Chapter 29

 Anselmo found Robert Jordan sitting at the plank¹ table inside the cave with Pablo opposite him. They had a bowl poured full of wine between them and each had a cup of wine on the table. Robert Jordan had his notebook out and he was holding a pencil. Pilar and Maria were in the back of the cave out of sight. There was no way for Anselmo to know that the woman was keeping the girl back there to keep her from hearing the conversation and he thought that it was odd that Pilar was not at the table.
 Robert Jordan looked up as Anselmo came in under the blanket that hung over the opening. Pablo stared straight at the table. His eyes were focused on the wine bowl but he was not seeing it.
 "I come from above," Anselmo said to Robert Jordan.
 "Pablo has told us," Robert Jordan said.
 "There were six dead on the hill and they had taken the heads," Anselmo said. "I was there in the dark."
 Robert Jordan nodded. Pablo sat there looking at the wine bowl and saying nothing. There was no expression on his face and his small pig-eyes were looking at the wine bowl as though he had never seen one before.
 "Sit down," Robert Jordan said to Anselmo.
 The old man sat down at the table on one of the hide-covered stools and Robert Jordan reached under the table and brought up the pinch-bottle of whiskey that had been the gift of Sordo. It was about half-full. Robert Jordan reached down the table for a cup and poured a drink of whiskey into it and shoved it along the table to Anselmo.
 "Drink that, old one," he said.
 Pablo looked from the wine bowl to Anselmo's face as he drank and then he looked back at the wine bowl.
 As Anselmo swallowed the whiskey he felt a burning in his nose, his eyes and his mouth, and then a happy, comforting warmth in his stomach. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
 Then he looked at Robert Jordan and said, "Can I have another?"
 "Why not?" Robert Jordan said and poured another drink from the bottle and handed it this time instead of pushing it.
 This time there was not the burning when he swallowed but the warm comfort doubled. It was as good a thing for his spirit as a saline injection is for a man who has suffered a great hemorrhage.
 The old man looked toward the bottle again.
 "The rest is for tomorrow," Robert Jordan said. "What passed on the road, old one?"
 "There was much movement," Anselmo said. "I have it all noted² down as you showed me. I have one watching for me and noting now. Later I will go for her report."
 "Did you see anti-tank guns? Those on rubber tires with the long barrels?"
 "Yes," Anselmo said. "There were four camions which passed on the road. In each of them there was such a gun with pine branches spread across the barrels. In the trucks rode six men with each gun."
 "Four guns, you say?" Robert Jordan asked him.
 "Four," Anselmo said. He did not look at his papers.
 "Tell me what else went up the road."
 While Robert Jordan noted Anselmo told him everything he had seen move past him on the road. He told it from the beginning and in order with the wonderful memory of those who cannot read or write, and twice, while he was talking, Pablo reached out for more wine from the bowl.
 "There was also the cavalry³ which entered La Granja from the high country where El Sordo fought," Anselmo went on.
 Then he told the number of the wounded he had seen and the number of the dead across the saddles.
 "There was a bundle packed across one saddle that I did not understand," he said. "But now I know it was the heads." He went on without pausing. "It was a squadron of cavalry. They had only one officer left. He was not the one who was here in the early morning when you were by the gun. He must have been one of the dead. Two of the dead were officers by their sleeves. They were lashed⁴ face down over the saddles, their arms hanging. Also they had the _m嫭uina_ of El Sordo tied to the saddle that bore the heads. The barrel was bent⁵. That is all," he finished.
 "It is enough," Robert Jordan said and dipped his cup into the wine bowl. "Who beside you has been through the lines to the side of the Republic?"
 "Andr廥 and Eladio."
 "Which is the better of those two?"
 "Andr廥."
 "How long would it take him to get to Navacerrada from here?"
 "Carrying no pack and taking his precautions, in three hours with luck. We came by a longer, safer route because of the material."
 "He can surely make it?"
 "No s? there is no such thing as surely."
 "Not for thee either?"
 "Nay."
 That decides that, Robert Jordan thought to himself. If he had said that he could make it surely, surely I would have sent him.
 "Andr廥 can get there as well as thee?"
 "As well or better. He is younger."
 "But this must absolutely get there."
 "If nothing happens he will get there. If anything happens it could happen to any one."
 "I will write a dispatch and send it by him," Robert Jordan said. "I will explain to him where he can find the General. He will be at the Estado Mayor of the Division."
 "He will not understand all this of divisions and all," Anselmo said. "Always has it confused me. He should have the name of the General and where he can be found."
 "But it is at the Estado Mayor of the Division that he will be found."
 "But is that not a place?"
 "Certainly it is a place, old one," Robert Jordan explained patiently. "But it is a place the General will have selected. It is where he will make his headquarters for the battle."
 "Where is it then?" Anselmo was tired and the tiredness was making him stupid. Also words like Brigades, Divisions, Army Corps⁶ confused him. First there had been columns, then there were regiments⁷, then there were brigades. Now there were brigades and divisions, both. He did not understand. A place was a place.
 "Take it slowly, old one," Robert Jordan said. He knew that if he could not make Anselmo understand he could never explain it clearly to Andr廥 either. "The Estado Mayor of the Division is a place the General will have picked to set up his organization to command. He commands a division, which is two brigades. I do not know where it is because I was not there when it was picked. It will probably be a cave or dugout, a refuge, and wires will run to it. Andr廥 must ask for the General and for the Estado Mayor of the Division. He must give this to the General or to the Chief of his Estado Mayor or to another whose name I will write. One of them will surely be there even if the others are out inspecting the preparations for the attack. Do you understand now?"
 "Yes."
 "Then get Andr廥 and I will write it now and seal it with this seal." He showed him the small, round, wooden-backed rubber stamp with the seal of the S. I. M. and the round, tin-covered inking pad no bigger than a fifty-cent piece he carried in his pocket. "That seal they will honor. Get Andr廥 now and I will explain to him. He must go quickly but first he must understand."
 "He will understand if I do. But you must make it very clear. This of staffs and divisions is a mystery to me. Always have I gone to such things as definite places such as a house. In Navacerrada it is in the old hotel where the place of command is. In Guadarrama it is in a house with a garden."
 "With this General," Robert Jordan said, "it will be some place very close to the lines. It will be underground to protect from the planes. Andr廥 will find it easily by asking, if he knows what to ask for. He will only need to show what I have written. But fetch him now for this should get there quickly."
 Anselmo went out, ducking under the hanging blanket. Robert Jordan commenced writing in his notebook.
 "Listen, _Ingl廥_," Pablo said, still looking at the wine bowl.
 "I am writing," Robert Jordan said without looking up.
 "Listen, _Ingl廥_," Pablo spoke⁸ directly to the wine bowl. "There is no need to be disheartened in this. Without Sordo we have plenty of people to take the posts and blow thy bridge."
 "Good," Robert Jordan said without stopping writing.
 "Plenty," Pablo said. "I have admired thy judgment⁹ much today, _Ingl廥_," Pablo told the wine bowl. "I think thou hast much _picardia_. That thou art smarter than I am. I have confidence in thee."
 Concentrating on his report to Golz, trying to put it in the fewest words and still make it absolutely convincing, trying to put it so the attack would be cancelled, absolutely, yet convince them he wasn't trying to have it called off because of any fears he might have about the danger of his own mission, but wished only to put them in possession of all the facts, Robert Jordan was hardly half listening.
 "_Ingl廥_," Pablo said.
 "I am writing," Robert Jordan told him without looking up.
 I probably should send two copies, he thought. But if I do we will not have enough people to blow it if I have to blow it. What do I know about why this attack is made? Maybe it is only a holding attack. Maybe they want to draw those troops from somewhere else. Perhaps they make it to draw those planes from the North. Maybe that is what it is about. Perhaps it is not expected to succeed. What do I know about it? This is my report to Golz. I do not blow the bridge until the attack starts. My orders are clear and if the attack is called off I blow nothing. But I've got to keep enough people here for the bare minimum necessary to carry the orders out.
 "What did you say?" he asked Pablo.
 "That I have confidence, _Ingl廥_." Pablo was still addressing the wine bowl.
 Man, I wish I had, Robert Jordan thought. He went on writing.

　　安塞尔莫发现罗伯特　乔丹在山洞里和巴勃罗面对面坐在板桌旁。他们斟满了一缸酒，放在中间，各自面前放着　杯滴。罗伯特　乔丹拿出了笔记本，握着一枝铅笔。比拉尔和玛丽亚在山洞后部，安塞尔莫看不见她们。他没法知道那女人让玛丽亚待在后边是为了不让她听到谈话。他觉得比拉尔不在桌边倒是怪事。
安塞尔莫从挂在洞口的毯子外钻进来的时候，罗伯特‘乔丹抬头望了一跟。巴勃罗直瞪着臬子。他的眼光集中在酒缸上,但是视而不见。

　　“我从山上来，”安塞尔莫对罗伯特，乔丹说。“巴勃罗告诉我们了，”罗伯特，乔丹说，“山上有六个死人,敌人把脑袋都砍掉了。”安塞尔莫说。”我摸黑到那儿去过，“

　　罗伯特“乔丹点点头。巴勃罗坐在那儿望着酒缸，一句话也没有。他脸上毫无表情,猪样的小眼睛望着酒缸,仿佛他以前从没看到过似的。

　　“坐下吧。”罗伯特　乔丹对安塞尔莫说。老头儿在桌边一只兼着生皮的凳子上坐下，罗伯特　乔丹伸手到桌子下面取出“聋子”送的那瓶威士忌。瓶里约摸有半瓶酒。罗伯特　奍丹伸手在臬上傘了一只杯于,斟了些威士忌，把它放在桌上，推向安塞尔莫。“喝了吧，老头子，”他说。

　　安塞尔莫喝酒的时候，巴勃罗的目光从酒缸上移到他脸上,接着又回过来望着酒缸。

　　安塞尔莫喝下威士忌，感到鼻子、眼睛和嘴里都火辣辣的,接着胃里也觉得畅快、舒适而暖和了。他用手背抹抹嘴。他然后望着罗伯特，乔丹说。”我可以再来一杯吗?”“千吗不可以？”罗伯特‘乔丹说着又从瓶里斟了一杯，这次是递过去,不是推给他。

　　这次喝下去没有火辣辣的感觉了,伹加倍的暖和而舒适。他精神一振，就象“个大出血的人给注射了一次盐水针。老头儿又朝酒瓶望望。

　　“剩下的明天喝了。”罗伯特‘乔丹说公路上有什么情况,老头子?”

　　“情况不少，”安塞尔莫说-“我照你的吩咐，都记下了。我找了一个人现在在替我守望、做记录。过后我去向她要情
报。

　　〃你见到反坦克炮吗？有榇皮轮胎和长炮筒的家伙?，“见到，”安塞尔莫说。“路上开过四辆卡车。每辆上有一门这种炮，上面的炮简由松枝遮着。卡车上每门炮有六个人。”“你说有四门炮?”罗伯特　乔丹问他。　四门。”安塞尔莫说。他没看记录。〃跟我谈谈路上还有什么情况？

　　安塞尔莫把他所看到的公路上的调动情况全吿诉罗伯特　乔丹，罗伯特　乔丹作着记录。他以不识字不会写的人所特有的那种惊人的记忆力从头说起，讲得井井有条。他讲的时候,巴勃罗两次伸手从缸里添酒，

　　“还有‘队到拉格兰哈去的骑兵，他们是从‘聋子’作战的髙地上来的。”安塞尔莫继续说。

　　他接着讲了他见到的受伤的人数和架在马鞍上的死者的人数。

　　“有一捆叫我弄不懂的东西横架在一个马鞍上。”他说，“现在我知道了，是脑袋。”他不停地接着说。”那是一个骑兵中队。他们只剩了一个军官。他不是今天—早你守在机枪边见到的那个。死掉的人里面准有他。从袖章上看来，死掉的有两个是军官。他们被捆在马鞍上，脸面朝下，手臂下垂着。敌人还把‘聋子’的自动步枪系在耿脑袋的马鞍上。枪筒弯了。就是这些。”他最后说。

　　〃够了，”罗伯特“乔丹说，用杯子在酒缸里舀酒。“除了你之外，越过火线到共和国那边去过的还有谁。"安德烈斯和埃拉迪奥。”

　　“这两个人,嘟个好些?”“安德烈斯。”

　　“他从这儿到纳瓦塞拉达去，要多少时间？”“不背包裹，小心留神，运气好，要三个小时。因为带着情报，我们挑一条路线比较长、比较安全的路走。”“他准能到达目的地吗，“”“不知道，哪有什么说得准的事情1”“你也没准?’"是啊。”

　　就这样决定吧，罗伯特，乔丹心想。如果他说准能到达目的地，我当然会派他去。

　　“安德烈斯能象你一样到那儿。”“跟我一样，或许更有把握。他年青。”“可是情报非送到那儿不可。“

　　“要是不出事故，他能到得了那儿。出了事故，谁也没办
1，“。

　　“我写份急件派他送去,罗伯特，乔丹说。”我来跟他讲,到什么地方去找将军。他在师参谋部。”

　　“师明什么的，他是弄不明白的，”安塞尔莫说。”这种事情老是弄得我也稀里糊涂。得告诉他将军叫什么名字，在什么地方能找到他。”

　　“可正是在师参谋部能找到他呀。”“师参谋部可是个地方？”

　　“当然是个地方，老头子，”罗伯特，乔丹细心地解释。“不过这是由将军自己挑选的地方。他把作战司令部设在那儿。”〃那么这个地方在哪儿呢?”安塞尔莫感到疲乏，疲乏使他脑筋迟钝，“。而且，象旅呀、师呀、军呀这种字眼，也叫他摸不着头脑。起先只有纵队，后来有团了，后来有旅了。现在是既有旅又有师了。他弄不懂。地方就是地方嘛。

　　“慢慢地来，老头子，”罗伯特　乔丹说。他知道，如果他没法使安塞尔莫明白，也就根本没法向安德烈斯交待清楚。‘师参谋部是由将军挑选来作为指挥所的地方。他指挥一个师；一个师等于两个旅。我不知道那地方在哪几，因为选择地点的时候我不在场。很可能是个山洞,或者地下掩蔽部，有电话线通到那儿。安德烈斯得去打听将军和师参谋部在什么地方。他得把这份情报交给将军或者师参谋长,或者交给另外一个人，他的名字我会写在上面的。即使他们外出视察进攻的准备工作了，肯定有一个人留守在那儿。你现在明白，“？”“明白了。”

　　“那么去叫安德烈斯来吧。我马上就写,用这个公章封印。”他从口袋里掏出一个圆形的木柄小橡皮图章给他看，上面有三个字母，还有一个不比五角硬币大多少的铁壳圆形小印台。“这个公章他们一定会重视的。现在去叫安镩烈斯来，让我跟他交待。他得马上就走，但荽先弄慊。”

　　“我僅他也会懂。可你非交待得清清楚楚不可。参谋部啦,师啦，这些名堂，我是莫名其妙的。我去的地方总是象房子之类有确切地点的。纳瓦塞拉达的指挥所是在一家老客栈里。瓜达拉马的指挥所是一幢带花园的房子。”

　　“这个将军的指挥所，”罗伯特‘乔丹说。”该在靠火线很近的某处地方。为了防飞机，会是设在地下的。安德烈斯知道了要打听什么，一问就找得到。他只要拿出我写的东西就行了。现在去叫他来，因为马上要送去。”

　　安塞尔莫低头从挂着的毯子下面钻出去了。罗伯特　乔丹开始在他的笔记本上写着。

　　“听着，英国人，”巴勃罗说,仍然耵着那只酒缸，“我在写哪。”罗伯特，乔丹说，没有抬头。“听着，英国人，”巴勃罗直接朝着酒缸说。"这件事你不用灰心丧气　没有了‘聋子、我们还有很多人，能攻下哨所，把你的桥炸掉。”

　　“好，”罗伯特，乔丹一边说,一边不停地写。“很多人，”巴勃罗说。“今天我很佩服你的果断，英国人，”巴勃罗对宥酒缸说。“我看你很有两下子，你比我机灵。我信得过你。”

　　罗伯特。乔丹正在集中注意力给戈尔兹写报告，试图用最简洁的字句，但仍要写得完全令人信脤，要写得使对方把这次进攻完全取消，但又要使他们相信，他之所以主张取消这次进攻，并非由于害怕在执行他自己的使命时可能遇到危险，而只是希望他们了解所有的情况。巴勃穸的活，他几乎一句也没有听清，

　　“英国人。”巴勃罗说。

　　“我在写哪。”罗伯特‘乔丹对他说，没有抬头，他想,也许我应该分送两份。然而要这祥做，又必须炸桥的话,我们炸桥的人就不够了。关于发动这次进攻的原因，我知道些什么呢？也许这只是一次牵制性攻势。也许他们是想吸引其他地方的军队。也许他们这么干是为了吸引北方的飞机。也许就是为了这个吧　他们也许并不指望这次进攻获得成功。我知道些什么呢？这是我给戈尔兹的拫告。我要等到进攻开始才炸桥。我接到的命令是清楚的。要是取消这次进攻，我就什么也不炸。伹是我必须在这儿保持万一必须执行那个命令时所需要的人手。

　　〃你说什么?”他问巴勃罗，

　　“我有信心了，英国人。”巴勃罗仍然对着酒缸说。“

　　伙计啊，罗伯特　乔丹想，但愿我有儐心啊，他继续写着，

1 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

4 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 regiments   

（军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物

参考例句：

• The three regiments are all under the command of you. 这三个团全归你节制。
• The town was garrisoned with two regiments. 该镇有两团士兵驻守。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。