In the storm there was an ironical expression of their importance.

The faces of the men, too, showed a lack of a certain feeling of responsibility for being there.

It was as if they had been driven.

It was the dominant animal failing to remember in the supreme moments the forceful causes of various superficial qualities.
The whole affair seemed incomprehensible to many of them.
As they halted thus the lieutenant again began to bellow profanely.
Regardless of the vindictive threats of the bullets, he went about coaxing, berating, and bedamning.

His lips, that were habitually in a soft and childlike curve, were now writhed into unholy contortions.