zhang94

@@@@@”Anything you care to tell them, Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir Croft stared at them, fingering the sodden collar of his fatigue shirt”I want all you men to remember where the trail isYou can line it up by those three rocks over there, or by that little ol’ tree that’s bent in half, an’ if for any reason one of you troopers gets lost, you wanta remember what these hills look like, so’s when you head south and reach the stream, you’ll know whether to turn right or left He paused and readjusted a grenade in his belt”From now on we’re gonna be in open country, an’ you gotta keep patrol disciplineI don’t want any goddam yelling or messing around, and you damn sure better keep your eyes openWhen we cross a ridge-line we do it fast and lowIf you’re gonna walk like a bunch of sheep you’ll be ambushed He fingered his chin”I don’ know if we’re gonna make ten miles or two ’cause you can’t tell ahead of time, but we’re damn sure gonna do it right, I don’t care what distance There was a low murmur from the men, and Hearn flushed slightlyCroft had virtually contradicted him
“All right, men, let’s go,” he said sharplyThey started off in a long loose column, plodding forward wearilyThe tropical sun glared on them, reflected from every blade of grass, and dazzled their eyesThe heat made them sweat profusely; their uniforms, which had been wet first by the spray of the boat, had been unable to dry for almost twenty-four hours, and the cloth stuck dankly to their bodiesThe sweat ran into their eyes and smarted, the sun burned on their fatigue caps, the high kunai grass lashed against their faces, and the unending hills absorbed their sinewsTheir hearts would pound as they toiled up a hill, and they would sob with exertion, their faces burning with feverAn intense pendant silence had settled over the hills, become ominous at last in its depth and pervasivenessThe men had not thought about the Japanese at all while they were in the jungle; the denseness of the brush, the cruelty of the river, had absorbed all their attentionThe last thing they had considered was an ambush
But now in the great open quiet of the hills they felt a constraint and fear even through their fatigueThe hills stared down on them when they were in a valley, and in crossing a ridge-line the contrast rendered them naked, as though they could be seen for milesThe country was beautiful; the hills were tinted a canary yellow, and spread about them in an unending run of broad smooth curves, but the men did not appreciate the beau