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Page 58
"The girl looked at me. 'I've seen you,' she said. 'I know you are Mr.
McLane. I'll drive you across. One moment, till I tell my mother.'
"She was in the house and out again without wasting a second, and as she
flashed into the car I heard a gasp, and I turned and saw in the glare
of the headlights as they sprang on one of my Russians, a gigantic
youngster of six feet four or so, standing with his cap off and his head
bent, as he might have stood before a shrine, staring at the spot where
the girl had disappeared into the car. Then the engine purred and my
squad tumbled in.
"We made the polls on the tap of nine. Afterwards we drove back to my
car and among us, with the lantern, we got the motor running again, the
girl helping efficiently. The big fellow, when we told her good-night,
astonished me by dropping on his knees and kissing the edge of her
skirt. But I put it down to Slavic temperament and took it casually.
I've learned since what Russian depth of feeling means--and tenacity of
purpose. There was one more incident. When I finally drove the lads up
to their village the big chap, who spoke rather good English when he
spoke at all, which was seldom, invited me to have some beer. I was
tired and wanted to get home, so I didn't. Then the young giant
excavated in his pocket and brought out a dollar bill.
"'You get beer tomorrow.' And when I laughed and shoved it back he
flushed. 'Excuse--Mr. Sir,' he said. 'I make mistake.' Suddenly he drew
himself up--about to the treetops, it looked, for he was a huge, a
magnificent lad. He tossed out his arm to me. 'Some day,' he stated
dramatically, 'I do two things. Some day I give Mr. Sir somethings more
than dollar--and he will take. And--some day I marry--Miss Angel!'
"You may believe I was staggered. But I simply stuck out my fist and
shook his and said: 'Good. No reason on earth why a fellow with the
right stuff shouldn't get anywhere. It's a free country.' And the giant
drew his black brows together and remarked slowly: 'All
countries--world--is to be free. War will sweep up kings--and
other--rubbish. I--shall be--a man.'
"Besides his impressive build, the boy had--had--" the Judge glanced at
the Russian General, whose eyes glowed at the fire. "The boy had a
remarkable face. It was cut like a granite hill, in sweeping masses. All
strength. His eyes were coals. I went home thoughtful, and the Russian
boy's intense face was in my mind for days, and I told myself many times
that he not only would be, but already was, a man.
"Events quickstepped after that. I got to France within the year, and,
as you remember, work was ready. It was perhaps eighteen months after
that registration day, June fifth, which we keep so rightly now as one
of our sacred days, that one morning I was in a fight. Our artillery had
demoralized the enemy at a point and sent them running. There was one
machine gun left working in the Hun trenches--doing a lot of damage.
Suddenly it jammed. I was commanding my company, and I saw the chance,
but also I saw a horrid mess of barbed wire. So I just ran forward a bit
and up to the wire and started clipping, while that machine gun stayed
jammed. Out of the corner of an eye I could see men rushing towards it
in the German trench, and I knew I had only a moment before they got it
firing again. Then, as I leaped far forward to reach a bit of
entanglement, my foot slipped in a puddle and as I sprawled I saw our
uniform and a dead American boy's face under me, and I fell headlong in
his blood over him and into a bunch of wire. And couldn't get up. The
wire held like the devil. I got more tied up at every pull. And my
clippers had fallen from my hand and landed out of reach.
"'It's good night for me,' I thought, and was aware of a sharp regret.
To be killed because of a nasty bit of wire! I had wanted to do a lot of
things yet. With that something leaped, and I saw clippers flashing
close by. A big man was cutting me loose, dragging me out, setting me on
my feet. Then the roar of an exploding shell; the man fell--fell into
the wire from which he had just saved me. There was no time to consider
that; somehow I was back and leading my men--and then we had the
trenches.
"The rest of that day was confusion, but we won a mile of earthworks,
and at night I remembered the incident of the wire and the man who
rescued me. By a miracle I found him in the field hospital. His head was
bandaged, for the bit of shell had scraped his cheek and jaw, but his
eyes were safe, and something in the glance out of them was familiar.
Yet I didn't know him till he drew me over and whispered painfully, for
it hurt him to talk:
"'Yester--day I did--give Mr. Sir somethings more than dollar. And he
did--take it.'
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