Active Service - Stephen Crane (librera reader .TXT) 📗

Until Such Time As He Could Find Out,

Secretly,  For Himself. To Ask The Dragoman Would Be Mere Stupid

Questioning which Would Surely Make The Animal Shy.  He Tried

To Be Content That Fate Had Given Him This Early Opportunity Of

Dealing with A Medieval Situation With Some Show Of Proper

Form ; That Is To Say,  Armed,  A-Horse- Back,  And In danger. Then

He Could Feel That To The Gods Of The Game He Was Not Laughable,

As When He Rode To Rescue His Love In a Diligence With A Devil-

Dog Yelping a-Top.

 

With Some Flourish,  The Young Captain Presented him To The

Major Who Commanded the Cavalry. This Officer Stood With His

Legs Wide Apart,  Eating the Rind Of A Fresh Lemon And Talking

Betimes To Some Of His Officers. The Major Also Beamed upon

Coleman When The Captain Explained that The Gentleman In the

Distinguished-Looking khaki Clothes Wished to Accompany The

Expedition. He At Once Said That He Would Provide Two Troop

Horses For Coleman And The Dragoman. Coleman Thanked fate

For His Behaviour And His Satisfaction Was Not Without A Vestige

Of Surprise. At That Time He Judged it To Be A Remarkable

Amiability Of Individuals,  But In later Years He Came To Believe In

Certain Laws Which He Deemed existent Solely For The Benefit Of

War Correspondents. In the Minds Of Governments,  War Offices

And Generals They Have No Function Save One Of Disturbance,  But

Coleman Deemed it Proven That The Common Men,  And Many

Uncommon Men,  When They Go Away To The Fighting ground,  Out

Of The Sight,  Out Of The Hearing of The World Known To Them,  And

Are Eager To Perform Feats Of War In this New Place,  They Feel An

Absolute Longing for A Spectator. It Is Indeed the Veritable

Coronation Of This World. There Is Not Too Much Vanity Of The

Street In this Desire Of Men To Have Some Disinterested fellows

Perceive Their Deeds. It Is Merely That A Man Doing his Best In the

Middle Of A Sea Of War,  Longs To Have People See Him Doing his

Best. This Feeling is Often Notably Serious If,  In peace,  A Man Has

Done His Worst,  Or Part Of His Worst. Coleman Believed that,

Above Everybody,  Young,  Proud And Brave Subalterns Had This

Itch,  But It Existed,  Truly Enough,  From Lieutenants To Colonels.

None Wanted to Conceal From His Left Hand That His Right Hand

Was Performing a Manly And Valiant Thing,  Although There Might

Be Times When An Application Of The Principle Would Be

Immensely Convenient. The War Correspondent Arises,  Then,  To

Become A Sort Of A Cheap Telescope For The People At Home;

Further Still,  There Have Been Fights Where The Eyes Of A Solitary

Man Were The Eyes Of The World; One Spectator,  Whose Business

It Was To Transfer,  According to His Ability,  His Visual Impressions

To Other Minds.

 

Coleman And His Servant Were Conducted to Two Saddled

Troop Horses,  And Beside Them,  Waited decently In the Rear Of

The Ranks. The Uniform Of The Troopers Was Of Plain,  Dark Green

Cloth And They Were Well And Sensibly Equipped. The Mounts,

However,  Had In no Way Been Picked; There Were Little Horses

And Big Horses,  Fat Horses And Thin Horses. They Looked the

Result Of A Wild Conscription. Coleman Noted the Faces Of The

Troopers,  And They Were Calm Enough Save When A Man

Betrayed himself By Perhaps A Disproportionate Angry Jerk At

The Bridle Of His Restive Horse.

 

The Major,  Artistically Drooping his Cloak From His Left

Shoulder And Tenderly And Musingly Fingering his Long Yellow

Moustache,  Rode Slowly To The Middle Of The Line And Wheeled

His Horse To Face His Men. A Bugle Called attention,  And Then He

Addressed them In a Loud And Rapid Speech,  Which Did Not Seem

To Have An End. Coleman Imagined that The Major Was Paying

Tribute To The Greek Tradition Of The Power Of Oratory. Again The

Trumpet Rang Out,  And This Parade Front Swung Off Into Column

Formation. Then Coleman And The Dragoman Trotted at The Tail Of

The Squadron,  Restraining with Difficulty Their Horses,  Who Could

Not Understand Their New Places In the Procession,  And Worked

Feverishly To Regain What They Considered their Positions In life.

 

The Column Jangled musically Over The Sod,  Passing between

Two Hills On One Of Which A Greek Light Battery Was Posted. Its

Men Climbed to The Tops Of Their Interenchments To Witness The

Going of The Cavalry. Then The Column Curved along Over Ditch

And Through Hedge To The Shallows Of The River. Across This

Narrow Stream Was Turkey. Turkey,  However,  Presented

Nothing to The Eye But A Muddy Bank With Fringes Of Trees Back

Of It. It Seemed to Be A Great Plain With Sparse Collections Of

Foliage Marking it,  Whereas The Greek Side,  Presented in the

Main A Vista Of High,  Gaunt Rocks. Perhaps One Of The First

Effects Of War Upon The Mind,  Is A. New Recognition And Fear Of

The Circumscribed ability Of The Eye,  Making all Landscape Seem

Inscrutable. The Cavalry Drew Up In platoon Formation On Their

Own. Bank Of The Stream And Waited. If Coleman Had Known

Anything of War,  He Would Have Known,  From Appearances,  That

There Was Nothing in the Immediate Vicinity To,  Cause Heart-

Jumping,  But As A Matter Of Truth He Was Deeply Moved and

Wondered what Was Hidden,  What Was Veiled by Those Trees.

Moreover,  The Squadrons Resembled art Old Picture Of A Body Of

Horse Awaiting napoleon'S Order To Charge. In the,  Meantime His

Mount Fumed at The Bit,  Plunging to Get Back To The Ranks. The

Sky Was,  Without A Cloud,  And The Sun Rays Swept Down Upon

Them. Sometimes Coleman Was On The Verge Of Addressing the

Dragoman,  According to His Anxiety,  But In the End

He Simply Told Him To Go To The River And Fill The Can- Teens.

 

At Last An Order Came,  And The First Troop Moved with Muffled

Tumult Across The Bridge. Coleman And His Dragoman Followed

The Last Troop. The Horses Scrambled up The Muddy Bank Much

As If They Were Merely Breaking out Of A Pasture,  But Probably All

The Men Felt A Sudden Tightening of Their Muscles. Coleman,  In

His Excitement,  Felt,  More Than He Saw,  Glossy Horse Flanks,

Green-Clothed men Chumping in their Saddles,  Banging sabres

And Canteens,  And Carbines Slanted in line.

 

There Were Some Greek Infantry In a Trench. They Were

Heavily Overcoated,  Despite The Heat,  And Some Were Engaged in

Eating loaves Of Round,  Thick Bread. They Called out Lustily As

The Cavalry Passed them. The Troopers Smiled slowly,

Somewhat Proudly In response.

 

Presently There Was Another Halt And Coleman Saw The Major

Trotting busily Here And There,  While Troop Commanders Rode Out

To Meet Him. Spreading groups Of Scouts And Flankers Moved off

And Disappeared. Their Dashing young Officer Friend Cantered

Past Them With His Troop At His Heels. He Waved a Joyful Good-

Bye. It Was The Doings Of Cavalry In actual Service,  Horsemen

Fanning out In all Forward Directions. There Were Two Troops

Held In reserve,  And As They Jangled ahead At A Foot Pace,

Coleman And His Dragoman Followed them.

 

The Dragoman Was Now Moved to Erect Many Reasons For An

Immediate Return. It Was Plain That He Had No Stomach At All For

This Business,  And That He Wished himself Safely Back On The

Other Side Of The River. Coleman Looked at Him Askance. When

These Men Talked together Coleman Might As Well Have Been A

Polar Bear For All He Understood Of It. When He Saw The

Trepidation Of His Dragoman,  He Did Not Know What It Foreboded.

In This Situation It Was Not For Him To Say That The Dragoman'S

Fears Were Founded on Nothing. And Ever The Dragoman Raised

His Reasons For A Retreat. Coleman Spoke To Himself. "I Am Just A

Trifle Rattled," He Said To His Heart,  And After He Had Communed

For A Time Upon The Duty Of Steadiness,  He Addressed the

Dragoman In cool Language. " Now,  My Persuasive Friend,  Just

Quit All That,  Because Business Is Business,  And It May Be Rather

Annoying business,  But You Will Have To Go Through With It."

Long Afterward,  When Ruminating over The Feelings Of That

Morning,  He Saw With Some Astonishment That There Was Not A

Single Thing within Sound Or Sight To Cause A Rational Being any

Quaking. He Was Simply Riding with Some Soldiers Over A Vast

Tree-Dotted prairie.

 

Presently The Commanding officer Turned in his Saddle And

Told The Dragoman That He Was Going to Ride Forward With His

Orderly To Where He Could See The Flanking parties And The

Scouts,  And Courteously,  With

The Manner Of A Gentleman Entertaining two Guests,  He Asked if

The Civilians Cared to Accompany Him. The Dragoman Would Not

Have Passed this Question Correctly On To Coleman If He Had

Thought He Could Have Avoided it,  But,  With Both Men Regarding

Him,  He Considered that A Lie Probably Meant Instant Detection.

He Spoke Almost The Truth,  Contenting himself With Merely

Communicating to Coleman In a Subtle Way His Sense That A Ride

Forward With The Commanding officer And His Orderly Would Be

Depressing and Dangerous Occupation. But Coleman

Immediately Accepted the Invitation Mainly Because It Was The

Invitation Of The Major,  And In war It Is A Brave Man Who Can

Refuse The Invitation Of A Commanding officer. The Little Party Of

Four Trotted away From The Reserves,  Curving in single File About

The Water-Holes. In time They Arrived at Where The Plain Lacked

Trees And Was One Great Green Lake Of Grass; Grass And Scrubs.

On This Expanse They Could See The Greek Horsemen Riding,  Mainly

Appearing as Little Black Dots. Far To The Left There Was A Squad

Said To Be Composed of Only Twenty Troopers,  But In the

Distance Their Black Mass Seemed to Be A Regiment.

 

As The Officer And His Guests Advanced they Came In view Of

What One May Call The Shore Of The Plain. The Rise Of Ground Was

Heavily Clad With Trees,  And Over The Tops Of Them Appeared the

Cupola And Part Of The Walls Of A Large White House,  And There

Were Glimpses Of Huts Near It As If A Village Was Marked. The Black

Specks Seemed to Be Almost To It. The Major Galloped forward

And The Others Followed at His Pace. The House Grew Larger And

Larger And They Came Nearly To The Advance Scouts Who They

Could Now See Were Not Quite Close To The Village. There Had

Been A Deception Of The Eye Precisely As Occurs At Sea. Herds Of

Unguarded sheep Drifted over The Plain And Little Ownerless

Horses,  Still Cruelly Hobbled,  Leaped painfully Away,  Frightened,

As If They Understood That An Anarchy Had Come Upon Them. The

Party Rode Until They Were Very Nearly Up With The Scouts,  And

Then From Low Down At The Very Edge Of The Plain There Came A

Long Rattling noise Which Endured as If Some Kind Of Grinding

Machine Had Been Put In motion. Smoke Arose,  Faintly Marking

The Position Of An Intrenchment. Sometimes A Swift Spitting

Could Be Heard From The Air Over The Party.

 

It Was Coleman'S Fortune To Think At First That The Turks Were

Not Firing in his Direction,  But As Soon As He Heard The Weird

Voices In the Air He Knew That War Was Upon Him. But It Was

Plain That The Range Was Almost Excessive,  Plain Even To His

Ignorance. The Major Looked at Him And Laughed; He Found No

Difficulty In smiling in response. If This Was War,  It Could Be

Withstood Somehow. He Could Not At This Time Understand What

A Mere Trifle Was The Present Incident. He Felt Upon His Cheek A

Little Breeze Which Was Moving the Grass-Blades. He Had Tied his

Canteen In a Wrong Place On The Saddle And Every Time The Horse Moved

Quickly The Canteen Banged the Correspondent,  To His Annoyance And

Distress,  Forcibly On The Knee. He Had Forgotten About His

Dragoman,  But Happening to Look Upon That Faithful Servitor,  He

Saw Him Gone White With Horror. A Bullet At That Moment

Twanged near His Head And The Slave To Fear Ducked in a Spasm.

Coleman Called the Orderly'S Attention And They Both Laughed

Discreetly. They Made No Pretension Of Being heroes,  But They

Saw Plainly That They Were Better Than This Man.

Coleman Said To Him : " How Far Is It Now To Nikopolis ? " The

Dragoman Replied only,  With A Look Of Agonized impatience.

 

But Of Course There Was No Going to Nikopolis That Day. The

Officer Had Advanced his Men As Far As Was Intended by His

Superiors,  And Presently They Were All Recalled and Trotted back

To The Bridge. They Crossed it To Their Old Camp.

 

An Important Part Of Coleman'S Traps Was Back With His

Athenian Horses And Their Groom,  But With His Present

Equipment He Could At Least Lie Smoking on His Blankets And

Watch The Dragoman Prepare Food. But He Reflected that For That

Day He Had Only Attained the Simple Discovery That The

Approach To Nikopolis Was Surrounded with Difficulties.