Three Soldiers

that smelt of barracks and disinfectant there was a faint greasiness of food cooking. At the other side of the wide field long lines of men shuffled slowly into

bject in their field of vision,-the cinder piles, the long shadows of the barracks and mess halls where they could see men standing

et making a crunching

ut: "You men are at attention.

der looked at him out of

chatting about something that amused them. One of the officers laughed boyishly, turned away and walked slowly back across the parade ground. The other, who

company." The lieutenant's voic

salute like a block signal. "Com

ave a dusty glow in the brownish obscurity where the long tables and benches and the board floors had a faint smell of garbage mingled with the smell of the disinfectant the tables had been washed off with afte

ed his sleeves up at the wrists and leaned over his steaming food. He was stu

pposite him, who wore his broad-brimmed hat on

t," said Fuselli, ti

o tear t

at home back in Fris

this goddam town.... They ain't clean, none

outh leaned across

more chow: Wait for me,

wn?" asked the flaxen-haired

to the movies," he answered,

etreat." They overhear

he could and emptied the rest of his

nding him the papers sending him to camp, "I wish I was going with you," and had held out a white bony hand that Fuselli, after a moment's hesitation, had taken in his own stubby brown hand. The man had added fervently, "It must be grand, just grand, to feel the danger, the chance of being potted any minute. Good luck, young feller.... Goo

ll midnight, because in ten minutes he'd be outside the gates, outside the green fence and the sentries and the strands of barbed wire. Crunch, crunch, crunch; oh, they were so slow in getting back to

as biting the inside of his lips with impatience. Min

..mis

gate, brandishing his pass

inst a telegraph pole, with the camp fence, surmounted by three strands of barbed wire, behind him, wondering which way he would go. This was a hell of a town anyway. And he used to think he wanted to travel round and see places.-"Home'll be good enough for me after this,

ring streets of the theatre and restaurant quarter, or along the wharves and ferry slips, where they would have sat smoking and looking out over the dark purple harbor, with its winking lights and its moving ferries spilling swaying reflections in the water out of their square reddish-glowing windows. If they had been lucky, they would have seen a liner come in through the Golden Gate, growin

the old country in one,

if I had to do that. Man, first class

, where he didn't know anybody and where

all youth who had sat opposite at mess was j

uthin' el

rnin'," said the tall youth, jerking his h

bad as it seems at first,"

e careful as hell not to get in wrong. If ye on

, rookie? Ain't so bad. The sergeant's sort o' decent if yo're in

shiny Jewish nose. "I'm in the clothing business there. I oughtn't to be drafted

'll make you so goddam well ye won't know yerself. Yer mother w

hy

is, is from New York, an' all the New York

ettes d'ye smoke?"

n't s

and so does the sergeant; you jus' slip 'em each a bu

ike and smilin' and you'll get on all right. And if they start to rid

all youth. "Don't let 'em ride y

enst

ill Powers. Mine's Fuselli.... Goi

." The little man leered wanly.

t, planted, like the avenue, with saplings on which the sickly leav

aid Fuselli, "I got a g

stream of people in which the blackish

e of the feller leavin' his girl t

d y

was with me. Ever bee

took off his broad-brimmed hat and ra

me hot in there

ferry-boat, 'spite of my tellin' 'em I didn't want 'em. An' Mabe said she was mad at me, 'cause she'd seen the letter I wrote Georgine Slater. She was a toughie, lived in our street, I used to write mash notes to. An' I kep' tellin' Mabe I'

tandingly. "Cuts a feller all up. I guess it's better to

ne with

s pink face, so that it was noticeable even under the ashen

et I spied a silk service flag in a winder, that was all fancy with a star all trimmed up to beat the band, an' I said to myself, I'm goin' to give that to Mabe, an' I ran in an' bought it. I didn't give a hoot in hell what it cost. So when we was all kissin' and bawlin' when I was goin' to leave them to re

the tall yo

uselli got back to the barrack

ay, somebody's bro

ow

d if I

said he made a rop

on guard helped

is. I was walking by the guardhou

ny did he b

un

s his

insubordination. Punche

ed to have

fixed himse

goddam

reading the paper at a little board desk at the door of the barracks under the fee

Mabe waiting for him somewhere. How cold and frightful it must feel to be out of the camp with the guard looking for you! He pictured himself running breathless down a long street pursued by a company with guns, by officers whose eyes glinted cruelly like the pointed tips of bullets. He pulled the blanket closer round his head, enjoying the warmth and softness of the wool against his cheek. He must remember to smile at the sergeant when he passed him off duty. Somebody had

side his cot wok

up,

earchlight was glaring in th

said Fuselli

came the shar

xt cot stirred an

t u

yes blinking sleepily in the glare of the flashlight

than to sleep in your O

s,

s your

e, eh?" said the officer, glaring at the man savagely, using his curt voi

men breathing deeply in sleep, of men snoring. As he went to sleep Fuselli could hear the man beside him swearing, monotonously, in an even whisper, pausing now and

hile the company on guard chased him down an avenue lined with little dried-up saplings, gaining on him, while with voices metallic as the clicking of rifle triggers officers shouted orders, so