登陆注册
5215600000032

第32章

Having acquired in southern Europe a knowledge of true peasantry, she was able to appreciate the great worth of the people. She saw the man under the silent, sad-eyed beast of burden. She saw them on the road carrying loads, lonely figures upon the plain, toiling under great straw hats, with their white clothing flapping about their limbs in the wind; she remembered the villages by some group of Indian women at the fountain impressed upon her memory, by the face of some young Indian girl with a melancholy and sensual profile, raising an earthenware vessel of cool water at the door of a dark hut with a wooden porch cumbered with great brown jars. The solid wooden wheels of an ox-cart, halted with its shafts in the dust, showed the strokes of the axe; and a party of charcoal carriers, with each man's load resting above his head on the top of the low mud wall, slept stretched in a row within the strip of shade.

The heavy stonework of bridges and churches left by the conquerors proclaimed the disregard of human labour, the tribute-labour of vanished nations.

The power of king and church was gone, but at the sight of some heavy ruinous pile overtopping from a knoll the low mud walls of a village, Don Pepe would interrupt the tale of his campaigns to exclaim:

`Poor Costaguana! Before, it was everything for the padres, nothing for the people; and now it is everything for these great politicos in Sta Marta, for Negroes and thieves.'

Charles talked with the alcaldes , with the fiscales , with the principal people in towns, and with the caballeros on the estates.

The comandantes of the districts offered him escorts--for he could show an authorization from the Sulaco political chief of the day. How much the document had cost him in gold twenty-dollar pieces was a secret between himself, a great man in the United States (who condescended to answer the Sulaco mail with his own hand), and a great man of another sort, with a dark olive complexion and shifty eyes, inhabiting then the Palace of the Intendencia in Sulaco, and who piqued himself on his culture and Europeanism generally in a rather French style because he had lived in Europe for some years--in exile, he said. However, it was pretty well known that just before this exile he had incautiously gambled away all the cash in the Custom House of a small port where a friend in power had procured for him the post of sub-collector. That youthful indiscretion had, amongst other inconveniences, obliged him to earn his living for a time as a cafe waiter in Madrid; but his talents must have been great, after all, since they had enabled him to retrieve his political fortunes so splendidly. Charles Gould, exposing his business with an imperturbable steadiness, called him Excellency.

The provincial Excellency assumed a weary superiority, tilting his chair far back near an open window in the true Costaguana manner. The military band happened to be braying operatic selections on the plaza just then, and twice he raised his hand imperatively for silence in order to listen to a favourite passage.

`Exquisite, delicious!' he murmured; while Charles Gould waited, standing by with inscrutable patience. `Lucia, Lucia di Lammermoor! I am passionate for music. It transports me. Ha! the divine--ha!--Mozart, Si ! divine . . . What is it you were saying?'

Of course, rumours had reached him already of the new-comer's intentions.

Besides, he had received an official warning from Sta Marta. His manner was intended simply to conceal his curiosity and impress his visitor. But after he had locked up something valuable in the drawer of a large writing-desk in a distant part of the room, he became very affable, and walked back to his chair smartly.

`If you intend to build villages and assemble a population near the mine, you shall require a decree of the Minister of the Interior for that,'

he suggested in a businesslike manner.

`I have already sent a memorial,' said Charles Gould, steadily, `and I reckon now confidently upon your Excellency's favourable conclusions.'

The Excellency was a man of many moods. With the receipt of the money a great mellowness had descended upon his simple soul. Unexpectedly he fetched a deep sigh.

`Ah, Don Carlos! What we want is advanced men like you in the province.

The lethargy--the lethargy of these aristocrats! The want of public spirit!

The absence of all enterprise! I, with my profound studies in Europe, you understand--'

同类推荐
  • 瑜伽集要施食仪轨

    瑜伽集要施食仪轨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 算学启蒙总括

    算学启蒙总括

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 禅源诸诠集

    禅源诸诠集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 青龙寺求法目录

    青龙寺求法目录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 侯鲭录

    侯鲭录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 腹黑王爷的小狐妃

    腹黑王爷的小狐妃

    传闻,东辰帝国有一个权重两朝的王爷,他俊美无双、战绩显赫,百姓心中的战神;传闻,他冷酷无情,从不把任何人放在眼里,皇帝也要敬让三分;传闻,他带回府一只小狐狸,被视为心尖宠,见此狐,如见他。他不把世人放在眼里,却把她放在了心上。从此情根深种,宠妻成瘾。
  • 本业璎珞经疏

    本业璎珞经疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 纵横大唐之雷霆霸主

    纵横大唐之雷霆霸主

    残唐。此时已不复往日之辉煌。男主角无意中结识了诺羌国的公主,于是开始了他的重铸大唐辉煌之路……
  • 初恋告急:转身竟是你

    初恋告急:转身竟是你

    “苏小白,我给你一个学期时间,你给我带回来一个女婿!”纳尼?老妈突如其来的逼婚打的苏小白一个措手不及。回国第一天,她在机场被一个陌生男子强吻。第二次再相遇,她糊了陌生男子一脸披萨。同桌竟然也是他?他就像是瘟神,避不开躲不掉,总是和苏小白对着干!直到有一日,苏小白给他发短信,“季言墨,我想给你生个季小黑。”季言墨笑,“生一个彩虹的颜色最好不过。”苏小白又回复:“我妈让我明天去相亲。”
  • 重生之商门娇女

    重生之商门娇女

    谢燕娘上辈子为了争一口气,嫁给一个不爱的男人,最后被折磨致死。重生回来,她绝不会重蹈覆辙。收复忠仆,寻找靠山,报复渣男,跟家中两个姐姐周旋。慢慢来,这辈子她有足够的时间让前夫尝尽苦楚,求而不得。嫡母想要把她送到渣男手里?做梦!大姐想要渣男?赶紧收了去。二姐想要把自己当踏脚板,好攀上高枝?门都没有!卷起袖子,一个个都收拾了。等等,靠山大人怎么步步逼近……
  • 千古传奇

    千古传奇

    本书描写了《西游记》中的唐僧原型玄奘,孤身一人,九死一生,到西天(古代印度)取经的真实经历。再现了他以高深的佛理及渊博的学识倾倒了印度王国,震动了西域诸国,在印度、中亚获得了至高无上荣誉的事迹。回国后,辛苦翻经,弘佛受到了大唐朝廷的高度器重及臣民的敬仰,圆寂后在长安竟有百万民众送葬,超过了历代任何一个皇帝的葬礼,读之让人啧啧称奇、惊叹不已……全书惊心动魄,引人入胜。既给人以历史文化的感悟,又得到文学美的享受。
  • 大日经略摄念诵随行法

    大日经略摄念诵随行法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 小花仙之奇迹之旅重修

    小花仙之奇迹之旅重修

    重修。在阅听可以看到这本书,也感谢妲己最近对落樱的指教。
  • 快捷粥品

    快捷粥品

    本书精选粥品的10种技法及100种营养功效知识,附以做粥品的100种小贴士,读者既能学到做粥品的基本技法,又能了解相关的营养知识。照本习读,新手亦能做出郁香味美的各式粥品来。
  • 神农本草经百种录

    神农本草经百种录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。