@@@@@On Motome there had been an inspection 4
@@@@@On Motome there had been an inspection before the troops boarded ship, and Hearn had walked through the ranks behind the GeneralThe men trembled before Cummings, stammered out their replies in hoarse self-conscious voicesThree-quarters of it, of course, came from talking to a general, but Cummings had been so genial, had attempted so fully to put them at their ease, and it had not worked at allThose great eyes with the pale-gray irises had seemed almost blank, two ovals of shocking whiteHearn remembered a newspaper article which had described the General as having the features of a genteel intelligent bulldog, and the article had added a little lushly, "in his manner are combined effectively the force, the tenacity, the staying power of that doughty animal with all the intellect and charm and poise of a college professor or a statesman It was no more accurate than a newspaper story ever was, but it underlined a favorite theory about the General which Hearn hadFor that reporter he had been The Professor, as he had been The General, The Statesman, The Philosopher, to any number of different menEach of those poses had been a baffling mixture of the genuine and the sham, as if the General instinctively assumed the one which pleased him at the moment, but beyond that was driven on, was handed a personality garment by the unique urges that drove him
Hearn leaned back in his chair"All right, I suppose I was an assSo what? There's a kind of pleasure in telling somebody like Conn where to shove it
"It was a completely pointless thing to doI suppose you considered it some kind of indignity to have to listen to him
"You're being very young about itThe rights you have as a person depend completely upon my whimJust stop and think about thatWithout me you're just a second lieutenant, which I suppose is the operative definition of a man who has no soul of his ownYou weren't telling him to shove it" -- the General's distasteful pronunciation of "shove it" italicized the phrase -- "I was, in effect, telling him, and I had no wish to do so at the timeSuppose you stand up now while you're talking to meYou might as well start at first principlesI'm damned if I'm going to have people walking by and seeing you sit here as if this division were a partnership between you and me
Hearn stood up, conscious of a sullen boyish resentment in himself"Very well," he said sarcastically
The General grinned at him suddenly with some mockery"I've heard the kind of filth Conn purveys for a good many more months than you hav
