Page:The Shield (Knopf, 1917).djvu/224

198 "He don't like it, what! See him run for his life! Well done! Fine fellows!" . . . was heard along the ranks.

The soldiers suddenly became lively and for a moment forgot about themselves and the uncertain fate that was in store for them.

"Why not put you on that aeroplane, Yermilich! . . . You'd be quite handy at it, wouldn't you!" the soldiers were poking fun at each other.

All at once a confused many-voiced cry and a disorderly crackling of rifles was heard ahead of them; then a crowd of soldiers came running from that direction, at first singly, then in groups, and finally in a mass. They belonged to another regiment of the same division. One could discern from afar their wide-open eyes, rounded mouths, and an expression of frantic terror on their pale faces.

The officers of the Ashkadar regiment, waving their swords and yelling something indistinct, were running over the washed-out field to meet the running men, but the grey crowd momentarily knocked them down, trampled upon them, completely covered them, and mingled itself with the Ashkadar men. And