CHAPTER XXI.
Presently they knew that no firing threatened them. All ways seemedonce more opened to them. The dusty blue lines of their friends weredisclosed a short distance away. In the distance there were manycolossal noises, but in all this part of the field there was a suddenstillness.
They perceived that they were free. The depleted band drew a longbreath 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 unfalteringin the grimmest moments now could not conceal an anxiety that made themfrantic. It was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed ininsignificant ways after the times for proper military deaths hadpassed. Or, perhaps, they thought it would be too ironical to getkilled at the portals of safety. With backward looks of perturbation,they hastened.
As they approached their own lines there was some sarcasm exhibited onthe part of a gaunt and bronzed regiment that lay resting in the shadeof 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 atth' sojers!"
There was no reply from the bruised and battered regiment, save thatone man made broadcast challenges to fist fights and the red-beardedofficer walked rather near and glared in great swashbuckler style at atall captain in the other regiment. But the lieutenant suppressed theman who wished to fist fight, and the tall captain, flushing at thelittle fanfare of the red-bearded one, was obliged to look intently atsome trees.
The youth's tender flesh was deeply stung by these remarks. From underhis creased brows he glowered with hate at the mockers. He meditatedupon a few revenges. Still, many in the regiment hung their heads incriminal fashion, so that it came to pass that the men trudged withsudden heaviness, as if they bore upon their bended shoulders thecoffin of their honor. And the youthful lieutenant, recollectinghimself, began to mutter softly in black curses.
They turned when they arrived at their old position to regard theground 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 brilliantmeasurings of his mind, were trivial and ridiculous. The stolid trees,where much had taken place, seemed incredibly near. The time, too, nowthat he reflected, he saw to have been short. He wondered at the numberof 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 thegaunt and bronzed veterans. He veiled a glance of disdain at hisfellows who strewed the ground, choking with dust, red fromperspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
They were gulping at their canteens, fierce to wring every mite ofwater from them, and they polished at their swollen and watery featureswith coat sleeves and bunches of grass.
However, to the youth there was a considerable joy in musing upon hisperformances during the charge. He had had very little time previouslyin which to appreciate himself, so that there was now much satisfactionin quietly thinking of his actions. He recalled bits of color that inthe flurry had stamped themselves unawares upon his engaged senses.
As the regiment lay heaving from its hot exertions the officer who hadnamed them as mule drivers came galloping along the line. He had losthis cap. His tousled hair streamed wildly, and his face was dark withvexation and wrath. His temper was displayed with more clearness by theway in which he managed his horse. He jerked and wrenched savagely athis bridle, stopping the hard-breathing animal with a furious pull nearthe colonel of the regiment. He immediately exploded in reproacheswhich 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 causedcertain of the men to learn the sense of his words. "What an awfulmess you made! Good Lord, man, you stopped about a hundred feet thisside of a very pretty success! If your men had gone a hundred feetfarther you would have made a great charge, but as it is--what a lot ofmud diggers you've got anyway!"
The men, listening with bated breath, now turned their curious eyesupon the colonel. They had a ragamuffin interest in this affair.
The colonel was seen to straighten his form and put one hand forth inoratorical fashion. He wore an injured air; it was as if a deacon hadbeen accused of stealing. The men were wiggling in an ecstasy ofexcitement.
But of a sudden the colonel's manner changed from that of a deacon tothat of a Frenchman. He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well, general, wewent 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 contemptinto the other's eyes. "Not very far, I think. You were intended tomake a diversion in favor of Whiterside. How well you succeeded yourown 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 thewoods to the left, broke out in vague damnations.
The lieutenant, who had listened with an air of impotent rage to theinterview, spoke suddenly in firm and undaunted tones. "I don't carewhat a man is--whether he is a general or what--if he says th' boysdidn't put up a good fight out there he's a damned fool."
"Lieutenant," began the colonel, severely, "this is my own affair, andI'll trouble you--"
The lieutenant made an obedient gesture. "All right, colonel, allright," he said. He sat down with an air of being content with himself.
The news that the regiment had been reproached went along the line. Fora time the men were bewildered by it. "Good thunder!" they ejaculated,staring at the vanishing form of the general. They conceived it to bea huge mistake.
Presently, however, they began to believe that in truth their effortshad been called light. The youth could see this conviction weigh uponthe 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 wonderwhat 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 ofirritation. "Oh, well," he rejoined, "he probably didn't see nothingof it at all and got mad as blazes, and concluded we were a lot ofsheep, just because we didn't do what he wanted done. It's a pity oldGrandpa Henderson got killed yestirday--he'd have known that we did ourbest and fought good. It's just our awful luck, that's what."
"I should say so," replied the friend. He seemed to be deeply woundedat an injustice. "I should say we did have awful luck! There's no funin fightin' fer people when everything yeh do--no matter what--ain'tdone right. I have a notion t' stay behind next time an' let 'em taketheir ol' charge an' go t' th' devil with it."
The youth spoke soothingly to his comrade. "Well, we both did good. I'dlike 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, 'acourse, 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 morestruck in an' ses it wasn't a lie--we did fight like thunder, an' theygive us quite a send-off. But this is what I can't stand--theseeverlastin' ol' soldiers, titterin' an' laughin', an' then thatgeneral, he's crazy."
The youth exclaimed with sudden exasperation: "He's a lunkhead! Hemakes 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 facesexpressed 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 totell his tidings. The others made an excited circle. "Well, sir, th'colonel met your lieutenant right by us--it was damnedest thing I everheard--an' he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!' he ses. 'Mr. Hasbrouck!' he ses, 'byth' 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'sFlemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he ses, right away. What? I say hedid. 'A jim-hickey,' he ses--those 'r his words. He did, too. I sayhe 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,' sesth' 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!' sesth' colonel. He ses: 'Well, well, well,' he ses, 'those two babies?''They were,' ses th' lieutenant. 'Well, well,' ses th' colonel, 'theydeserve t' be major generals,' he ses. 'They deserve t' bemajor-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!" Butdespite these youthful scoffings and embarrassments, they knew thattheir faces were deeply flushing from thrills of pleasure. Theyexchanged a secret glance of joy and congratulation.
They speedily forgot many things. The past held no pictures of errorand disappointment. They were very happy, and their hearts swelled withgrateful affection for the colonel and the youthful lieutenant.