Summary: Chapter Twenty-one
It is Monday morning. Robert Jordan hears the sound of
hoof beats and sees a Fascist soldier on horseback riding toward
him. He tells Maria to hide under the robe and then shoots the soldier.
Everyone in the camp wakes. Robert Jordan asks who was supposed
to be on guard. Pilar says it was Rafael, but Rafael is missing.
Robert Jordan yells to the others to set up the machine gun and
sends Pablo off with the Fascist soldier’s horse so that the tracks
will lead away from the camp. Distracted and busy, Robert Jordan
refuses to tell Maria that he loves her.
Summary: Chapter Twenty-two
In the forest, Agustín, Primitivo, and Robert Jordan set
up the machine gun and camouflage it with pine branches. Robert
Jordan tells the others where to set it up and how to use it. He
worries that because the snowstorm has stopped, the tracks that
El Sordo made the night before will still be visible.
Rafael finally returns to his post. He was off trapping
a pair of hares who were mating in the snow. Robert Jordan is disgusted
but not angry. Rafael goes down to give the hares to the camp, and
Primitivo mounts the hill a little higher to keep watch. Robert
Jordan keeps an eye on two crows in nearby trees and decides that
if the crows stay quiet, no one will come. One crow flies away.
Robert Jordan discusses the next day’s attack plan with Agustín.
An observation plane rumbles overhead, and the second crow flies
away.
Summary: Chapter Twenty-three
We do it coldly but they do not, nor
ever have. It is their extra sacrament. . . .
(See Important Quotations Explained)
As Anselmo returns with more tree camouflage,
Robert Jordan spots a group of four Fascist cavalrymen following
the tracks of the Fascist horse Pablo led away. Robert Jordan insists
that the other men—Agustín, Anselmo, and, on the hill above, Primitivo—stay
quiet and not fire. The cavalry passes without noticing them. Another,
larger group of horsemen also passes without seeing anything.
Anselmo volunteers to sneak to the nearby village of La
Granja after the snow melts to find out any information he can.
Robert Jordan is nervous and feels that he and the others are talking
too much. Agustín talks about the urge to kill that he felt as the
cavalry rode by. Robert Jordan acknowledges to himself that he too
has felt the excitement of killing. Anselmo says he would rather
put prisoners to work than kill them. Anselmo then goes down to
the camp to intercept Rafael and bring back breakfast.
Summary: Chapter Twenty-four
Over breakfast, Robert Jordan and Agustín talk about Maria. Agustín
confides that he too is in love with her and implores Robert Jordan
to take her love seriously. They discuss the dependability of their
comrades. Agustín says that El Sordo’s men are very good. Suddenly,
Robert Jordan hushes Agustín. He hears noises in the distance and
realizes that there is fighting at El Sordo’s. He tells Agustín that
they must not go to help but rather stay where they are.
