WHEN the two youths turned with
the flag they saw that much of
the regiment had crum- bled away,
and the dejected remnant was
coming slowly back. The men,
having hurled themselves in projectile
fashion, had presently expended
their forces. They slowly retreated,
with their faces still toward
the spluttering woods, and their
hot rifles still replying to
the din. Several officers were
giving orders, their voices keyed
to screams.
"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the
lieutenant was asking in a sarcastic
howl. And a red-bearded officer,
whose voice of triple brass could
plainly be heard, was commanding: "Shoot
into 'em! Shoot into 'em, Gawd
damn their souls!" There was
a melee of screeches, in which
the men were ordered to do conflicting
and impossible things.
The youth and
his friend had a small scuffle
over the flag. "Give
it t' me!" "No, let me keep it!" Each
felt satisfied with the other's
pos- session of it, but each
felt bound to declare, by
189 an offer to carry the emblem,
his willingness to further risk
himself. The youth roughly pushed
his friend away.
The regiment fell back to the
stolid trees. There it halted
for a moment to blaze at some
dark forms that had begun to
steal upon its track. Presently
it resumed its march again, curving
among the tree trunks. By the
time the depleted regiment had
again reached the first open
space they were receiving a fast
and merciless fire. There seemed
to be mobs all about them.
The greater part of the men,
discouraged, their spirits worn
by the turmoil, acted as if stunned.
They accepted the pelting of
the bul- lets with bowed and
weary heads. It was of no purpose
to strive against walls. It was
of no use to batter themselves
against granite. And from this
consciousness that they had attempted
to conquer an unconquerable thing
there seemed to arise a feeling
that they had been betrayed.
They glowered with bent brows,
but danger- ously, upon some
of the officers, more particu-
larly upon the red-bearded one
with the voice of triple brass.
However, the rear of the regiment
was fringed with men, who continued
to shoot irritably at the advancing
foes. They seemed resolved to
make every trouble. The youthful
lieutenant was per- haps the
last man in the disordered mass.
His forgotten back was toward
the enemy. He had been shot in
the arm. It hung straight and
rigid. Occasionally he would
cease to remember it, and be
about to emphasize an oath with
a sweeping gesture. The multiplied
pain caused him to swear with
incredible power.
The youth went along with slipping,
uncertain feet. He kept watchful
eyes rearward. A scowl of mortification
and rage was upon his face. He
had thought of a fine revenge
upon the officer who had referred
to him and his fellows as mule
drivers. But he saw that it could
not come to pass. His dreams
had collapsed when the mule drivers,
dwindling rapidly, had wavered
and hes- itated on the little
clearing, and then had recoiled.
And now the retreat of the mule
drivers was a march of shame
to him.
A dagger-pointed gaze from
without his black- ened face
was held toward the enemy, but
his greater hatred was riveted
upon the man, who, not knowing
him, had called him a mule driver.
When he knew that he and his
comrades had failed to do anything
in successful ways that might
bring the little pangs of a kind
of remorse upon the officer,
the youth allowed the rage of
the baf- fled to possess him.
This cold officer upon a monument,
who dropped epithets unconcernedly
down, would be finer as a dead
man, he thought. So grievous
did he think it that he could
never possess the secret right
to taunt truly in answer.
He had pictured
red letters of curious revenge. "We ARE mule
drivers, are we?" And now he
was compelled to throw them away.
He presently wrapped his heart
in the cloak of his pride and
kept the flag erect. He ha- rangued
his fellows, pushing against
their chests with his free hand.
To those he knew well he made
frantic appeals, beseeching them
by name. Between him and the
lieutenant, scolding and near
to losing his mind with rage,
there was felt a subtle fellowship
and equality. They supported
each other in all manner of hoarse,
howling pro- tests.
But the regiment was a machine
run down. The two men babbled
at a forceless thing. The soldiers
who had heart to go slowly were
con- tinually shaken in their
resolves by a knowledge that
comrades were slipping with speed
back to the lines. It was difficult
to think of reputation when others
were thinking of skins. Wounded
men were left crying on this
black journey.
The smoke fringes and flames
blustered al- ways. The youth,
peering once through a sud- den
rift in a cloud, saw a brown
mass of troops, interwoven and
magnified until they appeared
to be thousands. A fierce-hued
flag flashed before his vision.
Immediately, as if the uplifting
of the smoke had been prearranged,
the discovered troops burst into
a rasping yell, and a hundred
flames jetted toward the retreating
band. A rolling gray cloud again
interposed as the regiment dog-
gedly replied. The youth had
to depend again upon his misused
ears, which were trembling and
buzzing from the melee of musketry
and yells.
The way seemed eternal. In
the clouded haze men became panicstricken
with the thought that the regiment
had lost its path, and was proceed-
ing in a perilous direction.
Once the men who headed the wild
procession turned and came push-
ing back against their comrades,
screaming that they were being
fired upon from points which
they had considered to be toward
their own lines. At this cry
a hysterical fear and dismay
beset the troops. A soldier,
who heretofore had been am- bitious
to make the regiment into a wise
little band that would proceed
calmly amid the huge- appearing
difficulties, suddenly sank down
and buried his face in his arms
with an air of bowing to a doom.
From another a shrill lamentation
rang out filled with profane
allusions to a general. Men ran
hither and thither, seeking with
their eyes roads of escape. With
serene regularity, as if controlled
by a schedule, bullets buffed
into men.
The youth walked stolidly into
the midst of the mob, and with
his flag in his hands took a
stand as if he expected an attempt
to push him to the ground. He
unconsciously assumed the atti-
tude of the color bearer in the
fight of the pre- ceding day.
He passed over his brow a hand
that trembled. His breath did
not come freely. He was choking
during this small wait for the
crisis.
His friend
came to him. "Well,
Henry, I guess this is good-by--John."
"Oh, shut up, you damned fool!" replied
the youth, and he would not look
at the other.
The officers labored like politicians
to beat the mass into a proper
circle to face the men- aces.
The ground was uneven and torn.
The men curled into depressions
and fitted them- selves snugly
behind whatever would frustrate
a bullet.
The youth noted with vague
surprise that the lieutenant
was standing mutely with his
legs far apart and his sword
held in the manner of a cane.
The youth wondered what had happened
to his vocal organs that he no
more cursed.
There was something curious
in this little in- tent pause
of the lieutenant. He was like
a babe which, having wept its
fill, raises its eyes and fixes
upon a distant toy. He was engrossed
in this contemplation, and the
soft under lip quivered from
self-whispered words.
Some lazy and ignorant smoke
curled slowly. The men, hiding
from the bullets, waited anx-
iously for it to lift and disclose
the plight of the regiment.
The silent
ranks were suddenly thrilled
by the eager voice of
the youthful lieutenant bawling
out: "Here they come! Right onto
us, b'Gawd!" His further words
were lost in a roar of wicked
thunder from the men's rifles.
The youth's eyes had instantly
turned in the direction indicated
by the awakened and agitated
lieutenant, and he had seen the
haze of treachery disclosing
a body of soldiers of the enemy.
They were so near that he could
see their features. There was
a recognition as he looked at
the types of faces. Also he perceived
with dim amazement that their
uniforms were rather gay in effect,
being light gray, accented with
a brilliant-hued facing. Too,
the clothes seemed new.
These troops had apparently
been going for- ward with caution,
their rifles held in readiness,
when the youthful lieutenant
had discovered them and their
movement had been interrupted
by the volley from the blue regiment.
From the moment's glimpse, it
was derived that they had been
unaware of the proximity of their
dark- suited foes or had mistaken
the direction. Al- most instantly
they were shut utterly from the
youth's sight by the smoke from
the energetic rifles of his companions.
He strained his vision to learn
the accomplishment of the volley,
but the smoke hung before him.
The two bodies of troops exchanged
blows in the manner of a pair
of boxers. The fast angry firings
went back and forth. The men
in blue were intent with the
despair of their circum- stances
and they seized upon the revenge
to be had at close range. Their
thunder swelled loud and valiant.
Their curving front bristled
with flashes and the place resounded
with the clangor of their ramrods.
The youth ducked and dodged for
a time and achieved a few unsatisfactory
views of the enemy. There appeared
to be many of them and they were
replying swiftly. They seemed
moving toward the blue regiment,
step by step. He seated himself
gloomily on the ground with his
flag between his knees.
As he noted the vicious, wolflike
temper of his comrades he had
a sweet thought that if the enemy
was about to swallow the regimental
broom as a large prisoner, it
could at least have the consolation
of going down with bristles for-
ward.
But the blows of the antagonist
began to grow more weak. Fewer
bullets ripped the air, and finally,
when the men slackened to learn
of the fight, they could see
only dark, floating smoke. The
regiment lay still and gazed.
Pres- ently some chance whim
came to the pestering blur, and
it began to coil heavily away.
The men saw a ground vacant of
fighters. It would have been
an empty stage if it were not
for a few corpses that lay thrown
and twisted into fantastic shapes
upon the sward.
At sight of this tableau, many
of the men in blue sprang from
behind their covers and made
an ungainly dance of joy. Their
eyes burned and a hoarse cheer
of elation broke from their dry
lips.
It had begun to seem to them
that events were trying to prove
that they were impotent. These
little battles had evidently
endeavored to demon- strate that
the men could not fight well.
When on the verge of submission
to these opinions, the small
duel had showed them that the
propor- tions were not impossible,
and by it they had revenged themselves
upon their misgivings and upon
the foe.
The impetus of enthusiasm was
theirs again. They gazed about
them with looks of uplifted pride,
feeling new trust in the grim,
always confident weapons in their
hands. And they were men.
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