Joe stretched and bent his legs. “Thanks.”
The man spoke to Joe. Joe answered, “Sorry, I don’t understand.”
The man spoke again. Joe shrugged helplessly. The man grinned and patted him on the shoulder, turned away, picked up Duke’s rifle. He handled it clumsily, making Hugh flinch.
Nevertheless, he seemed to understand guns. He worked the bolt, ejecting one cartridge, then put it to his shoulder, aimed upstream and fired.
The blast was deafening, he had fired past Hugh’s ear. He grinned broadly, tossed the rifle to a subordinate, walked up to Hugh and Barbara, reached out to touch Barbara’s child swollen belly.
Hugh knocked his hand away.
With a gesture almost negligent, certainly without anger, the big man brushed Hugh’s hand aside with the crop he carried. It was not a blow, it would not have swatted a fly.
Hugh gasped in agony. His hand burned like fire and his arm was numb to the armpit. “Oh, God!”
Barbara said urgently, “Don’t, Hugh. He isn’t hurting me.”
Nor was he. With a manner of impersonal interest such as a veterinarian might take in feeling a pregnant mare or bitch, the big man felt out the shape of the child she carried, then lifted one of her breasts-while Hugh writhed in that special humiliation of a man unable to protect his woman.
The man finished his palpation, grinned at Barbara and patted her head. Hugh tried to ignore the pain in his hand and dug into his memory for a language imperfectly learned. “Vooi govoriti’yeh po-Russki, Gospodin?”
The man glanced at him, made no answer.
Barbara said, “Sprechen Sie deutsch, mein Herr?”
That got her a smile. Hugh called out, “Duke, try him in Spanish!”
“Okay. ~Habla usted Español, Señor?” No response- Hugh sighed. “We’ve shot our wad.”
“M’sieur?” Joe said. “Est-ce que vous parlez la langue française?”
The man turned. “Tiens?”
“Parlez-vous francais, monsieur?”
“Mais oui! Vous êtes françaises?”
“Non, non! Je suis américain. Nous sommes tous amencams.”
“Vraiment? Impossible!”
“C’est vrai, monsieur. Je vous en assure.” Joe pointed to the empty flagpole. “Les Etats-Unis de l’Amérique.”
The conversation became hard to follow as both sides stumbled along in broken French. At last they paused and Joe said, “Hugh, he asked me-ordered me-to come into his tent and talk. I’ve asked him to let you all loose first. He says No. ‘Hell, no!’ it amounts to.”
“Ask him to let the women loose.”
“I’ll try.” Joe spoke at length with the big man. “He says the enceinte femme-that’s Barbara-can sit down where she is. The ‘fat one’-Grace he means-is to come with us.”
“Good work, Joe. Get us a deal.”
“I’ll try. I don’t understand him very well.”
The three went into the pavilion. Barbara found that she could sit down, even stretch out. But the invisible web held Hugh as clingingly as ever.
“Dad,” Duke said urgently, “this is our chance, while nobody is around who understands English.”
“Duke,” Hugh answered wearily, “can’t you see they hold trumps? It’s my guess that we are alive as long as he isn’t annoyed-not one minute longer.”
“Aren’t you even going to try to fight? Where’s that crap you used to spout about how you were a free man and planned to stay free?”
Hugh rubbed his hurt hand. “Duke, I won’t argue. You start anything and you’ll get us killed. That’s how I size it up.”
“So it was just crap,” Duke said scornfully. “Well, I’m not making any promises.”
“All right. Drop it.”
“I’m not making promises. Just tell me this, Dad. How does it feel to be shoved around? Instead of shoving?”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither did I. I’ve never forgotten it. I hope you get your bellyful.”
Barbara said, “Duke, for heaven’s sake, stop talking like a fool!”
Duke looked at her. “I’ll shut up. Just one thing. Where did you get that baby in you?”
Barbara did not answer. Hugh said quietly, “Duke, if we get out of this, I promise you a beating.”
“Any time, old man.”
They quit talking. Barbara reached out and patted Hugh’s ankle. Five men gathered around the pile of household objects, looking them over. A man came up and gave them an order; they dispersed. He looked at the chattels himself, then peered into the shelter and went inside.
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