THERE were moments of waiting. The youththought of the village street at home before thearrival of the circus parade on a day in thespring. He remembered how he had stood, asmall, thrillful boy, prepared to follow the dingylady upon the white horse, or the band in itsfaded chariot. He saw the yellow road, thelines of expectant people, and the sober houses.He particularly remembered an old fellow whoused to sit upon a cracker box in front of thestore and feign to despise such exhibitions. Athousand details of color and form surged in hismind. The old fellow upon the cracker box ap-peared in middle prominence.

Some one cried, "Here they come!"

There was rustling and muttering among themen. They displayed a feverish desire to haveevery possible cartridge ready to their hands.The boxes were pulled around into various posi-tions, and adjusted with great care. It was as ifseven hundred new bonnets were being tried on.

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The tall soldier, having prepared his rifle, pro-duced a red handkerchief of some kind. He wasengaged in knitting it about his throat with ex-quisite attention to its position, when the cry wasrepeated up and down the line in a muffled roarof sound.

"Here they come! Here they come!" Gunlocks clicked.

Across the smoke-infested fields came a brownswarm of running men who were giving shrillyells. They came on, stooping and swingingtheir rifles at all angles. A flag, tilted forward,sped near the front.

As he caught sight of them the youth wasmomentarily startled by a thought that perhapshis gun was not loaded. He stood trying torally his faltering intellect so that he might rec-ollect the moment when he had loaded, but hecould not.

A hatless general pulled his dripping horse toa stand near the colonel of the 304th. He shookhis fist in the other's face. "You 've got to hold'em back!" he shouted, savagely; "you 've gotto hold 'em back!"

In his agitation the colonel began to stammer."A-all r-right, General, all right, by Gawd! We-we'll do our--we-we'll d-d-do--do our best, Gen-eral." The general made a passionate gestureand galloped away. The colonel, perchance torelieve his feelings, began to scold like a wetparrot. The youth, turning swiftly to makesure that the rear was unmolested, saw the com-mander regarding his men in a highly regretfulmanner, as if he regretted above everything hisassociation with them.

The man at the youth's elbow was mumbling,as if to himself: "Oh, we 're in for it now! oh,we 're in for it now!"

The captain of the company had been pacingexcitedly to and fro in the rear. He coaxed inschoolmistress fashion, as to a congregation ofboys with primers. His talk was an endlessrepetition. "Reserve your fire, boys--don'tshoot till I tell you--save your fire--wait tillthey get close up--don't be damned fools--"

Perspiration streamed down the youth's face,which was soiled like that of a weeping urchin.He frequently, with a nervous movement, wipedhis eyes with his coat sleeve. His mouth wasstill a little ways open.

He got the one glance at the foe-swarmingfield in front of him, and instantly ceased to de-bate the question of his piece being loaded. Be-fore he was ready to begin--before he had an-nounced to himself that he was about to fight--he threw the obedient, well-balanced rifle intoposition and fired a first wild shot. Directly hewas working at his weapon like an automaticaffair.

He suddenly lost concern for himself, and for-got to look at a menacing fate. He became not aman but a member. He felt that something ofwhich he was a part--a regiment, an army, acause, or a country--was in a crisis. He waswelded into a common personality which wasdominated by a single desire. For some mo-ments he could not flee no more than a littlefinger can commit a revolution from a hand.

If he had thought the regiment was about tobe annihilated perhaps he could have amputatedhimself from it. But its noise gave him assur-ance. The regiment was like a firework that,once ignited, proceeds superior to circumstancesuntil its blazing vitality fades. It wheezed andbanged with a mighty power. He pictured theground before it as strewn with the discom-fited.

There was a consciousness always of the pres-ence of his comrades about him. He felt thesubtle battle brotherhood more potent even thanthe cause for which they were fighting. It was amysterious fraternity born of the smoke and dan-ger of death.

He was at a task. He was like a carpenterwho has made many boxes, making still anotherbox, only there was furious haste in his move-ments. He, in his thought, was careering off inother places, even as the carpenter who as heworks whistles and thinks of his friend or hisenemy, his home or a saloon. And these jolteddreams were never perfect to him afterward, butremained a mass of blurred shapes.

Presently he began to feel the effects of thewar atmosphere--a blistering sweat, a sensationthat his eyeballs were about to crack like hotstones. A burning roar filled his ears.

Following this came a red rage. He devel-oped the acute exasperation of a pestered animal,a well-meaning cow worried by dogs. He had amad feeling against his rifle, which could only beused against one life at a time. He wished torush forward and strangle with his fingers. Hecraved a power that would enable him to make aworld-sweeping gesture and brush all back. Hisimpotency appeared to him, and made his rageinto that of a driven beast.

Buried in the smoke of many rifles his angerwas directed not so much against the men whomhe knew were rushing toward him as against theswirling battle phantoms which were chokinghim, stuffing their smoke robes down his parchedthroat. He fought frantically for respite for hissenses, for air, as a babe being smothered attacksthe deadly blankets.

There was a blare of heated rage mingled witha certain expression of intentness on all faces.Many of the men were making low-toned noiseswith their mouths, and these subdued cheers,snarls, imprecations, prayers, made a wild, bar-baric song that went as an undercurrent of sound,strange and chantlike with the resounding chordsof the war march. The man at the youth's elbowwas babbling. In it there was something soft andtender like the monologue of a babe. The tallsoldier was swearing in a loud voice. From hislips came a black procession of curious oaths. Ofa sudden another broke out in a querulous waylike a man who has mislaid his hat. "Well, whydon't they support us? Why don't they sendsupports? Do they think--"

The youth in his battle sleep heard this as onewho dozes hears.

There was a singular absence of heroic poses.The men bending and surging in their haste andrage were in every impossible attitude. The steelramrods clanked and clanged with incessant dinas the men pounded them furiously into the hotrifle barrels. The flaps of the cartridge boxes wereall unfastened, and bobbed idiotically with eachmovement. The rifles, once loaded, were jerkedto the shoulder and fired without apparent aiminto the smoke or at one of the blurred and shift-ing forms which upon the field before the regi-ment had been growing larger and larger likepuppets under a magician's hand.

The officers, at their intervals, rearward, neg-lected to stand in picturesque attitudes. Theywere bobbing to and fro roaring directions andencouragements. The dimensions of their howlswere extraordinary. They expended their lungswith prodigal wills. And often they nearly stoodupon their heads in their anxiety to observe theenemy on the other side of the tumbling smoke.

The lieutenant of the youth's company had en-countered a soldier who had fled screaming atthe first volley of his comrades. Behind the linesthese two were acting a little isolated scene. Theman was blubbering and staring with sheeplikeeyes at the lieutenant, who had seized him by thecollar and was pommeling him. He drove himback into the ranks with many blows. The sol-dier went mechanically, dully, with his animal-like eyes upon the officer. Perhaps there was tohim a divinity expressed in the voice of the other--stern, hard, with no reflection of fear in it. Hetried to reload his gun, but his shaking hands pre-vented. The lieutenant was obliged to assist him.

The men dropped here and there like bundles.The captain of the youth's company had beenkilled in an early part of the action. His bodylay stretched out in the position of a tired manresting, but upon his face there was an astonishedand sorrowful look, as if he thought some friendhad done him an ill turn. The babbling man wasgrazed by a shot that made the blood streamwidely down his face. He clapped both handsto his head. "Oh!" he said, and ran. Anothergrunted suddenly as if he had been struck by aclub in the stomach. He sat down and gazedruefully. In his eyes there was mute, indefinitereproach. Farther up the line a man, standingbehind a tree, had had his knee joint splinteredby a ball. Immediately he had dropped his rifleand gripped the tree with both arms. And therehe remained, clinging desperately and crying forassistance that he might withdraw his hold uponthe tree.

At last an exultant yell went along the quiver-ing line. The firing dwindled from an uproar toa last vindictive popping. As the smoke slowlyeddied away, the youth saw that the charge hadbeen repulsed. The enemy were scattered intoreluctant groups. He saw a man climb to thetop of the fence, straddle the rail, and fire a part-ing shot. The waves had receded, leaving bits ofdark debris upon the ground.

Some in the regiment began to whoop fren-ziedly. Many were silent. Apparently they weretrying to contemplate themselves.

After the fever had left his veins, the youththought that at last he was going to suffocate.He became aware of the foul atmosphere inwhich he had been struggling. He was grimyand dripping like a laborer in a foundry. Hegrasped his canteen and took a long swallow ofthe warmed water.

A sentence with variations went up and downthe line. "Well, we 've helt 'em back. We 'vehelt 'em back; derned if we haven't." The mensaid it blissfully, leering at each other with dirtysmiles.

The youth turned to look behind him and offto the right and off to the left. He experiencedthe joy of a man who at last finds leisure in whichto look about him.

Under foot there were a few ghastly formsmotionless. They lay twisted in fantastic contor-tions. Arms were bent and heads were turnedin incredible ways. It seemed that the dead menmust have fallen from some great height to getinto such positions. They looked to be dumpedout upon the ground from the sky.

From a position in the rear of the grove a bat-tery was throwing shells over it. The flash ofthe guns startled the youth at first. He thoughtthey were aimed directly at him. Through thetrees he watched the black figures of the gunnersas they worked swiftly and intently. Their laborseemed a complicated thing. He wondered howthey could remember its formula in the midst ofconfusion.

The guns squatted in a row like savage chiefs.They argued with abrupt violence. It was agrim pow-wow. Their busy servants ran hitherand thither.

A small procession of wounded men were go-ing drearily toward the rear. It was a flow ofblood from the torn body of the brigade.

To the right and to the left were the darklines of other troops. Far in front he thought hecould see lighter masses protruding in pointsfrom the forest. They were suggestive of un-numbered thousands.

Once he saw a tiny battery go dashing alongthe line of the horizon. The tiny riders werebeating the tiny horses.

From a sloping hill came the sound of cheer-ings and clashes. Smoke welled slowly throughthe leaves.

Batteries were speaking with thunderous ora-torical effort. Here and there were flags, thered in the stripes dominating. They splashedbits of warm color upon the dark lines oftroops.

The youth felt the old thrill at the sight ofthe emblem. They were like beautiful birdsstrangely undaunted in a storm.

As he listened to the din from the hillside, toa deep pulsating thunder that came from afar tothe left, and to the lesser clamors which camefrom many directions, it occurred to him thatthey were fighting, too, over there, and overthere, and over there. Heretofore he had sup-posed that all the battle was directly under hisnose.

As he gazed around him the youth felt a flashof astonishment at the blue, pure sky and thesun gleamings on the trees and fields. It wassurprising that Nature had gone tranquilly onwith her golden process in the midst of so muchdevilment.