The Red Badge of Courage

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One morning, however, he found himself in
the ranks of his prepared regiment. The men
were whispering speculations and recounting the
old rumors. In the gloom before the break of
the day their uniforms glowed a deep purple
hue. From across the river the red eyes were
still peering. In the eastern sky there was a yel-
low patch like a rug laid for the feet of the com-
ing sun; and against it, black and patternlike,
loomed the gigantic figure of the colonel on a
gigantic horse.

From off in the darkness came the trampling
of feet. The youth could occasionally see dark
shadows that moved like monsters. The regi-
ment stood at rest for what seemed a long time.
The youth grew impatient. It was unendurable
the way these affairs were managed. He won-
dered how long they were to be kept waiting.

As he looked all about him and pondered
upon the mystic gloom, he began to believe that
at any moment the ominous distance might be
aflare, and the rolling crashes of an engagement
come to his ears. Staring once at the red eyes
across the river, he conceived them to be grow-
ing larger, as the orbs of a row of dragons ad-
vancing. He turned toward the colonel and saw
him lift his gigantic arm and calmly stroke his
mustache.

At last he heard from along the road at the
foot of the hill the clatter of a horse's galloping
hoofs. It must be the coming of orders. He
bent forward, scarce breathing. The exciting
clickety-click, as it grew louder and louder,
seemed to be beating upon his soul. Presently a
horseman with jangling equipment drew rein be-
fore the colonel of the regiment. The two held
a short, sharp-worded conversation. The men in
the foremost ranks craned their necks.

As the horseman wheeled his animal and gal-
loped away he turned to shout over his shoulder,
"Don't forget that box of cigars!" The colonel
mumbled in reply. The youth wondered what a
box of cigars had to do with war.

A moment later the regiment went swinging
off into the darkness. It was now like one of
those moving monsters wending with many feet.
The air was heavy, and cold with dew. A mass
of wet grass, marched upon, rustled like silk.

There was an occasional flash and glimmer
of steel from the backs of all these huge crawl-
ing reptiles. From the road came creakings and
grumblings as some surly guns were dragged
away.

The men stumbled along still muttering specu-
lations. There was a subdued debate. Once a
man fell down, and as he reached for his rifle a
comrade, unseeing, trod upon his hand. He of
the injured fingers swore bitterly and aloud. A
low, tittering laugh went among his fellows.

Presently they passed into a roadway and
marched forward with easy strides. A dark
regiment moved before them, and from behind
also came the tinkle of equipments on the bodies
of marching men.

The rushing yellow of the developing day
went on behind their backs. When the sunrays
at last struck full and mellowingly upon the
earth, the youth saw that the landscape was
streaked with two long, thin, black columns
which disappeared on the brow of a hill in front
and rearward vanished in a wood. They were
like two serpents crawling from the cavern of the
night.

The river was not in view. The tall soldier
burst into praises of what he thought to be his
powers of perception.

Some of the tall one's companions cried with
emphasis that they, too, had evolved the same
thing, and they congratulated themselves upon
it. But there were others who said that the tall
one's plan was not the true one at all. They per-
sisted with other theories. There was a vigorous
discussion.

The youth took no part in them. As he
walked along in careless line he was engaged
with his own eternal debate. He could not hin-
der himself from dwelling upon it. He was de-
spondent and sullen, and threw shifting glances
about him. He looked ahead, often expecting to
hear from the advance the rattle of firing.

But the long serpents crawled slowly from
hill to hill without bluster of smoke. A dun-col-
ored cloud of dust floated away to the right.
The sky overhead was of a fairy blue.

The youth studied the faces of his compan-
ions, ever on the watch to detect kindred emo-
tions. He suffered disappointment. Some ardor
of the air which was causing the veteran com-
mands to move with glee--almost with song--
had infected the new regiment. The men began
to speak of victory as of a thing they knew.
Also, the tall soldier received his vindication.
They were certainly going to come around in
behind the enemy. They expressed commisera-
tion for that part of the army which had been
left upon the river bank, felicitating themselves
upon being a part of a blasting host.

The youth, considering himself as separated
from the others, was saddened by the blithe and
merry speeches that went from rank to rank.
The company wags all made their best endeav-
ors. The regiment tramped to the tune of
laughter.

The blatant soldier often convulsed whole
files by his biting sarcasms aimed at the tall one.

And it was not long before all the men seemed
to forget their mission. Whole brigades grinned
in unison, and regiments laughed.

A rather fat soldier attempted to pilfer a horse
from a dooryard. He planned to load his knap-
sack upon it. He was escaping with his prize
when a young girl rushed from the house and
grabbed the animal's mane. There followed a
wrangle. The young girl, with pink cheeks and
shining eyes, stood like a dauntless statue.

The observant regiment, standing at rest in
the roadway, whooped at once, and entered
whole-souled upon the side of the maiden. The
men became so engrossed in this affair that they
entirely ceased to remember their own large war.
They jeered the piratical private, and called
attention to various defects in his personal ap-
pearance; and they were wildly enthusiastic in
support of the young girl.

To her, from some distance, came bold advice.
"Hit him with a stick."

There were crows and catcalls showered
upon him when he retreated without the horse.
The regiment rejoiced at his downfall. Loud
and vociferous congratulations were showered
upon the maiden, who stood panting and regard-
ing the troops with defiance.

At nightfall the column broke into regimental
pieces, and the fragments went into the fields to
camp. Tents sprang up like strange plants.
Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted
the night.

The youth kept from intercourse with his
companions as much as circumstances would
allow him. In the evening he wandered a few
paces into the gloom. From this little distance
the many fires, with the black forms of men pass-
ing to and fro before the crimson rays, made
weird and satanic effects.

He lay down in the grass. The blades
pressed tenderly against his cheek. The moon
had been lighted and was hung in a treetop.
The liquid stillness of the night enveloping him
made him feel vast pity for himself. There was
a caress in the soft winds; and the whole mood
of the darkness, he thought, was one of sympathy
for himself in his distress.

He wished, without reserve, that he was at
home again making the endless rounds from the
house to the barn, from the barn to the fields,
from the fields to the barn, from the barn to the
house. He remembered he had often cursed the
brindle cow and her mates, and had sometimes
flung milking stools. But, from his present point
of view, there was a halo of happiness about each
of their heads, and he would have sacrificed all
the brass buttons on the continent to have been
enabled to return to them. He told himself that
he was not formed for a soldier. And he mused
seriously upon the radical differences between
himself and those men who were dodging imp-
like around the fires.

As he mused thus he heard the rustle of grass,
and, upon turning his head, discovered the loud
soldier. He called out, "Oh, Wilson!"

The latter approached and looked down.
"Why, hello, Henry; is it you? What you do-
ing here?"

"Oh, thinking," said the youth.

The other sat down and carefully lighted his
pipe. "You're getting blue, my boy. You're
looking thundering peeked. What the dickens
is wrong with you?"

"Oh, nothing," said the youth.

The loud soldier launched then into the sub-
ject of the anticipated fight. "Oh, we've got
'em now!" As he spoke his boyish face was
wreathed in a gleeful smile, and his voice had
an exultant ring. "We've got 'em now. At
last, by the eternal thunders, we'll lick 'em
good!"

"If the truth was known," he added, more
soberly, "THEY'VE licked US about every clip up to
now; but this time--this time--we'll lick 'em
good!"

"I thought you was objecting to this march
a little while ago," said the youth coldly.

"Oh, it wasn't that," explained the other. "I
don't mind marching, if there's going to be fight-
ing at the end of it. What I hate is this getting
moved here and moved there, with no good com-
ing of it, as far as I can see, excepting sore feet
and damned short rations."

"Well, Jim Conklin says we'll get a plenty of
fighting this time."

"He's right for once, I guess, though I can't
see how it come. This time we're in for a big
battle, and we've got the best end of it, certain
sure. Gee rod! how we will thump 'em!"

He arose and began to pace to and fro excit-
edly. The thrill of his enthusiasm made him
walk with an elastic step. He was sprightly,
vigorous, fiery in his belief in success. He
looked into the future with clear, proud eye, and
he swore with the air of an old soldier.

The youth watched him for a moment in
silence. When he finally spoke his voice was as
bitter as dregs. "Oh, you're going to do great
things, I s'pose!"

The loud soldier blew a thoughtful cloud of
smoke from his pipe. "Oh, I don't know," he
remarked with dignity; "I don't know. I s'pose
I'll do as well as the rest. I'm going to try like
thunder." He evidently complimented himself
upon the modesty of this statement.

"How do you know you won't run when the
time comes?" asked the youth.

"Run?" said the loud one; "run?--of course
not!" He laughed.

"Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-
a-'nough men have thought they was going to do
great things before the fight, but when the time
come they skedaddled."

"Oh, that's all true, I s'pose," replied the
other; "but I'm not going to skedaddle. The
man that bets on my running will lose his money,
that's all." He nodded confidently.

"Oh, shucks!" said the youth. "You ain't
the bravest man in the world, are you?"

"No, I ain't," exclaimed the loud soldier in-
dignantly; "and I didn't say I was the bravest
man in the world, neither. I said I was going to
do my share of fighting--that's what I said. And
I am, too. Who are you, anyhow. You talk as
if you thought you was Napoleon Bonaparte."
He glared at the youth for a moment, and then
strode away.

The youth called in a savage voice after his
comrade: "Well, you needn't git mad about it!"
But the other continued on his way and made no
reply.

He felt alone in space when his injured com-
rade had disappeared. His failure to discover
any mite of resemblance in their view points
made him more miserable than before. No one
seemed to be wrestling with such a terrific per-
sonal problem. He was a mental outcast.

He went slowly to his tent and stretched him-
self on a blanket by the side of the snoring tall
soldier. In the darkness he saw visions of a thou-
sand-tongued fear that would babble at his back
and cause him to flee, while others were going
coolly about their country's business. He admit-
ted that he would not be able to cope with this
monster. He felt that every nerve in his body
would be an ear to hear the voices, while other
men would remain stolid and deaf.

And as he sweated with the pain of these
thoughts, he could hear low, serene sentences.
"I'll bid five." "Make it six." "Seven."
"Seven goes."

He stared at the red, shivering reflection of
a fire on the white wall of his tent until, ex-
hausted and ill from the monotony of his suf-
fering, he fell asleep.

CHAPTER III.

WHEN another night came the columns,
changed to purple streaks, filed across two pon-
toon bridges. A glaring fire wine-tinted the
waters of the river. Its rays, shining upon the
moving masses of troops, brought forth here and
there sudden gleams of silver or gold. Upon
the other shore a dark and mysterious range of
hills was curved against the sky. The insect
voices of the night sang solemnly.

After this crossing the youth assured himself
that at any moment they might be suddenly and
fearfully assaulted from the caves of the lowering
woods. He kept his eyes watchfully upon the
darkness.

But his regiment went unmolested to a camp-
ing place, and its soldiers slept the brave sleep
of wearied men. In the morning they were
routed out with early energy, and hustled along
a narrow road that led deep into the forest.

It was during this rapid march that the regi-

32
ment lost many of the marks of a new com-
mand.

The men had begun to count the miles upon
their fingers, and they grew tired. "Sore feet
an' damned short rations, that's all," said the
loud soldier. There was perspiration and grum-
blings. After a time they began to shed their
knapsacks. Some tossed them unconcernedly
down; others hid them carefully, asserting their
plans to return for them at some convenient
time. Men extricated themselves from thick
shirts. Presently few carried anything but their
necessary clothing, blankets, haversacks, canteens,
and arms and ammunition. "You can now eat
and shoot," said the tall soldier to the youth.
"That's all you want to do."

There was sudden change from the ponderous
infantry of theory to the light and speedy infantry
of practice. The regiment, relieved of a burden,
received a new impetus. But there was much
loss of valuable knapsacks, and, on the whole,
very good shirts.

But the regiment was not yet veteranlike in
appearance. Veteran regiments in the army
were likely to be very small aggregations of men.
Once, when the command had first come to the
field, some perambulating veterans, noting the
length of their column, had accosted them thus:
"Hey, fellers, what brigade is that?" And when
the men had replied that they formed a regiment
and not a brigade, the older soldiers had laughed,
and said, "O Gawd!"

Also, there was too great a similarity in the
hats. The hats of a regiment should properly
represent the history of headgear for a period of
years. And, moreover, there were no letters of
faded gold speaking from the colors. They were
new and beautiful, and the color bearer habitu-
ally oiled the pole.

Presently the army again sat down to think.
The odor of the peaceful pines was in the men's
nostrils. The sound of monotonous axe blows
rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding
upon their perches, crooned like old women.
The youth returned to his theory of a blue dem-
onstration.

One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in
the leg by the tall soldier, and then, before he
was entirely awake, he found himself running
down a wood road in the midst of men who were
panting from the first effects of speed. His can-
teen banged rhythmically upon his thigh, and his
haversack bobbed softly. His musket bounced
a trifle from his shoulder at each stride and made
his cap feel uncertain upon his head.

He could hear the men whisper jerky sen-
tences: "Say--what's all this--about?" "What
th' thunder--we--skedaddlin' this way fer?"
"Billie--keep off m' feet. Yeh run--like a cow."
And the loud soldier's shrill voice could be
heard: "What th' devil they in sich a hurry for?"

The youth thought the damp fog of early
morning moved from the rush of a great body
of troops. From the distance came a sudden
spatter of firing.

He was bewildered. As he ran with his com-
rades he strenuously tried to think, but all he knew
was that if he fell down those coming behind
would tread upon him. All his faculties seemed
to be needed to guide him over and past obstruc-
tions. He felt carried along by a mob.

The sun spread disclosing rays, and, one by
one, regiments burst into view like armed men
just born of the earth. The youth perceived
that the time had come. He was about to be
measured. For a moment he felt in the face of
his great trial like a babe, and the flesh over
his heart seemed very thin. He seized time to
look about him calculatingly.

But he instantly saw that it would be impossi-
ble for him to escape from the regiment. It in-
closed him. And there were iron laws of tradi-
tion and law on four sides. He was in a moving
box.

As he perceived this fact it occurred to him
that he had never wished to come to the war.
He had not enlisted of his free will. He had
been dragged by the merciless government. And
now they were taking him out to be slaughtered.

The regiment slid down a bank and wallowed
across a little stream. The mournful current
moved slowly on, and from the water, shaded
black, some white bubble eyes looked at the men.

As they climbed the hill on the farther side
artillery began to boom. Here the youth forgot
many things as he felt a sudden impulse of curi-
osity. He scrambled up the bank with a speed
that could not be exceeded by a bloodthirsty
man.

He expected a battle scene.

There were some little fields girted and
squeezed by a forest. Spread over the grass and
in among the tree trunks, he could see knots and
waving lines of skirmishers who were running
hither and thither and firing at the landscape.
A dark battle line lay upon a sunstruck clearing
that gleamed orange color. A flag fluttered.

Other regiments floundered up the bank. The
brigade was formed in line of battle, and after a
pause started slowly through the woods in the
rear of the receding skirmishers, who were con-
tinually melting into the scene to appear again
farther on. They were always busy as bees,
deeply absorbed in their little combats.

The youth tried to observe everything. He
did not use care to avoid trees and branches,
and his forgotten feet were constantly knocking
against stones or getting entangled in briers.
He was aware that these battalions with their
commotions were woven red and startling into
the gentle fabric of softened greens and browns.
It looked to be a wrong place for a battle field.

The skirmishers in advance fascinated him.
Their shots into thickets and at distant and
prominent trees spoke to him of tragedies--hid-
den, mysterious, solemn.

Once the line encountered the body of a dead
soldier. He lay upon his back staring at the sky.
He was dressed in an awkward suit of yellowish
brown. The youth could see that the soles of his
shoes had been worn to the thinness of writing
paper, and from a great rent in one the dead foot
projected piteously. And it was as if fate had
betrayed the soldier. In death it exposed to his
enemies that poverty which in life he had perhaps
concealed from his friends.

The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse.
The invulnerable dead man forced a way for him-
self. The youth looked keenly at the ashen face.
The wind raised the tawny beard. It moved as
if a hand were stroking it. He vaguely desired
to walk around and around the body and stare;
the impulse of the living to try to read in dead
eyes the answer to the Question.

During the march the ardor which the youth
had acquired when out of view of the field rapidly
faded to nothing. His curiosity was quite easily
satisfied. If an intense scene had caught him with
its wild swing as he came to the top of the bank,
he might have gone roaring on. This advance
upon Nature was too calm. He had opportunity
to reflect. He had time in which to wonder
about himself and to attempt to probe his sensa-
tions.

Absurd ideas took hold upon him. He
thought that he did not relish the landscape.
It threatened him. A coldness swept over his
back, and it is true that his trousers felt to him
that they were no fit for his legs at all.

A house standing placidly in distant fields
had to him an ominous look. The shadows of
the woods were formidable. He was certain that
in this vista there lurked fierce-eyed hosts. The
swift thought came to him that the generals did
not know what they were about. It was all a
trap. Suddenly those close forests would bristle
with rifle barrels. Ironlike brigades would ap-
pear in the rear. They were all going to be
sacrificed. The generals were stupids. The
enemy would presently swallow the whole com-
mand. He glared about him, expecting to see
the stealthy approach of his death.

He thought that he must break from the ranks
and harangue his comrades. They must not all
be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would
come to pass unless they were informed of these
dangers. The generals were idiots to send them
marching into a regular pen. There was but one
pair of eyes in the corps. He would step forth
and make a speech. Shrill and passionate words
came to his lips.

The line, broken into moving fragments by the
ground, went calmly on through fields and woods.
The youth looked at the men nearest him, and
saw, for the most part, expressions of deep inter-
est, as if they were investigating something that
had fascinated them. One or two stepped with
overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged
into war. Others walked as upon thin ice. The
greater part of the untested men appeared quiet
and absorbed. They were going to look at war,
the red animal--war, the blood-swollen god. And
they were deeply engrossed in this march.

As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at
his throat. He saw that even if the men were
tottering with fear they would laugh at his warn-
ing. They would jeer him, and, if practicable,
pelt him with missiles. Admitting that he might
be wrong, a frenzied declamation of the kind
would turn him into a worm.

He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who
knows that he is doomed alone to unwritten re-
sponsibilities. He lagged, with tragic glances at
the sky.

He was surprised presently by the young lieu-
tenant of his company, who began heartily to
beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and
insolent voice: "Come, young man, get up into
ranks there. No skulking'll do here." He mend-
ed his pace with suitable haste. And he hated
the lieutenant, who had no appreciation of fine
minds. He was a mere brute.

After a time the brigade was halted in the
cathedral light of a forest. The busy skirmish-
ers were still popping. Through the aisles of
the wood could be seen the floating smoke from
their rifles. Sometimes it went up in little balls,
white and compact.

During this halt many men in the regiment
began erecting tiny hills in front of them. They
used stones, sticks, earth, and anything they
thought might turn a bullet. Some built com-
paratively large ones, while others seemed con-
tent with little ones.

This procedure caused a discussion among the
men. Some wished to fight like duelists, believ-
ing it to be correct to stand erect and be, from
their feet to their foreheads, a mark. They said
they scorned the devices of the cautious. But
the others scoffed in reply, and pointed to the
veterans on the flanks who were digging at the
ground like terriers. In a short time there was
quite a barricade along the regimental fronts.
Directly, however, they were ordered to with-
draw from that place.

This astounded the youth. He forgot his
stewing over the advance movement. "Well,
then, what did they march us out here for?" he
demanded of the tall soldier. The latter with
calm faith began a heavy explanation, although
he had been compelled to leave a little protection
of stones and dirt to which he had devoted much
care and skill.

When the regiment was aligned in another
position each man's regard for his safety caused
another line of small intrenchments. They ate
their noon meal behind a third one. They were
moved from this one also. They were marched
from place to place with apparent aimlessness.

The youth had been taught that a man be-
came another thing in a battle. He saw his sal-
vation in such a change. Hence this waiting
was an ordeal to him. He was in a fever of im-
patience. He considered that there was denoted
a lack of purpose on the part of the generals.
He began to complain to the tall soldier. "I
can't stand this much longer," he cried. "I
don't see what good it does to make us wear
out our legs for nothin'." He wished to return
to camp, knowing that this affair was a blue
demonstration; or else to go into a battle and
discover that he had been a fool in his doubts,
and was, in truth, a man of traditional courage.
The strain of present circumstances he felt to be
intolerable.

The philosophical tall soldier measured a sand-
wich of cracker and pork and swallowed it in a
nonchalant manner. "Oh, I suppose we must go
reconnoitering around the country jest to keep
'em from getting too close, or to develop 'em, or
something."

"Huh!" said the loud soldier.

"Well," cried the youth, still fidgeting, "I'd
rather do anything 'most than go tramping 'round
the country all day doing no good to nobody and
jest tiring ourselves out."

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