The Red Badge of Courage................................................................................................................................1

by Stephen Crane.....................................................................................................................................1

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, ambertinted 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

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'

morrahsure," he said pompously to a group in the company street. "We're goin' 'way up the river, cut

To his attentive audience he drew a loud and elaborate plan of a very brilliant campaign. When he had

finished, the blueclothed 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 isa 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,

The tall soldier felt called upon to defend the truth of a rumor he himself had introduced. He and the loud one

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

Many of the men engaged in a spirited debate. One outlined in a peculiarly lucid manner all the plans of the

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

There was much food for thought in the manner in which he replied. He came near to convincing them by

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

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 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 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 lifeof 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 eagleeyed 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 thoughtimages 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

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 throatgrappling

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

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.

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

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

"Henry, don't you be a fool," his mother had replied. She had then covered her face with the quilt. There was

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

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

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 businessyou watch out,

an' take good care of yerself. Don't go athinkin' 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

"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

"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' alearning '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 awatchin' 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

"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

"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. Goodby, 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

Still, when he had looked back from the gate, he had seen his mother kneeling among the potato parings. Her

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,

A certain lighthaired 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

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,

pickles and cheese. As he basked in the smiles of the girls and was patted and complimented by the old men,

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 throatgrappling instinct, or else firm finance

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

The only foes he had seen were some pickets along the river bank. They were a suntanned, 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

"Yank," the other had informed him, "yer a right dum good feller." This sentiment, floating to him upon the

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

alastin' long," he was told. From the stories, the youth imagined the red, live bones sticking out through slits

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

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,

A little panicfear 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 brokenbladed glory, but in the shadow of the impending tumult

He sprang from the bunk and began to pace nervously to and fro. "Good Lord, what's th' matter with me?" he

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

After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously through the hole. The loud private followed. They were

"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

His comrade grunted stubbornly. For a moment he seemed to be searching for a formidable reply. Finally he

"Didn't say I knew everything in the world," retorted the other sharply. He began to stow various articles

The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure. "Going to be a battle, sure, is there,

"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier. "Of course there is. You jest wait 'til tomorrow, and you'll see

"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy, what'll be regular outandout fighting," added the tall soldier,

with the air of a man who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends.

"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 campanybody can see

The youth remained silent for a time. At last he spoke to the tall soldier. "Jim!"

"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

"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 kitandboodle might

start and run, if some big fighting came firstoff, 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 alltooncet 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.

The other turned savagely upon him. They had a rapid altercation, in which they fastened upon each other

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 astanding and afighting,

The youth of this tale felt gratitude for these words of his comrade. He had feared that all of the untried men

THE next morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been the fastflying 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

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

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

Meanwhile he continually tried to measure himself by his comrades. The tall soldier, for one, gave him some

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

The youth would have liked to have discovered another who suspected himself. A sympathetic comparison of

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

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,

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

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

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

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

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 clicketyclick, 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, sharpworded conversation. The men in the foremost ranks

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

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

There was an occasional flash and glimmer of steel from the backs of all these huge crawling reptiles. From

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

The river was not in view. The tall soldier burst into praises of what he thought to be his powers of

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

walked along in careless line he was engaged with his own eternal debate. He could not hinder himself from

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 duncolored cloud of dust

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 gleealmost

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

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

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

A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse from a dooryard. He planned to load his knapsack 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 wholesouled 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

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.

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

As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass, and, upon turning his head, discovered the loud soldier. He

The other sat down and carefully lighted his pipe. "You're getting blue, my boy. You're looking thundering

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

"If the truth was known," he added, more soberly, "THEY'VE licked US about every clip up to now; but this

"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,

"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

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

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

"Well," continued the youth, "lots of gooda 'nough men have thought they was going to do great things

"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the other; "but I'm not going to skedaddle. The man that bets on my

"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 fightingthat'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

The youth called in a savage voice after his comrade: "Well, you needn't git mad about it!" But the other

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

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

And as he sweated with the pain of these thoughts, he could hear low, serene sentences. "I'll bid five." "Make

He stared at the red, shivering reflection of a fire on the white wall of his tent until, exhausted and ill from the

changed to purple streaks, filed across two pontoon bridges. A glaring fire winetinted 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

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

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

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,

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

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

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.

th' thunderweskedaddlin' this way fer?" "Billiekeep off m' feet. Yeh runlike 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

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

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

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

The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed across a little stream. The mournful current moved slowly on,

As they climbed the hill on the farther side artillery began to boom. Here the youth forgot many things as he

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

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

The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into thickets and at distant and prominent trees spoke

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

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

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.

thought that he did not relish the landscape. It threatened him. A coldness swept over his back, and it is true

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 fierceeyed 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,

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

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 animalwar, the bloodswollen god. And they were

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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

The youth had been taught that a man became another thing in a battle. He saw his salvation in such a change.

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

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,

"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd rather do anything 'most than go tramping 'round the country all

"So would I," said the loud soldier. "It ain't right. I tell you if anybody with any sense was arunnin' this

"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private. "You little fool. You little damn' cuss. You ain't had that there coat and

"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway," interrupted the other. "I didn't come here to walk. I could 'ave

The tall one, redfaced, 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

of blissful contemplation of the food he had swallowed. His spirit seemed then to be communing

He accepted new environment and circumstance with great coolness, eating from his haversack at every

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

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

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

The skirmish fire increased to a long chattering sound. With it was mingled faraway cheering. A battery

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

The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spell bound. His eyes grew wide and busy with the

Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid upon his shoulder. Awakening from his trance of observation

"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said the latter, with intense gloom. He was quite pale and his girlish lip

"It's my first and last battle, old boy," continued the loud soldier. "Something tells me"

"I'm a gone coon this first time andand I wwant you to take these here thingstomy folks." He

ended in a quavering sob of pity for himself. He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow

But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner

THE brigade was halted in the fringe of a grove. The men crouched among the trees and pointed their restless

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.

"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"

"It ain't either. I saw Hannises' batt'ry off on th' left not more'n fifteen minutes ago."

"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hull cammand of th' 304th when we go inteh action, an' then he ses

"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

"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 agittin' 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'

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

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

The lieutenant of the youth's company was shot in the hand. He began to swear so wondrously that a nervous

conventional. It relieved the tightened senses of the new men. It was as if he had hit his fingers with a tack

He held the wounded member carefully away from his side so that the blood would not drip upon his

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

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

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

But the new regiment was breathless with horror. "Gawd! Saunders's got crushed!" whispered

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

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,

A mounted officer displayed the furious anger of a spoiled child. He raged with his head, his arms, and his

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

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

There was an appalling imprint upon these faces. The struggle in the smoke had pictured an exaggeration of

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

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.

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

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

Across the smokeinfested 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

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. "Aall rright, General, all right, by Gawd! Wewe' ll do

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

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,

boysdon't shoot till I tell yousave your firewait till they get close updon'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 foeswarming field in front of him, and instantly ceased to debate the question

of his piece being loaded. Before he was ready to beginbefore he had announced to himself that he was

about to fight he threw the obedient, wellbalanced rifle into position and fired a first wild shot. Directly

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 parta regiment, an army, a cause, or a countrywas 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.

once ignited, proceeds superior to circumstances until its blazing vitality fades. It wheezed and banged with a

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

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 atmospherea blistering sweat, a sensation that his eyeballs

Following this came a red rage. He developed the acute exasperation of a pestered animal, a wellmeaning

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 worldsweeping gesture and brush all back. His impotency appeared to him, and made his rage into

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

There was a blare of heated rage mingled with a certain expression of intentness on all faces. Many of the

men were making lowtoned 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"

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

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 animallike 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

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

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

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.

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

Under foot there were a few ghastly forms motionless. They lay twisted in fantastic contortions. Arms were

in incredible ways. It seemed that the dead men must have fallen from some great height to get into such

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

The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs. They argued with abrupt violence. It was a grim powwow.

A small procession of wounded men were going drearily toward the rear. It was a flow of blood from the torn

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

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

The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblem. They were like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in

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

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

THE youth awakened slowly. He came gradually back to a position from which he could regard himself. For

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

He went into an ecstasy of selfsatisfaction. 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

He felt that he was a fine fellow. He saw himself even with those ideals which he had considered as far

Upon his fellows he beamed tenderness and good will. "Gee! ain't it hot, hey?" he said affably to a man who

"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."

speeches with men whose features were familiar, but with whom the youth now felt the bonds of tied hearts.

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

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

"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,

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 forwhy don't they send supports? I didn't come here to fight the hull

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

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

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

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

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

He ran like a blind man. Two or three times he fell down. Once he knocked his shoulder so heavily against a

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.

dimly saw men on his right and on his left, and he heard footsteps behind him. He thought that all the

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

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

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

guns. They seemed to be patting them on the back and encouraging them with words. The guns, stolid and

The precise gunners were coolly enthusiastic. They lifted their eyes every chance to the smokewreathed

hillock from whence the hostile battery addressed them. The youth pitied them as he ran. Methodical idiots!

Machinelike fools! The refined joy of planting shells in the midst of the other battery's formation would

The face of a youthful rider, who was jerking his frantic horse with an abandon of temper he might display in

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

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

A furious order caused commotion in the artillery. An officer on a bounding horse made maniacal motions

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

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

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

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

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

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 allfired 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.

"Yes, by heavens, they have!" The officer leaned forward. His face was aflame with excitement. "Yes, by

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: "HereyouJonesquickride after Tompkins see Taylortell him t'

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

THE youth cringed as if discovered in a crime. By heavens, they had won after all! The imbecile line had

He lifted himself upon his toes and looked in the direction of the fight. A yellow fog lay wallowing on the

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

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

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

He wondered what they would remark when later he appeared in camp. His mind heard howls of derision.

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

A dull, animallike 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

He went from the fields into a thick woods, as if resolved to bury himself. He wished to get out of hearing of

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

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

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

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

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 reenforced 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

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.

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

The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing. He was for moments turned to stone before it. He

remained staring into the liquidlooking 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

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

At last he burst the bonds which had fastened him to the spot and fled, unheeding the underbrush. He was

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

The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft wind. A sad silence was upon the little

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

Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke a tremendous clangor of sounds. A crimson roar came from

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

pains to avoid. But he said, in substance, to himself that if the earth and the moon were about to clash, many

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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

He came finally to a road from which he could see in the distance dark and agitated bodies of troops,

smokefringed. In the lane was a bloodstained 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

One of the wounded men had a shoeful of blood. He hopped like a schoolboy in a game. He was laughing

One was swearing that he had been shot in the arm through the commanding general's mismanagement of the

an air imitative of some sublime drum major. Upon his features was an unholy mixture of merriment and

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

There were some who proceeded sullenly, full of anger at their wounds, and ready to turn upon anything as

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."

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 youth joined this crowd and marched along with it. The torn bodies expressed the awful machinery in

Orderlies and couriers occasionally broke through the throng in the roadway, scattering wounded men right

continually disturbed by the messengers, and sometimes by bustling batteries that came swinging and

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 storyteller with unspeakable wonder. His

The sergeant, taking note of this, gave pause to his elaborate history while he administered a sardonic

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 bloodsoaked rag, and the other in the arm, making that member

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

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

"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

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.

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

THE youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was not in sight. Then he started to walk on

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

At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be

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

The youth swayed on his legs and glared strangely. He stuttered and stammered. "Oh, Jimoh, Jimoh,

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 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

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

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

"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, HenryI 'll tell yeh what I 'm 'fraid of. I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down an' then yeh

knowthem damned artillery wagonsthey 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

"YesyesI tell yehI'll take care of yeh, Jim!" protested the youth. He could not speak accurately

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,

The youth had reached an anguish where the sobs scorched him. He strove to express his loyalty, but he could

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

His look was fixed again upon the unknown. He moved with mysterious purpose, and all of the youth's offers

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 minutesyeh kin see that. Ye 'd better take

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

The youth turned once to look at the lashing riders and jouncing guns of the battery. He was startled from this

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

When he overtook the tall soldier he began to plead with all the words he could find. "Jim Jimwhat are

The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face. He protested in a dulled way, keeping his eyes fastened on the

The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at the tall soldier, began quaveringly to question him. "Where yeh

The tall soldier faced about as upon relentless pursuers. In his eyes there was a great appeal. "Leave me be,

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 ritelike in these movements

of the doomed soldier. And there was a resemblance in him to a devotee of a mad religion, bloodsucking,

musclewrenching, bonecrushing. They were awed and afraid. They hung back lest he have at command a

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

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.

The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke. He made a gesture. "Leave me bedon't tech meleave me

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

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

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

He now sprang to his feet and, going closer, gazed upon the pastelike face. The mouth was open and the teeth

As the flap of the blue jacket fell away from the body, he could see that the side looked as if it had been

The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage, toward the battlefield. He shook his fist. He seemed about to

"Well, he was reg'lar jimdandy fer nerve, wa'n't he," said he finally in a little awestruck voice. "A reg'lar

jimdandy." 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 jimdandy."

The youth desired to screech out his grief. He was stabbed, but his tongue lay dead in the tomb of his mouth.

"Lookahere, 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

The youth, awakened by the tattered soldier's tone, looked quickly up. He saw that he was swinging

The tattered man waved his hand. "Nary die," he said. "All I want is some pea soup an' a good bed. Some pea

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

"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.

They turned their backs upon it and started away. For a time they stole softly, treading with their toes. It

"I'm commencin' t' feel pretty bad," said the tattered man, suddenly breaking one of his little silences. "I'm

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

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 afightin' this atternoon, allofasudden he

begin t' rip up an' cuss an' beller at me. 'Yer shot, yeh blamed infernal!'he swear horriblehe 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 ashootin' b'hind me an' I run t' beat all, but I cotch it pretty bad. I've an idee I'd a' been

Then he made a calm announcement: "There's two of 'emlittle onesbut they 're beginnin' t' have fun with

They went slowly on in silence. "Yeh look pretty peeked 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 astandin' 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 deadstone dead. So, yeh wanta watch out. Yeh might have some queer kind 'a hurt

The youth had been wriggling since the introduction of this topic. He now gave a cry of exasperation and

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

"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother anybody," said the other. There was a little accent of despair in his

The youth, who had been holding a bitter debate with himself and casting glances of hatred and contempt at

The tattered man looked at him in gaping amazement. "Whywhy, 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 animallike. His thoughts seemed to be floundering about in his head. "Nownowlookahere,

"Well, now lookaherenow," 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 pigheaded devil. Yeh wanta go trompin' off with a bad hurt. It ain't rightnowTom

Jamisonit ain't. Yeh wanta leave me take keer of yeh, Tom Jamison. It ain'trightit ain'tfer yeh 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

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

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

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 whitetopped wagons strained and stumbled in their

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 terrorstricken 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

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 forwardgoing 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

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. Itwhatever it waswas 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

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 hima blue desperate figure leading lurid charges with one

knee forward and a broken blade higha 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

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, duststained, 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

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

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 battleblur 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

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

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

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

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 selfhate 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

A certain mothlike quality within him kept him in the vicinity of the battle. He had a great desire to see, and

He told himself that, despite his unprecedented suffering, he had never lost his greed for a victory, yet, he

said, in a halfapologetic 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

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

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

himself to isolation. If the men were advancing, their indifferent feet were trampling upon his chances for a

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

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

Furthermore, he was much afraid that some arrow of scorn might lay him mentally low before he could raise

"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

insolent and lingeringly cruel stares. As he imagined himself passing near a crowd of comrades, he could hear

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

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 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

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: "Whywhywhatwhat '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

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.

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

The youth, after rushing about and throwing interrogations at the heedless bands of retreating infantry, finally

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

"Well, then!" bawled the man in a lurid rage. He adroitly and fiercely swung his rifle. It crushed upon the

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

Suddenly his legs seemed to die. He sank writhing to the ground. He tried to arise. In his efforts against the

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

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

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

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

The blue haze of evening was upon the field. The lines of forest were long purple shadows. One cloud lay

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

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

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

The little narrow roadway now lay lifeless. There were overturned wagons like sundried 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

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

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

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

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

At last he heard a cheery voice near his shoulder: "Yeh seem t' be in a pretty bad way, boy?"

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

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 aplenty of guards an'

provostguards, an' one thing an' another. Ho! there they go with an off'cer, I guess. Look at his hand

adraggin'. 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 astandin' purty peaceable fer a spell, 'though

there was men runnin' ev'ry way all 'round us, an' while we was astandin' 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 apeckin' at his elbow an' sayin': 'Say, where 's th' road t' th' river?' Jack was

alookin' 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

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

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 selfsatisfaction. "Ah, there yeh are!

"Well, there 's where your reg'ment is. An' now, goodby, 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

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

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.

monstrous figure. A rifle barrel caught some glinting beams. "Halt! halt!" He was dis

mayed for a moment, but he presently thought that he recognized the nervous voice. As he stood tottering

The rifle was lowered to a position of caution and the loud soldier came slowly forward. He peered into the

"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

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'veI'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

His friend had stepped forward quickly. "What? Got shot? Why didn't yeh say so first? Poor ol' boy, we

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 angertoned. "Who yeh talkin' to? Yeh th' derndest

sentinelwhyhello, 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 fortytwo men by straight count, but if they

keep on acomin' this way, we'll git th' comp'ny all back by mornin' yit. Where was yeh?"

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.

The youth leaned heavily upon his friend. "Yes, it hurtshurts a good deal," he replied. There was a

"Oh," said the corporal. He linked his arm in the youth's and drew him forward. "Come on, Henry. I'll take

As they went on together the loud private called out after them: "Put 'im t' sleep in my blanket, Simpson.

An'hol' on a minnithere'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

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

"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 ableedin' 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

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

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

On the other side of the fire the youth observed an officer asleep, seated bolt upright, with his back against a

dreams, perhaps, he swayed with little bounces and starts, like an old toddystricken 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 brassmounted hilt lay in contact with

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

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

Occasionally, in this lowarched 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."

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.

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

"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

"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.

"Well, come, now," continued his friend, "come on. I must put yeh t' bed an' see that yeh git a good night's

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

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.

"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

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,

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

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

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

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, thickspread 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

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

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

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 corpsehued faces were hidden behind fists that

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

"Thunder!" exclaimed the other. "I hoped ye'd feel all right this mornin'. Let's see th' bandageI guess it's

slipped." He began to tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way until the youth exploded.

"Goshdern it!" he said in sharp irritation; "you're the hangdest man I ever saw! You wear muffs on your

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

friend, but the latter answered soothingly. "Well, well, come now, an' git some grub," he said. "Then, maybe,

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

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

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 coffeecup on his knee. "Well, Henry," he said, "what d'yeh think th'

The youth considered for a moment. "Dayb' foreyesterday," he finally replied, with boldness, "you would 'a'

His friend looked a trifle amazed. "Would I?" he asked. He pondered. "Well, perhaps I would," he decided at

The youth was quite disconcerted at this surprising reception of his remarks. "Oh, no, you wouldn't either," he

But the other made a deprecating gesture. "Oh, yeh needn't mind, Henry," he said. "I believe I was a pretty

"All th' officers say we've got th' rebs in a pretty tight box," said the friend, clearing his throat in a

"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

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 lightfooted 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

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 lightfooted soldiers turned upon him redfaced 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

"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

But during this argumentative time the desire to deal blows seemed to pass, although they said much to each

"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

"No, I didn't use t' be that way," said his friend thoughtfully. "That's true 'nough."

"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' acomin' 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

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

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

was sufficient that the fact made him glad. It was not necessary to knock his friend on the head with the

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

He now rejoiced in the possession of a small weapon with which he could prostrate his comrade at the first

signs of a crossexamination. He was master. It would now be he who could laugh and shoot the shafts of

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

His selfpride was now entirely restored. In the shade of its flourishing growth he stood with braced and

selfconfident 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

Indeed, when he remembered his fortunes of yesterday, and looked at them from a distance he began to see

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

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

twentyfour 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?

run from the battle. As he recalled their terrorstruck 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

He was aroused from this reverie by his friend, who, having hitched about nervously and blinked at the trees

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

"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.

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

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

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

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

A SPUTTERING of musketry was always to be heard. Later, the cannon had entered the dispute. In the

fogfilled air their voices made a thudding sound. The reverberations were continued. This part of the world

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

The men cuddled behind the small embankment and sat in easy attitudes awaiting their turn. Many had their

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

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

The youth wished to launch a jokea 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.

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

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

"Mebbe, it wa'n't all his faultnot 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

"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,

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 hellroosters. But stillstill, 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

A sarcastic man who was tramping at the youth's side, then spoke lazily. "Mebbe yeh think yeh fit th' hull

The speech pierced the youth. Inwardly he was reduced to an abject pulp by these chance words. His legs

"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

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

There was lowtoned 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

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

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

"Whoopadadee," 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

"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

The friend seemed jaded, but he interrupted his comrade with a voice of calm confidence. "It'll turn out all

"Oh, the devil it will! You always talk like a doghanged parson. Don't tell me! I know"

At this time there was an interposition by the savageminded 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

longwinded 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

He paused, ready to pounce upon any man who might have the temerity to reply. No words being said, he

"There's too much chin music an' too little fightin' in this war, anyhow," he said to them, turning his head for

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

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

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.

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 today 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

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; today 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

He leaned and spoke into his friend's ear. He menaced the woods with a gesture. "If they keep on chasing us,

The friend twisted his head and made a calm reply. "If they keep on achasin' us they'll drive us all inteh th'

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,

cruelties. The tormentors were flies sucking insolently at his blood, and he thought that he would have given

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

beams of crimson seemed to get no purchase upon the bodies of their foes; the latter seemed to evade them

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

The blue smokeswallowed line curled and writhed like a snake stepped upon. It swung its ends to and fro in

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

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

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

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

Once he, in his intent hate, was almost alone, and was firing, when all those near him had ceased. He was so

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

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

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

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 awestruck 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

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?"

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

Some were utterly smudged. They were reeking with perspiration, and their breaths came hard and wheezing.

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

There was some grim rejoicing by the men. "By thunder, I bet this army'll never see another new reg'ment

"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.

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

When their eyes first encountered him there was a sudden halt, as if they feared to go near. He was thrashing

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

They made a hurried search for the supposed stream, but did not find it. "No water here," said the youth.

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 orangecolored 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

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

Near where they stood shells were flipflapping 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

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

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

The other swore at his restive horse, and then cleared his throat. He made a gesture toward his cap. "It'll be

"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:

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

The general spoke sharply. "Get 'em ready, then. I'll watch developments from here, an' send you word when

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."

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

As the two boys approached the line, the lieutenant perceived them and swelled with wrath.

But his oration ceased as he saw their eyes, which were large with great tales. "We're goin' t' chargewe're

"Charge?" said the lieutenant. "Charge? Well, b'Gawd! Now, this is real fightin'." Over his soiled

A little group of soldiers surrounded the two youths. "Are we, sure 'nough? Well, I'll be derned! Charge?

"I hope to die," said the youth, pitching his tones to the key of angry remonstrance. "Sure as shooting, I tell

And his friend spoke in reenforcement. "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,

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

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

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 drivershell t' paydon'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

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 ahorseback, 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

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

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 wedgeshaped mass, but an instant

later the opposition of the bushes, trees, and uneven places on the ground split the command and scattered it

The youth, lightfooted, 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 treetops. 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,

Other men, punched by bullets, fell in grotesque agonies. The regiment left a coherent

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

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, heapedup corpsesall 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

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

The youth had a vague belief that he had run miles, and he thought, in a way, that he was now in some new

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

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

Then, above the sounds of the outside commotion, arose the roar of the lieutenant. He strode suddenly forth,

"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed. "Come on! Yeh can't stay here. Yeh must come on." He said more, but

He started rapidly forward, with his head turned toward the men. "Come on," he was shouting. The men

stared with blank and yokellike 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

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

The flaming opposition in their front grew with their advance until it seemed that all forward ways were

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

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 wildeyed, 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

As they halted thus the lieutenant again began to bellow profanely. Regardless of the vindictive threats of the

coaxing, berating, and bedamning. His lips, that were habitually in a soft and childlike curve, were now

"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

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

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

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

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

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

In the mad scramble he was aware that the color sergeant flinched suddenly, as if struck by a bludgeon. He

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

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 redbearded 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

The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag. "Give it t' me!" "No, let me keep it!" Each felt

an offer to carry the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself. The youth roughly pushed his friend

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.

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 redbearded one with the

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

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

A daggerpointed gaze from without his blackened face was held toward the enemy, but his greater hatred

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

He had pictured red letters of curious revenge. "We ARE mule drivers, are we?" And now he was compelled

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

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

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

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

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

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

that trembled. His breath did not come freely. He was choking during this small wait for the crisis.

"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

men curled into depressions and fitted themselves snugly behind whatever would frustrate

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

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

Some lazy and ignorant smoke curled slowly. The men, hiding from the bullets, waited anxiously for it to lift

The silent ranks were suddenly thrilled by the eager voice of the youthful lieutenant bawling out: "Here they

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 brillianthued

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

darksuited 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

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

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

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

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

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

The impetus of enthusiasm was theirs again. They gazed about them with looks of uplifted pride, feeling new

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

In this last length of journey the men began to show strange emotions. They hurried with nervous fear. Some

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

As they approached their own lines there was some sarcasm exhibited on the part of a gaunt and bronzed

There was no reply from the bruised and battered regiment, save that one man made broadcast challenges to

fist fights and the redbearded 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 redbearded 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

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

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

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,

They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to wring every mite of water from them, and they polished at their

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

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 hardbreathing 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

"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

The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyes upon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin

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

"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

The colonel, bidden to hear the jarring noises of an engagement in the woods to the left, broke out in vague

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 iswhether he is a general or whatif he says th' boys didn't put

"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

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.

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

The friend, with a grievance in his eye, went to the youth. "I wonder what he does want," he said. "He must

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 yestirdayhe'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 dono matter whatain'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

"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 liehe 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 liewe did

fight like thunder, an' they give us quite a sendoff. But this is what I can't standthese everlastin' ol'

The youth exclaimed with sudden exasperation: "He's a lunkhead! He makes me mad.

"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 usit was damnedest thing I ever

heardan' 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 jimhickey,' he sesthose '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

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

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.

WHEN the woods again began to pour forth the darkhued masses of the enemy the youth felt serene

selfconfidence. 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

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

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 aweinspiring racket in the wood. The

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

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

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 lighterhued regiments faltered and drew back, leaving the darkblue 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

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

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 smokewall penetrated by the

Wallowing in the fight, they were in an astonishingly short time resmudged. They surpassed in stain and dirt

exertion, jabbering the while, they were, with their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowing eyes, like

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, intenteyed, 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

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

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

dubbed him wrongly. And it was his idea, vaguely formulated, that his corpse would be for those eyes a great

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

Others fell down about the feet of their companions. Some of the wounded crawled out and

The youth looked once for his friend. He saw a vehement young man, powdersmeared and frowzled, whom

he knew to be him. The lieutenant, also, was unscathed in his position at the rear. He had continued to curse,

For the fire of the regiment had begun to wane and drip. The robust voice, that had come strangely from the

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

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

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

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

and tattered blue, over a green sward and under a sapphire sky, toward a fence, dimly outlined in smoke, from

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

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.

loopholes. It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron gates of the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial wound in the foot. He cuddled it, babywise, 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

The third captive sat with a morose countenance. He preserved a stoical and cold attitude. To all advances he

The last of the four was always silent and, for the most part, kept his face turned in unmolested directions.

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

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.

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.

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

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 dustcovered troops, and were trudging along in a way parallel to

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 debrisstrewed ground. He breathed a breath of new

satisfaction. He finally nudged his friend. "Well, it's all over," he said to him.

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

He understood then that the existence of shot and countershot 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

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

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

He saw that he was good. He recalled with a thrill of joy the respectful comments of his fellows upon his

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

A specter of reproach came to him. There loomed the dogging memory of the tattered soldierhe 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

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

As he marched along the little branchhung 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

"Lickin'in yer eye! We ain't licked, sonny. We're goin' down here aways, swing aroun', an' come in behint

"Oh, hush, with your comin' in behint 'em. I've seen all 'a that I wanta. Don't tell me about comin' in

"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' nighttime, an' shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital. He ses sech hollerin' he never

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.

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

Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.