Free Hubbard, L. Ron by Final Blackout Page A

seat, her lovely body perfectly still, her eyes steady upon the lieutenant.
     
    A long time after, the lieutenant lay in the bunk farthest from the door, gazing at the dying coals upon the grate, pleasantly aware of a suspension in time. Tomorrow they would again be on the march, heading back to G.H.Q. and an uncertain finish. He was quite aware, for the first time, that the war was done. He was aware, too, with ever so little sadness, that England and his people were barred to him, had rejected him, perhaps forever.
    The fire died lower and most of the people of the household slept, the women in the tiers of bunks near the steps, the children with them. Malcolm was rolled in a blanket by the fire. At the far end of the dwelling in a wide bed which had been shaken and dusted well the lieutenant watched the fire dying. He watched through a slit in the curtains which masked him from the remainder of the room.
    He was unconsciously aware of Mawkey lying just behind the slit as an active,, living barrier to anything which might seek to approach his invaluable and beloved commander. There was a rustle of parachutist silk and the creak of a bunk in the forward partition of the room. And the lieutenant was suddenly alert, but not to danger. Naked feet fell uncertainly amongst the reeds. The fire threw the curves of a shadow softly on the curtain. The footsteps came nearer.
    As the snake strikes, Mawkey fastened savagely on her ankle as she would have crossed to the lieutenant. It was Greta.
    The lieutenant raised on his elbow and whispered hoarsely, "Let her go, you fool!"
    Mawkey came to himself. Her skin was soft under his hand and her fingers held no weapon. In the soft firelight the parachute silk revealed the rondeur of a lovely body. Mawkey shamefacedly withdrew his hands. And when again she had her courage up she stepped over him and went on toward the large bed in the deepest recess of the room.
    Mawkey d e curtains shut as he rolled outside them. For a little he listened to the whispers, then at last, the girl's soft rich laugh. He smiled, pleased.
    One by one the glowing coals went out. Mawkey slept.

Chapter IV
    Through the morning, the brigade mounted ridge after ridge, keeping to no definite course but working toward a certain objective by arcs and angles. It was hot work and, to Malcolm, senseless, for they only succeeded in exposing themselves to several random shots by hopeful snipers in high rocks who vanished like their powder smoke upon approach, wanderers who coveted a knapsack or two, could they drop it into a ravine and beyond the immediate concern of the troops.
    It had taken Malcolm only forty-eight hours of fast traveling to get from the G.H.Q. to the Fourth Brigade, and it was taking the lieutenant interminable days of circuitous march to make the return. Malcolm had followed the high ground with a relief map. It would be very different when he had this command, he thought.
    Malcolm's crossness was not lost upon the lieutenant, but it did not wear upon him until they halted wearily at noon on a hill which commanded all approaches.
    "What's the matter?" said the lieutenant.
    Malcolm looked at him innocently. "Nothing."
    "Come on, have it out."
    "Well… I think you should have had that village leader shot. Dixon was our friend."
    The lieutenant knew that this was a dodge, but he answered. "We had no evidence that those people killed Dixon. Jolly Bill was entirely too good an officer to be rolled down by peasants."
    "I never knew you needed evidence to execute a man."
    "To put you straight on the matter, I did execute him. Now, are you satisfied?" "How's this? Why, I saw him with my own eyes bidding us good-bye."
    "And you saw Toutou issuing their rifles to the thirty-one Pollard dug out of the ground. Tell me, Malcolm, why should I thicken up the atmosphere of that hut any further and so annoy myself when the task was clearly finished at the release of the prisoners? Peasants do strange things. While we were