The men squatted on them, their feet drawn up to...
The men squatted on them, their feet drawn up to keep them free of the water that washed along the deckUnder their ponchos they winced whenever some spray would arch over the front ramp
Hearn examined their facesHe had made it his business to learn their names immediately, but that was hardly equivalent to knowing anything about them, and it was obviously important that he should form some quick idea of them as individualsHe had talked to a few casually, joked with them, but it was not a process he enjoyed particularly, and he knew his own aptitudes were poorly suitedHe could learn more from observationThe only trouble was that observation was necessarily slow, and by tomorrow morning they would land on the beach, begin their patrol, then every bit of knowledge about them would be important
As Hearn watched their faces, he was aware of a vague discomfortIt was the kind of physical readiness, the slight guilt, the slight shame, perhaps, that he had felt in walking tas hermes through a slum neighborhood, conscious of the hostility of the people who watched him passCertainly whenever one of the men stared at him, it was a little difficult not to look awayMost of them had hard faces; their eyes were blank with something cold and removed in their expressionAs a group they had a forbidding and rigid quality as though they no longer held an excess bit of weight nor a surplus emotionTheir skins had turned sallow, almost yellow, and their faces, their arms and legs, were pocked with many jungles soresNearly all of them had shaved before they started out, and yet their faces were unkempt their clothing sloppy
He looked at Croft, who had put on a clean fatigue uniformHe was squatting on his cot, sharpening his trench knife against a little whetstone he had withdrawn from his pocketHearn knew Croft perhaps best of all, or more exactly he had spent the most time with him that morning discussing the patrol, but actually he did not know him at coco chanel earrings allCroft had listened to him, had nodded, spat occasionally to the side, and answered him when necessary with a few bare words, uttered in a low toneless murmurCroft obviously handled the platoon well, he was tough and capable, and Hearn was reasonably certain that Croft resented himIt would be a difficult relationship to handle, for Croft knew more than he did yet, and unless he was careful the platoon would soon realize itAlmost with fascination, Hearn watched Croft working on his trench knifeHe brooded over it, his cold gaunt face examining his hands as he drew the blade back and forth against the stoneThere was something frozen about him, something congealed in the set of his tight mouth, the concentration of his eyesCroft was tough, all right, Hearn told himself
The boat was turning now, angling against the swellsHearn grasped a strut more firmly as it jarred against a wave
There was Sergeant Brown, whom he knew slightly; he was the one who looked like a boy with vintage hermes his snubbed nose and freckles and light-brown hairThe Typical American Soldier -- the agreeable composite hatched out of the tobacco smoke and hangovers of the advertising conferencesBrown looked like all the smiling soldiers in the advertisements, a trifle smaller, perhaps, plumper, more bitter than was permissibleBrown had an odd face actually, Hearn decidedUp close there were jungle sores on Brown's skin, and his eyes had become dull and remote, his skin had begun to wrinkleHe looked surprisingly old
But, then, all the veterans didIt was simple to pick them outThere was Gallagher, who probably had always looked that way, but still he had been in the platoon for some timeAnd there was Martinez, who seemed more fragile, more sensitive than the othersHis fine features had been nervous, his eyes had blinked as he talked to Hearn that morningHe was the one you would pick instantly to crack up, and yet he was probably a good manA Mexican had to be to become a good new omega watches noncom
There was Wilson, and the one they called RedThat one had a craggy face with a rough boiled look about it which emphasized the blueness of his eyesHis laugh had a hoarse sarcastic edge as if everything disgusted him exactly the way he had known it would disgust himValsen was the one who was probably worth talking to, and yet he would be unapproachable
Collectively, they lent something to each other, seemed harder and meaner than they would if isolatedAs they lay on their cots, their faces seemed the only things alive in the troop wellTheir fatigues were old, faded to a pale green, and the boat walls had rusted brownThere was no color, no movement in anything but the flesh of their facesHearn threw his cigarette away
On his left was the island, not more than half a mile across the waterThe beach was narrow at this point and the coconut trees grew almost to the water's edge; behind them grew the brush, a dense tangle of roots and vines and plants, of trees and fendi spy zucca bag folia