George Durston

“ I’m here as Zaidos, the stoker; and you will forget Zaidos of Saloniki as fast as ever you can. And if I find you telling anything more, I will thrash you, Velo Kupenol, within an inch of your life. I can do it, too. I learned that in America, at least. And for the present we are in the same fix. We are here as common soldiers. My papers were stolen from me in barracks the night my father died, Velo, so there won’t be any proving at all. We are just a pair of stokers on a transport. But don’t think for a minute that I mean to stay where I am. A Zaidos cannot be kept in the hold. ”

“ Jack waited on Zaidos with such care all the way down from London that the boy said he would be entirely spoiled. A big, roomy car met them at the station and carried them smoothly over miles of perfect road through the vast park of the Hazeldens where pheasants by the dozen flew across their path, bright-eyed deer dashed into hiding, and hundreds of wonderful Persian sheep grazed on the lawns that had been lawns for generations. ”

“ It was more dangerous than the falling shells. He, like many another, had become calloused. On battlefields men move with as much of a sense of security as though they were invisible. It is not so much that they are not afraid as that they grow into a feeling that the dreadful din, the rattle and bang and dirt and blood, the anguish of men and horses, the distorted and ghastly deaths, will pass them by. The whine of bullets, and the spiteful snarl of exploding shells seems as much an incident as the tin rainfall and the wooden thunder on the stage.
Zaidos noticed this, and felt it himself. ”

“ What possible hope could a fellow like himself have of keeping on the right side of anyone like Zaidos? He smiled when he thought what Zaidos would say if he could know or guess what Velo’s life had been. What would he do if he ever found out how he had treated Zaidos’ long suffering father! And Velo did not try to deceive himself. He knew perfectly well that back there in Saloniki, there were people who would jump at a chance to get even with him, and who would give Zaidos an account of meanness and wrong-doing that would cause him to kick Velo out of the house. ”

“ Look!” as a swift gleam of light across the water, on a line with his eyes, betrayed the lightning swift course of a torpedo. It struck the ship, and at the same moment the Zeppelin dropped an accurate bomb. There was a terrific explosion as the torpedo struck amidships, a spurt of flame as the bomb scattered its inflammable gases over the decks, and fire burst out everywhere. Another torpedo tore into the ship. Zaidos’ eyes bulged as he watched the monster ship flaming and roaring with repeated explosions, her own guns valiantly firing to the last. ”

“ Zaidos caught the look, and it made him feel that he would do most anything to have anyone look at him like that. It was a look that a fellow could never bear unless he had lived a clean and honest life. Zaidos, seeing this wonderful look that was meant for Tony alone, glanced quickly away and somehow it was he, down in his innermost heart, who longed for a shoulder to cry on! ”

“ They might have been dug with a gigantic spoon, so rough they were and so rounding. The floor had been packed or trodden hard, and in the middle of the small space was a rude operating table. Beside it, however, on enameled, collapsible iron stands, looking as though they might have been just carried out of some perfectly appointed hospital, were rows of delicate instruments.
There had been no firing for some time, and the place was empty. The surgeon and his assistant sat reading a month-old copy of a London paper. They scanned the columns eagerly, and laughed heartily at the jokes. ”

“ The look was on the dead lying sprawled and twisted in the last silent paralysis of humanity. And although the dead and dying and wounded lay like warnings of a coming fate, although men tossed and reared grotesquely, and shattered horses screamed shrilly in throes of blind agony, the unhurt thousands moved on or lay in their trenches giving fire for fire, death for death without a quiver of concern. ”

“ The upleaping shot from the battleship crossed the bomb from the Zeppelin in mid-air, and as the bomb exploded on the deck of the cruiser, the shell from her aeroplane gun hit the delicate body of the airship and tore through it. As the Zeppelin came whirling down, turning over and over in the air, Zaidos could see the crew spilling out like little black pills out of a torn box. That they were men, human beings whirling to a dreadful death, did not occur to him. ”

“ Velo did not speak. When you are asked to forgive a wrong, and you refuse, it turns the punishment on you. Velo was silent, but Zaidos commenced to suffer. He could feel himself growing hard and cruel. After all, Velo had not succeeded in injuring him much, and Velo himself was dying fast. ”

“ The boys walked slowly back, picking their way as well as they could in the darkness, occasionally taking to the zig-zag trenches when the surface paths were too obscure. Everywhere men were sleeping, rolled up in their blankets and lying uncomfortably along the bottom of the trenches or out on the ground under the stars. The boys did not talk. Zaidos was busy thinking of the present, with all its tragic incidents, and occasionally a funny happening to lighten the gloom. He thought of Helen, and wondered how her well-beloved patient was progressing. ”

“ As he found the chain, a large locket was released from the man’s blouse and, swinging against his buttons, sprung open. Unconsciously Zaidos looked at it.
“Send that with the rest,” said the officer. He closed his eyes.
“Here, you!” cried Zaidos. “Quit that! Don’t you dare go and die! Do you hear me! Don’t you do it! Do you hear? I want to talk! I don’t need to send this anywhere. If you just hang on, you will see her! Helen is here! Don’t die now! You want to see her, don’t you? I know who you are! You are Tony Hazelden!” ”

“ Velo, too evil and too lazy to close the door of his mind on common thoughts and low desires, had grown more and more like his unworthy guests. And now instead of kicking the whole mob into the outer darkness, he lay there, face down, listening to their evil whispers.
169 “Get rid of Zaidos,” they said over and over. “Get rid of him. Who will know? Don’t you hate him? You ought to! Just because he is the one who really owns everything, is that any reason why you should get out and work for an honest living? You don’t want to bother with an honest living. You want to live soft and lie easy. ”

“ While Zaidos, aided by Velo, continued his heart-rending task among the dead and wounded on that bloody field, now applying the tourniquet to some emptying artery, now administering, drop by drop, the stimulant needed to hold life in some poor fellow, hurrying back with others on their stretcher, or giving way to the fearless and pitiful priests who moved among the dying—while all these things happened, it would be well to pause and reflect on the wise preparation which had made it possible for Zaidos to do well his allotted task. ”

“ The young mountaineer who had led the perilous way through the chained door was gone! Zaidos, keeping his face as free from interest and expression as he could, stood stiffly at attention while the count was made and questions put to the men. As luck would have it, Zaidos was asked but one thing. Had he seen the fellow on his pallet before he himself went to bed? He answered honestly that he had. He was conscious of keen scrutiny from the officers, and knowing of his own escape and return, felt that he must be looking the picture of guilt. ”

“ For two weeks the English had been expecting an attack, and the inaction was telling on the nerves of the officers.
The men are only kept under fire for four days. At the end of that time, they are sent back a few miles in shifts to the nearest village where they find quarters, and rest from the nerve-racking, soul-shaking clamor of guns and buzz of bullets.
The trenches were wonderful. Zaidos and Velo, the Red Cross badges on their arms giving them free passage, soon explored every inch until they were perfectly familiar with them all. ”

“ All at once he knew how deeply and utterly his cousin hated him. He knew as well as if Velo had shouted it aloud that he meant to be the instrument of his death in some way or other, sooner or later. And Zaidos, filled with the frenzy of the battle, did not care. He was not afraid of Velo. He put him aside as though he was something that might be attended to later.
139 A sort of mental illumination came to Zaidos. He cared for wounded men with a quick skill that he had never known that he possessed. He grew so weary that he staggered under his part of the stretcher’s load. ”

“ Many a man has died from one little twist given in getting him on his stretcher. Forget the fight, forget everything for the time but that the torn body is in your hands. Do you know anything at all about lifting a man?”
“I do,” said Zaidos. “I’m a Boy Scout. Besides, we learned all that at school.”
“Good!” said the doctor. “All you have to do is to remember what you know, when the necessity of using your information arrives. When you have your man on the stretcher, get here as soon as ever you can. Don’t wait for anyone; private and General alike must stand aside for the Red Cross. ”

“ But Velo could scarcely drag himself along. He worked as little as possible, the engineer grumbling at his poor performance. He kept close to Zaidos, dogging him about like a treacherous and snapping cur.
His chance came finally. Zaidos, with a great shovel of coal, was approaching the terrible open door of the blazing furnace. Velo, with his empty shovel, had just left it. As his cousin passed him he gave a sly twist to the dragging shovel, which threw the corner of it between Zaidos’ feet. He stumbled and fell headlong toward the open door where a horrible death seemed reaching for him. ”

“ Then he remembered the soft living, the ease and luxury of the house of Zaidos, and remembering that he, as Velo Kupenol, must be all his life nothing but a dependent on his cousin’s bounty, he steeled his wicked heart to its self-appointed task.
But he must change his tactics. Zaidos as usual was surrounding himself with friends. Velo felt that he must be doubly careful. There must be no more strange, unaccountable accidents to Zaidos. When the blow fell it must crush him utterly ”

“ Someone raised him to his feet, as the nurse tenderly drew the sheet over his father’s face. He lifted it and with one last lingering look replaced it gently, then left the room.
The clock struck three.
As he sank wearily in a chair, the old nurse entered. Her face was stained with tears. She glanced about, then seized Zaidos by the arm.
“Don’t trust Velo!” she whispered, and left his side. None too soon, for Velo entered the room and with a gesture dismissed the old servant.
“Now, Zaidos,” he said abruptly, “we will talk. You are crazy to carry such valuables around with you. ”

“ When the dying Count handed the thin packet of precious papers to his son, Zaidos slipped them in the inner pocket of his blouse. At that moment Velo approached the bedside.
“Uncle,” he said, “unfortunately my cousin here has been impressed into service. Would it not be well for me to keep these papers? I would guard them with my life, and as I do not intend to fight they would be safe with me in any case.” ”

“ He could not say the words Velo had begged to hear, and he stared back while Velo looked at him with dumb and suffering eyes.
198 “Oh, forgive me!” begged Velo with a dry sob that racked him. “Zaidos, be as good as you can, but don’t be hard! You can’t tell what temptations people have. It is a terrible thing to be hard. Don’t do it, Zaidos! There are so many hard people—hard teachers and hard fathers who don’t know how fellows are tempted and how they suffer. I am dying, Zaidos, and I tell you don’t be hard. ”

“ When the final toll of this dreadful war is taken, high up on the lists of fame, supreme in the immortal and shining roster of the saints, should stand the names of the men and women of the Red Cross. ”

“ Zaidos looked up at the face, white with cowardice.
136 “Come here!” said Zaidos. Still kneeling he pointed a small but business looking revolver at his cousin’s heart. “Come here!” he ordered.
Velo obeyed, the look on his face changing from white terror to black hate.
Zaidos saw the look, and read it with unconcern.
“Come here, Velo!” He held Velo’s shifty eyes. “You get to work here. If you don’t, I shall shoot you, just as I would shoot a dog. There is no time to talk. Get to work! You hear what I tell you. Turn this man!” ”