The artillery officer who had fallen in this meadow had been making groans in the teeth of the tempest of sound. These futile cries, wrenched from him by his agony, were heard only by shells, bullets. When wild-eyed Collins came running, this officer raised himself. His face contorted and blanched from the pain, he was about to utter some great beseeching cry. But suddenly his face straightened and he called: "Say, young man, give me a drink of water, will you?"
Back when Collins got the water, he found another bucket and had carried both buckets back to the men. Since he did this, he was able to stop and give the fallen officer some water. As he was giving the man water, the man's head started to drop. Collin's snatched it up, calling to him to "Drink the water man, drink it! I've got more for the lieutenants. Please, drink!" The man slowly opened his eyes again and drank some water. Collins then took off again for the other men.
As Collins ran toward the other men, he tripped over a body lying on the ground. The body had many bullet holes in him; he had died in the battle. Collins gagged at the sight of it, in his mind thinking 'this is it; this is what is going to happen to all of us'. He slowly pushed himself off the ground, standing to his feet shakily. He glanced at the body one more time before looking up toward the men he was getting the water for.
This time, instead of running, Collins walked toward the men as they shouted greetings to him. They were smiling as they seen the water buckets, but his face was solemn, having just faced death himself and seeing it on two others. "Please, give the water to us!" they cried out to him, thankful he had achieved his goal. He stepped forward and handed one bucket to one man and the other to the other man.
As they accepted the buckets, other men filled around, begging them for water. The one man gracefully agreed, getting himself a small portion and sharing the rest. The other officer was greedy, not wanting to give any water to anybody but himself. The captain hollered at him "Billie give the men some water! The buckets weren't filled just for you, now share before I put a bullet in you myself." Billie grudgingly gave up the rest of the water to the men.
After that, the men's strength began to return and their hope along with it. They would yet win this war, they thought to themselves. But in Collins mind, he wasn't so sure about winning. He just sat there, not saying a word as he recounted the things that had just taken place.
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