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

Beyond That,  He Knew A Deeper Adminiration

For This Girl. To Him She Represented the Sex,  And So The

Sex As Embodied in her Seemed a Mystery To Be Feared. He

Wondered if Safety Came On The Morrow He Would Not Surrender

To This Feminine Invulnerability. She Had Not Done Anything that

He Had Expected of Her And So Inasmuch As He Loved her He

Loved her More. It Was Bewitching. He Half Considered himself A

Fool. But At Any Rate He Thought Resentfully She Should Be

Thankful To Him For Having rendered her A Great Service.

However,  When He Came To Consider This Proposition He Knew

That On A Basis Of Absolute Manly Endeavour He Had Rendered

Her Little Or No Service.

 

The Night Was Long.

Chapter 12

Coleman Suddenly Found Himself Looking upon His Pallid

Dragoman. He Saw That He Had Been Asleep Crouched at The Foot

Of The Tree. Without Any Exchange Of Speech At All He Knew

There Had Been Alarming noises. Then Shots Sounded from

Nearby. Some Were From Rifles Aimed in that Direction And Some

Were From Rifles Opposed to Them. This Was Distinguishable To

The Experienced man,  But All That Coleman Knew Was That The

Conditions Of Danger Were Now Triplicated. Unconsciously He

Stretched his Hands In supplication Over His Charges. "Don'T

Move! Don'T Move! And Keep Close To The Ground!" All Heeded

Him But Marjory. She Still Sat Straight. He Himself Was On His

Feet,  But He Now Knew The Sound Of Bullets,  And He Knew That

No Bullets Had Spun Through The Trees. He Could Not See Her

Distinctly,  But It Was Known To Him In some Way That She Was

Mutinous. He Leaned toward Her And Spoke As Harshly As

Possible. "Marjory,  Get Down! " She Wavered for A Moment As If

Resolved to Defy Him. As He Turned again To Peer In the Direction

Of The Firing it Went Through His Mind That She Must Love Him

Very Much Indeed. He Was Assured of It.

It Must Have Been Some Small Outpour Between Nervous

Pickets And Eager Hillsmen,  For It Ended in a Moment. The Party

Waited  In abasement For What Seemed to Them A Time,  And The

Blue Dawn Began,  To Laggardly Shift The Night As They Waited.

The Dawn Itself Seemed prodigiously Long In arriving at

Anything like Discernible Landscape. When This Was

Consummated,  Coleman,  In somewhat The Manner Of The Father

Of A Church,  Dealt Bits Of Chocolate Out To The Others. He Had

Already Taken The Precaution To Confer With The Dragoman,  So He

Said : " Well,  Come Ahead. We'Ll Make A Try For It." They Arose At

His Bidding and Followed him To The Road. It Was The Same Broad,

White Road,  Only That The White Was In the Dawning something

Like The Grey Of A Veil. It Took Some Courage To Venture Upon This

Thoroughfare,  But Coleman Stepped out-After Looking quickly In

Both Directions. The Party Tramped to Where The Horses Had

Been Left,  And There They Were Found Without Change Of A Rope.

Coleman Rejoiced to See That His Dragoman Now Followed him In

The Way Of A Good Lieutenant. They Both Dashed in among The

Trees And Had The Horses Out Into The Road In a Twinkle. When

Coleman Turned to Direct That Utterly Subservient,  Group He

Knew That His Face Was Drawn From Hardship And Anxiety,  But He

Saw Everywhere The Same Style Of Face With The Exception Of The

Face Of Marjory,  Who Looked simply Of Lovely Marble. He   

Noted with A Curious Satisfaction,  As If The Thing was A Tribute To

Himself,  That His Macintosh Was Over The Professor'S Shoulder,

That Marjory And Her Mother Were Each Carrying a Blanket,  And

That,  The Corps Of Students Had Dutifully Brought All The Traps

Which His Dragoman Had Forgotten. It Was Grand.

 

He Addressed them To Say: " Now,  Approaching outposts Is

Very Dangerous Business At This Time In the Morning. So My

Man,  Who Can Talk Both Greek And Turkish,  Will Go Ahead Forty

Yards,  And I Will Follow Somewhere Between Him And You. Try

Not To Crowd Forward."

 

He Directed the Ladies Upon Their Horses And Placed the

Professor Upon The Little Grey Nag. Then They Took Up Their Line

Of March. The Dragoman Had Looked somewhat Dubiously Upon

This Plan Of Having him Go Forty Yards In advance,  But He Had

The Utmost Confidence In this New Coleman,  Whom Yesterday He

Had Not Known. Besides,  He Himself Was A Very Gallant Man

Indeed,  And It Befitted him To Take The Post Of Danger Before The

Eyes Of All These Foreigners. In his New Position He Was As

Proud And Unreasonable As A Rooster. He Was Continually

Turning his Head To Scowl Back At Them,  When Only The Clank Of

Hoofs Was Sounding. An Impenetrable Mist Lay On The Valley

And The Hill-Tops Were Shrouded. As For The People,  They Were

Like Mice. Coleman Paid No Attention To The Wainwright Party, 

But Walked steadily Along Near The Dragoman.

 

Perhaps The Whole Thing was A Trifle Absurd,  But To A Great

Percentage,  Of The Party It Was Terrible. For Instance,  Those

Eight Boys,  Fresh From A School,  Could In no Wise Gauge The

Dimensions. And If This Was True Of The Students,  It Was More

Distinctly True Of Marjory And Her Mother. As For The Professor,

He Seemed weighted to The Earth By His Love And His

Responsibility.

 

Suddenly The Dragoman Wheeled and Made Demoniac Signs.

Coleman Half-Turned to Survey The Main Body,  And Then Paid

His Attention Swiftly To The Front. The White Road Sped to The Top

Of A Hill Where It Seemed to Make A Rotund Swing into Oblivion.

The Top Of The Curve Was Framed in foliage,  And Therein Was A

Horseman. He Had His Carbine Slanted on His Thigh,  And His

Bridle-Reins Taut. Upon Sight Of Them He Immediately Wheeled

And Galloped down The Other Slope And Vanished.

 

The Dragoman Was Throwing wild Gestures Into The Air. As

Coleman Looked back At The Wainwright Party He Saw Plainly

That To An Ordinary Eye They Might Easily Appear As A Strong

Advance Of Troops. The Peculiar Light Would Emphasize Such

Theory. The Dragoman Ran To Him Jubilantly,  But He Contained

Now A Form Of Intelligence Which Caused him To Whisper; " That

Was One Greek. That Was One Greek-What Do You Call--Sentree? "

 

Coleman Addressed the Others. He Said: "It'S All Right. Come

Ahead. That Was A Greek Picket. There Is Only One Trouble Now,

And That Is To Approach Them Easy-Do You See-Easy."

 

His Obedient Charges Came Forward At His Word. When They

Arrived at The Top Of This Rise They Saw Nothing. Coleman Was

Very Uncertain. He Was Not Sure That This Picket Had Not Carried

With Him A General Alarm,  And In that Case There Would Soon

Occur A Certain Amount Of Shooting. However,  As Far As He

Understood The Business,  There Was No Way But Forward.

Inasmuch As He Did Not Indicate To The Wainwright Party That He

Wished them To Do Differently,  They Followed on Doggedly After

Him And The Dragoman. He Knew Now That The Dragoman'S Heart

Had For The Tenth Time Turned to Dog-Biscuit,  So He Kept Abreast

Of Him. And Soon Together They Walked into A Cavalry Outpost,

Commanded by No Less A Person Than The Dashing young

Captain,  Who Came Laughing out To Meet Them.

 

Suddenly Losing all Colour Of War,  The Condition Was Now

Such As Might Occur In a Drawing room. Coleman Felt The

Importance Of Establishing highly Conventional Relations

Between The Captain And The Wainwright Party. To Compass

This He First Seized his Dragoman,  And The Dragoman,

Enlightened immediately,  Spun A Series Of Lies Which Must Have

Led the Captain To Believe That The Entire Heart Of The American

Republic Had Been Taken Out Of That Western Continent And

Transported to Greece. Coleman Was Proud Of The Captain,  The

Latter Immediately Went And Bowed in the Manner Of The French

School And Asked everybody To Have A Cup Of Coffee,  Although

Acceptation Would Have Proved his Ruin And Disgrace. Coleman

Refused in the Name Of Courtesy. He Called his Party Forward,

And Now They Proceeded merely As One Crowd. Marjory Had

Dismounted in the Meantime.

 

The Moment Was Come. Coleman Felt It. The First Rush Was

From The Students. Immediately He Was Buried in a Thrashing

Mob Of Them. "Good Boy! Good Boy! Great Man! Oh,  Isn'T He A

Peach? How Did He Do It? He Came In strong At The Finish ! Good

Boy,  Coleman!" Through This Mist Of Glowing youthful

Congratulatioin He Saw The Professor Standing at The Outskirts

With Direct Formal Thanks Already Moving on His Lips,  While Near

Him His Wife Wept Joyfully. Marjory Was Evidently Enduring

Some Inscrutable Emotion.

 

After All,  It Did Penetrate His Mind That It Was Indecent To

Accept All This Wild Gratitude,  But There Was Built Within Him No

Intention Of Positively Declaring himself Lacking in all Credit,  Or

At Least,  Lacking in all Credit In the Way Their Praises Defined it.

In Truth He Had Assisted them,  But He Had Been At The Time

Largely Engaged in assisting himself,  And Their Coming had Been

More Of A Boon To His Loneliness Than An Addition To His Care.

However,  He Soon Had No Difficulty In

Making his Conscience Appropriate Every Line In these Hymns

Sung In his Honour. The Students,  Curiously Wise Of Men,

Thought His Conduct Quite Perfect. " Oh,  Say,  Come Off ! " He

Protested. " Why,  I Didn'T Do Anything. You Fellows Are Crazy.

You Would Have Gotten In all Right By Yourselves. Don'T Act Like

Asses-"

 

As Soon As The Professor Had Opportunity He Came To

Coleman. He Was A Changed little Man,  And His Extraordinary

Bewilderment Showed in his Face. It Was The Disillusion And

Amazement Of A Stubborn Mind That Had Gone Implacably In its

One Direction And Found In the End That The Direction Was All

Wrong,  And That Really A Certain Mental Machine Had Not Been

Infallible. Coleman Remembered what The American Minister In

Athens Had Described of His Protests Against The Starting of The

Professor'S Party On This Journey,  And Of The Complete Refusal Of

The Professor To Recognise Any Value In the Advice. And Here

Now Was The Consequent Defeat. It Was Mirrored in the

Professor'S Astonished eyes. Coleman Went Directly To His Dazed

Old Teacher. " Well,  You'Re Out Of It Now,  Professor," He Said

Warmly. " I Congratulate You On Your Escape,  Sir." The

Professor Looked at Him,  Helpless To Express Himself,  But The

Correspondent Was At That Time Suddenly Enveloped in the

Hysterical Gratitude Of Mrs. Wainwright,  Who Hurled herself

Upon Him With Extravagant Manifestations. Coleman Played his

Part With Skill. To Both The Professor And Mrs. Wainwright His

Manner Was A Combination Of Modestly Filial Affection And A

Pretentious Disavowal Of His Having done Anything at All. It

Seemed to Charm Everybody But Marjory. It Irritated him To See

That She Was Apparently Incapable Of Acknowledging that He Was A

Grand Man.

 

He Was Actually Compelled to Go To Her And Offer

Congratulations Upon Her Escape,  As He Had Congratulated the

Professor.

If His Manner To Her Parents Had Been Filial,  His Manner To Her

Was Parental. " Well,  Marjory," He Said Kindly,  "You Have Been

In Considerable Danger. I Suppose You'Re Glad To Be Through

With It." She At That Time Made No Reply,  But By Her Casual Turn

He Knew That He Was Expected to Walk Along By Her Side. The

Others Knew It,  Too,  And The Rest Of The Party Left Them Free To

Walk Side By Side In the Rear.

 

" This Is A Beautiful Country Here-Abouts If One Gets A Good

Chance To See It," He Remarked. Then He Added: "But I Suppose

You Had A View Of It When You Were Going out To Nikopolis? "

 

She Answered in muffled tones. "Yes,  We Thought It Very

Beautiful."

 

Did You Note Those Streams From The Mountains " That

Seemed to Me The Purest Water I'D Ever Seen,  But I Bet It Would

Make One Ill To Drink It. There Is,  You Know,  A Prominent

German Chemist Who Has Almost Proven

That Really Pure Water Is Practical Poison To The Human

Stomach."

 

"Yes ? " She Said.

 

There Was A Period Of Silence,  During which He Was Perfectly

Comfortable Because He Knew