The captain was firmly convinced that he stood here on guard, that he was preserving something and that all these gendarmes from the gendarmerie stations who were under his orders were a bunch of donothing egoists, bastards, crooks for whom nothing else but brandy, beer and wine had any meaning. Because they had low wages they accepted bribes to be able to booze and they were slowly but surely breaking Austria up.
Kapitaina bete-betean sinetsirik zegoen han zerbait zaintzeko zegoela eta jendarmerietako bere mendeko horiek guztiak alfer banda bat zirela, berekoiak, zitalak, iruzurgileak, pattarraz, garagardoaz eta ardoaz baino ulertzen ez zutenak. Eta mozkortzeko nahiko soldatarik ez zeukatenez, saldu egiten zuten beren burua, eta baita Austria poliki baina segurki hondatu ere.