The rest
darted back to the cover which they had just quit and jumped in briskly.
The five figures remained where they had dropped and became quiet.
Anyway, I could detect no motion in them. They were just little gray
strips. Into my mind on the moment came incongruously a memory of what
I had seen a thousand times in the composing room of a country newspaper
where the type was set by hand. I thought of five pica plugs lying on
the printshop floor.
It was hard for me to make myself believe that I had seen human beings
killed and wounded. I can hardly believe it yet--that those
insignificant toy-figures were really and truly men. I watched through
the glass after that for possibly twenty minutes, until the summons came
for lunch, but no more of the German dolls ventured out of their make-
believe defenses to be blown flat by an invisible blast.
It was a picnic lunch served on board trestles under a tree behind the
cover of a straw-roofed shelter tent, and we ate it in quite a peaceful
and cozy picnic fashion.
Pages:
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338