"There . . . fall out." The man's face shone. He exclaimed:
"Thank you, sir. Thank you kindly, captain. . . . I wanted to get off and go to confession. I did bad. . . ." The McGill graduate with his arrogant black moustache put himself in the way as Tietjens struggled into his British warm.
"You won't forget, sir, . . ." he began.
Tietjens said:
"Damn you, I've told you I won't forget. I never forget. You instructed the ignorant Jap in Asaki, but the educational authority is in Tokio. And your flagitious mineral-water company had their headquarters at the Tan Sen spring near Kobe. . . . Is that right? Well, I'll do my best for you."
They walked in silence through the groups of men that hung round the orderly room door and gleamed in the moonlight. In the broad country street of the main line of the camp Colonel Levin began to mutter between his teeth:
"You take enough trouble with your beastly crowd . . . a whole lot of trouble. . . . Yet . . ."
"Well, what's the matter with us?" Tietjens said. "We get our drafts ready in thirty-six hours less than any other unit in this command."
"I know you do," the other conceded. "It's only all these mysterious rows. Now . . ."
Tietjens said quickly: