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From: | Nanny Valdez |
Subject: | [Aleona-CVS] wavelength |
Date: | Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:51:30 +0300 |
Once, when he was on duty with his old
company,Bourne went out on patrol with Mr Finch. Just because theywouldnt serve im,
e wants the best theyve got. There wasa tree there, undamaged, and they sat with
their backs against it.
Could I get our rations now, sergeant-major? You
chaps know ow to make yourselves comfortable.
Theworst feature of the business was the delay; it
fretted them intoimpatience.
When he got back to the cellar, he found that
Martlow had broughtin a stray terrier.
It was very dark, and the rain was fine, searching
andcold. Apparently the whole ofColincamps was going west, clouds of smoke and dust
rose from it. Yes: it was Weepers imagination, not his will, which kept
himgoing.
Youre getting wind-up, said Shem,
laughing.
If it comes to that, were all windy, grunted
Martlow, loyally. It wasquite time somebody was made to pay a little attention to
theirbloody mob.
Lets have a spree tonight, said Bourne, even if we
never haveanother.
It wasan plain, matter-of-fact
conversation.
He was in much the same mood as the others
were.
I am not going near the bloody place again. He did
not mind the rain and he lovedthe quiet.
Evans turned away, laughing; he could not wait
longer, as he wasalready a bit behind time. Collapsing houses had spilt their bricks
half across the street.
The sergeant was not there when he arrived, so he
waited, talkingto Pritchard and Minton. AsCorporal Williams had said of
Mailly-Maillet, it was simply lousywith guns.
He was in much the same mood as the others
were.
That sounded like a regular stunt, he said. When he
got back to the cellar, he found that Martlow had broughtin a stray terrier. There
will be a message to take up the line, soon, said Bourneto Shem.
He saw Millercrossing the yard, and looked
curiously at that degenerate face.
Monster guns, too,were secreted somehow in the
courtyards of houses in the villageitself.
His interview with Major Shadwell did him a lot of
good.
An Im tellin emeverythin s all right, an so t is,
up to the present. They finished the beer and went into the street, Bourne
pointingout where his billet was. On the hillside just beyond the controls dugouta
man lay dead.
Then Ill take the midnight message to Brigade, said
Shem. Could I get our rations now, sergeant-major? Mon, said the Scotsman, after a
long silence; it wereproveedential. We left the barn we werein, and moved into a
cellar; and we need a bit of light. Then, when they had finished their cigarette,
the big Scotsmanrose.
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