@@@@@ He fired the flare and shouted, "STOP
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He fired the flare and shouted, "STOP 'EM!"
A shrill cry came out of the jungle across the riverIt was the scream a man might utter if his foot was being crushed"AAAIIIIII, AAAIIIIIIII
The flare burst at the moment the Japanese started their chargeCroft had a split perception of the Japanese machine gun firing from a flank, and then he began to fire automatically, not looking where he fired, but holding his gun low, swinging it from side to sideHe could not hear the other guns fire, but he saw their muzzle blasts like exhausts
He had a startling frozen picture of the Japanese running toward him across the narrow river"AAAAIIIIIIIIIIH," he heard againIn the light of the flare the Japanese had the stark frozen quality of men revealed by a shaft of lightningCroft no longer saw anything clearly; he could not have said at that moment where his hands ended and the machine gun began; he was lost in a vast moil of noise out of which individual screams and shouts etched in his mind for an instantHe could never have counted the Japanese who charged across the river; he knew only that his finger was rigid on the trigger barHe could not have loosened itIn those few moments he felt no sense of danger
The line of men who charged across the river began to fallIn the water they were slowed considerably and the concentrated fire from recon's side raged at them like a wind across an open fieldThey began to stumble over the bodies ahead of themCroft saw one soldier reach into the air behind another's body as though trying to clutch something in the sky and Croft fired at him for what seemed many seconds before the arm collapsed
He looked to his right and saw three men trying to cross the river where it turned and ran parallel to the bluffHe swung the gun about and lashed them with itOne man fell, and the other two paused uncertainly and began to run back toward their own bank of the riverCroft had no time to follow them; some soldiers had reached the beach on his side and were charging the gunHe fired point blank at them, and they collapsed about five yards from his hole
Croft fired and fired, switching targets with the quick reflexes of an athlete shifting for a ballAs soon as he saw men falling he would attack another groupThe line of Japanese broke into little bunches of men who wavered, began to ret