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@@@@@The General seemed about to say something and then was silentHe took the other chair, which faced his desk, shifted it slightly to face Hearn, and stared at him impassively for almost a minuteHe had an entirely new expression on his face, one Hearn had never seen beforeThe bald gray eyes with their immense and startling white pupils seemed dulledHearn had the impression that he could touch the surface of Cummings’s eyeballs, and the eyes would not blinkIn the slight pinch of his mouth, the constriction of the muscles at all the vertices of his face, there seemed a curious pain
With a little shock, Hearn wondered at the tensions that had made the General seek him outIt must have been humiliatingEven more, there was no artifice about it now, no suggestion of work for him on the General’s clean furled deskHearn stared at the map of Anopopei that lay tacked to a large drawing boardThe ocarina on which the General played his little tune
Once again Hearn realized how barren was the General’s tentWherever he was, on Motome, in his ship’s cabin, or here, he never seemed to live in a placeThe tent was so austereThe cot looked un-slept in, the desk was bare again, and the third and unoccupied chair rested at perfect right angles to the larger of the two foot lockersThe tent floor was bare and clean, unmarred by mudThe light of the Coleman lantern threw long diagonals of light and shadow across all the rectangular objects of the tent, so that it looked like an abstract painting
And Cummings still stared at him with that inexplicable gaze as if he did not know him at allLike the pulse of their blood, some artillery sounded again in the distance”I was wondering, Robert,” the General said at last
“Yes, sir?”
“You know, I don’t know a damn thing about you really The voice was flat and colorless
“What’s the matter, have I been stealing your whisky?”
“Perhaps you have What the hell did that mean? The General leaned back in his chair, the next question a little too casual”How’s the recreation tent going?”
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