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Show OA Bell for AxknoS John Horsey . can troops arrived f FAR: The Amer,. Joppolo! the aV Af,ano' wlth MaJ" Scrcean't Bonh was Veh" ta.eh"-ty. ta.eh"-ty. The m,i charge ot secnrl- Ptac. "aJorvw determined to re-and re-and In""6 '0pWn bcU 'Men by the Nazis, amonl th? ' Dulla ""Bdence U.Th PePle- "e wantea f "t wit,, uV;" ,out U and cer t T' ,Vlnsstoa' lor naval offl. .llo'wed P. 016 ate" to oate. He tod 1 Varts t0 eoter " c"y fooa and water, despite orders from Gen-al Gen-al Marvin that the earts be kept ont ot barter, PUrV'S "Ported 'to head-Main head-Main Cart rde" siven "y the " headbqyaners.nB " CHAPTER X At each meal there were also some idlers in the place, but they lust came in to listen to the noon and six-thirty broadcasts from Rome. On the day that Mayor Nasta came down from the hills, Major Joppolo and Captain Purvis had just finished their pasta and were talking talk-ing about the stuffy Navy fellow, Livingston, when they hard an unusual un-usual noise out in the street. There were shouts of anger, and whistles. But the noise outside grew, and seemed to be coming up the street. And soon several of the idlers who bad been listening to the radio in the restaurant ran out. As the noise grew still louder the two women picked up handfuls of fruit and ran out, pursued by their guests. Then Ihe owner of the place and his wife and son ran out with their mouths lull of pasta and eggplant. Finally Major Joppolo said: "Let's go see what it is." So he and Captain Purvis ran out too, frith their napkins in their hands. This is what they saw: Up the center of the street a forlorn for-lorn looking man walked. He was rery short, and rather heavy-set. His clothes were dirty and torn. His shoes were covered with dust. His lace was very sad, and he walked Jlowly, hanging his head. There was only one proud touch to his ivhole figure, and that was a pair of pince-nez spectacles balanced on his Wg nose. Behind the man, keeping a safe iistance as if there still might be tome dynamite in him, a large crowd walked, shouting and whistling whis-tling its derision. The derision was ten times louder than it would other-Rase other-Rase have been because this was the first time the people of Adano had ever been able to express their feelings toward this man. Even behind be-hind their own closed doors they had held their tongues about Mayor Nasta in the past, because he seemed to have ears in every house, and his eyes peeked in every win-Sow, win-Sow, and his punishments were sadistic. But now they shouted what they thought. "Fascist Pig," they shouted. This was what they shouted most. But they also shouted: "The murderer mur-derer always goes back to the scene of his crime!" They also shouted: "Where is Mayor Nasta's whip now?" Curiously the two women shouted, shout-ed, and there was a kind of pride in the way they shouted. There was a priest in the crowd, and he shouted: "Blasphemer!" There were some children in the crowd, and they ran along shouting: shout-ing: "Pig! Pig! Pig!" The anger of the mob bordered on violence. When the unhappy Mayor got opposite the Albergo dei Pescatori one of the women raised her arm and threw a plum at him. t missed him and splashed in the street. A boy of twelve threw a stone. Then several brickbats flew, and the shouts of long repressed hatred became shrieks of revenge. Captain Purvis looked at Major Joppolo and Major Joppolo said: "We've got to put a stop to this." Captain Purvis was not a subtle American, but he was a brave one. He ran out in the street between Mayor Nasta and the crowd. He held up his hand and shouted: "Stop! Stop," you ignorant fools." The crowd kept coming. A stone flew past Captain Purvis toward Mayor Nasta. Captain Purvis pulled his pistol out of his pocket. That was enough. The ones in front held back the others, oth-ers, and the mob halted in the street. Captain Purvis went back to the sidewalk. Mayor Nasta, seeing that he was saved, ran over to his deliverers, and he stood in the gutter blubbering blubber-ing his thanks. "Americans! Oh, my friends. Thank you for saving me from these ungrateful people. I have served them for years and see how they behave. I am all alone Americans. I have been in the hills all alone for days. No one would stay with me. All the others eave themselves up. I have thought everything over. I wish to help you it I can. . . ." And he rattled on, his voice going higher and higher Someone in the mob shouted: "Mister Major, if you help that man you are not our friend." Major Joppolo acted quickly to save the situation. He walked into the street and held up his hand for silence; he was careful to make it nis left hand, so that it would not be mistaken for a Fascist "lute Go home, people. I will take care of this man as he deserves. He Is under arrest." vr. r And the Major said quickly to Captain Purvis in English. "Arrest him, Purvis, show this gang that you're arresting him." This was the kind of thing Captain Cap-tain Purvis enjoyed,- and as he clapped his hand heavily on Mayor Nasta's shoulder he shouted: "I wish I understood Eyetalian. This is wonderful." The crowd broke up slowly, mumbling mum-bling its protests at being deprived of revenge. Purvis said: "Who is this little squirt, anyway? They sure hate him, don't they?" Major Joppolo said: "He's the one who used to be Mayor." "Oh, he is, is he? Well, according to what Borth says, they've got plenty plen-ty of reason to hate him." And the Captain kicked Mayor Nasta in the seat of the pants simply because he didn't know the Italian for: "You're a little squirt." Mayor Nasta whimpered in Italian: Ital-ian: "What are you going to do with me? If you are going to kill me, please tell me first. Don't shoot me from behind." What Major Joppolo did with Mayor May-or Nasta was to take him up to his office. Everyone, even little Zito who had once worked for Mayor Nasta, even D'Arpa, the weasel-like vice mayor who had once worked with him, everyone made faces of disgust when they saw Mayor Nasta, Nas-ta, and some made obscene remarks within his hearing. When word passed around the Palazzo Pa-lazzo that Mayor Nasta was back, Captain Purvis pulled his pistol out of his pocket. many people stuck their heads in the door at the end of the Major's office, which had once been the Mayor's May-or's office, to have a look at him in his disheveled condition, and to laugh at him to his face. Major Joppolo said to Zito and Giuseppe: "I want to have a talk with Mayor Nasta alone. Go and tell the people in the other offices that I do not want to be disturbed, not even by a cracking open of that door. I do not even want to be disturbed dis-turbed by the brushing of ears on the keyhole." "Yes, Mister Major," Zito said. "No, Mister Major," Giuseppe said. Major Joppolo sat at the desk and said brusquely: "Sit down." Mayor Nasta sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Well, what is it that you wish?" Major Joppolo said. Mayor Nasta brushed his hand along the wood of the desk pathetically, patheti-cally, and he said: "It seems strange to be sitting on the wrong side of this desk." Major Joppolo said: "It may seem stranger to sit on the wrong side of the bars of your municipal jail. What do you want?" Mayor Nasta rearranged the pince-nez on his nose, but he did not look Major Joppolo in the eye as he said: "I just want a chance, Mister Major." "You want a chance!" Major Joppolo Jop-polo spoke angrily. "To whom did you ever give a chance?" "I have thought it over," Mayor Nasta said. "I have been all alone for days. It was awful at night. I have thought it over, Mister Major. I want to help if I can." "How many years were you in office?" "Nine, Mister Major." "After nine years in office, you have thought it all over, have you? After nine years of graft and stealing steal-ing and keeping these people down, you've thought it over, you want to help, do you?" "You have other Fascists in office here. I saw the face of D'Arpa a minute ago. I saw Tagliavia who was my Maresciallo of Finance. I saw Gargano of the Carabinieri. If you could use these, why not Nasta, Nas-ta, the Mayor?" "I have a new Mayor, and a better bet-ter one." This hurt. "Who is this Mayor?" "Bellanca the Notario, an honest man, much more honest than the former Mayor." And the former Mayor said: "Yes, Bellanca is honest. But surely you have something for Nasta to do? I would accept something less than Mayor." Nasta rubbed the wood of the desk wistfully. "There is not much left of the old Nasta," he said. "I would accept something less than Mayor." Major Joppolo's eyes grew angry. an-gry. He stood up abruptly. "Oh, you would, would you? Yes, I have something for you to do. You are to report every morning to Ser-, geant Borth of the American Army. You will find him in the Fascio. That is all you have to do each day. But see that you do it, Nasta, Nas-ta, or you will be put in jail." "You mean that Nasta has become be-come a common probationer?" "Oh, so Nasta is familiar with the practice of putting people on probation? proba-tion? That is very genteel of you, Nasta. I thought all your, punishments punish-ments were more ingenious than that." "Please be generous with me," Nasta said. "Please give me some work to do." "Generous? Nasta, what do you expect? For the crimes you have committed against the people of Adano, you deserve to be shot outright, out-right, without a trial. You certainly certain-ly never would give a fair trial, unless un-less it brought you some kind of profit. I am' being more than generous. gen-erous. I am putting you on probation. proba-tion. See that you behave, you Fascist." Fas-cist." Mayor Nasta was obsequious how. "Yes, Mister Major," he said. "What did you say was the name of the American officer to whom I must report?" "His name is Borth, and he is not an officer. He is a sergeant. You are not worth an officer, Nasta." Nas-ta." "Yes, Mister Major." This is how it happened that Mayor May-or Nasta reported once every morning morn-ing to Sergeant Borth at the Fascio. Fas-cio. Because four or five people followed the Mayor everywhere he went out of curiosity and hatred, there was a small audience on hand the next morning when he reported to Sergeant Borth for the first time. The audience enjoyed what it saw and heard, for this kind of situation was meat for Sergeant Borth, who thought the whole war was a joke. The tattered Nasta stepped into one of the M.P. offices, rearranged his pince-nez, and said: "Where will I find the Sergeant Borth?" "I am Borth." "I am Nasta." "Oho," roared Sergeant Borth. Hi stood up, rubbing his hands. "So you are the Mayor. I understand that you have come to Adano to repent re-pent your sins. Is that right, noble Mayor?" "I was told that I was to report here each morning. I was to report, re-port, not be humiliated, "Sergeant." "You will call me Mister Sergeant." Ser-geant." Mayor Nasta snorted, from his long habit of snorting. .' Borth said sharply: "Listen, Nasta, Nas-ta, I know more about you than you know about yourself. You be careful care-ful how you behave here. Now, answer an-swer my questions civilly. Is it correct cor-rect that you came to Adano to repent your sins?" Mayor Nasta was white with anger, an-ger, but he said: "I suppose you might say so." "Thank you," Borth said with exaggerated ex-aggerated politeness. "In that case you will repent one sin each morning morn-ing when you report to Sergeant Borth. Would you like to choose your own sins, or would you like Sergeant Borth to choose them for you?" Mayor Nasta couldn't keep himself him-self from snorting. "I see," said Borth, with his over-politeness, over-politeness, "you would like Borth to choose. Very well, let's see. This morning we will discuss the sin of your disgraceful running away from your post in the face of the American Ameri-can invasion. What is this sin called, Mayor Nasta?" "What do you mean, what is it called?" "You are at a loss for words? Very well, Borth will answer his own question. It is called the sin of cowardice." Mayor Nasta snorted. "No matter what side you were on, no matter if you were on the side of the crooks, it was a sin to run away, was it not, Mayor?" Mayor Nasta rearranged his pince-nez with a trembling hand. "Answer my question: did you oi did you not give rifles to the Carabinieri Cara-binieri and grenades to the Finance Guards, make them a beautiful speech about fighting to the last man, and then run to the hills?" Mayor Nasta said with a trembling trem-bling voice: "You tell me, clever Sergeant." Sergeant Borth shouted: "Answer me, probationer." Mayor Nasta said quietly: "I did, Sergeant." "Mister Sergeant!" "I did. Mister Sergeant." "Are you sorry for this disgraceful disgrace-ful sin, Nasta?" Mayor Nasta could hear the people peo-ple snickering behind him. He said meekly: "I am, Mistei Sergeant." (TO BE CONTINUED) |