Part 3, Chapter 6 Summary

General Cummings is assessing his campaign, and is surprised by the advances made. Although he had done everything a commander should do, he had been gloomy and expected things to go wrong. Despite being relieved by his success, he has a hollow feeling that he has not really done anything personally to achieve it. Thinking of Hearn on the patrol, he cannot decide whether he wants him to succeed, or not. He visits the artillery crews, and fires cannon, feeling an overwhelming satisfaction and power. Back in his tent he writes in his secret journal that he keeps locked in a cabinet. He writes about the power of weapons, everything he writes has a sexual connotation, and he likens the parabola of a missile to the rise and inevitable decline of every culture. Suddenly his words seem meaningless to him, and...