For Whom the Bell Tolls: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Robert Jordan wakes up during the night and realizes that Maria is still with him; he puts his head under the robe and kisses her shoulder, feeling the “smooth tactile happiness” of their two bodies touching. When he wakes at daylight, she is gone. Pablo emerges from the woods and goes into the cave. Jordan goes back to sleep until the sound of airplanes wakes him, and he looks up to see three fascist patrol planes in the sky. Pablo and Rafael are watching them from the mouth of the cave. Robert Jordan realizes that if they are not looking for anything, they might see the group in the hills, but they might mistake them for their own troops. Jordan gets dressed while another two sets of planes fly by.

Robert Jordan asks Pablo if he has seen planes like this before, and he replies that he hasn’t. Jordan says that there will be more, and Pablo says he has never seen this many planes. Jordan realizes that this concentration of planes means something very bad, and he times the planes to estimate when they will be heading over the lines; he realizes that they might be going on to Colmenar, to Escorial, or to the flying field at Manzanares el Real. Pablo is concerned that the planes saw his horses. Robert Jordan tells Anselmo to watch the road and make a note of everything that passes by. Anselmo does not know how to write, so Jordan tells him to make marks in his notebook, representing the number of tanks, trucks, guns, cars, ambulances, or foot soldiers that pass by.

Jordan asks for Rafael and sends him with Anselmo to go observe the road and note how many soldiers are posted at the saw mill. He gives Rafael his watch, and Rafael admires it, joking about his own ability to tell time. Jordan tells him to take things seriously, and Rafael angrily responds that Jordan should have taken things seriously last night—that he should have killed Pablo. Jordan laughs him off and says that he is going to see El Sordo.

Pilar serves Robert Jordan coffee and asks him why the planes have arrived. Fernando, another guerilla, says that the night before, there was no unusual movement in La Granja, where the guerillas often go for news or tobacco. Fernando has not heard anything from Segovia, but he did hear Republicans in La Granja say that the Republic is preparing an offensive. Some say that there will be two, on bridges near them and near the Escorial. There is some talk that troops have been sent from Valladolid to clear out the mountains.

Pilar complains about Fernando’s reporting and asks Robert Jordan if they have “people such as this in other countries.” Jordan politely responds that “there are no other countries like Spain.” Pilar asks Fernando if he has seen any other country, and he responds that he hasn’t—nor does he wish to. Maria asks Fernando to talk about his time in Valencia, and Fernando says that he did not like Valencia, since the people “had no manners.” Pilar disagrees vehemently with Fernando, saying that she had the “best time” of her life in Valencia with Finito: the city was crowded, and they would go to the beach and watch boats with sails being hauled out of the sea by oxen. They ate pastries, prawns, paella, and melon, and drank white wine. Pilar recalls her time in Valencia with pleasure, describing her love-making with Finito in a hotel.

Pilar says that Pablo knows “aught” of such things—the things she did with Finito in Valencia. He replies that they have done things together, and she tells him that though he was “more man” than Finito, they never went to Valencia together. Pablo says that together, they have blown up a train, which Pilar never did with Finito, and Pilar responds angrily, telling Pablo that “no one can speak against Valencia.” The group hears the sound of the planes returning overhead.