"That it should come flying."
"It will come," Pilar told her.
"It will come flying and go the same way and tomorrow will fly, too."
"This afternoon," Maria said.
"This afternoon.
That this afternoon should come."
11
As they came up, still deep in the shadow of the pines, after dropping down from the high meadow into the wooden valley and climbing up it on a trail that paralleled the stream and then left it to gain, steeply, the top of a rim-rock formation, a man with a carbine stepped out from behind a tree.
"Halt," he said.
Then, "_Hola_, Pilar.
Who is this with thee?"
"An _Ingles_," Pilar said.
"But with a Christian name--Roberto.
And what an obscenity of steepness it is to arrive here."
"_Salud, Camarada_," the guard said to Robert Jordan and put out his hand.
"Are you well?"
"Yes," said Robert Jordan.
"And thee?"
"Equally," the guard said.
He was very young, with a light build, thin, rather hawk-nosed face, high cheekbones and gray eyes.
He wore no hat, his hair was black and shaggy and his handclasp was strong and friendly. His eyes were friendly too.
"Hello, Maria," he said to the girl.
"You did not tire yourself?"
"_Que va_, Joaquin," the girl said.
"We have sat and talked more than we have walked."
"Are you the dynamiter?" Joaquin asked.
"We have heard you were here."
"We passed the night at Pablo's," Robert Jordan said.
"Yes, I am the dynamiter."
"We are glad to see you," Joaquin said.
"Is it for a train?"
"Were you at the last train?" Robert Jordan asked and smiled.
"Was I not," Joaquin said.
"That's where we got this," he grinned at Maria.
"You are pretty now," he said to Maria.
"Have they told thee how pretty?"
"Shut up, Joaquin, and thank you very much," Maria said.
"You'd be pretty with a haircut."
"I carried thee," Joaquin told the girl.
"I carried thee over my shoulder."
"As did many others," Pilar said in the deep voice.
"Who didn't carry her?
Where is the old man?"
"At the camp."
"Where was he last night?"
"In Segovia."
"Did he bring news?"
"Yes," Joaquin said, "there is news."
"Good or bad?"
"I believe bad."