The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1896-04-10
CHAPTER XIV,


The youth stared at the land In front
of him. It's fo1iages now seemed to
veil powers and horrors He was une-
ware Of the machinery Of orders that
started the charge, although from the
corners Of his eyes he saw an officer,
who looked like a boya horseback,
come Ralloping, waving his hat Sud-
denly he felt a straining and heaving
among the men. The line fell slowly
forward like toppling wall and, with
convulsive gasp that was intended
for a cheer, the regiment began its
journey. The youth was pushed and
jostled for moment before he under
stood the movement at all, but directly
he lunged ahead and began to run.
He fixed his eye upon a distant and
prominent clump Of trees where he had
concluded the enemy were to be met,
and he ran toward it as toward a goal
He had believed throughout that it
was mere question of getting over an
unpleasant matter as quickly as posi-
BILE, and he ran desperately as 4 pur-
sued for murder. His face was Drawn
hard and tight with the stress Of his
endeavor. His eyes were fixed In q
lurid glare. And with his soiled and
disordered dress, his red and inhamed
features surmounted by the dingy rag
. with its spot of blood, his wildly
swinging rifle and banging accoutre-
ments, he looked to be an insane SOL
der.
AS the regiment swung from its posi-
ton out into a cleared space, the woods
and thickets before it awakened. yell
low flames leaped toward 1t from
many directions. The forest made q
tremendous objection
The line lurched straight for a mo-
ment. Then the right wing swung for
ward; it in turn was surpassed by the
left Afterward the center careered
to the front until the regiment was a
wedge-shaped mass; but an instant
later the opposition of the bushes,
trees and uneven places on the ground
split the command and scattered it into
detached clusters.
The youth, nght-footed, was uncon-
sciously in advance. His eyes still
kept note Of the clump Of trees. From
all places near It the clannish yell of
the enemy could be heard The little
flames of rifles leaped from it The
song of the bullets was in the air and
shells snarled from the sky. One
tumbled directly into the middle of a
hurrying group and exploded in GRIM
son fury. There was an instant's spec
tacle of a man, almost over it, throw
ing up his hands to shield his eyes
Other men, punched by bullets, fell
in grotesque agonies. The regiment
left coherent trail of bodies
They had passed into clearer at
mosphere. There was an effect like a
revelation in the new appearance of
the landscape. Some men working
madly at battery were plain to them
and the opposing infantry's lines were
defined by the gray walls and fringes
of smoke.
It seemed to the youth that he saw
everything. Each blade Of the green
grass was bold and clear. He thought
he was aware of every change in the
thin, transparent vapor that foated
idly in sheets. The brown or gray
trunks of the trees showed each rough
ness of their surfaces. And the men OF
the regiment, with their starting eyes
and sweating faces, running madly or
falling, as If thrown headlong, to
queer, heaped up corpses, all were COM
pretended. His mind took mechan-
ical but firm impression, so that after
ward everything was pictured and ex-
planned to him, save why he himself
was there.
But there was q frenzy made from
his furious rush. The men, pitching
forward insanely, had burst into cheer
inps. mobilize and barbaric, but tuned
in strange keys that can arouse the
dullard and the stole. It made q mad
enthusiasm that, it seemed, would be
incapable of checking itself before
granite and brass. There was the de
lirium that encounters despair and
death, and is needless and blind to the
odds It's a temporary but sublime
absence of selfshness- And because Il
was of this order was the reason, per
haps, why the youth wondered, after
ward, what reasons he could have had
for being there.
Presently the straining pace ate ul
the energies of the men. As II by
agreement the leaders began to slacker
their speed. The volleys directed
against them had had q seeming wind
like effect. The regiment snorted and
blew. Among some stolid trees 1t be
gan to falter and hesitate The men
staring intently, began to wait fol
some Of the distant walls OF smoke tc
move and disclose to them the scene.
Since much Of their strength and thei,
breath had vanished, they returned to
caution They were become mer
again.
The youth had q vague belief that be
had run miles and he thought, In q
way, that he was now in some new an6
unknown land.
The moment the regiment ceased tt
advance the protesting splutter Of mus
kerry became q steadied roar. Long
and accurate fringes Of smoke spread
out From the top of small hill
came level belchings Of yellow fame
that caused an inhuman whistling II
the air.
The men, halted, had opportunity x
see some Of their comrades dropping
with means and shrieka A few lay
under foot, still or wailing. And now
for an instant the men stood, their
rifles slack In their hands, and watched
the regiment dwindle. They appeared
dazed and stupid. This spectacle
seemed to paralyze them, to overcome
them with q fatal fascination. They
stared woodenly at the sights and, low