Short stories, American; War stories, American; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
"Each day Jim would pick out a different man of the section to follow.
He would stick to this man, eating and sleeping with him, until the
next day, and then it would be someone's else turn. When a man had Jim
with him, it seemed as if his life was charmed. No matter what he went
through, he would come out safely. We looked upon Jim as a good-luck
sign, and, believe me, he was.
"Whenever it came Ikey's turn for Jim's company, he was overjoyed,
because Jim would sit in dignified silence, listening to the
jew's-harp. Ikey claimed that Jim had a soul for music, which was more
than he would say for the rest of us.
"Once, at daybreak, we had to go over the top in an attack. A man
in the section named Dalton was selected by Jim as his mate in this
affair. The gun's crew were to stay in the trench for the second wave.
Dalton was very merry and hadn't the least fear of misgiving as to his
safety, because Jim would be with him through it all.
"In the attack, Dalton, closely followed by Jim, had gotten about
seventy yards into No Man's Land, when Jim was hit in the stomach by a
bullet. Poor old Jim toppled over and lay still. Dalton turned around,
and, just as he did so, we saw him throw up his hands and fall face
forward.
"Ikey, who was No. 3, on our gun, seeing Jim fall, scrambled over the
parapet, and, through that rain of shells and bullets, raced to where
Jim was, picked him up, and, tucking him under his arm, returned to
our trench in safety. If he had gone to rescue a wounded man in this
way, he would have no doubt been awarded the Victoria Cross. But he
only brought in poor bleeding, dying Jim."
"At this point, Ikey got very red in the face and left the dugout.
Dick, with a wink at us, went on with the story.
"Ikey laid him on the firestep alongside of our gun, but we could not
attend to him, because we had important work to do. So he died like
a soldier, without a look of reproach for our apparently heartless
treatment. Just watched our every movement until his lights burned out.
After the attack, what was left of our section gathered around Jim's
blood-stained body. There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd.
"Next day we wrapped him in a small Union Jack belonging to Sailor
Bill, and laid him to rest, a soldier of the king.
"We put a little wooden cross over his grave which read:
PRIVATE JIM
MACHINE-GUN SECTION NO. 1,
KILLED IN ACTION
June 10, 1915.
A DOG WITH A MAN'S HEART.
When Dick had finished, there was silence in the dugout. Then Sailor
Bill spoke up: "It's funny, h'everytime h'I 'ear that story h'I learn
somethin' new h'about myself."
Dick winked at the rest.
THE PACIFIST
As Told by Ikey
THE PACIFIST
"What do I think of a blinkin' pacifist?" asked Ikey from a corner of
the dugout.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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