"Come back with the plate," cried Reynolds, rising to his feet. "I haven't eaten yet."
"Don't get excited," she called back over her shoulder, "I'll pass it along in a moment. I'll pass it along, pass it along."
A strange harshness had crept into her voice, and the youth swept back into reality. The man on his right was calling to him.
"Pass it along," he called out in a loud whisper. "Pass it along."
"What's the message?" Reynolds asked.
"The right flank reports seeing an enemy patrol," was the answer.
The boy passed the message to the left but got no acknowledgment.
"I suppose the man there is asleep," he muttered. "I'll go along and see him."
He lifted his rifle and stumbled along through the gloom. When a light went up he stood still and waited for the darkness to resume his journey.
"Yes, here he is," he said, when a flare lit up the night and showed him a figure in khaki lying flat on the ground. "Asleep, of course."