Cities of the Red Night

pauses and unfinished sentences as he gestured from time to time to the map with his long beautifully kept gambler's fingers.

'For the benefit of newcomers ... old hands may also profit ... a few indications and guidelines. We have already established fortified settlements ... as you see, practically unlimited. We need artisans, soldiers, sailors and farmers to man the settlements already founded and to establish new centers from the Bering Strait to the Cape. Breeding is encouraged ... is in fact a duty, I hope not too unpleasant. We expect that some of you will raise families. In any case, mothers and children ... well cared for, you understand. We need families to operate as intelligence agents in areas controlled by the enemy. We solicit those of you who are skilled as cooks, hotel keepers, doctors and pharmacists ... strategic occupations. One of our aims is to addict the Spanish to opium, thereby making them dependent on supplies which we can, at a crucial moment, cut off.... And now there are some uh young ladies who have been waiting to meet you.'

He sprinkled some powder onto a brazier and a dense cloud of smoke arose with a sound of thunder. Skipper Nordenholz, Captain Strobe, Opium Jones, Doctor Benway, and the Iguana twins disappeared.

Now a wind sweeps through the courtyard of Skipper Nordenholz's house at Port Roger, extinguishing the candles. When they are relit, fifty girls and women are standing along the south wall of the courtyard. The men and boys range themselves along the north wall, facing the women.

Juanito, the joker and Master of Ceremonies, prances out to the middle of the courtyard and holds up his hands for silence.

'And now we will separate los maridos, the husbands, from los hombres conejos, the rabbit men, who fuck'—he does a speed-up bump and grind—'and run'—he does a pantomime of running, swinging his arms and pumping his legs. 'All rabbit men will move to the east wall.'

Hans grins and puts his hands to the sides of his head making rabbit ears and trots to the east wall followed by four German friends. A Berber boy with yellow hair, blue eyes and pointed ears plays the flute as he walks to the east wall. Jerry and the dancing boys hop along behind him chewing carrots. Bert Hansen pulls a rabbit out of a hat, bows and runs for the east wall to a chorus of boos from the women and applause from the east-wall boys. I wriggle my ears and twitch my nose and show my teeth and scamper for the east wall followed by Brady, Paco, Clinch Todd, Guy and Adam.... It's a landslide for the east wall.... Juanito looks around as if bewildered....

'Esperan esperan.... Wait wait....' He dances behind a screen and pops out naked except for a rabbit mask. He looks at the women. His ears quiver and point east....

'Y yo el mas conejo de los conejos ... the rabbitest of the rabbits.' He screeches and leaps for the east wall in great hops.

He doffs his rabbit mask and advances again to the center of the courtyard and places an hourglass on a little table. He turns to the prospective husbands who still stand by the north wall....

'You have two minutes to think.'

He goes back to stand by the east wall. As the sand trickles I study these faces. If we are the fish, they are the water in which we will swim. They will hide us, provide us with weapons, guides, and information. They will carry out missions of sabotage behind enemy lines. Some of them will run inns catering to officials, priests, and generals. Others will become doctors and druggists. They are skilled in the use of subtle drugs and poisons. They will implement Benway's program of germ warfare. A few last-minute rabbits as the sand runs out. Then wives and husbands pair off and retire to private rooms.

Juanito leaps up and does a flamenco dance as we move back to the north wall facing the women, of whom thirty remain. They present a wide variety of physical types: blondes, redheads, Indian, Chinese, Negro, Portuguese, Spanish, Malay, Japanese, and some mixed blood. Preparations are under way. The dancing boys whisk away plates and lay down pallets. Incense burners are lit, musical instruments appear, props and costumes are laid out: goatskins of Boujeloud, skeleton suits, wings, animal and god masks. Two hangman's nooses dangle from a beam, the rope passing through two pulleys to facilitate suspension. I note that the ropes are elastic, and the nooses covered in soft leather.

Juanito announces: 'Rabbit men and rabbit women, prepare to meet your makers.' He leads the way into a locker room opening off the east wall. The boys strip off their clothes, giggling and comparing erections, and they dance out into the courtyard in a naked snake-line. The women