"You don't, eh, you don't, huhI know a hell of a... "You don't, eh, you don't, huhI know a hell of a sight more about those labor bastards than you do"It's awright to go around screwing niggers and living with them He laughed, seeking for approbation"Perfectly all right, isn't it?"
"I don't see how you know so much about it, Colonel Conn," Hearn said againThe thing was taking the form he had dreadedAnother exchange or two and he would have his choice of crawfishing or taking his punishment
His earlier question was answeredWhen Conn was caught, he only pushed it a little further"You can shut your mouth, HearnIf I'm saying something I know what I'm talking about
And like an echo, Dalleson getting in: "We know you're pretty goddam smart, Hearn An approving titter flickered through the tentThey all did dislike him then, Hearn realizedHe had known it and yet there was the trace of a
omega deville watch pangThe Lieutenant beside him was sitting stiff, tensed, his elbow removed a careful inch from Hearn's
He had pushed himself into this position, and the only thing to do was to carry it offAlloyed with the outraged beating of his heart was fear and a detached, almost mild concern with what would happen to himA court-martial perhaps?
As he spoke he felt a pride in the precision of his voice"I was thinking, Colonel, that since you do know so much about it, you must have found out peeking through keyholes
A few startled laughs answered him and Conn's face expanded with rageThe red of his nose extended slowly out to his cheeks, his forehead, the blue veins startling now, a cluster of purple roots which held his cholerHe was obviously searching for speech like a player who has dropped a ball and runs in frantic circles trying to locate itWhen he
chanel reporter bag spoke it would be terribleEven Webber had stopped eating
"Gentlemen, please!"
It was the General calling across the length of the tent"I won't have any more of this
It silenced them all, cast a hush through the tent in which even the clacking of the tableware was muted, and then the reaction set in with a chorus of whispers and small exclamations, an uncomfortable self-conscious return to the food before themHearn was furious with himself, disgusted by the relief he had felt when the General intervened
Beneath the surface of his thoughts he had known, he realized now, that the General would protect him, and an old confused emotion caught him again, resentment and yet something else, something not so genuine
Conn, Dalleson and Hobart were glaring at him, a trio of ferocious marionettesHe brought his spoon up, champed at the remote
chanel classic bag sweet pulp of the canned peach which mingled so imperfectly with the nervous bile in his throat, the hot sour turmoil of his stomachAfter a moment he clanked the spoon down, and sat staring at the tableConn and Dalleson were talking self-consciously now like people who know they are being listened to by strangers on a bus or trainHe heard a fragment or two, something about their work for the afternoon
At least Conn would be having indigestion too
The General stood up quietly, and walked out of the tentIt gave permission for the rest of them to leaveConn's eyes met Hearn's for a moment and they both looked away in embarrassmentAfter a minute or so, Hearn slid off the bench, and strolled outsideHis clothing was completely wet, the air caressing against it like cool water
He lit a cigarette and strolled irritably through the bivouac, halting
tiffany diamond when he reached the barbed wire, and then pacing back underneath the coconut trees, staring morosely at the scattered clusters of dark-green pup tentsWhen he had completed the circuit, he clambered down the bluff that led to the beach, and walked along through the sand, kicking abstractedly at pieces of discarded equipment still left from invasion dayA few trucks motored by, and a detail of men shuffled in file through the sand carrying shovels against their shouldersOut in the water a few freighters were anchored, yawing lazily in the midday heatOver to his left a landing craft was approaching a supply dump
Hearn finished the cigarette and nodded curtly to an officer passing byThe nod was returned, but after a doubtful pauseHe was going to be in for it now, there was no getting away from thatConn was a bloody fool, but he had been a bigger
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