously for it to lift and disclose the plight of the
+regiment.
+
+The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the
+eager voice of the youthful lieutenant bawling
+out: "Here they come!  Right onto us,
+b'Gawd!"  His further words were lost in a roar
+of wicked thunder from the men's rifles.
+
+The youth's eyes had instantly turned in the
+direction indicated by the awakened and agitated
+lieutenant, and he had seen the haze of treachery
+disclosing a body of soldiers of the enemy.  They
+were so near that he could see their features.
+There was a recognition as he looked at the types
+of faces.  Also he perceived with dim amazement
+that their uniforms were rather gay in effect,
+being light gray, accented with a brilliant-hued
+facing.  Too, the clothes seemed new.
+
+These troops had apparently been going for-
+ward with caution, their rifles held in readiness,
+when the youthful lieutenant had discovered
+them and their movement had been interrupted
+by the volley from the blue regiment.  From the
+moment's glimpse, it was derived that they had
+been unaware of the proximity of their dark-
+suited foes or had mistaken the direction.  Al-
+most instantly they were shut utterly from the
+youth's sight by the smoke from the energetic
+rifles of his companions.  He strained his vision
+to learn the accomplishment of the volley, but the
+smoke hung before him.
+
+The two bodies of troops exchanged blows in
+the manner of a pair of boxers.  The fast angry
+firings went back and forth.  The men in blue
+were intent with the despair of their circum-
+stances and they seized upon the revenge to be
+had at close range.  Their thunder swelled loud
+and valiant.  Their curving front bristled with
+flashes and the place resounded with the clangor
+of their ramrods.  The youth ducked and dodged
+for a time and achieved a few unsatisfactory
+views of the enemy.  There appeared to be many
+of them and they were replying swiftly.  They
+seemed moving toward the blue regiment, step
+by step.  He seated himself gloomily on the
+ground with his flag between his knees.
+
+As he noted the vicious, wolflike temper of
+his comrades he had a sweet thought that if the
+enemy was about to swallow the regimental
+broom as a large prisoner, it could at least have
+the consolation of going down with bristles for-
+ward.
+
+But the blows of the antagonist began to
+grow more weak.  Fewer bullets ripped the air,
+and finally, when the men slackened to learn of
+the fight, they could see only dark, floating
+smoke.  The regiment lay still and gazed.  Pres-
+ently some chance whim came to the pestering
+blur, and it began to coil heavily away.  The men
+saw a ground vacant of fighters.  It would have
+been an empty stage if it were not for a few
+corpses that lay thrown and twisted into fantastic
+shapes upon the sward.
+
+At sight of this tableau, many of the men in
+blue sprang from behind their covers and made
+an ungainly dance of joy.  Their eyes burned
+and a hoarse cheer of elation broke from their
+dry lips.
+
+It had begun to seem to them that events were
+trying to prove that they were impotent.  These
+little battles had evidently endeavored to demon-
+strate that the men could not fight well.  When
+on the verge of submission to these opinions, the
+small duel had showed them that the propor-
+tions were not impossible, and by it they had
+revenged themselves upon their misgivings and
+upon the foe.
+
+The impetus of enthusiasm was theirs again.
+They gazed about them with looks of uplifted
+pride, feeling new trust in the grim, always
+confident weapons in their hands.  And they
+were men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+PRESENTLY they knew that no firing threat-
+ened them.  All ways seemed once more opened
+to them.  The dusty blue lines of their friends
+were disclosed a short distance away.  In the
+distance there were many colossal noises, but in
+all this part of the field there was a sudden
+stillness.
+
+They perceived that they were free.  The
+depleted band drew a long breath of relief
+and gathered itself into a bunch to complete
+its trip.
+
+In this last length of journey the men began
+to show strange emotions.  They hurried with
+nervous fear.  Some who had been dark and un-
+faltering in the grimmest moments now could not
+conceal an anxiety that made them frantic.  It
+was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed in
+insignificant ways after the times for proper
+military deaths had passed.  Or, perhaps, they
+thought it would be too ironical to get killed at
+
+199
+the portals of safety.  With backward looks of
+perturbation, they hastened.
+
+As they approached their own lines there was
+some sarcasm exhibited on the part of a gaunt
+and bronzed regiment that lay resting in the
+shade of trees.  Questions were wafted to them.
+
+"Where th' hell yeh been?"
+
+"What yeh comin' back fer?"
+
+"Why didn't yeh stay there?"
+
+"Was it warm out there, sonny?"
+
+"Goin' home now, boys?"
+
+One shouted in taunting mimicry: "Oh,
+mother, come quick an' look at th' sojers!"
+
+There was no reply from the bruised and bat-
+tered regiment, save that one man made broad-
+cast challenges to fist fights and the red-bearded
+officer walked rather near and glared in great
+swashbuckler style at a tall captain in the other
+regiment.  But the lieutenant suppressed the
+man who wished to fist fight, and the tall cap-
+tain, flushing at the little fanfare of the red-
+bearded one, was obliged to look intently at some
+trees.
+
+The youth's tender flesh was deeply stung by
+these remarks.  From under his creased brows
+he glowered with hate at the mockers.  He
+meditated upon a few revenges.  Still, many in
+the regiment hung their heads in criminal fashion,
+so that it came to pass that the men trudged with
+sudden heaviness, as if they bore upon their
+bended shoulders the coffin of their honor.  And
+the youthful lieutenant, recollecting himself, be-
+gan to mutter softly in black curses.
+
+They turned when they arrived at their old
+position to regard the ground over which they
+had charged.
+
+The youth in this contemplation was smitten
+with a large astonishment.  He discovered that
+the distances, as compared with the brilliant
+measurings of his mind, were trivial and ridicu-
+lous.  The stolid trees, where much had taken
+place, seemed incredibly near.  The time, too,
+now that he reflected, he saw to have been short.
+He wondered at the number of emotions and
+events that had been crowded into such little
+spaces.  Elfin thoughts must have exaggerated
+and enlarged everything, he said.
+
+It seemed, then, that there was bitter justice
+in the speeches of the gaunt and bronzed vet-
+erans.  He veiled a glance of disdain at his fel-
+lows who strewed the ground, choking with dust,
+red from perspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
+
+They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to
+wring every mite of water from them, and they
+polished at their swollen and watery features
+with coat sleeves and bunches of grass.
+
+However, to the youth there was a consider-
+able joy in musing upon his performances during
+the charge.  He had had very little time pre-
+viously in which to appreciate himself, so that
+there was now much satisfaction in quietly think-
+ing of his actions.  He recalled bits of color that
+in the flurry had stamped themselves unawares
+upon his engaged senses.
+
+As the regiment lay heaving from its hot exer-
+tions the officer who had named them as mule
+drivers came galloping along the line.  He had
+lost his cap.  His tousled hair streamed wildly,
+and his face was dark with vexation and wrath.
+His temper was displayed with more clearness
+by the way in which he managed his horse.  He
+jerked and wrenched savagely at his bridle, stop-
+ping the hard-breathing animal with a furious
+pull near the colonel of the regiment.  He im-
+mediately exploded in reproaches which came
+unbidden to the ears of the men.  They were
+suddenly alert, being always curious about black
+words between officers.
+
+"Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what an awful
+bull you made of this thing!" began the officer.
+He attempted low tones, but his indignation
+caused certain of the men to learn the sense of
+his words.  "What an awful mess you made!
+Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hun-
+dred feet this side of a very pretty success!  If
+your men had gone a hundred feet farther you
+would have made a great charge, but as it is
+--what a lot of mud diggers you've got any-
+way!"
+
+The men, listening with bated breath, now
+turned their curious eyes upon the colonel.
+They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair.
+
+The colonel was seen to straighten his form
+and put one hand forth in oratorical fashion.
+He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon
+had been accused of stealing.  The men were
+wiggling in an ecstasy of excitement.
+
+But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed
+from that of a deacon to that of a Frenchman.
+He shrugged his shoulders.  "Oh, well, general,
+we went as far as we could," he said calmly.
+
+"As far as you could?  Did you, b'Gawd?"
+snorted the other.  "Well, that wasn't very far,
+was it?" he added, with a glance of cold con-
+tempt into the other's eyes.  "Not very far, I
+think.  You were intended to make a diversion
+in favor of Whiterside.  How well you succeeded
+your own ears can now tell you."  He wheeled
+his horse and rode stiffly away.
+
+The colonel, bidden to hear the jarring noises
+of an engagement in the woods to the left, broke
+out in vague damnations.
+
+The lieutenant, who had listened with an air
+of impotent rage to the interview, spoke suddenly
+in firm and undaunted tones.  "I don't care what
+a man is--whether he is a general or what--if
+he says th' boys didn't put up a good fight out
+there he's a damned fool."
+
+"Lieutenant," began the colonel, severely,
+"this is my own affair, and I'll trouble you--"
+
+The lieutenant made an obedient gesture.
+"All right, colonel, all right," he said.  He sat
+down with an air of being content with him-
+self.
+
+The news that the regiment had been re-
+proached went along the line.  For a time the
+men were bewildered by it.  "Good thunder!"
+they ejaculated, staring at the vanishing form of
+the general.  They conceived it to be a huge
+mistake.
+
+Presently, however, they began to believe that
+in truth their efforts had been called light.  The
+youth could see this conviction weigh upon the
+entire regiment until the men were like cuffed
+and cursed animals, but withal rebellious.
+
+The friend, with a grievance in his eye,
+went to the youth.  "I wonder what he does
+want," he said.  "He must think we went out
+there an' played marbles!  I never see sech a
+man!"
+
+The youth developed a tranquil philosophy
+for these moments of irritation.  "Oh, well," he
+rejoined, "he probably didn't see nothing of it at
+all and got mad as blazes, and concluded we were
+a lot of sheep, just because we didn't do what he
+wanted done.  It's a pity old Grandpa Hender-
+son got killed yestirday--he'd have known that
+we did our best and fought good.  It's just our
+awful luck, that's what."
+
+"I should say so," replied the friend.  He
+seemed to be deeply wounded at an injustice.
+"I should say we did have awful luck!  There's
+no fun in fightin' fer people when everything
+yeh do--no matter what--ain't done right.  I
+have a notion t' stay behind next time an' let
+'em take their ol' charge an' go t' th' devil
+with it."
+
+The youth spoke soothingly to his comrade.
+"Well, we both did good.  I'd like to see the
+fool what'd say we both didn't do as good as we
+could!"
+
+"Of course we did," declared the friend
+stoutly.  "An' I'd break th' feller's neck if he was
+as big as a church.  But we're all right, anyhow,
+for I heard one feller say that we two fit th' best
+in th' reg'ment, an' they had a great argument
+'bout it.  Another feller, 'a course, he had t' up
+an' say it was a lie--he seen all what was goin'
+on an' he never seen us from th' beginnin' t' th'
+end.  An' a lot more struck in an' ses it wasn't
+a lie--we did fight like thunder, an' they give
+us quite a send-off.  But this is what I can't
+stand--these everlastin' ol' soldiers, titterin' an'
+laughin', an' then that general, he's crazy."
+
+The youth exclaimed with sudden exaspera-
+tion: "He's a lunkhead!  He makes me mad.
+I wish he'd come along next time.  We'd show
+'im what--"
+
+He ceased because several men had come
+hurrying up.  Their faces expressed a bringing
+of great news.
+
+"O Flem, yeh jest oughta heard!" cried one,
+eagerly.
+
+"Heard what?" said the youth.
+
+"Yeh jest oughta heard!" repeated the other,
+and he arranged himself to tell his tidings.  The
+others made an excited circle.  "Well, sir, th'
+colonel met your lieutenant right by us--it was
+damnedest thing I ever heard--an' he ses: 'Ahem!
+ahem!' he ses.  'Mr. Hasbrouck!' he ses, 'by
+th' way, who was that lad what carried th' flag?'
+he ses.  There, Flemin', what d' yeh think 'a
+that?  'Who was th' lad what carried th' flag?'
+he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he speaks up right
+away: 'That's Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he
+ses, right away.  What?  I say he did.  'A jim-
+hickey,' he ses--those 'r his words.  He did, too.
+I say he did.  If you kin tell this story better
+than I kin, go ahead an' tell it.  Well, then, keep
+yer mouth shet.  Th' lieutenant, he ses: 'He's a
+jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!
+he is, indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem!  He
+kep' th' flag 'way t' th' front.  I saw 'im.  He's a
+good un,' ses th' colonel.  'You bet,' ses th' lieu-
+tenant, 'he an' a feller named Wilson was at th'
+head 'a th' charge, an' howlin' like Indians all th'
+time,' he ses.  'Head 'a th' charge all th' time,'
+he ses.  'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.  There,
+Wilson, m'boy, put that in a letter an' send it
+hum t' yer mother, hay?  'A feller named Wil-
+son,' he ses.  An' th' colonel, he ses: 'Were they,
+indeed?  Ahem! ahem!  My sakes!' he ses.  'At
+th' head 'a th' reg'ment?' he ses.  'They were,'
+ses th' lieutenant.  'My sakes!' ses th' colonel.
+He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he ses, 'those two
+babies?'  'They were,' ses th' lieutenant.
+'Well, well,' ses th' colonel, 'they deserve t' be
+major generals,' he ses.  'They deserve t' be
+major-generals.'
+
+The youth and his friend had said: "Huh!"
+"Yer lyin', Thompson."  "Oh, go t' blazes!"
+"He never sed it."  "Oh, what a lie!"  "Huh!"
+But despite these youthful scoffings and embar-
+rassments, they knew that their faces were deeply
+flushing from thrills of pleasure.  They ex-
+changed a secret glance of joy and congratula-
+tion.
+
+They speedily forgot many things.  The past
+held no pictures of error and disappointment.
+They were very happy, and their hearts swelled
+with grateful affection for the colonel and the
+youthful lieutenant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+WHEN the woods again began to pour forth
+the dark-hued masses of the enemy the youth felt
+serene self-confidence.  He smiled briefly when
+he saw men dodge and duck at the long screech-
+ings of shells that were thrown in giant handfuls
+over them.  He stood, erect and tranquil, watch-
+ing the attack begin against a part of the line
+that made a blue curve along the side of an adja-
+cent hill.  His vision being unmolested by smoke
+from the rifles of his companions, he had oppor-
+tunities to see parts of the hard fight.  It was a
+relief to perceive at last from whence came some
+of these noises which had been roared into his
+ears.
+
+Off a short way he saw two regiments fight-
+ing a little separate battle with two other regi-
+ments.  It was in a cleared space, wearing a set-
+apart look.  They were blazing as if upon a
+wager, giving and taking tremendous blows.
+The firings were incredibly fierce and rapid.
+
+209
+These intent regiments apparently were oblivious
+of all larger purposes of war, and were slugging
+each other as if at a matched game.
+
+In another direction he saw a magnificent
+brigade going with the evident intention of driv-
+ing the enemy from a wood.  They passed in out
+of sight and presently there was a most awe-in-
+spiring racket in the wood.  The noise was un-
+speakable.  Having stirred this prodigious up-
+roar, and, apparently, finding it too prodigious,
+the brigade, after a little time, came marching
+airily out again with its fine formation in nowise
+disturbed.  There were no traces of speed in its
+movements.  The brigade was jaunty and seemed
+to point a proud thumb at the yelling wood.
+
+On a slope to the left there was a long row of
+guns, gruff and maddened, denouncing the
+enemy, who, down through the woods, were
+forming for another attack in the pitiless mo-
+notony of conflicts.  The round red discharges
+from the guns made a crimson flare and a high,
+thick smoke.  Occasional glimpses could be
+caught of groups of the toiling artillerymen.  In
+the rear of this row of guns stood a house, calm
+and white, amid bursting shells.  A congregation
+of horses, tied to a long railing, were tugging
+frenziedly at their bridles.  Men were running
+hither and thither.
+
+The detached battle between the four regi-
+ments lasted for some time.  There chanced to
+be no interference, and they settled their dispute
+by themselves.  They struck savagely and pow-
+erfully at each other for a period of minutes, and
+then the lighter-hued regiments faltered and
+drew back, leaving the dark-blue lines shouting.
+The youth could see the two flags shaking with
+laughter amid the smoke remnants.
+
+Presently there was a stillness, pregnant with
+meaning.  The blue lines shifted and changed a
+trifle and stared expectantly at the silent woods
+and fields before them.  The hush was solemn
+and churchlike, save for a distant battery that,
+evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faint
+rolling thunder over the ground.  It irritated,
+like the noises of unimpressed boys.  The men
+imagined that it would prevent their perched
+ears from hearing the first words of the new
+battle.
+
+Of a sudden the guns on the slope roared out
+a message of warning.  A spluttering sound had
+begun in the woods.  It swelled with amazing
+speed to a profound clamor that involved the
+earth in noises.  The splitting crashes swept
+along the lines until an interminable roar was
+developed.  To those in the midst of it it became
+a din fitted to the universe.  It was the whirring
+and thumping of gigantic machinery, complica-
+tions among the smaller stars.  The youth's ears
+were filled up.  They were incapable of hearing
+more.
+
+On an incline over which a road wound he
+saw wild and desperate rushes of men perpet-
+ually backward and forward in riotous surges.
+These parts of the opposing armies were two
+long waves that pitched upon each other madly
+at dictated points.  To and fro they swelled.
+Sometimes, one side by its yells and cheers would
+proclaim decisive blows, but a moment later
+the other side would be all yells and cheers.
+Once the youth saw a spray of light forms go in
+houndlike leaps toward the waving blue lines.
+There was much howling, and presently it went
+away with a vast mouthful of prisoners.  Again,
+he saw a blue wave dash with such thunderous
+force against a gray obstruction that it seemed to
+clear the earth of it and leave nothing but
+trampled sod.  And always in their swift and
+deadly rushes to and fro the men screamed
+and yelled like maniacs.
+
+Particular pieces of fence or secure positions
+behind collections of trees were wrangled over,
+as gold thrones or pearl bedsteads.  There were
+desperate lunges at these chosen spots seemingly
+every instant, and most of them were bandied like
+light toys between the contending forces.  The
+youth could not tell from the battle flags flying
+like crimson foam in many directions which color
+of cloth was winning.
+
+His emaciated regiment bustled forth with
+undiminished fierceness when its time came.
+When assaulted again by bullets, the men burst
+out in a barbaric cry of rage and pain.  They
+bent their heads in aims of intent hatred
+behind the projected hammers of their guns.
+Their ramrods clanged loud with fury as their
+eager arms pounded the cartridges into the rifle
+barrels.  The front of the regiment was a smoke-
+wall penetrated by the flashing points of yellow
+and red.
+
+Wallowing in the fight, they were in an
+astonishingly short time resmudged.  They
+surpassed in stain and dirt all their previous ap-
+pearances.  Moving to and fro with strained
+exertion, jabbering the while, they were, with
+their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowing
+eyes, like strange and ugly friends jigging heavily
+in the smoke.
+
+The lieutenant, returning from a tour after a
+bandage, produced from a hidden receptacle of
+his mind new and portentous oaths suited to the
+emergency.  Strings of expletives he swung
+lashlike over the backs of his men, and it was
+evident that his previous efforts had in nowise
+impaired his resources.
+
+The youth, still the bearer of the colors, did
+not feel his idleness.  He was deeply absorbed as
+a spectator.  The crash and swing of the great
+drama made him lean forward, intent-eyed, his
+face working in small contortions.  Sometimes he
+prattled, words coming unconsciously from him
+in grotesque exclamations.  He did not know
+that he breathed; that the flag hung silently over
+him, so absorbed was he.
+
+A formidable line of the enemy came within
+dangerous range.  They could be seen plainly--
+tall, gaunt men with excited faces running with
+long strides toward a wandering fence.
+
+At sight of this danger the men suddenly
+ceased their cursing monotone.  There was an
+instant of strained silence before they threw up
+their rifles and fired a plumping volley at the
+foes.  There had been no order given; the men,
+upon recognizing the menace, had immedi-
+ately let drive their flock of bullets without wait-
+ing for word of command.
+
+But the enemy were quick to gain the protec-
+tion of the wandering line of fence.  They slid down
+behind it with remarkable celerity, and from this
+position they began briskly to slice up the blue men.
+
+These latter braced their energies for a great
+struggle.  Often, white clinched teeth shone
+from the dusky faces.  Many heads surged to
+and fro, floating upon a pale sea of smoke.
+Those behind the fence frequently shouted and
+yelped in taunts and gibelike cries, but the regi-
+ment maintained a stressed silence.  Perhaps, at
+this new assault the men recalled the fact that
+they had been named mud diggers, and it made
+their situation thrice bitter.  They were breath-
+lessly intent upon keeping the ground and thrust-
+ing away the rejoicing body of the enemy.  They
+fought swiftly and with a despairing savageness
+denoted in their expressions.
+
+The youth had resolved not to budge what-
+ever should happen.  Some arrows of scorn that
+had buried themselves in his heart had generated
+strange and unspeakable hatred.  It was clear
+to him that his final and absolute revenge was to
+be achieved by his dead body lying, torn and
+gluttering, upon the field.  This was to be a
+poignant retaliation upon the officer who had
+said "mule drivers," and later "mud diggers,"
+for in all the wild graspings of his mind for a
+unit responsible for his sufferings and commo-
+tions he always seized upon the man who had
+dubbed him wrongly.  And it was his idea,
+vaguely formulated, that his corpse would be for
+those eyes a great and salt reproach.
+
+The regiment bled extravagantly.  Grunting
+bundles of blue began to drop.  The orderly
+sergeant of the youth's company was shot through
+the cheeks.  Its supports being injured, his jaw
+hung afar down, disclosing in the wide cavern of
+his mouth a pulsing mass of blood and teeth.
+And with it all he made attempts to cry out.
+In his endeavor there was a dreadful earnestness,
+as if he conceived that one great shriek would
+make him well.
+
+The youth saw him presently go rearward.
+His strength seemed in nowise impaired.  He
+ran swiftly, casting wild glances for succor.
+
+Others fell down about the feet of their com-
+panions.  Some of the wounded crawled out and
+away, but many lay still, their bodies twisted into
+impossible shapes.
+
+The youth looked once for his friend.  He
+saw a vehement young man, powder-smeared and
+frowzled, whom he knew to be him.  The lieu-
+tenant, also, was unscathed in his position at the
+rear.  He had continued to curse, but it was now
+with the air of a man who was using his last box
+of oaths.
+
+For the fire of the regiment had begun to
+wane and drip.  The robust voice, that had come
+strangely from the thin ranks, was growing
+rapidly weak.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+THE colonel came running along back of the
+line.  There were other officers following him.
+"We must charge'm!" they shouted.  "We must
+charge'm!" they cried with resentful voices, as
+if anticipating a rebellion against this plan by the
+men.
+
+The youth, upon hearing the shouts, began to
+study the distance between him and the enemy.
+He made vague calculations.  He saw that to be
+firm soldiers they must go forward.  It would be
+death to stay in the present place, and with all
+the circumstances to go backward would exalt
+too many others.  Their hope was to push the
+galling foes away from the fence.
+
+He expected that his companions, weary and
+stiffened, would have to be driven to this assault,
+but as he turned toward them he perceived with
+a certain surprise that they were giving quick
+and unqualified expressions of assent.  There was
+an ominous, clanging overture to the charge
+
+217
+when the shafts of the bayonets rattled upon the
+rifle barrels.  At the yelled words of command
+the soldiers sprang forward in eager leaps.
+There was new and unexpected force in the
+movement of the regiment.  A knowledge of its
+faded and jaded condition made the charge ap-
+pear like a paroxysm, a display of the strength
+that comes before a final feebleness.  The men
+scampered in insane fever of haste, racing as if to
+achieve a sudden success before an exhilarating
+fluid should leave them.  It was a blind and de-
+spairing rush by the collection of men in dusty
+and tattered blue, over a green sward and under
+a sapphire sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in
+smoke, from behind which spluttered the fierce
+rifles of enemies.
+
+The youth kept the bright colors to the front.
+He was waving his free arm in furious circles,
+the while shrieking mad calls and appeals, urging
+on those that did not need to be urged, for it
+seemed that the mob of blue men hurling them-
+selves on the dangerous group of rifles were
+again grown suddenly wild with an enthusiasm of
+unselfishness.  From the many firings starting
+toward them, it looked as if they would merely
+succeed in making a great sprinkling of corpses
+on the grass between their former position and
+the fence.  But they were in a state of frenzy,
+perhaps because of forgotten vanities, and it made
+an exhibition of sublime recklessness.  There was
+no obvious questioning, nor figurings, nor dia-
+grams.  There was, apparently, no considered
+loopholes.  It appeared that the swift wings of
+their desires would have shattered against the
+iron gates of the impossible.
+
+He himself felt the daring spirit of a savage
+religion mad.  He was capable of profound sacri-
+fices, a tremendous death.  He had no time for
+dissections, but he knew that he thought of the
+bullets only as things that could prevent him
+from reaching the place of his endeavor.  There
+were subtle flashings of joy within him that thus
+should be his mind.
+
+He strained all his strength.  His eyesight
+was shaken and dazzled by the tension of thought
+and muscle.  He did not see anything excepting
+the mist of smoke gashed by the little knives of
+fire, but he knew that in it lay the aged fence of a
+vanished farmer protecting the snuggled bodies
+of the gray men.
+
+As he ran a thought of the shock of contact
+gleamed in his mind.  He expected a great con-
+cussion when the two bodies of troops crashed
+together.  This became a part of his wild battle
+madness.  He could feel the onward swing of the
+regiment about him and he conceived of a thun-
+derous, crushing blow that would prostrate the
+resistance and spread consternation and amaze-
+ment for miles.  The flying regiment was going
+to have a catapultian effect.  This dream made
+him run faster among his comrades, who were
+giving vent to hoarse and frantic cheers.
+
+But presently he could see that many of the
+men in gray did not intend to abide the blow.
+The smoke, rolling, disclosed men who ran, their
+faces still turned.  These grew to a crowd, who
+retired stubbornly.  Individuals wheeled fre-
+quently to send a bullet at the blue wave.
+
+But at one part of the line there was a grim
+and obdurate group that made no movement.
+They were settled firmly down behind posts and
+rails.  A flag, ruffled and fierce, waved over them
+and their rifles dinned fiercely.
+
+The blue whirl of men got very near, until
+it seemed that in truth there would be a close
+and frightful scuffle.  There was an expressed
+disdain in the opposition of the little group,
+that changed the meaning of the cheers of the
+men in blue.  They became yells of wrath,
+directed, personal.  The cries of the two parties
+were now in sound an interchange of scathing
+insults.
+
+They in blue showed their teeth; their eyes
+shone all white.  They launched themselves as at
+the throats of those who stood resisting.  The
+space between dwindled to an insignificant dis-
+tance.
+
+The youth had centered the gaze of his soul
+upon that other flag.  Its possession would be
+high pride.  It would express bloody minglings,
+near blows.  He had a gigantic hatred for those
+who made great difficulties and complications.
+They caused it to be as a craved treasure of my-
+thology, hung amid tasks and contrivances of
+danger.
+
+He plunged like a mad horse at it.  He was
+resolved it should not escape if wild blows and
+darings of blows could seize it.  His own em-
+blem, quivering and aflare, was winging toward
+the other.  It seemed there would shortly be
+an encounter of strange beaks and claws, as of
+eagles.
+
+The swirling body of blue men came to a
+sudden halt at close and disastrous range and
+roared a swift volley.  The group in gray was
+split and broken by this fire, but its riddled body
+still fought.  The men in blue yelled again and
+rushed in upon it.
+
+The youth, in his leapings, saw, as through a
+mist, a picture of four or five men stretched upon
+the ground or writhing upon their knees with
+bowed heads as if they had been stricken by bolts
+from the sky.  Tottering among them was the
+rival color bearer, whom the youth saw had been
+bitten vitally by the bullets of the last formidable
+volley.  He perceived this man fighting a last
+struggle, the struggle of one whose legs are
+grasped by demons.  It was a ghastly battle.
+Over his face was the bleach of death, but set
+upon it was the dark and hard lines of desperate
+purpose.  With this terrible grin of resolution he
+hugged his precious flag to him and was stum-
+bling and staggering in his design to go the way
+that led to safety for it.
+
+But his wounds always made it seem that his
+feet were retarded, held, and he fought a grim
+fight, as with invisible ghouls fastened greedily
+upon his limbs.  Those in advance of the scam-
+pering blue men, howling cheers, leaped at the
+fence.  The despair of the lost was in his eyes as
+he glanced back at them.
+
+The youth's friend went over the obstruction
+in a tumbling heap and sprang at the flag as a
+panther at prey.  He pulled at it and, wrench-
+ing it free, swung up its red brilliancy with a
+mad cry of exultation even as the color bearer,
+gasping, lurched over in a final throe and, stiff-
+ening convulsively, turned his dead face to the
+ground.  There was much blood upon the grass
+blades.
+
+At the place of success there began more wild
+clamorings of cheers.  The men gesticulated and
+bellowed in an ecstasy.  When they spoke it was
+as if they considered their listener to be a mile
+away.  What hats and caps were left to them
+they often slung high in the air.
+
+At one part of the line four men had been
+swooped upon, and they now sat as prisoners.
+Some blue men were about them in an eager and
+curious circle.  The soldiers had trapped strange
+birds, and there was an examination.  A flurry of
+fast questions was in the air.
+
+One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial
+wound in the foot.  He cuddled it, baby-wise,
+but he looked up from it often to curse with an
+astonishing utter abandon straight at the noses of
+his captors.  He consigned them to red regions;
+he called upon the pestilential wrath of strange
+gods.  And with it all he was singularly free
+from recognition of the finer points of the con-
+duct of prisoners of war.  It was as if a clumsy
+clod had trod upon his toe and he conceived it to
+be his privilege, his duty, to use deep, resentful
+oaths.
+
+Another, who was a boy in years, took his
+plight with great calmness and apparent good
+nature.  He conversed with the men in blue,
+studying their faces with his bright and keen
+eyes.  They spoke of battles and conditions.
+There was an acute interest in all their faces dur-
+ing this exchange of view points.  It seemed a
+great satisfaction to hear voices from where all
+had been darkness and speculation.
+
+The third captive sat with a morose counte-
+nance.  He preserved a stoical and cold attitude.
+To all advances he made one reply without varia-
+tion, "Ah, go t' hell!"
+
+The last of the four was always silent and,
+for the most part, kept his face turned in un-
+molested directions.  From the views the youth
+received he seemed to be in a state of absolute
+dejection.  Shame was upon him, and with it
+profound regret that he was, perhaps, no more
+to be counted in the ranks of his fellows.  The
+youth could detect no expression that would
+allow him to believe that the other was giving
+a thought to his narrowed future, the pictured
+dungeons, perhaps, and starvations and brutali-
+ties, liable to the imagination.  All to be seen
+was shame for captivity and regret for the right
+to antagonize.
+
+After the men had celebrated sufficiently they
+settled down behind the old rail fence, on the
+opposite side to the one from which their foes
+had been driven.  A few shot perfunctorily at
+distant marks.
+
+There was some long grass.  The youth
+nestled in it and rested, making a convenient rail
+support the flag.  His friend, jubilant and glori-
+fied, holding his treasure with vanity, came to
+him there.  They sat side by side and congratu-
+lated each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+THE roarings that had stretched in a long line
+of sound across the face of the forest began to
+grow intermittent and weaker.  The stentorian
+speeches of the artillery continued in some dis-
+tant encounter, but the crashes of the musketry
+had almost ceased.  The youth and his friend of
+a sudden looked up, feeling a deadened form of
+distress at the waning of these noises, which had
+become a part of life.  They could see changes
+going on among the troops.  There were march-
+ings this way and that way.  A battery wheeled
+leisurely.  On the crest of a small hill was the
+thick gleam of many departing muskets.
+
+The youth arose.  "Well, what now, I won-
+der?" he said.  By his tone he seemed to be
+preparing to resent some new monstrosity in
+the way of dins and smashes.  He shaded his
+eyes with his grimy hand and gazed over the
+field.
+
+His friend also arose and stared.  "I bet
+
+226
+we're goin' t' git along out of this an' back over
+th' river," said he.
+
+"Well, I swan!" said the youth.
+
+They waited, watching.  Within a little while
+the regiment received orders to retrace its way.
+The men got up grunting from the grass, regret-
+ting the soft repose.  They jerked their stiffened
+legs, and stretched their arms over their heads.
+One man swore as he rubbed his eyes.  They all
+groaned "O Lord!"  They had as many objec-
+tions to this change as they would have had to a
+proposal for a new battle.
+
+They trampled slowly back over the field
+across which they had run in a mad scamper.
+
+The regiment marched until it had joined its
+fellows.  The reformed brigade, in column, aimed
+through a wood at the road.  Directly they were
+in a mass of dust-covered troops, and were
+trudging along in a way parallel to the enemy's
+lines as these had been defined by the previous
+turmoil.
+
+They passed within view of a stolid white
+house, and saw in front of it groups of their com-
+rades lying in wait behind a neat breastwork.  A
+row of guns were booming at a distant enemy.
+Shells thrown in reply were raising clouds of
+dust and splinters.  Horsemen dashed along the
+line of intrenchments.
+
+At this point of its march the division curved
+away from the field and went winding off in the
+direction of the river.  When the significance of
+this movement had impressed itself upon the
+youth he turned his head and looked over his
+shoulder toward the trampled and debris-strewed
+ground.  He breathed a breath of new satisfac-
+tion.  He finally nudged his friend.  "Well, it's
+all over," he said to him.
+
+His friend gazed backward.  "B'Gawd, it
+is," he assented.  They mused.
+
+For a time the youth was obliged to reflect
+in a puzzled and uncertain way.  His mind was
+undergoing a subtle change.  It took moments
+for it to cast off its battleful ways and resume
+its accustomed course of thought.  Gradually his
+brain emerged from the clogged clouds, and at
+last he was enabled to more closely compre-
+hend himself and circumstance.
+
+He understood then that the existence of shot
+and counter-shot was in the past.  He had dwelt
+in a land of strange, squalling upheavals and had
+come forth.  He had been where there was red
+of blood and black of passion, and he was es-
+caped.  His first thoughts were given to rejoic-
+ings at this fact.
+
+Later he began to study his deeds, his fail-
+ures, and his achievements.  Thus, fresh from
+scenes where many of his usual machines of re-
+flection had been idle, from where he had pro-
+ceeded sheeplike, he struggled to marshal all his
+acts.
+
+At last they marched before him clearly.
+From this present view point he was enabled
+to look upon them in spectator fashion and
+to criticise them with some correctness, for his
+new condition had already defeated certain sym-
+pathies.
+
+Regarding his procession of memory he felt
+gleeful and unregretting, for in it his public deeds
+were paraded in great and shining prominence.
+Those performances which had been witnessed
+by his fellows marched now in wide purple and
+gold, having various deflections.  They went
+gayly with music.  It was pleasure to watch these
+things.  He spent delightful minutes viewing the
+gilded images of memory.
+
+He saw that he was good.  He recalled with
+a thrill of joy the respectful comments of his fel-
+lows upon his conduct.
+
+Nevertheless, the ghost of his flight from
+the first engagement appeared to him and
+danced.  There were small shoutings in his
+brain about these matters.  For a moment he
+blushed, and the light of his soul flickered with
+shame.
+
+A specter of reproach came to him.  There
+loomed the dogging memory of the tattered
+soldier--he who, gored by bullets and faint for
+blood, had fretted concerning an imagined wound
+in another; he who had loaned his last of strength
+and intellect for the tall soldier; he who, blind
+with weariness and pain, had been deserted in
+the field.
+
+For an instant a wretched chill of sweat was
+upon him at the thought that he might be
+detected in the thing.  As he stood persistently
+before his vision, he gave vent to a cry of sharp
+irritation and agony.
+
+His friend turned.  "What's the matter,
+Henry?" he demanded.  The youth's reply was
+an outburst of crimson oaths.
+
+As he marched along the little branch-hung
+roadway among his prattling companions this
+vision of cruelty brooded over him.  It clung
+near him always and darkened his view of these
+deeds in purple and gold.  Whichever way his
+thoughts turned they were followed by the
+somber phantom of the desertion in the fields.
+He looked stealthily at his companions, feeling
+sure that they must discern in his face evidences
+of this pursuit.  But they were plodding in
+ragged array, discussing with quick tongues the
+accomplishments of the late battle.
+
+"Oh, if a man should come up an' ask me, I'd
+say we got a dum good lickin'."
+
+"Lickin'--in yer eye!  We ain't licked, sonny.
+We're goin' down here aways, swing aroun', an'
+come in behint 'em."
+
+"Oh, hush, with your comin' in behint 'em.
+I've seen all 'a that I wanta.  Don't tell me about
+comin' in behint--"
+
+"Bill Smithers, he ses he'd rather been in
+ten hundred battles than been in that heluva
+hospital.  He ses they got shootin' in th' night-
+time, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th'
+hospital.  He ses sech hollerin' he never see."
+
+"Hasbrouck?  He's th' best off'cer in this
+here reg'ment.  He's a whale."
+
+"Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint
+'em?  Didn't I tell yeh so?  We--"
+
+"Oh, shet yeh mouth!"
+
+For a time this pursuing recollection of the
+tattered man took all elation from the youth's
+veins.  He saw his vivid error, and he was afraid
+that it would stand before him all his life.  He
+took no share in the chatter of his comrades, nor
+did he look at them or know them, save when he
+felt sudden suspicion that they were seeing his
+thoughts and scrutinizing each detail of the scene
+with the tattered soldier.
+
+Yet gradually he mustered force to put the sin
+at a distance.  And at last his eyes seemed to
+open to some new ways.  He found that he could
+look back upon the brass and bombast of his
+earlier gospels and see them truly.  He was
+gleeful when he discovered that he now despised
+them.
+
+With this conviction came a store of assur-
+ance.  He felt a quiet manhood, nonassertive but
+of sturdy and strong blood.  He knew that he
+would no more quail before his guides wher-
+ever they should point.  He had been to touch
+the great death, and found that, after all, it was
+but the great death.  He was a man.
+
+So it came to pass that as he trudged from
+the place of blood and wrath his soul changed.
+He came from hot plowshares to prospects of
+clover tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares
+were not.  Scars faded as flowers.
+
+It rained.  The procession of weary soldiers
+became a bedraggled train, despondent and
+muttering, marching with churning effort in a
+trough of liquid brown mud under a low,
+wretched sky.  Yet the youth smiled, for he saw
+that the world was a world for him, though many
+discovered it to be made of oaths and walking
+sticks.  He had rid himself of the red sickness of
+battle.  The sultry nightmare was in the past.
+He had been an animal blistered and sweating in
+the heat and pain of war.  He turned now with a
+lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh
+meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and
+eternal peace.
+
+Over the river a golden ray of sun came
+through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Red Badge of Courage
+
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