How would you interpret the word ‘splashing’ in the context? How would you interpret the word ‘splashing’ in the sentence ‘There was a great splashing..’? Does it mean the splashing of water made by troops crossing the river, because in the previous chapter the protagonist said the troops would cross the river to occupy some place on the enemy’s side? Or does it mean the splashing of fire or something in the sky made by the star-shells? I think the first interpretation makes more sense. What do you think? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Chapter 9).the context: Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuhchuh-chuh—then there was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on in a rushing wind. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself, and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back. The ground was torn up and in front of my head there was a splintered beam of wood. In the jolt of my head I heard somebody crying. I thought somebody was screaming. I tried to move but I could not move. I heard the machine-guns and rifles firing across the river and all along the river.There was a great splashing and I saw the star-shells go up and burst and float whitely and rockets going up and heard the bombs, all this in a moment, and then I heard close to me some one saying "Mama Mia! Oh, mama Mia!"