All day the shells had been flying thick and fast. When night settled
down the fire was so continuous that one could trace the battle front by
the reflection in the sky.
Cameron stood at his post under the stars and cried out in his soul for
God. For days now Death had stalked them very close. His comrades had
fallen all about him. There seemed to be no chance for safety. And where
was God? Had He no part in all this Hell on earth? Did He not care? Would
He not be found? All his seeking and praying and reading of the little
book seemed to have brought God no nearer. He was going out pretty soon,
in the natural order of the battle if things kept on, out into the other
life, without having found the God who had promised that if he would
believe, and if he would seek with all his heart he would surely find
Him.
Once in a Y.M.C.A. hut on a Sunday night a great tenor came to entertain
them, and sang almost the very words that the stranger back in the States
had written in his little book:
"If with, all your hearts ye truly seek Him ye shall ever surely
find him. Thus saith your God!"
And ever since that song had rung its wonderful melody down deep in his
heart he had been seeking, seeking in all the ways he knew, with a
longing that would not be satisfied. And yet he seemed to have found
nothing.
So now as he walked silently beneath the stars, looking up, his soul was
crying out with the longing of despair to find a Saviour, the Christ of
his soul. Amid all the shudderings of the battle-rent earth, the
concussions of the bursting shells, could even God hear a soul's low cry?
Suddenly out in the darkness in front of him there flickered a tiny
light, only a speck of a glint it was, the spark of a cigarette, but it
was where it had no business to be, and it was Cameron's business to see
that it was not there. They had been given strict orders that there must
be no lights and no sounds to give away their position. Even though his
thoughts were with the stars in his search for God, his senses were keen
and on the alert. He sprang instantly and silently, appearing before the
delinquent like a miracle.
"Halt!" he said under his breath. "Can that cigarette!"
"I guess you don't know who I am!" swaggered a voice thick and unnatural
that yet had a familiar sound.
"It makes no difference who you are, you can't smoke on this post while
I'm on duty. Those are my orders!" and with a quick motion he caught the
cigarette from the loose lips and extinguished it, grinding it into the
ground with his heel.
"I'll--have you--c-c-co-marshalled fer this!" stuttered the angry
officer, stepping back unsteadily and raising his fist.
In disgust Cameron turned his back and walked away. How had Wainwright
managed to bring liquor with him to the front? Something powerful and
condensed, no doubt, to steady his nerves in battle. Wainwright had ever
been noted for his cowardice. His breath was heavy with it. How could a
man want to meet death in such a way? He turned to look again, and
Wainwright was walking unsteadily away across the line where they had
been forbidden to go, out into the open where the shells were flying.
Cameron watched him for an instant with mingled feelings. To think he
called himself a man, and dared to boast of marrying such a woman as Ruth
Macdonald. Well, what if he did go into danger and get killed! The world
was better off without him! Cameron's heart was burning hot within him.
His enemy was at last within his power. No one but himself had seen
Wainwright move off in that direction where was certain death within a
few minutes. It was no part of his duty to stop him. He was not supposed
to know he had been drinking.
The whistle of a shell went ricocheting through the air and Cameron
dropped as he had been taught to do, but lifted his eyes in time to see
Wainwright throw up his arms, drop on the edge of the hill, and
disappear. The shell plowed its way in a furrow a few feet away and
Cameron rose to his feet. Sharply, distinctly, in a brief lull of the din
about him he heard his name called. It sounded from down the hill, a cry
of distress, but it did not sound like Wainwright's voice:
"Cameron! Come! Help!"
He obeyed instantly, although, strange to say, he had no thought of its
being Wainwright. He crept cautiously out to the edge of the hill and
looked over. The blare of the heavens made objects below quite visible.
He could see Wainwright huddled as he had fallen. While he looked the
injured man lifted his head, struggled to crawl feebly, but fell back
again. He felt a sense of relief that at last his enemy was where he
could do no more harm. Then, through the dim darkness he saw a figure
coming toward the prostrate form, and stooping over to touch him. It
showed white against the darkness and it paid no heed to the shell that
suddenly whistled overhead. It half lifted the head of the fallen
officer, and then straightened up and looked toward Cameron; and again,
although there was no sound audible now in the din that the battle was
making, he felt himself called.
A strange thrill of awe possessed him. Was that the Christ out there whom
he had been seeking? And what did he expect of him? To come out there to
his enemy? To the man who had been in many ways the curse of his young
life?
Suddenly as he still hesitated a verse from his Testament which had often
come to his notice returned clearly to his mind:
"If thou bringest thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar.
First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
Was this, then, what was required of him? Had his hate toward Wainwright
been what had hindered him from finding God?
There was no time now to argue that this man was not his brother. The man
would be killed certainly if he lay there many minutes. The opportunity
would pass as quickly as it had come. The Christ he sought was out there
expecting him to come, and he must lose no time in going to Him. How
gladly would he have faced death to go to Him! But Wainwright! That was
different! Could it be this that was required of him? Then back in his
soul there echoed the words: "If with all your heart ye truly seek."
Slowly he crept forward over the brow of the hill, and into the light,
going toward that white figure above the huddled dark one; creeping
painfully, with bullets ripping up the earth about him. He was going to
the Christ, with all his heart--yes, all his heart! Even if it meant
putting by his enmity forever!
Somewhere on the way he understood.
When he reached the fallen man there was no white figure there, but he
was not surprised nor disappointed. The Christ was not there because he
had entered into his heart. He had found Him at last!
* * * * *
Back at the base hospital they told Wainwright one day how Cameron had
crawled with him on his back, out from under the searchlights amid the
shells, and into safety. It was the only thing that saved his life, for
if he had lain long with the wound he had got, there would have been no
chance for him. Wainwright, when he heard it, lay thoughtful for a long
time, a puzzled, half-sullen look on his face. He saw that everybody
considered Cameron a hero. There was no getting away from that the rest
of his life. One could not in decency be an enemy of a man who had saved
one's life. Cameron had won out in a final round. It would not be good
policy not to recognize it. It would be entirely too unpopular. He must
make friends with him. It would be better to patronize him than to be
patronized by him. Perhaps also, down in the depths of his fat selfish
heart there was a little bit of gratitude mixed with it all. For he _did_
love life, and he _was_ a mortal coward.
So he sent for Cameron one day, and Cameron came. He did not want to
come. He dreaded the interview worse than anything he had ever had to
face before. But he came. He came with the same spirit he had gone out
into the shell-fire after Wainwright. Because he felt that the Christ
asked it of him.
He stood stern and grave at the foot of the little hospital cot and
listened while Wainwright pompously thanked him, and told him graciously
that now that he had saved his life he was going to put aside all the old
quarrels and be his friend. Cameron smiled sadly. There was no bitterness
in his smile. Perhaps just the least fringe of amusement, but no
hardness. He even took the bandaged hand that was offered as a token that
peace had come between them who had so long been at war. All the time
were ringing in his heart the words: "With all your heart! With all your
heart!" He had the Christ, what else mattered?
Somehow Wainwright felt that he had not quite made the impression on this
strong man that he had hoped, and in an impulse to be more than gracious
he reached his good hand under his pillow and brought forth an envelope.
When Corporal Cameron saw the writing on that envelop he went white under
the tan of the battlefield, but he stood still and showed no other sign:
"When I get back home I'm going to be married," said the complacent
voice, "and my wife and I will want you to come and take dinner with us
some day. I guess you know who the girl is. She lives in Bryne Haven up
on the hill. Her name is Ruth Macdonald. I've just had a letter from her.
I'll have to write her how you saved my life. She'll want to thank you,
too."
How could Cameron possibly know that that envelope addressed in Ruth
Macdonald's precious handwriting contained nothing but the briefest word
of thanks for an elaborate souvenir that Wainwright had sent her from
France?
"What's the matter with Cammie?" his comrades asked one another when he
came back to his company. "He looks as though he had lost his last
friend. Did he care so much for that Wainwright guy that he saved? I'm
sure I don't see what he sees in him. I wouldn't have taken the trouble
to go out after him, would you?"
Cameron's influence had been felt quietly among his company. In his
presence the men refrained from certain styles of conversation, when he
sat apart and read his Testament they hushed their boisterous talk, and
lately some had come to read with him. He was generally conceded to be
the bravest man in their company, and when a fellow had to die suddenly
he liked Cameron to hold him in his arms.
So far Cameron had not had a scratch, and the men had come to think he
had a charmed life. More than he knew he was beloved of them all. More
than they knew their respect for him was deepening into a kind of awe.
They felt he had a power with him that they understood not. He was still
the silent corporal. He talked not at all of his new-found experience,
yet it shone in his face in a mysterious light. Even after he came from
Wainwright with that stricken look, there was above it all a glory behind
his eyes that not even that could change. For three days he went into the
thick of the battle, moving from one hairbreadth escape to another with
the calmness of an angel who knows his life is not of earth, and on the
fourth day there came the awful battle, the struggle for a position that
had been held by the enemy for four years, and that had been declared
impregnable from the side of the Allies.
The boys all fought bravely and many fell, but foremost of them all
passing unscathed from height to height, Corporal Cameron on the lead in
fearlessness and spirit; and when the tide at last was turned and they
stood triumphant among the dead, and saw the enemy retiring in disorder,
it was Cameron who was still in the forefront, his white face and
tattered uniform catching the last rays of the setting sun.
Later when the survivors had all come together one came to the captain
with a white face and anxious eyes:
"Captain, where's Cammie? We can't find him anywhere."
"He came a half hour ago and volunteered to slip through the enemy's
lines to-night and send us back a message," he said in husky tones.
"But, captain, he was wounded!"
"He was?" The captain looked up startled. "He said nothing about it!"
"He wouldn't, of course," said the soldier. "He's that way. But he was
wounded in the arm. I helped him bind it up."
"How bad?"
"I don't know. He wouldn't let me look. He said he would attend to it
when he got back."
"Well, he's taken a wireless in his pocket and crept across No Man's Land
to find out what the enemy is going to do. He's wearing a dead Jerry's
uniform----!"
The captain turned and brushed the back of his hand across his eyes and a
low sound between a sob and a whispered cheer went up from the gathered
remnant as they rendered homage to their comrade.
* * * * *
For three days the messages came floating in, telling vital secrets that
were of vast strategic value. Then the messages ceased, and the anxious
officers and comrades looked in vain for word. Two more days
passed--three--and still no sign that showed that he was alive, and the
word went forth "Missing!" and "Missing" he was proclaimed in the
newspapers at home.
That night there was a lull in the sector where Cameron's company was
located. No one could guess what was going on across the wide dark space
called No Man's Land. The captain sent anxious messages to other
officers, and the men at the listening posts had no clue to give. It was
raining and a chill bias sleet that cut like knives was driving from the
northeast. Water trickled into the dugouts, and sopped through the
trenches, and the men shuddered their way along dark passages and waited.
Only scattered artillery fire lit up the heavens here and there. It was a
night when all hell seemed let loose to have its way with earth. The
watch paced back and forth and prayed or cursed, and counted the minutes
till his watch would be up. Across the blackness of No Man's Land
pock-marked with great shell craters, there raged a tempest, and even a
Hun would turn his back and look the other way in such a storm.
Slowly, oh so slow that not even the earth would know it was moving,
there crept a dark creature forth from the enemy line. A thing all of
spirit could not have gone more invisibly. Lying like a stone as
motionless for spaces uncountable, stirring every muscle with a
controlled movement that could stop at any breath, lying under the very
nose of the guard without being seen for long minutes, and gone when next
he passed that way; slowly, painfully gaining ground, with a track of
blood where the stones were cruel, and a holding of breath when the
fitful flare lights lit up the way; covered at times by mud from nearby
bursting shells; faint and sick, but continuing to creep; chilled and
sore and stiff, blinded and bleeding and torn, shell holes and stones and
miring mud, slippery and sharp and never ending, the long, long
trail----!
"Halt!" came a sharp, clear voice through the night.
"Pat! Come here! What is that?" whispered the guard. "Now watch! I'm sure
I saw it move----There! I'm going to it!"
"Better look out!" But he was off and back with something in his arms.
Something in a ragged blood-soaked German uniform.
They turned a shaded flash light into the face and looked:
"Pat, it's Cammie!" The guard was sobbing.
At sound of the dear old name the inert mass roused to action.
"Tell Cap--they're planning to slip away at five in the morning. Tell him
if he wants to catch them he must do it _now_! Don't mind me! Go quick!"
The voice died away and the head dropped back.
With a last wistful look Pat was off to the captain, but the guard
gathered Cameron up in his arms tenderly and nursed him like a baby,
crooning over him in the sleet and dark, till Pat came back with a
stretcher and some men who bore him to the dressing station lying inert
between them.
While men worked over his silent form his message was flashing to
headquarters and back over the lines to all the posts along that front.
The time had come for the big drive. In a short time a great company of
dark forms stole forth across No Man's Land till they seemed like a wide
dark sea creeping on to engulf the enemy.
Next morning the newspapers of the world set forth in monstrous type the
glorious victory and how the Americans had stolen upon the enemy and cut
them off from the rest of their army, wiping out a whole salient.
But while the world was rejoicing, John Cameron lay on his little hard
stretcher in the tent and barely breathed. He had not opened his eyes nor
spoken again.