THE column that had butted stoutly
at the obstacles in the roadway
was barely out of the youth's
sight before he saw dark waves
of men come sweeping out of the
woods and down through the fields.
He knew at once that the steel
fibers had been washed from their
hearts. They were bursting from
their coats and their equipments
as from entanglements. They charged
down upon him like terrified
buffaloes.
Behind them blue smoke curled
and clouded above the treetops,
and through the thickets he could
sometimes see a distant pink
glare. The voices of the cannon
were clamoring in intermi- nable
chorus.
The youth was horrorstricken.
He stared in agony and amazement.
He forgot that he was engaged
in combating the universe. He
threw aside his mental pamphlets
on the philoso- phy of the retreated
and rules for the guidance of
the damned.
118
The fight was lost. The dragons
were com- ing with invincible
strides. The army, helpless in
the matted thickets and blinded
by the over- hanging night, was
going to be swallowed. War, the
red animal, war, the blood-swollen
god, would have bloated fill.
Within him
something bade to cry out.
He had the impulse to
make a rallying speech, to sing
a battle hymn, but he could only
get his tongue to call into the
air: "Why--why--what--what 's
th' matter?"
Soon he was in the midst of
them. They were leaping and scampering
all about him. Their blanched
faces shone in the dusk. They
seemed, for the most part, to
be very burly men. The youth
turned from one to another of
them as they galloped along.
His incoherent questions were
lost. They were heedless of his
appeals. They did not seem to
see him.
They sometimes
gabbled insanely. One huge
man was asking of the
sky: "Say, where de plank road?
Where de plank road!" It was
as if he had lost a child. He
wept in his pain and dismay.
Presently, men were running
hither and thither in all ways.
The artillery booming, forward,
rearward, and on the flanks made
jumble of ideas of direction.
Landmarks had vanished into the
gathered gloom. The youth began
to imagine that he had got into
the center of the tremendous
quarrel, and he could perceive
no way out of it. From the mouths
of the fleeing men came a thousand
wild questions, but no one made
answers.
The youth, after rushing about
and throwing interrogations at
the heedless bands of retreating
infantry, finally clutched a
man by the arm. They swung around
face to face.
"Why--why--" stammered
the youth strug- gling with
his balking
tongue.
The man screamed: "Let go me!
Let go me!" His face was livid
and his eyes were roll- ing uncontrolled.
He was heaving and panting. He
still grasped his rifle, perhaps
having for- gotten to release
his hold upon it. He tugged frantically,
and the youth being compelled
to lean forward was dragged several
paces.
"Let go me!
Let go me!"
"Why--why--" stuttered
the youth.
"Well, then!" bawled
the man in a lurid rage. He
adroitly
and fiercely swung his rifle.
It crushed upon the youth's head.
The man ran on.
The youth's fingers had turned
to paste upon the other's arm.
The energy was smitten from his
muscles. He saw the flaming wings
of light- ning flash before his
vision. There was a deaf- ening
rumble of thunder within his
head.
Suddenly his legs seemed to
die. He sank writhing to the
ground. He tried to arise. In
his efforts against the numbing
pain he was like a man wrestling
with a creature of the air.
There was a sinister struggle.
Sometimes he would achieve
a position half erect, battle
with the air for a moment, and
then fall again, grabbing at
the grass. His face was of a
clammy pallor. Deep groans were
wrenched from him.
At last, with a twisting movement,
he got upon his hands and knees,
and from thence, like a babe
trying to walk, to his feet.
Pressing his hands to his temples
he went lurching over the grass.
He fought an intense battle
with his body. His dulled senses
wished him to swoon and he opposed
them stubbornly, his mind portraying
unknown dangers and mutilations
if he should fall upon the field.
He went tall soldier fashion.
He imagined secluded spots where
he could fall and be unmolested.
To search for one he strove against
the tide of his pain.
Once he put his hand to the
top of his head and timidly touched
the wound. The scratching pain
of the contact made him draw
a long breath through his clinched
teeth. His fingers were dabbled
with blood. He regarded them
with a fixed stare.
Around him he could hear the
grumble of jolted cannon as the
scurrying horses were lashed
toward the front. Once, a young
officer on a besplashed charger
nearly ran him down. He turned
and watched the mass of guns,
men, and horses sweeping in a
wide curve toward a gap in a
fence. The officer was making
excited motions with a gauntleted
hand. The guns followed the teams
with an air of unwillingness,
of being dragged by the heels.
Some officers of the scattered
infantry were cursing and railing
like fishwives. Their scold-
ing voices could be heard above
the din. Into the unspeakable
jumble in the roadway rode a
squadron of cavalry. The faded
yellow of their facings shone
bravely. There was a mighty altercation.
The artillery were assembling
as if for a con- ference.
The blue haze of evening was
upon the field. The lines of
forest were long purple shadows.
One cloud lay along the western
sky partly smothering the red.
As the youth left the scene
behind him, he heard the guns
suddenly roar out. He imagined
them shaking in black rage. They
belched and howled like brass
devils guarding a gate. The soft
air was filled with the tremendous
remon- strance. With it came
the shattering peal of opposing
infantry. Turning to look behind
him, he could see sheets of orange
light illumine the shadowy distance.
There were subtle and sudden
lightnings in the far air. At
times he thought he could see
heaving masses of men.
He hurried on in the dusk.
The day had faded until he could
barely distinguish place for
his feet. The purple darkness
was filled with men who lectured
and jabbered. Sometimes he could
see them gesticulating against
the blue and somber sky. There
seemed to be a great ruck of
men and munitions spread about
in the forest and in the fields.
The little narrow roadway now
lay lifeless. There were overturned
wagons like sun-dried bowlders.
The bed of the former torrent
was choked with the bodies of
horses and splintered parts of
war machines.
It had come to pass that his
wound pained him but little.
He was afraid to move rapidly,
how- ever, for a dread of disturbing
it. He held his head very still
and took many precautions against
stumbling. He was filled with
anxiety, and his face was pinched
and drawn in anticipation of
the pain of any sudden mistake
of his feet in the gloom.
His thoughts, as he walked,
fixed intently upon his hurt.
There was a cool, liquid feeling
about it and he imagined blood
moving slowly down under his
hair. His head seemed swollen
to a size that made him think
his neck to be inadequate.
The new silence of his wound
made much worriment. The little
blistering voices of pain that
had called out from his scalp
were, he thought, definite in
their expression of danger. By
them he believed that he could
measure his plight. But when
they remained ominously silent
he became frightened and imagined
ter- rible fingers that clutched
into his brain.
Amid it he began to reflect
upon various incidents and conditions
of the past. He be- thought him
of certain meals his mother had
cooked at home, in which those
dishes of which he was particularly
fond had occupied prominent positions.
He saw the spread table. The
pine walls of the kitchen were
glowing in the warm light from
the stove. Too, he remembered
how he and his companions used
to go from the school- house
to the bank of a shaded pool.
He saw his clothes in disorderly
array upon the grass of the bank.
He felt the swash of the fragrant
water upon his body. The leaves
of the overhanging maple rustled
with melody in the wind of youth-
ful summer.
He was overcome presently by
a dragging weariness. His head
hung forward and his shoulders
were stooped as if he were bearing
a great bundle. His feet shuffled
along the ground.
He held continuous arguments
as to whether he should lie down
and sleep at some near spot,
or force himself on until he
reached a certain haven. He often
tried to dismiss the question,
but his body persisted in rebellion
and his senses nagged at him
like pampered babies.
At last he
heard a cheery voice near his
shoulder: "Yeh seem
t' be in a pretty bad way, boy?"
The youth did
not look up, but he assented
with thick tongue. "Uh!"
The owner of
the cheery voice took him firmly
by the arm. "Well," he
said, with a round laugh, "I'm
goin' your way. Th' hull gang
is goin' your way. An' I guess
I kin give yeh a lift." They
began to walk like a drunken
man and his friend.
As they went
along, the man questioned the
youth and assisted
him with the replies like one
manipulating the mind of a child.
Sometimes he interjected anecdotes. "What
reg'ment do yeh b'long teh? Eh?
What's that? Th' 304th N' York?
Why, what corps is that in? Oh,
it is? Why, I thought they wasn't
engaged t'-day-- they 're 'way
over in th' center. Oh, they
was, eh? Well, pretty nearly
everybody got their share 'a
fightin' t'-day. By dad, I give
myself up fer dead any number
'a times. There was shootin'
here an' shootin' there, an'
hollerin' here an' hollerin'
there, in th' damn' darkness,
until I couldn't tell t' save
m' soul which side I was on.
Sometimes I thought I was sure
'nough from Ohier, an' other
times I could 'a swore I was
from th' bitter end of Florida.
It was th' most mixed up dern
thing I ever see. An' these here
hull woods is a reg'lar mess.
It'll be a miracle if we find
our reg'ments t'-night. Pretty
soon, though, we 'll meet a-plenty
of guards an' provost- guards,
an' one thing an' another. Ho!
there they go with an off'cer,
I guess. Look at his hand a-draggin'.
He 's got all th' war he wants,
I bet. He won't be talkin' so
big about his reputation an'
all when they go t' sawin' off
his leg. Poor feller! My brother
's got whiskers jest like that.
How did yeh git 'way over here,
anyhow? Your reg'ment is a long
way from here, ain't it? Well,
I guess we can find it. Yeh know
there was a boy killed in my
comp'ny t'-day that I thought
th' world an' all of. Jack was
a nice feller. By ginger, it
hurt like thunder t' see ol'
Jack jest git knocked flat. We
was a-standin' purty peaceable
fer a spell, 'though there was
men runnin' ev'ry way all 'round
us, an' while we was a-standin'
like that, 'long come a big fat
feller. He began t' peck at Jack's
elbow, an' he ses: 'Say, where
's th' road t' th' river?' An'
Jack, he never paid no attention,
an' th' feller kept on a-peckin'
at his elbow an' sayin': 'Say,
where 's th' road t' th' river?'
Jack was a-lookin' ahead all
th' time tryin' t' see th' Johnnies
comin' through th' woods, an'
he never paid no attention t'
this big fat feller fer a long
time, but at last he turned 'round
an' he ses: 'Ah, go t' hell an'
find th' road t' th' river!'
An' jest then a shot slapped
him bang on th' side th' head.
He was a sergeant, too. Them
was his last words. Thunder,
I wish we was sure 'a findin'
our reg'ments t'-night. It 's
goin' t' be long huntin'. But
I guess we kin do it."
In the search which followed,
the man of the cheery voice seemed
to the youth to possess a wand
of a magic kind. He threaded
the mazes of the tangled forest
with a strange fortune. In encounters
with guards and patrols he displayed
the keenness of a detective and
the valor of a gamin. Obstacles
fell before him and became of
assistance. The youth, with his
chin still on his breast, stood
woodenly by while his companion
beat ways and means out of sullen
things.
The forest
seemed a vast hive of men buzzing
about in frantic
circles, but the cheery man con-
ducted the youth without mistakes,
until at last he began to chuckle
with glee and self-satisfaction. "Ah,
there yeh are! See that fire?"
The youth nodded stupidly.
"Well, there
's where your reg'ment is.
An' now, good-by,
ol' boy, good luck t' yeh."
A warm and strong hand clasped
the youth's languid fingers for
an instant, and then he heard
a cheerful and audacious whistling
as the man strode away. As he
who had so befriended him was
thus passing out of his life,
it suddenly oc- curred to the
youth that he had not once seen
his face.
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