book blog 2

"Do you know anything about a machine gun?" he asked the old man.
"Nada," said Anselmo. "Nothing."
"And thou?" to the gypsy.
"That they fire with much rapidity and become so hot the barrel burns the and that touches it," the gypsy said proudly.
"Every one knows that," Anselmo said with contempt.
"Perhaps," the gypsy said. "But he asked me to tell what I know about a maquiana and I told him." Then he added, "Also, unlike an ordinary rifle, they continue to fire as long as you exert pressure on the trigger."
"Unless they jam, run out of ammunition or get so hot they melt," Robert Jordan said in English.
"What did you say?" Anselmo asked him.
"Nothing," Robert Jordan said. "I was only looking into the future in English." (pg. 20)

This passage describes the type of people who are fighting this guerilla war in the mountains. The people, who were talking around a fire at a guerilla camp, were gypses and obviously were never proffessional soldiers, because they didnt know anything about weapons. Also, i had no idea that they were speaking spanish the entire time. I thought they were speaking english so Robert could understand, until that "Robert Jordan said in English" part.

Why are they talking in old english??? and thou??? whats up with that? i cant figure out if its just because its 1938 or it means something or its just completly random.