ng, that called him with the voice of his hopes.
Because no harm could come to it he endowed it with power. He kept
near, as if it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went
from his mind.

In the mad scramble he was aware that the color sergeant flinched
suddenly, as if struck by a bludgeon. He faltered, and then became
motionless, save for his quivering knees. He made a spring and a
clutch at the pole. At the same instant his friend grabbed it from the
other side. They jerked at it, stout and furious, but the color
sergeant was dead, and the corpse would not relinquish its trust. For
a moment there was a grim encounter. The dead man, swinging with
bended back, seemed to be obstinately tugging, in ludicrous and awful
ways, for the possession of the flag.

It was past in an instant of time. They wrenched the flag furiously
from the dead man, and, as they turned again, the corpse swayed forward
with bowed head. One arm swung high, and the curved hand fell with
heavy protest on the friend's unheeding shoulder.

Chapter 20

When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the
regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly
back. The men, having hurled themselves in projectile fashion, had
presently expended their forces. They slowly retreated, with their
faces still toward the spluttering woods, and their hot rifles still
replying to the din. Several officers were giving orders, their voices
keyed to screams.

"Where in hell yeh goin'?" the lieutenant was asking in a sarcastic
howl. And a red-bearded officer, whose voice of triple brass could
plainly be heard, was commanding: "Shoot into 'em! Shoot into 'em,
Gawd damn their souls!" There was a melee of screeches, in which the
men were ordered to do conflicting and impossible things.

The youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag. "Give it
t' me!" "No, let me keep it!" Each felt satisfied with the other's
possession of it, but each felt bound to declare, by an offer to carry
the emblem, his willingness to further risk himself. The youth roughly
pushed his friend away.

The regiment fell back to the stolid trees. There it halted for a
moment to blaze at some dark forms that had begun to steal upon its
track. Presently it resumed its march again, curving among the tree
trunks. By the time the depleted regiment had again reached the first
open space they were receiving a fast an