Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one classic short stories and tales.

This is your host and storyteller, John Haggardorn.

It's been a while since we

lasted a story from Stephen Crane. We have one for you today called A Mystery of Heroism.

Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was born November 1st, 1871,

six years after the American Civil War had ended. Yet, his fame and

fortune were interwoven with that war. Though he had never fought in battle himself, he created

stories about the battlefield that were so realistic that veterans reading his work 30 years

after the war had praised for its realism and ability to capture the true feelings and images

of combat. His best known novel is The Red Badge of Courage. He wrote a number of good short

stories. This was one of his Civil War short stories called A Mystery of Heroism.

And here's our story. The dark uniforms of the men were so coated with dust from the incessant wrestling of the two armies that the regiment almost seemed a part of the clay bank which shielded them from the shells.

On the top of the hill, a battery was arguing in tremendous roars with some other guns, and to the eye of the infantry, the artillery

men, the guns, the caissons, the horses, were distinctly outlined upon the blue sky.

When a piece was fired, a red streak as round as a log flashed low in the heavens, like a monstrous

bolt of lightning. The men of the battery wore white duck trousers,

which somehow emphasized their legs,

and when they ran and crowded in little groups

at the bidding of the shouting officers,

it was more impressive than usual to the infantry.

Fred Collins of A-company was saying,

Thunder, I wish I had a drink.

...