Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [253]
“Who says that-Keith again?”
“Will you answer the question, Commander?”
“It’s a malicious lie, of course.”
“Was Urban on the bridge at the time?”
“Yes.”
“Was his shirttail out?”
“Yes, and I reprimanded him. That took me about two seconds. I’m not in the habit of dwelling on those things. Then there were these AA bursts, and that was what distracted me.”
“Did you point out these AA bursts to the OOD or the exec?”
“I may have. I don’t recall. I didn’t run weeping to my OOD on every occasion. I may very well have kept my own counsel. And since this shirttail thing has been brought up-and it’s a very typical Keith distortion, the whole business-I’d like to say that Ensign Keith as morale officer was in charge of enforcing uniform regulations and completely soldiered on the job. When I took over the ship it was like the Chinese Navy. And I bore down on Keith to watch those shirttails and he kept funking it and for all I know that’s another reason he hated me and circulated all this about my cutting the towline.”
“Ensign Keith did not testify on this point, Commander. Can you name any officer who will testify that he saw those AA bursts?”
“Maybe all of them did and then again maybe none of them did. It was fifteen months ago and we’ve been fighting a war and we’ve had much more on our mind than a few AA bursts off Pearl.”
“Did you drop a yellow dye marker off Jacob Island on the first morning of the invasion of Kwajalein?”
“I may have. I don’t recall.”
“Did your orders include dropping the marker?”
“I don’t recall. There have been several other invasions since.”
“Do you recall what your first mission was during the invasion?”
“Yes. To lead a group of attack boats to the line of departure for Jacob Island.”
“Did you fulfill that mission?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you drop the dye marker?”
“I don’t know for sure that I did drop one.”
“Commander, the orders of the Caine on that morning are a matter of record, and there’s no mention of dropping a dye marker. This court has heard repeated testimony to the effect that you did drop one. Do you deny that testimony?”
“Well, it sounds as though I may have dropped it to mark the line of departure plainly, if I did it, but it’s all dim in my mind.”
“How far was the line of departure from the beach?”
“As I recall, a thousand yards.”
“Did you stay close to the attack boats, leading them in?”
“Well, naturally, not wanting to swamp them with my bow wave, I was a bit ahead.”
“How far ahead?”
“This all happened a year ago-”
“Fifty yards? Twenty thousand yards?”
“Well, I don’t know. A couple of hundred yards, maybe.”
“Commander, did you run a mile ahead of the attack boats, drop your marker, and retire at high speed, leaving the boats to grope to the line of departure as best they could?”
Challee leaped to his feet. “The question is abusive and flagrantly leading.”
“I am willing to withdraw the question,” said Greenwald wearily, “in view of the commander’s dim memory, and proceed to more recent events.”
“Court desires to question the witness,” said Blakely. Greenwald retreated to his desk, watching the president’s face. “Commander Queeg,” Blakely said, “in view of the implications in this line of testimony, I urge you to search your memory for correct answers.”
“I am certainly trying to do that, sir, but as I say these are very small points and I’ve been through several campaigns since Kwajalein and the typhoon and now all this business-”
“I appreciate that. If necessary the court can call a recess for several days to obtain depositions from officers and men of that attack group. It will facilitate justice if you can remember enough to give a few definite answers on points of fact. First of all, can you recall whether your orders contained instructions to drop a dye marker?”
“Well, to the best of my recollection they didn’t. That can be checked against the record. But I believe I can say definitely that they didn’t, as I recall now.”
“Very well. Will you please repeat your explanation of why you dropped it?”
“Well, I guess to mark the line of departure plainly.