When another night came, the columns, changed to purple , filed across two pontoon bridges. A glaring fire wine-tinted the waters of the river. Its rays, shining upon the moving masses of troops, brought 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 upon the darkness.
 
But his went unmolested to a camping place, and its soldiers slept the brave sleep of wearied men. In the morning they were routed out with early energy, and along a narrow road that led deep into the forest.
 
It was during this rapid march that the regiment lost many of the marks of a new command.
 
The men had begun to count the miles upon their fingers, and they grew tired. "Sore feet an' damned short , that's all," said the loud soldier. There was and grumblings. 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 themselves from thick shirts. Presently few carried anything but their necessary clothing, blankets, haversacks, canteens, and arms and . "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 of theory to the light and speedy infantry of practice. The regiment, relieved of a burden, received a new . 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 in the army were likely to be very small of men. Once, when the command had first come to the field, some perambulating veterans, noting the length of their column, had 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 oiled the pole.
 
Presently the army again sat down to think. The odor of the peaceful pines was in the men's . The sound of blows rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding upon their , crooned like old women. The youth returned to his theory of a blue .
 
One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in the leg by the tall soldier, and then, before he was awake, he found himself running down a wood road in the midst of men who were panting from the first effects of speed. His canteen banged rythmically upon his , and his haversack bobbed softly. His 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 sentences: "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 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 comrades he tried to think, but all he knew was that if he fell down those coming behind would tread upon him. All his seemed to be needed to guide him over and past . 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 impossible for him to escape from the regiment. It inclosed him. And there were iron laws of tradition 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 of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government. And now they were taking him out to be .
 
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 began to boom. Here the youth forgot many things as he felt a sudden impulse of curiosity. He 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 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 skirmishers, who were continually 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 in briers. He was aware that these with their were woven red and startling into the gentle of greens and browns. It looked to be a wrong place for a battle field.
 
The skirmishers in advance fascinated him. Their shots into and at distant and prominent trees to him of tragedies--hidden, 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 from his friends.
 
The ranks opened to avoid the . The invulnerable dead man forced a way for himself. The youth looked keenly at the face. The wind raised the beard. It moved as if a hand were stroking it. He 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 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 sensations.
 
Absurd ideas took hold upon him. He thought that he did not 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 in distant fields had to him an look. The shadows of the woods were formidable. He was certain that in this there 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 with rifle barrels. Ironlike brigades would appear in the rear. They were all going to be sacrificed. The generals were stupids. The enemy would presently swallow the whole command. He glared about him, expecting to see the stealthy approach of his death.
 
He thought that he must break from the ranks and 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 . He would step forth and make a speech. Shrill and 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 interest, as if they were investigating something that had fascinated them. One or two stepped with overvaliant airs as if they were already 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 in this march.
 
As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at his throat. He saw that even if the men were with fear they would laugh at his warning. They would him, and, if practicable, him with missiles. Admitting that he might be wrong, a of the kind would turn him into a worm.
 
He assumed, then, the of one who knows that he is alone to unwritten responsibilities. He lagged, with glances at the sky.
 
He was surprised presently by the young of his company, who began to beat him with a sword, calling out in a loud and voice: "Come, young man, get up into ranks there. No 'll do here." He mended his pace with suitable haste. And he hated the lieutenant, who had no of fine minds. He was a .
 
After a time the brigade was halted in the cathedral light of a forest. The busy skirmishers were still popping. Through the 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 tiny hills in front of them. They used stones sticks, earth, and anything they thought might turn a bullet. Some built comparatively large ones, while others seems content with little ones.
 
This procedure caused a discussion among the men. Some wished to fight like duelists, believing it to be correct to stand and be, from their feet to their foreheads, a mark. They said they scorned the devices of the cautious. But the others in reply, and to the veterans on the flanks who were digging at the ground like terriers. In a short time there was quite a along the regimental fronts. Directly, however, they were ordered to withdraw from that place.
 
This the youth. He forgot his 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 much care and skill.
 
When the regiment was 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 became another thing in battle. He saw his in such a change. Hence this waiting was an to him. He was in a fever of . 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 tall soldier measured a sandwich of 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."
 
"So would I," said the loud soldier. "It ain't right. I tell you if anybody with any sense was a-runnin' this army it--"
 
"Oh, shut up!" roared the tall private. "You little fool. You little damn' cuss. You ain't had that there coat and them pants on for six months, and yet you talk as if--"
 
"Well, I wanta do some fighting anyway," interrupted the other. "I didn't come here to walk. I could 'ave walked to home--'round an' 'round the barn, if I jest wanted to walk."
 
The tall one, red-faced, swallowed another sandwich as if taking poison in despair.
 
But gradually, as he chewed, his face became again quiet and . He could not rage in fierce argument in the presence of such sandwiches. During his meals he always wore an air of blissful contemplation of the food he had swallowed. His spirit seemed then to be communing with the .
 
He accepted new environment and circumstance with great coolness, eating from his haversack at every opportunity. On the march he went along with the stride of a hunter, objecting to neither gait nor distance. And he had not raised his voice when he had been ordered away from three little protective piles of earth and stone, each of which had been an engineering of being made sacred to the name of his grandmother.
 
In the afternoon, the regiment went out over the same ground it had taken in the morning. The landscape then ceased to threaten the youth. He had been close to it and become familiar with it.
 
When, however, they began to pass into a new region, his old fears of stupidity and reassailed him, but this time he let them . He was occupied with his problem, and in his desperation he concluded that the stupidity did not greatly matter.
 
Once he thought he had concluded that it would be better to get killed directly and end his troubles. Regarding death thus out of the corner of his eye, he conceived it to be nothing but rest, and he was filled with a that he should have made an extraordinary over the mere matter of getting killed. He would die; he would go to some place where he would be understood. It was useless to expect appreciation of his profound and fine sense from such men as the lieutenant. He must look to the grave for comprehension.
 
The skirmish fire increased to a long sound. With it was far-away cheering. A battery spoke.
 
Directly the youth could see the skirmishers running. They were pursued by the sound of musketry fire. After a time the hot, dangerous flashes of the rifles were visible. Smoke clouds went slowly and across the fields like observant . The became , like the roar of an oncoming train.
 
A brigade ahead of them and on the right went into action with a roar. It was as if it had exploded. And thereafter it lay stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall, that one was obliged to look twice at to make sure that it was smoke.
 
The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting killed, gazed spell bound. His eyes grew wide and busy with the action of the scene. His mouth was a little ways open.
 
Of a sudden he felt a heavy and sad hand laid upon his shoulder. from his trance of observation he turned and the loud soldier.
 
"It's my first and last battle, old boy," said the latter, with intense gloom. He was quite pale and his girlish lip was trembling.
 
"Eh?" murmured the youth in great astonishment.
 
"It's my first and last battle, old boy," continued the loud soldier. "Something tells me--"
 
"What?"
 
"I'm a gone coon this first time and--and I w-want you to take these here things--to--my--folks." He ended in a quavering of pity for himself. He handed the youth a little packet done up in a yellow envelope.
 
"Why, what the devil--" began the youth again.
 
But the other gave him a glance as from the depths of a tomb, and raised his limp hand in a prophetic manner and turned away.