The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-05


SgeR moment at the crest Of the
hill, suddenly the scattering sound Of
rife fire snaps the stiffness of the morn
ing air. The noise pulls me up with a
jerk. My half-hnished sentence ends
abruptly. and | feel a shock within
me as of a tug upon my heartstrngs.
The talk has ceased on the instant
A curious silence falls upon us, broken
only by hoarsely whispered Were
in it, from a comrade.
My emotions are hard to analyze. II
is not exactly fear | feel, but rather a
kind of uncomfortable expectancy.
dare not look my fellows in the face.
10 do so would seem, feel, like i'm
pertient curiosity. But furtive gla2ce
shows me each man bolt upright in
his place. with features set and hard.
The chatter of O Maxim upon the left
swells into Gathering chorus. the ir-
regular rattle of the rifle fire. In the
cold gray Of dawn 1t is chilling dead
~ sound Then, with thunder OF
thudding hoofs, staff officer gallops
up.
Walk march, The sharp COM
mand acts like spark that fires the
stiffened frame TO life. "Trot," and,
with a jingle. jingle of accoutrements,
the teams. their wicked-looking guns
looping behind them, plunge downward
TO the plain. The battery is itself
again. Action quickens the sluggish
pulse, and in the excitement of the'de
scent the ugly jabber of the Maxim
falls on deaf ears.
AT the bottom Of the slope is an awk-
ward gully, through which the teams
scamper helter- -skelter and come up
with a gallop on the level under a
heavy fire. Action frontr' In trice
the guns are wheeled round and I'M
limbered.
Now for the first time ! begin 10 be
conscious of the fire under which we
are acting. All around | see little
spurts Of dust kicked up from the
ground Ivy some invisible agency like
gobbets of dry sand thrown up by the
impact of colossal raindrops
Gladly would depart but that n
sense Of shame would keep me, even
were escape possible, at my post. 1t
needs greater courage to openly fly
than to stay.
Yet it Is not physical fear that lays
hold OF me. TO feel that one must
needs confront an actual. tangible foe.
II is rather a mental terror with which
these invisible missiles of death ill me.
There Is no combating them. They
come from nowhere. as it seems, and
no man can say where they may find
their billet. | am helpless. can but
stand still in my place. waiting. with
slckening expectancy, to see whether
/ shall be hit.
A gunner beside me falls. 1t is sad
den and quick. Without warning, his
arms are flung wildly mp into the air,
and. with hideous. gurgling groan, he
colIapses. For few seconds his limbs
jerk convulsivcly. his hands tearing at
the tufts Of grass. and his teeth saw
agely biting the dust. AS suddenly the
movements cease, and the corpse lies
where II dropped My gorge rises, and
all things squirm within me.
1t happened once in South Africa
that during an action the General in
command, walking round his disposi-
tions on tour of inspection, came
upon a gun that had temporarily been
ordered cut Of action. Seated on the
trail. scorning cover, was gunner
deep in the blushing pages Of a we'll
known sporting contemporary. The
General paused and gazed for a mo-
ment. Then he turned 10 the staff
officer who accompanied him: "Modern
warfare he remarked, pointing 10 the
unconscious gunner. and passed on.
Think of the infantryman, lying
prone for hours. 1t may be in the same
place, while the bullets fiy, twanging
over his PROSTATE body. He dare not
disobey orders by raising his head.
With his eve to the ground he looks
along the level OF the plain TO where
the Skyline rims it, or the hills from
which the enemy's fire is coming in
close II. For foreground ne has some
tVdlSt SlucS. iut uldutS ul Nuitu ne
idly tries to count again and again; and
for middle distance the nartistic boots,
perhaps-if In close order-of com
rade lying some few feet ahead to right
or left.
Steadiness under fire, however, is
not the only thing which the soldier
must learn. War holds other things
to shatter the toughest Of nerves. We
speak not OF certain sights and sounds
which those who have witnessed and
heard them will recall to mind. This
is not the place to paint too vividly the
horrors of battlefield and hospital. But
heaven grant the soldier may never
have TO face charge Of cavalry. TO
stand and watch the wild rout of de-
moniac horsemen sweeping onward;
TO hear the swelling thunder of hoofs
as the vengeful horde rushes down
upon him; TO catch with unfaltering
eye the CLINT OF bare steel brandlshed
iiercely-these are the things at which
the stoutest heart may quail.
Worse still the foot soldiers plight
when the square of which he forms
t--