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chairs for the abuele and abuela, and the pale-blue, peeling letters on the notice above the doorway were only just decipherable against the whitewashed wall. In front of the entrance hung a primitive jalousie made of string and squashed bottle-tops.
    Before, the bar had been a place for villagers, but now it was being annexed more and more by the small colony of resident foreigners.
    Siglinde stayed in the truck with her legs crossed and one elbow resting on her knee, her chin supported on her hand. She did not want to go in with them, not because she was afraid, but simply because she did not feel like it. The noise from within indicated that the Swedes and Finns had already been at it for some time.
    They were singing.
    When the jalousies fell back again behind Willi Mohr, who was last in, most of the singing stopped.
    Siglinde tried to make out from the sounds what was going on. Then she shrugged her shoulders and resignedly shook her head.
    Inside in the bar, a fight broke out almost at once.
    The person who owed Dan Pedersen most money was a Swedish painter. He was tall, dark and handsome, but also very frightened of being beaten up. He considered himself a successful seducer and his secret terror was that someone would do violence to his greatest advantage, his face. He was also stupid and tried to cover his physical cowardice with arrogance.
    The Swede was sitting at a table near the door, together with a small bearded man, who also maintained he was a painter and who was definitely a Finn. Another Finnish painter, famous in his own country, was standing by the bar itself, drunk and conciliatory. He was bare-footed and wearing a blue and white track suit. Four other Scandinavians were there, amongst them two girls. Behind the bar stood Jacinto. He was looking satisfied and was just having a drink with the famous Finn. The abuela, who was small and chubby and wrapped in a dirty shawl, brought another bottle of champagne to the table by the door.
    The champagne infuriated Dan Pedersen. True it was of the cheapest kind, which cost only twelve pesetas a bottle, but it still gave the scene an air of inappropriate and unearned luxury. He said something uncontrolled and when the Swede smiled superciliously, Dan grabbed hold of his shoulder. The little Finn rose to his feet and hit him hard with his fist on the back of his neck and Dan fell across the Swede’s outstretched leg. As he fell, he saw Jacinto slink out the back way and heard the abuela call for help. Then his head hit the iron leg of the table and he temporarily retired from the game.
    When the Swede saw the devastating effect of tripping Dan up, he rose and walked towards the door. Willi Mohr was standing in the way and thought he ought to hit him. But then he saw that the Swede was frightened and so he hesitated. Ramon, who had been ill-placed from the start, pushed Willi Mohr aside and knocked the Swede down with two swift blows in the stomach. Then he kicked him hard in the side. At the same time, Santiago had succeeded in coming up behind the Finn and flinging his arms round him. Ramon came nearer, crouching with his fists clenched, but although the Finn had his arms locked to his sides he succeeded in kicking his opponent in the chest. Ramon staggered back a few steps. Two of the other Scandinavians hung amateurishly on to Santiago from behind and he was forced to let the Finn go.
    Suddenly it was quite quiet, and Willi Mohr saw that what two seconds earlier had really been some kind of unreal game, had now suddenly grown serious.
    Ramon and the Finn were moving round opposite one another in a small circle, crouching with their raised arms bent likemechanical grabs. The skin on their faces was stretched tightly over their features.
    They could well kill each other, quite without cause, thought Willi Mohr in astonishment.
    The jalousies rattled and two civil guards in green uniforms came in from the street. One of them hit Ramon Alemany over the head from