If I had just walked by, they would have... If I had just walked by, they would have muttered, perhaps even jeered at meIt gave him an odd sharp pleasure almost thrilling
"I think I'll fire the gun, Captain," he said
The cannoneers stared at himOne of them was humming to himself"You men mind if I fire the gun?" the General asked pleasantly
"Huh?" DiVecchio asked
The General walked over to the position of No1 man outside the trails by the elevating mechanism, and grasped the lanyardIt was a foot-length of cord with a knob at the end"How many seconds, Captain?"
"Fire in five seconds, sir The Captain had looked at his watch nervously
The knob of the lanyard hefted pleasantly in the General's palmHe stared at the complicated obscured mechanism of the breech and the carriage springs, his mind hovering delicately
wholesale tiffany between anxiety and excitementAutomatically he had posed his body in a relaxed confident posture; it was instinctive with him to appear unconcerned whenever he was doing something unfamiliarThe mass of the gun, however, troubled him; he had not fired an artillery piece since West Point, and he was remembering not the noise nor the concussion, but a time in World War I when he had been under an artillery barrage for two hoursIt had been the most powerful single fear of his life, and an echo of it now was rebounding through his mindJust before he fired he could see it all, the sharp detumescent roar of the gun, the long soaring plunge of the shell through the night sky, its downward whistle, and the moments of complete and primordial terror for the Japanese at the other end
shop prada handbags when it landedAn odd ecstasy stirred his limbs for a moment, was gone before he was quite aware of it
The General pulled the lanyard
The muzzle blast deafened him momentarily, left him shaken and numb by its unaccustomed forceHe felt rather than saw the great twenty-foot flambeau of flame that discharged from the muzzle, heard dumbly the long billowing murmurs of the discharge through the dark closeted aisles of the jungleThe balloon tires, the trails were still vibrating gently from the recoil
It had all taken a fraction of a secondEven the backward blast of wind had passed him, roiled his hair and closed his eyes before he was conscious of itThe General was recovering his sense-impressions by degrees, clutching at them in the wake of the explosion like a man chasing his
black gucci bag hat in a galeHe took a breath, smiled, heard himself say in an even voice, "I wouldn't like to be at the other end He noticed the cannoneers, the Captain, after he spokeHe had said it because a part of his mind always considered the objective situation; consciously he had been unaware of the men about him as he talkedHe strode away slowly, drawing the Captain with him
"Artillery is a bit more impressive at night," he murmuredHis poise was addled slightlyHe would not have said this to a stranger if he were still not absorbed in the impact of firing the howitzer
"I know what you mean, sirI always get a kick out of firing the battery at night
Then it was all rightCummings realized he had almost made a slip"Your battery seems in good order, Captain
But he was not
chloe white listeningThe General was paying attention to the silent rhapsodic swoop of the shell, was following it in his mind's eyeHow long did it take? Perhaps half a minute? His ears were alerted for the sound of its explosion
"I never quite get over it, sirIt must be bloody hell at the other end
Cummings was listening to the dull muted tones of the explosion, miles away in the jungleHe saw in his mind the bright destroying bouquet of flame, the screams and the rent iron singing through the airI wonder if it killed anyone? he thoughtHe realized the tenseness with which he had been waiting for the shell to land by the weak absorptive relief that washed through his bodyAll his senses felt gratified, exhaustedThe war, or rather, war, was odd, he told himself a little inanelyBut he knew what it
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