He realized suddenly that a part of his mind,...
He realized suddenly that a part of his mind, very deeply buried, had known he was going to kill the prisoner from the moment he had sent Red on aheadHe felt quite blank nowThe smile on the dead man's face amused him, and a trivial rill of laughter emitted from his lipsHe thought once again of the Japanese crossing the river, and he prodded the body with his foot"Goddam," he said, "that Jap sure died happy The laughter swelled more strongly inside him

Later that morning recon received an order to return to the rearThey folded their tents, stowed their ponchos in their jungle packs, filled their canteens from the water Red and Gallagher and Croft had brought back, and ate a ration while they waited for other troops to relieve themAbout noon a squad from A Company moved tiffany and co earrings into their outpost, and recon descended their hill and took the trail leading back to 1st BattalionIt was a long hike over a muddy lane in the jungle, and after a half hour they settled down into the tedium and weariness of trudging through the mudA few of them were jubilant; Martinez and Wyman had a pressure removed from them, and Wilson was thinking about whiskyCroft was taciturn, reflective, and Gallagher and Red were nervous and irritable and started frequently at every unexpected noiseRed found that he was continually turning around to look behind him
They reached 1st Battalion in an hour, and after a short rest they moved on along a lateral trail to 2nd BattalionIt was midafternoon when the arrived there, and Croft received orders for the squad to bivouac on the battalion white leather chanel handbag perimeter for the nightThe men cast off their packs, withdrew their ponchos and set up their pup tents againThere was a machine-gun emplacement in front of them and they did not bother to dig any more holesThey sat about resting and talking, and gradually they felt the tension of the past week coming back"Goddam," Wilson said, "that sure was a lonely place they put usAh tell ya Ah jus' wouldn' wanta spend a honeymoon there
Wilson was feeling restlessThere was a tickle in his throat and his legs and arms felt drawn, overworked"Man," he announced, "Ah could sure use a nice big bottle of likker He stretched his legs and yawned a little desperately"Ah tell ya what," he said, "Ah heard they's a mess sergeant over here that makes a decent drink for a man None of the men answered rolex swiss watches him, and he got to his feet"Ah think Ah'm gonna take a little walk and see if Ah can manipilate some likker for us
Red looked up irritably"What the hell you gonna use for money? I thought you lost it all up on the hill They had been playing poker every day"Listen, Red," he confided, "they ain't ever a time when Ah been brokeAh don't claim to be no poker player, but Ah'll bet ya they ain't many men who can say they busted me in a game Actually he had lost all his money, but an obscure pride kept him from admitting itAt this moment, Wilson was not thinking of what he would do if he could find some whisky without having the money to purchase itHe was interested only in finding the whiskyJus' lemme see some likker, he thought, an' Ah'll fin' a way to drink it
He got up and colored prada fairy bag walked awayIn about fifteen minutes he returned grinningHe sat down beside Croft and Martinez, and began to poke at the ground with a twig he was holding"Listen," he said, "they's a little ole mess sergeant here who's got a still out in the woods yonderAh was talkin' to him, and Ah manipilated him into settin' us a price
"How much?" Croft asked
"Well, Ah'll tell ya," Wilson said, "it's kinda highHe been usin' canned peaches and apricots and raisins with lots of sugar and yeastHe let me sample it, an' it's goddam good
"How much?" Croft asked again
"Well, now, he wants twenty-five of them pounds for three canteens fullAh never could figger out them damn pounds, but Ah reckon it ain't much over fifty dollarsIt's all of eighty bucksThat's pretty steep for jus' three chanel purses bags canteens