The lieutenant was an amusing little man, slight of stature, without any sign of hair on his head, though a carefully trained walrus mustachio gave him an appearance of a comic opera villain. He had been in the service but a few months and his first taste of campaign duty was anything but in accord with his gentle senses. He knew that it would be folly to attempt to argue with the hard-boiled Marine at the wheel, though he found sufficient relief in planning what he would have done with this man when they reached Managua and the base of military activities.
Suddenly it dawned upon him that he was a lieutenant being subjected to abuse from a mere Marine noncom.
“I’ll have you understand, sir,” he announced, pointing his finger at the sergeant as his cheeks flushed with rage, “I am a commissioned officer of the United States Navy and entitled to the consideration military regulations allow a man of my position!”
The Marine turned about slowly and eyed the little man so conscious of his own importance. He was unable to suppress any longer a loud, boisterous laugh. “What d’ya want me to do,” he inquired, “sing ‘Sonny Boy’?”
“What do I want you to do?” the medical man shrieked with rage. “I want you to hold your tongue and help me to get out of this terrible mess!”
“Okay, pardner,” the Marine replied, with devilish mischief dancing in his eyes, “I can’t hold my tongue because it’s too slippery but I’ll gladly help you out of this truck!” With that, he rose and picked the unsuspecting doctor up in his arms as the nurses looked on, unmistakably astonished, believing as the lieutenant did, that he was about to be carried across safely to the opposite shore.
The Marine stepped out on the mud guard, still holding his self-inflicted burden.
“Be careful how you do this,” the doctor warned. “Don’t let there be any slip ups!”
“There won’t be,” assured the sergeant with a blank, indifferent expression; then suddenly releasing his hands from under the man, he allowed the obfuscated doctor to fall into the dirty waters below with a resounding splash.
A terrible, deafening ululation arose from the river bed, emitted by the doctor, who scrambled to his feet, blind with rage. Drenched to the skin and covered with grime and mud, he stood shaking his fist up at the Marine with every conceivable kind of dire threat upon his lips.