Fernando
A guerrilla in Pablo's band who does not joke, disapproves of most things, and walks to the market town to sit in cafés and listen.
To have things done correctly, in the correct order, by people behaving properly. He is the only person in the cave who objects to anything on grounds of manners.
The book
At a glance
- Fernando — a fighter in Pablo's band, and its source of town gossip
- La Granja, where he sits in the cafés and listens
- Informality, obscenity, and public kissing
- Heavier than mercury, duller than a steer on the highroad, and completely dependable
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeFernando fights with the guerrilla band that lives in a cave in the mountains north of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, on the far side of the line from its own Republican army. He is the least entertaining person there and one of the most useful. He walks down to La Granja, the nearest town of any size, drinks coffee, listens to what the waiters have picked up from the enemy's officers, and walks back up with it.
He is grave, literal, easily shocked, and completely without humour about any of it. Everyone in the cave finds him tiring. Nobody suggests he is anything other than reliable.
How the book draws them
- The news from the cafésHe comes back from La Granja with a report he does not think much of: the officers talk in the cafés in Segovia and Ávila, the waiters note it, and the rumour is that the Republic is preparing an offensive, possibly in these mountains. He delivers it as gossip not worth giving importance to. It is the first sign that the attack Jordan has come to support is not a secret.
- "This one doesn't joke"Pilar's summary of him, delivered while he is sitting at the table: "This one doesn't joke," the woman said. "Bad luck that he doesn't." She spends the rest of the scene calling him a thick head and telling him to drink more coffee and try to remember more news.
- He disapprovesJordan kisses Maria in the cave in front of everyone. Fernando stands up, collects his carbine from the wall and walks out, pausing to tell Pilar that he does not like it and that she should take better care of the girl. Pilar says she is pleased.
- Agustín's testimonialListing the band for Jordan, Agustín does not soften anything and still ends up recommending him: "It is true he is heavier than mercury. He is fuller of boredom than a steer drawing a cart on the highroad. But to fight and to do as he is told. Es muy hombre! Thou wilt see."
- "I find myself very well here"Shot in the groin at the bridge, holding both hands against it with his legs straight out in front of him and his face grey, he refuses to be carried up the hill. "Leave me now please, for a favor," he said. "I find myself very well here." Then he opens his eyes long enough to note that his position covers both the road and the bridge, which is true.