The column that had at the obstacles in the roadway was barely out of the youth's sight before he saw dark waves of men come out of the woods and down through the fields. He knew at once that the steel had been washed from their hearts. They were bursting from their coats and their equipments as from . They charged down upon him like terrified .  
Behind them blue smoke curled and clouded above the treetops, and through the he could sometimes see a distant pink glare. The voices of the were clamoring in interminable chorus.
 
The youth was horrorstricken. He stared in agony and . He forgot that he was engaged in combating the universe. He threw aside his mental pamphlets on the philosophy of the retreated and rules for the guidance of the damned.
 
The fight was lost. The dragons were coming with strides. The army, helpless in the matted thickets and blinded by the overhanging night, was going to be swallowed. War, the red animal, war, the blood- god, would have bloated fill.
 
Within him something bade to cry out. He had the impulse to make a rallying speech, to sing a battle , but he could only get his tongue to call into the air: "Why--why--what--what 's th' matter?"
 
Soon he was in the midst of them. They were leaping and all about him. Their faces shone in the dusk. They seemed, for the most part, to be very burly men. The youth turned from one to another of them as they along. His incoherent questions were lost. They were heedless of his appeals. They did not seem to see him.
 
They sometimes gabbled insanely. One huge man was asking of the sky: "Say, where de road? Where de plank road!" It was as if he had lost a child. He wept in his pain and dismay.
 
Presently, men were running hither and in all ways. The booming, forward, rearward, and on the flanks made of ideas of direction. had vanished into the gathered gloom. The youth began to imagine that he had got into the center of the tremendous quarrel, and he could perceive no way out of it. From the mouths of the fleeing men came a thousand wild questions, but no one made answers.
 
The youth, after rushing about and throwing interrogations at the heedless bands of retreating , finally clutched a man by the arm. They swung around face to face.
 
"Why--why--" the youth struggling with his tongue.
 
The man screamed: "Let go me! Let go me!" His face was livid and his eyes were rolling uncontrolled. He was heaving and panting. He still grasped his rifle, perhaps having forgotten to release his hold upon it. He , and the youth being compelled to lean forward was dragged several paces.
 
"Let go me! Let go me!"
 
"Why--why--" stuttered the youth.
 
"Well, then!" the man in a rage. He and fiercely swung his rifle. It crushed upon the youth's head. The man ran on.
 
The youth's fingers had turned to paste upon the other's arm. The energy was from his muscles. He saw the flaming wings of lightning flash before his vision. There was a of thunder within his head.
 
Suddenly his legs seemed to die. He sank to the ground. He tried to arise. In his efforts against the pain he was like a man wrestling with a creature of the air.
 
There was a struggle.
 
Sometimes he would achieve a position half , battle with the air for a moment, and then fall again, grabbing at the grass. His face was of a clammy pallor. Deep were from him.
 
At last, with a twisting movement, he got upon his hands and knees, and from thence, like a babe trying to walk, to his feet. Pressing his hands to his temples he went lurching over the grass.
 
He fought an intense battle with his body. His dulled senses wished him to swoon and he opposed them stubbornly, his mind unknown dangers and mutilations if he should fall upon the field. He went tall soldier fashion. He imagined spots where he could fall and be unmolested. To search for one he strove against the tide of pain.
 
Once he put his hand to the top of his head and timidly touched the wound. The scratching pain of the contact made him draw a long breath through his teeth. His fingers were with blood. He regarded them with a stare.
 
Around him he could hear the of cannon as the horses were toward the front. Once, a young officer on a besplashed charger nearly ran him down. He turned and watched the mass of guns, men, and horses sweeping in a wide curve toward a gap in a fence. The officer was making excited motions with a gauntleted hand. The guns followed the teams with an air of , of being dragged by the heels.
 
Some officers of the infantry were cursing and railing like fishwives. Their scolding voices could be heard above the . Into the unspeakable jumble in the roadway rode a squadron of . The faded yellow of their facings shone bravely. There was a .
 
The artillery were assembling as if for a conference.
 
The blue of evening was upon the field. The lines of forest were long purple shadows. One cloud lay along the western sky partly the red.
 
As the youth left the scene behind him, he heard the guns suddenly roar out. He imagined them shaking in black rage. They and howled like devils guarding a gate. The soft air was filled with the tremendous . With it came the shattering of opposing infantry. Turning to look behind him, he could see sheets of orange light illumine the shadowy distance. There were subtle and sudden lightnings in the far air. At times he thought he could see heaving masses of men.
 
He hurried on in the dusk. The day had faded until he could barely distingu............