Evening star., 1895-08-02
A MYSTERY OF HER0|SM
A DETAIL OF AN AMERICAN BATTLE
BY STEPHEN CRANE.
Conclusion.)

Second Part.
Copyright, 1895, by Irving Bacheller.)
Collins appeared as a man dreaming. In
the midst of the questions. the advice, the
warnings, all the excited talk of his COM
pany mates, he maintained curious
silence.
They were very busy in preparing him
for his ordeal. When they inspected him
carefully it was somewhat like the ex-
animation that grooms give horse before
a race. and they were amazed, staggered
by the whole affair. Their astonishment
found vent in strange repetitions.
Are yeh sure a-goin'?" they demanded
again arc again.
Certainly, l am" cried Collins, at last
furiously.
He strobe sullenly away from them. He
was swinging five or six canteens by their
cords. 1t seemed that his cap would not
remain firmly on his head, and often he
reached and pulled it down over his brow.
There was a general movement in the
compact column. The long. animal-like
thirg moved slightly. It's four hundred
eyes were turned upon the figure of Col
Inns.
"Well, sir. If that amt tn derndest
thing. I never thought Fred Collins had
the blood in tim for that kind Of business!'
Whats he goin' to do, anyhow.
Hes goin to that well there after
water"
I've amt dyin' of thirst are we? That's
fooiishness."
''Well. somebody put him up to 1t an les
doln' it,"
Say. be must be desperate cuss."
When Collins faced the meadow and
walked away from the regiment he was
vaguely conscious that chasm. the deep
valley of all prides. was suddenly between
him and his comrades. 1t was provisional,
but the provision was thae he return as
victor. He had blindly been led by quaint
emotions and laid himself under an obli-
cation to walk squarely up to the face of
death.
But he was not sure that he wished to
make retraction. even if he could do so
without shame. AS matter of truth he
was sure of very little. He was mainly
surprised.
1t seemed to him supernaturally strange
that he had allowed his mind to maneuver
his body into such situation. He under
great.
However, he had no full appreciation Of
anything excepting that he was actually
conscious of being dazed. He could feel
his dulled mind cropping after the form
and color of this incident.
100, he wondered why he did not feel
some keen agony of fear cutting his sense
like knife. He wondered at this because
human expression had said loudly for cen
turtles that men should feel afraid of GER
tain things, and that all men who did not
feel this fear were phenomena. heroes.
He was then a hero. He suffered that
disappointment which we would all have
If We discovered that We were ourselves
capable of those deeds which we most ad-
mire in history and legend. This. then. was
hero. After all, heroes were not much.
No. 1t could not be true. He was not a
hero. Heroes had no shames in their lives
and, as for him, he remembered borrowing
sf5 from friend and promising to pay it
back the next day, and then avoiding that
friend for ten months. When at home his
mother had aroused him for the early labor
of his life on the farm, it had often been
E.e e., r. -rI-
ical, and his mother had died since he had
come to the war.
He saw that in this matter Of the we'll,
the canteens, the shells. he was an intruder
in the land of fine deeds.
He was now about thirty PAGES from his
comrades. The regiment had just turned
it's many faces toward him.
From the forest of terrific noises there
suddenly emerged little uneven line of
men. They fired fierce1y and rapidly at dis
tant foliage on which appeared little puffs
of white smoke. The spatter of skirmish
firing was added to the thunder Of the
guns on the hill The little line of men ran
forward. A color sergeant fell fiat with his
flag as If he had slipped on Ice. There was
hoarse cheering from this distant field.
Collins suddenly felt that two demon fin
gers were pressing into his ears. He could
see nothing but flying arrows, flaming red.
He lurched from the shock of this ex-
plosion. but he made a mad rush for the
house, which he viewed as a man SUBJ
merged to the neck in broiling surf might
view the shore. In the air little pieces of
shell howfed and the earthquake explosions
drove him insane with the menace of their
roar. AS he ran the canteens knocked to-
gether with rhythmical tinklng.
AS he neared the house. each detail Of the
scene became vivid to him. He was aware
Of some bricks Of the vanished chimney
lying on the sod. There was door which
hung by one hinge.
Rifle bullets called forth by the insistent
skirmishers came from the far-of bank of
x1nf1 h ha hnl
the pieces of shells until the air was torn
in all directions by hootings yells, hewls:
The sky was full of fends who directed all
their wild rage at his head.
When he came to the well, he flung him
self face downward and peered into Its
darkness. There were furtive silver CLINT
ings some feet from the surface. He grab
bed one Of the canteens, and, unfastening
its cap, swung it down by the cord. The
water flowed slowly in with an indolent
gurgle.
And now as he lay with his face turned
away he was suddenly smitten with the
terror. It came upon his heart like the
grasp Of claws. All the power faded from
his muscles. For an instant he was no
more than a lead man.
The canteen filled with maddening SLOW
ness in the manner of all bottles. Present.
Iy he recovered mis- strength, and addressed
screaming oath to It, He leaned over un-
til it seemed as If he intended to try to
push water into 1t with his hands His
eyes as he gazed down into the well shone
like two pieces Of metal, and in their ex-
preston was a great appeal and a great
curse The stupid water derided him.
There was the tlaring thunder of shell.
Crimson light shone through the swift-boil-
Ing smoke and made pink reflection on
part of the wall of the we'll Collins jerk
ed cut his arm and canteen with the same
molten that a man would use in drawing
his head fir om q furnace.
He scrambled erect and glared and hesi-
tated. On the ground near rim lay the old
well bucket, with length CT rusty chain.
He lowered t swiftly into the we'll. The
bucket struck the water, and then turning
ing tremblinsly over hand. he hauled 1t
out, it knocked often against the walls Of
the we'll and spilled some Of its contents.
In running with filled bucket man
can adopt but one kind Of gait. So
through this terrible field, ove~ which
screamed practical angels of death, Collins
ran in the manner of a farm1f chased out
of a dairy by bull.
ia far wi wit