"Smith, Wilbur - Courtney 03 - A Sparrow Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

twisted and battered-looking.

Only the black curved eyebrows were sleek and unmarked, and the eyes
were clear and dark cobalt blue, the eyes of a much younger man, steady
and alert.

Sean Courtney sat for a long time holding the boy, and then he sighed
once, deeply, and laid the broken head aside.

He stood up, hefted the kitbag on to his own shoulder, and set off along
the communications trench once again.

At five minutes before midnight, the Colonel commanding the 2nd
Battalion stooped through the blackout curtains that screened the
entrance to the mess, and beat the snow from his shoulders with a gloved
hand as he straightened.

The mess had been a German dugout six months before, and was the envy of
the brigade. Thirty feet below ground level, it was impregnable, even
to the heaviest artillery barrage. The floor was of heavy timber
boarding and even the walls were panelled against the damp and the cold.

A pot-bellied stove stood against the far wall, glowing cheerfully.

Gathered about it in a half circle of looted armchairs sat the off -duty
officers.

However, the Colonel had eyes only for the burly figure of his General,
seated in the largest and most comfortable chair closest to the stove,
and he shed his great-coat as he hurried across the dugout. General, my
apologies. If I'd known you were coming I was making my rounds. Sean
Courtney chuckled and rose ponderously from the chair to shake his hand.
It's what I would expect of you, Charles, but your officers have made me
very welcome and we have kept a little of the goose for you The Colonel
glanced quickly about the circle and frowned as he saw the hectic cheeks
and sparkling eyes of some of his younger subalterns. He must warn them
of the folly of trying to drink level with the General. The old man was
steady as a rock, of course, and those eyes were like bayonets under the
dark brows, but the Colonel knew him well enough to guess that he had a
full quart of Dimple Haig in his belly, and that something was troubling
him deeply. Then it came to him. Of course I'm terribly sorry to hear
about young van der Heever sir. Sergeant-Major told me what happened. I
Sean made a gesture of dismissal, but for a moment the shadows darkened
about his eyes. If I'd only known you were coming up into the line this
evening, I would have warned you, sir. We have had the devil of trouble
with that sniper ever since we moved up.

It's the same fellow, of course, absolutely deadly. I've never heard of
anything like it. Dreadful nuisance when everything else is so quiet.
Only casualties we've had all week. What are you doing about him? Sean