Blood and Pus — Tom Lewis

"Blood And Pus" by Tom Lewis is a comedy adventure set in north Morocco in 1925. Not suitable for children. Contains some swearing. Slight sexual content. Descriptions of violence. Resume: September, 1925. The Spanish are trying to raise their flag once more over the northern Moroccan hills. The red and gold flag that was torn down by the formidable fighters of the Rif. The Spanish conscript troops just want to go home. Red and gold? Blood and pus, they grumble, as the stretcher cases pass. The volunteers of La Legion don't mind. Their motto is "Viva la Muerte " ("Long Live Death "). Sargento Bellaco is never pleased about anything. But he is pleased about one thing. The Legion used to be full of foreigners. English, Russians, all sorts. They're all gone now. Teniente Alva is unhappy. Every time the rifianos attack, he loses men. The rifianos lose more. Many more. But they can replace their losses. He can not. It is almost dark. And he has a mountain of paperwork to catch up on. Hakinh is a man of the desert. The real desert, not the swamps that some call desert. He has a nose for many things. For water, for food, for a really nicely shaped, that is to say, flat, piece of ground, for all things that should be cherished. And for blasphemy, licentiousness, uncleanness and profanity, that should be destroyed. Then there is the Englishman... The Englishman. The foreigner. The Englishman. The paperwork The Englishman.... the infidel. And there is B.C. Azabi, Congressman for Targist, Minister for Mixed Bathing. From the trenches of Monte Malmusi we go, by way of the crazy streets of the Riffian capital Ajdir, to the showpiece coastal town, shop window to the world of the Rif Republic, where everything is Modern and Normal. Mercenary Captain Collick and his sidekick De Lugny are there. They aren't interested in the cinema, or the department store, or the telephones. The Riffians have gold. Lots of gold. They have to keep it somewhere. And Collick knows where. Then there is the Englishman. The prisoner. He has had his uses. But he is beginning to become... a nuisance."