Energy books

(One never knew when the fellows on the other side would take
it into their heads to empty their guns that way. They had already
killed a lot of civilians thereabouts, but the others stayed on.)
"Not a bit of trouble with them," said the sergeant-major, "and all as
keen as when they grinned into a recruiting office and said, `I'm
going.' They're glad to be out. Over-trained, some of 'em. For ten
months we've been working 'em pretty hard. Had to, but they were
willing enough. Now you couldn't find a better battalion, though some
more famous. . . Till we get our chance, you know."
He pointed with the stem of his pipe to the open door of an old barn,
where a party of his men were resting.
"You'll find plenty of hot heads among them, but no cold feet. I'll
bet on that."
The men were lying on a stone floor with haversacks for pillows, or
squatting tailor-wise, writing letters home. From a far corner came a
whistling trio, harmonized in a tune which for some reason made me
think of hayfields in southern England.


Pages:
119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143