snorting gray camions drew up along the road by the path where the men were lying. at the driving-wheels the small japanese, with their long, tired mustaches covered with fine dust, looked like pieces of graveyard sculpture. the dust was over their faces, over their light-blue uniforms. they sat immovable. the men took their seats upon the narrow benches and the camions chugged away.
a river crawled along, its straight banks parallel with the road over which the camions were moving. in the crepuscular light it was a dark, straggly, insignificant stream, which, compared by the platoon with rivers that they had known, was only a creek. it was quite dark when the camions stopped at a town along the river, built in the valley between large hills. the men debarked and were assigned to their billets wherever empty rooms could be found in the houses.
in nanteuil, the name of the village where they had stopped, the ranks of the platoon were filled by men from one of the replacement battalions that recently had arrived in france from[168] the united states. a daily routine was quickly established, and with but one day’s rest the platoon was kept at work from early morning until late afternoon. they drilled four hours a day, were inspected daily by the acting company commander, tried to rid themselves of lice by swimming in the marne, made secret expeditions to neighboring villages, where they got drunk and made amorous eyes at sloppy french grandmothers, threw hand-grenades in the river and watched the dead fish rise to the surface, swore at the gendarmes when those persons remonstrated with them, shrank into basements whenever the long-distance german shells were aimed at the bridge that crossed the river at nantueil, cursed their officers, and tried to scare the new men by exaggerating the frightfulness of the front, gorged themselves on the plentiful rations, and played black jack, poker, or rolled dice out of sight of their officers. the officers smiled and told each other that they were not only recovering their morale, but were imbuing the new men with that spirit peculiar to the marine corps.
the platoon had been in nanteuil one week when hicks returned, dusty, tired, and hungry. the older men crowded around him eagerly,[169] while the more recent members stood off wonderingly.
“well, hicksy, old boy, did you have a good rest?” pugh asked.
“rest? rest hell. the only way you can get a rest is to get killed. but don’t go to the hospital thinking you’ll get it.” hicks paused, sat down and lighted a cigarette. “remember that night they put over the gas attack?” he was assured by each of the old-timers that he did.
“well, the next afternoon i woke up in an evacuation hospital. they carried me in on a stretcher, and when i opened my eyes there was a lousy doctor standing over me. ‘what are you doing here?’ he asked. well, i could hardly talk, but i managed to whisper that i was gassed. he looked down at my card that the first-aid officer had pinned on me. ‘god damn it, get up, you coward,’ he said to me. ‘what the hell do you mean by taking a wounded man’s place?’ of course, i was sore as hell, but what could i do? so i stuck around a while until an ambulance started for our battalion, and then i hid in it and came along.”
the men cursed the medical officer effusively.
“saw harriman back there,” hicks continued.[170] “he was lyin’ in bed with his foot in a sling. said he got lost and some squarehead shot him.” hicks threw the butt of his cigarette. “but if you think the medical officers are bad, you ought to see the enlisted men. don’t take any souvenirs back with you if you go. the damn orderlies’ll steal ’em. one guy had a luger pistol and about four hundred francs when he got in the hospital, and they give him a bath, and when he come out he hadn’t a thing in his clothes. but i got a good hot bath, i’ll say that much. and i got some clean clothes. the damned clothes i had stunk so of gas that they had to bury them.”
“how was the chow?”
“rotten. and you have to line up in the mud in your pajamas to get it if you’re a walking patient. they say the base hospitals are worse.”
“yeh, but you don’t have no shavetail raggin’ you around all the time, do you?”
“the hell you don’t. them damned orderlies who are supposed to do the work hand you a broom and tell you to clean up the deck, or wash up the toilets, or make up somebody’s bed.” hicks got up and limped away. “got to report to the company commander.”
[171]
“how come you’re limpin’, hicksy?”
“still got sores on my legs where that confounded gas burned.”
the new men vowed that they never would get shot.
after an hour’s close order drill the next day hicks was noticed to be unable to keep in step. three times lieutenant bedford bit his lip and refrained only by great repression from reprimanding him. when the platoon came to a halt, lieutenant bedford moved over to hicks and quietly and venomously asked: “hicks, what the hell’s the matter with you? why the hell do you walk along like you had a brick in your pants?”
“i’m sorry, but i can’t help it, lieutenant bedford. i still have sores on my legs.”
“well, what are you doing back here then? fall out and report to the sick-bay at once.” lieutenant bedford was exasperated.
hicks limped out of sight. but after that he did not drill with the platoon. each day when they set out he watched them from the window of the bare room where his squad was billeted. and each day the sergeant of the medical corps secretly treated him for his burns. at the close of a week hicks was well, and when orders were[172] received for the platoon to move he was quite ready.
then began a dismal time; when, almost invariably, the platoon had been marched into some woods at night and had made their beds on the ground, they would be ordered to make up their equipment and be ready to march in an hour or less. thus they lived in the woods in the daytime and at night marched from one forest to another.
not even the officers could give a reason for the senseless man?uvring. it was during this time that the rumor became common that they were to board battleships and effect a landing party on the mole; they also were to be sent to southern france to a rest camp as soon as their barracks near marseilles had been completed; they also were to be returned to the united states and be split up to serve as recruiting officers and instructors to the drafted men. these rumors, and the occasional rations of cigarettes they were given, helped them to endure their nightly pilgrimages and their cramped daily lives in the woods.
and then one day, when they had despaired ever of doing anything but moving through the night from one clump of woods to another, an[173] order was received for the platoon to be ready to entrain on camions at three that afternoon. they did not know whether to rejoice or not.
the march was more weary than even they had expected. they had left the camions early that morning, and had begun a climb up a long, punishing hill whose summit seemed in the clouds. on this road the marching was even, steady. there was no body of troops in front of the platoon to cause it to halt, stand with heavy packs cutting through the shoulder muscles, and then march on again. a forest on one side, the scene stretched out on the other a long, flat prairie of glistening wheat. on and on they marched, reaching the summit of the hill and escaping the sun where large, tall trees bowed in a canopy over the road. noon came and day disappeared; the shadows threw themselves fantastically upon the road, and still the platoon continued its steady tramp. the air grew cool. it found an easy entrance through the slight clothing of the men and covered their bodies with a dampness. darkness found them heavily pounding out the miles along the road. men began grumbling, threatening to fall out along the roadside. they were indignant at not having rested, at not being fed. one man,[174] desiring to drink, reached for his canteen and found it empty. his voice rose plaintively in the stillness. other men felt thirst. they made known their desires in language reproachful and uncomplimentary to their officers.
at midnight the platoon stopped. it turned into the woods and lay down. orders were passed among the men to dig holes in the ground for protection. “we’ll be here all night,” the officers said, “and there may be an attack before we shove off.”
the men greeted the order by failing to move. several of them muttered that they didn’t give a damn whether the enemy attacked or not. suddenly, out of the thick blackness of the woods and the night a six-inch gun barked and recoiled, barked again and recoiled. the shells sped through the night, striking, ?ons afterward, with the noise of a pricked balloon. another salvo shot over into the darkness, the ignition of the charge lighting up a small distance of woods and throwing the trees into crazy relief. three shells, large ones, raced each other over the enemy lines. they struck with a clatter, as if they had felled half of the forest. all along the line long-range rifles fired their huge bolts of explosives toward the enemy. small seventy-fives[175] barked like little dogs running after an automobile. in retaliation the shrill shriek of the german shells answered. on both sides the batteries continued pounding away. an orderly, parting the brush and making a noise like a stampede of wild horses, appeared and asked to be directed to the company commander. five minutes afterward the platoon was given orders to move forward. to the tune of heavy artillery battering away like enormous drums the platoon, joined at each end by other units of the division, felt its way blindly through the forest. when the sun rose they were still working their way through the trees. unexpectedly the guns in the rear of the moving lines stopped. the battle of soissons had begun.
the platoon was first apprised of the nearness of the enemy when king cole raised his rifle and fired quickly. he had seen a soiled gray uniform skirting among the trees a few yards ahead. a quick electric shock ran from shoulder to shoulder along the advancing line. the platoon stopped for a moment as if stunned. then they advanced without increasing their pace. in their faces a machine-gun spat angrily, the bullets flying past like peevish wasps. automatic rifles were manipulated in the middles[176] of the automatic rifle squad, and the loaders took their places at the sides of the men who were firing, jamming in one clip of cartridges after another. rifle bullets fled past the advancing men with an infuriating zing. the maxim machine-guns kept up a rolling rat-t-t-tat, coldly objective.
the platoon had reached the first machine-gun nest, almost without knowing it. there were three germans, their heavy helmets sunk over their heads, each performing a definite part in the firing. they, too, were surprised. pugh, a little in the lead, drew a hand-grenade from his pocket, pulled out the pin, and threw it in their faces. it burst loudly and distinctly. one german fell flat, another grasped at his arm, his face taking on a blank expression as he did so, while the last man threw his hands above his head. inattentive to his gesture of surrender, the line pushed on.
the fighting grew more furious. germans, surprised, were hiding behind trees and firing their slow-working rifles. when the advancing line would reach them they would receive a charge of shot in their bodies, sometimes before they had fired at the swiftly moving line. some member of the platoon offered his version[177] of an indian war whoop. it was successful in hastening the attack. exhilarated, but sheerly impotent, one man ran forward blubbering, “you god-damn germans,” and pointing an empty rifle at the trees. other men calmly and methodically worked the bolts of their rifles back and forth, refilling the chambers as they were emptied of each clip of five shots. from time to time a man dropped, thinning the ranks and spreading them out to such an extent that contact on the right side of the moving line was lost.
farther on in the woods a small trench had been dug, but through the fierceness and unexpectedness of the attack most of the enemy had been driven from it. the platoon, moving on feet that felt like wings, dashed toward the trench, some of the men sprawling into it. before them, a few yards distant, a machine-gun poked its nose from between the crevice of two large rocks. the sight of it infuriated lieutenant bedford, who was leading the platoon by a few paces. then, yards away, he began throwing bombs at it. his last bomb exhausted, he aimed his pistol and chucked the remaining shots at it. now, almost able to look over the top of the rock and see the gunner, he threw the[178] useless pistol at the heavy steel helmet. the gunner dropped his head, covering it with his hands. when he looked up, the platoon had passed. farther, the resistance grew less. the bombardment of the night before had taken its toll of germans. bodies lay gawkily about on the grass. one body, headless, clutched a clay pipe between its fingers. another lay flat on its back, a hole in its stomach as big as a hat. a heavy leather pack, which a shell had struck, was the centre of a ring of packages of piedmont cigarettes which its owner had salvaged from some dead american.
the trees became sparse. ahead, over an interminably long wheat-field, the platoon could see the horizon. there were no germans in sight. the platoon, ordered to do so, faced in the direction from which they had come and combed the woods for machine-gun nests which they might have passed unnoticed during the attack.
in their poignant hunger the men forgot even to look for pieces of german equipment which they might sell to y. m. c. a. men and others of the personnel behind the lines. but each leather german pack was searched for food, and canteens were picked up, shaken, and either[179] thrown down with disgust or hastily put to the men’s lips and greedily drained of whatever might be in them. there were loaves of black bread which, in spite of the mouldy look that was common to them all, were devoured; an occasional comb of honey was found. pugh, exploring one of the packs, drew forth a pair of baby stockings and a small knitted hood. beside the pack lay a peaceful-looking, home-loving german who had passed his middle years.
“here’s an orphan, all right!” pugh announced, and went to the next pack.
they were nearing a clump of bushes when a young german stepped out. his face was the color of putty and his eyes brought to hicks the picture of an escaped convict hunted by bloodhounds in a southern swamp. his hands were high above his head, as high as their frightened nerves would permit them to be. at the sight of him an uncouth, illiterate tatterdemalion from the south of illinois snarled half animal-like, raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired directly at the prisoner. a look of surprise, utter unbelief, came over the man’s face as he dropped heavily to the ground. “damn ye, that’ll larn ye ta stay hum.” the fellow, his thin evil face grimaced with[180] hatred, walked over and spat expertly a stream of tobacco juice at the already dead body. the rest of the platoon looked on nonplussed, not knowing whether their comrade had done the ethical thing or not.
hot and tired, knowing nearly every need of the body, the platoon was formed near the place where they had entered the woods late the night before, as the sun was sinking out of sight.
they arrived at a crossroads and turned to the right. thick woods, green at the fringe and black within, walled the smooth white ribbon of road on either side. through soft, fluffy clouds that floated over an inanely blue sky the sun volleyed rays of brilliant light. small, shiny pebbles, reflecting the glint, were transformed into pretty baubles of crystal and amber.
on the right of the road, moving forward in an unbroken stream, plodded a single file of drab-colored men. from a distance the line looked like a swaying, muddy snake. in the middle of the road, also moving forward, black, roan, and sorrel horses pulled caissons, field kitchens, and supply wagons. men, returning from the direction in which the main traffic was[181] moving, were on the left. they passed by, dejected, vapid-minded, a look of dull pain in the eyes of each. they were the wounded from the attack. most spectacular among them were the french colonials, with their red kepis, their broad chests showing strength and endurance beneath their blue or tan tunics. occasionally a mass of white, blood-stained gauze would be wrapped around a black, shiny head, and strong white teeth would be doggedly bared with pain. the small carbines and long knives that they carried set them off as a special sort of troops. and then the french, with their horizon-blue uniforms and drooping, inevitable mustaches. shoulders sagging, they slouched along with bandaged heads and bandaged arms. and the gray of the german uniform and the thump, thump of the leather boots that they wore. small, hideous caps, round and gray, with a thin red piping circling the top, set awkwardly on their heads, which rose from thick fat necks. behind them walked surly, wary frenchmen. a number of english troops were scattered through the unending line. beside the americans whom they passed their khaki uniforms looked smart and tailored. in this multicolored canyon no words were exchanged. the[182] colonials looked sullen, the french beaten and spiritless, the americans dogged and conscientious, the english expressionless; the germans seemed the most human of them all. for them the fighting was finished.
miles from the place where the platoon had alighted from the camions another road split the deep wall of green forest, and at the crossing a large farmhouse stood in the middle of a large field. whitewashed, all but the roof, it looked like a cheap but commodious burial vault, with the yard in the rear filled high with dead and wounded. the first place of shelter from the actual front, it was being used as a dressing station for the maimed. many of the men brought back wounded had died there; in a pile made like carelessly thrown sticks of wood their bodies now lay. there those whom an imaginary line had named friend and enemy shared a common lot. german bodies and austrian mingling and touching french, belgian; their positions a gruesome offering to the god of war. all day long the heavy hobnailed boots of hurriedly advancing men had beaten out a requiem.
the platoon filed along to the left upon the cross-road, marching as swiftly as their tired[183] legs would permit. the stream of wounded had stopped. the field kitchens and supply wagons had turned off in the woods in rear. for miles sounded the baffled roar of firing artillery. now and then a man fell out alongside the road, unable to march any longer, the cool green of the grass in the late afternoon offering a tantalizing bed. from behind them commenced a great clatter of caissons drawn jerkily along the shell-torn road by galloping, lathered horses. artillerymen, one on the back of the leading horse, two on the caisson seat, urged the horses forward with picturesque curse words, only stopping long enough to shout at the platoon:
“better hurry up, you guys, or we’ll git to germany before you will.” they rumbled away.
in a twilight of mauve the platoon came to a halt on the crest of a broad hill. silently they deployed, mud-caked ghosts, dragging wearily and uncertainly out in a long line that offered its front to the challenging boom of the enemy’s long-range guns. water was found in a spring near by, and the men lay down in the shallow holes that they had dug, their blankets and ponchos thrown over them. a solitary sentry watched the stars, watched the red, the green,[184] the blue-and-white signal lights flare for a moment along the line, then die away.
the gray spirit of dawn rose and hovered over the ground. in the faint light a unit of cavalry filed past. the riders, on delicate, supple mounts, carried long lances, with their points skyward. on their blue helmets bright, feathery plumes fell back gracefully. their spotless uniforms, gray in the morning light, set off their youthful figures like those of pages attending a medi?val court. the horses, their fine legs delicately contoured, minced daintily down the hill and out of sight.
ahead, through a scattered line of trees, stretched a spacious prairie, covered thick with wheat,—a slightly rolling sea, majestically and omnipotently engulfing the universe.
the platoon rose stiffly, bewildered, rubbing the stiffness from their faces. over the calm of the air a danger was borne. men smelled it in the acrid odor of powder which covered the grass. the trees, a thin line before them, swayed poignantly. lorelei, singing seductively, sat in their branches. in attack formation the platoon moved toward the trees, to the front toward which they were moving.
beyond the trees a narrow path ran parallel. reaching it, the platoon turned to the left, tramping heavily toward the main road from which they had come the night before.
scuffing the dust with lagging feet, the platoon crawled along the dusty road, lined on each side by contorted faces of men who had come to support the line of attack. farther down the road a small town lay half hidden in the valley. long, slender smoke-stacks rose amid a cluttering of small deserted houses, where, twenty-four hours earlier, german soldiers had been quartered. through one of the chimneys of the factory a three-inch shell had ploughed its way, stopping with the nose protruding from one side, the butt from the other. there it was suspended, implicit in its obedience. interminably long words were printed on signs over the doors of the houses. at a street crossing the old names of the thoroughfares had been blotted out, and such names as kaiserstrasse and wilhelmstrasse were roughly lettered over them. there was a touch of impiety, of great barbarousness, in the changing of names which for so long had been honored. also a very strong suggestion of a sound, thorough business administration having been instituted in place[186] of the lax, pleasant manner of the village before the war. a peculiar, disagreeable odor hinted at great and ruthless thrift. the germans had been careful of their dead. none remained lying on the street.
the platoon wound through the town and out upon the wheat-field which that morning they had viewed through the scraggly trees. dazzling sunlight beat upon the full-topped yellow heads of wheat that weighted down the cool green stalks; on the flat, absurdly shaped helmets of the soldiers; on the sharp white bayonets raised above the wheat with which the field was filled. deploying, the men halted, joined on either side by other men with silly-looking helmets, rifles, and bayonets.
from the road a small tank labored up the hill, puffing and creaking in every joint. another tank, a miniature of the tanks pictured in the recruiting posters, wheezed along on its caterpillar tread. more tanks came. they were all small, ineffectual-looking little monsters, wearing a look of stubborn, gigantic babies. the arrival of the tanks was greeted by the firing of a salvo of shells from the german lines.
the platoon lay down in the wheat, trying to shield their bodies from the sight of the enemy.[187] but the tanks, wheeling and rearing and grinding like devils gnashing their teeth, made perfect targets for the long-range shells. with their small, ridiculous gun-barrels pointing in three directions through holes in their steel armor, they were delightfully impervious to the havoc they were causing the infantry. and their silly camouflage, into the making of which some painter had put his soul—reds and greens, the colors of autumn leaves, black and modest browns—in all their disguise they were as apparent at a distance of one thousand yards as large white canvases with black bull’s-eyes and rings scored on them. for an everlasting half-hour they ploughed and squirmed through the field, struggling to get into position in order that the attack might commence. meanwhile shells, timed like the ticking of a clock, fell with horrible and spirit-shaking accuracy. at last the tanks had man?uvred themselves into the proper distance ahead of the front line. whistles were blown piercingly. the advance, the men aligned in four waves, had commenced.
hicks, lying in the wheat, divided his attention between the man?uvring of the tanks and the frantic scampering of the insects on the[188] ground and in the wheat, whose manner of existence he had disturbed by his sitting down. black little creatures, they waddled over the ground with as great a seriousness and importance as if they supported the burden of the world. disorganized, they ran in all directions, even toward hicks’s hobnailed boots and upon his awkwardly rolled puttees. it was the first time since he had enlisted that he had thought much about bugs, save for the kind that infest the body. now he wondered whether their lives were not as important as the lives of men; whether they were not conscious of a feeling that, were they no longer to exist, the end of the world would come. he compared them with the hustling, inane little tanks, and almost concluded that one was as important as the other. he stood by carefully so as not to step on any of the insects.
so far the german shells had burst either far behind the platoon or far in front of it. but now the whine, ever increasing, of a shell informed him that in a moment he would be listening to the ripping sound of flying pieces of shell casing. he waited, breathless. fifteen yards behind him the shell exploded terrifically. he looked back. “oh, larson,” he called.[189] larson was nowhere to be seen. “damn these tanks,” he fretted. “they’ll have us all killed, first thing we know.”
the dread of the attack was forgotten in the more immediate danger of the enemy artillery finding the exact range of the platoon by means of the sputtering tanks. a flock of shells left the long, black mouths of the german guns and began their journey toward hicks. he winced, tied his muscles into knots, and threw himself flat on the ground, quite forgetful of the insects. the shells all struck within a radius of twenty yards, throwing up dirt, grain, a black cloud of smoke. the whistle blew and hicks rose again.
as he started forward, abreast of the first wave, he had never before felt so great a stiffness in his legs, nor so great a weight in his shoes. it was as if they were tied to the earth. for a moment the jargon and melody of a once-popular song flooded his brain. then he thought of the platoon joke about the man from the wilds who had come barefoot to a recruiting officer to enlist, and who, upon putting on a pair of shoes, had stood still for hours, believing that he was tied. “ha,” thought hicks, “that’s a funny one. they had to put sand in[190] his shoes before he would move.” war was a business of tightening things, he observed, as he fastened the chin strap of his helmet more tightly. corroborating the evidence, he tightened his belt over his empty stomach. the men were marching along, an interval of three yards between each. a shell struck directly upon the moving front wave a few yards to the left of hicks. an arm and a haversack foolishly rose in the air above the cloud of smoke of the exploding shell. slightly farther on machine-guns began an annoying rat-tat-tat, the bullets snipping off the heads of grain. more men fell. the front rank went on with huge gaps in it. on they stolidly marched. hicks, glancing back, saw that the four waves had been consolidated into but two. but the bayonets glistened as brightly as before.
“close in there, hicks,” somebody yelled, and hicks asked whether the men were not being killed swiftly enough, without grouping them together more closely. they advanced to a point where they were enfiladed by the enemy’s machine-guns. as the four lines had become two, so now the two lines became one. but on they marched, preserving a line that could have passed the reviewing stand on dress parade.
beyond a cluster of trees was a village which had been named as the objective of the attack for that day. the road, canopied by green tree boughs, led to it from the town which that morning the platoon had left. the road was level, more level even than the field. it made a path as directing as a bowling-alley for the machine-gunners and riflemen in the village. thus, the road was almost a certain death-trap for any one who tried to cross it. the right section of the platoon had begun the attack on one side of the road, the left on the other. as the ranks thinned and a greater distance between each man was required to preserve contact with the advancing line, the men on the right, where the heavier firing occurred, spread out, drawing away from the road.
the shells continued to fall, using as their target the slowly moving tanks which regulated the advance of the infantry. suddenly a large six-inch shell struck the turret of the tank nearest the platoon. the tank recoiled and stood stock-still. a moment later two men, like frightened rabbits, scurried out of the tank and ran back toward the rear.
three airplanes, white stars in a field of red on their wings, flew gaily over the field and toward the german lines. they floated gracefully[192] and haughtily out of sight. not much later on they precipitately returned with three fokkers after them like angry hornets. shriven of their grandeur, they flocked in disorder back to their hangars, the machine-guns of the german planes spitting bullets after them. the aerial entertainment was changed: four large german bombing planes, pursuing a businesslike course, arrived above the advancing men and began to drop bombs and fire machine-gun bullets at them. the bombs reported as noisily as the seventy-seven-millimetre guns, but they made only a shallow hole in the ground. more devastating were the machine-gun bullets which zinged off the steel helmets of the men or bored their way through to the skull. under the combination of direct artillery fire, enfilade machine-gun, rifle sniping, bombs dropped from airplanes, the ranks of the advancing men had become so sparse that the attack was brought to a temporary halt.
it was now afternoon and the heat of the sun was unendurable. it burned upon the helmets and through the clothing and caused sweat to trickle down the skin, irritating the scratches, bruises, and burns with which the bodies of the men were covered. the four bombing planes[193] continued lazily to circle overhead, “kicking out their tail-gates,” as the men graphically phrased it. hicks and pugh, with four of the new men, were at the farthest point of advance. lying flat, they tried with their bayonets, their mess knives, to throw up a protection of ground in front of them. thoroughly tired, they worked slowly, in spite of the danger. they were half-way finished when a bullet zipped through the wheat and penetrated the bone of the crooked elbow with which the man next hicks was supporting himself.
“here it is,” said hicks, picking up a small steel-jacketed bullet.
“by god, that hurts. help me get my shirt off.”
“je’s, you’re lucky,” hicks murmured enviously. “you’ll never come back to the front any more. and what a fancy place to get hit!” the shirt off, the bullet was seen to have gone through the forearm just above the elbow, coming out on the other side.
“don’t you think so?” eagerly. “it don’t hurt so much.”
“no, but you better hurry up and git outa here or you’ll have somep’n more than a busted arm,” one of the new men advised.
[194]
the arrival of a salvo of shells decided the new man upon an immediate departure. throwing away all of his equipment, he hurried away, his elbow pressed closely to his side.
behind hicks, a few yards, some one began to whimper.
“what’s the trouble, buddy?”
“i d-d-on’t kn-now,” the voice stuttered, half sobbing, half crying.
“well, why don’t you beat it back?”
“i’m af-f-fraid.”
“damn it, get the hell out of here. do you want us to go nutty with your bawlin’!” this from one of the new men.
“you’ve got a good excuse to go back, you know,” hicks assured. “go back with hensel. a wounded man’s supposed to have somebody go back with him.”
“i c-c-can’t-t. i went b-back once s-s-shell-shocked, and the d-doctors raised hell with me. i’m af-f-frai-d-d to go back again.” the man started to laugh unpleasantly. his laughter changed to violent sobbing. the men grew doubly frightened. “i can’t stay here and hear that,” one of them said. “it takes all the starch out of me.” but he didn’t move.
near the road king cole lay upon the ground,[195] his lips pressed against the dirt. by his head his hands were clinched, the knuckles flat. his helmet had fallen forward so that it covered his brow, but not the back of his head. his legs were as rigid as death. on his right leg the puttee had become unwound, the spiral-shaped cloth stringing out behind. the leather, worn through by much marching, a glimpse of his bare foot appeared where the sole of his shoe had worn through. his shirt was tattered, and in the middle of his back a large hole had been blown. surprisingly, there was very little blood on his shirt or upon any other part of his body, save where the gaping hole showed the raw flesh. hours earlier king cole had been struck by the explosion of a shell. since then he had lain—alive.
a molten mass of flaming gold all day, the sun, from sheer exhaustion of vengeful burning, dropped weakly out of sight. declining, it filled the sky with mauve and purple, gold and crimson designs. swaying mournfully in the wisps of evening wind, the full heads of grain were like slender lances raised by an army of a million men. the village ahead, toward which the platoon had advanced within a distance of five[196] hundred yards, was a vague blur against the soft gray sky.
it was an hour before nightfall, and firing along the front had partly ceased. the men in the advance line were lying prone, thankful for the surcease offered by the approaching night. heard behind them was a swishing sound. hicks turned, forgot even for the moment the piteous moans of the shell-shocked man when he saw troops swiftly walking.
“we’re going to be relieved. we’re going to be relieved.” the thought pounded through his brain. the oncoming troops were now near and distinct. hicks could see the red, brimless stovepipe hats, the black, shiny faces, the picturesque and decorated tunics of the foreign legion. they carried small rifles and long knives and looked frightfully dangerous. hicks reflected that these were the fellows who were supposed to treasure the ears of the enemy as keepsakes. swiftly, their huge leg muscles bulging under their puttees, they walked through the wheat and passed. hicks felt dismal.
“relief, hell. they’re going to attack.”
and they were. as silent as ghosts they fled straight for the village. the enemy, seeing[197] them, opened up with their rifles and machine-guns with extraordinary furiousness. the black soldiers advanced unhesitatingly. some of them dropped flat, never to rise again of their own volition; others clasped a hand to the part of the body where a bullet had entered and turned back, walking quickly and nervously, but failing to speak. hicks had never seen so many men wounded without their exclaiming. usually, when some american was struck he would cry some such absurdly obvious statement as “oh, my god, i’m hit.” a german would shriek his inevitable “kamerad.” a frenchman would jabber. but these fellows—hicks marvelled. but the remaining five hundred yards were too difficult to cross. where five of the fleet blacks set valiantly forth, but one of them returned.
darkness fell, closing the world in on four sides. off to the left, on the farther side of the road, a tank suddenly and unexpectedly burst forth with an internal explosion. its grim little body showed solidly in the glorious blazing red. the report that followed sounded as if the armor of the tank would have been burst into a million pieces. up shot another flare of[198] redness, brightening the sky. as if there were some understanding among them, two other tanks began, at regular intervals, to belch their fireworks into the air. it was a wondrous sight. far enough away not to be harmful, it had also the advantage of being a spectacle uninspired by malice or hatred. it was a thing in itself, a war of its own, in which nobody shared, totally objective, non-utilitarian and spontaneous. hicks gleefully considered the sight. but after a while the side-show stopped and the dampness stole through the clothing of the men. a lone star twinkled forth, trembled violently for a moment and then disappeared. in the heat of the day many of the platoon had thrown away their blankets. now they lay shivering with cold and fear and hopelessness.
over the wheat-field the night mist hung like a thick, wet, flapping blanket. elephantine, it touched against the faces of the men, sending shivers along their spines. machine-gun bullets spattered perfunctorily. the shell-shocked man moaned like a banshee. disgusted, feeling as if his stomach were about to crawl away from his body, hicks rose, deciding to cross the road and find out whether there was any possibility of relief before dawn.
[199]
on the other side of the road the ground was softer and the men had dug deeper holes. the little mounds of freshly thrown dirt were hardly perceptible.
“where’s lieutenant bedford?” hicks asked in a low voice.
“dead as hell,” he was answered.
“then who’s in charge?”
“i am.”
“who’s that, thomas?”
“yeh.”
“when are we going to be relieved?”
“we’re standing by now. they ought to be here any minute.”
“well, if that’s so, i’m gonna take my squad back. we’re pretty bad off, way up there, and one of the new fellows is making such a hell of a lot of noise that i’m afraid the squareheads will begin firing again.”
“’smatter with him?”
“shell-shocked, i guess.”
“well, maybe you’d better shove off.”
hicks felt his way back through the darkness, through the curtain of mist.
supporting the weaker man between them, the small party moved off, with hicks in the lead. he was travelling lightly, with little[200] equipment. at the first of the advance he had thrown away his pack, containing an empty condiment can and three boxes of hard bread. finally he had disposed of all but his pistol, belt, canteen, helmet, and respirator. leaving, he threw away his automatic rifle and the musette bag in which ammunition was supposed to be carried. he walked along, his chin high, stepping briskly through the hip-high wheat. somewhere beyond was rest and security, warm food, and plenty of blankets.
it irked him that the rest of the squad did not walk as swiftly as he walked. his ears seemed to flatten against his head at being held back. the distance was so alluring. it promised so many things of which his body was in want. there was the hot coffee. hicks fancied that he could smell the soul-satisfying aroma of it. he remembered that the american army little knew the value of coffee to the man who is cold and tired and awake in the early dawn. but there would be, no doubt, french galleys, with black kettles in which they brewed strong black chicory. hot coffee! he thought of it and felt ready to faint. at any moment a shell might drive into the ground near him and blow him high in the air. reins seemed fastened to[201] his shoulders, holding them back, delaying his progress. he wanted to cry out against the inhumanity of being forced to walk so slowly in so dangerous a place after the work in hand was done. he thought of forging ahead, of leaving the blubbering man to himself. he measured the distance back to the woods and guessed the length of time it would take to arrive. an hour at the most. but if he ran he could make it in half an hour. the responsibility of the safety of the squad held him back. revolted at his cowardly thoughts, he offered to help carry the burden. the men objected. “you lead the way.” but he was insistent. with one arm of the blubbering, nerveless mass around his neck, he forged ahead, feeling powerful and exultant under the added weight.
whining lazily over their heads, gas shells soared and struck softly in the town in front of them. they reached the valley and passed down into the town. over the ground and on the weeds a coating of yellow had formed. the air was heavy with an asphyxiating smell. the yellow from the ground bit through the puttees and penetrated the clothing; the odor was inhaled in deep gulps that caused the men to choke.
[202]
there was a moment of indecision in which the men hesitated between putting on their respirators, thereby retarding their steps, and hurrying through the town, their lungs exposed to the poisonous gas. with the shells continuing to come over in droves, it was not difficult to decide. the men breathed in the gas.
had they not, they would not have seen the aperture in the side of the gulley, where a gas blanket covered a dugout filled with wounded. there they stopped, while hicks informed the receiving officer that their burden had been badly gassed. he said nothing about his being shell-shocked.
relieved of the great impedimenta, their progress quickened, and they were through the town almost as soon as they could have wished.
