"Captain Tietjens asked me to take the battalion this morning. I understood he was under . . ."
"You," Levin said, "are attached to this unit for discipline and rations. You damn well understand that if some uncle or other of yours were not, to the general's knowledge, a protégé of Captain Tietjens', you'd be in a lunatic asylum at this moment. . . ."
McKechnie's face worked convulsively, he swallowed as men are said to swallow who suffer from hydrophobia. He lifted his fist and cried out:
"My un . . ."
Levin said:
"If you say another word you go under medical care the moment it's said. I've the order in my pocket. Now, fall out. At the double!"
McKechnie wavered on the way to the door. Levin added:
"You can take your choice of going up the line to-night. Or a court of inquiry for obtaining divorce leave and then not getting a divorce. Or the other thing. And you can thank Captain Tietjens for the clemency the general has shown you!"
The hut now reeling a little, Tietjens put the opened smelling bottle to his nostrils. At the sharp pang of the odour the hut came to attention. He said:
"We can't keep the general waiting."