The Valley of Bones - Anthony Powell [20]
‘Now, see it you must, Gareth,’ I heard the Sergeant-Major’s voice once insisting on the other side of the partition. ‘In time of peace – in the mine – you are above me, Gareth, and above Sergeant Pendry. Here, that is not. No longer is it the mine. In the Company we are above you. It would be good you remember that, Gareth.’
Gittins was a figure of some prestige in the Company, not only on account of dominion over valuable stock-in-trade, but also for his forcible character. Dark, stocky, another strongly pre-Celtic type, he could probably have become sergeant – even sergeant-major – without difficulty, had he wished for promotion. Like many others, he preferred to avoid such responsibilities, instead ruling the store, where he guarded every item as if it were his own personal property acquired only after long toil and self-denial. Nothing was more difficult than to extort from him the most insignificant replacement of kit.
‘I tell you, not without the Skipper’s direct order,’ was his usual answer to such requests. This circumspection was very generally respected. To coax anything from Gittins was considered a triumph. One of the attractions of the store was its wireless, which would sometimes be tuned in to Haw-Haw’s propaganda broadcast from Germany. These came on just after midnight:
‘… This is Chairmany calling … Chairmany calling … These are the stations Koln, Hamburg and DJA … Here is the news in English … Fifty-three more British aircraft were shot down over Kiel last night making a total of one hundred and seventeen since Tuesday … One hundred and seventeen more British aircraft have been shot down in forty-eight hours … The British people are asking their Government why British pilots cannot stay in the air … They are asking why British aircraft is inferior to Chairman aircraft … The British people are asking themselves why they have lost the war in the air … They are asking, for example, what has happened to the Imperial Airways Liner Ajax … Why is the Imperial Airways Liner Ajax three weeks overdue, they are asking … We can tell you .. . The Imperial Airways Liner Ajax is at the bottom of the sea … The fishes are swimming in and out of the wreckage of the Imperial Airways Liner Ajax … The Imperial Airways Liner Ajax and her escort were shot down by Chairman fighter planes… The British have lost the war in the air … They have lost the war in the air … It is the same on the water … The Admiralty is wondering about the Resourceful … They are worried at the Admiralty about the Resourceful … They need not worry about the Resourceful any more … We will tell them about the Resourceful … The Resourceful is at the bottom of the sea with the Imperial Airways Liner Ajax … The Resourceful was sunk by a Chairman submarine … The Admiralty is in despair at Chairman command of the sea … Britain has lost the war on the sea … One hundred and seventy-five thousand gross registered tons of British shipping was sent to the bottom last week … The British Government is in despair at these losses in the air and on the water … That is not the only thing that makes the British Government despair … Not by any means … The food shortage in Britain is becoming acute … The evacuated women and children are living in misery … Instead of food, they are being fed on lies … Government lies … Only Chairmany can tell you the truth … The Chairman radio speaks the truth … The Chairman radio gives the best and latest news … Chairmany is winning the war … Think it over, Britain, think it over … Chairmany is winning the war … Listen, Britain … Listen, Britain … We repeat to all listeners in the Far East … Listen, South America …’
Someone in the store turned the button. The nagging, sneering, obsessive accents died away with a jerk, as if a sack had been advantageously thrust over the speaker’s head, bestowing an immediate sense of relief at his extinction. There was a long pause next door.
‘I do wonder he can remember all that,