PRESENTLY they knew that no
firing threat- ened them. All
ways seemed once more opened
to them. The dusty blue lines
of their friends were disclosed
a short distance away. In the
distance there were many colossal
noises, but in all this part
of the field there was a sudden
stillness.
They perceived that they were
free. The depleted band drew
a long breath of relief and gathered
itself into a bunch to complete
its trip.
In this last length of journey
the men began to show strange
emotions. They hurried with nervous
fear. Some who had been dark
and un- faltering in the grimmest
moments now could not conceal
an anxiety that made them frantic.
It was perhaps that they dreaded
to be killed in insignificant
ways after the times for proper
military deaths had passed. Or,
perhaps, they thought it would
be too ironical to get killed
at
199 the portals of safety.
With backward looks of perturbation,
they hastened.
As they approached their own
lines there was some sarcasm
exhibited on the part of a gaunt
and bronzed regiment that lay
resting in the shade of trees.
Questions were wafted to them.
"Where th'
hell yeh been?"
"What yeh comin'
back fer?"
"Why didn't
yeh stay there?"
"Was it warm
out there, sonny?"
"Goin' home
now, boys?"
One shouted
in taunting mimicry: "Oh,
mother, come quick an' look at
th' sojers!"
There was no reply from the
bruised and bat- tered regiment,
save that one man made broad-
cast challenges to fist fights
and the red-bearded officer walked
rather near and glared in great
swashbuckler style at a tall
captain in the other regiment.
But the lieutenant suppressed
the man who wished to fist fight,
and the tall cap- tain, flushing
at the little fanfare of the
red- bearded one, was obliged
to look intently at some trees.
The youth's tender flesh was
deeply stung by these remarks.
From under his creased brows
he glowered with hate at the
mockers. He meditated upon a
few revenges. Still, many in
the regiment hung their heads
in criminal fashion, so that
it came to pass that the men
trudged with sudden heaviness,
as if they bore upon their bended
shoulders the coffin of their
honor. And the youthful lieutenant,
recollecting himself, be- gan
to mutter softly in black curses.
They turned when they arrived
at their old position to regard
the ground over which they had
charged.
The youth in this contemplation
was smitten with a large astonishment.
He discovered that the distances,
as compared with the brilliant
measurings of his mind, were
trivial and ridicu- lous. The
stolid trees, where much had
taken place, seemed incredibly
near. The time, too, now that
he reflected, he saw to have
been short. He wondered at the
number of emotions and events
that had been crowded into such
little spaces. Elfin thoughts
must have exaggerated and enlarged
everything, he said.
It seemed, then, that there
was bitter justice in the speeches
of the gaunt and bronzed vet-
erans. He veiled a glance of
disdain at his fel- lows who
strewed the ground, choking with
dust, red from perspiration,
misty-eyed, disheveled.
They were gulping at their
canteens, fierce to wring every
mite of water from them, and
they polished at their swollen
and watery features with coat
sleeves and bunches of grass.
However, to the youth there
was a consider- able joy in musing
upon his performances during
the charge. He had had very little
time pre- viously in which to
appreciate himself, so that there
was now much satisfaction in
quietly think- ing of his actions.
He recalled bits of color that
in the flurry had stamped themselves
unawares upon his engaged senses.
As the regiment lay heaving
from its hot exer- tions the
officer who had named them as
mule drivers came galloping along
the line. He had lost his cap.
His tousled hair streamed wildly,
and his face was dark with vexation
and wrath. His temper was displayed
with more clearness by the way
in which he managed his horse.
He jerked and wrenched savagely
at his bridle, stop- ping the
hard-breathing animal with a
furious pull near the colonel
of the regiment. He im- mediately
exploded in reproaches which
came unbidden to the ears of
the men. They were suddenly alert,
being always curious about black
words between officers.
"Oh, thunder, MacChesnay, what
an awful bull you made of this
thing!" began the officer. He
attempted low tones, but his
indignation caused certain of
the men to learn the sense of
his words. "What an awful mess
you made! Good Lord, man, you
stopped about a hun- dred feet
this side of a very pretty success!
If your men had gone a hundred
feet farther you would have made
a great charge, but as it is
--what a lot of mud diggers you've
got any- way!"
The men, listening with bated
breath, now turned their curious
eyes upon the colonel. They had
a ragamuffin interest in this
affair.
The colonel was seen to straighten
his form and put one hand forth
in oratorical fashion. He wore
an injured air; it was as if
a deacon had been accused of
stealing. The men were wiggling
in an ecstasy of excitement.
But of a sudden
the colonel's manner changed
from that of a
deacon to that of a Frenchman.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh,
well, general, we went as far
as we could," he said calmly.
"As far as you could? Did you,
b'Gawd?" snorted the other. "Well,
that wasn't very far, was it?" he
added, with a glance of cold
con- tempt into the other's eyes. "Not
very far, I think. You were intended
to make a diversion in favor
of Whiterside. How well you succeeded
your own ears can now tell you." He
wheeled his horse and rode stiffly
away.
The colonel, bidden to hear
the jarring noises of an engagement
in the woods to the left, broke
out in vague damnations.
The lieutenant,
who had listened with an air
of impotent rage
to the interview, spoke suddenly
in firm and undaunted tones. "I
don't care what a man is--whether
he is a general or what--if he
says th' boys didn't put up a
good fight out there he's a damned
fool."
"Lieutenant," began the colonel,
severely, "this is my own affair,
and I'll trouble you--"
The lieutenant
made an obedient gesture. "All right, colonel,
all right," he said. He sat down
with an air of being content
with him- self.
The news that
the regiment had been re- proached
went along
the line. For a time the men
were bewildered by it. "Good
thunder!" they ejaculated, staring
at the vanishing form of the
general. They conceived it to
be a huge mistake.
Presently, however, they began
to believe that in truth their
efforts had been called light.
The youth could see this conviction
weigh upon the entire regiment
until the men were like cuffed
and cursed animals, but withal
rebellious.
The friend,
with a grievance in his eye,
went to the youth. "I
wonder what he does want," he
said. "He must think we went
out there an' played marbles!
I never see sech a man!"
The youth developed
a tranquil philosophy for these
moments
of irritation. "Oh, well," he
rejoined, "he probably didn't
see nothing of it at all and
got mad as blazes, and concluded
we were a lot of sheep, just
because we didn't do what he
wanted done. It's a pity old
Grandpa Hender- son got killed
yestirday--he'd have known that
we did our best and fought good.
It's just our awful luck, that's
what."
"I should say so," replied
the friend. He seemed to be deeply
wounded at an injustice. "I should
say we did have awful luck! There's
no fun in fightin' fer people
when everything yeh do--no matter
what--ain't done right. I have
a notion t' stay behind next
time an' let 'em take their ol'
charge an' go t' th' devil with
it."
The youth spoke
soothingly to his comrade. "Well,
we both did good. I'd like
to see the
fool what'd say we both didn't
do as good as we could!"
"Of course we did," declared
the friend stoutly. "An' I'd
break th' feller's neck if he
was as big as a church. But we're
all right, anyhow, for I heard
one feller say that we two fit
th' best in th' reg'ment, an'
they had a great argument 'bout
it. Another feller, 'a course,
he had t' up an' say it was a
lie--he seen all what was goin'
on an' he never seen us from
th' beginnin' t' th' end. An'
a lot more struck in an' ses
it wasn't a lie--we did fight
like thunder, an' they give us
quite a send-off. But this is
what I can't stand--these everlastin'
ol' soldiers, titterin' an' laughin',
an' then that general, he's crazy."
The youth exclaimed
with sudden exaspera- tion: "He's
a lunkhead! He makes me mad.
I wish he'd
come along next time. We'd show
'im what--"
He ceased because several men
had come hurrying up. Their faces
expressed a bringing of great
news.
"O Flem, yeh jest oughta heard!" cried
one, eagerly.
"Heard what?" said
the youth.
"Yeh jest oughta heard!" repeated
the other, and he arranged himself
to tell his tidings. The others
made an excited circle. "Well,
sir, th' colonel met your lieutenant
right by us--it was damnedest
thing I ever heard--an' he ses:
'Ahem! ahem!' he ses. 'Mr. Hasbrouck!'
he ses, 'by th' way, who was
that lad what carried th' flag?'
he ses. There, Flemin', what
d' yeh think 'a that? 'Who was
th' lad what carried th' flag?'
he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he
speaks up right away: 'That's
Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,'
he ses, right away. What? I say
he did. 'A jim- hickey,' he ses--those
'r his words. He did, too. I
say he did. If you kin tell this
story better than I kin, go ahead
an' tell it. Well, then, keep
yer mouth shet. Th' lieutenant,
he ses: 'He's a jimhickey,' an'
th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!
he is, indeed, a very good man
t' have, ahem! He kep' th' flag
'way t' th' front. I saw 'im.
He's a good un,' ses th' colonel.
'You bet,' ses th' lieu- tenant,
'he an' a feller named Wilson
was at th' head 'a th' charge,
an' howlin' like Indians all
th' time,' he ses. 'Head 'a th'
charge all th' time,' he ses.
'A feller named Wilson,' he ses.
There, Wilson, m'boy, put that
in a letter an' send it hum t'
yer mother, hay? 'A feller named
Wil- son,' he ses. An' th' colonel,
he ses: 'Were they, indeed? Ahem!
ahem! My sakes!' he ses. 'At
th' head 'a th' reg'ment?' he
ses. 'They were,' ses th' lieutenant.
'My sakes!' ses th' colonel.
He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he
ses, 'those two babies?' 'They
were,' ses th' lieutenant. 'Well,
well,' ses th' colonel, 'they
deserve t' be major generals,'
he ses. 'They deserve t' be major-generals.'
The youth and
his friend had said: "Huh!" "Yer lyin', Thompson." "Oh,
go t' blazes!" "He never sed
it." "Oh, what a lie!" "Huh!" But
despite these youthful scoffings
and embar- rassments, they knew
that their faces were deeply
flushing from thrills of pleasure.
They ex- changed a secret glance
of joy and congratula- tion.
They speedily forgot many things.
The past held no pictures of
error and disappointment. They
were very happy, and their hearts
swelled with grateful affection
for the colonel and the youthful
lieutenant.
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