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Show cool as never before in his life. He saw 1 and heard as never before. The Russians Rus-sians advanced. - j "I am no coward. I will prove that I am no coward," Komatsu whimpered to himself as the lines of the enemy came nearer and nearer. It was a terrible onslaught. Irresistible in its force, and as the Japanese gave way, first slowly and then faster and faster, the recruit rushed forward, waving his cap, into the very midst of the enemy. Suddenly everything turned black before be-fore his eyes. His1 brain was in a whirl and he felt nothing more. He persuaded himself that it was night and thatvthe battle was over. After a while he heard voices, he felt kind hands seize him by the Phoulders and feet. "It is one of the new recruits who came yerterday. Had we more like him we should not be prisoners now. He fought like a demon." "Yes; I never saw the like of it," another an-other voice replied. "I saw him seize one of their .standards before he was killed. If he had lived and we had won the fight he would surely have won a commission." SHORT STORY HIS riRST BATTLE. "So you are one of the recruits," the sergeant asked. "You come Just at the right time. We shall see a great" battle before we are two days older." Ito Komatsu took the rifle, the knap-eack knap-eack and the haversack which were handed him without speaking a word. AH the other soldiers around him, who were singing and cracking Jokes while they were getting ready to march on, were veterans of many weeks and had had time to get familiar with war, while it was only a few days since he had left his studies at Tokio. "Are you brave or are you a coward?" he had asked himself. "Are your nerves ftrong enough to stand the test? Is your pride strong enough to conquer your physical fear and keep you wneie you are placed or will you be called a coward by your comrades after the llrst battle?" - - At last his pride conquered. "All his fellow-students had volunteered and he had followed their example. "So you have Just arrived?" a soldier in a dirty and ragged uniform asked him. "Two hours ago," he replied. , "You are lucky. We are close to Kuro-patkin Kuro-patkin now . and we shall soon see a great battle. L had to wait two months before I got into one. How many of you are there?" "Only four." "There ought to have been twenty, half of our company is gone. It seemed . as if the Kusslan sharpshooters just selected se-lected our company tor their target practice during the last battle. We fell like flies. Have you courage?'" 'I I do not know." "You look as if you had, but I will keep my eye on you and help you out when we get into the thick of it. The first battle always makes one feel nervous, ner-vous, afterward one does not mind it at all." "Are you never afraid during the fighting?" asked Komatsu after a moment's mo-ment's silence. "jff raid afraid of what?"- "Oh, of the bullets and shells and wound9 and death." "Oh Nonsense, you must not think of those things." But little Ito KomatEU did think of those things. How men could laugh and sing on the eve of a great battle he could not understand. It was night, the Japanese army was resting. Rolled in . a blanket Ito Komatsu Ko-matsu tried to Pleep, but could not find any rest At midnight he got up and took a walk. Joining a comrade who had a toothache. "What are you trotting around here for?" the latter asked him. "I am too nervous to sleep." "The devil. You must be a new recruit." re-cruit." "I came here yesterday." "Oh, that explains it. You better go back to your blanket and get a good rest. Kuropatkin has not given his men special orders to shoot at you. D that toothache If It were only morning." Komatsu walked back ashamed, every nerve tingling, shuddering with fright. The night passed, but. oh, how slowly, and when the first rays of dawn broke through the darkness the sleepers were aroused and before sunrise they were advancing toward-the enemy. Komatsu marched along with the others, his legs moving mechanically, and while he was marching on he looked across fields and mountains, wondering from where the first shot would come. That was his only thought, otherwise he had become be-come a machine. The man next to him was growling: "I hate this getting up before daylight. day-light. Why haven't Kuropatkin and Kurokl come to an agreement not to start fighting until a man has had time to get his sleep. And I wanted to get a haircut today, too.. How are you, comrade?" com-rade?" "Pretty fair," Komatsu replied. "I am glad to hear that. You will see something before the day is over. What is the matter with your teeth?" "N-n-nothing!" "I believe they are chattering. And your knees seem a little shaky, too. I hope you are not afraid." "N-no, I don't think so." The first Phot rang out. The battle began on the left wing and for an hcr and a half the division to which Komatsu Komat-su belonged had nothing to do but to remain re-main passive onlookers. The roar of the artillery and the rattling fire of thousands thou-sands of rifles made Komatsu feel as If the end of the world was coming. "Keep quiet! Keep cool there, you recruit. re-cruit. What the devil is the matter with you?" It waa the voice of the sergeant, who gave Komatsu a slap on the back. The recruit had waved his cap in the air and shouted "Banzai!" but it was like a dream to him. He saw his comrades smile and laugh, though he could only dimly distinguish their faces. The enemy ene-my was attacking and everybody threw himself down, peeking cover behind the rocks and bushes everybody but one. Komatsu remained standing, rifle in his hand, waiting for the enemy. "Fall down there, you damned idiot!" shouted a thousand voices, but he paid no attention - to them, and hardly felt that the sergeant threw him down. The noise grew worse. Soldiers Russian Rus-sian soldiers appeared, , shouting "Ourai!" at the top of their voices. Komatsu Ko-matsu was no longer a human being. His body was there, but his senses were gone. His comrades on both sides loaded and fired 'a fast as they could, and mechanically me-chanically he did the same. Men in blue uniforms and men wltji great beards shouted and roared; he did the same. He did more than that. Throwing down his rifle, he attacked his comrade on the left with his bare fists. The division rent its wounded to the rear. The first attack ha4 been beaten off when Komatsu Ko-matsu again came to and found himself held by two of his comrades. The sergeant ser-geant was shouting: "Of all the blooming Idiots I have ever seen he is the worst! Afk the Lieutenant Lieuten-ant if I may try to bring him to his senses." "Is is over?" Komatsu asked. "Over, you fool! It has only just begun. be-gun. Can't you get some sense and not try to cut Korupatkin's whole army to pieces all alone!" "Have I was I" H was going to ask If he had been a co 4 rd. but Just then the order was given to prepare, for a new attack. Ko-matsu's Ko-matsu's heart swelled with pride he had not run away. And now he remembered remem-bered as if it had been a dream that he had cursed and shouted "Banzai;" that he had fired without knowing at whom; that in the excitement he had lost all control of himself. It was only a step from cowardice. He saw it in the faces of his comrades when they looked at him and became suddenly as calm and |