The Irish standard., 1896-04-11


once more the od0r of the upturned
eartiiworlxs along the now dumb line
OF battle, began TO move from the sue-
gestive darkness beyond.
Bslt into thai awful penetralia of
death and silence there was now no fr-
yasion-there had been No retreat.
few OF the wounded had been brought
ont. under fire, but. t.the others had been
left with the dead for the morning light
and snccor. For IL was known that ia
that horrible obacuritv riderleas horses,
frantic with tie smell OF blood, qssl-
loped wildly here and there, or. mad
dened by wounds. plunged furiously
at the intruder, that the.voInaed SOL
der, still armed, could not always dis-
tinguish friend from foe or from the
ghonls of camp followers who stripped
the dead in the darkness, and struggled
with the dying A shot or two heard
somewhere in that~obscurify counted
as nothing with the long fusillade that
had swept III iii the daytime, the pass
ing of single lite, more 81 less,
amounted to little in the long rolical
OF the day S Slaughter.
But with the first beams Of the naorn-
ing slln--and the slowly moving relief
detair' from the camp--calne d weird
half resurrection OF that ghastly field.
Then it was that the long rays Of sun
light, streaming many mile beyond
the battle line. first pointed out the
harvest of the dead where the reserves
had been posted. There they lay in
heaps and piles, killed by solid shot or
bursting shells that had leaped Tie
battle line to plunge into the waiting
ranks beyond. As the sun lifted higher
its beams fell within the range of mus
<etry fire where the dead lay thicker
even as they had fallen when killed
outright--with arms extended. and feet
at al. angles to the field. AS it touched
these dead upturned faces, strangely
enough it brought out. no expression of
pain nor anguish, Duta rather az il
death had arrested them only with sur
prise and awe. 1t revealed on the lips
of those who had been lnortallv
wounded ANA had turned upon their
side the relief which death had brought
their suffering, sometimes even with
smile. Mounting higher, it glanced
upon the actual battle line, curiously
curving for the shelter of walls. fences
and breastworks and here the dead
lay, even Ii when they had lain and
fired. their faces prone in the grass,
but their muskets still resting across
the breastworlxs. Exposed to grape
and canister from The battery on the
ridge death Lads come to them plerci-
fully aIso-throngh Tie head md
throat And now the whole field lay
bare in the sunhght-hrolcen with gro
tesque shadows cast from sitting,
cronching. half-recumbent. hut alwavs
rigid, figures that might have been
etfigies of their own nonnncnts One
half-tneeling soldier, with head bowed
between his sti1fcned hands. might
have stood for a carvcn figure oil grief
ct the feet of lis dead cornrade IA
captain shot through the brain ILL the
act of mounting d wall lay sideways
half across it, his lips parted with.the
word of command, and the sword still
pointing over the barrierthe way that
they should go.
But IN was not until the sun had
mounted higher that it struck the cen
trail horror of the field and seemed 10
linger there in dazzling Persi stenee, now
and then returning to III iii startling
flashes, that III might he seen Of men
and those who brought succor Atipv
brook had run oEliquely near the battle
line. 1t was here that the night before
the battle friend and foe had filed their
canteens side by side with soIdierly
rccl<lessneSs III perhaps N higher in-
presence; it was here that the wounded
had afterwards erept, erawled and
dragged themselves here they had
pushed. wrangled, striven and fought
for draft Of that precious huid which
assuaged tie thirst Of their wounds---or
happily put them out of their misery
forever; here, overborne. crushed, ,suffo-
Gated by numbers, pouring their own
blood into the flood and. .tumbling after
IL with their helpless bodies, they
damned the stream, until, recoiIing red
and angry, it had burst it's banks and
oyerhowed the cotton field in brave
pool now sparkling in the sunlight.
But below this human dana nile.
away--where the brook still crept slug
gishly, the ambulance horses shifted and Z
started from it.
The detail moved on slowly, doing
their work expeditiously and apparent
ly callously, but really only with that
mechanical movement that saves emo
ton. Only once were they moved to an
outbreak of indignation-the discovery
of the body of an officer whose pockets
we're turned inside out, but whose hand
was still tightly grasped On this but
toned waistcoat, d. If resisting the out
rage that had been done while still in
life. As the men disengaged the stiff
ened hand, something slipped from the
waistcoat 10 the ground. The corporal
picked il UP and handed it To his officer
Tt was d sealed packet. The officer re-
ceived il with the carelessncss which
long experience of those pathetic mis-
sives from the dying to their living re-
lations had induced, and dropped it i'll
the pocket Of his tunic. with the half
dozen others that he had picked UP that
morning, and moved on with the de-
tail A little further on they halted ia
the attitude Of attention as q mounted
officer appeared riding slowly down The
line.
There was something more than the
habitual respect of their superior in
their faces as he came forward. For n
was the general who had commanded