CHAPTER XXII.
When the woods again began to pour forth the dark-hued masses of theenemy the youth felt serene self-confidence. He smiled briefly when hesaw men dodge and duck at the long screechings of shells that werethrown in giant handfuls over them. He stood, erect and tranquil,watching the attack begin against a part of the line that made a bluecurve along the side of an adjacent hill. His vision being unmolestedby smoke from the rifles of his companions, he had opportunities to seeparts of the hard fight. It was a relief to perceive at last fromwhence came some of these noises which had been roared into his ears.
Off a short way he saw two regiments fighting a little separate battlewith two other regiments. It was in a cleared space, wearing aset-apart look. They were blazing as if upon a wager, giving andtaking tremendous blows. The firings were incredibly fierce and rapid.These intent regiments apparently were oblivious of all larger purposesof war, and were slugging each other as if at a matched game.
In another direction he saw a magnificent brigade going with theevident intention of driving the enemy from a wood. They passed in outof sight and presently there was a most awe-inspiring racket in thewood. The noise was unspeakable. Having stirred this prodigiousuproar, and, apparently, finding it too prodigious, the brigade, aftera little time, came marching airily out again with its fine formationin nowise disturbed. There were no traces of speed in its movements.The brigade was jaunty and seemed to point a proud thumb at the yellingwood.
On a slope to the left there was a long row of guns, gruff andmaddened, denouncing the enemy, who, down through the woods, wereforming for another attack in the pitiless monotony of conflicts. Theround red discharges from the guns made a crimson flare and a high,thick smoke. Occasional glimpses could be caught of groups of thetoiling artillerymen. In the rear of this row of guns stood a house,calm and white, amid bursting shells. A congregation of horses, tiedto a long railing, were tugging frenziedly at their bridles. Men wererunning hither and thither.
The detached battle between the four regiments lasted for some time.There chanced to be no interference, and they settled their dispute bythemselves. They struck savagely and powerfully at each other for aperiod of minutes, and then the lighter-hued regiments faltered anddrew back, leaving the dark-blue lines shouting. The youth could seethe two flags shaking with laughter amid the smoke remnants.
Presently there was a stillness, pregnant with meaning. The blue linesshifted and changed a trifle and stared expectantly at the silent woodsand fields before them. The hush was solemn and churchlike, save for adistant battery that, evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faintrolling thunder over the ground. It irritated, like the noises ofunimpressed boys. The men imagined that it would prevent their perchedears from hearing the first words of the new battle.
Of a sudden the guns on the slope roared out a message of warning. Aspluttering sound had begun in the woods. It swelled with amazingspeed to a profound clamor that involved the earth in noises. Thesplitting crashes swept along the lines until an interminable roar wasdeveloped. To those in the midst of it it became a din fitted to theuniverse. It was the whirring and thumping of gigantic machinery,complications among the smaller stars. The youth's ears were filledup. They were incapable of hearing more.
On an incline over which a road wound he saw wild and desperate rushesof men perpetually backward and forward in riotous surges. These partsof the opposing armies were two long waves that pitched upon each othermadly at dictated points. To and fro they swelled. Sometimes, one sideby its yells and cheers would proclaim decisive blows, but a momentlater the other side would be all yells and cheers. Once the youth sawa spray of light forms go in houndlike leaps toward the waving bluelines. There was much howling, and presently it went away with a vastmouthful of prisoners. Again, he saw a blue wave dash with suchthunderous force against a gray obstruction that it seemed to clear theearth of it and leave nothing but trampled sod. And always in theirswift and deadly rushes to and fro the men screamed and yelled likemaniacs.
Particular pieces of fence or secure positions behind collections oftrees were wrangled over, as gold thrones or pearl bedsteads. Therewere desperate lunges at these chosen spots seemingly every instant,and most of them were bandied like light toys between the contendingforces. The youth could not tell from the battle flags flying likecrimson foam in many directions which color of cloth was winning.
His emaciated regiment bustled forth with undiminished fierceness whenits time came. When assaulted again by bullets, the men burst out in abarbaric cry of rage and pain. They bent their heads in aims of intenthatred behind the projected hammers of their guns. Their ramrodsclanged loud with fury as their eager arms pounded the cartridges intothe rifle barrels. The front of the regiment was a smoke-wallpenetrated by the flashing points of yellow and red.
Wallowing in the fight, they were in an astonishingly short timeresmudged. They surpassed in stain and dirt all their previousappearances. Moving to and fro with strained exertion, jabbering thewhile, they were, with their swaying bodies, black faces, and glowingeyes, like strange and ugly friends jigging heavily in the smoke.
The lieutenant, returning from a tour after a bandage, produced from ahidden receptacle of his mind new and portentous oaths suited to theemergency. Strings of expletives he swung lashlike over the backs ofhis men, and it was evident that his previous efforts had in nowiseimpaired his resources.
The youth, still the bearer of the colors, did not feel his idleness.He was deeply absorbed as a spectator. The crash and swing of thegreat drama made him lean forward, intent-eyed, his face working insmall contortions. Sometimes he prattled, words coming unconsciouslyfrom him in grotesque exclamations. He did not know that he breathed;that the flag hung silently over him, so absorbed was he.
A formidable line of the enemy came within dangerous range. They couldbe seen plainly--tall, gaunt men with excited faces running with longstrides toward a wandering fence.
At sight of this danger the men suddenly ceased their cursing monotone.There was an instant of strained silence before they threw up theirrifles and fired a plumping volley at the foes. There had been noorder given; the men, upon recognizing the menace, had immediately letdrive their flock of bullets without waiting for word of command.
But the enemy were quick to gain the protection of the wandering lineof fence. They slid down behind it with remarkable celerity, and fromthis position they began briskly to slice up the blue men.
These latter braced their energies for a great struggle. Often, whiteclinched teeth shone from the dusky faces. Many heads surged to andfro, floating upon a pale sea of smoke. Those behind the fencefrequently shouted and yelped in taunts and gibelike cries, but theregiment maintained a stressed silence. Perhaps, at this new assaultthe men recalled the fact that they had been named mud diggers, and itmade their situation thrice bitter. They were breathlessly intent uponkeeping the ground and thrusting away the rejoicing body of the enemy.They fought swiftly and with a despairing savageness denoted in theirexpressions.
The youth had resolved not to budge whatever should happen. Somearrows of scorn that had buried themselves in his heart had generatedstrange and unspeakable hatred. It was clear to him that his final andabsolute revenge was to be achieved by his dead body lying, torn andgluttering, upon the field. This was to be a poignant retaliation uponthe officer who had said "mule drivers," and later "mud diggers," forin all the wild graspings of his mind for a unit responsible for hissufferings and commotions he always seized upon the man who had dubbedhim wrongly. And it was his idea, vaguely formulated, that his corpsewould be for those eyes a great and salt reproach.
The regiment bled extravagantly. Grunting bundles of blue began todrop. The orderly sergeant of the youth's company was shot through thecheeks. Its supports being injured, his jaw hung afar down, disclosingin the wide cavern of his mouth a pulsing mass of blood and teeth. Andwith it all he made attempts to cry out. In his endeavor ther
e was adreadful earnestness, as if he conceived that one great shriek wouldmake him well.
The youth saw him presently go rearward. His strength seemed in nowiseimpaired. He ran swiftly, casting wild glances for succor.
Others fell down about the feet of their companions. Some of thewounded crawled out and away, but many lay still, their bodies twistedinto impossible shapes.
The youth looked once for his friend. He saw a vehement young man,powder-smeared and frowzled, whom he knew to be him. The lieutenant,also, was unscathed in his position at the rear. He had continued tocurse, but it was now with the air of a man who was using his last boxof oaths.
For the fire of the regiment had begun to wane and drip. The robustvoice, that had come strangely from the thin ranks, was growing rapidlyweak.