Blick looked contemptuously at the staff and slowly drew his own ax. Colonel Harris suddenly stopped laughing.
“Wait a minute, Blick!” he said. “This has gone far enough.” He turned to Kurt.
“Give them your ax, son.”
Kurt looked at him with an expression of hurt bewilderment in his eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then glumly surrendered his weapon to the relieved major.
“Now,” snarled Blick, “take that insolent puppy out and feed him to the lizards!”
Kurt drew himself up in injured dignity. “That is no way to refer to a brother officer,” he said reproachfully.
The vein in Blick’s forehead started to pulse again. “Get him out of here before I tear him to shreds!” he hissed through clenched teeth. There was silence for a moment as he fought to regain control of himself. Finally he succeeded.
“Lock him up!” he said in an approximation to his normal voice. “Tell the provost sergeant I’ll send down the charges as soon as I can think up enough.”
Kurt was led resentfully from the room.
“The rest of you clear out,” said Blick. “I want to talk with Colonel Harris about the I.G.”