@@@@@ "Well, then you men can start out right
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"Well, then you men can start out right now," Hearn saidWhat were they going to do? "We're going to stay here overnightYou can use the rest, I supposeTomorrow we'll find a way through the pass"Lootenant, couldn't I have another four men for, say, the first hour and a half march with Wilson? We can cover more ground that way, so by tomorrow when we start out again we'll be away from the Japs"All right, but I want them back by dark He looked around him, picked Polack and Minetta and Gallagher at random and then Wyman"The rest of us will take up guard posts till they get back
He drew Brown aside, talked to him for a few minutes"You know the way to the trail we cut through the jungle?"
Brown nodded
"All right, follow it through to the beach, and then wait there for usIt'll take you about two days, or maybe a little moreWe should return in three or at most four daysIf the boat comes before we do, and Wilson isis still alive, then go back right away, and have them send another boat out for us
Brown assembled the litter-bearers, had Wilson placed on the stretcher, and began to move off
There were only five men left in the hollow, the Lieutenant and Croft, Red and Roth and MartinezThey settled down, each alone on a knoll bordering their hollow, searching the valleys and hill-lines about themThey watched the litter-bearers progressing over the hills to the south, alternating their two teams every few minutesIn half an hour they were out of sight, and nothing remained but the hills, the mute mountain walls, and the late afternoon sky washing already into the golden hues of sunsetTo the west, perhaps a mile away, there were Japanese bivouacked in the pass, and in front of them, high up, out of sight, was the top ridgeline of Mount AnakaEach of them brooded, alone with his thoughts

By nightfall, Brown and Stanley, Ridges and Goldstein were left with WilsonThe extra litter-bearers had turned back an hour before dark, and Brown, after progressing a half mile farther, had decided to halt for the nightThey settled in a tiny grove just below the saddle of two small hills, spread out their blankets in a circle around Wilson, and lay talking drowsi