Bell for Adano, A - John Hersey [90]
Nicolo said: “I think I owe it to Giorgio. I told Tina it wasn’t nice. “
Tina said: “Yes, Nicolo, go ahead.” But she did not sense, as the Major did, what was coming.
Nicolo said: “I tried to stop him, but I never had much influence over him, he was much stronger than I was. He ran over to the place where they were throwing bottles. They had lit a fire, which was against all rules, and Giorgio stood beside it where they could see him and shouted at them. These men had only been in one battle, but they were crazy with fear, and also with the wine. One of them would get up and shout: `To hell with the son of a frog, Mussolini!’ and he would throw a bottle as if he were throwing it at Mussolini. Then the next one would get up and he’d shout: `To hell with the shedog in heat, Edda Ciano!’ and they would all laugh and he would throw his bottle. Giorgio shouted but they either didn’t hear him or wouldn’t listen. He got in a kind of a frenzy. Remember: he had been through a lot.” Tina began to realize what was coming. She put her hand up over her mouth and her eyes grew wide. Nicolo said: “Giorgio ran over to the wall, to the very place where they were throwing their bottles, and he screamed: `Stop, stop! You are traitors! For the love of Mary Mother of Jesus, stop!’ At first just the fact of his being there made the drunkards stop, but then one of them shouted as if it were a big joke: `Isn’t that Benito Mussolini over there?’ and they all laughed and another one shouted: `Yes, the war has shrunk him!’ and they laughed some more. Then one of the crazy ones shouted: `I hate him! I hate him!’ and threw his bottle at Giorgio.” Tina put her head down and said softly: “Oh, not that way, not that way.”
Nicolo said: “The first bottle missed, but it broke against the wall and several pieces cut Giorgio. I could see the blood running down his face. He had so much courage, Tina, you would have been proud of him, he did not move away.”
Tina said softly: “Yes, I am proud, yes, yes.”
Nicolo said: “I shouted to him to come away but he wouldn’t. He screamed at the men: `We must fight! The only chance for our nation is to go down fighting. The only chance for us as men is to die in battle.’ The men stepped up in turn now and threw their bottles. They were not laughing any more now. Giorgio had touched some spring of â ;1_t in them 1 , „ __
and they wanted to kill
him. The men were so drunk that I don’t see how any of them hit him, but the third one did. The bottle hit him in the right shoulder. Of course the bottle didn’t break and didn’t knock him down, but it must have hurt terribly. But he went right on trying to scream to their brains, but they had none now.”
The Major said: “It must have been awful.”
Nicolo said: “After he was hit for the first time. He screamed louder and louder, but the pain must have done something to him, because he screamed religious things. He screamed: `Oh Christ Jesus lamb of God heart of Jesus,’ and things like that. The drunkards kept on throwing their bottles. Several of the ones that broke on the wall cut him and soon his face and hands were covered with blood and his uniform began to be torn and blood seeped through. The second one that hit him struck his groin and that apparently hurt him so much that he couldn’t shout any more. When he stopped shouting the drunken men closed in toward him and began throwing their bottles from close and closer.” He stopped and asked Tina: “Do you want me to stop, Tina?”
She said: “No, Nicolo, I’ve got to hear it now.” Nicolo said: “He finally fainted and the drunken men took bottles and beat him.” Nicolo turned to the Major again. “They were crazy, sir. Their one battle and the air raids and what they had had to drink. They were not Italians any more, sir. They were not even men.” Major Joppolo said: “A thing like that could happen in any army, if the men were frightened enough.” Nicolo said: “Thank you, sir.”
Then he went on: “I had a pistol. Giorgio and I each had a pistol that