@@@@@He slumped forward, and then rolled on his
@@@@@He slumped forward, and then rolled on his sideHe was still smiling but he looked silly now
Gallagher tried to speak again but was incapable of itHe felt an awful fear and for an instant he thought of his wife againOh, God save Mary, God save Mary, he repeated to himself without thinking of the meaning of the words
Croft stared for almost a minute at the JapHis pulse was slowing down and he felt the tension ease in his throat and mouthHe realized suddenly that a part of his mind, very deeply buried, had known he was going to kill the prisoner from the moment he had sent Red on aheadHe felt quite blank nowThe smile on the dead man's face amused him, and a trivial rill of laughter emitted from his lipsHe thought once again of the Japanese crossing the river, and he prodded the body with his foot"Goddam," he said, "that Jap sure died happy The laughter swelled more strongly inside him

Later that morning recon received an order to return to the rearThey folded their tents, stowed their ponchos in their jungle packs, filled their canteens from the water Red and Gallagher and Croft had brought back, and ate a ration while they waited for other troops to relieve themAbout noon a squad from A Company moved into their outpost, and recon descended their hill and took the trail leading back to 1st BattalionIt was a long hike over a muddy lane in the jungle, and after a half hour they settled down into the tedium and weariness of trudging through the mudA few of them were jubilant; Martinez and Wyman had a pressure removed from them, and Wilson was thinking about whiskyCroft was taciturn, reflective, and Gallagher and Red were nervous and irritable and started frequently at every unexpected noiseRed found that he was continually turning around to look behind him
They reached 1st Battalion in an hour, and after a short rest they moved on along a lateral trail to 2nd BattalionIt was midafternoon when the arrived there, and Croft received orders for the squad to bivouac on the battalion perimeter for the nightThe men cast off their packs, withdrew their ponchos and set up their pup tents againThere was a machine-gun emplacement in front of them and they did not bother to dig any more holesThey sat about resting and talking, and gradually they felt the tension of the past week coming