@@@@@Perhaps five seconds they stood rooted, 504
@@@@@Perhaps five seconds they stood rooted, flailing dumbly at the hornets that attacked themEach sting lashed through a man's body, loosing new frantic energies of desperationThe men were in deliriumWyman began to bawl like a child, holding feebly to a rock, and swatting at the air in a tantrum
"I can't stand it, I can't stand it!" he roared
Two hornets bit him almost at once, and he hurled away his rifle, and screamed in terrorThe shriek detonated the menWyman began to run down the rocks, and one by one they followed him
Croft shouted at them to stop, but they paid no attentionHe gave a last oath, swung impotently at a few of the hornets and then started down after themIn a last fragment of his ambition, he thought of regrouping them at the bottom
The hornets pursued the men down the jungle wall and the rock ramp, goading them on in a last frenzy of effortThey fled with surprising agility, jumping down from rock to rock, ripping through the foliage that impeded themThey felt nothing but the savage fleck of the hornets, the muted jarring sensations of scrabbling from rock to rockAs they ran they flung away everything that slowed themThey tossed away their rifles, and some of them worked loose their packs and dropped themDimly they sensed that if they threw away enough possessions they would not be able to continue the patrol
Polack was the last man ahead of Croft as the platoon poured into the amphitheaterHe caught a quick glimpse of them, and the platoon was halting in confusion now that they had escaped the hornetsPolack threw a glance over his shoulder at Croft and burst among the men shouting, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? HERE COME THE BUGS!" Without pausing he ran past them, let loose a scream, and the platoon followed him, bolted in a new panicThey scattered over the floor of the amphitheater, continued on in the same spasm of effort over the next ridge, and down below to the valley, to the slopes of the rise beyondIn fifteen minutes they had fled beyond the point where they had started that morning
When Croft finally caught up with the platoon, gathered them together, he discovered there were only three rifles and five packs leftHe knew they could never make the climb againHe was too weak himse
