@@@@@ "I don't know," Toglio said, "Brown's got
@@@@@
"I don't know," Toglio said, "Brown's got more experience than I haveYou got to trust your noncoms He sifted some sand through his fingers"I'm getting back in my holeYou just sit tight and waitIf any Japs come, we've got to stop them Toglio's voice was portentous, and Hennessey nodded eagerlyThis was like a movie, he thoughtVague images overlapped in his mindHe saw himself standing up and repelling a charge"Okay, kid," Toglio said, and clapped him on the backCrouching again, Toglio ran past his own hole to talk to RidgesHennessey remembered Red's telling him that Toglio had come to the platoon after the worst of the Motome campaignHe wondered if he could trust him
Hennessey squatted in his hole and watched the jungleHis mouth was dry and he kept wetting his lips; every time there seemed to be a movement in the bushes, his heart constrictedThe beach was very quietA minute went by, and he began to get boredHe could hear a truck grinding its gears down the beach, and when he took a chance and turned around, he could see another wave of landing craft coming in about a mile from shoreReinforcements for us, he told himself, and realized it was absurd
The harsh slapping sound came out of the jungle and was followed by another discharge and another and anotherThat's the mortars, he thought, and decided he was catching on fastAnd then he heard a screaming piercing sound almost overhead like the tearing squeals of a car braking to avert a crashInstinctively he curled flat in his holeThe next instants were lost to hi