Free The Praetorians by Jean Lartéguy Page B

crests, Raspéguy fell to dreaming again. And his massive chest expanded as he heard the sound of a bugle vibrating in his head, so loud as to be almost unbearable.
    This time, he decided, all on his own, he was going to create a fresh myth which would be acceptable to everyone, to this little second lieutenant climbing up towards him no less than to professional fighters like Naugier, Orsini and Pinières, something that would have captivated Boisfeuras and Esclavier as much as the
fells
hiding in the valley and the strong-arm men of Babel-Oued.
    Â * * * * 
    In a cleft among the rocks, concealed by some brambles, in the almost stifling smell of absinthe and basil, four men huddled close together, sweating, while the mosquitoes devoured their faces and arms.
    Mahmoudi was sucking a blade of grass, and from time to time a cruel smile made his teeth flash in the half-light.
    Atarf grumbled:
    â€œWe’re going to suffocate to death. If only we could have a smoke! I’m thirsty.”
    â€œDrink your sweat. That’ll teach you to fill your flask with brandy instead of water. The Koran forbids brandy.”
    â€œTo hell with the Koran. They’re probably dropping beer to those bastards up there, and ice!”
    â€œI’ve marched with them, I’ve sweated with them, all of us eaten alive by mosquitoes which fed on our blood, and shitting our guts out on the way. They know how to do without beer and ice.”
    â€œThen why are they losing?”
    â€œThey’re being made to defend a cause they don’t like. They let them off the lead for three days, four days, maybe a week, then bring them back growling to their kennels and tie them up again.”
    â€œStill, they brought off the May 13 th revolution, your pals,and it didn’t change a thing. They’re going against history, they’re done for, they’ll drown in their own shit.”
    â€œDidn’t anyone ever tell you, Atarf, that I was with them on the 13 th of May?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œOne of them was called Esclavier, another Boisfeuras, a third Marindelle, led by Major Jacques de Glatigny, and behind them there was Raspéguy, who held his wolves in check, ready to let them loose. He never needed to.”
    â€œAnd then?”
    â€œBoisfeuras got himself killed, Esclavier has just left the army and I am here.”
    â€œYou’re a romantic, Mahmoudi, and romanticism is no longer in fashion in revolutionary wars. It would have done you good to go to Prague. They would have taught you to not to give a damn about the Koran and to take an interest in what makes the strength of the modern world: the masses, and the methods one must use to lead them.”
    â€œThe other side also knows those methods. In the Forum they imposed the idea of integration on a crowd which only the day before would not even hear of mixed schools!”
    Behind them Ahmed grumbled:
    â€œIna al dine.”
    The wireless operator, whom he had jostled, insulted him in his turn, but under his breath and without conviction. It was hot and the hide-out smelled like a grave. The operator had dug plenty of graves when he was with Ziad, who saw spies everywhere.
    â€œ
Esketou
, shut up!”
    Mahmoudi pricked up his ears:
    â€œThey’re going on with the helicopter operations. They’re surrounding the valley, but won’t come into it. In their position I’d have done the same. Even so, we’ll try and break through when night falls, before the moon comes up. Towards the end of the night they will be more vigilant.”
    â€œI was told exactly the opposite,” said Atarf.
    â€œForget everything you’ve been told. In this war you do theopposite of what the rules lay down; in fact you only learn the rules in order to do the opposite.”
    Â * * * * 
    Captains Pinières and Orsini were interrogating a prisoner. He was squatting on his haunches in the full glare of the