The first night on the water was one of unspeakable horror to Cameron.
They had scarcely begun to feel the roll of the waves before Captain
Wurtz manifested his true nature. At six o'clock and broad daylight, he
ordered the men below, had them locked in, and all the port holes closed!
The place was packed, the heat was unbearable, the motion increasing all
the time, and the air soon became intolerable. In vain the men protested,
and begged for air. Their requests were all denied. The captain trusted
no man. He treated them as if they were hounds. Wainwright stood by the
captain's side, smoking the inevitable cigarette, his eyes narrowly
watching Cameron, when the order was given; but no onlooker could have
told from Cameron's well trained face whether he had heard or not. Well
he knew where those orders had originated, and instantly he saw a series
of like torments. Wainwright had things in his own hands for this voyage.
Wurtz was his devoted slave. For Wainwright had money, and used it freely
with his captain, and Wainwright well knew how to think up tortures. It
was really the only thing in which he was clever. And here again was an
instance of practice making perfect, for Wainwright had done little else
since his kindergarten days than to think up trials for those who would
not bow to his peevish will. He seemed to be gifted in finding out
exactly what would be the finest kind of torture for any given soul who
happened to be his victim. He had the mind of Nero and the spirit of a
mean little beast. The wonder, the great miracle was, that he had not in
some way discovered that Ruth had been visiting the camp, and taken his
revenge before she left. This was the first thought that came to Cameron
when he found himself shut into the murky atmosphere. The next thought
was that perhaps he had discovered it and this was the result. He felt
himself the Jonah for the company, and as the dreadful hours went by
would fain have cast himself into the sea if there had been a possible
way of escape.
It was not an American transport on which they were sailing, and the
captain was not responsible for the food, but he might have refused to
allow such meals to be served to his men if he had cared. He did not
care, that was the whole trouble. He ate and drank, principally drank,
and did whatever Wainwright suggested. When a protest came up to him he
turned it down with a laugh, and said: "Oh, that's good enough for a buck
private," and went on with his dirty jokes.
The supper that first night was abominable, some unpleasant kind of meat
cooked with cabbage, and though they tried to eat it, many of them could
not keep it down. The ship rolled and the men grew sick. The atmosphere
became fetid. Each moment seemed more impossible than the last. There was
no room to move, neither could one get out and away. After supper the men
lay down in the only place there was to lie, two men on the tables, two
men on the benches each side, two men on the floor between, and so on all
over the cabin, packed like eggs in a box.
They sent a message to their captain begging for air, but he only
laughed, and sent word back they would have air enough before they got
through with this war.
The night wore on and Cameron lay on his scant piece of floor--he had
given his bench to a sicker man than himself--and tried to sleep. But
sleep did not visit his eyelids. He was thinking, thinking. "I'm going to
find God! I'm going to search for Him with all my heart, and somehow I'm
going to find Him before I'm done. I may never come home, but I'll find
God, anyhow! It's the only thing that makes life bearable!"
Then would come a wave of hate for his enemy and wipe out all other
thoughts, and he would wrestle in his heart with the desire to kill
Wainwright--yes, and the captain, too. As some poor wretch near him would
writhe and groan in agony his rage would boil up anew, his fists would
clench, and he would half rise to go to the door and overpower that
guard! If only he could get up to where the officers were enjoying
themselves! Oh, to bring them down here and bind them in this loathsome
atmosphere, feed them with this food, stifle them in the dark with closed
port holes! His brain was fertile with thoughts of revenge. Then suddenly
across his memory would flash the words: "If with all your heart ye seek
Him," and he would reach out in longing: Oh, if he could find God, surely
God would stop a thing like this! Did God have no power in His own earth?
Slowly, painfully, the days dragged by, each worse than the last. In the
mornings the men must go on deck whether they were sick or not, and must
stay there all day, no matter what the weather. If they were wet they
must dry out by the heat of their bodies. There was no possibility of
getting at their kit bags, it was so crowded. No man was allowed to open
one. All they had was the little they carried in their packs. How they
lived through it was a wonder, but live they did. Perhaps the worst
torture of all was the great round cork life preserver in the form of a
cushioned ring which they were obliged to wear night and day. A man could
never lie down comfortably with it on, and if from sheer exhaustion he
fell asleep he awoke with his back aching tortures. The meat and cabbage
was varied twice by steamed fish served in its scales, tails, fins,
heads, and entrails complete. All that they got which was really eatable
was a small bun served in the morning, and boiled potatoes occasionally.
Nevertheless, these hardships would have been as nothing to Cameron if
they had not represented to him hate, pure and simple. He felt, and
perhaps justly, that if Wainwright had not wished to make him suffer,
these things would surely have been mitigated.
The day came at last when they stood on the deck and watched the strange
foreign shore draw nearer. Cameron, stern and silent, stood apart from
the rest. For the moment his anger toward Wainwright was forgotten,
though he could hear the swaggering tones from the deck above, and the
noisome laughter of Wurtz in response. Cameron was looking into the face
of the future, wondering what it would mean for him. Out there was the
strange country. What did it hold for him? Was God there? How he wanted
God to go with him and help him face the future!
There was much delay in landing, and getting ready to move. The men were
weak from sickness and long fasting. They tottered as they stood, but
they had to stand--unless they dropped. They turned wan faces toward one
another and tried to smile. Their fine American pep was gone, hopelessly,
yet they grinned feebly now and then and got off a weak little joke or
two. For the most part they glared when the officers came by--especially
two--those two. The wrath toward them had been brewing long and deep as
each man lay weltering through those unbearable nights. Hardship they
could bear, and pain, and sickness--but tyranny _never!_
Someone had written a letter. It was not the first. There had been others
on ship board protesting against their treatment. But this letter was a
warning to that captain and lieutenant. If they ever led these men into
battle _they_ would be killed before the battle began. It was signed by
the company. It had been a unanimous vote. Now as they stood staring
leadenly at the strange sights about them, listening to the new jargon of
the shore, noting the quaint headdresses and wooden sabots of the people
with a fine scorn of indifference, they thought of that letter in hard
phrases of rage. And bitterest of all were the thoughts of John Cameron
as he stood in his place awaiting orders.
They were hungry, these men, and unfit, when at last the order came to
march, and they had to hike it straight up a hill with a great pack on
their backs. It was not that they minded the packs or the hike or the
hunger. It was the injustice of their treatment that weighed upon them
like a burden that human nature could not bear. They had come to lift
such a burden from the backs of another nation, and they had been treated
like dogs all the way over! Like the low rumbling of oncoming thunder was
the blackness of their countenances as they marched up, up, and up into
Brest. The sun grew hot, and their knees wobbled under them from sheer
weakness; strong men when they started, who were fine and fit, now faint
like babies, yet with spirits unbroken, and great vengeance in their
hearts. They would fight, oh they would fight, yes, but they would see
that captain out of the way first! Here and there by the way some
fell--the wonder is they all did not--and had to be picked up by the
ambulances; and at last they had to be ordered to stop and rest! They!
Who had come over here to flaunt their young strength in the face of the
enemy! _They_ to fall _before the fight was begun_. This, too, they laid
up against their tyrant.
But there was welcome for them, nevertheless. Flowers and wreaths and
bands of music met them as they went through the town, and women and
little children flung them kisses and threw blossoms in their way. This
revived somewhat the drooping spirits with which they had gone forth, and
when they reached camp and got a decent meal they felt better, and more
reasonable. Still the bitterness was there, against those two who had
used their power unworthily. That night, lying on a hard little cot in
camp Cameron tried to pray, his heart full of longing for God, yet found
the heavens as brass, and could not find words to cry out, except in
bitterness. Somehow he did not feel he was getting on at all in his
search, and from sheer weariness and discouragement he fell asleep at
last.
Three days and nights of rest they had and then were packed into tiny
freight cars with a space so small that they had to take turns sitting
down. Men had to sleep sitting or standing, or wherever they could find
space to lie down. So they started across France, three days and awful
nights they went, weary and sore and bitter still. But they had air and
they were better fed. Now and then they could stand up and look out
through a crack. Once in a while a fellow could get space to stretch out
for a few minutes. Cameron awoke once and found feet all over him, feet
even in his face. Yet these things were what he had expected. He did not
whine. He was toughened for such experiences, so were the men about him.
The hardness merely brought out their courage. They were getting their
spirits back now as they neared the real scene of action. The old
excitement and call to action were creeping back into their blood. Now
and then a song would pipe out, or a much abused banjo or mandolin would
twang and bring forth their voices. It was only when an officer walked by
or mention would be made of the captain or lieutenant that their looks
grew black again and they fell silent. Injustice and tyranny, the things
they had come out to fight, that they would not forgive nor forget. Their
spirits were reviving but their hate was there.
At last they detrained and marched into a little town.
This was France!
Cameron looked about him in dismay. A scramble of houses and barns, sort
of two-in-one affairs. Where was the beauty of France about which he had
read so often? Mud was everywhere. The streets were deep with it, the
ground was sodden, rain-soaked. It was raining even then. Sunny France!
It was in a barnyard deep in manure where Cameron's tent was set up.
Little brown tents set close together, their flies dovetailing so that
more could be put in a given space.
Dog weary he strode over the stakes that held them, and looked upon the
place where he was to sleep. Its floor was almost a foot deep in water!
Rank, ill smelling water! Pah! Was this intention that he should have
been billeted here? Some of the men had dry places. Of course, it might
have just happened, but--well, what was the use. Here he must sleep for
he could not stand up any longer or he would fall over. So he heaped up a
pillow of the muck, spread his blanket out and lay down. At least his
head would be high enough out of the water so that he would not drown in
his sleep, and with his feet in water, and the cold ooze creeping slowly
through his heavy garments, he dropped immediately into oblivion. There
were no prayers that night. His heart was full of hate. The barnyard was
in front of an old stone farm house, and in that farm house were billeted
the captain and his favorite first lieutenant. Cameron could hear his
raucous laugh and the clinking of the wine glasses, almost the gurgle of
the wine. The thought of Wainwright was his last conscious one before he
slept. Was it of intention that he should have been put here close by,
where Wainwright could watch his every move?
As the days went by and real training began, with French officers working
them hard until they were ready to drop at night, gradually Cameron grew
stolid. It seemed sometimes as if he had always been here, splashing
along in the mud, soaked with rain, sleeping in muck at night, never
quite dry, never free from cold and discomfort, never quite clean, always
training, the boom of the battle afar, but never getting there. Where was
the front? Why didn't they get there and fight and get done with it all?
The rain poured down, day after day. Ammunition trains rolled by. More
men marched in, more marched on, still they trained. It seemed eons since
he had bade Ruth and his mother good-bye that night at the camp. No mail
had come. Oh, if he could just hear a word from home! If he only had her
picture! They had taken some together at camp and she had promised to
have them developed and send them, but they would probably never reach
him. And it were better if they did not. Wainwright was censor. If he
recognized the writing nothing would ever reach him he was sure. Still,
Wainwright had nothing to do with the incoming mail, only the outgoing.
Well, Wainwright should never censor his letters. He would find a way to
get letters out that Wainwright had never censored, or he would never
send any.
But the days dragged by in rain and mud and discouragement, and no
letters came. Once or twice he attempted to write a respectable letter to
his mother, but he felt so hampered with the thought of Wainwright having
to see it that he kept it securely in his pocket, and contented himself
with gay-pictured postcards which he had purchased in Brest, on which he
inscribed a few non-committal sentences, always reminding them of the
censor, and his inability to say what he would, and always ending,
"Remember me to my friend, and tell her I have forgotten nothing but
cannot write at present for reasons which I cannot explain."
At night he lay on his watery couch and composed long letters to Ruth
which he dared not put on paper lest somehow they should come into the
hands of Wainwright. He took great satisfaction in the fact that he had
succeeded in slipping through a post card addressed to herself from
Brest, through the kindness and understanding of a small boy who agreed
to mail it in exchange for a package of chewing gum. Here at the camp
there was no such opportunity, but he would wait and watch for another
chance. Meantime the long separation of miles, and the creeping days,
gave him a feeling of desolation such as he had never experienced before.
He began to grow introspective. He fancied that perhaps he had
overestimated Ruth's friendship for him. The dear memories he had
cherished during the voyage were brought out in the nightwatches and
ruthlessly reviewed, until his own shy hope that the light in her eyes
had been for him began to fade, and in its place there grew a conviction
that happiness of earth was never for him. For, he reasoned, if she
cared, why did she not write? At least a post card? Other fellows were
getting letters now and then. Day after day he waited when the mail was
distributed, but nothing ever came. His mother seemed to have forgotten,
too. Surely, all these weeks, some word would have come through. It was
not in reason that his mail should be delayed beyond others. Could it be
that there was false play somehow? Was Wainwright at the bottom of this?
Or had something happened to his mother, and had Ruth forgotten?