Chapter 29

MAJOR JOPPOLO showed up at the Navy Club for his drink at exactly six ‘clock.

There were about twelve officers sitting around in the upstairs room of the villa that Lieutenant Livingston had fitted up as a club. There was the port operations officer, his exec, the port communications officer, the mine, boom and net officer, two or three men from an SC boat, and the rest were from a destroyer that had helped escort some merchant ships across from the mainland Lieutenant Livingston introduced Major Joppolo around, and he had apparently been telling the others what a good guy the Major was, because their responses were cordial.

“What’ll you have?”

Major Joppolo, who was not much of a drinker, said: “What’ve you got?”

“Well, Scotch mostly. Little bourbon, couple bottles of gin, and Lieutenant Commander Robertson here brought us a bottle of rum. You can even have some wop wine if you insist, though why anyone would drink that stuff beats me.”

“Let’s see,” the Major said, “what’s everybody drink”Different things, whatever you want,” the Lieutenant said. “How about some Scotch?”

“If that’s what you have the most of.”

So the Lieutenant poured out some Scotch for Major Joppolo. He made it strong and the Major coughed on the first gulp.

“Say,” the Lieutenant said, “you sure have these wops charmed. How’d you ever get ‘em back down here so fast this morning?”

“Guess I’m a kind of pied piper,” the Major said. “I had to pipe through my nose this morning.” And he told how he had sniffed all over town to disprove the gas attack.

The Navy enjoyed this story and decided that Major Joppolo was all right.

They talked for a while about how the invasion was going, and about a destroyer that had been hit by a Jerry divebomber, and about the Italian Navy, and then, as Major Joppolo started in on his second drink, about the big part the U.S. Navy was playing in the whole operation.

One of the officers said: “That first landing was really something. Thousands of ships from God knows how many ports, all going at different speeds and on different courses. Jesus, I don’t see how they did it.”

Another said: “And I hear that every ship was on station within ten minutes of H hour.”

“Yes sir,” said Major Joppolo, whose tongue was becoming pleasantly loose in his head, “I take my hat off to the Navy.” And he raised his glass.

“God’s teeth,” said Lieutenant Commander Robertson, “that’s the first Army man I ever saw that was willing to give the Navy credit.”

“Navy’s the only bunch that can get anything done around here,” the Major said. “Don’t know what I’d do without this fellow Livingston. “

Livingston glowed but said: “I haven’t done anything, Major.

“Don’t hand me that stuff,” the Major said to Livingston. Then he turned to the others. “Listen, every time I try to get anything out of the Army, they tell me to put it in writing. Now Livingston here... “

“That reminds me,” Livingston said. “You said you had something on your mind this morning.”

“Matter of fact, I have. Since you’ve been getting all the results, I thought maybe - “

“Want to go in the other room?” Livingston asked politely but importantly.

“Nothing hush-hush,” the Major said. “Might as well tell you right here.”

And he told about Adano’s seven-hundred-year-old bell. He told how it had been taken away, and about what he had done to try to get another. Two drinks had made his mind relax, and he told his story beautifully.

He made the town’s need for a new bell seem something really important, and he made the bell seem a symbol of freedom in Adano. He made it seem as if the people of Adano would not feel truly free until they heard a bell ringing from the clock tower of the Palazzo. And not just any bell. He described what he thought was needed in the bell: a full, rich tone; no crack of any kind; and a touch of history that would mean something to the Italians.

His story was nicely told and his audience was just right. The Navy has a quick sense of tradition. All the folderol -saluting the quarter deck, the little silver buck to mark who should be served first in the wardroom, still calling the captain’s court of justice going before the mast, the marvelous poetic orders like: “Sweepers, man your brooms: clean sweepdown fore and aft” -these things made Navy men able to grasp the idea of the bell, and be moved by it.

Major Joppolo finished: “And that’s all it was, Liv ingston. I think I want to get this town the right bell more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

Commander Robertson was the first one to speak: “Seems to me we ought to be able to find a bell,” he said.

“Lots of bells in the Navy,” said Robertson’s communications officer.

“It’s got to be just the right bell, though,” Livingston said.

“Yes,” Major Joppolo said, “that’s the important thing. It’s got to be the right bell. I wouldn’t want to give these people anything but just the right bell.”

Commander Robertson stood up and said: “Let me think, seems to me,” and he walked around the room.

Then he said: “I think maybe I can get just the kind of bell you want, Major.”

Major Joppolo said: “Do you really think you can?”

The Commander said: “I think maybe.”

Major Joppolo said: “If you can, I’m going to switch over to the Navy.”

The Commander said: “How would this be, Major? There’s destroyer, she’s named for an Italian-American, the U.S.S. Corelli, you know her, boys. Well, all destroyers have ship’s bells, they have to be loud and clear so that the men can hear them all over the ship, to tell the hours of the watches. I don’t know about you boys, but I think the sound I love better than anything in the world is the sound of the bell aboard the Stevenson. Of course we can’t ring it all the time while a war’s going on, but I don’t know, the sound of that bell means the whole ship to me. I think a ship’s bell could get to be that way for a town.”

Major Joppolo was looking out of the window. He was thinking. “Maybe it could,” he said.

Commander Robertson went on: “There’s a reason why the Corelli’s in on this invasion. You see, the Navy thinks about that kind of thing. There was something about Captain Corelli, the guy it was named for, he did something in the last war over here in the Mediterranean. Italy was our ally then, you know.”

Commander Robertson’s communications officer said: “We were talking about that the other day. Bradshaw seemed to know all about it, what’d he say, Red?”

The officer addressed as Red said: “I didn’t listen very carefully, it was something about going to the assistance of an Italian ship that was being attacked by a U-boat.”

“And was probably running away from itl” the communications officer added. “I guess the Navy had Corelh over here because he was a wop.”

Commander Robertson said: “There’s a good tie-in there, Major.”

Major Joppolo said: “Maybe it’s all right.” Lieutenant Livingston, who didn’t want to miss out on the credit which Major Joppolo had been handing out, said: “Do you think we could get the Corelli to give up her bell? You said you liked your bell so much: would you give it up?”

Commander Robertson said: “For a thing like this, if it was put to me in the right way, I think I would. The good thing is that Toot Dowling, he has the Corelli, he was in my class at the Academy, he used to substitute for me in football. Hell, I’m sure I could persuade him, if I could just find him.”

The communications officer said: “Wait a minute, I think I remember seeing something about the Corelli in that intercept that I decoded last night. Do you remember that, skipper?”

Commander Robertson said: “Yeah, that’s right, she was mentioned. That was all present whereabouts and future movements, wasn’t it? Can you remember what it said?”

The communications officer said: “No sir, I couldn’t possibly remember, there were too many ships in that thing. But I remember the Corelli was mentioned.”

Commander Robertson said to the communications officer: “Farley, would you mind going out to the ship and finding that order. I think we ought to tell the Major here whether there’s any chance of our helping him out. If the liberty boat isn’t at the dock, you can take my gig.”

“Yes sir,” the communications officer said.

While Farley was on his way out to the ship and back, the others talked about new things, but the Major did not enter much into the conversation. He was thinking. He was trying to imagine the sound of the new bell, and he could see the people crowding in the square to hear it for the first time, and he saw himself on the balcony, making a little speech, not too much, just telling them the meaning of the bell and saying that he hoped that they knew now the meaning of freedom...

Farley came back with the order in his hand. “It’s secret, sir, equal to British ‘most secret.”‘

“Okay,” Commander Robertson said, and he began to read the message to himself. “Let’s see, Corelli, Corelli. Here it is.” He smiled.

He looked up. “Major, I think well get you your bell.” Major Joppolo stood up. “Gee,” he said, “I didn’t expect action like this. If you think you could...” Commander Robertson said: “Leave it to me, Major. III get all the details from Livingston here.”

Major Joppolo turned to Livingston: “I don’t know how to thank you,” he said.

Lieutenant Livingston said: “Well, it’s all the Commander’s doing. But I’m glad it’s working out the way you wanted.”

Major Joppolo left quite abruptly.

Commander Robertson said: “If that bugger thinks the Navy is efficient, he’s really going to get a surprise this time. We’ll get him that bell within a week. The Corelli’s putting in day after tomorrow at that port just up the line, I never can pronounce it, begins with a V.”

“Vicinamare,” said Lieutenant Livingston, mispronouncing it.

“That’s the place,” the Commander said. “We’ll have time to run up there while these teapots are unloading here, and maybe we can bring the bell right back with us.”

“Do you really think you can get it?” Lieutenant Livingston said.

“From Toot Dowling?” The Commander laughed. “Hell, he’s a pushover.”