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Halstead stood up from the bench and waved at one of the many buxom waitresses roaming the square with several steins of beer in each hand. “Nothing is private here, Rudi, you know that,” he replied in an even louder voice than before. “Tell us, tell the people of Munich what is so urgent that it must interfere with Oktoberfest!” The crowd at the table assented to his proposition, demanding that Rudi tell them as well. “The party committee has been distributing this pamphlet,” Hess replied, without further hesitation, as he handed Halstead the paper in question. Halstead attempted to focus his eyes on the type, then handed the pamphlet back to Hess as he asked him to read it aloud. Hess began to speak in a low voice, then at full volume once Halstead and the rest of the drinkers protested that they couldn’t hear. “...A lust for power and personal ambition have caused Herr Adolf Hitler to return to his post after his journey to Egypt, a journey the purpose of which has not yet been disclosed. He regards the time as ripe for bringing disunion and schism into our ranks by means of shadowy people behind him, and thus to further the interests of the Jews and their friends—” “Enough, enough!” Halstead shouted as a waitress placed a fresh stein before him. “Enough, enough!” he repeated, laughing along with the crowd. “It is Drexler who wrote this up, is it not?” “Yes, mein Führer. The committee is in the Sterneckerbräu right now—” Halstead spread his arms over the bench, hitting Hess with his stein and spilling beer on the man’s gray uniform. “My fellow Munichers!” he shouted out, turning hundreds of heads. “My fellow Darbeitpartei leaders accuse me of attempting to bring disunion to the German Workers’ Party by associating with shadowy people! People of Munich, do you consider yourselves shadowy?” “Nein!” the crowd shouted back. “Then to the Sterneckerbräu, to rid ourselves of these slanderers!” Halstead pointed in the direction of the Sterneckerbräu with his stein, hitting Hess on the side of the head and sending him to the flagstones of the square. |