@@@@@"We you coming-to-get, Yank He shivered
@@@@@"We you coming-to-get, Yank
He shivered terribly for a moment, and his hands seemed congealed on the machine gunHe could not bear the intense pressure in his head
"We you coming-to-get, Yank," the voice screamed
"COME AND GET ME YOU SONSOFBITCHES," Croft roaredHe shouted with every fiber of his body as though he plunged at an oaken door
There was no sound at all for perhaps ten seconds, nothing but the moonlight on the river and the taut rapt buzzing of the cricketsThen the voice spoke again"Oh, we come, Yank, we come
Croft pulled back the bolt on his machine gun, and rammed it homeHis heart was still beating with frenzy "ReconRECON, UP ON THE LINE," he shouted with all his strength
A machine gun lashed at him from across the river, and he ducked in his holeIn the darkness, it spat a vindictive white light like an acetylene torch, and its sound was terrifyingCroft was holding himself together by the force of his willHe pressed the trigger of his gun and it leaped and bucked under his handThe tracers spewed wildly into the jungle on the other side of the river
But the noise, the vibration of his gun, calmed himHe directed it to where he had seen the Japanese gunfire and loosed a volleyThe handle pounded against his fist, and he had to steady it with both handsThe hot metallic smell of the barrel eddied back to him, made what he was doing real againHe ducked in his hole waiting for the reply and winced involuntarily as the bullets whipped pastBEE-YOOWWWW! Some dirt snapped at his face from the ricochetsCroft was not conscious of feeling itHe had the surface numbness a man has in a fight