Mila 18 - Leon Uris [207]
Alex shook his head slowly.
“You ... you were right. You’ve won a great battle with this,” Andrei said.
The mouth in Alex’s bearded face fumbled to form words in a cracked, wavering voice. “I called my dearest friend a man who thirsts for personal revenge. I ... took the weapons from your hands. I am the vengeful man. Your way has always been the only way.”
“You’re wrong about that, Alex. My way hasn’t been the only way. I would have destroyed us all long ago. You see, only because of men like you and Simon has a moment like today been possible for men like me.”
“The children are gone ... Everyone is gone ... I have failed.”
Andrei clutched Alex’s arms hard and pleaded with fervor. “Listen to me!” he cried. “We’ve all done the best with what we’ve had. No man has ever fought a better fight than you! And it was the only fight. It was, I swear it.”
“Don’t patronize me, Andrei. It is I who should be on my knees to you.”
Andrei released his grip and stood up slowly, and his voice mellowed with softness. “All my life I have believed I walked in the darkness, battling windmills, crying for lost causes, living a life in dubious battle. My father gave me a country which hated me, and you have given your sons a ghetto and genocide. God only knows what kind of a world Wolf will hand to his sons. We enter this world in the middle of a war that is never won. It has always been this way—this endless war. No one of us ever really wins in his life. All you have the right to ask of life is to choose a battle in this war, make the best you can, and leave the field with honor.”
Alex mumbled, “Make your battle ... leave the field with honor.”
“You’ve fought your good fight. Now the war goes on. I must fight my way now.”
“Oh, Andrei, stop! What is there left but doom?”
“Left? We have a lot left. We can go out like men. ... “What though the field be lost? All is not lost—unconquerable will, the study of revenge, immortal hate ... The courage never to submit or yield.’ I never understood those lines till now. But I know—it is not a dubious battle.”
Alexander picked up the book, and his fingers caressed it lovingly. He opened it, glanced up at Andrei quickly, then thumbed hungrily through Ervin’s notes. He came to the last entry. “Who will fire the first shot?” Alex took out a pencil, and his hand wrote:
Journal Entry
Today a great shot for freedom was fired. I think it stands a chance of being heard forever. It marks a turning point in the history of the Jewish people. The beginning of return to a status of dignity we have not known for two thousand years. Yes, today was the first step back. My battle is done. Now I turn the command over to the soldiers.
Chapter Five
PIOTR WARSINSKI SLAMMED THE phone receiver down. He scratched his scaly hands. Again he had pleaded in vain with Sieghold Stutze to issue firearms to the Jewish Militia. After the outbreak of January 18, Warsinski was positive that the Germans would return to the ghetto immediately with an overpowering force. Instead, several days had passed in silence and his police were becoming afraid to patrol the streets.
Warsinski scoffed at the idea that the ambush at Niska and Zamenhof streets was anything but an insane gesture by a madman. He knew there was no real planned insurrection. He had no fear of this so-called Joint Jewish Forces. But he was afraid of what would happen if Sieghold Stutze decided he was no longer able to command the Militia effectively.
Piotr growled in frustration and became restless. He decided to leave the barracks and go to the Pawiak Prison. A girl had been brought in earlier who was suspected of being a member of the Joint Forces. He would work her over, and that would relieve the tension. Perhaps he could force from her the location of Eden or Andrei Androfski or Rodel. If he could deliver such a prize to Sieghold Stutze it would reaffirm his ability.
But, Piotr mused, it was getting more and more difficult to beat information out of these people as time