That was the oddest thing perhaps, the need
forhaste which obsessed them. Itll soon be over, now, whispered
Martlow.
Shem followed behindBourne, who climbed out a
little clumsily. Bourne agreed, and his relief was quite apparent. Well, good luck,
Barton, said Bourne quietly, moving away, asthe only means of relief.
A dont care a fuck, came the reply, with a bitter
harshnessrejecting sympathy. Wed better see the corporal first, answered Shem
quietly.
Mr Finch was more in evidence than Mr Sothern in
the morning. Shem an I just went in an ad a glass o beer. He saw thatone of Bournes
pouches didnt fasten properly, the catch beingdefective. That was the oddest thing
perhaps, the need forhaste which obsessed them. Dont want much, said Martlow, after
drinking a good swig. The worst o goin over the top is that you gettired an cold, an
empty.
One had a vague feeling that one was going
away,without any notion of returning. If I do getit in the neck, Ill be out of this
bloody misery, anyway.
They can do nowt wiout usns;an, gentlefolk an all,
we all stan the same chance now. Its only right I should go with the rest, and Id as
lief goas stay.
I had an aunt who used to do that, and she diedo
heart.
What the bloody hell do youmake of it,
yourself?
He and Martlow both noticed the acerbity in Bournes
tone.
One felt everyquestion as an interruption of some
absorbing business of the mind.
They hadnothing; not even their own bodies, which
had become mereimplements of warfare.
One of the men at thenext table was talking to the
other two. The boxactually contained a large plum cake. It had in it a cunning which
might or might not be insane. Sergeant Tozer came on the scene, and when he went
intothe empty hut, Bourne followed him.
Bloody awful weather to go over in, isnt it? Then
heleft them, and they sat there, smoking. The indifference of this judgment was its
remarkable feature.
It puts you in quite a good skin to ear em all
singin.
We three had better try and keep together, said
Shem evenly.
A can tell thee, said Weeper, the first thing a
does when agoes over the bloody top is to dump it. It would be worse whenthey
reached the lower levels of this ill-drained marsh.
The men fell in; and Captain Marsden, with Mr
Sothern and MrFinch, came on parade.