Three Soldiers

ng, and mud-covered, they throbbed by sloughing in and out of the mud holes in the worn road in an

e center of the road; then he turned to the corpo

d if there ain't

n'," said the corpor

aniels who's bee

N

l's broke loose. H

ve service," said Meadville, grinning. "By God, I'd

h?" asked t

nously; their drivers were so splashed with m

asked Meadville. "T

past them tow

Corporal says hell's broke loose out

opped and

y's smelt plenty of gunpow

'll try that little trick myself now the good we

damn

y in the trenches.... Or do you think you'

to the front. I don't wa

el

where it don't do no good.... A guy w

on?" said the corporal. "W

t you're

tor trucks went by,

ng cases where a little sun filtered in through the dusty air at the corrugated sliding t

s saying. "I've seen fellers with their arms swelled up to tw

o go to the hospita

was standin' as near me as you are an' was whistlin' 'Tipperary' under his breath when all at once there

ther and spat on to the sawdust of the floor. The men withi

's goin' on at the fron

n stretchers waiting all day on the pavement outside. I know that.... Fellers the

oked at him

i. "Why they can't advance.

els. "I guess you believe ever

ndignantly. They all wen

ely flustered, strode into the warehous

l me where Serg

ew minutes ago,"

now?" snapped the

sir," mumbled F

if you can

? And all the flood of bitterness that had been collecting in his spirit seethed to the surface. They had not treated him right, He felt full of hopeless anger against this vast treadmill to which he was bound. The endless succession of the days, all alike, all s

ards the warehouse, across the new green g

to him mysteriously. "The loot wants

g just in time to hear the lieutenant

ow how to draw up co

urprise on his face. He followed the preci

tion that might be charged against him. The terror passed as fast as it had come. Of course he had no reason to fear. He laughed softly to himself. What a fool he'd been to g

s. Both sergeants were away. The corporal said he knew nothing, and got sulkily i

someon

isenstein's turned

he ha

n't he? Born in Poland

s did tal

selli, "he'd get into troub

talk?" ask

s wrong and all that god

"In the second division they made two fellers dig their

, the

ell you, fellers, it don't do to mo

ts out!" said the corporal angrily. The barracks was dark, full o

oft clouds of the sky. The sparrows kept up a great clattering in the avenue of plane trees. Their riotous

ith his shoulders stiff, so that everyone knew

men, a minut

tered as the m

acks. After that every man must stand by his pack until orders come.

houted the top s

y, his heart pounding, ran to the barracks to do up his pack, feeling proud under the

n the empty hunks and drummed their fee

hell freezes over," said Meadville, who

... You break your neck

he sergeant, poking

n! Atte

d in a new pair of roll puttees stoo

or possibly disloyal statements found in a letter addressed to friends at home. I have been extremely grieved to find anything of thi

entertain no ideas at all rather than run the risk of calling f

ompany, he had better keep his mouth shut and be pr

as if it were the order for t

unk Eisenstein,

Oh, sergeant," he said familiarly; "I think

t into the barr

le of the floor, letting out occasional little puffs of smoke from a crack in the stove pipe. The sergeant-major was a small

iter and stood with his cap in his h

ant?" asked the ser

you was look-in' for a man with optical

el

in an optical-goods st

r name, ran

1st-class, Company C, m

, I'll att

serg

say, quick." The sergeant-major fingered

p to go. The transfer'll h

d get the major to sign it when he goes through.... That's the way it always is," he cried, leaning

e sergeant-major ran his hand through his h

with their packs. Outside it had begun to rain softly, and a smell of wet sprouting earth came in through the open door. Fuselli sat on the floor beside his bunk throwing his k

king the water off his slicker, a ser

ody open up their belt and lay it on the foot of t

owly, pulling the little packets out of the belts. The men looked at them out of the corner

e're in for it this time.

we're good for," said the lieutenant,

lieutenant, and have it cha

, s

at things differently whe

utenant

At ease, men!" The lieutenant and the major stood at the door a momen

later the se

your slickers

en clouds had a faint coppery tinge. The rain beat in their faces, making them ting

!" cried t

in at the end of the line, a tall man w

Fuselli, fall out and repo

ise come over men's faces.

the men down t

" cried the ser

ped off into the

s, took off his pack and slicker

station platform, where puddles from the night's rain glittered as the wind ruffled them, was empty. Fuselli started walking up and down with his hands in his pockets. He had been sent down to unload some supplies that were

nd the couplings clanked all down the line of cars. The platform was sudde

uys goin'?"

ach. Don't we look it?"

aking hands with two browned men whose faces we

ndrews!" he cried. "When did

s looked at Fuselli searchingly. "Oh! Ah 'member you. You're

drews. "How are

i. "I'm in the opti

he hell'

li pointed vaguely

s near Bordeaux," said Andrews; "and

ard. Clouds of white steam filled the station pla

, two brown and dirt-grimed faces among many other brown and dirt-grimed faces. The steam floated up tinged with

ing of his company tramping off through the streaming rain, and of those fellows he had known in training Camp in America, Andrews and Chrisfield, jolting in box cars towards the front, where Daniel's buddy had had his chest split in half by a piece of shell. And he'd written home he'd been made a corporal. What was he going to do when letters came for him, addressed Corporal Dan Fuselli? Putting the bro

oked unusually wide and c

at the desk, and began at once

this morning?" he asked F

re, sergeant,

ered about the

after a pause. "Major's likely to come round her

," said Fu

h. He stopped and leaned on the broom. He thought of all the days that had gone by since he'd last seen those fellows, Andrews and Chrisfie

to having the afternoon off. He rubbed his face on his towel and got to his feet. Outside, the rain fe

king at the same thing. Rolling down his sleeves, with his tunic hitched over one arm, he walk

eant, I'm sick. I ain'

omeone beside Fusell

rman. He stood over the bunk. In the bunk at the end of a bundle of blankets was the chalk-white face o

this minute," roared

lent; his white

ll's the mat

yank him out yo

nute," shouted the sergeant

d away. Fuselli watched fasc

his is a court-martial offence. Here, Morton

es. By the way the blanket rose and fell over his c

t up, you fool?"' said Fuselli.

didn't

i walk

azy," he

llowed by the tall sergeant. He stopped and shook the water off hi

report sick call at once," said the li

at him dully an

tand at attention when a

to get up," cam

s red face b

atter with the man?" he

ith him, lieutenant. I

n.... You're under arrest, d'ye

r. The rain patter

pped the lieutenant. He strode towards the door. "And sergeant, start

him up," said the ser

i walk

t the other end of the barracks. He stood looking

m up," shoute

his chalk-white face half-hidden b

he guardhouse, or have we to carry

im gingerly and pulled hi

yank him o

awers was held up for a moment between the t

ge, he's

ison, ask one of the orderlies

.. The kid's dead,"

me a

y on the bed again. "Well, I'll

. They covered the

HREE:

he banks of jade-green rivers where the slim poplars were just coming into leaf and where now and then a fish jumped. The men crowded in the door, grimy and tired, leaning on each other's shoulders and watching the plowed lands slip by and the meadows where the golden-green grass was dappled with butt

is country.... Ain't like that dam

so hard there wasn't any t

n right the

this country a whil

'em to let us

stles of his unshaven chin rubbed against Chrisfield's cheek. It was a large square head with closely cropped light hair and porc

e all been in this goddam train?...

you gettin' old, Chris?"

place he held and began poking him

ghts, an' we've got half a day's rations left,

like this a

there as well as

all rainstorm trailed across the hills, sometimes brightening to moments of clear sunlight that gave blue shadows

iana way we wouldn't look at a cornfield that size. But it sort o' r

diana in the spring

he war's over and us guys is

bet I

r. The slate roofs and the pinkish-grey streets of the town shone cheerfully in the rain. The little patches of garden were all vivid emerald-green. Then they were looking at rows and rows of re

were French soldiers in their blue co

seas," said Judkins. "Those goddam country people down at Polignac didn

ng slowly past interminable freight train

tle so

," shouted the sergea

goddam car like you was a c

et out and wal

b

bee line for a dairy

among those goddam frogs. No, vin blan

at the end of the car. Andrews sat down near him and stared at his mud-caked boots, runn

He could almost smell the heavy sweetness of the locust blooms, as he used to smell them sitting on the steps after supper, tired from a day's heavy plowing, while the clatter of his mother's housework came from the kitchen. He didn't wish he was back there, but it was pleasant to think of it now and then, and how the yellow farmhouse looked and the red bar

ition with the hobnails of a boot from the back of a pack sticking into his shoulder. Andrews was sitting in

eavy important step on the gravel outside. A large man with black eyebrows that met over his

hrisfield, "that bas

p with a smile, his blue eyes looking

ow who

eeks were flushed. His eyes snapped under the

I didn't know he w

ield in a low voice, throwing h

. "We may all cash in our checks before

ive a damn

drews sat down besi

s and the clots of mud bounced up and down on the splintered boards of the floor. Chrisfield pi

r heads nodding with each jolt, and at the mauve-grey clouds and bits of sparkling blue sky that he could see beh

all the sleepers and threw one man off

ars! Snap it up; snap it

ll it formed a confused heap of packs and rifles outside. All down the tr

equipment.... Line up

en were given "at ease" and stood leaning on their rifles staring at a green water-tank on three wooden legs, over the top of which had been thrown a huge piece of torn grey cheesecloth. When the confused sound of tramping

eld kitchen about which clustered the truck drivers in their wide visored caps. Beyond the wood the column turned off into a field behind a little group of stone and stucco houses that had lost their roofs. In the field they halted. The grass was brilliant

annihilate the detachment," announced the lieutenant dramatica

hilly white mist that kept growing denser, eating their

ris, before our bones a

business-like stride, peering now and then suspicious

st time he had seen that man Anderson was at training camp. He had only been a corporal then. He remembered the day the man had been made corporal. It had not been long before that that Chrisfield had drawn his knife on him, one night in the barracks. A fellow had caught his hand just in time. Anderson had looked a bit pale that time and had walked away. But he'd never spoken a word to Chrisfield since. As he lay with his eyes closed, pressed close against Andrew's limp sleeping body, Chrisfield c

shed. The stars shone brilliantly. They walked out a little way into the field away from the bunch of tents to make water. A faint rustling and breathing noise, as of animals herded together,

rion," sa

ha

m. It's supposed to look like a man with a bow, but he a

ht, ain't there?

a glow rose and fell l

" said Andrews, shivering. "

it," said Andrews. They stood silent a mo

't it? This can't be

t is

om somewhere.... Hell, let's git

ng at the group of star

into their tent again, rolled up together and i

e sweat that ran down his face. The column had been marching a long time along a straight road that was worn and scarred with heavy traffic. Fields and hedges where clusters of yellow flowers were in bloom had gi

goin' towar

ned if

front with

e shortly through t

urt up over him as truck after truck rumbled by. With the wet back of one hand he tried to wipe it off his face, but the grit, when he

its grey church with a pointed arch in the door, its cafes with names painted over them. Men and women looked out of doors and windows. The column perceptibly slackened its speed, but kept on, and as the houses dwindled and became farther apart along the road the men's hope of stopping vanished. Ears were deafened by the confused tramp of feet on the macadam road. Men's feet seemed as lead, as if all t

ttle, taking on pale yellowish lights as if

ered along the road. The men sprawled in all directions along the road

gs seemed to cleave to the ground, as if he would never be able to move them again. He closed his eyes. Gradually a cold chill began stealing through

, and poking a cigarette towards his friend with a muddy hand. His blue

arette, and fumbled in

id it for me,"

. He pulled greedi

stle

the ground and fell into line, droopin

s marched of

d the lieutenant sa

the hell couldn't they have se

o the front after al

a small man who looked like a jockey with a coarse re

ing to quarter us h

egan saying: "We're goi

e, the packs cutting into their backs and s

, where the air was heavy with the smell of hay and with an acridity of cow manure from the stables be

d see down into the barnyard, where white and speckled chickens pecked about with jerky movements. A middle-aged woman stood in t

ew very red. Andrews threw back his head and laughed, luxuriously rolling from side to side in the straw. Chrisfield laughed t

n to drift... the greasiness of

' good to eat," said Chrisfiel

," said

talk their languag

dded his h

or somethin' out of the lady dow

rig

w drowsy voices. Outside, another shower had come up and beat softly on the tiles of the roof. Chrisfield thought he had never been so comfortable in his life, altho

on it, crisp and hot, on which the butter was cold and sweet to his tongue. Suddenly he stopped eating and started swearing, shouting at the top of his lungs: "You goddam..." he started, but he couldn't seem to think of anything more to say. "You goddam..." he started again. The lieutenant looked towards him, wrinkling his black

Below in the valley they could see a cluster of red roofs of farms and the white ribbon of the road where long trains of motor trucks crawled like beetles. The sun had just set beh

way from that crowd,

warm choking coverlet on his limbs, so that it seemed an effort to walk, an effort to speak. Yet under it his muscles we

hey let us git into i

e better than this.

aint jingle of some coins in Chrisfield's pocket, and in the distance the irregular snoring of an aeroplane

the figures of the pilot and the observer before the plane rose again and vanished against the ragged purple clouds of the sky. The observer

one o' them guys,

wou

is hellish infantry. This ain't no sort o' life

sort of lif

.... But all we do is drill and have grenade practice an' drill again and t

bout it, Chris? We can't be any lower

that plan

he

' down behind the

ere their

n trainin' camp for Aviation. Ain't never heard nothing from it th

rews, looking dreamily at the pale orange band of light whe

h wonder if that girl

oine

lahk to have her all b

the brow of the hill. It was almost dark under the shadow of the bushes on either side. Overhead the purple clouds w

hand on Chrisf

elessly at little cluster of hawthorn flowers as he passed them, and seemed reluctant t

won't have time to get a bellyful.

came in a moment to the first tigh

. His lips were puckered up as if to whistle, but no sound came. He swayed back and forth indecisively. An officer came suddenly out of the little green door of the house in front of the M.P., who brought his heels together with a jump and saluted,

, and gone in at the door of a small ramshackle house o

y of them bastards at

s bits of crystal and the orange-blossoms on a piece of dusty red velvet under a bell glass on the mantelpiece denoted that. The furniture had been taken out, and four square oak tables

her hands in the pocket of a dark blue apron against which her rounded forearms showed golden brown. Her face had the same golden t

Antoinette?"

heads at the French soldier who sat

n rouge, vite,"

ut it tonight, Chris," said one

hy

poral tole me his-self. Sarge's gone o

"we kin stay out as late's

Chrisfield.... "Ah saw him maself..

his face in shadow and his black lashes covering his eyes. A

ole wine sure do go down fast...

ve some more win

ll ye want. Ah want som

at down in an empty chair with her red hands crossed on her apron

looked at the Frenchman, feeling in his eyes for a

ontracted dreamily, fixed on the shadow of the chandelier, which the cheap oil

eld pun

Andy, are

id Andy

li'l mo'

again. The faded purple frock was hooked at the neck. The first three hooks wer

into his ear, "talk up to her for me, will yer, Andy?... Ah won't let th

ws la

But there's always the

ed Andrews, making a gesture wit

wed her bad te

con," sai

in. Chrisfield leaned back in his chair with an empt

... vous admire," said An

nd hair as Antoinette's, ten years older, only the skin,

the woman in a

as she passed him and disappeared. The Frenchman walked ac

eet. The room was like a w

gone after he

one from the next table. "Sit tig

't had a thing to drink all the evening." He pulled him back into his chair. Chrisfield tried to get u

s pinched!"

face. He got to his feet and sat sulkily in his chair again. And

now. Someone was sing

e ash and the wee

the grass in G

ere he used to go in swimming. He seemed to see it all before him, to smell the winey smell of the silo, to see the cattle, with their chewing mouths always stained a little with green, waiting to get through the gate to the water trou

's country, ai

o many," mutt

red nine inches around out ho

s good as

do the damage one of our thunder an'

age we're going to se

buddy," said someb

it. This war's going

us irritation. He looked through half-closed eyes at the men in the room, seeing them in distorted white lights and reddish shadows. He thought of himself thr

ay at, Andy? I'm

essed what

he said, "Remember you're going to s

..." his voice trailed off into

e ash and the wee

the grass in G

dy san

the table with her back to him, colle

chair. She turned round. He saw the sallow face and thin breasts of the older sister. She looked in his eyes with surprise. He was grinning dru

ir cooking. It was dark except for the corner where he and Andrews stood blinking in the glare of a candl

n the dark of the room, sa

boches..

were

oplane motors, rising and falling like t

g against the bed, her face expressionless. Her heavy hair had

woman wa

e what's doing, Ch

into the dark

ar!" cried Andrews in a loud drunken voic

war.... Ah'm a-goi

ver his mouth. He let himself go limply, fe

ark he heard an of

hose men

" came ano

Andrews kept pushing him back along the side of a house,

throwing an arm over Chrisfield's chest. A t

r about irresolutely and then go off in

of motors overhead g

e the offic

em, sir," mumbled

n were drunk," came

ame the other

iggle. He felt he must

ts singsong roar, making th

umped to

king snorting explosion. They saw the wall abov

. There was a little light from the glow the moon, still under the horizon, gave to the sky. A wind

p stood in th

in the window was shouti

pped a bomb, Major," came

voice was muttering all the while. "Juss a t

done?" ask

f the motors sing-songed ominousl

," said the major, i

ir, lots," answer

close the window, Lieutena

can I tell him

led, that's all t

," drawled the major from the win

ar!" cried the ea

aid the

everything in a red glare. The street was suddenly f

ay have a roll cal

or home across cou

re pit. Chrisfield was surprised to find

lty he kept his tee

l stink fo

ered Chrisfield, "o'

roke through a hedge and climbed u

omb followed bomb, and above them the air seemed full of exploding shrapnel and droning planes. The cognac still throbbed a little in their blood. They stumbled against each other now and then as they walked. From the top of the hil

directions came the yelp of anti-aircraft guns, and overhea

ing. "By God, Ah always have fun wh

other slope of the hill towards t