A Splendid Little War by Derek Robinson

Author:Derek Robinson [Robinson, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MacLehose Press
Published: 2013-07-01T14:00:00+00:00

4

The squadron caught up on its sleep. The adjutant kept a few guards on top of the boxcars. Fifty yards from Kenny’s train, plennys dug a mass grave. They worked steadily, but they were silent and sombre. They were Russians burying fellow-Russians killed by foreigners. The bloodshed had been unavoidable. If the attackers had got into the trains, they might have slaughtered everyone. All the same, the plennys didn’t like it. Some of the drops that fell in the grave were sweat. A few were tears.

Hackett woke at midday, dressed and walked alongside the trains, looking for damage. He found some bullet holes and Flight Lieutenant Susan Perry. She was changing the dressings on a couple of ground crew, cut by fragments of glass from broken windows. She tied the knot on the final bandage. “Does that hurt?” she asked.

“Agony, ma’am.”

“That’s odd, I didn’t feel a thing.” He laughed, and she dismissed him with a nod and a smile. “I need some exercise,” she told Hackett. “Will you come with me? I don’t want to get massacred by some smelly bandit.”

“Of course. I’ll get my gun.”

“No need. I have the colonel’s revolver in my bag. You hold the rotter and I’ll shoot him in the head.”

They strolled towards the steppe. “You seem very … um … refreshed,” he said. What he meant was delightful, but he was the C.O. and duty came first.

“It goes with the job. A nurse can be dead on her feet, but if she yawns, matron will kill her. Lesson one.”

“I see, I see.” Hearing her voice – after weeks of male gruffness – gave him amazing pleasure. It had a light and easy lilt that was a reward in itself. Never mind the words. Just enjoy the voice. “Yes, I do see.”

“We’re walking in step,” she said. “D’you mind awfully if we don’t? Your legs are longer than mine.”

“Yes, of course, of course.” Why must he say everything twice? It made him sound stupid. He broke step, and to make sure that they stayed out of step he watched her feet. She had legs like a dancer’s. What he could see of them. But she was so slim that he could easily imagine … He sniffed hard and filled his lungs. A rabbit hole gave him an excuse to sidestep away from her. They walked at a safe distance. “Uncle tells me you embalmed Colonel Kenny superbly well,” he said.

“Does he? I’m pleased he’s pleased.”

A touch of tartness in the words surprised him. “Well, it got us out of a serious hole.”

She stopped and picked a small yellow flower and tucked it into a buttonhole in his tunic. “Kenny looked quite satisfied with the results.”

“Thank you,” he said, for the flower; and then: “I don’t know what you mean.”

“There’s nothing noble about a dead man’s face. Quite the reverse. I gave his features a human look. Not a smile. Just the kind of expression that a colonel with a V.C. should have. Oh dear. Now I’ve shocked you.

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