The Tucumcari news. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1906-12-29
GOING INTO BATTLE.
THE SENSATIONS OF A BRAVE MAN
UNDER FIRE.
How II Feels When the Rain Of Bull
let's Begins It's Patter Of Death.
The Terror That Is Inspired BY
Facing a Charge of Cavalry.

Facing a Charge of Cavalry.
There is a muttered rumor In the
battery that the hills yonder are occu-
pied by the enemy. As we halt for a
moment on the crest of the hill sudden
ly the scattering sound of rife fire
snaps the stiffness of the morning air.
The noise pulls me up with a jerk. My
half finished sentence ends abruptly,
and l feel a shock within me as Of q
tug upon my heartstrings. xrhe talk
has ceased on the instant. A curious
silence falls upon us, broken only by a
hoarsely whispered We're In it," from
a comrade.
My emotions are hard to analyze. 1t
Is not exactly fear ! feel, but rather a
kind of uncomfortable expectancy. I
dare not look my fellows In the face.
TO do so would seem, ! feel, like I'm
pertinent curiosity. But q furtive
glance shows me each man bolt up
right in his place, with features set
and hard.
The chatter Of O Maxim upon the
ASAS o"NAAS AANO q NluNtC III Nv uhs
the irregular rattle OF the rifle fire. In
the cold gray of dawn 1t is q chilling,
deadly sound. Then, with a thunder Of
thudding hoofs, q staff officer gallops
up.
"Walk-march!" The sharp command
acts like a spark that fires the stiffen-
ed frame to life. "Trot," and, with a
ifnu1n finUla nf oonn,tarrnanto Tho
teams, their wicked looking guns lop-
ping behind them, plunge downward
TO the plain. The battery is itself
again. Action quickens the sluggish
pulse, end 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 heller SHELTER and come up
with a gallop on the level under a
heavy fire. Action 'front.' In q tElce
the guns are wheeled round and unlim-
bered.
Now for the first time l begin to be
conscious of the fire under which we
are acting. All around l see little
spurts Of dust kicked up from the
ground by some invisible agency, like
gobbets of dry sand thrown up by the
impact Of colossal r%aindrops. Momen-
tarily ! hear the mellow thing Wiling,
like the deep vibrant note Of a ban
JOS tight strung bass, Of an unseen
bullet flying past me. An uncomforta-
BILE sensation seiZes me In the pit of
my stomach, a kind of sickness that IL
hard to describe In precise terms.
Quoth Henry at Agincourt:
And he that hath no stomach to this fight.
Let him depart.
Gladly would I depart but that a
sense OF shame would keep me even
were escape possible at my post. 1t
needs greater courage to openly fly
than TO stay.
Yet 1t is not physical fear that lays
hold Of me-. To feel that one must
needs confront an actual, tangible foe.
II Is rather q mental terror with which
these invisible missiles OF death hli
me. There Is no combating them.
They come from nowhere, as II seems,
and no man can say where they may
find their billet. l am helpless. l can
but stand still In my place, waiting,
with slckening expectancy, to see
whether l shall be hit.
A gunner beside me falls. 1t Is sud
den and quick. Without warning his
arms are flung wildly up into the air,
and with hideous, gurgling groan he
collapses. For a few seconds his limbs
Jerk convulsively, his hands tearing at
the tufts of grass and his teeth savage
ly biting the dust. AS suddenly the
movements cease, and the corpse lies
where 1t dropped. My gorge rises, and
all things squirm within me.
But things are nOt always thus. A
man there was who described his ex-