human
There, the Great Mosque.
gpt
Yes, and there. See those mobs? He looked at Homer Crawford and said sourly,
human
Let's try and remember who it was who first thought of the El Hassan idea. Then we can blame it on him.
gpt
We all thought about it. Remember, we pulled into Tessalit and found that prehistoric refrigerator that worked on kerosene and there were a couple of dozen quarts of Norwegian beer, of all things, in it.
human
And we bought them all, Abe recalled happily.
gpt
Man, we hung one on.
human
The Mopti airport is about twelve miles over to the east of the town.
gpt
Yeah, I know. Been here before, Cliff said. He called back to Ballalou,
human
And then what happened?
gpt
We took the beer out into the desert and sat on a big dune. You can just begin to see the Southern Cross from there. Hangs right on the horizon. Beautiful.
human
I've never heard Kenny wax poetic before. I don't know which sounds more lyrical, though, that cold beer or the Southern Cross.
gpt
Anyway, that's when El Hassan was dreamed up. We kicked the idea around until the beer was all gone. And when we awoke in the morning, complete with hangover, we had the gimmick which we hung all our propaganda on.
human
El Hassan is turning out to be a hangover all right, Elmer Allen grunted, choosing to misinterpret his teammate's words. He peered down below.
gpt
And there the poor blokes are, rioting in favor of the product of those beer bottles.
human
It was crazy beer, man, Abe protested.
gpt
Real crazy.
human
I wish headquarters had more information to give us on this. All they said was there were demonstrations in favor of El Hassan and they were afraid if things went too far that some of the hard work that's been done here the past ten years might dissolve in the excitement; Dogon, Mosse, Tellum, Sonrai start fighting among each other.
gpt
That's not my big worry. I'm afraid some ambitious lad will come along and supply what these people evidently want.
human
How's that?
gpt
They want a leader. Someone to come out of the wilderness and lead them to the promised land. The older man grumbled sourly.
human
All your life you figure you're in favor of democracy. You devote your career to expanding it. Then you come to a place like North Africa. You're just kidding yourself. Democracy is meaningless here. They haven't got to the point where they can conceive of it.
gpt
And--
human
When it comes to governments and social institutions people usually come up with what they want, sooner or later. If those mobs down there want a leader, they'll probably wind up with one. He grunted deprecation.
gpt
And then probably we'll be able to say, Heaven help them.
human
A leader isn't necessarily a misleader, Jake.
gpt
Perhaps not necessarily, he said.
human
However, it's an indication of how far back these people are, how much work we've still got to do, when that's what they're seeking.
gpt
Well, I'm landing, Cliff said.
human
The airport looks free of any kind of manifestations.
gpt
That's a good word, Abe said.
human
Manifestations. Like, I'll have to remember that one. Man's been to school and all that jazz.
gpt
Where'd you like to get socked, beatnik?
human
About two feet above my head,
gpt
All right, boys, time's a wasting. Bey, you and Kenny get over to those administration buildings and scare us up some transportation. Use no more pressure than you have to. Abe, you and Elmer start getting our equipment out of the luggage--
human
Look here, Homer, do you need any help?
gpt
Isobel, Cliff, what do you think?
human
I'm game. I don't know what they'll say back at AFAA headquarters, though. Our co-operating with a Sahara Development Project team.
gpt
I don't know. Frankly, I took this job purely for the dough, and as outlined it didn't include getting roughed up in some riot that doesn't actually concern the job.
human
Oh, come along, Cliff, Isobel urged.
gpt
It'll give you some experience you don't know when you'll be able to use.
human
If you need us, we're available.
gpt
Thanks, Crawford said briefly, and turned off the unhappy stare he'd been giving Cliff.
human
We can use all the manpower we can get. You people ever worked with mobs before?