The Little Nugget · I · XV · Chapter 2 15 1 (2/2)

The Nugget was sitting on the floor, gaping feebly, and awed for the moment into silence. Audrey, in the far corner, looked pale but composed. Her behaviour was perfect. There was nothing for her to do, and she was doing it with a quiet self-control which won my admiration. Her manner seemed to me exactly suited to the exigencies of the situation. With a super-competent daredevil like myself in charge of affairs, all she had to do was to wait and not get in the way.

“I didn’t hit anybody,” I announced, “but they ran like rabbits. They are all over Hampshire.”

I laughed indulgently. I could afford an attitude of tolerant amusement towards the enemy.

“Will they come back?”

“Possibly. And in that case”⁠—I felt in my left-hand coat-pocket⁠—“I had better be getting ready.” I felt in my right-hand coat-pocket. “Ready,” I repeated blankly. A clammy coldness took possession of me. My voice trailed off into nothingness. For in neither pocket was there a single one of the shells with which I had fancied that I was abundantly provided. In moments of excitement man is apt to make mistakes. I had made mine when, starting out on the sortie, I had left all my ammunition in the house.