Felicitations
mes braves. Of all the Emperor's soldiers, you two are tonight the furthest
into Portuguese territory. Not even the Imperial Guard can claim this accolade.
This donkey-bridge over a piss-flow stream is at the forefront of French
military honour. Guard it well. I shall be in the hovel, sleeping, and I do not
want to be disturbed unless we are attacked. The colonel is in the village and
he wants to be disturbed even less than I. If you live, live quietly. If you
die, try to make a noise when you do it. Your muskets are for sounding the
alarm. If you see the enemy, fire at once. Do not waste time trying to aim. And
if you fire because you have pissed your pants at the sight of a shadow in the
dark, I will have the skin off your back. Bonne nuit.
Fat
pig. How is it that the army is starving but the sergeants are still
fat?
That
is how they become sergeants. They stand you on parade and the first man to
produce a capon and a bottle of wine is given the job.
Look
at him, waddling back to his pile of straw like the fattest boar on the farm.
His lantern swings like a ship at sea, such is the way he has to move his legs
around his great belly.
You
are jealous because he has a bed and a roof over his head.
Surely.
Who would not be? How shall we guard this bridge?
How
shall we guard it? What are you a general who must decide on the
deployment of his forces? There are only two of us and but one
bridge.
Even
so, what shall we do? Shall we both stay on one side or stand one here and the
other over the stream? Or shall we walk back and forth across the
bridge?
You
do what you like. I will walk as I watch. It is the only way to keep my toes
flesh instead of ice.
* * * * *
Jacques,
Jacques. Come and look at this. There is a monkey here.
A
fine friend you are.
What?
What are you talking about?
It
is three hours that we are here and not a drop of brandy has passed my lips but
you have drunk so much that you are seeing monkeys.
Brandy?
I have no brandy. There is a monkey here. I did not know that there were
monkeys in Portugal.
There
are not. For monkeys you must go to Africa or The Indies. In Portugal there is
only bare ground, hard men and harder women. Let me see. Where is this
monkey?
There.
Sitting on that boulder. Do you see? Now, tell me, what is that if not a
monkey?
You
are right. It is a monkey. How has it come here?
How
should I know? Do you think that I have had time to start a conversation with
it?
Perhaps
it is from a gypsy. Gypsies have monkeys.
Gypsies?
Do you see any gypsies around here? We are in the mountains with nothing but
sheep and soldiers for miles around. Who do you think is going to need their
fortune telling out here?
Gypsies
are everywhere. Besides, there is the monkey in front of you, how else do you
think it got here?
Perhaps
it ran away...from a ship. Ships have monkeys.
A
ship? How much of that brandy have you drunk? Do you think that this ship ran
aground two hundred miles from the sea?
I
said that the monkey ran away. The ship could still be in harbour and the
monkey here.
It
must be a bad ship indeed for the monkey to run two hundred miles
away.
What
shall we do with the monkey? Shall we catch it?
Why?
Do you think it is a spy?
No,
but we could keep it on a piece of string. People like monkeys they
think they are adorable. With that monkey we could attract some of the women in
the village.
I've
seen the women in the village I'd rather kiss the
monkey.
Come
on. Let's catch it. You distract it while I get behind it and put my hat over
it.
Distract
it? What makes you think that I know how to distract a monkey?
Just
make some noises.
Hey
monkey...little monkey...chuck, chuck, chuck.
What
are you doing? It's a monkey, not a chicken.
I
don't know what noises a monkey makes.
Never
mind. It doesn't seem scared. It's just sitting there like it wants us to catch
it. Now, come on, nice and slowly. Here monkey, how would you like a nice piece
of garlic sausage, eh?
A soft
fluttering and the rapid shuffle of light steps from behind, then the feel of
cold, sharp steel on two throats.
Buo
noite, meus amigos. You are wasting your time with that sausage. Captain Macaco
is a vegetarian.