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The new silence of his wound made much worriment. The little blistering voices of pain that had called out from his scalp were, he thought, definite in their expression of danger. By them he believed that he could measure his plight. But when they remained ominously silent he became frightened and imagined terrible fingers that clutched into his brain. Amid it he began to reflect upon various incidents and conditions of the past. He bethought him of certain meals his mother had cooked at home, in which those dishes of which he was particularly fond had occupied prominent positions. He saw the spread table. The pine walls of the kitchen were glowing in the warm light from the stove. Too, he remembered how he and his companions used to go from the schoolhouse to the bank of a shaded pool. He saw his clothes in disorderly array upon the grass of the bank. He felt the swash of the fragrant water upon his body. The leaves of the overhanging maple rustled with melody in the wind of youthful summer. He was overcome presently by a dragging weariness. His head hung forward and his shoulders were stooped as if he were bearing a great bundle. His feet shuffled along the ground. He held continuous arguments as to whether he should lie down and sleep at some near spot, or force himself on until he reached a certain haven. He often tried to dismiss the question, but his body persisted in rebellion and his senses nagged at him like pampered babies. At last he heard a cheery voice near his shoulder: Yeh seem t be in a pretty bad way, boy? The youth did not look up, but he assented with thick tongue. Uh! The owner of the cheery voice took him firmly by the arm. Well, he said, with a round laugh, Im goin your way. Th hull gang is goin your way. An I guess I kin give yeh a lift. They began to walk like a drunken man and his friend. As they went along, the man questioned the youth and assisted him with the replies like one manipulating the mind of a child. Sometimes he interjected anecdotes. What regment do yeh blong teh? Eh? Whats that? Th 304th N York? Why, what corps is that in? Oh, it is? Why, I thought they wasnt engaged t- daytheyre way over in th center. Oh, they was, eh? Well, pretty nearly everybody got their share a fightin t-day. By dad, I give myself up fer dead any number a times. There was shootin here an shootin there, an hollerin here an hollerin there, in th damn darkness, until I couldnt tell t save m soul which side I was on. Sometimes I thought I was sure nough from Ohier, an other times I could a swore I was from th bitter end of Florida. It was th most mixed up dern thing I ever see. An these here hull woods is a reglar mess. Itll be a miracle if we find our regments t-night. Pretty soon, though, well meet a-plenty of guards an provost-guards, an one thing an another. Ho! there they go with an offcer, I guess. Look at his hand a-draggin. Hes got all th war he wants, I bet. He wont be talkin so big about his reputation an all when they go t sawin off his leg. Poor feller! My brothers got whiskers jest like that. How did yeh git way over here, anyhow? Your regment is a long way from here, aint it? Well, I guess we can find it. Yeh know there was a boy killed in my compny t-day that I thought th world an all of. Jack was a nice feller. By ginger, it hurt like thunder t see ol Jack jest git knocked flat. We was a-standin purty peaceable fer a spell, though there was men runnin evry way all round us, an while we was a-standin like that, long come a big fat feller. He began t peck at Jacks elbow, an he ses: Say, wheres th road t th river? An Jack, he never paid no attention, an th feller kept on a-peckin at his elbow an sayin: Say, wheres th road t th river? Jack was a-lookin ahead all th time tryin t see th Johnnies comin through th woods, an he never paid no attention t this big fat feller fer a long time, but at last he turned round an he ses: Ah, go t hell an find th road t th river! An jest then a shot slapped him bang on th side th head. He was a sergeant, too. Them was his last words. Thunder, I wish we was sure a findin our regments t-night. Its goin t be long huntin. But I guess we kin do it. In the search which followed, the man of the cheery voice seemed to the youth to possess a wand of a magic kind. He threaded the mazes of the tangled forest with a strange fortune. In encounters with |
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