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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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with rifle barrels. Ironlike brigades would ap- pear in the rear. They were all going to be sacrificed. The generals were stupids. The enemy would presently swallow the whole com- mand. He glared about him, expecting to see the stealthy approach of his death. He thought that he must break from the ranks and harangue his comrades. They must not all be killed like pigs; and he was sure it would come to pass unless they were informed of these dangers. The generals were idiots to send them marching into a regular pen. There was but one pair of eyes in the corps. He would step forth and make a speech. Shrill and passionate words came to his lips. The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and saw, for the most part, expressions of deep inter- est, as if they were investigating something that had fascinated them. One or two stepped with overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged into war. Others walked as upon thin ice. The greater part of the untested men appeared quiet and absorbed. They were going to look at war, the red animal--war, the blood-swollen god. And they were deeply engrossed in this march. As he looked the youth gripped his outcry at his throat. He saw that even if the men were tottering with fear they would laugh at his warn- ing. They would jeer him, and, if practicable, pelt him with missiles. Admitting that he might be wrong, a frenzied declamation of the kind would turn him into a worm. He assumed, then, the demeanor of one who knows that he is doomed alone to unwritten re- sponsibilities. He lagged, with tragic glances at the sky. He was surprised presently by the young lieu- tenant of his company, who began heartily to |
