by John McElroy
CHAPTER XIII. SI "STRAGGLED"
AND THE OTHER BOYS MADE IT MIGHTY LOVELY FOR HIM.
ONE day while Buell was chasing Bragg, two or three weeks after leavingLouisville, the army was pushing forward at a gait that made the cavalryahead trot half the time to keep out of the way of the infantry. Theextraordinary speed that day was due to the fact that there were norebels in sight. Half a dozen ragged troopers with shotguns, a mileaway, would have caused the whole army to halt, form line-of-battle, andstay thera the rest of the day.
The tanned veterans didn't mind the marching. They stretched their legsand went swinging along with a happy-go-lucky air, always ready foranything that might turn up. But it was rough on the new troops, justfrom home. It taxed their locomotive powers to the utmost limit.
The boys of the 200th Ind. started out bravely. Their fresh, cleanfaces, new uniforms, and shiny accouterments contrasted stronglywith those of the weather-beaten soldiers of '61. You could tell a"tenderfoot" as far as you could see him.
They trudged along in fair shape for an hour or two. Before startingin the morning strict orders had been read to the regiment forbiddingstraggling, for any reason, under the most terrifying pains andpenalties.
"Them fellers that's been in the service longer 'n we have think they'resmart," said Si Klegg, as he and Shorty plodded on, both already alittle blown. "Well show 'em that we can hoof it jest as fast as theycan, and jest as fur in a day!"
"Seems to me we're git'n over the ground party lively to-day," repliedShorty, who was in a grumbling mood. "Wonder if the Gin'ral thinkswe're bosses! I'm a little short o' wind, and these pesky gunboats arescrapin' the bark off'n my feet; but I'll keep up or bust."
Though e spirit of these young patriots was willing, the flesh was weak.It wasn't long till Si began to limp. Now and then a groan escaped hislips as a fresh blister "broke." But Si clinched his teeth, humped hisback to ease his shoulders from the weight of his knapsack, screwedup his courage, and tramped on over the stony pike. He thought thebreathing spells were very short and a long way apart.
Si's knapsack had experienced the universal shrinkage, as told in aprevious chapter of our hero's martial career. He still had, however, agood many things that he thought he couldn't spare, but which he foundlater he could very well get along without.
By noon the 200th began to show signs of going to pieces. The columnstretched out longer and longer, like a piece of India-rubber. The rankslooked thin and ragged. Lame and foot-sore, with wo-begone faces, theirbodies aching in every bone and tendon, and overcome with a wearinessthat no one can realize unless he has "been there," the men droppedout one by one and threw themselves into the fence-corners to rest. Theofficers stormed and drew their swords in vain. Nature--that is, thenature of a new soldier--could endure no more. The ambulances werefilled to their utmost, but these would not hold a twentieth part of thecrippled and suffering men.
"How're ye gittin' on, Shorty?" said Si, as he and his comrade stillstruggled along.
"Fair to middlin'," replied Shorty. "I'm goin' to try and pull through!"
"I thought I could," said Si, "but I'm 'bout played out! I am, fer afact! I guess ef I rest a bit I'll be able to ketch up after a while."
Si didn't know till he found out by experience how hard it was to "ketchup" when a soldier once got behind on the march. Si was too fat for agood roadster, but it didn't take a great while to work off his surplusflesh. Shorty was tall and slim, mostly bone--one of the sort thatalways stood the marching best, crept up to the Orderly and told him thathe would have to stop and puff a while and give his blisters a rest.He'd pull up with Co. Q in an hour or so.
"Better not, Si" said the Orderly; "ye know it's agin orders, andthe rear-guard 'll punch ye with their bay'net's if they catch yestragglin'."
But Si concluded that if he must die for his country it would be sweeterto do so by having a bayonet inserted in his vitals, and then it wouldbe all over with at once, than to walk himself to death.
So he gradually fell back till he reached the tail of the company.Watching his opportunity, he left the ranks, crept into a clumpof bushes, and lay down, feeling as if he had been run through agrist-mill. Soon the rear-guard of the 200th came along, with fixedbayonets, driving before them like a flock of frightened sheep a motleycrowd of limping, groaning men, gathered up by the roadside.
Si lay very still, hoping to escaoe discovery; but the keen eye of theofficer detected the blue heap among the bushes.
"Bring that man out!" said he sternly to one of the guards.
Poor Si scarcely dare to breathe. He hoped the man would think he wasdead, and therefore no longer of any account. But the soldier began toprod him with his bayonet, ordering him to get up and move on.
"DON'T STAB ME." 123 ]
"Look-a-here, pard," said Si, "don't stab me with that thing! I jestcan't git along any furder till I blow a little. You please lemme be,an' I'll do as much for you. P'rhaps some time you'll get played out andI'll be on the rear-guard. The Cap'n 'll tell me ter fotch ye 'long, an'I'll jest let ye rest, so I will!"
This view of the case struck the guard with some force. Moved withcompassion, he turned away, leaving Si to enjoy his rest.
HYDROPATHIC TREATMENT 125 ]
Si threw aside his traps, took off his shoes and stockings, and bathedhis feet with water from his canteen. He ate a couple of hardtack,and in the course of half an hour began to feel more like Si Klegg. Hegeared himself up, shouldered his gun, and started to "ketch up."
All this time the stream of troops--regiments, brigades anddivisions--had flowed on. Of course, soldiers who were with their colorshad the right of way, and the stragglers were obliged to stumble alongas best they could, over the logs and through the bushes at the sides ofthe roads or skirt along the edges of the fields and woods adjoining. Itwas this fact added to their exhausted and crippled condition, that madeit almost impossible for stragglers to overtake their regiments untilthey halted for the night. Even then it was often midnight before thelast of the wayfarers, weary and worn, dragged their aching limbs intocamp.
Si started forward briskly, but soon found it was no easy matter to gainthe mile or so that the 200th Ind. was now ahead of him. It was aboutall he could do to keep up with the fast-moving column and avoid failingstill further to the rear. Presently the bugles sounded a halt for oneof the hourly rests.
"Now," said Si to himself, "I'll have a good chance to git along tor'dthe front. The soljers 'll all lie down in the fence corners an' leavethe road clear. I'll jest git up an' dust!"
The sound of the bugles had scarcely died away when the pike wasdeserted, and on either side, as far as the eye could reach, theprostrate men that covered the ground mingled in a long fringe of blue.
Si got up into the road and started along the lane between these linesof recumbent soldiers. His gait was a little shaky, for the blisters onhis feet began to give evidence of renewed activity. He trudged pluckilyalong, limping some in spite of himself, but on the whole making verygood headway.
Pretty soon he struck a veteran regiment from Illinois, the membersof which were sitting and lying around in all the picturesque andindescribable postures which the old soldiers found gave them thegreatest comfort during a "rest." Then they commenced--that is, it wasgreat sport for the Sucker boys, though Si did not readily appreciatethe humorous features of the scene.
"What rigiment is this?" asked Si, timidly.
"Same old rijiment!" was the answer from half a dozen at once. A singleglance told the swarthy veterans that the fresh-looking youth whoasked this conundrum belonged to one of the new regiments, and theyimmediately opened their batteries upon him:
"Left--left-=left!"
"Hayfoot--strawfoot! Hayfoot--strawfoot!" keeping time with Si'ssomewhat irregular steps.
"Hello, there, you! Change step and you'll march easier!"
"Look at that 'ere poor feller; the only man left alive of his regiment!Great Cesar, how they must have suffered! Say, what rijiment d
id youb'long to?"
"Paymaster's comin', boys, here's a chap with a pay-roll round hisneck!" Si had put on that morning the last of the paper collars he hadbrought from home.
"You'd better shed that knapsack, or it'll be the death of ye!"
"I say, there, how's all the folks to home?"
"How d'ye like it as far as you've got, any way?"
"Git some commissary and pour into them gunboats!"
"Second relief's come, boys; we can all go home now."
"Grab a root!"
"Hep--hep--hep!"
"How'd ye leave Mary Ann?"
Si had never been under such a fire before. He stood it as long as hecould, and 'then he stopped.
"Halt!" shouted a chorus of voices. "Shoulder--Arms!" "Order--Arms!"
By this time Si's wrath was at the boiling point. Casting around him alook of defiance, he exclaimed:
"You cowardly blaggards; I can jest lick any two of ye, an' I'll dare yeto come on. If the 200th Ind. was here we'd clean out the hull pack ofye quicker'n ye can say scat!"
This is where Si made a mistake. He ought to have kept right on and saidnothing. But Si had to find out all these things by experience, as therest of the boys did.
SI DEFIES A REGIMENT 129 ]
All the members took a hand in the game. They just got right up andyelled, discharging at Si a volley of expletives and pointed remarksthat drove him to desperation. Instinctively he brought up his gun.
"Load in nine times--Load!" shouted a dozen of the Illinois tramps.
If Si's gun had been loaded he would have shot somebody, regardless ofconsequences. Thinking of his bayonet, he jerked it quickly from itsscabbard.
"Fix--Bay'net!" yelled the ragged veterans.
And he did, though it was more from the promptings of his own hostilefeelings than in obedience to the orders.
"Charge--Bay'net!"
Si had completely lost control of himself in his overpowering rage. Withblood in his eye, he came to, a charge, glancing fiercely from one sideof the road to the other, uncertain where to begin the assault.
Instantly there was a loud clicking all along the line. The Illinoissoldiers, almost to a man, fixed their bayonets. Half of them sprang totheir feet, and all aimed their shining points at the poor young Hoosierpatriot, filling the air with shouts of derision.
It was plain, even to Si in his inflamed state of mind, that the oddsagainst him were too heavy.
"Unfix--Bay'net!" came from half the regiment.
Si concluded he had better get out of a bad scrape the best way hecould. So he took off his bayonet and put it back in its place. Heshouted words of defiance to his tormentors, but they could not be heardin the din.
"Shoulder--Arms!" "Right--Face!" "Right shoulder shift--Arms!""Forward--March!" These commands came in quick succession from the ranksamidst roars of laughter.
Si obeyed the orders and started off.
"Left--left--left!"
"Hayfoot--strawfoot!"
Forgetting his blisters. Si took the double-quick while the mob swungtheir caps and howled with delight.
Si didn't "ketch up" with the 200 Ind. until after it had gone intocamp. Shorty had a quart of hot coffee waiting for him.
"Shorty," said Si as they sat by the fire,--"I'm goin' to drop dead in mytracks before I'll fall out again."
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Oh, nothin'; only you jest try it," said Si.
Had it not been for the "fun" the soldiers had in the army to brightentheir otherwise dark and cheerless lives, they would all have died. Siwas a true type of those who had to suffer for the good of others untilthey learned wisdom in the school of experience.