the platoon had been promised a relief for three weeks. each day some orderly or other would come past, announcing that on the following night there was certain to be a relief. sometimes it was the french who once more were to take over the sector. again it was the british. british soldiers were reported to have been seen in a near-by town. and the platoon? first it was going to zeebrugge to storm the mole. another time the platoon was to be disorganized and returned to the united states to be used as recruiting and training officers. sometimes they were all to go on board ship as a mark of appreciation of their valor. this last always was circulated about by one of the older men who had seen service on the battleships.
but one night, before dark, lieutenant bedford passed the word along that the men were to stand by, ready to be relieved. and in an hour’s time their entire equipment had been assembled, and they stood ready to depart.
slowly the hours passed, but about midnight the beat of the feet of heavily laden men, their[40] curses and their comment to one another could be heard along the communication trench. bedford, much excited, cautioned each man on sentry duty to look sharply, for it was during the time of relief that the enemy often chose to attack. finally each of the old sentries had given his special orders to the new sentry, and had slung on his pack and assembled where the platoon stood waiting. they plodded off, sloshing through the mud, with now and again a man slipping off the duck boards and floundering hip-deep in the mud. the communication trench was tortuous and long. it was morning before the last man had got out of it and upon the road that took them on their way.
the moon was full and round. through the shapely leaves of the trees, set at regular intervals along the winding gravel road, it shone, divinely lighting up the way for the tired, mud-caked platoon that straggled along out and away from the front. for the first three miles the platoon had kept intact, but now, one by one, the weaker were dropping out to rest by the side of the road. lieutenant bedford and sergeant harriman, whose heavy marching equipment had been thrown on the company supply cart, marched gaily in front. there[41] were no packs on their backs to bring their shoulder-blades together until they nearly touched; nor were there any straps to cut into the muscles of their shoulders until their arms were numb.
finally hicks, with a nervous, infuriated, impotent “oh, the hell with it,” dropped out and threw his equipment into the ditch. “let the dirty dogs walk their heads off.” two others dropped out with him and, contrary to orders, all three lighted cigarettes.
puffing away at his cigarette, one of the men began: “if i ever get out of this man’s war they’ll have to hunt me with cannons to get me in another.”
“you tell ’em. they sure will. when i git out of this outfit i’m goin’ up into montana and buy a ranch, and i’m goin’ to dig trenches and put up barbed wire and git me some guns and spit at the whole bunch of ’em.”
“why the hell do that? you can do all of that stuff here.”
“yeh, but i wouldn’t have no god-damned mail-order shavetails tellin’ me what to do and what not to do. that’s what i hate.”
“well, there won’t be any more wars after this one, anyway. this is the war to end war.[42] after we lick these boches everything will be all right.”
hicks rose, faintly nauseated. he flung his cigarette away, threw his equipment over his shoulders, and walked on.
when he arrived at the place where the platoon was to rest he felt quite giddy. he slipped his pack from his shoulders and leaned it against the side of the long, low, slatted bunk house. of course there was a place there for him to sleep. but, somehow, he did not want to sleep. his stomach seemed about to tie itself into a knot, and he felt that this could be prevented by something hot to drink. he wondered where the galley was; the cooks were sure to have some hot coffee. a man passed, and hicks asked him whether the cook wagons had yet arrived.
“no, they haven’t. they never get here, you know. but there’s an old goof in that building over there that’s got some chocolate. why don’t you get some?”
hicks started away in the direction the man had pointed. sure enough, the place was crowded with soldiers, and many of them were drinking from thick mugs. hicks edged toward the counter and asked for a drink. the[43] y. m. c. a. man filled a mug with hot, thin chocolate. it was the most pleasant sight hicks had seen in months. he reached for it and was about to drink when something in the man’s eyes made him hesitate.
“well, we don’t give this chocolate away!” said the man, turning up a corner of his long, sallow face.
“how much is it?”
“it’s half a franc, that’s what it is.”
hicks was about to put down the mug of chocolate, when a soldier from the first regular division stepped forward and offered him the money, and then faced the man behind the counter.
“you’re a fine dirty slacker, you are. these men have been out in the trenches for heaven knows how long, and they come back dog-tired and hungry, and you refuse to give them a glass of your skimmed chocolate.”
“oh, never mind,” said hicks. “you know the kind he is. why talk to him?”
he went back to the bunk house, found his bed, and crawled into it, not stopping to undress.
for five hours the platoon had slept. when dawn, like a fifty-year-old virgin, was showing[44] its hard, cold face, the men had stumbled down into the valley of bois la vec. after waiting outside for half an hour they were permitted to enter one of the long, low, vermin-infested bunk houses which lay in the valley. from their sleepless nights on sentry duty, their lack of food, and the long, punishing march from the trenches, they were thoroughly exhausted. many of the men were in such a state of fatigue that they dropped on the straw beds which had been provided for the french army in 1914, without stopping to take off their muddy shoes. and they slept dreamlessly, sodden beings with senses so dulled they could not think of food. the mess sergeant had passed through the bunk house, loudly and virtuously asserting that the daily fare was to be had. not one of the men had stirred.
a large touring-car, its wind-shield placarded with two white stars cut in a field of red, drove down the valley along the gravel road, and turned toward the bunk houses where the soldiers who preferred sleep to food—and they had not tasted of food for twenty-four hours—were lying.
the motor stopped, and a lieutenant, with a curled mustache, leaned a trifle forward[45] from his seat beside the chauffeur and called:
“where is the sentry of this camp?”
there was no answer.
the lieutenant stepped out of the car and strode precisely and firmly toward the bunk house.
he spoke loudly. “where is the sentry of this camp?”
most of the men were too sleepy even to curse at the intruder. one or two voices impolitely commanded him to “shut up,” and one voice mumbled: “where do you think you are at, anyway?”
enraged at this disrespect, the lieutenant decided not to leave until he had aroused some one.
sergeant harriman, who for once had been forced to sleep with the common soldiers, awakened, and, seeing the lieutenant with the insignia upon his collar worn by officers attached to the general staff, dived from his bunk like a jack-rabbit, saluting before his feet touched the ground.
the lieutenant roared: “where is your company commander?”
“i’ll get him, sir!” and sergeant harriman scurried off.
he returned three feet in rear and three inches to the left of captain powers.
“how do you do, lieutenant?” captain powers rubbed his sleepy eyes.
“captain,” the lieutenant’s voice rang out, “major-general bumble will be ready to inspect your organization in”—he looked at his wrist-watch—“two hours.”
“very well, sir.” captain powers returned the lieutenant’s salute. he again rubbed his eyes and turned to sergeant harriman.
“harriman, have the men got up immediately, police up, and be ready to stand inspection in one hour and a half.”
“aye, aye, sir.” sergeant harriman saluted sharply.
“and harriman.”
“sir!”
“pass the word on to the sergeants of the other platoons. we officers have had a pretty hard night of it, and i am going to try and get some sleep before the general returns.”
sergeant harriman ran through the bunk houses, informing the other platoon sergeants of their fortune.
that finished, he returned to his own bunk house, and, starting along the row of sleeping[47] men, unerringly picked the corporals of the squads and instructed them to awaken their squads.
soon the bunk house was filled with cries of: “up you come, you dopes. rise and shine.”
“is everybody up?”
“then fall in beside your bunks and answer to roll-call.”
“now,” said sergeant harriman, as he finished calling the platoon call, “you’ve got jist one hour to police up and be ready to stand general inspection. snap into it.”
meeting between the platoon and general officers had been very limited; each man was overwhelmed with awe at the thought of a major-general inspecting him. the scene changed to one of frenzied activity.
dampened rags were rubbed over the stocks of the rifles; the rifle bores were cleaned, their chambers, trigger-guard, and other metal pieces were meticulously brushed; knives were put into use to scrape off the mud from the shoes and clothing; the blankets were stripped from the bunks and rolled into neat packs; water was found and stubbles of beard disappeared magically under the sharp edges of razors, or else were hidden by heavy coatings of talcum powder.
an hour afterward the platoon was in line in front of the bunk house. clicking his heels sharply, for he wore barracks shoes because his tender feet were unable to stand the heavy hobnails issued to the soldier, sergeant harriman halted before his command.
“ha-right, dress.” his diaphragm, which had been expanded, noticeably contracted as he uttered the command of execution. “back just a trifle, hayes. move your feet.... come out, you man in the third squad of the front rank. nobody’s going to hurt you. step out a bit. dammit, move your feet. all right, corporal kahl, suck in your gut and throw out your chest. there....” the moment was tense. “stea-a-dy. front.” the left arms of the men were dropped smartly at their sides.
lieutenant bedford, traces of sleepiness still in his eyes, came forward and took charge of the platoon. he thrust out his arm, exposing a small gold wrist-watch beneath his cuff. giving the watch an off-hand glance, he raised his voice: “all right, men, if you’ll keep one foot in place i’ll give you at ease. no talking.” he walked to the rear of the platoon and began to converse with sergeant harriman.
“pipe down, you men, or you’ll stand at attention!” sergeant harriman commanded.
the company commander came. he stood before the company and received the lieutenant’s report. the company, which had been called to attention during the formality, was given at ease again. they stood shuffling their feet. one man surreptitiously drew from his pocket a piece of tobacco, bit loose a small portion of it and returned it, unnoticed.
an hour passed.
along the line voices were heard to remark: “are we gonna stay here all day? they might at least feed us before they break us out like this. a hell of a note.”
sergeant harriman rose grandly to the occasion. “shut up, you bunch of agitators. i’ll drill you till your shoes fall off.”
“you wouldn’t have to drill me much. mine already have holes in them,” some one remarked.
“who said that?” sergeant harriman was furious.
lieutenant bedford stepped in front of the platoon and called the men to attention.
the second hour had passed.
a huge touring-car rounded the road and[50] stopped. the company commander, in magnificent tones, commanded them: “company at-ten-shun. open ranks. march.... steady.... front.”
he saluted major-general bumble, who had stepped out of the touring-car.
“how do you do, captain.”
the major-general, followed by his lieutenant, followed by another, followed by the company commander, followed by the first sergeant, walked pompously along the line of the front rank. the driver of the touring-car sent his car smoothly between the ranks. at the other end of the company the car stopped. the major-general, the lieutenant with the curled mustache, and another officer, climbed in and the car spurted away.
the ranks were closed, the company was reprimanded for its slovenly appearance and dismissed.
instead of measuring up to the platoon’s conception of a rest camp, the routine was more like that of an intensive training camp. each morning there were close-order drills, at which sergeant harriman would distinguish himself by giving the platoon a difficult command: “to[51] the rear, squads right about, right by squads, on right into line,” he would proudly call off, ending with a very sharp “march!” for a while the platoon obeyed, and in an orderly manner carried out the command. one day, after sergeant harriman had given the command of execution, the right guide of the platoon continued to march forward.
“what’s the matter there, right guide? can’t you hear? platoon, halt!”
sergeant harriman hurried forward and stood before the guide. “what the devil is the matter? you ought to know that command by this time.”
the right guide spoke: “there is no such command any more.”
“what do you mean? how dare you!” sergeant harriman was exasperated. the guide was calm.
“we’re under army regulations and you can’t give more than one command at a time.”
“when i get you up before the company commander for insubordination you’ll think otherwise. wipe that smile off your face, you men back there.”
he man?uvred them about until he had exhausted all of the commands that he could[52] think of. then he ordered double-time, and they ran around the field, in the burning hot sun, for fifteen minutes. it would have been longer, but the company commander, passing by, ordered the platoon to be halted, and, calling the sergeant aside, told him to stop.
such occurrences served the platoon well, for the men were angered and taken away from their more intimate troubles. in the evening the rifts of the day would be forgotten as they would sit around the bunk house and listen to old king cole strum the guitar that the platoon had bought for him.
it was late in may, and the rains that had marked the springtime had almost stopped. it was evening, and a dull yellow moon soared gracefully above shoals of white, vaguely formed clouds. in the heavens the disk seemed like a ship, rocking a trifle as it rose over a sea of fluffy cotton.
outside the bunk house members of the platoon stretched full length on the thick, soft grass, and listened to old king cole pick tentatively at the strings of his guitar.
“play us somep’n’ sad an’ boozy, humpy.”
“naw, play ‘the little marine went sailing away.’”
“give us ‘if i had the wings of an angel.’”
“can’t play nothin’ without a drink,” king cole informed the group. “now, if i was back in muskogee to-night i’d go in m’gittis’s saloon and say ‘fill ’em up agin, m’gittis,’ all night.... ain’t nobody got a drink?” he broke off plaintively.
“well, i got a little wine you can have, humpy. it’s in my canteen.”
“wine? you call that red hog-wash wine? i like hooch, anyway.”
there was a pause.
“go and git your damned old wine.” in the evenings when there was no occupation for the platoon, king cole rated equally with president wilson.
the wine was brought and king cole drank well. he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, emitted a satisfied “ah,” and began:
“‘oh, meet me, oh, meet me, to-night, love,
oh, meet me in the garden alone.
for i’ve a sad story to tell you,
a story that’s never been told.’”
king cole solemnly chanted the last lines and stopped.
“i can’t play no more. that damned wine makes me dry.”
the conversation turned upon decent prostitutes and honest gamblers, a discussion over which paul kruger alone had taken the affirmative every time.
“you betcha there can be decent gold-diggers. and honest gamblers, too,” he was saying.
“what’s so funny about that? they’re nothing but ways of making a living.”
“yes, but, paul,” one of the men interrupted, “if a woman goes around and sleeps with everybody she can’t be very decent, can she?”
“as decent as your damned society women every time. now look here. a woman gits married. and then she leaves her husband.” he stopped. “got that? well, she marries another guy and then another. now, how is she any better than a regular gold-digger?”
“this ain’t no place to talk about things like that. no place at all. you all bettah be prayin’ to gawd that this hyah wah’ll soon be ovah,” said pugh.
mercifully, the officer of the day walked by and ordered them off to bed.
on decoration day all of the units of the regiment were marched to regimental headquarters[55] and crowded upon the lawn in front of the building occupied by the colonel and his staff. after waiting perhaps an hour, the regimental chaplain, pot-bellied, short-legged, and wholly bald, addressed the soldiers. vaguely they comprehended that this was the day when fallen heroes were to be especially revered, and that it should also be a day of silent prayer and commemoration for the souls of those who were about to die. half of the audience heard not a word, and fully three-quarters of them would not have been interested if they had.
the platoons filed out and marched over the dusty road for several miles back to their quarters. in some manner the commemoration address of the regimental chaplain left the members of the platoon gloomy. for a long while, as they marched along, there was no sound save for the muffled tramp of feet on the thickly dust-coated road.
finally kahl ended the silence: “you know, fellows, the regimental chaplain was right. all of us haven’t so damned long to live.”
“come out of it, you gloom bug.”
“why do you care? you’ll be alive to spit on all of our graves. you should worry.”
“by god, kahl’s right. i was up at battalion[56] p. c. night before last, and i heard some old boy tellin’ major adams that we were goin’ back to the front pretty damn quick.”
“pretty damn quick? i guess we are. the battalion runner told me that we was shovin’ off for the front to-night,” pugh contributed.
to all this conversation goldman, a new york jew, who had given his occupation as a travelling salesman, listened eagerly without appearing especially to do so. his prominent, fluid-brown eyes were turned upon pugh, and they continued furtively to watch him while he spoke.
“you know, they say it’s hell up at the front now. the squareheads have busted through and the frogs are fallin’ back as fast as they can. i betcha,” pugh continued excitedly, “that we’ll be up to the front in less than—in less than a week.”
“yeh, an’ they say they cut ya where you don’ wanna be cut.”
“pipe down, you men back there. who gave you permission to talk?” sergeant harriman called.
“who the hell gave you permission to give us permission to talk?” some one indistinctly asked.
the platoon plodded along, their thoughts too taken up with the matter at hand—arriving at their quarters, being fed, and going to sleep—to give further thought to the eventuality of their being killed.
when they swung into their quarters, the fumes of the concoction which they had cheerfully and not inaccurately entitled “slum” were apparent to them. it assaulted their nostrils, but it was acceptable to empty stomachs.
they sat around; some were cross-legged on the ground, others sat upon manure piles, with their mess-gears half filled with slum by their sides.
hicks and pugh were seated together.
“what was that,” hicks asked, “you were saying about going to the front? was that just general orders from the head, or was it straight?”
“ah jist told you what i heard, hicksy. some old guy told major adams that we’d be gittin’ out of here damn quick. that’s all i know. but say, it wouldn’t surprise me none if we went any time. even to-night.”
“oh, hell, no. not to-night. i’m too damned tired to move. i’d go to the sick bay if we shoved off to-night.” hicks was despondent.
pugh shrugged his shoulders and once more attacked his slum. a moment later the company commander walked toward the place where the men were eating. he was followed by the first sergeant. he approached harriman.
“sergeant,” he said, “have your platoon make up their packs and stand by. let no one go to bed, and be ready to leave at any moment.”
“yes, sir,” said sergeant harriman.
“by god, pugh, you were right, you uncanny bitch. it’s to-night that we leave,” said hicks.
midnight. long rubber ponchos were drawn over recumbent figures; heads were pillowed by packs; sleep remained impervious to allied propaganda. there was a tearing noise as a rifle exploded.
the company commander came running out of the farmhouse, where he and the other officers lodged with the farmer and his family. “what the devil are you men trying to do?”
“somebody’s shot himself, captain.”
the first sergeant followed, bringing with him an electric torch. he hurried to the place where a group of men had gathered. pushing through,[59] he directed the rays of the torch toward the body. it was goldman. he had placed the butt of the rifle on the ground, and with the muzzle pressed against his throat, had forced the trigger with his toe. there he lay, with one shoe off and the blood streaming from a hole in his jaw.
