In this scene they are pretty close
together--the great Sisters!
A young flying officer, in a night attack, was hit by a shrapnel bullet
from below. He thought it had struck his leg, but was so absorbed in
dropping his bombs and bringing down his machine safely that, although
he was aware of a feeling of faintness, he thought no more of it till he
had landed in the aerodrome. Then it was discovered that his leg had
been shot away, was literally hanging by a shred of skin, and how he had
escaped bleeding to death nobody could quite understand. As it was, he
had dropped his bombs, and he insisted on making his report in hospital.
He recovered from the subsequent operation, and in hospital, some weeks
afterwards, his C.O. appeared, with the news of his recommendation for
the D.S.O. The boy, for he was little more, listened with eyes of amused
incredulity, opening wider and wider as the Colonel proceeded. When the
communication was over, and the C.O., attributing the young man's
silence to weakness or grateful emotion, had passed on, the nurse beside
the bed saw the patient bury his head in the pillow with a queer sound
of exasperation, and caught the words, "I call it _perfectly childish!_"
That an act so simple, so all in the bargain, should have earned the
D.
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