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CHAPTER xHMr XII xH XIIMr Mr Winkle pulled hli his steel helmet helmetmore helmetmore helmetmore more ecurely securely oo 00 on hia his head and andpressed andpressed andpressed pressed on the accelerator of o1 the thecar thecar thacar thacarTh car carThe The Th * jeep shot hot off the road and andalong andalong andalong along the land sand trail leadine leading to the thebeach thebeach thabeach beach The command car stood stoodwhere stoodwhere toodwhere where it had been left leU In a partially partiallycleared partiallycleared partiallycleared cleared space enclosed by low lowpalms lowpalms lowpalm palms * Mr Winkle stopped along.ide alongside alone along .ide ide side . ide itAs itAs It ItAs As they got out he glanced at the thetent thetent thetent tent set at one side ide amone among the trees treesOrdinarily treesOrdinarily treesOrdinarily Ordinarily the off-duty off duty ofT-duty ofT - - member members * of ofthe ofthe ofthe the machine gun crew would be loll lollIng lolltug lollIng Ing tug or sleeping there It was emptyUp emptyUp empty emptyUp Up on the low ridge fifty teetaway feetaway feet teet away way a helmeted head appearedabove appearedabove appeared Iabove above the sand and It was the Alphaff Alpha _ ff ffM fft M t - / Rp \ it : fa fa.r .r r . .rl l The Jeep shot * h t off oft the read road andalone and andalong andalong along the sand and trailbet trail trailbet bet Rccognizir Recogmzir e g them he waved wavedbneny wavedbriefly wavedbriefly bneny briefly and nd then disappeared disappearedIt It a ant n t 1 1 ke him Mr Tinker Tinkerob Tinkerobserved Tinkerobserved ob observed ! > Nved not to be hospitable to tohi tohis tohis hi his ' ; frler fnei fneids fneidsMr ds dsMr dsMr Mr Winkle Wmkle took their tools from fromthe fromthe fromthe the back seat of the jeep Ills His Illshands Hishands Hishands hands shook a little httle He lie pulled puJled his hishelmet hishelmet hishelmet helmet still more securely over h s shead shead shead head and said We d better get to tow tow tow w tk Ik tkWe IkWe We can take a minute Mr MrTmker MrTinker MrTinker Tmker Tinker laid said to see what s gomg going gomgor goingor goingor or p thereReluctantly thereReluctantly there thereReluctantly Reluctantly Mr Winkle Wmkle followed followedblm followedhim followedhim blm him to the ridgeThey ridgeThey ndee ridge ndeeThey They didn dldn t receive a very warm warmwelcome warmwelcome warmwelcome welcome It If you got to come hereSergeant here hereSergeant hereSergeant Sergeant Czeideskrowski Czeldeskrowski Czeideskrowskl snappedget snappedget snapped snappedget get down InThey inThey in inThey They scrambled below ground lev level levei level el ei hunching themselves into the fox foxhole foxhole foxhole hole crowding Freddie . Jack .Jack and andthe andthe , the other men who cat sat listening listenmg at attentlvely attentively attentively atI I tentlvely tentively or kneeled to stare out over overtile overthe overthe tile the oceanFreddie oceanFreddie ocean oceanFreddie Freddie at the machine machme gun gunwhose gunwhose gunwhose whose snout pointed across the thebeach thebeach thebeach beach greeted them Maybe Maybeyou Maybeyou Maybeyou you re just In time tim for the perform performance performonce performance performanceThe ance once anceThe onceThe The Alphabet picked up the field fieldtelephone fieldtelephone Heldtelephone telephone He identI identified ed his hl post postlistened postlistened postlistened listened for a moment and thenlaid thensaid then thenaid laid said aid Yes Ye sir lr < . No sir ir It Ithasn Ithasn Ithasn hasn t lifted yetHe yetHe yet yetHe He put the instrument down and andtold andtold andtold told his visitors That 'That ' ' was wa your yourboss yourboss yourboss boss He wanted to know it if you got gothere gothere gothere here Like you heard I didn t give giveaway giveaway giveaway away you being with us but you youbetter youbetter youbetter better gel get back where you belong belongBnd belongand belongand Bnd and beat it as a * coon BOon soon as you re rethrough rethrough rethrough rethroughThey through throughThey They went Mr Winkle w9th with w th alac alactlty alacrity alacnty tlty rity and Mr Tinker Tmker with regretFrom regretFrom regret regretFrom From out over the sea there thfre came camet 4 , sudden roar Guns began to spit spitvlrtuaJly spitvirtually spitvirtually vlrtuaJly virtually at the same instant instantDuck instantDuckl instantDuck Duck Duckl ! ! yelled Mr Winkle He Hedropped Hedropped Hedropped dropped the wrench he was holdmg holding holdmgBnd holdingand holdingand Bnd and dived under the commandcar command carLymg carLying car carLying Lying Lymg there hit his heart beating beatmg so sofast sofast sofast fast it seemed to equal the rapid rapidII.nng rapidfiring rapidBring II.nng IInng firing . of the gunc guns he expected Mr Mrl'1nker MrIlnker MrTinker l'1nker l1nker Ilnker ' to join jom tumInstead himInstead him tum himInstead Instead he heard beard the quick firing firingof firingof firingof of a Garand He could see Mr MrTinker MrTinker MrTinker Tinker s a feet and part of his legsbraced legs legsbraced legsbraced braced to take tak up the shock trom from tromthe fromthe fromthe the gunThe gun gunThe gunThe The plane came over It appeared appearedto to know exactly where wbere to comeThe comeThe come comeThe The firing Dring stoppedMr stoppedMr stopped stoppedMr Mr Winkle opened his eyesAgain eyesAgain eyes eyesAgain Again he . saw .aw aw Mr Tinker who whowas whowas whowas was now standing halfway hallway to the thendge theridge th thndge ndge ridge He H * wa was . reloading reloadJDg hia his rille rifle rilleand rifleand rifleand and looking 100kinS malevolently malevolentI.J malevolentIJ . at the sky skyThe skyThe skyThe The plane came cam * back . . Once One * mora more 1.pit U 1\ 1 it \ .pit pit spit . pit heavy death deathfr.Jw deathfr deathtr fr.Jw frJw fr . jm m if Its nor nose . , and lighter Uehter . , more nrr * gen- gen gentle gentle gen-U gen U - - tle * dea death th from its it * wine wings Ur Mr . Tink TInk- TInker Tinker Tinker - er flred tired right rlitht back at It it . . It wan wam warn t until unID a moment after . s hi hithe ' " the oyrUr plan plane * had itote gone ( , on ) * agate agatb again . , out OVe ore , , annadropped Tinkerannadropped nadropped tho the ocean . , , that Air Nr bur Tinker- Tinker Tinker's Tinkers ' ' - , . ai a na hiahand hishands ctropPed dropped ctropPedand droppedand and th the * rlfte rifle rin * slid sUd trom from his hands * handsm handsHis whah whenhe m Hia His . volee voice vole * choked and curgled curled gurgled , when * he called caned . , , " "Pop Pop " Hay Uoy ijey . .pop pop . , . . " . somethingsUC lomethtngIUtl somethingstiff 'lbe lbe Then ' Then be he b * crumpled , , like Uke lomethtng something IUtl stiff Ink-ing Ink ing .InkIng alnkthg cone gone soft , , , folding up and .Ink- .Ink alnk- alnk . - Ing thg groundMr to the th * ground groundMr frombeneath ftombeneath Mr Winkle , watching thin thJI this ftom from couldn'tbeUev couldntbeUev couldn'tbeUeve couldn'tbelieve beneath the command car , couldn't couldnt ' ' beUeve believe actualIt at drst first flr t that It was actuaL . It had happened bappened to too * quickly toomuch too toomuch toomuch much without warnln warning , to bt b . + a any 'picked picked ' dl1rerent different anydifferent from Held fteld field tactics tactic . In which whichpicked whichpicked which'picked picked men simulated those hit bit hitwhen bitwhen bitwhen when the plane planes * came cam * overThen overThen over overThen Then he realized that the th plane hadn't hadnt planehadn't planehadnt ' been a friendly one oneHe oneHe on * He crawled out from beneath the thecar thecar thecar car ainl acid and got eot to his hi * feet His HI * legs legsseemed legsseemed leesseemed seemed to function automaUcally automatically automaticallywithout , without any volition on hi his * part , as asI ashe ashe aah I he * made his hi * way to Mr TinkerThe Tinker Tlnker TinkerThe The bloodspreading blood preading spreading * TlnkerII over Mr MrTinker MrTinker MrTinker II Tinker s a chest made mad * him sick and andweak andweak andweak weak He bent and touched toucbed him himwhispering , . whispering his name But Mr Tlnk Tink Tlnker Tinker Tinker er didn t answerMr answerMr answer answerMr Mr Winkle realized something somethingelse somethingelse somethingel somethingele else e When the plane went over thesecond thesecond the econd second time the Alphabet s a * machine machinegun machinegun machinegun gun hadnt hadn t fired ftred firedFrom ftredFrom firedFrom From the fox hole now there came camenQ cameno cameno nQ no movement AU All about there was wassilence wassilence waasilence waasilenceHe silence silenceHe He ran to the ridge He H * arrived arrivedbreathing arrivedbreathing arrivedbreathing breathing hard bard not from exertion exertionbut exertionbut exertionbut but from excitement He H * gasped at atwhat atwhat atwhat what he h * sawOne sawOne saw sawOne One of the shells Tom tkom om the plane s a scannon acannon cannon had exploded In the fox bole hole boleThe holeThe holeThe The bodies of the men lay about about aboutsome , , some of them half buried Freddie Freddiewas Freddiewas Freddiewas was sprawled over the gun as a * If Ifprotecting ifprotecting itprotecting protecting it Sergeant Czeideskrow Czeldeskrowski CzeideskrowskI skI was on his hi * back his open eyes eyesstaring eyesstaring eye * taring staring straight up at the buming burning bumingsun burningsun burningsun sun and not blinking blinkmg In a tangled tangledpIle tangledpile tangledpile pIle Mr Winkle caught sight of ofthe ofthe ofthe the side of Jack s still till faceA faceA face faceA A single thought ran through him himrepetItIOusly himrepetitiously himrepetitiously repetItIOusly How will I ever tell tellthe tellthe tellthe the Pettigrews7 Pettigrews ? He asked himsell himself himsellHow himselfHow himselfHow How will I ever tell the Pettigrews ? The ound sound of surging water made madehim madehim madehim him turn his headOut headOut head headOut Out of the mist had come a flat fiat flatnosed fiatnosed flatnosed nosed Japanese assault boatBehind boatBehind boat boatBehind Behind it but somewhat off ofT to toeIther toeither toeither eIther side were two moreMr moreMr more moreMr Mr Winkle sank to his knf'es knfes knees knf'esboth kneesboth kneesboth ' both to fcet bet out of sight and because becauseh h s legs wouldn t hold him up any anymore anymore anymore anymoreAfter more moreAfter After a moment he knew that he hemust hemust hemust must do somethnig somethibg something He realized that thatthe thatthe thatthe the whole position on Talizo Ta\1zo Ta 1zo \ might mightbe mightbe mightbe be lost ' if the men in th those se assault assaultboats assaultboats assaultboats boats ever landedand landed and Infiltrated infiltratedtt Infiltratedtl infiltratedti tl ti ro ffh gh the jungle iunsle He IIe found himself scrabbling scrabbhng about aboutIn aboutin In the sand of the fox hole for thefield the thefield thefield field phone It wasn t In sightHe sightHe sight sightHe He sa saw w the Signal Corps wire lead leading leadlog leading ing log up out of the hole He grabbed grabbedit it and started pulling on itA itA it itA A broken piece of the shattered shatteredphone shatteredphone shatteredphone phone came into his handsHe handsHe hands handsHe He dropped it from nerveless fingers ftn fin ftngers flngers flngersHelplessly gers gersHelplessly Helplessly Mr Winkle watched watchedthe watchedthe watchedthe the leading assault boat come onNow on onNow onNow Now it was less than a hundred hundredyards hundredyards hundredyards yards from the beachHe beachlie beach beachHe He lie looked back at the jeep Un Unless Unless Unlesa less the bullet holes through its itswindshield itswindshield itsw-indshield itsw indshield windshield - meant more than they theyappeared theyappeared theyappeared appeared to the car would still run runHe runHe runHe He could get back in it to give givethe givethe givethe the alarm at the next postBut postBut post postBut But by that time the . Japs .Taps Taps would wouldha wouldhave wouldhave ha have ve effected their landing landingMr landIngMr landingMr Mr Winkle Wmkle wished that it was not nothe nothe nothe he who had been placed in this posi post postlion position position tion lion He wanted fervently for it to tobe tobe tobe be another man a fighter a killer a ayounger ayounger ayounger younger a different a better man manthan manthan manthan than he It flashed through his mind mindthat mindthat mindthat that it had been a mistake to draft draftand draftand draftand and make a soldier out of o1 a mouse mouseHe mouseHe mouseHe He felt guilty at not having resigned resignedfrom resignedfrom resignedfrom from the Army A different manhere man manhere manhere here now in his place would have haveknown haveknown haveknown known what to doThen doThen do doThen I doI Then Mr Winkle knew what to doIt doIt do doIt It occurred to him that he hadn t tthought tthought tthought thought of himself of o1 his own safe safety safety safety ty when considering getting away awayin awayin awayin in the jeep He had thought only onlyto onlyto onlyto to give the warning warnmg of what was washappening washappening washappening washappeningAlso happening happeningAlso Also he saw Mr Tinker lyingsprawled lying lyingsprawled lyingsprawled sprawled out there on the ground |