Gladiator

  XII

  Just as the eastern horizon became light with something more steady thanthe flare of the guns, the command came. Hugo bit his lip till it bleddarkly. He would show them--now. They might command him to wait--hecould restrain himself no longer. The men had been standing there tenseand calm, their needle-like bayonets pointing straight up. "_En avant!_"

  His heart gave a tremendous surge. It made his hands falter as hereached for the ladder rung. "Here we go, Hugo."

  "Luck, Tom."

  He saw Shayne go over. He followed slowly. He looked at no man's land.They had come up in the night and he had never seen it. The scene ofholocaust resembled nothing more than the municipal ash dump at IndianCreek. It startled him. The grey earth in irregular heaps, the litter ofmetal and equipment. He realized that he was walking forward with theother men. The ground under his feet was mushy, like ashes. Then he sawpart of a human body. It changed his thoughts.

  The man on Hugo's right emitted a noise like a squeak and jumped up inthe air. He had been hit. Out of the corner of his eye Hugo saw himfall, get up quickly, and fall again very slowly. His foot kicked afterhe lay down. The rumbling in the sky grew louder and blotted out allother sound.

  They walked on and on. It was like some eternal journey through the dun,vacant realms of Hades. Not much light, one single sound, and ghostlycompanions who faced always forward. The air in front of him wassuddenly dyed orange and he felt the concussion of a shell. His earsrang. He was still walking. He walked what he thought was a number ofmiles.

  His great strength seemed to have left him, and in its place was acomplete enervation. With a deliberate effort he tested himself, kickinghis foot into the earth. It sank out of sight. He squared his shoulders.A man came near him, yelling something. It was Shayne. Hugo shook hishead. Then he heard the voice, a feeble shrill note. "Soon be there."

  "Yeah?"

  "Over that hill."

  Shayne turned away and became part of the ghost escort of Hugo and hispeculiarly lucid thoughts. He believed that he was more conscious ofhimself and things then than ever before in his life. But he did notnotice one-tenth of the expression and action about himself. The top ofthe rise was near. He saw an officer silhouetted against it for aninstant. The officer moved down the other side. He could see over therise, then.

  Across the grey ashes was a long hole. In front of it a maze of wire. Init--mushrooms. German helmets. Hugo gaped at them. All that training,all that restraint, had been expended for this. They were small andwithout meaning. He felt a sharp sting above his collar bone. He lookedthere. A row of little holes had appeared in his shirt.

  "Good God," he whispered, "a machine gun."

  But there was no blood. He sat down. He presumed, as a casualty, he wasjustified in sitting down. He opened his shirt by ripping it down. Onhis dark-tanned skin there were four red marks. The bullets had notpenetrated him. Too tough! He stared numbly at the walking men. They hadpassed him. The magnitude of his realization held him fixed for a fullminute. He was invulnerable! He should have known it--otherwise he wouldhave torn himself apart by his own strength. Suddenly he roared andleaped to his feet. He snatched his rifle, cracking the stock in hisfervour. He vaulted toward the helmets in the trench.

  He dropped from the parapet and was confronted by a long knife on a gun.His lips parted, his eyes shut to slits, he drew back his own weapon.There was an instant's pause as they faced each other--two men, bothknowing that in a few seconds one would be dead. Then Hugo, out of hisscarlet fury, had one glimpse of his antagonist's face and person. Theglimpse was but a flash. It was finished in quick motions. He was alittle man--a foot shorter than Hugo. His eyes looked out from under hishelmet with a sort of pathetic earnestness. And he was worried, horriblyworried, standing there with his rifle lifted and trying to remember theprecise technique of what would follow even while he fought back therealization that it was hopeless. In that split second Hugo felt ahuman, amazing urge to tell him that it was all right, and that he oughtto hold his bayonet a little higher and come forward a bit faster. Theimage faded back to an enemy. Hugo acted mechanically from the ritualsof drill. His own knife flashed. He saw the man's clothes part smoothlyfrom his bowels, where the point had been inserted, up to the gray-greencollar. The seam reddened, gushed blood, and a length of intestineslipped out of it. The man's eyes looked at Hugo. He shook his headtwice. The look became far-away. He fell forward.

  Hugo stepped over him. He was trembling and nauseated. A more formidableman approached warily. The bellow of battle returned to Hugo's ears. Hepushed back the threatening rifle easily and caught the neck in onehand, crushing it to a wet, sticky handful. So he walked through thetrench, a machine that killed quickly and remorselessly--a black warriorfrom a distant realm of the universe where the gods had bred anotherkind of man.

  He came upon Shayne and found him engaged. Hugo stuck his opponent inthe back. No thought of fair play, no object but to kill--it did notmatter how. Dead Legionnaires and dead Germans mingled blood underfoot.The trench was like the floor of an _abattoir_. Someone gave him adrink. The men who remained went on across the ash dump to a secondtrench.

  It was night. The men, almost too tired to see or move, were trying tobarricade themselves against the ceaseless shell fire of the enemy. Theyfilled bags with gory mud and lifted them on the crumbling walls. Atdawn the Germans would return to do what they had done. The darknessreverberated and quivered. Hugo worked like a Trojan. His efforts hadmade a wide and deep hole in which machine guns were being placed.Shayne fell at his feet. Hugo lifted him up. The captain nodded. "Givehim a drink."

  Someone brought liquor, and Hugo poured it between Shayne's teeth."Huh!" Shayne said.

  "Come on, boy."

  "How did you like it, Danner?"

  Hugo did not answer. Shayne went on, "I didn't either--much. This is nogentleman's war. Jesus! I saw a thing or two this morning. A guy walkingwith all his--"

  "Never mind. Take another drink."

  "Got anything to eat?"

  "No."

  "Oh, well, we can fight on empty bellies. The Germans will empty themfor us anyhow."

  "The hell they will."

  "I'm pretty nearly all in."

  "So's everyone."

  They put Hugo on watch because he still seemed fresh. Those men who werenot compelled to stay awake fell into the dirt and slept immediately.Toward dawn Hugo heard sounds in no man's land. He leaped over theparapet. In three jumps he found himself among the enemy. They werecreeping forward. Hugo leaped back. "_Ils viennent!_"

  Men who slept like death were kicked conscious. They rose and fired intothe night. The surprise of the attack was destroyed. The enemy came on,engaging in the darkness with the exhausted Legionnaires. Twice Hugowent among them when inundation threatened and, using his rifle barrelas a club, laid waste on every hand. He walked through them striking andshattering. And twice he saved his salient from extermination. Day camesullenly. It began to rain. The men stood silently among their dead.

  Hugo lit a cigarette. His eyes moved up and down the shambles. Atintervals of two yards a man, his helmet trickling rain, his clothesfilthy, his face inscrutable. Shayne was there on sagging knees. Hugocould not understand why he had not been killed.

  Hugo was learning about war. He thought then that the task which he hadset for himself was not altogether to his liking. There should be otherand more important things for him to do. He did not like to slaughterindividuals. The day passed like a cycle in hell. No change in thepersonnel except that made by an occasional death. No food. No water.They seemed to be exiled by their countrymen in a pool of fire andfamine and destruction. At dusk Hugo spoke to the captain.

  "We cannot last another night without water, food," he said.

  "We shall die here, then."

  "I should like, sir, to volunteer to go back and bring food."

  "We need ammunition more."

  "Ammunition, then."

  "One man could not bring enough to assist--much."
>
  "I can."

  "You are valuable here. With your club and your charmed life, you havealready saved this remnant of good soldiers."

  "I will return in less than an hour."

  "Good luck, then."

  Where there had been a man, there was nothing. The captain blinked hiseyes and stared at the place. He swore softly in French and plunged intohis dug-out at the sound of ripping in the sky.

  A half hour passed. The steady, nerve-racking bombardment continued atan unvaried pace. Then there was a heavy thud like that of a shelllanding and not exploding. The captain looked. A great bundle, tiedtogether by ropes, had descended into the trench. A man emerged frombeneath it. The captain passed his hand over his eyes. Here wasammunition for the rifles and the machine guns in plenty. Here was food.Here were four huge tins of water, one of them leaking where a shellfragment had pierced it. Here was a crate of canned meat and a sack ofonions and a stack of bread loaves. Hugo broke the ropes. His chest roseand fell rapidly. He was sweating. The bundle he had carried weighedmore than a ton--and he had been running very swiftly.

  The captain looked again. A case of cognac. Hugo was carrying thingsinto the dug-out. "Where?" the captain asked.

  Hugo smiled and named a town thirty kilometres behind the lines. A townwhere citizens and soldiers together were even then in frenzieddiscussion over the giant who had fallen upon their stores and suppliesand taken them, running off like a locomotive, in a hail of bullets thatdid no harm to him.

  "And how?" the captain asked.

  "I am strong."

  The captain shrugged and turned his head away. His men were eating thefood, and drinking water mixed with brandy, and stuffing their poucheswith ammunition. The machine gunners were laughing. They would not beforced to spare the precious belts when the Germans came in themorning. Hugo sat among them, dining his tremendous appetite.

  Three days went by. Every day, twice, five times, they were attacked.But no offence seemed capable of driving that demoniac cluster of menfrom their position. A demon, so the enemy whispered, came out andfought for them. On the third day the enemy retreated along fourkilometres of front, and the French moved up to reclaim many, many acresof their beloved soil. The Legionnaires were relieved and anotherepisode was added to their valiant history.

  Hugo slept for twenty hours in the wooden barracks. After that he waswakened by the captain's orderly and summoned to his quarters. Thecaptain smiled when he saluted. "My friend," he said, "I wish to thankyou in behalf of my country for your labour. I have recommended you forthe Croix de Guerre."

  Hugo took his outstretched hand. "I am pleased that I have helped."

  "And now," the captain continued, "you will tell me how you executedthat so unusual coup."

  Hugo hesitated. It was the opportunity he had sought, the chance thatmight lead to a special commission whereby he could wreak the vengeanceof his muscles on the enemy. But he was careful, because he did not feelsecure in trusting the captain with too much of his secret. Even in awar it was too terrible. They would mistrust him, or they would attemptto send him to their biologists. And he wanted to accomplish his missionunder their permission and with their co-operation. It would be morevaluable then and of greater magnitude. So he smiled and said: "Have youever heard of Colorado?"

  "No, I have not heard. It is a place?"

  "A place in America. A place that has scarcely been explored. I was bornthere. And all the men of Colorado are born as I was born and are likeme. We are very strong. We are great fighters. We cannot be woundedexcept by the largest shells. I took that package by force and I carriedit to you on my back, running swiftly."

  The captain appeared politely interested. He thumbed a dispatch. Hestared at Hugo. "If that is the truth, you shall show me."

  "It is the truth--and I shall show you."

  Hugo looked around. Finally he walked over to the sentry at the flap ofthe tent and took his rifle. The man squealed in protest. Hugo liftedhim off the floor by the collar, shook him, and set him down.

  The man shouted in dismay and then was silent at a word from thecaptain. Hugo weighed the gun in his hands while they watched and thenslowly bent the barrel double. Next he tore it from its stock. Then hegrasped the parallel steel ends and broke them apart with a swiftwrench. The captain half rose, his eyes bulged, he knocked over hisink-well. His hand tugged at his moustache and waved spasmodically.

  "You see?" Hugo said.

  The captain went to staff meeting that afternoon very thoughtful. Heunderstood the difficulty of exhibiting his soldier's prowess undercircumstances that would assure the proper commission. He evenconsidered remaining silent about Hugo. With such a man in his companyit would soon be illustrious along the whole broad front. But the chancecame. When the meeting was finished and the officers relaxed over theirwine, a colonel brought up the subject of the merits of various breedsof men as soldiers.

  "I think," he said, "that the Prussians are undoubtedly our mostdangerous foe. On our own side we have--"

  "Begging the colonel's pardon," the captain said, "there is a species offighter unknown, or almost unknown, in this part of the world, whoexcels by far all others."

  "And who may they be?" the colonel asked stiffly.

  "Have you ever heard of the Colorados?"

  "No," the colonel said.

  Another officer meditated. "They are redskins, American Indians, arethey not?"

  The captain shrugged. "I do not know. I know only that they are superiorto all other soldiers."

  "And in what way?"

  The captain's eyes flickered. "I have one Colorado in my troops. I willtell you what he did in five days near the town of Barsine." Theofficers listened. When the captain finished, the colonel patted hisshoulder. "That is a very amusing fabrication. Very. With a thousandsuch men, the war would be ended in a week. Captain Crouan, I fear youhave been overgenerous in pouring the wine."

  The captain rose, saluted. "With your permission, I shall cause myColorado to be brought and you shall see."

  The other men laughed. "Bring him, by all means."

  The captain dispatched an orderly. A few minutes later, Hugo wasannounced at headquarters. The captain introduced him. "Here, messieurs,is a Colorado. What will you have him do?"

  The colonel, who had expected the soldier to be both embarrassed andmade ridiculous, was impressed by Hugo's calm demeanour. "You arestrong?" he said with a faint irony.

  "Exceedingly."

  "He is not humble, at least, gentlemen." Laughter. The colonel fixedHugo with his eye. "Then, my good fellow, if you are so strong, if youcan run so swiftly and carry such burdens, bring us one of our beautifulseventy-fives from the artillery."

  "With your written order, if you please."

  The colonel started, wrote the order laughingly, and gave it to Hugo. Heleft the room.

  "It is a good joke," the colonel said. "But I fear it is harsh on theprivate."

  The captain shrugged. Wine was poured. In a few minutes they heard heavyfootsteps outside the tent. "He is here!" the captain cried. Theofficers rushed forward. Hugo stood outside the tent with the cannonthey had requested lifted over his head in one hand. With that same handclasped on the breach, he set it down. The colonel paled and gulped."Name of the mother of God! He has brought it."

  Hugo nodded. "It was as nothing, my colonel. Now I will show you what wemen from Colorado can do. Watch."

  They eyed him. There was a grating sound beneath his feet. Those whowere quickest of vision saw his body catapult through the air high overtheir heads. It landed, bounced prodigiously, vanished.

  Captain Crouan coughed and swallowed. He faced his superiors, trying toseem nonchalant. "That, gentlemen, is the sort of thing the Coloradosdo--for sport."

  The colonel recovered first. "It is not human. Gentlemen, we have beenin the presence of the devil himself."

  "Or the Good Lord."

  The captain shook his head. "He is a man, I tell you. In Colorado allthe men are like that. He told me
so himself. When he first enlisted, hecame to me and asked for a special commission to go to Berlin and smashthe Reich--to bring back the Kaiser himself. I thought he was mad. Imade him peel potatoes. He did not say any more foolish things. He was agood soldier. Then the battle came and I saw him, not believing I sawhim, standing on the parapet and wielding his rifle like the lightning,killing I do not know how many men. Hundreds certainly, perhapsthousands. Ah, it is as I said, the Colorados are the finest soldiers onearth. They are more than men."

  "He comes!"

  Hugo burst from the sky, moving like a hawk. He came from the directionof the lines, many miles away. There was a bundle slung across hisshoulder. There were holes in his uniform. He landed heavily among theofficers and set down his burden. It was a German. He dropped to theground.

  "Water for him," Hugo panted. "He has fainted. I snatched him from hisoutpost in a trench."