The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-08
NONE But THE BRAVE
By HAMBLEN A S.

outstretched. staring with wide open eyes
at the ceiling. his chest falling and rising
In long. straining breaths.
With a faint cry the other stepped to the
bars and cried out down the corridor:
'wiIl you not give me an inch Of candle.
mann"
The guard returned slowly.
MY brother is dying there-there! Do
you not see him? I cannot see his face.
For Gods sake give me a bit of candle TO
see him die"
There amt none" said the guard and
walked on.
Then the boys body shook and strained
upward in a strange inhuman fashion aslI
have seen a fish on the sand gasp and swell
for water in his gills. He turned his eyes
towards his brother. tried to say some
thing and one hand made a faint move as
If to lift itself. The brother caught the
movement at once. and. kneeling down.
took the hand and looked steadfastly in
the lads face. we others lying silently and
watching them both. A grim set came
into his jaw.
Its all right. John" said he softly. but
firmly. IT'S all right, lad" The eyes
looked steadfastly at him. Right. brother"
cried he again. Keep the grip. lad!' And
he took the other hand as the boy sudden
ly raised his head. opened his mouth for
an instant and sank gently back with his
chin sunk into his chest and lay still-and
died then and there.
Now, If it please God" cried the other
with quiet tears running down his sallow
face. 'if II please God that l ever get ava
alive I'll be a most bitter enemy"
And 1 lay back upon the floor and hid my
face in my hands.
Could it be? Could 1t be that but a day
or two ago l had passed this grim build
ing? Could il be that almost in sight of it's
gray walls l had sat and eaten and drunk
and been happy in that simple touch of her
foot beneath mine? Could it be so? 1t did
not seem possible. Could it be. too, that
that genial Baron Riedesel and the young
boy prince and his comrades knew aught
of this? And yet why not? Did not we up
in Connecticut this two years know this
hell and the other bells swinging at their
rotten cables in the river. that held their
crowds of living and dying and dead?
1 must get away from this scene! I could
not stand II. And so with severe pain 1
rose carefully. and. picking my way over
1 anu dillOliS AT AWO huANACu oAhd AASh
in that long. narrow room made for one Of
the small windows. Each was crowded two
and three deep with silent figures clinging
together in the hot air. their faces touch
ing cheek to cheek and filing the lower
space of the window. Each man had his
mouth open drawing in long breaths.
would you but let me get a Whit of air.
friend?" I asked one of those on the outer
edge Of the group. But no sooner had 1
spoken than a voice behind me said:
THAT is not your group
I turned to him and he must have seen
my bewilderment, for he asked:
When did you Gomez"
But just now, this morning."
You do not know then tina the room is
divided into groups of six men and that
every ten minutes a group must change 10
allow another six to breathe the air"
mo, did not know it," said 1 YEARLY.
And then without interest, but without dis
courtesy I was assigned to group No. 81.
Turning again to him who had spoken first
L asked what group those men now by the
window belonged to, and he told me twas
No. 2S.
Then cannot get to the window for an
hour and a half?'
That is it. my friend"
so be it. II these men who have been
here so long can stand it so can l." And
1 was about to lie down. feeling unable to
stand and knowing another of those shivers
was coming on. when the tramp of military
feet sounded in the corridor and a hoarse
voice cried:
Turn out your dead! All hands turn out
your dead!''
A strange, intangible rustling sounded
through the room, before so silent that it
did not seem as If so many men could be
housed there. Then the crowd rose, ex-
cept those who could never rise again this
side the grave, and with the same quiet,
silent method hat everything seemed to
have in that fetid lack of inter
est. the somber, mirthless procedure, the
same set faces with only one expression on
them-with all this a few raised the eight
or ten bodies and carried them to the two
doors leading into the corridor.
1 watched from across the room and saw
the living carry the dead brother tenderly,
quietly in his arms and without a word de-
liver him to two soldiers. who. one taking
him by the feet and the other by the arm
pits. carried him off down the corridor, to
Il NC IIlONh tAAO0 NON0hAA6 vi V
ice into the trenches outside the breast
works, there to rot with thousands of
others, good men and true all of them.
With the same quiet manner the others
settled back in silence TO sit or lie motion
less. looking at nothing. thinking. thinking
for hours, days. weeks at a time without
speaking; others to walk aimlessly about
over and among their fellows. L lay close
by the wall trying TO get such air as |
could. now and then frozen with chills and
with the pangs of hunger gripping me. But
TO morsel of food came to us that day, and
only by the generosity of a man with whom
1 talked had 1 a bit of foul bread and salt
beef.
So came the night without change except
for a shadeless light in the room. But
slept. as 1 had during the day. in a doze
that seemed even to me wrong and I'M
natural. and when l woke, somewhere in
the early hours. my face and body ourpcd
with a fever and the undressed wound gave
me terrible pain.
l pitched about a while on a bit Of straw
4