in the leg. Brown expresses a contempt for women to Stanley, who begins to wonder if his own wife is being faithful. The fighting settles down for a few weeks, and the lines begin to become stagnant. Cummings worries that the men are getting too comfortable in one place, which will make them unwilling to fight. He fears that if he cannot shift the front line, he will be replaced. His anxiety leads to health problems and constant outbursts directed at Hearn. Cummings commands Hearn to have Clellan, an enlisted man, put flowers in his tent each morning. This inspires conflict between Hearn and Clellan, which is what Cummings intends. Hearn becomes frustrated and easily provoked. Cummings instructs him to go pick up supplies for the officers’ mess hall, but secretly pays off the seller to keep the goods from Hearn. Hearn bribes an assistant to get the supplies and later realizes what Cummings has done. The incident reframes Hearn’s past experiences with Cummings, which he realizes have all been aimed to anger him. Furious, Hearn extinguishes a cigarette on the floor of Cummings’s tent when Cummings is gone. Cummings discovers that a sergeant has been falsifying his patrol reports and realizes that his entire command has likely been doing the same thing. He vows to crack down on disciplinary issues. He returns to his tent to discover Hearn’s cigarette. He summons Hearn to his tent for the first time since they played chess. They have an intense discussion about the war and what will happen afterwards. Cummings reiterates his distaste for women. Cummings explains to Hearn that he wants to be a type of god. Cummings smokes a cigarette and throws it on the ground, just as Hearn did. He commands Hearn to pick up the cigarette or he will be court-martialed. Hearns asks him for a transfer to another division and Cummings denies his request and tells him to work labor under Dalleson. Hearns cuts Cummings back by asking, “Short of bringing in every man in the outfit, all six thousand of them, and letting them pick up your cigarettes, how are you going to impress them?” Minetta is in the hospital from his gunshot wound, which is healing quickly. He worries that he will be sent back to the front lines, so he deliberately re-opens his own wound. When he realizes he will likely be discharged, he