Rejtő, Jenő: The three musketeers in Africa; Q 19045

8 expeditionary mission to Senegal where the three of them helped locate a diamond mine that had been believed lost. Their exploits earned them fame, quite le^hrw WeTvo-tvr" a little fortune, and the 'jit r A V. But their period of service is not over yet. The ironical thing about Hopkins is that in point of fact he is a civilian, but is known in the regiment as Private Herman Thorze

, of New York State. Years ago, due to some misunderstanding, he was on the run from the police of the colony in connection with a most serious crime. In Oran, Algeria, with the noose tightening around him, he secured for himself the service ticket of a recruit, and slipped into the gigantic Fort Sainte Therese, where a battalion was just being fitted out to be despatched to Senegal. In the commotion he put on a uniform he swiped from the baggage-waggon

. It happened to be that of Private No. 71» a man named Herman Thorze, who had just been released from Colomb-Béchar prison camp where he had done time for desertion. For all Hopkins knew, the man might be dead or have deserted. Or perhaps he was wearing his fatigues on that day. /Buster and Nobody had then been in the Legion for just a few weeks./ Hopkins, with no military training, sneaked from one company to the other and was, in succession, sapper, cook, ambulance orderly and tank driver. When the successful /and lucrative/ Senegal campaign was over, Hopkins-Thorze thought