Chapter 27 Summary

El Sordo and his men make their last stand on a hilltop. Joaquin and Ignacio fire to give Sordo a chance to get the gun in place. Three of the five men on the hilltop are wounded. Sordo is wounded in a leg and his left arm. The men dig mounds and link the mounds with dirt and stones. Joaquin has not been hit and repeats communist slogans.

Sordo thinks of the slim possibility he could get his men out. He wonders if the planes will come and thinks they will. One of his men begins to curse Pilar for leaving them there. Sordo defends Pilar, saying there is nothing they could do. Another man curses the Russians and thinks they should offer assistance. A man asks when the planes will come, and Sordo tells him they will arrive at any time.

Sordo...