“No, Elinor, he’s top hole,” the sergeant replied in a comforting tone of assurance, “nothin’s wrong only he’s just a little tired, I reckon!”
Once reassured as to the boy’s safety, Elinor breathed freely again and gazed up at Panama with keen admiration.
“You’re a darling,” she said impulsively, reaching up on her toes and kissing him on the cheek. When she realized what she had done, she turned on her heels and ran up the company street for dear life. In another moment, she had completely disappeared from view.
Elinor’s sudden move left the sergeant utterly at loss for words. He stood in amazement, gazing after her fleeting form, his heart filled with supreme ecstasy as he slowly stroked the part of his cheek her lips had touched.
He called her name vainly, but she was gone too far to hear him. Happy as a boy away from school, he brushed back the tent flaps and burst inside, craving for someone to talk to.
Lefty was still lying on the cot in the same dull, prostrated manner as Panama came over to him and vigorously shook him by the shoulder, finally propping him up in a sitting position in an effort to bring him back to consciousness.
“Lefty! Listen! Wake up, you son of a sea cook! It’s Panama, I’m talkin’ to you, you old pickle barrel! She kissed me, do you hear that? Elinor kissed me! Will you wake up, you mug? This is your pal, can’t you understand? She just kissed me!”
Panama continued to try and bring Lefty around to consciousness but the only thing his efforts resulted in was to awake the boy once more in a drunken fit of song. At the top of his lungs, Lefty began singing off key, the music of the Spanish fandango he and Rosa had danced to. Disgusted with his efforts, Williams let the boy drop back on the cot. He lighted another cigarette and sat down on the edge of the bunk beside Phelps who had now fallen back to his silent state of unconsciousness.
“It’s all right with me, soldier,” he addressed the boy. “Don’t listen! It ain’t none of your business anyhow!”
Just then, an orderly entered and handed Williams a paper.