human
I've told you about Kenny, he wound it up.
gpt
I sent him over to the west to raise a harka of Nemadi to help in taking Tamanrasset. He joined Cliff Jackson in giving the smaller man an affectionate blow on the shoulder.
human
What luck did you have, Kenny?
gpt
If you two will stop beating, I'll tell you. I didn't recruit a single Nemadi.
human
Anybody got a drink around here? Good grief, have I been covering ground.
gpt
You mean you haven't brought any assistance _at all_?
human
I didn't say that. I said I didn't recruit any of the Nemadi. I never even got as far as their territory.
gpt
O.K., he said,
human
The country's alive from here to Bidon Cinq and south to the Niger. Bourem and Gao have gone over to El Hassan and a column of followers was descending on Niamey. They should be there by now. I never got as far as Nemadi country. I could have recruited ten thousand fighting men, but I didn't know what we'd do with them in this country. So I weeded through everybody who volunteered and took only veterans. Men who'd formerly been in the French forces, or British, or whatever. Louis Wallington and his team were in Bourem when I got there and--
gpt
Who is Louis Wallington?
human
Head of a six-man Sahara Development Project team like the one I used to head. His eyes went back to Kenny.
gpt
What about Louis?
human
He's come in with us. Didn't know how to get in touch, so he was working on his own. And Pierre Dupaine. Remember him, the fellow from Guadeloupe in the French West Indies, used to be an operative of the African Affairs sector of the French Community? Well, he and a half dozen of his colleagues have come in and were leading an expedition on Timbuktu. But Timbuktu had already joined up too, before they got there--
gpt
Wow, Homer said.
human
It's really spreading.
gpt
Why isn't all this on the radio?
human
Things are moving too fast, and communications have gone to pot. He looked at Homer.
gpt
Have any of these journalists found you yet?
human
What journalists?
gpt
You'll find out. Half the newspapers, magazines, newsreels and TV outfits in the world are sending every man they can release into this area. They're going batty trying to find El Hassan. Man, do you realize the extent of the country your followers now dominate?
human
I hadn't thought of it. Besides, most of what you've been saying is news to us here. We've been keeping on the prod.
gpt
Well, the nearest I can figure it, El Hassan is ruler of an area about the size of Mexico. At least it was yesterday. By today, you can probably tack on Texas.
human
Things are moving so fast, we're going to have to run to keep ahead of El Hassan's followers. One thing, Homer, we're going to have to have a press secretary.
gpt
Elmer Allen was going to handle that, but he's still up north,
human
I'll do it. Used to be a newspaperman, when I was younger,
gpt
Great, you handle that, Dave. Then to Kenny,
human
Where're your men and how well are they armed?
gpt
Well, that's one trouble, Kenny said unhappily.
human
We requisitioned motor transport from some of the Sahara Afforestation Project oases down around Tessalit. In fact, Ralph Sandell, their chief mucky-muck in those parts, has come over to us. But we haven't got much in the way of shooting irons.
gpt
What it boils down to, still, is that a hundred of those Arab Legionnaires, with their armor, could finish us all off in ten minutes if it came to open battle.