| Show 4 4 HUSSARS OF DEATH EATH I 1 DY UY PAUL OVERT 4 COPTI 1 tIGHT ISO 1902 br STORT POT pun CO A A J the horses pulled and tugged at the bit and tossed their heads impatiently the cl clani lne of sword and scabbard began to lull my mind and my cy ey lids began to droop through the light gray ol 01 the early morning the figures of 0 the troopers looked ghostlike and shadowy as they swayed with the motion of their mount and the low hum of voices camo came to my ears as ai from afar the soft sucking thud of the horses homes boods on the corduroy road acting with the easy mist that hung over the valley begin to send a feeling of drowsiness over me and my eyes slowly closed the world had been shut out from my view but a moment 4 when I 1 became conscious of something riding beside me something cold and silent and in a moment my eyes flew peu open the men vero were just aa a I 1 had lust last seen them and for a moment I 1 laughed at my sudden fears but gradually an object black silent and mournful be gan to close in upon me and even as I 1 looked figure after figure began to spread throughout the troop until there were thou thousands sando of them riding amongst us I 1 looked at the one canet can tt beside me he ile seemed to breathe a cod co d damp mess and involuntarily I 1 wrapped my military cloak closer round my body he ile was black from his adult it cap and loose boat to the powe powei charger he rode a deathly black he fie was tall and gaunt and in the light breeze that had bad sprung up his clothes flapped loosely about hia his bony frame and bis his horse though galloping along aide of mine gave no sound as its hoots struck the road an orderly camo tame riding from the ro aar ar and rode straight tor for him A warding cry was on my lips when to my horror the trooper swept past having ridden through my companion as though he were but air for a adment I 1 reeled unsteadily in my saddle but a grim chuckle brought me to myself ruy self and r sat upright to find what had bad once been a human face staring at me it needed but a glance at those sunken hollows and whitened bones to to tell me I 1 was looking at a skeleton abu are you I 1 muttered the one in black broke into akots r chuckle we he said indicating the others with a sweep of his shadowy arm are the Ilus hussars sars of death I 1 shuddered and swerved my horse from the phanton dut but lii hi an instant without any visible effort he leaped his charger over to my side veil have work here today to day he croaked work work I 1 shivered slightly and glanced at a jow low flat line far down the valley and through the rifling rising mists thought I 1 could distinguish the gleam of a cannon so these were the trenches we wore were to charge even an r thought a white puff a dull boom and the shriek of a shell awoke the echoes tit the distant hills and the hussars cf cl death had bad work to do at my MP elbow a bugle blew I 1 A I 1 scarcely heard or understood the notes I 1 saw a thousand right arms bend I 1 heard the scraping of steel on tin and in a moment a thousand thou blades flash cd ed in the tir breathing defiance at the smoke ahead around me I 1 could dimly see strain cd ed and bloodless face faces trying to look encouragement at one another but my eyes were not for them far as tho the eye could reach were ere hosts of A hussars of at death black figures contorting and writhing in silent ff i waiting but for the signal ignal to begu j their work out from the works ahead leaped a tongue of flame to he e followed by a shriek of agony through a rift in the vapor I 1 caught a momentary glimpse of a trooper laying in the A road the ghastly multitude surrounding him in exultation our first recruit gibb gibbered gred the one in black clicking his horrible jas to our first recruit I 1 his ills and the sight eight of the man set met my brain on ore fire and gripping the bridle rein rela in one hand band I 1 rose in my stir stirrups rupi and swung my sabre for his head the sword passed through him as it would have passed through e pace and I 1 fell back in my saddle sick sic at heart his mocking laugh ringing in my ears rhe buele burle blew the charge and tho the blades flashed higher and brighter in the morning eun sun forward swept the troop onward swept the phantoms the shot and shell tore gaping holes la in our ranks and as each man wont down a host of twisting spirits gal gathered th round him their long black coat coats flapping round their frames and blowing back every now and then to disclose a framework of whitened bone bones and as each trooper finally stiffened out ott his distorted body a new form sprang up in their ranks and the ghostly throne throng passed on sickened and discouraged I 1 rode the black multitude swaying around me with the tide of battle r saw the flash of steel before my eyes and instinctive A av 1 r A 1 the hussars of death were gone ly thrust out my sabre the blade struck something soft and yielding and ev ean n aa as I 1 drew back my arm I 1 saw the hussars sweeping down upon something rolling in the road in trout of ine me tho the blood curdled in my veins with horror again came a white flash before me but my arms lay as though dead at my side with fearful fascination ci I 1 saw it rise before my eyes and begin the powerful dow downward hward stroke then came a shock for a moment r reeled and then began to sink down down down A white face leered at me a hollow voice sounded in my ears and to the of another recruit my senses left me and all became black when once more wore my reason returned the night had fallen and the stars blinked down upon a desolate field by the dim light of the early moon the overturned cannons and the still silent forms threw dark suggestive shadows on the ground hilling the tile mind with a hundred wild dark thoughts over in the north a solitary dog lifted its head and bowled howled dismally I 1 closed ny my eyes and tried to think I 1 ait it a rustle by my side startled me and I 1 looked up to find surrounding me the hussars of dath death I 1 had seen men that day reel and tall fall 1 frail from their saddles feebly try to raise their sword arm and falling with their thor last breathe curse their maker I 1 had seen men torn by shot and shell calling upon their god for mercy and dying with a smile on their lips and then in desperation I 1 prayed each word a burning hope petitioning him that gave me life to spare me from that ghastly throng and grad gradually nally my fears loft left me a peace camo came over my torn and wretched soul and I 1 tell fell asleep it waa was morning when I 1 awoke for down the valley the helmets of our defeated retreating army glittered cut but I 1 was as happy for the flus hussars sars of death were cone gone |
