THE youth stared at the land
in front of him. Its foliages
now seemed to veil powers and
hor- rors. He was unaware of
the machinery of orders that
started the charge, although
from the cor- ners of his eyes
he saw an officer, who looked
like a boy a-horseback, come
galloping, waving his hat. Suddenly
he felt a straining and heaving
among the men. The line fell
slowly forward like a toppling
wall, and, with a convulsive
gasp that was intended for a
cheer, the regiment began its
journey. The youth was pushed
and jostled for a moment before
he understood the move- ment
at all, but directly he lunged
ahead and
began to run.
He fixed his eye upon a distant
and promi- nent clump of trees
where he had concluded the enemy
were to be met, and he ran toward
it as toward a goal. He had believed
throughout that it was a mere
question of getting over an unpleas-
ant matter as quickly as possible,
and he ran
179 desperately, as if pursued
for a murder. His face was drawn
hard and tight with the stress
of his endeavor. His eyes were
fixed in a lurid glare. And with
his soiled and disordered dress,
his red and inflamed features
surmounted by the dingy rag with
its spot of blood, his wildly
swinging rifle and banging accouterments,
he looked to be an insane soldier.
As the regiment swung from
its position out into a cleared
space the woods and thickets
be- fore it awakened. Yellow
flames leaped toward it from
many directions. The forest made
a tre- mendous objection.
The line lurched straight for
a moment. Then the right wing
swung forward; it in turn was
surpassed by the left. Afterward
the center careered to the front
until the regiment was a wedge-shaped
mass, but an instant later the
opposition of the bushes, trees,
and uneven places on the ground
split the command and scattered
it into detached clusters.
The youth, light-footed, was
unconsciously in advance. His
eyes still kept note of the clump
of trees. From all places near
it the clannish yell of the enemy
could be heard. The little flames
of rifles leaped from it. The
song of the bullets was in the
air and shells snarled among
the tree- tops. One tumbled directly
into the middle of a hurrying
group and exploded in crimson
fury. There was an instant's
spectacle of a man, almost over
it, throwing up his hands to
shield his eyes.
Other men, punched by bullets,
fell in gro- tesque agonies.
The regiment left a coherent
trail of bodies.
They had passed into a clearer
atmosphere. There was an effect
like a revelation in the new
appearance of the landscape.
Some men work- ing madly at a
battery were plain to them, and
the opposing infantry's lines
were defined by the gray walls
and fringes of smoke.
It seemed to the youth that
he saw every- thing. Each blade
of the green grass was bold and
clear. He thought that he was
aware of every change in the
thin, transparent vapor that
floated idly in sheets. The brown
or gray trunks of the trees showed
each roughness of their sur-
faces. And the men of the regiment,
with their starting eyes and
sweating faces, running madly,
or falling, as if thrown headlong,
to queer, heaped-up corpses--all
were comprehended. His mind took
a mechanical but firm impression,
so that afterward everything
was pictured and ex- plained
to him, save why he himself was
there.
But there was a frenzy made
from this furious rush. The men,
pitching forward insanely, had
burst into cheerings, moblike
and barbaric, but tuned in strange
keys that can arouse the dullard
and the stoic. It made a mad
enthusiasm that, it seemed, would
be incapable of checking itself
before granite and brass. There
was the deli- rium that encounters
despair and death, and is heedless
and blind to the odds. It is
a temporary but sublime absence
of selfishness. And because it
was of this order was the reason,
perhaps, why the youth wondered,
afterward, what reasons he could
have had for being there.
Presently the straining pace
ate up the ener- gies of the
men. As if by agreement, the
leaders began to slacken their
speed. The volleys di- rected
against them had had a seeming
windlike effect. The regiment
snorted and blew. Among some
stolid trees it began to falter
and hesitate. The men, staring
intently, began to wait for some
of the distant walls of smoke
to move and dis- close to them
the scene. Since much of their
strength and their breath had
vanished, they re- turned to
caution. They were become men
again.
The youth had a vague belief
that he had run miles, and he
thought, in a way, that he was
now in some new and unknown land.
The moment the regiment ceased
its advance the protesting splutter
of musketry became a steadied
roar. Long and accurate fringes
of smoke spread out. From the
top of a small hill came level
belchings of yellow flame that
caused an inhuman whistling in
the air.
The men, halted, had opportunity
to see some of their comrades
dropping with moans and shrieks.
A few lay under foot, still or
wailing. And now for an instant
the men stood, their rifles slack
in their hands, and watched the
regiment dwindle. They appeared
dazed and stupid. This spectacle
seemed to paralyze them, overcome
them with a fatal fascination.
They stared wood- enly at the
sights, and, lowering their eyes,
looked from face to face. It
was a strange pause, and a strange
silence.
Then, above the sounds of the
outside commo- tion, arose the
roar of the lieutenant. He strode
suddenly forth, his infantile
features black with rage.
"Come on, yeh fools!" he bellowed. "Come
on! Yeh can't stay here. Yeh
must come on." He said more,
but much of it could not be under-
stood.
He started
rapidly forward, with his head
turned toward the
men. "Come on," he was shouting.
The men stared with blank and
yokel- like eyes at him. He was
obliged to halt and retrace his
steps. He stood then with his
back to the enemy and delivered
gigantic curses into the faces
of the men. His body vibrated
from the weight and force of
his imprecations. And he could
string oaths with the facility
of a maiden who strings beads.
The friend of the youth aroused.
Lurching suddenly forward and
dropping to his knees, he fired
an angry shot at the persistent
woods. This action awakened the
men. They huddled no more like
sheep. They seemed suddenly to
be- think them of their weapons,
and at once com- menced firing.
Belabored by their officers,
they began to move forward. The
regiment, involved like a cart
involved in mud and muddle, started
unevenly with many jolts and
jerks. The men stopped now every
few paces to fire and load, and
in this manner moved slowly on
from trees to trees.
The flaming opposition in their
front grew with their advance
until it seemed that all for-
ward ways were barred by the
thin leaping tongues, and off
to the right an ominous demon-
stration could sometimes be dimly
discerned. The smoke lately generated
was in confusing clouds that
made it difficult for the regiment
to proceed with intelligence.
As he passed through each curling
mass the youth wondered what
would confront him on the farther
side.
The command went painfully
forward until an open space interposed
between them and the lurid lines.
Here, crouching and cowering
be- hind some trees, the men
clung with desperation, as if
threatened by a wave. They looked
wild- eyed, and as if amazed
at this furious disturbance they
had stirred. In the storm there
was an ironical expression of
their importance. The faces of
the men, too, showed a lack of
a certain feeling of responsibility
for being there. It was as if
they had been driven. It was
the dominant animal failing to
remember in the supreme mo- ments
the forceful causes of various
superficial qualities. The whole
affair seemed incompre- hensible
to many of them.
As they halted thus the lieutenant
again be- gan to bellow profanely.
Regardless of the vin- dictive
threats of the bullets, he went
about coaxing, berating, and
bedamning. His lips, that were
habitually in a soft and childlike
curve, were now writhed into
unholy contortions. He swore
by all possible deities.
Once he grabbed
the youth by the arm. "Come on, yeh lunkhead!" he
roared. "Come on! We'll all git
killed if we stay here. We've
on'y got t' go across that lot.
An' then"--the remainder of his
idea disappeared in a blue haze
of curses.
The youth stretched
forth his arm. "Cross there?" His
mouth was puckered in doubt
and awe.
"Certainly. Jest 'cross th'
lot! We can't stay here," screamed
the lieutenant. He poked his
face close to the youth and waved
his ban- daged hand. "Come on!" Presently
he grap- pled with him as if
for a wrestling bout. It was
as if he planned to drag the
youth by the ear on to the assault.
The private felt a sudden unspeakable
indig- nation against his officer.
He wrenched fiercely and shook
him off.
"Come on herself, then," he
yelled. There was a bitter challenge
in his voice.
They galloped
together down the regimental
front. The friend
scrambled after them. In front
of the colors the three men began
to bawl: "Come on! come on!" They
danced and gy- rated like tortured
savages.
The flag, obedient to these
appeals, bended its glittering
form and swept toward them. The
men wavered in indecision for
a moment, and then with a long,
wailful cry the dilapidated regiment
surged forward and began its
new journey.
Over the field went the scurrying
mass. It was a handful of men
splattered into the faces of
the enemy. Toward it instantly
sprang the yel- low tongues.
A vast quantity of blue smoke
hung before them. A mighty banging
made ears valueless.
The youth ran like a madman
to reach the woods before a bullet
could discover him. He ducked
his head low, like a football
player. In his haste his eyes
almost closed, and the scene
was a wild blur. Pulsating saliva
stood at the corners of his mouth.
Within him, as he hurled himself
forward, was born a love, a despairing
fondness for this flag which
was near him. It was a creation
of beauty and invulnerability.
It was a goddess, radiant, that
bended its form with an imperious
gesture to him. It was a woman,
red and white, hating and loving,
that called him with the voice
of his hopes. Because no harm
could come to it he en- dowed
it with power. He kept near,
as if it could be a saver of
lives, and an imploring cry went
from his mind.
In the mad scramble he was
aware that the color sergeant
flinched suddenly, as if struck
by a bludgeon. He faltered, and
then became motion- less, save
for his quivering knees.
He made a spring and a clutch
at the pole. At the same instant
his friend grabbed it from the
other side. They jerked at it,
stout and furious, but the color
sergeant was dead, and the corpse
would not relinquish its trust.
For a moment there was a grim
encounter. The dead man, swinging
with bended back, seemed to be
obsti- nately tugging, in ludicrous
and awful ways, for the possession
of the flag.
It was past in an instant of
time. They wrenched the flag
furiously from the dead man,
and, as they turned again, the
corpse swayed for- ward with
bowed head. One arm swung high,
and the curved hand fell with
heavy protest on the friend's
unheeding shoulder.
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