g which I had passed the night--they were
hermetically sealed coffins, and there were dead soldiers in them.
Ridges of terror crept along my flesh. Stifling a panic in me, I forced
myself to go slow as I climbed the iron rungs to the hold above ...
where living soldiers lay sleeping in long rows....

Still undetected, I scrambled along an aisle between them and put myself
away in a sort of life-preserver closet. Not till I had heard the
familiar throb of the propeller in motion for a long time, did I come
forth.

* * * * *

During the voyage of, I believe, eight days, I loafed about, lining up
for rations with the boys ... no one questioned me. My engineer's
clothes that I had taken, in lieu of part of my wages, from the
slop-chest of _The South Sea King_, caused the officers of the marines
to think I belonged to the ship's crew ... and the ship-officers must
have thought I was in some way connected with the marines ... anyhow, I
was not molested, and I led a life much to my liking ... an easy-going
and loafing and tale-telling one ... mixing about and talking and
listening ... and reading back-number magazines.

* * * * *

One day my friend the barber called me aside:

"Say, kid, I've been delegated to tell you that you've got lice." I
flamed indignant.

"That's a God-damned lie! and whoever told you so is a God-damned liar,
too! I never had a louse in my life."

"Easy! Easy!... no use gittin' huffy ... if it ain't lice you got, wot
you scratchin' all the time fer? Look in the crotch of yer pants and the
seams of your shirt, an' see!"

I _had_ been scratching a lot ... and wondering what was wrong ... my
breast was all red ... but I had explained it to myself that I was
wearing a coarse woolen undershirt next my skin ... that I had picked up
from the slop-chest, also.

The barber walked jauntily away, leaving me standing sullenly alone.

I sneaked into the toilet, looking to see if anyone was about. I turned
my shirt back. To my horror, my loathing,--the soldier's accusation was
true!... they were so thick, thanks to my ignorant neglect, that I could
see them moving in battalions ... if I had been the victim of some
filthy disease, I could scarcely have felt more beyond the pale, more a
pariah. I had not detected them before, because I was ignorant of the
thought of having them, and because their grey colour was exactly that
of the inside of my