THE youth fell back in the procession untilthe tattered soldier was not in sight. Then hestarted to walk on with the others.

But he was amid wounds. The mob of menwas bleeding. Because of the tattered soldier'squestion he now felt that his shame could beviewed. He was continually casting sidelongglances to see if the men were contemplating theletters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.

At times he regarded the wounded soldiersin an envious way. He conceived persons withtorn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wishedthat he, too, had a wound, a red badge of cour-age.

The spectral soldier was at his side like astalking reproach. The man's eyes were stillfixed in a stare into the unknown. His gray,appalling face had attracted attention in thecrowd, and men, slowing to his dreary pace, werewalking with him. They were discussing hisplight, questioning him and giving him advice.

91In a dogged way he repelled them, signing to themto go on and leave him alone. The shadows ofhis face were deepening and his tight lips seemedholding in check the moan of great despair.There could be seen a certain stiffness in themovements of his body, as if he were takinginfinite care not to arouse the passion of hiswounds. As he went on, he seemed always look-ing for a place, like one who goes to choose agrave.

Something in the gesture of the man as hewaved the bloody and pitying soldiers awaymade the youth start as if bitten. He yelled inhorror. Tottering forward he laid a quiveringhand upon the man's arm. As the latter slowlyturned his waxlike features toward him, theyouth screamed:

"Gawd! Jim Conklin!"

The tall soldier made a little commonplacesmile. "Hello, Henry," he said.

The youth swayed on his legs and glaredstrangely. He stuttered and stammered. "Oh,Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"

The tall soldier held out his gory hand. Therewas a curious red and black combination of newblood and old blood upon it. "Where yeh been,Henry?" he asked. He continued in a monoto-nous voice, "I thought mebbe yeh got keeledover. There 's been thunder t' pay t'-day. I wasworryin' about it a good deal."

The youth still lamented. "Oh, Jim--oh, Jim--oh, Jim--"

"Yeh know," said the tall soldier, "I was outthere." He made a careful gesture. "An',Lord, what a circus! An', b'jiminey, I got shot--I got shot. Yes, b'jiminey, I got shot." Hereiterated this fact in a bewildered way, as if hedid not know how it came about.

The youth put forth anxious arms to assisthim, but the tall soldier went firmly on as if pro-pelled. Since the youth's arrival as a guardianfor his friend, the other wounded men had ceasedto display much interest. They occupied them-selves again in dragging their own tragediestoward the rear.

Suddenly, as the two friends marched on, thetall soldier seemed to be overcome by a terror.His face turned to a semblance of gray paste.He clutched the youth's arm and looked all abouthim, as if dreading to be overheard. Then hebegan to speak in a shaking whisper:

"I tell yeh what I'm 'fraid of, Henry--I 'll tellyeh what I 'm 'fraid of. I 'm 'fraid I 'll fall down--an' then yeh know--them damned artillerywagons--they like as not 'll run over me. That 'swhat I 'm 'fraid of--"

The youth cried out to him hysterically: "I 'lltake care of yeh, Jim! I'll take care of yeh! Iswear t' Gawd I will!"

"Sure--will yeh, Henry?" the tall soldierbeseeched.

"Yes--yes--I tell yeh--I'll take care of yeh,Jim!" protested the youth. He could not speakaccurately because of the gulpings in his throat.

But the tall soldier continued to beg in alowly way. He now hung babelike to theyouth's arm. His eyes rolled in the wildness ofhis terror. "I was allus a good friend t' yeh,wa'n't I, Henry? I 've allus been a pretty goodfeller, ain't I? An' it ain't much t' ask, is it? Jestt' pull me along outer th' road? I 'd do it fer you,Wouldn't I, Henry?"

He paused in piteous anxiety to await hisfriend's reply.

The youth had reached an anguish where thesobs scorched him. He strove to express hisloyalty, but he could only make fantastic gestures.

However, the tall soldier seemed suddenly toforget all those fears. He became again thegrim, stalking specter of a soldier. He wentstonily forward. The youth wished his friend tolean upon him, but the other always shook hishead and strangely protested. "No--no--no--leave me be--leave me be--"

His look was fixed again upon the unknown.He moved with mysterious purpose, and all ofthe youth's offers he brushed aside. "No--no--leave me be--leave me be--"

The youth had to follow.

Presently the latter heard a voice talkingsoftly near his shoulders. Turning he saw that itbelonged to the tattered soldier. "Ye 'd bettertake 'im outa th' road, pardner. There 's a batt'rycomin' helitywhoop down th' road an' he 'll gitrunned over. He 's a goner anyhow in about fiveminutes--yeh kin see that. Ye 'd better take 'imouta th' road. Where th' blazes does he git hisstren'th from?"

"Lord knows!" cried the youth. He wasshaking his hands helplessly.

He ran forward presently and grasped thetall soldier by the arm. "Jim! Jim!" he coaxed,"come with me."

The tall soldier weakly tried to wrench himselffree. "Huh," he said vacantly. He stared at theyouth for a moment. At last he spoke as if dimlycomprehending. "Oh! Inteh th' fields? Oh!"

He started blindly through the grass.

The youth turned once to look at the lashingriders and jouncing guns of the battery. He wasstartled from this view by a shrill outcry fromthe tattered man.

"Gawd! He's runnin'!"

Turning his head swiftly, the youth saw hisfriend running in a staggering and stumblingway toward a little clump of bushes. His heartseemed to wrench itself almost free from hisbody at this sight. He made a noise of pain.He and the tattered man began a pursuit. Therewas a singular race.

When he overtook the tall soldier he beganto plead with all the words he could find. "Jim--Jim--what are you doing--what makes you dothis way--you 'll hurt yerself."

The same purpose was in the tall soldier's face.He protested in a dulled way, keeping his eyesfastened on the mystic place of his intentions."No--no--don't tech me--leave me be--leaveme be--"

The youth, aghast and filled with wonder at thetall soldier, began quaveringly to question him."Where yeh goin', Jim? What you thinkingabout? Where you going? Tell me, won't you,Jim?"

The tall soldier faced about as upon relentlesspursuers. In his eyes there was a great appeal."Leave me be, can't yeh? Leave me be fer aminnit."

The youth recoiled. "Why, Jim," he said, ina dazed way, "what's the matter with you?"

The tall soldier turned and, lurching danger-ously, went on. The youth and the tatteredsoldier followed, sneaking as if whipped, feelingunable to face the stricken man if he should againconfront them. They began to have thoughts ofa solemn ceremony. There was something rite-like in these movements of the doomed soldier.And there was a resemblance in him to a devoteeof a mad religion, blood-sucking, muscle-wrench-ing, bone-crushing. They were awed and afraid.They hung back lest he have at command adreadful weapon.

At last, they saw him stop and stand motion-less. Hastening up, they perceived that his facewore an expression telling that he had at lastfound the place for which he had struggled. Hisspare figure was erect; his bloody hands werequietly at his side. He was waiting with patiencefor something that he had come to meet. He wasat the rendezvous. They paused and stood, ex-pectant.

There was a silence.

Finally, the chest of the doomed soldier beganto heave with a strained motion. It increased inviolence until it was as if an animal was withinand was kicking and tumbling furiously to befree.

This spectacle of gradual strangulation madethe youth writhe, and once as his friend rolled hiseyes, he saw something in them that made himsink wailing to the ground. He raised his voicein a last supreme call.

"Jim--Jim--Jim--"

The tall soldier opened his lips and spoke.He made a gesture. "Leave me be--don't techme--leave me be--"

There was another silence while he waited.

Suddenly, his form stiffened and straightened.Then it was shaken by a prolonged ague. Hestared into space. To the two watchers therewas a curious and profound dignity in the firmlines of his awful face.

He was invaded by a creeping strangenessthat slowly enveloped him. For a moment thetremor of his legs caused him to dance a sort ofhideous hornpipe. His arms beat wildly abouthis head in expression of implike enthusiasm.

His tall figure stretched itself to its full height.There was a slight rending sound. Then it beganto swing forward, slow and straight, in the man-ner of a falling tree. A swift muscular contortionmade the left shoulder strike the ground first.

The body seemed to bounce a little way fromthe earth. "God!" said the tattered soldier.

The youth had watched, spellbound, thisceremony at the place of meeting. His facehad been twisted into an expression of everyagony he had imagined for his friend.

He now sprang to his feet and, going closer,gazed upon the pastelike face. The mouth wasopen and the teeth showed in a laugh.

As the flap of the blue jacket fell away fromthe body, he could see that the side looked as if ithad been chewed by wolves.

The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage,toward the battlefield. He shook his fist. Heseemed about to deliver a philippic.

"Hell--"

The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.