FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40  
41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   >>   >|  
this Coomp'ny. It is therefore not only--er--reprehensible, but also against their own interest if men tease these pigs and pull them about by tails and ears or feed them with unsuitable food. Offenders will be severely dealt with." We had been on parade for nearly half an hour. The torture of freezing toes was so acute that even men in the front ranks were trying to get warm by treading the mud or sharply raising and lowering their heels. The Sergeant-Major suddenly observed them, blew his whistle and shouted angrily: "Stand still there ---- ---- d'you hear? Stand still there. Can't yer understand English, damn yer?" We were convinced that we would hear the blast of his whistle and his angry shout in our nightmares to the end of our days. He was in reality quite a kind-hearted man, but he was bullied by his superiors just as we were bullied by ours. He was bullied into being a bully. And his superiors were bullied by their superiors. The army is ruled by fear--and it is this constant fear that brutalizes men not naturally brutal. The Sergeant-Major began to call out the fatigue parties. We felt relieved and thought that at last we would begin to move and get warm. "Fall out Sergeant Waley's party!" A score of men splashed across the mud and lined up under Sergeant Waley. "Fall out Sergeant Hemingway's party!" Forty or fifty men lined up. It was Sergeant Hemingway whose sense of duty had prompted him to report the man whom he saw slinking into the ranks after we were all assembled on parade. Then the proceedings were interrupted. One of our officers, wearing top boots and a fur-lined overcoat with a big fur collar, emerged from the half darkness and the whirl of snowflakes and walked up to the Sergeant-Major, who stood to attention and saluted. The officer returned the salute and the two talked together for several minutes. A man in the front rank not far from me muttered in an agonized voice: "Gorblimy, get a bloody move on--I'm perishin' wi' cold." Another added: "They don't say nothin' when _'e_ comes late on parade--'e wouldn't mind if we was kept 'ere all day--oo, me feet, they're absolutely froze." The Sergeant-Major swung round sharply and bawled out: "Stop that talking there--you're stood to attention!" Then he went on talking to the officer. At length the conversation came to an end. Salutes were exchanged once more and the officer walked over towards a house on the far side of the road
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40  
41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Sergeant

 

bullied

 
parade
 

superiors

 

officer

 

sharply

 

whistle

 

walked

 

attention

 

talking


Hemingway
 

salute

 

returned

 

saluted

 

agonized

 

Gorblimy

 

bloody

 

muttered

 

reprehensible

 

minutes


talked

 

interrupted

 

officers

 

wearing

 

proceedings

 

interest

 

assembled

 

darkness

 

snowflakes

 
emerged

collar

 
overcoat
 

Another

 

length

 

bawled

 

absolutely

 

conversation

 

Salutes

 

exchanged

 

nothin


slinking

 

perishin

 

wouldn

 

reality

 

nightmares

 

Offenders

 

hearted

 
severely
 

convinced

 

observed