THE brigade was halted in the fringe of agrove. The men crouched among the trees andpointed their restless guns out at the fields.They tried to look beyond the smoke.

Out of this haze they could see running men.Some shouted information and gestured as theyhurried.

The men of the new regiment watched andlistened eagerly, while their tongues ran on ingossip of the battle. They mouthed rumors thathad flown like birds out of the unknown.

"They say Perry has been driven in with bigloss."

"Yes, Carrott went t' th' hospital. He said hewas sick. That smart lieutenant is commanding'G' Company. Th' boys say they won't beunder Carrott no more if they all have t' desert.They allus knew he was a--"

"Hannises' batt'ry is took."

"It ain't either. I saw Hannises' batt'ry off onth' left not more'n fifteen minutes ago."

47

"Well--"

"Th' general, he ses he is goin' t' take th' hullcammand of th' 304th when we go inteh action,an' then he ses we'll do sech fightin' as neveranother one reg'ment done."

"They say we're catchin' it over on th' left.They say th' enemy driv' our line inteh a devil ofa swamp an' took Hannises' batt'ry."

"No sech thing. Hannises' batt'ry was 'longhere 'bout a minute ago."

"That young Hasbrouck, he makes a goodoff'cer. He ain't afraid 'a nothin'."

"I met one of th' 148th Maine boys an' he seshis brigade fit th' hull rebel army fer four hoursover on th' turnpike road an' killed about fivethousand of 'em. He ses one more sech fight asthat an' th' war 'll be over."

"Bill wasn't scared either. No, sir! It wasn'tthat. Bill ain't a-gittin' scared easy. He wasjest mad, that's what he was. When that fellertrod on his hand, he up an' sed that he was willin't' give his hand t' his country, but he be dumbedif he was goin' t' have every dumb bushwhackerin th' kentry walkin' 'round on it. Se he went t'th' hospital disregardless of th' fight. Threefingers was crunched. Th' dern doctor wantedt' amputate 'm, an' Bill, he raised a heluva row, Ihear. He's a funny feller."

The din in front swelled to a tremendouschorus. The youth and his fellows were frozento silence. They could see a flag that tossed inthe smoke angrily. Near it were the blurred andagitated forms of troops. There came a turbulentstream of men across the fields. A battery chang-ing position at a frantic gallop scattered thestragglers right and left.

A shell screaming like a storm banshee wentover the huddled heads of the reserves. It landedin the grove, and exploding redly flung the brownearth. There was a little shower of pine needles.

Bullets began to whistle among the branchesand nip at the trees. Twigs and leaves camesailing down. It was as if a thousand axes, weeand invisible, were being wielded. Many of themen were constantly dodging and ducking theirheads.

The lieutenant of the youth's company wasshot in the hand. He began to swear so won-drously that a nervous laugh went along the regi-mental line. The officer's profanity soundedconventional. It relieved the tightened senses ofthe new men. It was as if he had hit his fingerswith a tack hammer at home.

He held the wounded member carefully awayfrom his side so that the blood would not dripupon his trousers.

The captain of the company, tucking his swordunder his arm, produced a handkerchief andbegan to bind with it the lieutenant's wound.And they disputed as to how the binding shouldbe done.

The battle flag in the distance jerked aboutmadly. It seemed to be struggling to free itselffrom an agony. The billowing smoke was filledwith horizontal flashes.

Men running swiftly emerged from it. Theygrew in numbers until it was seen that the wholecommand was fleeing. The flag suddenly sankdown as if dying. Its motion as it fell was agesture of despair.

Wild yells came from behind the walls ofsmoke. A sketch in gray and red dissolved intoa moblike body of men who galloped like wildhorses.

The veteran regiments on the right and left ofthe 304th immediately began to jeer. With thepassionate song of the bullets and the bansheeshrieks of shells were mingled loud catcalls andbits of facetious advice concerning places of safety.

But the new regiment was breathless with hor-ror. "Gawd! Saunders's got crushed!" whis-pered the man at the youth's elbow. Theyshrank back and crouched as if compelled toawait a flood.

The youth shot a swift glance along the blueranks of the regiment. The profiles were motion-less, carven; and afterward he remembered thatthe color sergeant was standing with his legsapart, as if he expected to be pushed to theground.

The following throng went whirling aroundthe flank. Here and there were officers carriedalong on the stream like exasperated chips. Theywere striking about them with their swordsand with their left fists, punching every headthey could reach. They cursed like highway-men.

A mounted officer displayed the furious angerof a spoiled child. He raged with his head, hisarms, and his legs.

Another, the commander of the brigade, wasgalloping about bawling. His hat was gone andhis clothes were awry. He resembled a manwho has come from bed to go to a fire. Thehoofs of his horse often threatened the heads ofthe running men, but they scampered with sin-gular fortune. In this rush they were apparentlyall deaf and blind. They heeded not the largestand longest of the oaths that were thrown atthem from all directions.

Frequently over this tumult could be heardthe grim jokes of the critical veterans; but theretreating men apparently were not even con-scious of the presence of an audience.

The battle reflection that shone for an instantin the faces on the mad current made the youthfeel that forceful hands from heaven would nothave been able to have held him in place if hecould have got intelligent control of his legs.

There was an appalling imprint upon thesefaces. The struggle in the smoke had picturedan exaggeration of itself on the bleached cheeksand in the eyes wild with one desire.

The sight of this stampede exerted a floodlikeforce that seemed able to drag sticks and stonesand men from the ground. They of the reserveshad to hold on. They grew pale and firm, andred and quaking.

The youth achieved one little thought in themidst of this chaos. The composite monsterwhich had caused the other troops to flee hadnot then appeared. He resolved to get a viewof it, and then, he thought he might very likelyrun better than the best of them.