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One Man's Initiation--1917, a novel by John Dos Passos |
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Chapter 11 |
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_ CHAPTER XI There is no sound in the poste de secours. A faint greenish light filters down from the quiet woods outside. Martin is kneeling beside a stretcher where lies a mass of torn blue uniform crossed in several places by strips of white bandages clotted with dark blood. The massive face, grimed with mud, is very waxy and grey. The light hair hangs in clots about the forehead. The nose is sharp, but there is a faint smile about the lips made thin by pain. "Is there anything I can get you?" asks Martin softly. "Nothing." Slowly the blue eyelids uncover hazel eyes that burn feverishly. "But you haven't told me yet, how's Merrier?" "A shell ... dead ... poor chap." "And the anarchist, Lully?" "Dead." "And Dubois?" "Why ask?" came the faint rustling voice peevishly. "Everybody's dead. You're dead, aren't you?" "No, I'm alive, and you. A little courage.... We must be cheerful." "It's not for long. To-morrow, the next day...." The blue eyelids slip back over the crazy burning eyes and the face takes on again the waxen look of death. [THE END] _ |
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