Hell's Legionnaire (10 page)

Story Preview

N
OW
that you've just ventured through some of the captivating tales in the Stories from the Golden Age collection by L. Ron Hubbard, turn the page and enjoy a preview of
While Bugles Blow!
Join an
American Lieutenant in the French Foreign Legion caught in the middle of an
ancient feud between two tribes in the Moroccan city of Harj. When a gorgeous
woman finds herself drawn dangerously into the midst of the conflict, the
Lieutenant does what any man must—he saves her . . . igniting a war.

While Bugles Blow!

A
N
offer came from the
crowd.

The girl, standing
there stripped before this barrage of eyes, hung her head. Her hair was long
and brown and fell so as to partly hide her delicately featured face. Her eyes,
blacked with
kohl
, flicked upward every few seconds to look at the men who bid
for her.

“A rotten shame,”
thought the Lieutenant.

Offers were buffeted
about. The auctioneer bellowed and roared, told funny stories, extolled the
virtues of Jeppa women and finally brought a bidder up to a good price.

The money was paid on
the spot. The big-chested, hairy-faced Berber took his merchandise. The girl,
to the Lieutenant's surprise, went willingly enough.

“And now!” cried the
auctioneer. “We have the best of the lot. I have here a jewel, a flame-colored
flower, worth a sultan's ransom. Untouched, pure as spring water, brought up in
the harem, the very harem of Kirzigh himself. She is the finest of all. When
she looks at you, you think two moons have risen. When she sighs you think the
gentle breezes have cooled your brows. When she talks you think that
nightingales have swarmed down from the heavens. She is a gift of Allah, more
beautiful than the
houris
themselves. Her waist could be encircled with the
smallest hand. A glimpse of her face and figure would pull a dead man from his
shroud. And her hair! It is the color of the dawn, of the evening. It is the
color of silk beyond value. It is a crown of molten gold flowing across her
milk white shoulders. My brothers, gaze upon this woman and be confounded!”

He threw back a drape,
dramatically bringing forth another article.

The Lieutenant had,
until now, thought that this was just some pat speech of the auctioneer's. The
Lieutenant had seen many, many Arab and Berber women. Some of them were very
pretty, yes, but not like this one.

My God, no!

She was all the
auctioneer said and more, and the Lieutenant began to think poorly of the
auctioneer's oratorical abilities.

She was beautiful, but
the mention of it made that word pale and insipid.

In all his life, in
magazines, on the screen, the Lieutenant had never beheld such a face or such a
figure.

Her hair was golden
red, her eyes were clear and alive and gray. She looked down into the crowd as
though she gazed upon so many mangy camels.

The crowd said not a
word. Not one man there breathed for the space of a dozen heartbeats.

Suddenly an engulfing
roar soared skyward. They slapped each other and slapped themselves and laughed
and cheered and howled with pleasure.

The auctioneer,
conscious that he had done something great, puffed up considerably, stroked his
beard and waited for them to grow quiet.

The girl was haughty
and unafraid. It was her voice which struck the crowd into silence.

“What one among you
dares make a bid for Morgiana, Buddir al Buddor, daughter of the Caid?”

They gaped at her.
Never in the history of Harj had a woman captive had the courage to speak from
the auction block.

“Why don't you bid?”
she cried. “Look at me. I am beautiful. I am worth ten thousand pieces of gold.
Buy me as you buy a camel or a barb. Bid, beasts, and show me which one among
you wants me the most.”

For seconds nothing
sounded but the clattering of palms in the public square. Then a stately Berber
stepped forward and cried, “One hundred pieces of gold I bid for the honor of
breaking that woman's spirit.”

Another voice roared,
“Two hundred pieces of gold.”

A third cried, “Three
hundred.”

The first bidder,
stroking his beard, looked up at the girl thoughtfully.

She called to him. “Am
I not worth it? Will you not bid five hundred, you malformed ox? Bid and show
them, and then I'll show you which one of us is broken first.”

The Lieutenant was
still dazed. His heart was beating queerly and gave little bumps every time her
white teeth flashed. Then he tried to catch hold of himself. This was no way
for the conqueror of Harj to act. No way at all.

He felt something
press against his side. His fingers closed on a terrific weight. He glanced
down.

Just as though some
spirit had come to him unseen and had departed without noise, he found himself
possessed of a big sack. It jingled.

“Bid!” cried the girl.
“Buy me for a bargain at ten thousand pieces of gold. Ah, you're afraid. Afraid
I might tear your eyes out of your heads and pluck your beards, hair by hair.
We'll see about that. Bid!”

The Lieutenant raised
the bag to shoulder height. The auctioneer stared blankly at him and at the
sack.

The Lieutenant threw
the money to the block. The bag broke and gold scattered over it like a torrent
of sunlight.

The auctioneer's
helpers dashed forward and scooped up the wealth. To their practiced eyes, it
amounted to some seven or eight hundred pieces of gold.

The crowd cheered. In
the middle of a nightmare, the Lieutenant stepped up, took the girl's hand in
his own and tried to pull her away with him.

She stood where she
was. He touched her again and their eyes met and clashed.

Suddenly she seized
his hand, jerked it toward her and sank her teeth in it to the bone.

The sudden pain of it
made the Lieutenant strike. The girl reeled back, dropping his hand. He looked
down at the flowing blood. A stain as red as his own was against the girl's
cheek.

In Shilha, the
Lieutenant said, “Come with me.”

She withdrew a little
farther, head erect, glaring, drawing the cloak the auctioneer had handed her
tightly about her white body.

The Lieutenant knew he
was acting a fool. The girl hated him and, suddenly, he hated the girl.

In a voice as hard as
Toledo
steel, he said, “Come with me or stay where you are. I care very little
what you do. I bought you with no intention of giving you anything but your
liberty. You can stay here and be damned!”

He about-faced,
started down. The crowd opened a path for him.

Heels ringing on the
stones, he went across the square and turned down a side street, heading back
for the fort.

He stopped and looked
back.

The girl was ten feet
behind him and they were, for the moment, alone.

Nothing had altered in
her manner. She was merely following him because she could do nothing else.

“Walk beside me, if
you'll walk at all,” said the Lieutenant, harshly.

“Slaves,” she said,
“always follow at a respectful distance.” Her voice purred in a deadly way.
“Lead on, my master.”

To find out more about
While Bugles Blow!
and
how you can obtain your copy, go to
www.goldenagestories.com
.

Glossary

S
TORIES FROM THE
G
OLDEN
A
GE
reflect the words and expressions used in the 1930s and 1940s, adding unique flavor and authenticity to the tales. While a character's speech may often reflect regional origins, it also can convey attitudes common in the day. So that readers can better grasp such cultural and historical terms, uncommon words or expressions of the era, the following glossary has been provided.

alidade:
a topographic surveying and
mapping instrument used for determining directions, consisting of a telescope
and attached parts.
→ to text

altimeter:
a gauge that measures altitude.
→ to text

Atlas:
Atlas Mountains; a mountain range in northwest
Africa extending about fifteen hundred miles through Morocco, Algeria and
Tunisia, including the Rock of Gibraltar. The Atlas ranges separate the
Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
→ to text

azimuth:
in artillery, the angle of deviation of a projectile
or bomb from a known direction, such as north or south.
→ to text

bandoliers:
broad belts worn over the
shoulder by soldiers and having a number of small loops or pockets, for holding
cartridges.
→ to text

bataillon pénal:
(French) penal
battalion; military unit consisting of convicted persons for whom military
service was either assigned punishment or a voluntary replacement of
imprisonment. Penal battalion service was very dangerous: the official view was
that they were highly expendable and were to be used to reduce losses in
regular units. Convicts were released from their term of service early if they
suffered a combat injury (the crime was considered to be “washed out with
blood”) or performed a heroic deed.
→ to text

Berbers:
members of a people living in
North Africa, primarily Muslim, living in settled or nomadic tribes between the
Sahara and Mediterranean Sea and between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean.
→ to text

burnoose:
a long hooded cloak worn by some
Arabs.
→ to text

cafard:
(French) a mood of
madness and suicidal depression that commonly afflicted Legionnaires.
→ to text

caid:
a Berber chieftain.
→ to text

cantle:
the raised back part of a saddle for a horse.
→ to text

Casablanca:
a seaport on the Atlantic coast
of Morocco.
→ to text

Caudron:
airplane made by the Caudron
Airplane Company, a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by Gaston
(1882–1915) and René (1884–1959) Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft
manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War
I and World War II.
→ to text

Chauchat:
a light machine gun used mainly
by the French Army. It was among the first light machine-gun designs of the
early 1900s. It set a precedent for twentieth-century firearm projects as it
could be built inexpensively in very large numbers.
→ to text

coyote:
used for a man who has the sneaking and skulking
characteristics of a coyote.
→ to text

deuce, what the:
what the devil; expressing
surprise.
→ to text

djellaba:
a long loose hooded garment with
full sleeves, worn especially in Muslim countries.
→ to text

drome:
short for airdrome; a military air base.
→ to text

Fez:
the former capital of several dynasties and one of
the holiest places in Morocco; it has kept its religious primacy through the
ages.
→ to text

flintlock:
a type of gun fired by a spark
from a flint (rock used with steel to produce an igniting spark). It was
introduced about 1630.
→ to text

Foreign Legion:
French Foreign Legion; a unique
elite unit within the French Army established in 1831. It was created as a unit
for foreign volunteers and was primarily used to protect and expand the French
colonial empire during the nineteenth century, but has also taken part in all
of France's wars with other European powers. It is known to be an elite
military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills,
but also on the building of a strong
esprit de corps
amongst members. As
its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a widely
accepted solution to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Training is
often not only physically hard with brutal training methods, but also extremely
stressful with high rates of desertion.
→ to text

Franzawi:
(Arabic) Frenchman.
→ to text

G-men:
government men; agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
→ to text

hein?:
(French) eh?
→ to text

High Atlas:
portion of the Atlas Mountain
range that rises in the west at the Atlantic coast and stretches in an eastern
direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border.
→ to text

houris:
in Muslim belief, any of the dark-eyed virgins of
perfect beauty believed to live with the blessed in Paradise.
→ to text

hp:
horsepower.
→ to text

ifrïts:
(Arabic) powerful
evil
jinn,
demons or monstrous giants in Arabic mythology.
→ to text

Jebel Druses:
Jebel
is Arabic for
mountain.
The
Druse
(also
Druze
) are members of a tightly organized,
independent religious sect dwelling in the Jebel Druze State, a region in
southern Syria named after the Jabal el Druze mountain and formerly part of the
Turkish Empire. They have been known to be strong fighting people.
→ to text

kepi:
a cap with a circular top and a nearly horizontal
visor; a French military cap that men in the Foreign Legion wear.
→ to text

kohl:
a cosmetic preparation used especially in the
Middle East to darken the rims of the eyelids.
→ to text

la Légion:
(French) the Legion;
the French Foreign Legion.
→ to text

Lawrence:
Lieutenant Colonel
Thomas Edward Lawrence, also known as T. E. Lawrence. A British Army officer
renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against the
Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916-18. Extraordinary breadth and variety of his
activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in
writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title which was
used for the 1962 film based on his World War I activities. Lawrence's major
written work is
Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
 In addition to being a
memoir of his war experiences, certain parts also serve as essays on military
strategy, Arabian culture and geography.  
→ to text

Lebels:
French rifles that were adopted as standard
infantry weapons in 1887 and remained in official service until after World War
II.
→ to text

Legion:
French Foreign Legion, a specialized military unit
of the French Army, consisting of volunteers of all nationalities assigned to
military operations and duties outside France.
→ to text

Legionnaire:
a member of the French Foreign
Legion.
→ to text

light out:
to leave quickly; depart
hurriedly.
→ to text

lucre:
money, wealth or profit.
→ to text

mailed fist:
superior force.
→ to text

Makhzan:
(Arabic) the
privileged people from whom the Moroccan state officials are recruited.
→ to text

Mannlicher:
a type of rifle equipped with a manually operated
sliding bolt that loads cartridges for firing. Ferdinand Mannlicher, an
Austrian engineer and armaments designer, created rifles that were considered
reasonably strong and accurate.   
→ to text

mes amis:
(French) my friends.
→ to text

mon Dieu:
(French) my God.
→ to text

Moorish barb:
a desert horse of a breed
introduced by the Moors (Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent) that
resembles the Arabian horse and is known for speed and endurance.
→ to text

Moors:
members of a northwest African Muslim people of
mixed descent.
→ to text

Morocco:
a country of northwest Africa on
the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The French established a
protectorate over most of the region in 1912, and in 1956 Morocco achieved
independence as a kingdom.
→ to text

m'sieu:
(French) sir.
→ to text

Mt. Tizi-n-Tamjurt:
the highest elevation in the
Atlas Mountain range.
→ to text

murette:
(French) a low wall.
→ to text

musette:
a small canvas or leather bag
with a shoulder strap, as one used by soldiers or travelers.
→ to text

paquetage:
(French) soldier's
pack.
→ to text

prop wash:
the disturbed mass of air pushed aft by the propeller
of an aircraft.
→ to text

Riffs:
members of any of several Berber peoples inhabiting
the Er Rif, a hilly region along the coast of northern Morocco. The Berber
people of the area remained fiercely independent until they were subdued by
French and Spanish forces (1925–1926).
→ to text

Scheherazade:
the female narrator of
The
Arabian Nights,
who during one thousand and one adventurous nights saved
her life by entertaining her husband, the king, with stories.
→ to text

scow:
an old or clumsy boat; hulk; tub.
→ to text

Shilha:
the Berber dialect spoken in the mountains of
southern Morocco.
→ to text

sïdï
(Arabic) a general
title of respect.
→ to text

Sidi-bel-Abbès:
the capital of the
Sidi-bel-Abbès province in northwestern Algeria. The city was developed around
a French camp built in 1843. From 1931 until 1961, the city was the “holy city”
or spiritual home of the French Foreign Legion, the location of its basic
training camp and the headquarters of its first foreign regiment.
→ to text

Snider:
a rifle formerly used in the British service. It
was invented by American Jacob Snider in the mid-1800s. The Snider was a
breech-loading rifle, derived from its muzzle-loading predecessor called the
Enfield.
→ to text

sou:
(French) a French
coin worth a very small amount.
→ to text