Page:Alien Souls by Achmed Abdullah (1922).djvu/132

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Touati (with a laugh)

Pardon, comrade, but I don't think I'll see. Also, I don't think we'll be in the list of casualties. We'll be amongst those who are reported missing; don't you think so?

Plotkine

God! that's right. The poor little girl—that'll make it worse for her. There she'll go on hoping for months and months. (He cries.)

Touati

Did that relieve your feelings, captain?

Plotkine

Oh, my body just feels paralyzed. I tell you, I can't even move my fingers any more. Damn this war! What are we fighting about, anyway? Just because you confounded Turks insist on having Macedonia.

Touati

No—because you are trying to steal it from us.

Plotkine

Yes—as you wish. Makes no difference now. It's all the same. Gracious Heavens, Tsar Ferdinand had enough territory, God knows. What does he want this infernal desert for? I tell you, when I was a child, hopping and playing about the ryefields, I had no idea I'd have to die here, in this desert. And poor little Lisaveta will also die—she loves me so much, the dear little girl. (Pause.) Why, there is no sense in all this—this fighting—this dying— Tell me, where is the sense of all this?

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