The Red Collar by Jean-Christophe Rufin, Adriana Hunter

we’d come out and fraternize. Supporters all along the front would spread the news and organize the uprising. We’d send proclamations to Salonika and Sofia. Civilian workers would revolt. It would be the end of the war and the beginning of the revolution.”
    â€œEat,” said Lantier. “It’ll get cold.”
    Morlac looked at his plate and seemed to take a moment to readjust. He gulped down his stew, keen to get such everyday matters out of the way.
    â€œAnd what actually happened in the end?”
    The prisoner’s face darkened. He set down his spoon slowly and tore off some bread to clean his plate.
    â€œIt went as planned, to start with.”
    There was a pause. Morlac was his gloomy self again and his stubborn expression was back.
    â€œIt took nearly three weeks of preparations. I had to find an excuse to go over to the Russian lines when the time for action came. There was some hitch in the rotation of Bulgarian troops. In the end everything fell into place on September 12.”
    â€œI thought that was the day you earned your mention?”
    Morlac shrugged without replying. He sat back and ran a fingernail between two side teeth.
    â€œIt was beautiful night. It had been a hot day. Everyone felt confident, rested. But there was a lot of tension. The tricky bit was going out into no-man’s-land. Unfortunately, there was no moon that night, and you couldn’t see much. We’d got the wire cutters ready to cut the barbed wire. Once contact had been made we could light lamps and organize ourselves. The most dangerous bit was the beginning.”
    â€œHow many of you were in on it?”
    â€œOn the Russian side almost the whole unit. Afoninov had assured me that on the Bulgarian side there were at least two hundred men who’d go for it. On top of that, the timing was good because the officers from that sector had been summoned to headquarters.”
    Dujeux came in to clear the plates. He put an apple in front of each of them and left.
    â€œWe’d planned the action for four o’clock. That meant we could get things organized before sunrise but we wouldn’t be in the dark for too long once both camps were united.”
    â€œWhat was the signal?”
    â€œ
The
Internationale
. They would sing it on the Bulgarian side and we’d join in in chorus. Our positions were so close we could hear everything, especially at night. At four o’clock we heard the hymn wafting over from their lines. You can’t imagine the effect it had on us.”
    The major thought Morlac’s eyes looked watery. In any event, he took out a handkerchief and hid his emotion by blowing into it.
    â€œThen everything happened very quickly. At the time we didn’t understand what was going on. It was only afterwards that we put it all together.”
    He blew his nose again, noisily this time. And resumed his irritable expression.
    â€œI’ll spare you the details. It all started with Wilhelm. He was with me, as usual. He has good eyesight and a hunting dog’s instinct. When he realized there was movement in the enemy lines, he climbed onto the parapet and out of the trench. One of the Bulgarians came forward, as planned. But the dog wasn’t in on the plan . . . ” Morlac paused to snigger. “He jumped at the man’s throat. He’d done it before when we had that skirmish with bayonets, and he’d been praised, hadn’t he? To him an enemy was an enemy. He’s a good loyal dog.”
    Morlac’s face was contorting into a hideous grimace.
    â€œYes, loyal,” he said again.
    Lantier was beginning to understand.
    â€œThe Bulgarian screamed. And there in the darkness everyone lost their heads. The most committed to the cause could shout as much as they liked that it was meaningless, the others didn’t believe them. They thought we’d set a trap for them. Some started shooting. There was some return fire from