Maximina Part 55

This bit of news caused deep perturbation among those present, and it was immediately understood, though no one dared to ask the question of him, that Don Servando would join him in this journey, since such had been the custom from time immemorial. As soon as Don Martin made a move from the village, his rival packed his valise, and followed him wherever he went, taking it for granted that when he went away it must be for _something_, and this something could not be else than some harm for himself or his friends. When Don Servando undertook a journey, his enemy Don Martin did the same; everybody in the town knew this custom, and no one saw anything strange in it.

In truth, as soon as all had taken their departure, Don Servando sent his servant to secure an outside seat in the _Competencia_. He did not bid Miguel farewell, but made arrangements so that he should not suffer from any lack during his absence.

This lasted two days.

At the end of this time he returned, or, more correctly, both chiefs returned. Don Martin had gone down to the capital to have a tooth filled.

Every day Miguel received a little letter folded double, and directed in a handsome English hand--that taught at the Colegio de Vergara. Maximina did not write a great deal, though much more than before she was married. Her instinct told her that Miguel could not laugh at the trifles that she told him now, especially if they had reference to the baby. In all of them there was expressed an irresistible desire for him to return home as soon as possible, and yet she tried to hide it lest she should disturb him in his duties.

"Yesterday, Julita took me out to drive. It was crowded, and she was very gay. When I got home, I felt such a deep sadness that I cannot explain it to you. I remembered that the last time that I rode through the Castellana was with thee, my life, my all!"

The maiden from Pasajes, under the influence of her husband, who had never been sparing in the matter of affectionate words, had grown more lavish in her caresses. The same thing will happen to every loving woman, if she has a husband like Miguel, a little sentimental.

"Last night I woke up between four and five, and without knowing what I did, I was just going to give Julia a kiss, imagining that it was you.

Before I did so, I came to my senses. Such keen pain came over me that I cried more than an hour. I don't see why Julia did not wake up. Forgive me for telling you these things, my darling; I am a fool. The main thing is that you are getting along well, as you say, and that you attain your desire. There will still be time, if G.o.d is willing, for us to be together. For G.o.d's sake, don't neglect to say your prayers when you go to bed."

Each of these letters made our candidate melancholy and thoughtful for a while.

"How glad I should be to give these Caffres their walking-ticket, and go and give a hug to the daughter of my mother-in-law (G.o.d bless her!)," he said to himself more than once.

But as his affairs were progressing with 'a fair wind,' he suffered patiently. He wrote to various friends in Madrid to exert themselves for the suspension of the unfriendly _ayuntamientos_ above mentioned.

Mendoza and others also replied that the President and the ministry gave their consent. Nevertheless, the days pa.s.sed, and the order did not come.

The Casina party had on their hands another project for which they were very strenuous, though not to the same degree as the above. This was the highway between Serin and Agueria, which the inhabitants of both places wished to be put out at public contract. Many times they had made attempts through each faction, but without success. At last the general promised them that he would not cease his endeavors until he had accomplished it; but his departure for Germany had disappointed Don Servando's partisans, who hoped that the district would owe the benefit to them, and not to the Casona party. But now it came to light that the latter were actively at work in Madrid through the intervention of Corrales, who, as ex-minister and an individual well known in politics, had never ceased to be on friendly terms with the present ministers.

Thereupon, the Casina party became alarmed, and brought pressure on Miguel to use all his influence again, so that this favor might in nowise be granted to Corrales, but rather to the official candidate whom they supported.

Miguel received word from Madrid that the matter was in a fair way of being settled; later he got another letter in which it was said that the minister had promised to give the order immediately; then came still another which said that the order would appear very soon in the _Gazeta_. Nevertheless, just as in the matter of the suspension, nothing came of it: it failed to appear.

And Don Servando's janizaries, though very certain of victory, began to grow impatient, and to a.s.sail Miguel, who, in his turn, was still more vexed by their innuendos, and felt the most savage inclination to say something impudent in their faces.

One afternoon, when they were as usual drinking beer in Don Servando's office, they heard the sound of a bomb exploding in the air. They suddenly became solemn and silent with their ears p.r.i.c.ked up. In a moment another was heard, and some one present said:--

"_They are rockets!_"

"Rockets at this time of day?"

And the seven or eight men present looked at each other in amazement and no little alarm, for the two factions lived in perpetual excitement.

"Is there any special celebration at church to-morrow?"

"No, sir."

"Suppose one of you go out and investigate...."

Two men left the room, and returning in a few moments pale and excited, said, with trembling voices:--

"The rockets are being sent up from the balcony of the Casona."

"Those ... have received notice about the public contract."

Anxiety and terror seized all hearts: by a simultaneous movement they turned their eyes to the chief, famous for his sagacity.

Don Servando deliberately drank two schooners of beer, and after wiping his lips again and again with his handkerchief, he broke the strained silence, saying:--

"Senor Alcalde, go to the town-house and send two constables to the Casona, and warn them not to send up any more sky-rockets. Article 62 of the Munic.i.p.al Ordinances forbids their being shot without permission from the authorities."

The janizaries heaved a sigh of relief; not in vain had they placed their trust in their astute chief. The Alcalde went out on his errand, and the others remained discussing the incident, endeavoring to explain how the news had reached the _others_ sooner than it had them. The general opinion was that there had been some blunder in the mails.

Don Martin's friends, irritated by the Alcalde's prohibition, collected the village band, which was composed of ten or a dozen instruments, mostly bra.s.s, and offering the musicians a good fee besides a _pellejo_[55] of wine, which they showed to inspire them, they made them march up and down the village playing, and then stationed them in the middle of the plaza, where the people, attracted by the music, began to a.s.semble; the lads started a dance, and Don Martin and the highway were cheered.

New and dolorous a.s.sault upon the sensibilities of Don Servando's adherents in conclave a.s.sembled.

"Senor Alcalde!" said the latter once more, "send and have the music stop! The Munic.i.p.al Ordinances, articles 59 and 60, require that permission of the authorities should be demanded for this kind of manifestations."

But still Don Martin's followers were not to be cowed. As soon as the order came, feeling secure because the populace, fond of merry-making, supported them, they took the band across the bridge that spans the river there, by a curious accident dividing the munic.i.p.al limit of Serin from that of Agueria. From there to the village it would not be fifty steps. Once out of the hostile Alcalde's jurisdiction the music stormed and shrilled in discordant tones, and Don Martin's clients, inspiring the crowd to follow, began once more to organize dances, and indulge in "_vivas_." Thus pa.s.sed the afternoon in festive gayety and carousal, while the Casina party, gathered in their chief's office, tasted the bitterness of defeat, making faces of disgust.

And to cap the climax of misfortunes, _El Occidente_, Don Martin's paper, which happened to be published on the next day, was more than ever insulting, and made sport of them in a cruel fashion.

Serin boasted of two weekly papers: one, _El Occidente_, in the interest of the Casona party, and this appeared on Thursdays; and the other, _La Cronica_, belonging to Don Servando and coming out on Sunday. These were the two serpents to which we made allusion in our description of the Paradise of Serin. _La Cronica_ was written almost entirely by an ex-pilot, and consequently nearly all of his jokes were made up of sea terms; he used to call Don Martin "Martin the Fishing-smack," and his wife "The high board Frigate Dona Manuela," which made all his partisans die with amus.e.m.e.nt. _El Occidente_ was under the direction of a school-master who, to find insults, sought out the most eccentric and extraordinary expressions in the dictionary. That day he called Don Servando "_tozudo y zorrocloco_," which means stupidly obstinate, and one who feigns indisposition so as to conceal his indisposition to work, and he made certain uncomplimentary allusions to Miguel also.

Don Servando took his "_zorrocloco_" philosophically, but Miguel, little wonted to the coa.r.s.e personalities of village politics, flushed deeply, and declared that 'he was resolved to slap the editor of the scurvy sheet in the face.'

Don Servando's friends looked at him in amazement.

"Gently, gently, my dear sir!" said the latter, with his _inevitable_ coolness.

"I should advise you not to do anything of the sort, for that would be the greatest pleasure that you could give them. The judge of 'first claims'[56] is on their side."

"And what have we to do with the judge? The question concerns a matter of honor, which is settled by this person and me fighting with swords or pistols."

The men present looked at him with greater amazement than ever. In Serin there was an absolute lack of knowledge of such proceedings, and consequently it had never entered into their heads that there was to be any fighting. Had Miguel carried out his threat, he would have run a strong risk of being put in jail, and still further incapacitated. He was at last convinced, and gave up his project, although with a bad grace.

The Casona party soon laughed on the other side of the cheek. In three days came the order for the suspension of the _ayuntamientos_ of Villabona and Agueria. Then I a.s.sure you that there was a carousal and a drinking of beer in the Casina. Don Servando, in order to banter his enemies, got out the band, and kept it for twelve consecutive hours jangling through the streets. That day the sound of exploding rockets did not for a moment cease in Serin, until the last one was sent off.

By this stroke Miguel's election was made absolutely certain. The Casona party thus understood it, and crest fallen, they tried as always to curry favor. Only nine days were lacking before the opening of the electorial period. But here it is necessary more than ever to exclaim with the poet:--

"O instability! O fickle fortune!

Who doth not hope for thee in hours of sorrow?

Who doth not fear thee in his hours of comfort?"

Two days before the opening of this period, when the Casina partisans were going about with glad and careless hearts, and those of the Casona angry and sorrowful; when it was whispered about, and taken for granted that Corrales was going to withdraw, and Miguel was already planning to return to Madrid, as his presence was no longer necessary in the district; lo and behold! there fell into Serin like a bombsh.e.l.l the news that the suspended _ayuntamientos_ had been restored.

Unfortunately, the news was correct. Don Servando's friends, after recovering a little from the surprise (since at first no one had found anything to say), came to the conclusion that there was some equivocation, or that some one had lied in Madrid. As there was no telegraph communication with the governor, Miguel decided immediately to hire a carriage and go to the capital in post-haste.

In spite of the exaggerated cordiality with which he was received, and the hearty embraces and his open, frank smile, our candidate saw clearly in the governor's eyes that there was something that was not quite as it should be, and immediately determined to get at the root of the matter as soon as possible. Accordingly, he began to press him with questions, which the Civil Chief of the province answered in vague terms: 'Nothing was known of the reason for this restoration; possibly difficulties had arisen in the Council of State.... Perhaps the minister considered the suspension unnecessary for carrying the elections....'

"If the minister has done this on his own responsibility, without the President's support, he has not acted well. Do you suppose that the President has been informed of what has happened?" asked Miguel.