2 Henry’s Fears

CHAPTER 2 Henry's Fears The next morning Henry discovered that Jim had been wrong. There was no battle that day. A lot of the other men made fun of Jim. He even got into a fistfight with a man from Chatfield Corners. The loud soldier, Wilson, also got into a fight, and the lieutenant had to break it up. Meanwhile, Henry still felt unsure of himself. For days he thought it over. He was still worried that he would run at the first sign of a fight. Finally he decided that the only way to prove himself would be to go into the

blaze. He would just have to wait and see if he actually fought. So he waited for an opportunity and tried to compare himself to his friends. Jim made Henry feel much better. He seemed so unworried, and appeared confident in himself. Nothing seemed to be beyond his ability. When Henry studied the other soldiers, he sometimes thought that they were all heroes. Surely they were all better than he could ever hope to be. At other times he thought they were just as nervous and uncertain as he was. One morning, Henry was standing with the rest of his troop. Everyone was whispering and telling one another the old rumors again. They were sure there would be a battle soon. In the gloom before daybreak, their uniforms glowed a deep blue color. The sun was about to rise, and the huge figure of the colonel on a horse loomed against the yellow patch of

sky. The troop stood for what seemed like a long time and Henry grew impatient. At last, another man on a horse rode toward them. The soldiers nearby tried to listen as he spoke with the colonel. After a few minutes, the second man turned his horse around and rode away. A moment later, the troop went marching off into the darkness. It was now like a moving monster with many feet. The air was heavy and cold with dew. The mass of wet grass, when marched on, rustled like silk. The sun rose, and Henry saw that the landscape was streaked with two long, thick, black columns. The columns disappeared over a hill in front of them and vanished into the woods behind them. They were lines of men marching to battle, but they looked like two snakes crawling from the cavern of the night. The river wasn't in view, and the soldiers

continued to fight about what the plans could be. Henry took no part in the fights. As he walked, he kept asking himself whether or not he would run. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He looked ahead, often expecting to hear the sound of firing guns. The other men had begun to joke and laugh. Some of them even sang. Henry felt cut off from the others. At nightfall, the column broke into separate troops. Each troop went into the fields to camp. Tents sprang up like strange plants, and campfires dotted the night like red flowers.