Summary: Chapter Thirty-four
Andrés rides through the night to deliver Robert Jordan’s
dispatch to General Golz. He thinks about his feeling of relief
when Robert Jordan asked him to deliver his message—relief because
killing thrills Andrés in a way that embarrasses him. He
remembers having the same feeling of exhilaration and embarrassment
on his town’s annual bull-baiting day, in which, by tradition, he
was expected to bite the bull by the ear. He also remembers feeling
the same sense of relief if the bull-baiting ever was canceled.
Andrés arrives at a checkpoint.
Summary: Chapter Thirty-five
Robert Jordan lies next to Maria, seething with
anger at Pablo and reproaching himself for letting Pablo steal from
his packs. He forces himself to let go of his anger. Calm, he thinks
about how to blow up the bridge without enough people, horses, or
weapons, and now without the mechanism for properly detonating the
dynamite. Robert Jordan whispers to the sleeping Maria that they
can still finish the mission. They will all be killed, he thinks,
but they will complete their task. He tells Maria that a good night’s
sleep will be her wedding present.
Summary: Chapter Thirty-six
At the checkpoint, the guards challenge, insult, and threaten
to shoot Andrés. After much wrangling, Andrés finally convinces
them that his mission is legitimate. One of the guards takes Andrés’s
gun and escorts him down the hill.
Summary: Chapter Thirty-seven
Robert Jordan and Maria lie in bed just before three in
the morning. He licks her ear, and she wakes up. They make love,
and once again they experience a simultaneous orgasm and feel the
earth move. Maria calls this state “la gloria.” They talk about
how lucky they are to have found each other. Robert Jordan thinks
that these people—Maria, Pilar, Anselmo, Agustín—are his family,
and that he has been here at the fort his whole life. He thinks
about how much he has learned.
Summary: Chapter Thirty-eight
Before dawn, the guerrilla fighters eat breakfast and
nervously prepare for the attack later that day. Robert Jordan plans
to use hand grenades to make up for the stolen explosives. He thinks
that they have too few men and that the attack will fail. He struggles
to overcome his anger at Pablo. Pilar tells Robert Jordan that she
cares about him very much and that he should forget about how troubled she
seemed after reading his palm.
Pablo suddenly returns to the camp. He has thrown the
explosives he stole into the river but has brought five men with
their horses from neighboring guerrilla bands. He explains that
he left in a moment of weakness and that he felt great loneliness
after he threw the explosives in the river. Although Pilar compares
Pablo to Judas Iscariot (the biblical apostle who betrays Jesus),
both Pilar and Robert Jordan are relieved that Pablo has returned.
