The Last Exile and other stories [antikvár]

Snipers Versus Occupiers It was already an anarchy of near-starvation, and Scott began to see its points. The walls were already painted with Arabic slogans threatening fifth-columnists with death and disembodiment if they co-operated with the British. The British soldiers, who understood nothing, were nervously patrolling the streets looking for the snipers who were shoot-^ ing at them from time to time, or were hidden in difficult outposts and dropping grenades on their trucks. Scott had seen Egyptian soldiers, but he knew he dare not approach them, because now, in the presence of the English, he realized how English he would appear himself, and he began to make his way to the native quarter, which seemed to be the most logical place for any non-co-operative Egyptian to disappear in, even Amin. He was almost there on a quiet and safelooking street when he was stopped short by a British commando patrol. "Where do you think you're off to?" one of them said. Scott did not think quickly enough, and he answered their questions in English instead of in French or Arabic. They asked him for his passport, which he showed them. They didn't believe him. They looked at his filthy clothes stained by the boát and no doubt smelling of the laké, and they searched him and found his Frontier Corps pass. They looked into his knapsack and found his Egyptian map, and