And with difficulty I
held myself back from crying out.
Those curious oblong boxes among which I had passed the night--they were
hermetically sealed coffins, and there were dead soldiers in them.
Ridges of terror crept along my flesh. Stifling a panic in me, I forced
myself to go slow as I climbed the iron rungs to the hold above ...
where living soldiers lay sleeping in long rows....
Still undetected, I scrambled along an aisle between them and put myself
away in a sort of life-preserver closet. Not till I had heard the
familiar throb of the propeller in motion for a long time, did I come
forth.
* * * * *
During the voyage of, I believe, eight days, I loafed about, lining up
for rations with the boys ... no one questioned me. My engineer's
clothes that I had taken, in lieu of part of my wages, from the
slop-chest of _The South Sea King_, caused the officers of the marines
to think I belonged to the ship's crew ... and the ship-officers must
have thought I was in some way connected with the marines ... anyhow, I
was not molested, and I led a life much to my liking ... an easy-going
and loafing and tale-telling one ... mixing about and talking and
listening ... and reading back-number magazines.
* * * * *
One day my friend the barber called me aside:
"Say, kid, I've been delegated to tell you that you've got lice.
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