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

That She Was Ill At Ease. If The

Silence Was Awkward,  She Was Suffering from It. As For Himself,

He Had No Inclination To Break It. His Position Was,  As Far As The

Entire Wainwright Party Was Concerned,  A Place Where He Could

Afford To Wait. She Turned to Him At Last. "Of Course,  I Know

How Much You Have Done For Us,  And I Want You To Feel That We

All Appreciate It Deeply-Deeply." There Was Discernible To The Ear

A Certain Note Of Desperation.

 

" Oh,  Not At All," He Said Generously. " Not At All. I Didn'T Do

Anything. It Was Quite An Accident. Don'T Let That Trouble You

For A Moment."

 

"Well,  Of Course You Would Say That," She Said More

Steadily. " But I-We-We Know How Good And How-Brave It Was

In You To Come For Us,  And I--We Must Never Forget It."

 

As A Matter Of Fact," Replied coleman,  With An Appearance

Of Ingenuous Candor,  " I Was Sent Out Here By The Eclipse To

Find You People,  And Of Course I Worked rather Hard To Reach

You,  But The Final Meeting was Purely Accidental And Does Not

Redound To My Credit In the Least."

 

As He Had Anticipated,  Marjory Shot Him A Little Glance Of

Disbelief. " Of Course You Would Say That," She Repeated with

Gloomy But Flattering conviction.

 

" Oh,  If I Had Been A Great Hero," He Said Smiling,  "No Doubt

I Would Have Kept Up This Same Manner Which Now Sets So Well

Upon Me,  But I Am Telling you The Truth When I Say That I Had No

Part In your Rescue At All."

 

She Became Slightly Indignant. " Oh,  If You Care To Tell Us

Constantly That You Were Of No Service To Us,  I Don'T See What

We Can Do But Continue To Declare That You Were."

 

Suddenly He Felt Vulgar. He Spoke To Her This Time With Real

Meaning. " I Beg Of 'You Never To Mention It Again. That Will Be

The Best Way."

 

But To This She Would Not Accede. "No,  We Will Often Want To

Speak Of It."

 

He Replied "How Do You Like Greece? Don'T You Think That

Some Of These Ruins Are Rather Out Of Shape In the Popular

Mind? Now,  For My Part,  I Would Rather Look At A Good Strong

Finish At A Horserace Than To See Ten Thousand Parthenons In a

Bunch."

 

She Was Immediately In the Position Of Defending him From

Himself. "You Would Rather See No Such Thing. You Shouldn'T

Talk In that Utterly Trivial Way. I Like The Parthenon,  Of Course,

But I Can'T Think Of It Now Because My Head. Is Too Full Of My

Escape From Where I Was So-So Frightened."

 

Coleman Grinned. " Were You Really Frightened?"

 

" Naturally," She Answered. " I Suppose I Was More

Frightened for Mother And Father,  But I Was Frightened enough

For Myself. It Was Not-Not A Nice Thing."

 

"No,  It Wasn'T," Said Coleman. "I Could Hardly Believe My

Senses,  When The Minister At Athens Told Me That,  You All Had

Ventured into Such A Trap,  And There Is No Doubt But What You

Can Be Glad That You Are Well Out Of It."

 

She Seemed to Have Some Struggle With Herself And Then

She Deliberately Said: "Thanks To You."

 

Coleman Embarked on What He Intended to Make A Series Of

High-Minded protests. " Not At All-" But At That Moment The

Dragoman Whirled back From The Van-Guard With A Great

Collection Of The Difficulties Which Had Been Gathering upon

Him. Coleman Was Obliged to Resign Marjory And Again Take Up

The Active Leadership. He Disposed of The Dragoman'S

Difficulties Mainly By Declaring that They Were Not Difficulties At

All. He Had Learned that This Was The Way To Deal With Dragomen.

The Fog Had Already Lifted from The Valley And,  As They

Passed along The Wooded mountain-Side The Fragrance Of

Leaves And Earth Came To Them. Ahead,  Along The Hooded road,

They Could See The Blue Clad Figures Of Greek Infantrymen.

Finally They Passed an Encampment Of A Battalion Whose Line

Was At A Right Angle To The Highway. A Hundred yards In advance Was The

Bridge Across The Louros River. And There A Battery Of Artillery

Was Encamped. The Dragoman Became Involved in all Sorts Of

Discussions With Other Greeks,  But Coleman Stuck To His Elbow

And Stifled all Aimless Oration. The Wainwright Party Waited for

Them In the Rear In an Observant But Patient Group.

 

Across A Plain,  The Hills Directly Behind Arta Loomed up

Showing the Straight Yellow Scar Of A Modern Entrenchment. To

The North Of Arta Were Some Grey Mountains With A Dimly

Marked road Winding to The Summit. On One Side Of This Road

Were Two Shadows. It Took A Moment For The Eye To Find These

Shadows,  But When This Was Accomplished it Was Plain That

They Were Men. The Captain Of The Battery Explained to The

Dragoman That He Did Not Know That They Were Not Also Turks.

In Which Case The Road To Arta Was A Dangerous Path. It Was No

Good News To Coleman. He Waited a Moment In order To Gain

Composure And Then Walked back To The Wainwright Party.

They Must Have Known At Once From His Peculiar Gravity That All

Was Not Well. Five Of The Students And The Professor

Immediately Asked: "What Is It?"

 

He Had At First Some Old-Fashioned idea Of Concealing the Ill

Tidings From The Ladies,  But He Perceived what Flagrant Nonsense

This Would Be In circumstances In which All Were Fairly Likely To

Incur Equal Dangers,  And At Any Rate He Did Not See His Way Clear

To Allow Their Imagination To Run Riot Over A Situation Which Might Not

Turn Out To Be Too Bad. He Said Slowly: " You See Those

Mountains Over There? Well,  Troops Have Been Seen There And

The Captain Of This Battery Thinks They Are Turks. If They Are

Turks The Road To Arta Is Distinctly-Er-Unsafe."

 

This New Blow First Affected the Wainwright Party As Being

Too Much To Endure. " They Thought They Had Gone Through

Enough. This Was A General Sentiment. Afterward The Emotion

Took Colour According to The Individual Character. One Student

Laughed and Said: " Well,  I See Our Finish."

 

Another Student Piped out: " How Do They Know They Are

Turks? What Makes Them Think They Are Turks "

 

Another Student Expressed himself With A Sigh. "This Is A

Long Way From The Bowery."

 

The Professor Said Nothing but Looked annihilated; Mrs.

Wainwright Wept Profoundly; Marjory Looked expectantly

Toward Coleman.

 

As For The Correspondent He Was Adamantine And Reliable

And Stern,  For He Had Not The Slightest Idea That Those Men On

The Distant Hill Were Turks At All.

Chapter 13

"Oh," Said A Student,  " This Game Ought To Quit. I Feel Like

Thirty Cents. We Didn'T Come Out Here To Be Pursued about The

Country By These Turks. Why Don'T They Stop It ?"

 

Coleman Was Remarking: "Really,  The Only Sensible Thing to

Do Now Is To Have Breakfast. There Is No Use In worrying

Ourselves Silly Over This Thing until We'Ve Got To."

 

They Spread The Blankets On The Ground And Sat About A

Feast Of Bread,  Water Cress And Tinned beef. Coleman Was The

Real Host,  But He Contrived to Make The Professor Appear As That

Honourable Person. They Ate,  Casting their Eyes From Time To

Time At The Distant Mountain With Its Two Shadows. People

Began To Fly Down The Road From Jannina,  Peasants Hurriedly

Driving little Flocks,  Women And Children On Donkeys And Little

Horses Which They Clubbed unceasingly. One Man Rode At A

Gallop,  Shrieking and Flailing his Arms In the Air. They Were All

Christian Peasants Of Turkey,  But They Were In flight Now

Because They Did Not Wish To Be At Home If The Turk Was Going

To Return And Reap Revenge For His Mortification. The

Wainwright Party Looked at Coleman In abrupt Questioning.

 

"Oh,  It'S All Right," He Said,  Easily. "They Are Always Taking on

That Way."

 

Suddenly The Dragoman Gave A Shout And Dashed up The

Road To The Scene Of A Melee Where A Little Ratfaced groom Was

Vociferously Defending three Horses From Some Greek Officers,

Who As Vociferously Were Stating their Right To Requisition Them.

Coleman Ran After His Dragoman. There Was A Sickening pow-Wow, 

But In the End Coleman,  Straight And Easy In the Saddle,

Came Cantering back On A Superb Open-Mouthed snorting bay

Horse. He Did Not Mind If The Half-Wild Animal Plunged crazily. It

Was Part Of His Role. "They Were Trying to Steal My Horses," He

Explained. He Leaped to The Ground,  And Holding the Horse By

The Bridle,  He Addressed his Admiring companions. " The Groom-

The Man Who Has Charge Of The Horses -Says That He Thinks That

The People On The Mountain-Side Are Turks,  But I Don'T See How

That Is Possible. You See-" He Pointed wisely-" That Road Leads

Directly South To Arta,  And It Is Hardly Possible That The Greek

Army Would Come Over Here And Leave That Approach To Arta

Utterly Unguarded. It Would Be Too Foolish. They Must Have Left

Some Men To Cover It,  And That Is Certainly What Those Troops

Are. If You Are All Ready And Willing,  I Don'T See Anything to Do

But Make A Good,  Stout-Hearted dash For Arta. It Would Be No

More Dangerous Than To Sit Here."

The Professor Was At Last Able To Make His Formal

Speech. " Mr. Coleman," He Said Distinctly,  "We Place Ourselves

Entirely In your Hands." It Was Some. How Pitiful. This Man Who,

For Years And Years Had Reigned in a Little College Town Almost

As A Monarch,  Passing judgment With The Air Of One Who Words

The Law,  Dealing criticism Upon The Universe As One To Whom All

Things Are Plain,  Publicly Disdaining defeat As One To Whom All

Things Are Easy-This Man Was Now Veritably Appealing to

Coleman To Save His Wife,  His Daughter And Himself,  And Really

Declared himself De. Pendent For Safety Upon The Ingenuity And

Courage Of The Correspondent.

 

The Attitude Of The Students Was Utterly Indifferent. They Did

Not Consider Themselves Helpless At All. They Were Evidently

Quite Ready To Withstand Anything but They Looked frankly Up To

Coleman As Their Intelligent Leader. If They Suffered any,  Their

Only Expression Of It Was In the Simple Grim Slang Of Their

Period.

 

" I Wish I Was At Coney Island."

 

" This Is Not So Bad As Trigonometry,  But It'S Worse Than

Playing billiards For The Beers."

 

And Coke Said Privately To Coleman: " Say,  What In hell Are

These Two Damn Peoples Fighting for,  Anyhow? "

 

When He Saw That All Opinions Were In favour Of Following

Him Loyally,  Coleman Was Impelled to Feel A Responsibility. He

Was Now No Errant Rescuer,  But A Properly Elected leader

Of Fellow Beings In distress. While One

Of The Students Held His Horse,  He Took The Dragoman For

Another Consultation With The Captain Of The Battery. The Officer

Was Sitting on A Large Stone,  With His Eyes Fixed into His Field

Glasses. When Again Questioned he Could Give No Satisfaction

As To The Identity Of The Troops On The Distant Mountain. He

Merely Shrugged his Shoulders And Said That If They Were Greeks

It Was Very Good,  But If They Were Turks It Was Very Bad. He

Seemed more Occupied in trying to Impress The Correspondent

That It Was A Matter Of Soldierly Indifference To Himself.

Coleman,  After Loathing him Sufficiently In silence,  Returned to

The Others And Said: " Well,  We'Ll Chance It."

 

They Looked to Him To Arrange The Caravan. Speaking to The

Men Of The Party He Said: " Of Course,  Any One Of You Is

Welcome To My Horse If You Can Ride It,  But-If You'Re Not Too

Tired-I Think I Had Myself Better Ride,  So That I Can Go Ahead At

Times."

 

His Manner Was So Fine As He Said This That The Students

Seemed fairly To Worship Him. Of Course It Had Been Most

Improbable That Any Of Them Could Have Ridden That Volcanic

Animal Even If One Of Them Had Tried it.

 

He Saw Mrs. Wainwright And Marjory Upon The Backs Of

Their Two Little Natives,  And Hoisted the Professor Into The

Saddle Of The Groom'S Horse,  Leaving instructions With The

Servant To Lead The Animal