Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos Page A

chattering in the darkness.
    “God, pull yerself together, kid. You can’t be skeered like this.”
    “O God.”
    There was a long pause. Fuselli heard nothing but the churned water speeding along the ship’s side and the wind roaring in his ears.
    “I ain’t never seen the sea before this time, Fred, an’ it sort o’ gits my goat, all this sickness an’ all. … They dropped three of ’em overboard yesterday.”
    “Hell, kid, don’t think of it.”
    “Say, Fred, if I … if I … if you’re saved, Fred, an’ not me, you’ll write to my folks, won’t you?”
    “Indeed I will. But I reckon you an’ me’ll both go down together.”
    “Don’t say that. An’ you won’t forget to write that girl I gave you the address of?”
    “You’ll do the same for me.”
    “Oh, no, Fred, I’ll never see land. … Oh, it’s no use. An’ I feel so well an’ husky. … I don’t want to die. I can’t die like this.”
    “If it only wasn’t so goddam black.”

PART TWO
THE METAL COOLS

I
    It was purplish dusk outside the window. The rain fell steadily making long flashing stripes on the cracked panes, beating a hard monotonous tattoo on the tin roof overhead. Fuselli had taken off his wet slicker and stood in front of the window looking out dismally at the rain. Behind him was the smoking stove into which a man was poking wood, and beyond that a few broken folding chairs on which soldiers sprawled in attitudes of utter boredom, and the counter where the “Y” man stood with a set smile doling out chocolate to a line of men that filed past.
    “Gee, you have to line up for everything here, don’t you?” Fuselli muttered.
    “That’s about all you do do in this hell-hole, buddy,” said a man beside him.
    The man pointed with his thumb at the window and said again:
    “See that rain? Well, I been in this camp three weeks and it ain’t stopped rainin’ once. What d’yer think of that fer a country?”
    “It certainly ain’t like home,” said Fuselli. “I’m going to have some chauclate.”
    “It’s damn rotten.”
    “I might as well try it once.”
    Fuselli slouched over to the end of the line and stood waiting his turn. He was thinking of the steep streets of San Francisco and the glimpses he used to get of the harbor full of yellow lights, the color of amber in a cigarette holder, as he went home from work through the blue dusk. He had begun to think of Mabe handing him the five-pound box of candy when his attention was distracted by the talk of the men behind him. The man next to him was speaking with hurried nervous intonation. Fuselli could feel his breath on the back of his neck.
    “I’ll be goddamned,” the man said, “was you there too? Where d’you get yours?”
    “In the leg; it’s about all right, though.”
    “I ain’t. I won’t never be all right. The doctor says I’m all right now, but I know I’m not, the lyin’ fool.”
    “Some time, wasn’t it?”
    “I’ll be damned to hell if I do it again. I can’t sleep at night thinkin’ of the shape of the Fritzies’ helmets. Have you ever thought that there was somethin’ about the shape of them goddam helmets … ?”
    “Ain’t they just or’nary shapes?” asked Fuselli, half turning round. “I seen ’em in the movies.” He laughed apologetically.
    “Listen to the rookie, Tub, he’s seen ’em in the movies!” said the man with the nervous twitch in his voice, laughing a croaking little laugh.
    “How long you been in this country, buddy?”
    “Two days.”
    “Well, we only been here two months, ain’t we, Tub?”
    “Four months; you’re forgettin’, kid.”
    The “Y” man turned his set smile on Fuselli while he filled his tin cup up with chocolate.
    “How much?”
    “A franc; one of those looks like a quarter,” said the “Y” man, his well-fed voice full of amiable condescension.
    “That’s a hell of a lot for a cup of chauclate,” said Fuselli.
    “You’re at the war, young man, remember