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The Rebellion of the Hanged

Page 26

by B. TRAVEN


  The General and the Professor divined, rather than saw, the silhouettes of the heavily laden men they were passing. At the end of a short time they knew that they were not far from the head of the column. Soon they could hear the potent voice of Celso, who was shouting loud enough to be heard in the inferno: “Gang of burros! What a convoy I’ve got with me! Are you rebels? Don’t make me laugh! You complain and whine more than a bunch of old women. Sons of bitches! You didn’t whine like this when you had to march for the bosses and sink in the mud up to your ears for them. Then you worked like oxen. Each one of you did what four oxen together couldn’t have done. But then you were working for those bastards. Now that you have to do something for yourselves, here you are whimpering. Swear if you have to, but don’t break my eardrums with your whining! Rebels? You’re not rebels! Listen to me carefully, you pack of mules. Whoever complains from now on, may lightning strike me if I don’t shut him up! Now—get on there and keep your mouths shut!”

  The Professor and the General stood stock-still.

  “Say, General, it seems to me that you have chosen well in the chief of your general staff.”

  “So I see. From now on he is a lieutenant.”

  “Only a lieutenant? I propose that we name him a captain.”

  “You’re our adviser, and if you propose it, I name him a captain.”

  “Thanks, comrade.”

  “But now that I think of it, I have one colonel, ten captains, fifty lieutenants, and no major. And so, with your permission, comrade, this afternoon when we reach camp I’ll name Celso a major.”

  Martín Trinidad had started forward again, but just as Juan Méndez made him this proposal he stumbled against a root and fell full length, with his face in the mud. For that reason he was unable to give his immediate approval to the promotion of Celso.

  ALLISON & BUSBY FICTION

  Simon Beckett

  Fine Lines

  Animals

  Philip Callow

  The Magnolia

  The Painter’s Confessions

  Hella S. Haasse

  Threshold of Fire

  Catherine Heath

  Lady on the Burning Deck

  Behaving Badly

  Chester Himes

  Cast the First Stone

  Collected Stories

  The End of a Primitive

  Pink Toes

  Run Man Run

  Tom Holland

  Attis

  R. C. Hutchinson

  A Child Possessed

  Johanna at Daybreak

  Recollection of a Journey

  Dan Jacobson

  The Evidence of Love

  Francis King

  Act of Darkness

  Ash on an old man’s sleeve

  The One and Only

  The Widow

  Colin MacInnes

  Absolute Beginners

  City of Spades

  Mr Love and Justice

  The Colin MacInnes Omnibus

  Indira Mahindra

  The End Play

  Susanna Mitchell

  The Colour of His Hair

  Bill Naughton

  Alfie

  Matthew Parkhill

  And I Loved Them Madly

  Alison Prince

  The Witching Tree

  Ishmael Reed

  Japanese by Spring

  Reckless Eyeballing

  The Terrible Threes

  The Terrible Twos

  The Free-Lance Pallbearers

  Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down

  Françoise Sagan

  Engagements of the Heart

  Evasion

  Incidental Music

  The Leash

  The Unmade Bed

  Budd Schulberg

  The Disenchanted

  The Harder They Fall

  Love, Action, Laughter and Other Sad Stories

  On the Waterfront

  What Makes Sammy Run?

  Debbie Taylor

  The Children Who Sleep by the River

  B. Traven

  Government

  The Carreta

  March to the Monteriá

  Trozas

  Etienne Van Heerden

  Ancestral Voices

  Mad Dog and Other Stories

  Tom Wakefield

  War Paint

  About the Author

  No one knows who B Traven really was. Probably German, Traven was almost certainly not his real name. A BBC programme was unsuccessful in getting at the truth of his identity. Whoever he was, there is no disputing that he is widely remembered for his Treasure of the Sierra Madre and his six Jungle novels. You can sign up for author updates here.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Allison & Busby Fiction

  About the Author

  Copyright

  First published by Allison & Busby in 1984

  Copyright © 1952 by Esperanza López Mateos and Josef Wieder

  Originally published in Spanish as La Rebelión de los Colgados

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  eISBN 978-0-374-72259-3

  Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension. 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  First Farrar, Straus and Giroux ebook: 2020

 

 

 


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