Altorro, Bernard’s cousin,’ he said, jutting his chin towards a strong-looking young man with long hair and a beard on the edge of the group who was looking towards the dead rebels with a forlorn expression on his face. ‘I knew him too,’ the young man added.
‘Why’d they hang them?’
‘That’s what they always do to us when they capture us. It’s their policy. It’s a good incentive to fight to the death, no?’ he added.
Stratton had to agree. ‘What do you think is going to happen?’
‘Now?’
‘Yes.’
The young man did not seem very sure. ‘Marlo wants to attack but Victor thinks we should let them pass. Marlo is always aggressive and Victor is always cautious.’
Stratton looked over at the commanders. ‘Who do you think is winning?’
The young man shrugged. ‘Marlo believes we should take every opportunity to strike at the enemy. Victor is arguing that we are not an attacking force at this moment but a resupply column. He says our responsibility is to get the supplies home safely. Marlo is arguing that we are a guerrilla force that must adapt to opportunities and that we must revenge those men. We can become fighters when it is time to fight and then change back to a resupply convoy after we have won.’
‘Isn’t Victor in charge?’
‘He’s in charge of the supply column but he is not a soldier. Marlo was once an officer in Neravista’s army and is technically in charge of any fighting . . . My name is David,’ the young man said.
‘Stratton.’ He held out his hand and David shook it. ‘What do you think?’
‘I don’t think it’s such a good idea to have two commanders.’
‘Yes,’ Stratton agreed, liking the young man. ‘What do you think they should do?’
David took a moment to consider his response. ‘I would make my decision based on the number of enemy. If we are more than them maybe we should attack.’
‘Have you ambushed Neravistas before?’
He shook his head. ‘Not like this. But I have taken part in some attacks.’
‘How well armed are they?’
‘They have more weapons than us. Better weapons.
More machine guns, usually. They have grenades. Sometimes they have mortars.’
‘What about artillery or air support?’
‘They can’t get their big guns into these mountains. There are no roads for them to get close enough . . . You’ve seen their air force.’
‘Are there likely to be other patrols in this area?’
‘It’s possible. But communications are difficult in this region. We blow up their radio masts whenever they build new ones.’ David looked at Stratton, eyeing his sophisticated weapon and other equipment and the ease with which he seemed to take the threat of conflict, as if this were nothing new to him. ‘What do you think we should do?’ he asked.
Stratton shrugged. ‘I’m inclined to agree with Victor. But then, I just got here.’
David nodded thoughtfully as he looked over at his commanders.
‘You’re an officer?’ Stratton asked.
‘No,’ David said, with a grin that displayed a full set of badly stained teeth. ‘I’m hardly a soldier. I’m a teacher.’
Stratton had not given the rebels much thought as individuals but the young man was a reminder that rebellions like this one were fought by ordinary people. ‘How long have you been with the rebellion?’
‘Only a few months,’ David said, looking down at his hands in thought.
‘Why did you join up?’
‘My father was accused of supplying the rebels with food. He was a farmer. They came one day and shot him . . . and then they shot my mother. Why they shot her also, I don’t know.’ As David said this it seemed to affect him deeply. ‘I had nowhere else to go, I think.’
‘How is it going?’
‘The rebellion? I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. We keep fighting, they keep fighting. We hope Neravista will one day give in to us . . . You will have to ask Neravista, maybe.’
The older Indian arrived at the crouch and reported to Victor who immediately appeared disappointed by what he heard. Marlo, on the other hand, became suddenly enthused and moved away to talk hurriedly with the men. David left Stratton to join his colleagues. After a quick briefing a couple of the men headed back to the column while the main group made its way to the crest.
The young teacher hurried over to Stratton. ‘The scouts report less than twenty soldiers. That was the number agreed between Victor and Marlo. If there were more we would let them pass. We will attack.’ He left again to