The door opened and Colonel Lanser came in, removing his coat as he entered. His staff gave him military courtesy—not very rigid, but enough. Lanser said, “Captain Loft, will you go down and relieve Bentick? He isn’t feeling well, says he’s dizzy.”
“Yes, sir,” said Loft. “May I suggest, sir, that I only recently came off duty?”
Lanser inspected him closely. “I hope you don’t mind going, Captain.”
“Not at all, sir; I just mention it for the record.”
Lanser relaxed and chuckled. “You like to be mentioned in the reports, don’t you?”
“It does no harm, sir.”
“And when you have enough mentions,” Lanser went on, “there will be a little dangler on your chest.”
“They are the milestones in a military career, sir.” Lanser sighed. “Yes, I guess they are. But they won’t be the ones you’ll remember, Captain.”
“Sir?” Loft asked.
“You’ll know what I mean later—perhaps.”
Captain Loft put his equipment on rapidly. “Yes, sir,” he said, and went out and his footsteps clattered down the wooden stairs, and Lanser watched him go with a little amusement. He said quietly, “There goes a born soldier.” And Hunter looked up and poised his pencil and he said, “A born ass.”
“No,” said Lanser, “he’s being a soldier the way a lot of men would be politicians. He’ll be on the General Staff before long. He’ll look down on war from above and so he’ll always love it.”
Lieutenant Prackle said, “When do you think the war will be over, sir?”
“Over? Over? What do you mean?”
Lieutenant Prackle continued, “How soon will we win?”
Lanser shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know. The enemy is still in the world.”
“But we will lick them,” said Prackle.
Lanser said, “Yes?”
“Won’t we?”
“Yes; yes, we always do.”
Prackle said excitedly, “Well, if it’s quiet around Christmas, do you think there will be some furloughs granted?”
“I don’t know,” said Lanser. “Such orders will have to come from home. Do you want to get home for Christmas?”
“Well, I’d kind of like to.”
“Maybe you will,” said Lanser, “maybe you will.”
Lieutenant Tonder said, “We won’t drop out of this occupation, will we, sir, after the war is over?”
“I don’t know,” said the colonel. “Why?”
“Well,” said Tonder, “it’s a nice country, nice people. Our men—some of them—might even settle here.” Lanser said jokingly, “You’ve seen some place you like, perhaps?”
“Well,” said Tonder, “there are some beautiful farms here. If four or five of them were thrown together, it would be a nice place to settle, I think.”
“You have no family land, then?” Lanser asked.
“No, sir, not any more. Inflation took it away.”
Lanser was tired now of talking to children. He said, “Ah, well, we still have a war to fight. We still have coal to take out. Do you suppose we can wait until it is over before we build up these estates? Such orders will come from above. Captain Loft can tell you that.” His manner changed. He said, “Hunter, your steel will be in tomorrow. You can get your tracks started this week.”
There was a knock at the door and a sentry put his head in. He said, “Mr. Corell wishes to see you, sir.”
“Send him in,” said the colonel. And he said to the others, “This is the man who did the preliminary work here. We might have some trouble with him.”
“Did be do a good job?” Tonder asked.
“Yes, he did, and he won’t be popular with the people here. I wonder whether he will be popular with us.”
“He deserves credit, certainly,” Tonder said.
“Yes,” Lanser said, “and don’t think he won’t claim it.”
Corell came in, rubbing his hands. He radiated good-will and good-fellowship. He was dressed still in his black business suit, but on his head there was a patch of white bandage, stuck to his hair with a cross of adhesive tape. He advanced to the center of the room and said, “Good morning, Colonel. I should have called yesterday after the trouble downstairs, but I knew how busy you would be.”
The colonel said, “Good morning.” Then with a circular gesture of his hand. “This is my staff, Mr. Corell.”
“Fine boys,” said Corell. “They did a good job. Well, I tried to prepare for them well.”
Hunter looked down at his board and he took out an inking-pen and dipped it and began to ink in his drawing.
Lanser said, “You did very well. I wish you hadn’t killed those six men, though. I wish their soldiers hadn’t come back.”
Corell spread his hands and said comfortably, “Six men is a small loss for a town of this size, with a coal mine, too.”
Lanser said sternly, “I am not averse to killing people if that finishes it. But sometimes it is better not to.”
Corell had been studying the officers. He looked sideways at the lieutenants, and he said, “Could we—perhaps—talk alone, Colonel?”
“Yes, if you wish. Lieutenant Prackle and Tonder, will you go to your room, please?” And the colonel said to Corell, “Major Hunter is working. He doesn’t hear anything when he’s working.” Hunter looked up from his board and smiled quietly and looked down again. The young lieutenants left the room, and when they were gone Lanser said, “Well, here we are. Won’t you sit down?”
“Thank you, sir,” and Corell sat down behind the table.
Lanser looked at the bandage on Corell’s head. He said bluntly, “Have they tried to kill you already?”
Corell felt the bandage with his fingers. “This? Oh, this was a stone that fell from a cliff in the hill this morning?”
“You’re sure it wasn’t thrown?”
“What do you mean?” Corell asked. “These aren’t fierce people. They haven’t had a war for a hundred years. They’ve forgotten about fighting.”
“Well, you’ve lived among them,” said the colonel. “You ought to know.” He stepped close to Corell. “But if you are safe, these people are different from any in the world. I’ve helped to occupy countries before. I was in Belgium twenty years ago and in France.” He shook his head a little as though to clear it, and he said gruffly, “You did a good job. We should thank you. I mentioned your work in my report.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Corell. “I did my best.”
Lanser said, a little wearily, “Well, sir, now what shall we do? Would you like to go back to the capital? We can put you on a coal barge if you’re in a hurry, or on a destroyer if you want to wait.”
Corell said, “But I don’t want to go back. I’ll stay here.”
Lanser studied this for a moment and he said, “you know, I haven’t a great many men. I can’t give you a very adequate bodyguard.”
“But I don’t need a bodyguard. I tell you these aren’t violent people.”
Lanser looked at the bandage for a moment Hunter glanced up from his board and remarked, “You’d better start wearing a helmet.” He looked down at his work again.
Now Corell moved forward in his chair. “I wanted particularly to talk to you, Colonel. I thought I might help with the civil administration.”
Lanser turned on his heel and walked to the window and looked out, and then he swung around and said quietly, “What have you in mind?”
“Well, you must have a civil authority you can trust. I thought perhaps that Mayor Orden might step down now and—well, if I were to take over his office, it and the military would work very nicely together.”
Lanser’s eyes seemed to grow large and bright. He came close to Corell and he spoke sharply. “Have you mentioned this in your report?”
Corell said, “Well, yes, naturally—in my analysis.”
Lanser interrupted. “Have you talked to any of the town people since we arrived—outside of the Mayor, that is?”
“Well, no. You see, they are still a bit startled. They didn’t expect it.” He chuckled. “No, sir, they certainly didn’t expect it.”
But Lanser pressed his point “So you don’t really know what’s going on in their minds?”
“Why, they’re startled,” said Corell. “They’re—well, they’re almost dreaming.”
“You don’t know what they think of you?” Lanser asked.
“I have many friends here. I know everyone.”
“Did anyone buy anything in your store this morning?”
“Well, of course, business is at a standstill,” Corell answered. “No one’s buying anything.”
Lanser relaxed suddenly. He went to a chair and sat down and crossed his legs. He said quietly, “Yours is a difficult and brave branch of the service. It should be greatly rewarded.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You will have their hatred in time,” said the colonel.
“I can stand that, sir. They are the enemy.”
Now Lanser hesitated a long moment before he spoke, and then he said softly, “you will not even have our respect.”
Corell jumped to his feet excitedly. “This is contrary to the Leader’s words!” he said. “The Leader has said that all branches are equally honorable.”