Hell's Legionnaire by L. Ron Hubbard

white
robes turning scarlet with blood.
    Montrey, a small
Frenchman and second in command, came racing out of the first pup tent on all
fours. He crawled over to me.
    â€œName of a name!”
swore Montrey. “They are gone?”
    â€œYes,” I told him.
    â€œConfound it! I missed
the fun.”
    â€œWasn’t any fun to
it,” I said. “If they’d come five feet further before I saw them they’d have
gotten me. And they’d have gotten the rest of you before you could have reached
your Lebels .”
    â€œMaybe,” replied
Montrey, seating himself and fumbling for a smoke.
    â€œHow is the little
fellow?” I asked, referring to the wounded man.
    â€œCopain? He’s all
right. Or will be in another three or four hours. He’s lucky, that one. No more
worry about water, no more worry about these Berber pigs.”
    â€œI think I’ll go in
and see him,” I said.
    Copain’s eyes were
wide open, but he did not see us. He was sprawled on his blankets. Flies,
attracted by the blood, were already gathering. Copain was small and wiry. His
yellow face was quite calm.
    â€œHow are you feeling?”
I asked him. I knew that he would not answer, that he had not heard, but I felt
that I should say something.
    But Copain surprised
us. His lips drew open and he twisted his shoulders around. By the light of his
eyes I knew that he was deep in delirium.
    â€œYou’ll get it all
now, won’t you, Tanner? All of it!” Copain’s glassy eyes flickered. “You’re a
swine, Tanner.”
    Montrey looked at me
quickly. This Tanner that Copain talked about had been killed some weeks before
in a line skirmish far to the east. And Copain had been there at the man’s
finish.
    â€œBut before I see you
get all of it, I’ll take this gun—this gun, see? The gun that killed André!
I’ll take this gun and shoot you down like a pig! You won’t get it if I’m not
there. We’ve waited too long.”
    Montrey tried to
smooth Copain’s forehead.
    â€œEasy, soldier.”
    But Copain threshed
out his arms and with amazing strength threw Montrey back from him.
    â€œGet away from me! Get
away from me! You can’t talk me out of it. You can’t do me out of my share!
I’ll get it in spite of you and hell and the Berbers. And I’ll spend it on cars
and women!” He was shouting now, his glazed eyes narrowed.
    â€œQuiet,” I said. “It’s
Montrey and your corporal. It’s all right, Copain.”
    The flap of the pup
tent lifted and curious, unshaven faces peered in.
    Montrey shook his
head.
    â€œHe won’t live an hour
if we let him roll around like that.”
    â€œWhich makes it three
hours less he’ll have to suffer if he comes out of this,” I said. “I wonder
what the devil he’s talking about.”
    Copain, through that
fog of delirium, must have heard me.
    â€œYou know what I’m
talking about, Tanner. It was you that went with me when we discovered it. It
was you that said to wait a while until we could get André out of the deal
before we made a break.”
    â€œAndré?” muttered a
man in the entrance. “He was found shot in the back last month—shot with a
Lebel.”
    â€œSure he was!” howled
Copain. “Sure he was! I did it, didn’t I, Tanner. I did it. He wanted all of
it. Every last bit of it. And so I shot him.”
    I didn’t like to
crouch there listening to another man’s secrets. I started to back out but the
crowd in the door wouldn’t let me through.
    Copain was talking
again.
    â€œYou couldn’t even
find your way back there! You weren’t ever in the Intelligence, Tanner. You
need me and you’ll take me with you!”
    I didn’t like the
sudden light which came into Montrey’s eyes.
    â€œI’ll take you with
me, Copain,” he said. “Just you and I, eh? We’ll go get