23 The Flag

CHAPTER 23 The Flag When the two youths turned with the flag, they saw that much of the troop was gone. Not only that, but the survivors were starting to pull back. Several officers were giving orders, screaming over the noise of the battle. "Where are you going?" the lieutenant cried. Henry and Wilson had a small fight over the flag. Each of them wanted to carry it. Finally, Henry pushed Wilson away. The troop moved back into the trees. By

the time they had returned to the open space where they had started, there seemed to be mobs of enemy soldiers all around them. Most of the men in the troop were surprised and discouraged. Henry kept moving, a look of rage on his face. He was angry that they had been called mule drivers, and even angrier that they were now forced to pull back. He hated that officer who didn't even know him, but had called him a mule driver. Henry had wanted his troop to win this battle. He wanted to return to that officer and say, "So, we're mule drivers, are we?" But now Henry knew they were not going to win, and he had to let go of his dreams for revenge. Henry wrapped himself in his pride and kept the flag high. He and the lieutenant yelled at the troop to keep fighting, but the men were like a worn down machine. Many of the soldiers could not continue when they

saw others falling and wounded. There was smoke everywhere. Through a sudden break in a cloud, Henry saw a group of enemy troops. They yelled and began firing as Henry's troop pulled back. The battle seemed to take forever. In the haze, some soldiers panicked and got lost. Many of them headed in the wrong direction. Soldiers became confused about where the enemy was and where gunfire was coming from. Men ran in every direction, looking for ways to escape. All the while, with almost regular timing, men continued to fall. Very sure of himself, Henry walked into the middle of the mob and took a stand with the flag. It was as if he expected someone to push him to the ground, and he was using the flag to hold himself up. Without knowing it, he was posed like the heroes he had seen and imagined. Wilson came up to him and said, "Well,

Henry, I guess this is good-bye." "Oh shut up, you darned fool!" Henry replied. He would not look at his friend. The officers worked to get the troop into a circle. They wanted the men to face the approaching enemy. The ground was uneven and torn. The men crawled into ditches and tried to hide behind anything that might stop a bullet. Henry saw that the lieutenant was standing quietly now. He was using his sword like a cane to hold himself up. There was something strange in this little pause. The lieutenant looked like a child who had cried all he could and now didn't know what to do. He was thinking and mumbling to himself. Some lazy smoke curled slowly around the troop. The men hiding from the bullets waited for it to lift so they could see once and for all what would happen to them.