moritz abel stepped nearer. in the silence peter grew embarrassed. what he had said would sound without footing since the poet did not understand the trend of his thoughts. he meant to, add what the long night signified, and wanted his saying really known for what it was—an utterance of pure passion against the destruction of genius. the other replied, making all explanation unnecessary:
“i knew you for one of us. it is the long night, but it is a great honor for us to be here and at work.”
“where are your companions?”
the russian smiled. “they are all about through the dark of the long night. we may only signal in passing. in fact, i must go now—”
the surgeon in charge had entered. peter went to samarc's cot, steeling himself. “samarc,” he whispered, without bending, “samarc—”
the wounded man stirred a little, moaned, but did not answer.... in the far corner boylan was moving cots (occupants and all) closer together for the admission of more. his sleeves were rolled. near him a little woman, whose waist was no larger than the white revelation of boylan's forearm, was directing the way, the giant of the polar failure struggling to please. something of ease and uplift had come to peter from this, and from the passing of moritz abel. silently battling with dabnitz, with kohlvihr, with king's desire and the animal of men, was this service-thing greater than all, greater than death.... a soldier called and he went toward the voice. presently peter was jockeying him into good humor with low talk.
all day the battle tortured the southern distance—the cannonading nearer, as the hours waned. the austrians were holding their own or better. it was the fiercest resistance which the russian columns had as yet encountered. all afternoon wounded were brought back. it became more and more difficult to move among the cots in the building. so it was with all judenbach that was not in ruins. twice through the afternoon there were volleys in the court below; and when the two went forth for food, they saw a soldier carrying baskets of dirt from the street, and covering the stone flags close to the main building.... and from that grim house a little down the street, came at intervals, shocking their senses, the hideous outcry as of murder taking place.... boylan went down into the field an hour before sunset, peter back to the hospital.
“i'll see what i can find,” big belt remarked. “you're right to go back, peter. as for me, i can stand it better outdoors.”
crossing the street, it seemed to peter that he had been in judenbach certain ages, a reckonable space of eternity—despite the lowering sun which calmly informed him that at this time yesterday the austrians had found the range of samarc's battery with a shrapnel or two. many things had come to him. he wished as never before for a free cable.... boylan came in at dark and drew him away from samarc's cot.
“i'll be back to-night,” peter promised.
“...there's been no break in the check to-day,” big belt reported. “kohlvihr's division, and the immediate forces surrounding, are part of the great right wing, and this right is holding up the whole russian command. i heard kohlvihr explaining to the commander's aide that the austrians here had been reinforced; that they gave us judenbach for the taking yesterday, in order to fall back into the hills beyond. the center and left, it appears, is clear, ready to fight on to berlin or budapest, but the whole line is held up for this right wing. kohlvihr is desperate. there'll be a hard pull to get across the hills to-morrow—all hands, peter.”
“this may be our last night in judenbach then?”
“if killing a division will start a hole across that range of hills, it's our last night—”
“i'll sit it out with samarc,” peter said.
“go to it, if you think best. you were a mighty sick woman this morning. something in yonder helped you. i'll see you through for another treatment.”
“boylan, don't you stay up. you've roughed it to-day and been afield. don't let me spoil your sleep—with a big day ahead. it wasn't lack of sleep that got my nerve this morning—”
“oh, i'll yap around till bedtime,” said the other. “what does samarc say?”
“something has come over him. some one came to him last night and seemed to drive a nail right into his thinking—pinned him.”
“he's turned against the killing?”
“yes. and he'll be restless to-night, sleeping so much to-day.... at least, he made the appearance of sleeping. i think he was shocked to hear his voice.... his eyes are right enough. but below—”
“what made you think he had the appearance of sleeping?”
“it just occurred to me. he didn't want to take all my time. i whispered his name several times—no answer. once when i was leaving, his hand reached up and touched my coat.”
“is he hurt badly?”
“not a thing in the body. it's between his throat and his eyes.... you know i saw him last night after the shrapnel as he lifted—it was just a sheet of blood. afterward it was covered in cloth. i don't think he knew until this morning, when he started to talk.”
“he was all knit to the little man,” boylan said. “as good a pair as i ever met afield.... oh, i say, eat something—”
peter smiled at the big fellow and turned to his soup and black bread. he didn't say what he thought, but it had to do with his own field companion this time.
* * *
...midnight. boylan had gone back to quarters. peter's ward was low-lit and still. ...the wounded man's hands waved before his bandage, as if to detract attention from the windy blur of his utterance. samarc wanted to die.
“you know it was because of me that he came—” he repeated.
“but you mustn't suffer for that. really, samarc, a man couldn't have been a better friend than you. spenski would tell you so if he could. these are times for men to live. i wanted to kill myself this morning. you know i was behind you on the hill, too. that, and the tragedy all about, and then they were murdering spies and martyring real fatherland men out in the court—as if there wasn't enough death afield. it was too much for me. old boylan helped me, but if i hadn't come in to work, i'd have shot my head off. here—men dying hard and easy; men and women serving; so much to do,—i got better. death isn't everything. i'm not a genius or a dreamer, man. i'm so slow at dreaming and brotherhood and all that, that a woman once ran from me. but i saw to-day that death isn't all. i don't know what else there is, but this is a sort of long night, this war. a few of us are awake. if we are put to sleep—that's all right—i mean knocked out, you know. but so long as we are not, we've got to watch and root for the dawn. god, man, there is much to do. we've got to make our lives count—”
he was bending forward talking very low. he thought from the pressure of samarc's hands that he was gaining ground. it was queer and laughable to himself—this line of talk that came to him. he knew so well the pangs of that suicidal suffocation, that he could talk for the very life of the other. he added:
“a little black-whispered man looked up from his soap and towels this morning. his hat fell off, and i saw he had come a long ways. he looked at me again, and i spoke to him. samarc, it was another of these little whirlwinds of human force—a master workman like the man you loved.
“it was moritz abel who wrote we are free....
“and there are others—like spenski and abel—some of them dead—some to die to-morrow. do you think the good god would let them die so easily if it wasn't all right? but we mustn't die without making our lives count.”
peter's eyes were covered by slender hands. it was like passing a garden of mignonette in the night, that fleeting perfume of the hands.
“oh, peter, how sweet to see you and hear your voice!”
it seemed that he became molten in her presence. a heavenly adagio after a prolonged movement of sin and shame and every dissonance. it was as if she had come from a bath of peace to him; another inimitable moment in the life of his romance. he turned to her, holding fast to the hand that was stretched toward him. he cleared his voice.
“excuse me, samarc,” he said.
