La der Natier mobile a Zacion by W. A. Dwiggins. On the
left, the road comes up the hill out of a pool of mist.
On the right, it loses itself in the shadow of a wood. On
the far side of the highway, a hedgerow, dusty in the moonlight,
spreads an irregular border of black from the wood to the fog. Behind the
hedgerow, slender poplar trees, evenly spaced rule off the distance with inky lines.
A movement stirs the mist. At the bottom of the hill. A
monotonous rhythm grows in the silence. The mist darkens, and from it there
emerges a strange, shadowy column that reaches slowly up the hill, moving in
silence to the somber and muff beating of a drum. As it draws nearer,
the shadow becomes two files of marching men, bearing between them a long,
dim burden. The leaders advance into the moonlight. Each two men are
carrying between them a pole, and from pole to pole have been slung planks,
making a continuous platform. But that which is heaped upon the platform is
hidden with muddy blankets. The uniforms of the men of various sorts, indicating
that they are from many commands, are in shreds and spotted with stains of
mold and earth. Their heads are bound in cloth so that their faces are
covered. A single drummer at the side of the column carries slung from his
shoulder the shell of a drum. No flag flies from the staff at the
column's head, but the staff is held erect. Slowly, the head of
the line advances to the shadow of the wood, touches it, and is
swallowed. The leaders, the bare flagstaff, the drummer disappear, but still
from the shade is heard the muffled rhythm of the drum. Still the column
comes out of the mist. Still it climbs the hill and passes with its
endless articulated burden. At last, the rearmost couple disengages itself from the mist,
ascends, and is swallowed by the shadow. There remains only the moonlight
and the dusty head drew from the left, the road runs from Belgium.
To the right, it crosses into France. The dead are leaving their resting
places in that lost land. The end of La der Natier mobile Lascion by
W. A. Dwiggins