hammarvolk2044

@@@@@The way a bunch of ants would kill each other, he thoughtHe trotted after the other men, and walked moodily beside them through the coconut grove and along the trailThe liquor was wearing off for all of them, and they were silentHe stumbled over a root, and swore, and then without any relation to what they had been talking about, he muttered, "There damn sure ain't anything special about a man if he can smell as bad as he does when he's dead Back at 2d Battalion, Wyman had just wounded an insectIt was a long hairy caterpillar with black and gold coloring, and he had jabbed a twig into its bodyThe caterpillar began to run about in circles and then flopped over on its backIt was struggling desperately to right itself until Wyman held his burning cigarette near the insect's backThe insect writhed, and lay prostrate again, its back curled into an L and its legs thrashing helplessly in the airIt looked as if it were trying desperately to breathe Ridges had watched this with displeasure, his long dumpy face wrinkled in a scowl"That ain't the right way to treat a bug," he said Wyman was absorbed in the convulsions of the insect, and the interruption irritated himHe felt a trace of shame"What do you mean, Ridges? What the hell's so important about a bug?" "Shoot," Ridges sighed, " ' tain't doin' you no harmJus' mindin' its own business Wyman turned to Goldstein"The preacher's gettin' all excited over a bug He laughed sarcastically, and then said, "Killin' one of Gawd's creatures, huh?" Goldstein shrugged"Every man has his own viewpoint," he said gently Ridges lowered his head stubbornly"Not sayin' 'tain't hard to make fun of a man if he believes in the written Word "You eat meat, don't ya?" Wyman demandedHe was pleased to have the better arguments, for usually he felt inferior to most of the men in the squad"Where the hell's it say you can eat meat but you can't kill a bug?" "Meat ain't the sa