The youth perceived that the time had come. He was about to be measured. For a moment he felt in the face of his great trial like a babe, and the fle… - Stephen Crane

His face had been twisted into an expression of every agony he had imagined for his friend.

The lieutenant of the youth's company was shot in the hand. He began to swear so wondrously that a nervous laugh went along the regimental line. The officer's profanity sounded conventional. It relieved the tightened senses of the new men. It was as if he had hit his fingers with a tack hammer at home.

If I am going to be drowned — if I am going to be drowned — if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods, who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?