CHAPTER IX.

EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND.

For a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral and the island. During the spring the young ladies[43] who went to the parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed it.

"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?"

"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the joys of the righteous.

That evening there was very little talking, singing, and dancing at the Elorza tertulia. Virtue, stern by nature, does not approve of noisy demonstrations. The young people of both sexes expressed the deep, pure satisfaction with which their sacrifice had inspired them by an ineffable severity, making them demure and silent the most of the time, as though they were meditating deeply on some Gospel text. Great, therefore, must have been the displeasure felt by all when Don Mariano said to them at the last moment:--

"Ladies and gentlemen, Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, I should be greatly pleased to have you meet at the quay, properly provided with hats, parasols, wraps, and so forth and so forth. Nothing is more likely than that the sailors of my falúa will be anxious to take us down to El Moral, and, as you well know, it wouldn't be polite to disappoint them."

The tertulia deplored this determination which deprived them of making a sacrifice for the universal brotherhood, and manifested it with a running fire of laughter, remarks, and disorderly movements: "What a man Don Mariano is!" "He always has to be playing these jokes!" "Thursday, Thursday!" "What engagement have I for Thursday? Oh, none, I believe." "Must we take waterproofs?" "I think cloaks will be enough." And so on.

And in fact, on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning, Don Mariano's launch and the quarantine boat, both clean and adorned like damsels on a fête-day, were impatiently waiting for the people, tossing side by side in the slip by the quay. Four sailors in each were making the final arrangements, from time to time casting inquiring glances now at the river, now at the streets which led from the quay. The passengers were not in sight, and the tide had already gone down two feet and a half. One of the sailors expressed his dislike of tardiness in a rough voice which was far enough from fashionable. At last appeared a variegated group of women and men among whom straw hats and red cloaks predominated, and the old sea-dog who had just been swearing like a pirate blasphemed once more out of pure satisfaction, and put down a gang-plank between the dock and the falúa for the people to cross on. The first to leap on board was Don Mariano. The boat gently tipped on one side when she received her master's weight, as though making him a loving bow. All the young ladies, including, of course, the Delgados, next came tripping on board, leaning on Don Mariano's strong hand: the gentlemen followed. When the first falúa was full, they began to load the second, and this was quickly accomplished. In the first, among other people of distinction, were the two Misses de Delgado with their sister, the widow, who chaperoned them; the De Merinos with their brother Bonifacio, the most self-satisfied of all brothers; three or four officials from the factory, Don Mariano, Don Maximo, Martita, and Ricardo. Maria did not go because she would not break her vow to refrain from all recreation. Likewise Doña Gertrudis's indisposition prevented her from taking part in the excursion. In the second boat excellent accommodation was found by our friend, the fascinating, sprightly Señorita de Morí, under the watchful goggle eyes of the illustrious Isidorito. Likewise, we can distinguish among others a very pretty young girl named Rosario with whom the young swell at her side was not able to dance on the evening of the Elorza soirée, on account of the war proclaimed by the pianist against the German. The sailors were just going to cast off the lines for starting when from one of the falúas came a voice, asking,--

"But the De Ciudads?"

The De Ciudads were missing. Don Mariano and the quarantine doctor were in consternation at the mention of this name, which was such a guaranty of respectability. Before they had recovered from their consternation, there appeared at the end of one of the streets leading to the quay the six señoritas accompanied by their papa, their mamma, their engineer Suárez, and two small brothers. It was impossible to accommodate so many people in the two falúas; they had to hunt up another, and man it with the first sailors they could find, and thus precious time was lost. But at last, as everything in this world can be managed except death, the De Ciudads and their friends were well bestowed in a fishing-boat, and the captain of the quarantine gave the signal for the start. The twelve oars of the falúas began to strike the water in time with a gentle splash, like the arms of one stretching.

The level of the river was smooth, motionless, and bright as a mirror; the sun cast upon it wide, silvery spots towards the centre, and darker ones near the edges. The sky was covered by a delicate veil of clouds, making a splendid rival for the ladies' hats and parasols. Only a gentle breeze laden with the keen odor of pines on the shore came timidly kissing the soft back of the waters, and the no less soft and fresh necks of the ladies. It was not as yet a legitimate sea-breeze, but a hybrid kind[44] with the characteristics both of sea and land. The oars now put out all their agility, and with their blades lifted the crystal of the waters, causing fleeting, foamy whirlpools; all faces showed the healthful joy which is always caused by motion and the ever new and beautiful spectacle of nature. The girls, bending over the gunwale of the boat, delighted in taking off their rings and plunging their hands into the water, letting it pour with a murmur through their white fingers: they talked, they screamed, they laughed, and they exchanged greetings from one boat to the other. The young fellows spattered their faces with their canes or suddenly leaned to one side to scare them, taking great pleasure in their cries of desperation. All was noise and hubbub in the little squadron. As they came near El Moral, the marine characteristics of the breeze began to get the upper hand of the inland ones; it grew stronger, sometimes even blowing violently, as when the falúas passed by some glen made through the hills or sloping banks which shut in the river valley. The ribbons on the hats, the pennants on the mast-heads, handkerchiefs and neckties began to flutter violently. The voyagers felt the sweet deafness caused by the keen, salt-nurtured wind of the sea. A few aquatic birds of little account flew out from one shore and went flapping above the falúas, which was sufficient cause for Don Serapio, in a fit of enthusiasm for the sea, to get upon deck and, leaning over the flagstaff like one possessed, to sing the song which begins:--

"_Al ver en la inmensa llanura del mar._

When o'er the mighty prairie of the sea, I watch the sea-gulls in their rapid flight, My soul is filled with envious thoughts," etc.

If the river could blush, it would not have failed to do so on hearing itself called so hyperbolically the _mighty prairie_; but it took it in bad part, believing that there was some joke intended, and was seriously angry. At all events, the wind undertook to wreak vengeance for it by suddenly snatching off the inspired singer's sombrero and cutting short the current, not to say the torrent, of his voice. The falúa in the wake picked up the hat and restored it in a very water-soaked condition to its owner, who showed no more desire for the time being to continue apostrophizing the sea-gulls.

The little squadron stood nearer and nearer to the handful of houses at El Moral, distant from Nieva about a league and a half. The town kept growing more distant from our voyagers, offering them a beautiful spectacle. It was situated under the brow of a not very lofty mountain, decorated with green gardens and groups of laurel and orange trees on all sides; its white-walled houses seemed to have been placed in such a situation by the hand of an artist who believed in combining the advantages of nature so as to produce the æsthetic emotion, as a stage manager would say; the dazzling whiteness of the town stood out against the dark green of the mountain like a great patch of snow stretching down from the top; the silvery sheet of the river extending at its feet waited motionless and humble till it should melt into its bosom. The gentle, pine-clad hills which bordered the shores, and which our voyagers left one after the other, seemed like the bristling backs of huge, fantastic monsters.

The remarks made by one falúa to another gradually ceased. Each of the boats recovered self-jurisdiction, living for itself alone. Let us listen to what is said in them.

IN THE ELORZA FALÚA.

"I am well in years, Don Maximo, but I expect that my daughters are going to see this river perfectly channelled. The amount of water entering the mouth of the port would be sufficient to float vessels of the greatest draught, if it were not so spread out. The question is to utilize it. And how can this be done? Why, it must be done by force, by means of two parallel jetties, which should begin at the very bar and come up as far as Nieva. The water, both at ebb and flow, will pass between them with greater rapidity, working over the bottom until it deepens it. Gradually the space included between the channel and the shores will be left dry, and can be easily improved. To accomplish the drainage, all that is needed is to construct a clay dike against each of the jetties, and open large gates through which the water can flow out but not come in.... Excuse my earnestness!... I know well that this is not a work of months, but of many years; still there is nothing impossible about it.... Once reclaimed, these wide spaces would doubtless be utilized by the population of Nieva, even to the very bank of the beautiful canal, which would be constantly crowded with every kind of craft. The new city built on such a wide level would most certainly have its streets laid out at right angles, like those of the American cities, and magnificent wharves. The true port, however, cannot be here, but near the roadstead of Los Arenales, ... very soon we shall be passing by it. It is a well-sheltered and extensive site, where a whole fleet could have stay-room.... At present it is not very deep; I am perfectly aware of that, but it has a sandy bottom, and you know that with the powerful dredging-machines which we have nowadays, in a very short time, it could be made two or three metres deeper.... Then Nieva will be the most important part of El Cantábrico; the larger part of our mineral products will be exported through it, for the dock at Sarrió is very small, and there is no chance to increase it; instead of going to French watering-places to spend the summer, the Spaniards will come to these beautiful Northern Provinces, neglected to-day for lack of means of communication.... How is Biarritz to be compared in spring with these fresh, delicious regions? What sea-coast of Arcachón can enter into rivalry with ours at Miramar and Las Huelgas?..."

ON BOARD OF LA SANIDAD.

"Last night I slept splendidly, after a number of nights when I didn't close my eyes hardly at all," said the Señorita de Morí to her friend Rosario, who was seated near her.... "I don't know what has been ailing me this long time.... I feel nervous.... My head aches when I get up.... I think I need a tonic."

"Sometimes you need to give the heart a tonic, señorita," said Isidorito, boldly, with his face frightfully contracted by a smile.

"I didn't know that the apothecary shops furnished tonics for the heart," replied the young lady, with a scornful gesture, directing her words to Rosario.

"Oh, no, señorita; not in the apothecary shops; the heart is not cured by the preparations of ordinary therapeutics, nor by any formulas of the pharmacopoeia, for it has, apart from its physical nature, which is not unlike the rest of the viscera, another nature purely spiritual as we are generally accustomed to speak of it, and this cannot be treated except by moral medicaments. When I said that sometimes you need to give your heart a tonic, I meant to indicate that possibly it would be good for you to drive away certain preoccupations of an amorous character, which often are wont to affect it."

"I am not troubled by these _preoccupations_ of which you speak, nor do I intend to have them at present, God helping me," replied the señorita with the same air of dissatisfaction as before, and addressing herself only to Rosario.

"You cannot affirm that in such a categorical manner."

"And why not?"

"For in the state in which you find yourself it is very difficult, not to say impossible, to fathom all the profundities of the spirit and scrutinize all of its hiding-places. Frequently impressions make their way into our souls in a surreptitious manner without our taking note of it; they begin by being vague and fugitive, and for that very reason pass without being observed; but slowly they go on taking shape, growing in strength, and finally they conquer the individual and rule him at their will. Then they pass into the category of the passions."

"But I know perfectly well what I feel and what I don't feel."

"Oh, no, señorita; allow me to contradict you. You cannot know."

"Man, for goodness' sake! Can't I know what I feel?"

"Why, then, you must know that--"

"Perhaps I know better than you do. Self-observation, according to all the philosophers and moralists, is more difficult than to observe others, and there are very few who are able to reach to it. On the other hand, youth is little prone to reflection, and above all women are incapable of taking perfect account of their inclinations and of the vague emotions passing through their hearts."

"Look you! women are as God created them, and so are men."

"I don't doubt it; but God has so created them, with a sensitive capacity (if I may express myself in this way) more quick and delicate than that of men. It may be said that they are born exclusively for love, and that love ought to fill the measure of their existence. Love and the consequences which arise from love constitute the first end of conjugal union or, in other words, matrimony. Thus it has been established in all legislative codes, and particularly in the canonical, which is the purest fountain of all. Woman consequently works more under the impulse of fancy and sentiment than of reason...."

"Heavens! how much Isidorito knows about us poor women!" exclaimed the Señorita de Morí, in a tone between anger and jest.

The district attorney was somewhat crushed, but at length he went on with his remarks, without ceasing the pseudo-smile which afflicted his face.

"Love being, for the reason above given, the most powerful, not to say the only, motive of a woman's life, there is nothing wonderful in the supposition that a young lady like you may find herself agitated by this omnipotent feeling, and paying tribute to what constitutes an irrecusable law of life. You may now see how I was not out of the way when I affirmed that sometimes it is necessary for you to give your heart a tonic or--and this is the same thing--alleviate it of some too grievous impression."

"O my![45] what a bore!" said the Señorita de Morí in a whisper; but she replied aloud, "Why, you are absolutely mistaken, Isidorito; nothing grieves me or disturbs me at present!"

"Allow me to doubt it."

"You are welcome to doubt it; but I assure you that I have the best reason for knowing."

"Certainly, according to all logic, although you may declare the contrary, yet there is no possibility of sustaining such an opinion; not only reason and good sense oppose it, but from the most superficial observation of the facts it results, first, that love is a natural and constant sentiment in young ladies; second, that you have no reasons for escaping from it; and third, that the fact of sleeping little and uneasily makes the supposition that you are in love a very reasonable one."

The Señorita de Morí shrugged her shoulders, made a scornful grimace with her lips, and without deigning to reply, resumed her conversation with her friend Rosario.

Isidorito had triumphed over his opponent as usual; for always the woman with whom he was conversing was in his eyes his opponent, and he believed in the necessity of involving her in the meshes of his logic, and of getting her close in his grasp, until he subdued her like a rebellious rival in the law. Thus he expected to win the admiration and respect of the feminine sex. But the feminine sex (be it said to its dishonor) not only did not admire Isidorito for his belligerent logic, for his sedateness, and for his vast legal knowledge, but it looked upon him with marked disfavor, and avoided his conversation as though it were a disgusting clatter. The Señorita de Morí, with whom he had carried on the most pugnacious argument on the nature of love and friendship, the sweets of remembrance, the bitternesses of forgetfulness, sympathy, and all else relating to the heart, in which he always came out instantly victorious, had learned to hate him like death. Consequently our wise youth was really more than a hundred leagues from the lovely heiress's three thousand duros income, while he believed that he could touch them with his finger-tips. His never-failing sedateness, his self-possessed and serene eloquence, his long-tailed coats, his ideas of order, and his legal diction had aroused against him a prejudice as cruel as it was unjustified.

IN THE DE CIUDAD FALÚA.

"Maria, Julia, Consuelo, just see how lovely the water feels when you put your hand in!"

"How lovely! how lovely!"

"You'll wet your clothes, Amparo!"

"See what cunning white feathers the water makes between the fingers, Suárez!"

"Splendid!... but you'll wet the sleeve of your dress."

"Wait a moment.... I am going to tuck it up.... There, that's good.... Look! look!..."

"It still seems to me as though it would get wet.... Tuck it up a little more."

"More?"

"Yes."

"But I shall show my whole arm!"

"What difference does that make?"

"Be sensible; it isn't the time to give one a cold.... Now it seems to me all right.... Uf! how cold this water is!... It isn't noticeable on the hands, but on your arms! Look! Look how it jumps up!... If you put your palm flat against the current, it runs clear up your arm. Don't you see how beautiful and clear it is to-day?"

"Speaking frankly, I will tell you," whispered the engineer in Amparo's ear, "that at this moment my attention is attracted more by your fair arm!"

"If you don't hush, you rogue, I shall spatter the water in your face," replied the girl, threatening him with her chaste vengeance.

"Though you should throw me into the river, I should still say so.... I am an artist, above all things, as you well know.... There is nothing so beautiful as the human form, ... when it is beautiful; and that arm of yours stands comparison with the most perfect models of the sculptor's art."

"Come, come! don't be absurd!... My arm is like any one else's. The main thing is, that it is beginning to feel cold.... Whew! what water.[46] It seemed so warm at first!... And how it keeps on growing colder and colder, till at last it chills one to the bone!..."

"Take it out, take it out ... we must dry it!"

And Amparito obeyed, taking her arm out of the water, and innocently holding it towards the engineer, who began to wipe it with his handkerchief, lavishing upon it delicate attentions, and saying, at the same time:--

"But what a lovely arm you have, Amparito! How white! what soft skin! and how round it is, above all!... A woman's arm ought to be so, ... round and slender, like that of the Venus di Medici ... the arm ought to diminish gradually and symmetrically to the wrist.... The truth is, with such an arm you ought to be worthy of being a sculptor's model.... Well-formed women are scarce enough nowadays. To this is due the decay of sculpture, according to some critics.... If there were many like you, this certainly could not be said.... What an arm! what a lovely arm!... You can't imagine the pleasure I feel in touching it with my hand...."

The engineer, as he said this, suited the action to the word, and rubbed it so hard that Señor de Ciudad, who, with grim eyes, was watching the operation from the bow, could not help exclaiming, in an angry tone,--

"Amparo, please pull down your sleeve.... You most foolish girl!"

The girl blushed, and pulled down her sleeve. The engineer, not being able to evolve his artistic theories with his model in sight, renounced, for some time, the use of speech.

The falúas were now over against the Arenales. The sun had succeeded in making a few rifts in the veil of cloud, and was threatening, sooner or later, to rend it in pieces. The pencil of rays which penetrated through these rifts, and fell on the sand-hills, made them gleam like enormous flakes of gold, shedding their splendors over the whole breadth of the watery sheet; occasionally, when the sunbeams were cut off a moment by the interposition of some cloud, the splendors paled, and the sand assumed the grayish or gilded shades of webs of yellow silk. The voyagers all agreed that those sand wastes gave a very good idea of the deserts of Africa; and Don Mariano expressed his opinion that it would be very easy to control the sand by means of feather-grass and other suitable vegetation, and soon convert them into magnificent groves of pines.

The valley, which in the midst of the way opened out till it acquired considerable breadth, became narrower again as it neared El Moral. The waters became more restless, revealing the proximity of the sea; the hills, protecting the village with their stony slopes and their bare, melancholy tops, likewise made it evident. The breath of the monster began to be felt, blowing freshly and proudly through the narrow mouth of the river; and far away could be heard the low, portentous beating of his heart. The falúas now and then pitched upon patches of foam, which came rolling over the water, like tatters torn from the mantle of some god who had been battling all the night with the monsters of the ocean.

They reached El Moral. Don Mariano had prepared for them a delicious luncheon in a large ware-house, which he owned there, and the numerous company gave one more proof that the sea breezes are the most excellent stimulant for the appetite. When they had done good justice to it, and rested a little while, they re-embarked to continue their excursion. A short distance from El Moral was the mouth of the harbor from which they put out to sea, leaving on the starboard quarter the lighthouse tower set on a bluff. The sailors dropped their oars and hoisted the sails to take advantage of the fresh north-east wind which forced them ahead. It was eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The cloud veil had entirely vanished down the horizon, leaving in view a beautiful, diaphanous blue sky wherein the sun swam haughty and brilliant as never before. The sea stretched out before our voyagers' eyes like one enormous, measureless blue plain, shutting in on all sides the celestial vault to collect its light and its harmony. Above this azure plain the luminous disk of the sun made a wide path of shining silver peopled with tremulous, sparkling gleams and extending in a direct line towards the east. In each one of the crests which the breeze raised on the water the sunbeams left a fugitive, vivid light which, on mingling and joining with the rest in an incessant dance, seemed like the monstrous, fantastic ebullition of the treasures hidden in the depths of the ocean. The voyagers followed that silvery path with their gaze, and did not open their lips for a long time, enjoying the deeply fine and solemn impression which the sea always makes on the mind. The outlines of the island, dimmed and confused by the excess of light, stood out opposite the very mouth of the river, about five miles from the coast. Around it could be seen great flocculent shreds of foam which alternately grew and narrowed down again, girdling it with a white belt of lace-work. The wind blew strong, but with generous benignity, for it had plenty of room to exercise its powers. The three falúas, with sails spread, cut through the water, one behind the other, like so many sea-gulls chasing them. The cordage whistled, the masts creaked in the holes imprisoning them, and the sails bellied under the breath of the breeze which tipped the boats more than was relished by the ladies. The water, as it passed, broke into foam, making a musical murmur against the bow, and sliding along on both sides with a rustle like the unrolling of silk.

Don Serapio felt himself attacked by a maritime ecstasy, and, holding his hat in one hand and gesticulating dramatically with the other, he sang:--

"How blessed that man who can number His joys on the ocean; For the billows rock him to slumber With somnolent motion."

The almost imperceptible voice of the proprietor of the canning-factory had the honor of joining in with the eternal concert of the seas, like one of so many noises of tumbling billows or rattling pebbles. The wind would not deign to carry it twenty yards away.

The falúas, as they glided out on the swelling breasts of the waves, mounted and fell with a gentle, lazy motion which at first was delightful to the passengers. They began to sway, softly closing their eyes with a smile of delicious content, surrendering themselves in full to the vague, poetic dreams awakened in their hearts by the sea. Who would have said, alas! that those who were dreaming so comfortably, and rejoicing in a smiling world of gentle fancies and gilded illusions, would be seen in a few minutes with heads sadly bent over the sea, necks leaning on the gunwale, as though it were a chopping-block, faces livid and eyes fixed upon the water, as though they were trying to sound the secret arcana of the ocean! Oh terrible fickleness of human affairs!

But what was taking place in the quarantine boat, that she should come about and leave her companions? An unforeseen contingency, and certainly one most annoying. Isidorito's breakfast had played him false. Hardly were they clear of El Moral when he began to be pale and silent, though no one noticed it; but at last the pallor increased to such a degree that he really looked like a corpse. Then it was suspected that he was seasick, and they advised him to put his fingers in his mouth; but the municipal attorney, very thoroughly acquainted with the tragedy at that moment enacting in his stomach, would not do any such thing, and begged humbly that, if it were possible, they should turn about and leave him on shore. All were stupefied at this proposition, and the falúa continued on her swift course, as though she had not heard. But, after a time, Isidorito propounded it in a still more energetic manner, and the sailors were obliged to reply that, though it was not impossible, still, to return to shore would cost them an hour's time. Another interval passed. Isidorito got up suddenly, with his face convulsed, and, extending his right hand toward the shore, he exclaimed with a voice of mighty anguish, "Turn around, turn around for God's sake, or I shall jump into the water!" Then the falúa, not wanting to be an accomplice in a suicide, veered around, dropped sail, and, putting out oars, began to make its way, as quick as possible, to the nearest point on the shore. There are reasons, however, for believing that the distinguished legal gentleman did not reach land in sufficient time. The Señorita de Morí felt sufficiently avenged for the many annoyances which his inflexible logic had occasioned her.