Show i akAAji tjk aaa Aitkk ai 1 The Death Chamber By Stephen Crane tf1ff nfJ PI 1 1ft 111ft IfftI1 nfl m A sergeant a corporal and 14 men of he Twcltth regiment of the ling had I been lent out to occupy a house on tho main highway They would be at least a half of a mllo In advance of any ther picket of their own people Sergeant Morton was deeply angry at being sent on this duty lIe Said hut ho was overworked There wore at least two sergeants he claimed furiously fu-riously whose turn It should have been to go on this arduous mission lie was ticated unfairly ho was abused by i his superiors why did any fool ever join the army as for him he would get out of It as soon as possible he was sick of It t the life of a dog All thIs he sold to the corporal who listened ened attentively giving grunts of respectful re-spectful assent On the way to this post two privates took occasion to drop casually to tho rear and pilfer In the orchard of a deserted de-serted plantation When the sergeant discovered this absence he grew black with a rngo which was an accumulation accumula-tion of all his Irritations Hun you he howled Bring them here Ill show them A private ran swiftly to the rear Tho remainder Df the squad began to shout nervously Ilt the two delinquents whoso figures they could Bee In the deep shade of the orchard hurriedly picking fruit from the ground and cramming It within theIr shirts next to their skins The beseeching cries of their comrades itlrred the criminals more than did the barking of the sergeant They ran to rejoIn the squad while holding their loaded bosoms and with their mouths open > with aggrieved explanations A moment later the squad moved on toward Its station Behind the sergeants ser-geants back Jones and Patterson wore ilyly passing apples and pears to their friends while the sergeant expounded eloquently to the corporal You see what kind of men are In the army low Why when I Joined tho regiment It was a very different thing I can tell you Then a sergeant had some authority au-thority end If a man disobeyed orders be had a very small chance of escaping something extremely serious But now Good God If I report these men the captain will look over a lot of beastly order sheets and say here tom irr C 1 tttr w t 1 ttt C F u rf 5 r ap 1 d We Can Beat Them Off the sergeant wrathfully Imitated tho voice of his captain Haw oh well Sergeant Morton these men seem to ave very good records very good records rec-ords indeed I cant be too lard on them no not too hard continued the sergeant I tell you Flogler the army is no place for a decent mn Flagler the corporal answered with a sincerity of appreciation which with him had become a science I think you are right sergeant ho answered Behind them the privates mumbled discreetly This sergeant of ours he thinks we are made of wood I dont see any reason for all this strictness when wo arc on active service It isnt like being at homo In barracks Ibis is very different He hammers us now worse than he did In barracks There is no grrat harm In a couple of men dropping out to raid an orchard of the enemy when all tho world knows that wo havent had a decent meal In 20 days The reddened face of Sergeant Morton Mor-ton suddenly showed to the rear A little more marching and much less talking he said When he came to the house he had been ordered to occupy tho sergeant sniffed with disdain These people must have lived like cattle I bo said angrily To be sure the place was not alluring allur-ing The groundlloor had been used for the housing of cattle and It was dark and terrible A light of steps led to the lofty first floor which was denuded de-nuded but respectable The sergeants visage lightened when ho saw the strong wals of stone and cement Unless Un-less they turn guns on us they will i never get us out of hero he said cheerfully to the squad The men anxious to keep him In an amiable mood all hurriedly grinned and teemed ery appreciative and pleased Ill make this Into a fortrojs he announced Ho sent Jones and Patterson Patter-son the two orchard thieves out on sentry duty He worked the otners then until ho could think of no more things to toll them to do Afterward be went forth with a major generals serious pcowl and examined the ground in front of his position In returning be came to a sentry Jones munching I y an apple He sternly commanded him to throw it away The men spread their blankets on tho floors of the bare rooms and putting put-ting their packs under their head and lighting their pipes they liver In lazy peace Bees hummed In the garuen and a scent of lowers came through the open window There was a sudden little patter of shooting A cry from Jones rang out With no little Intermediate scrambling tho sergernt leaped straight to hIs feet i Now he cried let us see what you are made of If he added bitterly I you are made of anything I A man jelled Good God cant you see joure all tangled up In my cartridge I cart-ridge belt i Another man jelled Keep on my legs Cant you walk on tho tUoj To ho windows there was a lilnd ash ot slumberous men who brushed Jr tram their eyes even as they made ready theh rllles Jones and Patterson Patter-son camo stumbling up the steps crying cry-Ing dreadful Information Already the enemys bullets were spilling and singing sing-ing over the house The sergeant suddenly was stilt and cold with a sense of the Importance of the thing There was a howl There they are There they come The rllles crackled A light smoke drifted Idly through the rooms There was a strong odor as from burnt paper and the powder of firecrackers Now said the sergeant ambitiously ambitious-ly we can beat them off easily If you men are good enough There vas a fusillade against another an-other sldo of the house The sergeant dashed Into the room which commanded command-ed that situation He found a dead soldier on the floor Patterson cried Sergeant Morton Yes said Patterson his face sat with some deeprooted quality of determination de-termination Still ho was a mere farm boyGo Go In to Knowles window and shoot at those people said tho sergeant hoarsely Afterwards he coughed Some of the fumes of the fight had made way to his lungs Patterson looked at the door late this other room He looked at It as it he suspected it was to be his death chamber Then ho entered and stood across the body of Knowles and fired vigorously into x group of charming plum trees They cant take this house declared de-clared the sergeant In a contemptuous and argumentative tone He wa apparently ap-parently replying to somebody A man who had been shot In the throat looked up at him Eight men were tiring from the windows The sergeant detected in a corner three wounded men talking together feebly Dont you think there is anything to do ho bawled Go and cot Knowles cartridges and give them to somebody that can use thorn Take Simpsons too The man who had been shot in the throat looked at him Of the threo wounded men who had been talking one said apologetically My leg Is all doubled up under me Meantime the sergeant was reloading reload-ing his rlllo His foot slipped In the blood of the man who had been shot In the throat Why we can hold this place shouted the sergeant jubilantly Corporal Flagler sudileily spun from his window and fell In a heap Sergeant murmured a man a S ho dropped to a seat on the floor out of danger I cant stand this 1 swear I i cant I think we should run away Morton with the kindly eyes of a i good shorherd looked at the man You are afraid Johnston you era afraid he said softly The man struggled strug-gled to his foot cast upon the sergeant a gaze full of admiration reproach and despair and returned to his post A moment later he pitched forward and thereafter his body hung limply out oi the window n n n The sergeant laid his rifle against the stonework of the window frame and shot with care until his magazine was empty Behind him a man simply sim-ply grazed on the elbow was wildly sobbing like a girl Shut up said Morton without turning his head Before him was a vista of fields clumps of trees woods populated with little stealthy fleeting figures He grow furious Why didnt he send me orders ho cried aloud The emphasis on the word he was Impressive Im-pressive The man who had been grazed on the elbow still set up his bleat Mor tons fury veered to this soldier Cant you shut up Cant you shut upT Cant you shut up Fight Thats the thing to Gol Fight A bullet struck Morton and he fell upon the man who had been shot In the throat There was a sickening moment Then the sergeant rolled off to a position upon tho bloody floor He turned himself with a last effort until ho could look at tho wounded who were able to look at him His arms weakened and ho dropped on his face After an interval a young subaltern of the enemys Infantry followed by his eager men burst Into this reeking death chamber But Just over the threshold ho halted and remarked with a shrug to his sergeint I should have estimated them ae at least 100 strong Copyright 19C by Joseph n Bowles |