eight o'clock
He liked the barracks although his bunk mattress was n't as soft as Ma 's eiderdown comforts . He liked everything -- until the sergeant had cussed at him this afternoon . Now Jed lay on his bunk and counted the springs on the upper bunk occupied by Private Harry Fisher . It was close to eight o'clock and the barracks were full of scores of young soldiers . A crap game was going on three bunks away and across the aisle ; another country boy was picking at a guitar . The bunk above sagged with the weight of Harry Fisher , who was reading a book . Jed 's mind kept coming back to the cussin ' out he had gotten , just for not knowing the Army insisted on a body wearing shoes no matter what he was doing .