He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting. It was a mysterious fraternity borne of the smoke… - Stephen Crane

They were going to look at war, the red animal — war, the blood-swollen god. And they were deeply engrossed in this march.

I WALKED IN A DESERT.
AND I CRIED,
'AH, GOD, TAKE ME FROM THIS PLACE!'
A VOICE SAID, 'IT IS NO DESERT.'
I CRIED, 'WELL, BUT — THE SAND, THE HEAT, THE VACANT HORIZON.'
A VOICE SAID, 'IT IS NO DESERT.

This tower was a giant, standing with its back to the plight of the ants. It represented in a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid the struggles of the individual — nature in the wind, and nature in the vision of men. She did not seem cruel to him, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent. It is, perhaps, plausible that a man in this situation, impressed with the unconcern of the universe, should see the innumerable flaws of his life and have them taste wickedly in his mind and wish for another chance. A distinction between right and wrong seems absurdly clear to him, then, in this new ignorance of the grave-edge, and he understands that if he were given another opportunity he would mend his conduct and his words, and be better and brighter during an introduction, or at a tea.