Three Soldiers

lls and ceiling and floor were made of raw pine boards. The air was heavy fr

, d'you know how t

he desk, told him, and added,

arms folded, half amused, half angry, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, listening to the

iciency. History of Case...." At that moment the recruiting sergeant came back. "Look here, if you don't have that recommendation ready in ten minutes Captain Arthurs'll be

you. Run around the room a little.... No, not that way. Just a

at the typewriter, whose voice went on monotonously. "No... record of sexual dep.... O hell, this eraser's no good!... pr

iting sergeant. "Quick, I can't spend all day.

re balled up,"

n... exal ment... m-e-n-t-a-l-i-t-y that of child of eight. Seems unable... to eithe

o. Now there are some forms

rner of the room, from which he could hear more faintly the clic

Responds to no form of per..

. Fourth building, to the right; shake

e were still mere skeletons. Above his head great piled, rose-tinted clouds were moving slowly across the immeasurable free sky. His glance slid down the sky to some tall trees that flamed bright yellow with autumn outside the camp limit

tobacco followed him up also on a ladder, polishing the panes with a dry cloth till they shone and reflected the mottled cloudy sky. Andrews's legs were tired from climbing up and down the ladder, his hands were sore from the grittiness of the soap; as he worked he looked down, without thinking,

on chewing, so that Andrews thought he was not going to answer at all. He was just begin

o'cl

finish t

d wrinkled his face into

here

so

w l

d climbing down from his ladder waited, leaning against

n here a week," muttered Andrews between his teeth as h

d their ladders

in Casuals?" as

got no

they disc

ey're goin

It expressed the vast dusty dullness, the men waiting in rows on drill fields, standing at attention, the monotony of feet tramping in unison, of the dust rising from the battalions going back and forth over the dusty drill fields. He felt the rhythm filling his whole body, from his sore hands to his legs, tired from marching back and forth from making themselves the same length as mill

er and over to himself: "Arbeit und Rhythmus." He tried to drive the phrase out of his mind, to bury his mind in the music of the rhythm that had come to him, that expressed the dusty boredom, the harsh constriction of warm bodies full of g

id that, he was going to kill him. They were going to kill everybody who spoke that language, he and all the men who