So now everything had been done that there was to do that night. All orders had been given. Every one knew exactly what he was to do in the morning. Andr廥 had been gone three hours. Either it would come now with the coming of the daylight or it would not come. I believe that it will come, Robert Jordan told himself, walking back down from the upper post where he had gone to speak to Primitivo.
Golz makes the attack but he has not the power to cancel it. Permission to cancel it will have to come from Madrid. The chances are they won't be able to wake anybody up there and if they do wake up they will be too sleepy to think. I should have gotten word to Golz sooner of the preparations they have made to meet the attack, but how could I send word about something until it happened? They did not move up that stuff until just at dark. They did not want to have any movement on the road spotted1 by planes. But what about all their planes? What about those fascist2 planes?
Surely our people must have been warned by them. But perhaps the fascists3 were faking for another offensive down through Guadalajara with them. There were supposed to be Italian troops concentrated in Soria, and at Siguenza again besides those operating in the North. They haven't enough troops or material to run two major offensives at the same time though. That is impossible; so it must be just a bluff4.
But we know how many troops the Italians have landed all last month and the month before at C墂iz. It is always possible they will try again at Guadalajara, not stupidly as before, but with three main fingers coming down to broaden it out and carry it along the railway to the west of the plateau. There was a way that they could do it all right. Hans had shown him. They made many mistakes the first time. The whole conception was unsound. They had not used any of the same troops in the Arganda offensive against the Madrid-Valencia road that they used at Guadalajara. Why had they not made those same drives simultaneously5? Why? Why? When would we know why?
Yet we had stopped them both times with the very same troops. We never could have stopped them if they had pulled both drives at once. Don't worry, he told himself. Look at the miracles that have happened before this. Either you will have to blow that bridge in the morning or you will not have to. But do not start deceiving yourself into thinking you won't have to blow it. You will blow it one day or you will blow it another. Or if it is not this bridge it will be some other bridge. It is not you who decides what shall be done. You follow orders. Follow them and do not try to think beyond them.
The orders on this are very clear. Too very clear. But you must not worry nor must you be frightened. For if you allow yourself the luxury of normal fear that fear will infect those who must work with you.
But that heads business was quite a thing all the same, he told himself. And the old man running onto them on the hilltop alone. How would you have liked to run onto them like that? That impressed you, didn't it? Yes, that impressed you, Jordan. You have been quite impressed more than once today. But you have behaved O.K. So far you have behaved all right.
You do very well for an instructor6 in Spanish at the University of Montana, he joked at himself. You do all right for that. But do not start to thinking that you are anything very special. You haven't gotten very far in this business. Just remember Dur嫕, who never had any military training and who was a composer and lad about town before the movement and is now a damned good general commanding a brigade. It was all as simple and easy to learn and understand to Dur嫕 as chess to a child chess prodigy7. You had read on and studied the art of war ever since you were a boy and your grandfather had started you on the American Civil War. Except that Grandfather always called it the War of the Rebellion. But compared with Dur嫕 you were like a good sound chess player against a boy prodigy. Old Dur嫕. It would be good to see Dur嫕 again. He would see him at Gaylord's after this was over. Yes. After this was over. See how well he was behaving?
I'll see him at Gaylord's, he said to himself again, after this is over. Don't kid yourself, he said. You do it all perfectly8 O.K. Cold. Without kidding yourself. You aren't going to see Dur嫕 any more and it is of no importance. Don't be that way either, he told himself. Don't go in for any of those luxuries.
Nor for heroic resignation either. We do not want any citizens full of heroic resignation in these hills. Your grandfather fought four years in our Civil War and you are just finishing your first year in this war. You have a long time to go yet and you are very well fitted for the work. And now you have Maria, too. Why, you've got everything. You shouldn't worry. What is a little brush between a guerilla band and a squadron of cavalry9? That isn't anything. What if they took the heads? Does that make any difference? None at all.
The Indians always took the scalps when Grandfather was at Fort Kearny after the war. Do you remember the cabinet in your father's office with the arrowheads spread out on a shelf, and the eagle feathers of the war bonnets10 that hung on the wall, their plumes11 slanting12, the smoked buckskin smell of the leggings and the shirts and the feel of the beaded moccasins? Do you remember the great stave of the buffalo14 bow that leaned in a corner of the cabinet and the two quivers of hunting and war arrows, and how the bundle of shafts15 felt when you closed your hand around them?
Remember something like that. Remember something concrete and practical. Remember Grandfather's saber, bright and well oiled in its dented16 scabbard and Grandfather showed you how the blade had been thinned from the many times it had been to the grinder's. Remember Grandfather's Smith and Wesson. It was a single action, officer's model .32 caliber17 and there was no trigger guard. It had the softest, sweetest trigger pull you had ever felt and it was always well oiled and the bore was clean although the finish was all worn off and the brown metal of the barrel and the cylinder18 was worn smooth from the leather of the holster. It was kept in the holster with a U.S. on the flap in a drawer in the cabinet with its cleaning equipment and two hundred rounds of cartridges19. Their cardboard boxes were wrapped and tied neatly20 with waxed twine21.
You could take the pistol out of the drawer and hold it. "Handle it freely," was Grandfather's expression. But you could not play with it because it was "a serious weapon."
You asked Grandfather once if he had ever killed any one with it and he said, "Yes."
Then you said, "When, Grandfather?" and he said, "In the War of the Rebellion and afterwards."
You said, "Will you tell me about it, Grandfather?"
And he said, "I do not care to speak about it, Robert."
Then after your father had shot himself with this pistol, and you had come home from school and they'd had the funeral, the coroner had returned it after the inquest saying, "Bob, I guess you might want to keep the gun. I'm supposed to hold it, but I know your dad set a lot of store by it because his dad packed it all through the War, besides out here when he first came out with the Cavalry, and it's still a hell of a good gun. I had her out trying her this afternoon. She don't throw much of a slug but you can hit things with her."
He had put the gun back in the drawer in the cabinet where it belonged, but the next day he took it out and he had ridden up to the top of the high country above Red Lodge22, with Chub, where they had built the road to Cooke City now over the pass and across the Bear Tooth plateau, and up there where the wind was thin and there was snow all summer on the hills they had stopped by the lake which was supposed to be eight hundred feet deep and was a deep green color, and Chub held the two horses and he climbed out on a rock and leaned over and saw his face in the still water, and saw himself holding the gun, and then he dropped it, holding it by the muzzle23, and saw it go down making bubbles until it was just as big as a watch charm in that clear water, and then it was out of sight. Then he came back off the rock and when he swung up into the saddle he gave old Bess such a clout24 with the spurs she started to buck13 like an old rocking horse. He bucked25 her out along the shore Qf the lake and as soon as she was reasonable they went on back along the trail.
"I know why you did that with the old gun, Bob," Chub said.
"Well, then we don't have to talk about it," he had said.
They never talked about it and that was the end of Grandfather's side arms except for the saber. He still had the saber in his trunk with the rest of his things at Missoula.
I wonder what Grandfather would think of this situation, he thought. Grandfather was a hell of a good soldier, everybody said. They said if he had been with Custer that day he never would have let him be sucked in that way. How could he ever not have seen the smoke nor the dust of all those lodges26 down there in the draw along the Little Big Horn unless there must have been a heavy morning mist? But there wasn't any mist.
I wish Grandfather were here instead of me. Well, maybe we will all be together by tomorrow night. If there should be any such damn fool business as a hereafter, and I'm sure there isn't, he thought, I would certainly like to talk to him. Because there are a lot of things I would like to know. I have a right to ask him now because I have had to do the same sort of things myself. I don't think he'd mind my asking now. I had no right to ask before. I understand him not telling me because he didn't know me. But now I think that we would get along all right. I'd like to be able to talk to him now and get his advice. Hell, if I didn't get advice I'd just like to talk to him. It's a shame there is such a jump in time between ones like us.
Then, as he thought, he realized that if there was any such thing as ever meeting, both he and his grandfather would be acutely embarrassed by the presence of his father. Any one has a right to do it, he thought. But it isn't a good thing to do. I understand it, but I do not approve of it. _Lache_ was the word. But you _do_ understand it? Sure, I understand it but. Yes, but. You have to be awfully27 occupied with yourself to do a thing like that.
Aw hell, I wish Grandfather was here, he thought. For about an hour anyway. Maybe he sent me what little I have through that other one that misused28 the gun. Maybe that is the only communication that we have. But, damn it. Truly damn it, but I wish the time-lag wasn't so long so that I could have learned from him what the other one never had to teach me. But suppose the fear he had to go through and dominate and just get rid of finally in four years of that and then in the Indian fighting, although in that, mostly, there couldn't have been so much fear, had made a _cobarde_ out of the other one the way second generation bullfighters almost always are? Suppose that? And maybe the good juice only came through straight again after passing through that one?
I'll never forget how sick it made me the first time I knew he was a _cobarde_. Go on, say it in English. Coward. It's easier when you have it said and there is never any point in referring to a son of a bitch by some foreign term. He wasn't any son of a bitch, though. He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any man could have. Because if he wasn't a coward he would have stood up to that woman and not let her bully29 him. I wonder what I would have been like if he had married a different woman? That's something you'll never know, he thought, and grinned. Maybe the bully in her helped to supply what was missing in the other. And you. Take it a little easy. Don't get to referring to the good juice and such other things until you are through tomorrow. Don't be snotty too soon. And then don't be snotty at all. We'll see what sort of juice you have tomorrow.
But he started thinking about Grandfather again.
"George Custer was not an intelligent leader of cavalry, Robert," his grandfather had said. "He was not even an intelligent man."
He remembered that when his grandfather said that he felt resentment30 that any one should speak against that figure in the buckskin shirt, the yellow curls blowing, that stood on that hill holding a service revolver as the Sioux closed in around him in the old Anheuser-Busch lithograph31 that hung on the poolroom wall in Red Lodge.
"He just had great ability to get himself in and out of trouble," his grandfather went on, "and on the Little Big Horn he got into it but he couldn't get out.
"Now Phil Sheridan was an intelligent man and so was Jeb Stuart. But John Mosby was the finest cavalry leader that ever lived."
He had a letter in his things in the trunk at Missoula from General Phil Sheridan to old Killy-the-Horse Kilpatrick that said his grandfather was a finer leader of irregular cavalry than John Mosby.
I ought to tell Golz about my grandfather, he thought. He wouldn't ever have heard of him though. He probably never even heard of John Mosby. The British all had heard of them though because they had to study our Civil War much more than people did on the Continent. Karkov said after this was over I could go to the Lenin Institute in Moscow if I wanted to. He said I could go to the military academy of the Red Army if I wanted to do that. I wonder what Grandfather would think of that? Grandfather, who never knowingly sat at table with a Democrat32 in his life.
Well, I don't want to be a soldier, he thought. I know that. So that's out. I just want us to win this war. I guess really good soldiers are really good at very little else, he thought. That's obviously untrue. Look at Napoleon and Wellington. You're very stupid this evening, he thought.
Usually his mind was very good company and tonight it had been when he thought about his grandfather. Then thinking of his father had thrown him off. He understood his father and he forgave him everything and he pitied him but he was ashamed of him.
You better not think at all, he told himself. Soon you will be with Maria and you won't have to think. That's the best way now that everything is worked out. When you have been concentrating so hard on something you can't stop and your brain gets to racing33 like a flywheel with the weight gone. You better just not think.
But just suppose, he thought. Just suppose that when the planes unload they smash those anti-tank guns and just blow hell out of the positions and the old tanks roll good up whatever hill it is for once and old Golz boots that bunch of drunks, _clochards_, bums34, fanatics35 and heroes that make up the Quatorzieme Brigade ahead of him, and I _know_ how good Dur嫕's people are in Golz's other brigade, and we are in Segovia tomorrow night.
Yes. Just suppose, he said to himself. I'll settle for La Granja, he told himself. But you are going to have to blow that bridge, he suddenly knew absolutely. There won't be any calling off. Because the way you have just been supposing there for a minute is how the possibilities of that attack look to those who have ordered it. Yes, you will have to blow the bridge, he knew truly. Whatever happens to Andr廥 doesn't matter.
Coming down the trail there in the dark, alone with the good feeling that everything that had to be done was over for the next four hours, and with the confidence that had come from thinking back to concrete things, the knowledge that he would surely have to blow the bridge came to him almost with comfort.
The uncertainty36, the enlargement of the feeling of being uncertain, as when, through a misunderstanding of possible dates, one does not know whether the guests are really coming to a party, that had been with him ever since he had dispatched Andr廥 with the report to Golz, had all dropped from him now. He was sure now that the festival would not be cancelled. It's much better to be sure, he thought. It's always much better to be sure.
那天晚上该做的事情这时都落实了。命令全部下达了。人人都知道了自己在早晨的确切任务。安德烈斯巳走了三个小时。天亮时不发动进攻的话，就不会发动，“。罗伯特‘乔丹到上面的岗哨跟普里米蒂伏说话之后，在回来的路上对自己说。”我相倌会发动的。”
戈尔兹部署了这次进攻，但他无权撤消。要撖消必须得到马德里的批准。他们很可能没法叫醖那儿的人，即使叫得醒，那些人也会充满着睡意，不会认真考虑。我应该把敌人为了对付进攻所作的准备的情况及早拫告戈尔兹，但是事情还没有发生,我怎能事先就打报告呢？天一断黑敌人才调动那些武器。他们不希望公路上的活动被我们的飞机发现。但是他们的那些飞机又怎么说呢？法西斯分子的这些飞机又怎么说呢？
当然啦，我们的人一定看到了这些飞机而引起了蓍惕。可是，法西斯分子也许想用这些飞机来假装将向瓜达拉哈拉发动另一次进攻，据说意大利军队在索里亚集结，除了那些在北方活动的之外,又在西昆萨集结①。然而他们没有足够的军队和物资同时发动两次大进攻。那是不可能的，所以肯定不过是虚张声势。
但是我们都知道，上个月和前一个月在加的斯②登陆的意大利军队有多少。他们想再进攻瓜达拉哈拉的可能性是始终存在的，当然不会象上一次那么愚蠢，而会用三股主力军朝南直插,然后扩大突玻点，沿着铁路线向高原西部进军。他们有一个可以采用的好办法。汉斯跟他讲过。上一次他们犯了很多错误。那整个设想就不对头。他们进攻阿甘迖企图切断马德里和瓦伦西亚之间的公路时③，没有动用他们进攻瓜达拉哈拉时用的任何部队。他们当时为什么不双管齐下？为什么？为什么？我们什么时侯才能知道为什么？
然而我们两次都用同样的那些部队挡住了他们。要是他们双管齐下，我们就绝对挡不住他们。他对自己说,别愁。想想以前出现过的奇迹吧。你要就必须在早上炸桥,要就不需要炸。但是别欺骗自己，以为可以不必炸桥。反正总有一天要炸。不是这座桥，就是另一座。决定要干些什么,由不得你。你服从命令。按照命令办事，不用想别的。
炸桥的命令很明确。太明确了。可是你不能愁，也不能怕 害怕固然是正常的，可是如果你听任自己害怕，这种害怕的心情就会感染那些必须跟你一起工作的人。
①这一年三月，叛军躭是从西昆萨朝西南进攻瓜达拉哈拉的，目的在攻占该城，进而从东北方向威胁马德里，结果在瓜达拉哈拉东北的布里乌埃加遭到了大敗。
②加的斯为西班牙南端滨大西洋的大海港，内战一开始即陷入叛军之手，成为从西厲庠洛哥及德意法西斯输送武装人员及军用物资的补给港。阿甘达在马德里东南，在通往瓦伦西亚的公路干线上。
他对自己说，可是砍头那件事还是叫人觖目惊心明。老头儿独自在山顶上发现了那些？“体，要是你象那样发现它们,会有什么感觉？这件事震动了你，不是吗？是哬，震动了你，乔丹。今天使你受到震动的事可不止一件，可是你的表现还可以。到目前为止，你的表现还不错。
他揶揄自己说 作为蒙大拿大学的西班牙语讲师,你干得满不锥舸。已经不容易了。但是别以为自己是什么特殊人物。在这方面,你还没有做出多大的成绩。想想杜兰吧，他从役受过军事训练，是个作曲家，革命前经常出没于交际场所，现在却成了个了不起的军官,指挥一个旅。对杜兰来说，这一切是那么简单容易，就象一个象棋神童学下象棋一样。你从小就看战略战术的书籍’有些研究，你祖父给你讲美国南北战争，启发，“你的兴趣，不过祖父把南北战争说成是叛乱。但是你和杜兰相比，就象一个稳健的好棋手和一个神童对局。老杜兰啊。再见见杜兰倒不错。等这终行动之后，他将在乐爵饭店见到杜兰。对，等这次行动结束之后，看看他的表现有多好？
他又对自己说。”等这次行动之后，我将在乐爵饭店见到他。他说,别哄碥自己啦。你千得完全对头。要冷静。别哄骟自己。你不会再见到牡兰了，伹那也无关紫要。也别想这种亊了,他对自已说。别想这种不切实际的事情啦。
也不要英雄般的克己。在这一带山区，我们不需要任何英雄般的克已的公民。你祖父在我国的内战中打了四年仗，你在这次战争中才剐打满，“一年。你还有一段漫长的时间，你十分适合做这项工作。再说，你现在还有了玛丽亚。嗅,你什么都不缺啦，你不该发愁。一支游击队和一队骑兵之间的一场小小遭遇战，算得了什么？这算不了什么 他们砍了头又怎样呢？那有什么关系？不必大惊小怪。
祖父内战后在卡尼堡的时候，印第安人经常剥人头皮。你父亲办公室里有一个柜子,柜架上摊满了箭头,挂在埔上的军權上斜插着苍鹰羽翎,皮绑腿和衬衣上有一股熏制的鹿皮的味儿，有珠子装饰的鹿皮鞋摸上去十分柔软，这一切你还记得吗?靠在柜子角落里的野牛骨制的大弓，两个箭筒中装满了打猎和打仗用的箭，你用手紧紧地握住那一把箭杆时的感觉,这一切你还记得吗？
要想想这些事情。要想想具体而实际的东西。要想想祖父的马刀，亮晃晃的，擦遍了油，插在有齿纹的刀鞘里,袓父给你看经过多次打磨巳经变薄的刀刃。要想想祖父的史密斯-韦森手枪，那是一支 32口径、没有扳机护围的军官用的单发枪。枪上的扳机是你觖摸到的最轻巧最顺手的，手枪总是擦遍了油,枪膛干干净净，虽然枪身上的装饰花纹全磨损了’褐色的钢枪筒和转轮被皮枪套磨得滑溜溜的。这支枪插在盖口上烙有字样的枪套里，跟擦枪工具和两百发子弹一起放在柜子的抽屉里。放子弹的纸板盒用蜡线扎得整整齐齐。
你可以从抽屉里把手枪拿出来，握在手里，“随意摸弄“，这是袓父的说法。但是你不能拿它耍着玩，因为这是一支“不能闹着玩的枪”。
你有一次问袓父，他是否用这支枪杀过人，他说，“杀过。”于是你说。”什么时候，爷爷?”他说，“叛乱战争期间，和战“
你说,“你跟我讲讲好吗,爷爷？”他说,“我不想谈它，罗伯特，“
后来，你父亲用这支手枪自杀了，你从学校请俱回家，他们举行了葬礼。法医验？“后发还了手枪,他说，“鲍勃①，我看你很想保存这支枪吧。本来是应该没收的，但我知道你爸爸很看重这支枪，因为他的爸爸第一次随骑兵出征就用它，整个内战期间一直随身带着，现在这支枪仍然好得很。我今天下午把它拿到外面试了试。它打得不快，伹有准头。”
他把枪放在原来的柜子抽屉里，伹是第二天他把它傘出来，和査布两人骑马直赶到红棚厘城北面的高地上，如今那儿筑，“一条穿过山口、横跨熊齿髙原、通往库克城的公路②。那里不大有风,整个夏天山上也有积雪。他们来到一个湖边,据说这湖有八百英尺深，湖水是深绿色的。查布牵着两匹马，他呢，爬上一块岩石，採出身子，在那静静的水面看到了自己的脸，看到了自已握着枪的身形，接着握住了枪口把枪扔下去，看它在清澈的水里冒着气泡，直沉到变成表链上的小饰物那么大小，然后消失了踪迹。他接着从岩石上下来，跳上马鞍，用马刺狠剌了一下老贝斯，使它象只摇木马般弹眺起来。他策马沿湖狂奔,等它恢复了正常,他们才沿着山路返回。
“我知道你为什么这样处理这支旧枪，鲍勃，”查布说。“这样，往后我们就不用再谈它啦，”他说。他们就此再也没谈过这支枪，那就是袓父的除了马刀之外的腰佩武器的结局。他把那把马刀和他自己的其他物品仍然放在米苏拉的箱子里。
①鲍勃为罗伯特的爱称。
②红棚屋城在兼大拿州南部，该公路一直朝西甫，通过州界上的熊齿山口？往西通到美国风景坯黄石公园东北角的库克城。
他想,我不知道祖父会怎样看待这眼前的情况。人人都说袓父是个了不起的军人。他们说，要是那天他跟卡斯特在一起，决不会让卡斯特陷入包围的。他怎能没看见小巨角河边洼地上那些印第安人棚屋的炊烟和尘土呢?除非那天早晨有浓霧，可是实际上并没有。①
但愿在这儿的是我祖父,而不是我。噢，也许明天晚上我们又都可以在一起了。如果真有所谓“来世”这种鬼玩意儿一他想，这肯定是没有的一我当然想跟他谈谈，因为有很多事情我想弄弄清楚。我现在有权问他了，因为我自己也必须做同样的事了。看来他现在不会计较我发问了。我从前没有权利问他。他不肯告诉我是可以理解的，因为他不了解我。然而现在我想，我们该谈得拢了。我希望现在能和他谈谈,听听他的意见。妈的，即使不想征求他的意见，我也希望银他谈谈。在我们这样的人之间竟隔着这种时间的距离,真不象话。
他一边想，一边认识到，如果真的能见面，他和他祖父俩都会为他父亲在场而感到非常难堪。他想,任何人都有权自杀。伹是这样做不是好事。我理解这种行为，但是并不赞成 这就叫窝囊。可是你亭，“理解它吗？当然，我理解它，但是。是舸，伹是。一个人得“，“了牛角尖才会干出这种事情来。
①乔治，卡斯特 在内战中为北军立下了出色战功。内战后经常率领部队在密西西比河西向夏延族和苏族印第安人的区域进犯。一八七六年六月二十五日，他在费大拿州南部边界。”、巨角河边发现有个印第安营地，没有觉察对方人数众多，就贸然分兵三路出击,结果他自己率领的二百多人全部在一坡地上被杀
他想,唉,真要命！但愿袓父在这里就好了，嗶怕来一个小时也行。我仅有的一点气质也许是他通过那个滥用手枪的人传给我的。也许那是我们三代之间唯一的共通之点。但是,妈的。真他妈的，但是我只指望这时间上的间隔不是那么长，这样我就能从他那里学到父亲决不会教给我的东西了，是不是他当初必须经受、克服和终于在四年的南北战争和后来对印第安人的战斗(当然，这实在不大可能引起很大的恐惧〉中彻底摆脱的恐惧,使我父亲成了一个懦夫，正如斗牛士的儿子几乎都是懦夫一样呢?是不是这样呢？也许那些好的气质只有通过了父亲这一关才能重新发扬吧？
我决不会忘记，当我第一次知道父亲是个①时，我感到多么难受。说下去吧，用英语说。”慊夫。说出来就轻松些了，而且用外国话来骂人是狗娘养的，又有什么意义呢？当然他也不是什么狗娘养的。他仅仅是个慊夫，这是人生的最大不幸。因为如果他不是慊夫，他就会挺身反抗那个女人，不让她欺侮他。我不知道如果他娶了另一个女人，我会是个什么样的人。那是你永远无法知道的，他想，不禁露齿笑笑。也许她身上的蛮横劲儿有助于补充父亲所不足的地方。你呀,别太激动吧。等你干完了明天的事，再提什么好气质那一套吧。别过早地自高自大啦。再说，根本不能自高自大。我们要瞧瞧你在明天能表现出什么气质。他可又想起祖父来了。
"乔治，卡斯特不是个聪明的骑兵领袖，罗伯特，”他祖父说。“他甚至谈不上是个聪明人。”
他记得，红棚屋城他家弹子房墙上挂有一张旧的安休塞-比施的石版画，画的是穿着鹿皮衫的卡斯特，黄色的鬈发在风中飆拂，手握军用左轮枪站在山上，苏族印第安人正在包围拢来。对这样一位英雄，他祖父竟说出这样的话来,使他感到愤慨，
①西班牙语:惲夫
“他就是有陷入困境再摆脱困境的极大本领，”担父接着说,“但在小巨角河他陷入了困境，却无法脱身了。
“而菲尔，谢里登却是个聪明人，杰布〃斯图尔特也一样。但约翰 莫斯比才是历来最出色的骑兵领袖。”
他在米苏拉的箱子里的物品中有一封菲尔，谢里登将军写给老“骑死马”基尔帕特里克①的信，信上说他袓父是个非正规骑兵队的领袖，比约翰、莫斯比更出色。
他想，我应该跟戈尔兹谈谈我的袓父。他也许从没听人说起过吧，也许连约翰〃莫斯比也从没听说过。英国人都听说过他们，因为他们不得不比欧洲大陆上的人们更多地研究我们的南北战争。卡可夫说过，在这次行动之后，要是我愿意，可以进英斯科的列宁学院。他说，要是我愿意的话,坯可以进红军的军事学院。我不知道祖父会对此有什么想法，“祖父嘛，一辈子从没有意地和民主党人同坐一桌。
他想,得，“，我不想当军人啊，这我知道。所以这个问娌不存在。我只想要我方打廉这场战争。他想,我看囑，真正的好军人真正擅长的除了打胜仗以外，别无所长。这看法显然是不对的。瞧拿波企和威灵顿。他想,你今天晚上多蠹啊。
他的思想通常是个非常好的伴侶，今夜对他袓父的回忆就是如此，接着对他父亲的回忆使他沮丧。他理解父亲，原谅他的一切，可怜他，但为他感到羞愧。
①基尔帕特里克为北军将领，在一八六四年谢尔爱将军从亚特兰大向萨凡纳港的进军中 担任騎兵司令，
他对自己说，你最好还是什么也别想。你不久就要和玛丽亚在一起，你就不用想了。如今事事都落实了,最好的办法就是什么也别去想了。当你使劲想一件事的时候，就停不下来,你的脑子就象个失去了负重的飞轮那样越转越快。你最好还是别想。他想,但是还得假设一下。假设飞机投弹的时候，炸毁了那些反坦克炮,把阵地炸得稀巴烂，那些老坦克车在什么山上翻了个儿,而老戈尔兹能把十四旅那批酒鬼、流浪汉、无輓、狂热分子和蛮汉赶在前面冲锋陷阵(我甲寧戈尔兹另一个旅里的杜兰的部下都是好样的〉，这一来我们、纟天晚上就能攻占塞哥维亚了，对，他对自己说，只要这样设想一下就行了。他对自己说，我能到拉格兰哈就心满意足了。他忽然心里完全明白。”可是你得把那座桥炸掉。这计划不会取消。因为你刚才的设想正是那些发号施令的人想象中的这次进攻的可能结果。对 你必须炸掉这座桥。他知道这不会错。不管安德烈斯通到什么悄况，都无足轻重。
他独自怀着愉快的心情在黑暗中从小路上下来，因为今后四小时里该做的事都安排好了，并且由于回想到具体的细节后产生了信心，因此这时想起他肯定非炸桥不可,使他简直感到舒坦了。
那种犹豫,那种扩大的犹豫情绪，就象一个人由于摘错了可能的日期，不知道客人是否真的会来参加晚会一样一这种佾绪是从他打发安德烈斯给戈尔兹送报告后一直存在的——现在全消失了。他现在确信这个重要的日子不会被取消。他想，鏵确信有多好啊。能确信总是大好的事。
收听单词发音 |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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fascist
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| adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子 | |
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fascists
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| n.法西斯主义的支持者( fascist的名词复数 ) | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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dented
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| v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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caliber
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| n.能力；水准 | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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clout
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| n.用手猛击；权力，影响力 | |
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bucked
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| adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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misused
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| v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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lithograph
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| n.平板印刷，平板画；v.用平版印刷 | |
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democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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bums
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| n. 游荡者，流浪汉，懒鬼，闹饮，屁股 adj. 没有价值的，不灵光的，不合理的 vt. 令人失望，乞讨 vi. 混日子，以乞讨为生 | |
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fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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