The sergeant nodded.
“Here, I can’t understand this,” said Dickenson.
“You pointed to your ears and signified to me that the explosions had made you as deaf as a post.”
The sergeant turned to him, looking as if he were trying to check a broad grin, as he pointed to his officer’s ears. That made all clear.
“Why, it is I who am deaf,” cried Dickenson excitedly; and almost at the same moment something seemed to go crack, crack in his head, and his hearing had come back, with everything that followed sounding painfully loud.
“And no wonder, sir,” said the sergeant. “It was pretty sharp. My ears are singing now. Does it hurt you where you were nipped by the stone?”
“Feels a bit pinched, that’s all.”
“And you’re all right beside, sir?”
“Yes, I think so, sergeant.”
“That’s good. Well, sir, you did it.”