Redemption - Leon Uris [185]
“Jeremy, you are not rolling around in the mud with these men the way you did on the rugby pitch, and you’re not standing elbow-to-elbow drinking cheap ale in their pubs, showing off your tattoos.”
“Tattoos,” Jeremy said, “now there’s a thought. Suppose any of the Earls had tattoos?”
“I have ordered my officers to lay down the law from day one. As for us, in the first instance, I’ll no longer overlook your insubordination because of family circum stances and, in the second instance, we do not carry the same rank. This is my battalion, Lieutenant, and I was given this command because of the severity of its mission.”
“You and General Brodhead are pretty cozy. I’m sure he’ll honor my request for a transfer.”
“Shall we speak calmly and without rancor?” Christopher said quickly.
“Why not?”
“I have made vows to both Mother and Father that I will do all in my power to see that you return home in one piece—”
“And without disgracing the family honor. Well, Chris, you are no longer the keeper of a self-pitying drunk.”
“Your request will go no further than my desk.”
“You know why? I’ll tell you. These colonials are not patsies, and you don’t know a fiddler’s fart about how to deal with men. You want me to run the gaffer squad and be at your side in case you start to muck up.”
“You think rather fondly of yourself,” Chris said. “Let me say this clearly and calmly. Do not tinker with a system of order which has been keenly developed over the span of a thousand years and has resulted in the greatest nation mankind has ever known. Officers of my stripe have made the British Army a magnificent institution.”
God Almighty, Jeremy cringed, trying to hold himself together…it was Apprentice Boys’ Day on Derry’s Walls all over again, raining pennies down on the Catholics in Bogside.
“We are the most fortunate people on earth,” Chris continued coolly. “Our station was fixed at birth and privilege is our birthright. That’s the way the universe spins, that’s the way the world operates, that’s how the British Army works, that’s why we have an empire. Rip everything apart and exchange the have-nots with the privileged, and in ten years it will return to the way it was in the beginning. Jeremy Hubble is not going to change the natural order of things, and Jeremy Hubble better realize he is here on earth to protect his privilege.”
Jeremy laid his hands on his brother’s shoulders softly and looked at him pleadingly. God, if he could only get through somehow.
“Chris, when will you ever learn what father never learned, what grandfather never learned. You can’t get the loyalty of men through intimidation.”
“I’d say they did rather well.”
“They got wealthy. In a battalion like this there has to be respect for their dignity. You cannot own a man’s soul. Molly O’Rafferty left me because she would not surrender her soul.”
Chris removed his brother’s unwanted hands from him. “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” he said. “Let Jesus and Mary take care of their souls. I want their obedience, their unstinting obedience.”
62
Rory came to attention before a long table covered by green felt behind which a Captain Ellsworth was seated, flanked by Jeremy Hubble and Johnny Tarbox.
“Private Rory Landers reporting.”
“I’m Captain Ellsworth. Please have a seat.”
“And I am Lieutenant Hubble,” Jeremy said extending his hand. “I believe you know Serjeant Major Tarbox.”
“Yes, sir.”
“According to the questionnaire you filled out aboard ship, you may have some special qualifications for us,” Jeremy said.
“Certainly hope so, sir.”
“I’m to be in charge of a small gaffer unit,” Jeremy continued.
“Gaffer, sir?”
“It’s a Johnny-on-the-spot squad, problem solvers, men with various expertise. We are in need of an updated and simplified transportation manual.”
“You may have the wrong man, sir. I don’t know anything about military transport.”
“Mules, mule transport,” Jeremy said.
“May I ask the Lieutenant a question?