Three Soldiers

dish rags. That woke him up a little. There was little talk in the mess shack. The men, that the bugle had wrenched out of their blankets but fifteen minutes before, sat in rows, eating sulle

served out one of the cooks swore in

ve got a head,

d to carry you up into the barracks. You said y

aid Fusell

a time getting yo

I got a hangover

if I can go thi

ha

shack. An electric light illumined faintly the wet trunk of a plane tree and the surface of the water where bits of oatmeal floated and coff

life!" said Bill

d'ye

and take bandages out of packin' cases. I'll go cr

ot a head,"

hand round Fuselli's shoulder as

I'm goin' A

ance we've got to get ahead. We can both of

hat d'ye think I got in this goddamed army for?

into his pockets and spat

't want to stay a b

here till I get in the jug for being spiffed or get

re soon enough. I want to get to be a corporal,"-he puffed out his chest a little

gle

ue, an' I ain'

t do nothin', Dan.... Don

under their feet. The ruts were full of black water, i

d been a preacher, in his sad, drawling voice. "Lieutenant says that's

breath out in a w

did t

y ans

apped the serge

towards one of the lights, their feet

camp gate. He was picking his teeth medit

uselli stopped, put his hands in his pockets and looked at the

man; "I'm cleaned out. Ain't

ll don't th

igned the p

. So

the light streamed out from a store or a cafe, it was almost frighteningly unreal. He walked down into the main square, where he could hear the fountain gurgling. In the middle he stopped indecisively, his coat unbuttoned, his hands pushed to the bottom of his trousers pockets, where they encountered nothing but the cloth. He listened a long time to the gurgling of the fountain and to the shunting of trains far away in the freight yards. "An' this is the war," he th

owards the Cheval Blanc, the la

curve. He made out the shape of the pistol holster that hung like a thin ham at the

e paint on the window and looked in wistfully. Someone from behin

aid. "How did you

d," said Dan Coha

damn

lowed doubtfully. He was a little afraid of Dan Cohan; he remembered how a man had been

tch and peep in the back before he could make out if her nose were straight or snub. He looked up, clicking the watch in his pocket. Marie of the white arms was coming laughing out of the inner room. Her large firm breasts, neatly held in by the close-fitting blouse, shook a little when she laugh

d her you'ld pay when Uncle Sam c

he hell

'll

corner, the favoured table, where Marie herself often sat an

r chairs. Wild Dan Cohan

nother offensive at Verdun," said D

ut there," said one man. "I knew more about the w

to 'em all right," said Fu

n spread across his red face. "Last time I was at the front the B

wh

ricans-

ell yo

ill-shaven jaw, who had just come in. "There ain't never b

dy," asked Cohan coolly. "I guess yo

be captured by a stinkin' Hun, is a goddam liar," said

," said Cohan laughing, looking medi

Marie's face. She looked at Cohan's fis

ad just slouche

wild Dan! Hello, o

lo,

ell cut, was shaking hands effusively with Cohan. He wore a corporal's strip

k?" The man twisted his mouth so that

42,"

I'm going back to my section soon. I'd never have got a court-martial i

gh l

a hell o

s working with ours at Cha

we evacuated th

wn half a glass of red wine, smacked his thi

little hill where we'd have to get out and shove every damn time, the mud was so deep, and God, it stank there with

" said Dook, wi

I'm part of the outfit in this gin mill

rig

ed something to Marie. She laughed

the Germans had dropped a message sayin' they'd give 'em three days to c

that! Quit yer kid

s on the car with me, and we laid in our blankets in the bottom of the car and every now and then one of us'ld turn over and whisper: 'Ain't this hell, kid?' 'cause that feller kept laughin' like a man who had just heard a joke that was so funny he couldn't stop laughin'. It wasn't like a crazy man's laugh usually is. When I first heard it I thought it was a man really laughin', and I guess I laughed too. But it didn't stop.... B

king a shutter bang interminably somewhere. Fuselli went to the main square again, casting an envious glance in the window of the Cheval Blanc, where he saw officers playing billiards in a well-lighted room painted white and gold, and a blond girl in a raspberry-colored shirtwaist enthroned haughtily behind the bar. He remembered the M. P. and automatically hastened his steps. In a narrow street the other side of the square he stopped before the window of a small grocery shop and peered inside, keeping carefully out of the oblong of l

ite face with large dark lashes and an impertinent mouth. She stood looking at the soldiers who sto

r a small stream. He leaned on the cold stone rail and looked into t

ell of a life,

could almost see the girl's face grimacing with its broad impertinent lips. He thought of the sombre barracks and men sitting about on the end of their cots. Hell, he couldn't go back yet. His whole body was taut with desire for warmth and softness and quiet. He slouched

inner room. She gave hi

ca va! Yv

her show her little p

he said i

ghed chi

you be my g

in his eyes

pris," s

ulez vous e

able with chairs round it. At the end Eisenstein and a French soldier were talking excitedly, so absorbed in what they were saying that they did not

that," he said in Engl

ng out of the pocket of her apron and holding it up comically between two fingers, glanced towards the dark corn

!" sh

at a long while looking at each other and giggling, while Eisenstein and

cans do if revolution

nch of slaves." Fuselli noticed that Eisenstein's puffy sallow face was

olution?" asked Fusel

ned black eyes se

verthrow the capitalist gover

republic alrea

h as yo

uselli. "They tell me they shoot gu

d Eisenstein t

y all li

d Eisenstein, burying his face in his h

se," said the Frenchman.

red uneasily

" he asked. In his mind he was saying: "A k

her knitting ball at him. It rolled down under the table a

it was going to happen

was

ris.... And when I was in Verdun.... O there will be

re to shoot you dow

ttle while. A winter in the trenches w

of the army a man becomes a brute, a piece of machinery. Remem

tion. I have always heard that Americans were free and independ

his feet. "We'd better be getting to

selli indifferently

e Frenchman went

, softly, leaning across

and put his arms round her neck and kissed her,

ay calmly with st

chair in the dark corner of the room. They stood side by side listening to her

n," he

dded h

rds the camp. The blood pounded happily thr

don't think you ought to go talking round like that.

n't c

get in the wrong that bad. They sho

t t

want to be a damn fool

are you,

twent

I know what's good and what's bad

note. But who brought it on? If

li lingered a moment watching the small form of Eisenstein

over him, shattering his mood of joyous self-satisfaction. His feet slopped in the puddles, breaking through the thin ice, as he walked up the road towards the barracks. He felt as if

nkets in the bunk next to Bill G

I've got a skirt a

ho

on't tell

y whistl

ome highf

li ch

best ain't goo

g to leave you,

he

go this life. I do

d warmly into his blankets, thinki

to Reveille on February fifth he was a free man. His eyes smarted with sleep as he walked up and down the cold station platform. For twenty-four hours he wouldn't have

t was leaning out of the cab, lit up from behind by a yellowish red glare. Now the cars were going by, flat cars with guns, tilted up like the muzzles of hunting dogs, freight cars out of which here and there

ice. "I don't know who the hell

red Fuselli. "Goi

ght," answered

ere moving fast before Fuselli's eyes. Then the station was dark and empty again, and he was

alked down the steps of the palace out into the faint ruddy sunlight of the afternoon. A few names, Napoleon, Josephine, the Empire, that had never

guys," said the man who was with him, a pr

ed his visions of wealth and glory that he used to tell Al about, when they'd sit a

id the private in Aviation, a morose foul-mouthed little

I bet they was immoral, them

g at women, lolling on benches in the parks where the faint sunlight came through a lacework o

er drink," said the

s watch; they had ho

dirty blouse wip

," said th

ws," said

ich naked pink-fleshed cupids writhed indecently. Some day, he was saying to himself, he'd make a hel

" said the private in Aviation, lee

"Quo Vadis," people in bath robes dancing around with larg

p," said the pri

ws," said

ed beds with heavy carvings above them, beds in which writh

aid, "Hell

dark except for the little light that flickered in the ceiling. For a minute he th

said Eisenstein.

i with a thick voic

hat house?" said Ei

" muttered Fuselli.

terns of flowers and fruits and cupids, all gilded, and a dark passage and stairs that smelt musty, where he and the man in Aviation fell down. He remembered how it felt to rub his nose hard on the gritty red plush carpet of the stairs. T

feller needs a little of that to keep healt

know that in case something came up. The corporal who had been in the Red Sox outfield had been transferred to a Base Hospital. It was t.

a pass?" Eisens

me up with one," answe

with the sergeant, ain'

miled dep

w that little

's clerk in that outfit that ha

He just can't stand the discipline.... You ought to see him wince when the r

good soft job: cle

said Eisenstein, indignantly. "But the kid's lost it and they keep ridin' him for so

ke his medicine

the trenches. We'll see how you l

Fuselli, composing h

lli out of his blankets

ext to his was empty. The blankets were folded neatly at the foot. Sudden panic seized him. He couldn't get along

enti

d down in front of them with the tail of his trench coat sticking out behind. He had a pocket flashlight that he

once, as otherwise we shall have to put him down A. W. O. L. You know what that means?" The li

said an

L."; this from som

d the lieutenant in his natural voice. "I'm going to

shouting and dancing with joy. He was glad it wa

said the lieutenant bringing hi

ed!" said out the

occurrence of events, the company straggled across th