“Got my foot smashed in a cave-in and they had to take it off,” he replied, much as if the whole thing were a matter of no importance.
“You don’t look very sick over it,” I said with a smile.
“Why the hell should I be sick over that?” he demanded with a laugh. “I’ve only got one set o’ toes to mind now!” And he reached down toward his good foot. “Honest to God, buddy, they itch like hell all the time!”
I had to laugh. I was a regular pollyanna now. “There are advantages to all things, eh?” I observed, and I reached over and gave the disabled one’s toes a dozen or so violent rubbings, while he just lay back and stared at me in amazement.
“My God!” he exclaimed. “I must be beaucoup zigzag!... Boy, war may be hell on some fellows, but it sure did you a hell of a lot of good!”
I pinched his big toe and left him with a laugh.
The big day was due to-morrow. I was desperate, and I evolved a desperate scheme. If it worked, I was saved. If it flopped, I was a stripped chicken.... Once again I started saying my prayers. There had to be some Omnipotent Power above who could spare a few moments in which to help me safely by that damned delousing plant! Might he take the time—I was a maiden in distress if there ever was one!
—6—
Leon was on hand at the docks in New York, although I don’t know how he managed to get so close to the works. He followed me with his eyes and saw which truck I got in, then he hopped in a car, which he must have just purchased, and followed closely along.
We reached a camp somewhere or other over in Jersey and piled out of the truck.... Well, what happened was that I had five ten dollar bills in my hand and it takes a good man to withstand the lure of cold cash. I never went through that damned delouser after all, for I bought my way out on the promise that I’d return in ten minutes—and as far as that bozo knows, I returned. However, Sergeant Major Leon Canwick was himself in person this time, and he didn’t mind undressing before anyone now: in fact he said he’d just as leave undress before the Queen of England if she asked him to. That’s what the army did to him.