The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-08-11
WHEN } BATTLE COMES

man from the lire Of recruits, The
IL major, standing near, nodded his head
approving, but said nothing. The sur
Seon shook his head gravcly, making ar en-
try in his note book, for while the supple;
naked form Of the boy had excited his
admiration, the veterans practiced eye
had detected in it the one quality that a
soldier should not have. He had passed
the boy because he had met the few re-
quiremcnts Of the regulations and also
because those regulations gave him no
power to exercise discretion of the sort
that was demanded by that particular
case. He shook his head wisely and re-
marked: eyes, his spirit is of the right
sort, but fear that his nerves will never
stand the strain. He's balanced as de-
icately as the works of a watch. The
turn of a hair will wreck him.
AS for the boy-a train took him to
Tampa with his regiment, and when the
1leet Of transports raised the Santiago
hills, the boy was in the line of khaki
clad troopers, at the rail Of the foremost
OF the ships, watching with ill-concealed
excitement the land he felt would either
be his last resting place on earth or else
the field Of his glory. Slowly the misty
line of blue on the oceans edge assumed
a definite shape. Then the blue of those
hills turned green, and at last the rugged,
wooded shore lay but a mile or two over
the bow And the boy at the ships rail
gave himself up wholly to the glorious
Intoxicating dreams that had gloweo
within him from the moment of the first
alarm Of war, awaiting but the sight of
those hills to run riot through his brain.
Had he been a fellow to the dull-Wtted
trooper at his side he would have cheered
as that trooper and the others did, drown
ing the rattle of the anchor chain
through the hawsepipe the transport
came to stop; but he was of different
fiber. He knew nut that the deck lay
beneath his feet nor that the rail was
clutched in vice-like grip in his two
hands. He knew only that the time had
come that those hills meant death or
glory-maybe both-and even the blue Of
the sky and the green of the tropical
tangle on the shore were lost in the
visions that danced before his minds eye.
would they never land? Would they
never march, nor fight, nor do aught but
lie there like drowsy insects on the face
of the sea?' he asked himself and the fell
low next him--his bunkie-time and time
again, in the delay that preceded the
landing.
The fellow did not know, nor did he
seem to care. His nerves were like the
tendons of. an OK. He knew no fever of
imDatience The boy did not know why,
but his frame held universe of sur
charged wires and every minute of that
wait for action was a lifetime-every
hour was an age.
or1n h1,t To
ship. Other regiments were landed first.
For hours the boats piled between the
fleet and the shore Soon the faint rat
Ting and swapping Of rifles sounded in
his ears. Volleys came next and the
green woods above the spot where the
boats touched took on a tinge of blue
over their green. The fight was on-only
a skirmish, it's true, but men were dying,
maybe, and the lad was not there. BY
and by, his ships turn came and the
boats were clustered on the water about
Its gangways. His troop was assembled
and the time came for him to follow the
lead down the ships ladder. In his haste
he dropped his rifle when but half way
down the ladders length. His bunkie
next him snickered, his officers sWore, but
the arm had dropped into the boat and
general confusion.
How the lad got ashore, as far as he
knew, was this There was long pull
over the water, a tossing and h1nglng
of the boat through the surf and his boots
crunched upon the sandy shore. There
were rocks and soft earth and strange
trees. There was much that needed doing
because no one had time to do 1T. There
was more that had to be undone because
some one had done it wrong, and then
there was weary march through those
woods along a narrow, rocking, sitting
trail at the close Of the day. 1t was
physical suffering that attacked the lad
then and he thanked God for 1t, for the
vague fear of madness that presages the
flight of reason had swept through his
mind, and for the first time in those
rolling ages of mind life he knew that
he was suffering. How the long strides
of the taller men beside him strained the
aching tendons of his legs. How the
weight of his haversack and cartridge
belt and gun tortured his upper frame.
Why did the men beside him, who knew
only the sense of physical suffering, drop
and lie Whitefaced and gaping in the
trail?
That was about the last that he knew
of the march, for instinct bade him shut
off the wires to his brain and he obeyed.
Henceforth he walked on, a mind asleep,
neither hearing, seeing nor feeling. His
bunkle pulled at his tunic and babe him
load his gun. Then, when he had actual
ly opened his eyes in the gloom about
him he saw on either side and before
him and behind him his comrades lying
prone. He dropped among them and
waited. Then came the battle at La
Guasimas. A shot and then volley be-
gan it. 80
"Oh Godu' cried a stricken man beside
him. ~ ~.
"Ha-a-a-hw sighed another and lay
still. 1t was his bunkie.
"Z-z-z-z-ng!' went a bullet past the
boys head. And then turning the muzzle
of his rifle toward the foe, he emptied it
again and again until but handful Of
shells remained in his belt. These he
placed in his rifle, but the fight was over
and he picked himself up out Of the mire
and stepped carefully over the PROSTATE
forms about him and Joined the nearest
group of living men. A general of bril-
gade rode by shouting orders to his colo
nels. The lads own colonel passed also,
but the lad only stood there, now and
then glancing curiously at the silent form
of his bunkie, and alternately passing
fingers delicately along his empty belt.
He had shot so many bullets He counted
them. He had killed how many men?
WAS that lying in the jungle pumping,
pumping, pumping flame ind bullets at
an unseen foe, battle and glory? 1t was
not that of which he had dreamed. Could
he have killed any Of his fellows? he
Thought Maybe, but how many?
How many did you kill % he said to a
soldier near him. No reply came and the