Chapter 5 Chapter Four

This will always be the case as long as subordinates continue to lie to please me. On hearing that a fleet of sampans was slowly approaching, a gunboat moored in the harbor sailed out.Jose Palacios saw this movement from a long distance through the window of the tent, and he leaned over to report to the general lying in the hammock with his eyes closed: "Sir, we have arrived at Mompox." "God's Land," said the general, without opening his eyes. As it went downstream, the river became wider and wider, and its momentum became more and more majestic, just like a boundless swamp. The weather was so hot that you could even touch its majesty with your hands.The General spared no regrets the opportunity to admire the fleeting dawns and the heartrending evenings.In the first few days, he stayed on the bow for a while, and then he was overwhelmed by depression.He no longer dictated letters, nor read books, nor asked any questions of his entourage that would reveal some interest in life.Even during the hottest lunch break, he would cover himself with a blanket and lie in the hammock with his eyes closed.Jose Palacios, fearing that he had not heard, called him again, and he answered without opening his eyes.

"Mompox doesn't exist," he said. "Sometimes we dream about her, but she no longer exists." "At least I can prove that the Santa Balvana Tower is still there," Jose Palacios said. "I'm watching it from here." The general opened his tormented eyes, rose from his hammock, and the noon sun was as bright as a sheet of aluminum, and he saw the roofs of this ancient and sad city, where the war had turned Mompox into ruins, The chaos of the Republic led to its downfall, and nine out of ten of its inhabitants died of smallpox.At that time, the Magdalena River began to divert, but no one took it seriously.This unforgivable neglect turned into total neglect before the century was over.In the colonial era, people used the tenacity of the Iberian Peninsulars to build stone embankments in time after each river rose and caused disasters. Now only the scattered rubble on the river beach remains.

The gunboat approached the sampan, and a black officer still wearing the police uniform of the governor's time aimed artillery at them.Captain Casildo Santo hurriedly shouted: "Don't be rude, black thing!" All the paddling oars stopped, and the sampan let the current drift.While waiting for orders, the soldiers of the guard pointed their guns at the gunboat.The officers on the gunboat remained motionless. "In the name of the law, take out your passport."he cried. Only then did the Negro officer see a tormented phantom appearing from under the tent, and seeing his exhausted yet authoritative hand, he ordered the guns to be lowered.Then he said softly to the officer: "Even if you don't believe me, Captain, I don't have a passport."

The officer didn't know who he was.But when Fernando told him, he jumped into the water with his gun, and ran along the bank ahead of him to tell everyone the good news.The skiff cheerfully escorted the sampan all the way to port.The fleet of sampans passed the last bend in the river.But before he could see the outline of the whole city, the bells of the seven churches in the city had already struck the emergency bell. During the colonial period, Santa Cruz de Montpoques used to be the commercial bridge between Colombia's Caribbean coast and the interior, which is why it was once affluent.This bastion of Latin American aristocracy was the first to proclaim liberty when the storm of freedom began to blow.When it was conquered again by the Spaniards, the general liberated it himself.There are only three avenues in the city that run parallel to the river. The streets are wide, straight, and dusty, and the buildings on both sides are mostly one-story houses with large windows.Two earls and three marquises made their fortunes here.Its reputation for its ingenious gold and silver handicrafts has endured through the vicissitudes of the Republic.

This time, the general invites you to come here with the heart of treating glory as your shoe and aloof from the world.To his surprise.There was a large crowd of people waiting for him at the port.He hastily put on his velveteen trousers and his high boots, and in spite of the heat he threw the blanket over him, and replaced his nightcap with the wide-brimmed hat he wore when he said goodbye to Hongda. A tall cross for funerals stands above the Church of the Conception of Our Lady.All the leading figures of the civil authorities and religious circles were assembled there, and the leading figures of the church and school, wearing solemn black veils, attended the Mass for the funeral, when the chaotic ringing of the bells made them lose their heads one by one. Out of the normal state of caution, everyone thought it was a fire warning.The police officer, who was panting from running, entered the church. He had just finished whispering what he wanted to say in the ear of the mayor, and then shouted loudly to everyone: "The president has arrived at the port!"

Many people don't know that he is no longer president.A messenger passing by on Monday.A lot of rumors about Hongda were spread to the villages and towns along the river, but nothing was clearly stated.Thus, the ambiguous news made this unexpected reception earlier and more enthusiastic.Even the family in mourning found out what was happening, as most of the mourners left the church for the rowdy crowd.The funeral ceremony was only held in half, and the remaining few relatives and friends escorted the coffin to the cemetery amidst the roar of bells and firecrackers. Due to the lack of rain in May, the river has become very shallow, so it is necessary to climb a high slope of rubble to reach the port.Someone made a gesture to carry him, but the general refused. With the support of Ibarra, he moved up step by step, barely straightened, but finally walked to the shore without losing dignity.

On the pier, he shook hands vigorously with the relevant people of the local authority one by one to express greetings; with his body in such condition and thin hands, it is hard to believe that he shook hands with such strength.Those who had seen him here the last time could not believe their memories.He was so old, like their father, but even the little energy he had was enough for him not to allow anyone to make arrangements for him.He refused the Good Friday statue stand that had been prepared for him, and instead agreed to walk to the Church of Our Lady of the Conception.In the end, he had to ride the mayor's mother mule. When he landed, the mayor saw that he was very weak, so he asked people to get ready.

On the pier, José Palacios saw faces covered in spots from gentian smearing smallpox.In the lower reaches of the Magdalena River, smallpox is a stubborn endemic disease. Since smallpox killed the soldiers of the Liberation Army during the Battle of the Magdalena River, the compatriots feared smallpox more than they feared the Spaniards.From then on, thinking that smallpox was still going on, the general managed to get a passing German naturalist to stop and ask him to use the method of inoculating the human body with the sap from the smallpox of cattle. Residents here gain immunity.But with so many deaths from smallpox that in the end no one wanted to know what the so-called cattle drug was, many mothers preferred to risk their children contracting the disease.Rather than take the risks that may arise from taking precautionary measures.But the official reports the general received also led to the belief that smallpox was being vanquished.So when Jose Palacios reminded him that so many people in the crowd had purple on their faces, his reaction was more disgust than surprise.

"As long as subordinates continue to lie to please me, that will always be the case," he said. Instead of showing his anguish to those who greeted him on the pier, he briefed them on the storm of his resignation and the chaos in Santa Fe, and he reiterated his unanimous support for the new government. "There is no other way out," he said, "solidarity or anarchism."He said he was gone and never coming back, not for the possibility of recovery from his notoriously frail and sickly body, but because he needed rest after suffering so much from other people's misfortunes.But he did not say when to leave.He didn't say where he was going, but repeated irrelevantly that he had not received the passport issued by the government to go abroad.He thanked Mompox for the honor they had bestowed upon him for twenty years, and begged them not to honor him with any title other than "Citizen".

As the crowds poured into the church, the Church of Our Lady of the Conception was still draped in black mourning veils, and the air still smelled of funeral flowers and candle wicks.José Palacios, who was sitting in the entourage, found that the general was uncomfortable in his seat. On the contrary, the mayor of mixed race with beautiful curly hair like a lion sat next to him, motionless and at ease.Fernanda, the widow of Ben Humeía, who had caused such trouble at the Spanish court with her Native American womanhood, lent the general a sandalwood fan to help him ward off drowsiness during the ceremony.He waved his fan hopelessly, barely feeling a breath of relief, until the heat made it difficult for him to breathe, and he whispered in the mayor's ear, "Believe me, I don't deserve to suffer." this torture."

"The love of the people has a price, sir," replied the mayor. "Unfortunately, it's not love, it's curiosity," he said. After the poetic ceremony of thanksgiving, he said goodbye to Ben Humeya's widow with a deep bow and returned the fan to her.The latter tried to give him the fan again. "Please do me a favor and keep it as a memory of someone who loved you so much," she said to him. "Sadly, ma'am, I don't have much time left to reminisce," he said. On the way from the Church of Our Lady of the Conception to the school of San Pedro the Apostle, the priest of the church insisted on using the canopy used for Holy Week to protect him from the heat.The school was a two-story mansion with ferns hanging in a monastery-style corridor, and behind the house was a sunny orchard.The cloisters with their arches were uninhabitable during those months, even at night, because the breezes from the river were unhealthy.The rooms adjoining the hall were kept all day in a kind of autumnal shade by virtue of their thick walls of gray stone. In order to get everything ready in advance, Jose Palacios came here ahead of time.The general's bedroom, with its walls freshly broomed and limewashed, looked rough and uneven, and the room was dimly lit, for there was only one green shutter, which looked out on to the orchard.Jose Palacios moved the bed so that the window facing the orchard was near the end of the bed instead of the head, so that the general could see the golden guava trees and enjoy their tangy fragrance. The general, supported by Fernando, arrived at the San Pedro school, accompanied by the priest of the Church of Our Lady of the Conception, who was also the principal of the school.As soon as he entered the bedroom door, he leaned his back against the wall, and on the sill of the window a garaba wooden gourd surprised him with the scent of the guava, which filled the room with a tempting aroma.He just leaned there with his eyes closed, breathing in the fragrance that reminded him of heartbreaking past experiences, until he was exhausted.Then, he carefully inspected every corner of the room, as if everything was a new discovery for him.In the bedroom, besides a canopied bed, a mahogany wardrobe, a bedside table of the same wood with a marble top, and an easy chair upholstered in red velvet.On the wall by the window, hung an octagonal wall clock with Roman numerals, and the pointer stopped at one point zero seven. "Finally something is still the same!" said the general. The priest was very surprised. "Excuse me, sir," said he, "but, as far as I know, you have not been here before." Jose Palacios was also surprised, since he had never been here before, but the General, in his obsession with his recollections of the past, enumerated such rich and convincing details that those present were bewildered .In the end, however, the general tried to reassure everyone with his customary sarcasm. "Perhaps my past incarnations have come," he said, and here we had just seen an excommunicate strolling under the Holy Week canopy.In short, in such a city, anything is possible. " After a while, there was a sudden thunder and a heavy rain.flooded the city.The general took advantage of this opportunity to escape the throng of greetings, and lay face up on the bed, pretending to sleep, enjoying the scent of the guava, and laying his undressed clothes in the shade.For a moment, in the restorative silence after a storm, he actually fell asleep.Jose Palacios knew he was asleep because he heard him speak with the clear articulation and pure timbre of his youth, which he regained only in sleep.He spoke of Caracas, a city in ruins that no longer belonged to him, whose walls were plastered with insulting slogans against him, whose streets were filled with the torrent of human beings.Jose Palacios was on duty sitting in an easy chair in a corner of the room, hardly visible, guarding the place so that no one who was not in the entourage could hear the secrets the general dreamed about.He beckoned to Colonel Wilson through the half-hidden door, and the Colonel at once dismissed the guardsmen who were walking in the garden. "No one likes us here, and no one obeys us in Caracas," said the general in his dream. "It's the same everywhere." Then he recited a poignant and mournful hymn, a reflection of the remnants and shattered honors that were being blown piece by piece by the winds of death.After nearly an hour of sleep talking, he was awakened by the sound of footsteps in the hallway and an arrogant metallic voice.With a harsh snore, without opening his eyes, he said in a weak voice, "What's the dick thing?" It turned out to be General Lorenzo Caccamo, a grumpy, maddened war veteran of the Liberation War, trying to force his way into the general's bedroom before the appointed time for receiving guests.First he lashed a grenadier lieutenant with his saber, then passed Colonel Wilson, and only bowed before the abbe to eternal power.The priest led him into an office next to the bedroom.When the general heard Wilson's report, he cried out in fury: "Tell Picamo, I'm dead! Nothing else, I'm dead!" Colonel Wilson went to his office to meet the rowdy soldier.In order to come here, he put on the military uniform for review and wore a military medal.But his arrogant and conceited air suddenly disappeared at this moment!Tears filled the eyes. "Wilson, don't repeat that to me," he said, "I've heard it." When the general opened his eyes, he saw that the clock was still standing at seven minutes past one.Jose Palacios wound the clock, moved the hands from memory, and checked his two pocket watches to verify that the time was correct.After a while, Fernanda Barry came in and wanted him to eat fried eggplant with chili. I go to the office so that I can eat while receiving guests.Meanwhile, tempted, he took one from a garaba wooden ladle full of guavas.In an instant, the aroma of the fruit made him fascinated. He took a bite greedily, chewing the fruit with relish like a child, and after sucking the guava all over, he let out a long sigh with memories of the past, mouthful after mouthful. devoured.Then he sat down on the hammock with the garaba wooden gourd of guavas between his legs and ate all the guavas, barely breathing.When he got the last two, Jose Palacios bumped in and saw. "We're going to die," he told the general. The general cut him off humorously. "That couldn't be any worse than where we are now." As prearranged, at three o'clock sharp, the general let the visitors come into the office two by two, so that when one of them saw that another was waiting to receive him, he could take the least time to send him to the office. send away.Dr. Nicosio Del Valle was one of the first to go in, and he saw the general sitting with his back to the window through which he could see all the farmhouses in the fields and the steaming swamp beyond.He was holding in his hand the sautéed aubergines with peppers that Fernanda Barriga had brought in, but he didn't taste a bite because he could already feel the guavas accumulating in his stomach.Later, when Dr. Del Valle recounted his impressions of that visit, he said bluntly in the local dialect: "The pigua bird (14) is already calling to him." people have the same impression.However, even those who were most moved by his frail constitution did not sympathize with him, but stubbornly asked him to go to nearby villages and towns to preside over the ceremony of accepting children as godchildren, or cut the ribbon for some public welfare construction facilities, or let him Go and see with your own eyes the plight of the people because of the indifference of the government. An hour later, the nausea and colic caused by the guava made everyone panic, and although he hoped to satisfy all those who had been waiting since the morning, he had to interrupt the interview in progress.People brought him calves, goats, hens, and all kinds of mountain animals, so that there was no place to put them in the yard.To avoid possible confusion, the grenadiers of the guard had to intervene, and it was not until evening that the courtyard calmed down, because the air was fresh and the noise died down because of the second heavy rain. Despite the general's explicit refusal, the locals decided to honor him with a dinner at a nearby residence at 4 p.m.The dinner was held, but the guest of honor did not attend, because after eating guavas, the situation was very worrying. The danger did not gradually ease until after eleven o'clock at night.He was lying on the hammock, exhausted by the throbbing pain and continuous farting, and he felt that his soul was flowing down drop by drop as if dissolved in corrosive agent.The priest brought him a medicine prepared by the family apothecary, but the general declined. "I've already lost power with one vomitus, another one and the devil wants me to go to hell," he said.He decided to resign himself to his fate, with a cold sweat in his bones and a chill all over his body, comforted only by the intermittent music of beautiful strings from the banquet he was absent from.Slowly, the spring in his stomach calmed down, the pain disappeared, the music ended, and he seemed to be floating in nothingness. The last time he passed Mompox was close to being the last.It was here on his return from Caracas after having charismatically reconciled with General José Antonio Paez, who was far from giving up his dream of secession.His antagonism with Santander was well known, and even went so far as to refuse to accept letters from him, because he trusted neither his conscience nor his morals. "You stop calling me my friend," he wrote Santander.The immediate pretext for Santander's hatred for him was a hasty proclamation addressed to the people of Caracas by the general.In this ill-conceived document, he said that all their actions were guided by the belief in the freedom and honor of Caracas.After his escape to New Granada, he tried to settle what had happened with these just words to Cartagena and Mompox: "If Caracas gave me life, you gave me glory ".But this is a bit of a purely rhetorical point of view to make up for the problem, and it has not quelled the demagogic propaganda of the Santanderists. To prevent a disastrous outcome, the general returned to Santa Fe with a force, expecting to gather more on the way to begin his unification efforts once more.He said at the time that it was a pivotal moment in his life, as he said when he traveled to Venezuela to stop secessionists there.If he could reflect a little bit, he would see that for more than 20 years, there was not a single moment in his life that was not a defining moment. "The whole church, the whole army and the overwhelming majority of the people were with us," he wrote later, recalling those days.Notwithstanding all these advantages, he said, "it has been proved time and again that when he left the South for the North or the North for the South, the place he left was lost behind him, and new civil wars left it in ruins, This is his fate. For his military failures, the Santander papers missed every opportunity to attribute them to his nocturnal absurdities.Among the many other rumors intended to belittle his honor were reports published in the Santa Fe newspapers in those days that General Santander, and not he, commanded the independence of Fuyac at seven o'clock in the morning, August 7, 1819. campaign, while he was in Tunja, having fun with a notorious dame of the local high society. At any rate, the Santanderist papers were not the only ones to tarnish his reputation by publishing his rambunctious nights out.Legend has it that before the victory of the war, there were at least three battles during the Revolutionary War because he was not where he should be but slept in some woman's bed, which led to defeat.During his other visit to Mompox, one day, a horse team passed through the center of the street, and women of different ages and colors were riding on the horses. Where the horses passed, the air was full of seductive and intoxicating perfume. taste.They straddle horses like men, wear printed silk parasols, and wear exquisite silk clothes.In this city, I have never seen a woman dressed like this.Some people thought that these were the general's concubines, and they came here in advance to wait for the general. No one has refuted such speculation.That one, like many other hypotheses, was flimsy, for the story of his lecherousness in the army was one of the many gossips that circulated in the sandbox until after his death. Still following him. Those methods of distorting reporting are not new.The general himself used it in his war against the Spaniards when he ordered Santander to print false news to fool the Spanish commanders.After the founding of the Republic, when the general asked Santander for his use of newspapers to distort reports, the latter replied with polite sarcasm: "Your Excellency, we have had a good teacher." "A lousy teacher," retorted the general, "you should remember that the news we made hurt ourselves later on." He was very sensitive to all rumors about him, whether true or not, and any untruth about him would make him sleepless, and until his deathbed, he fought to expose the lies .But he paid little attention to avoiding rumors.As has happened so many times on other occasions, he had trifled with his honor for a woman the last time he passed Mompox. The woman's name was Josefa Sagrario, and she was from a famous local family. She used the password "God's Land" that Jose Palacios had given in advance, and wore a Franciscan friar's robe, half- Covering his face, he broke through seven guard posts one after another.Her skin is as white as jade, and the radiance of her flesh is clearly visible even in the dark.That evening, she adorned her incomparable beauty with a curious ornament. It turned out that she had hung on the front and back of her coat a pair of exquisite gold armor made by local gold and silver craftsmen. .The weight of the armor was so heavy that when he tried to lift her into the hammock, he could barely lift her. In the morning, after a night of debauchery, she felt that time was terribly short, and she begged him to keep her for another night. That risk is enormous.Because according to the information provided by the general's military intelligence agency, Santander is already plotting.To disempower him and dismember Colombia.but.She stayed anyway, not for one night, but for ten nights.The two were so happy that they both thought that no one in this world had ever been in love like they were. She left him gold ornaments. "For your war," she told him.Concerned that it was an ignominious fortune won in bed, he gave it to a friend to be in charge.Forgot about it later.During this visit to Mompox, the property and the place where it was kept did not come to his memory until the guava food had been consumed.He asked for a jewelry box to check the contents. What a miracle it was to see: Josefa Sagrario's gold armor, crafted with unsurpassed skill by gold and silver jewelers, weighed a total of 30 pounds.In addition, there was a wooden box containing cutlery, which contained 23 forks, 24 knives, 24 spoons, 33 coffee spoons, 9 sugar tongs, all of gold, and several other valuable pieces. The same with the household utensils, which he left in trusteeship at various times, and were forgotten as a result.In the vast and disorganized fortune of the general, these few possessions, found in the most unexpected places, surprised no one.He directed that the cutlery be incorporated into his luggage, and that the gold casket be returned to its mistress.But he was astonished when the rector of the school of San Pedro the Apostle told him that Joséfa Sagradio had been exiled to Italy for plotting against the security of the country. "Of course it was Santander's work," said the general. "No, General," said the abbe, "you yourself unwittingly sent her into exile, along with some others, because of the quarrel of 1828." The jewelry box was put back where it had been, and he began to explain the situation, but he never mentioned the exile again.Because, according to José Palacios, he is sure that once he leaves Cartagena by boat, José Fassagrario will return amidst the riots of his exiled political enemies . "Cassandro should have been packing his bags," he said. Indeed, many exiled people, as soon as they heard the news that he had gone to Europe.They began to return home.But the wily and elusive General Santander did not return home until the last of them.The news of the general's resignation from the presidency aroused his alarm, but he showed no sign of preparing to return home, nor did he immediately stop his study tours to various European countries, although he had started this kind of travel since his arrival in Hamburg in October last year . While passing through Florence on March 2, 1831, he read a report in the "Commercial Gazette" that the General was dead.Yet it was not until six months later, when the new government restored his rank and military service, and the Assembly elected him President of the Republic in his absence, that he began his journey home slowly. Before the fleet lifted anchor to leave Mompox, he paid an apology to his old comrade-in-arms, Lorenzo Caccamo.It was only at this time that he realized that Kakamo was seriously ill. The reason why he got out of bed the previous afternoon was to visit the general.Although the disease has seriously endangered his health, he had to force himself to stand upright and speak loudly, while at the same time, he kept wiping his eyes with the pillow, which had nothing in common with his mental state. The Fountain of Tears. The two lamented their own misfortunes together, lamented the turmoil and ingratitude of people after victory, and vented their anger against Santander together, which was a topic they would talk about whenever they met.Generals are rarely so outspoken.During the campaign of 1813, Lorenzo Caccamo witnessed a violent quarrel between the general and Santander when Santander refused to obey orders to liberate Venezuela a second time across the border.General Kakamo still sees that event as a source of pain in his heart, which the course of history has only intensified. On the contrary, the General believed that it was not the end of the great friendship between the two men, but the beginning of it.Nor was their rift at the root of the privileges granted to General Paez, or the ill-fated Bolivian constitution, or the general's acceptance of the imperial powers entrusted to him in Peru, or his desire to permanently locate the Presidential Palace and Senate in Colombia. , nor the absolute power he had after the Ocania Conference.No, none of these or those are reasons for turning against each other.This terrible rancor built over time until it led to the September 25th assassination. "The real reason is that Santander can't grasp the idea that the whole continent is one country," said the general. "A unified America is too big for him." Renzo Caccamo lay lying on the field of the last battle of a war that was never won. "Of course, nothing means anything after a person dies," he said. Lorenzo Caccamo saw the general stand up with a sad expression and no power to defend against the enemy. He felt that the general, like him, remembered the past more than the burden of his age.As Kakamo took his hand between his, noticing that both were feverish, he asked himself silently whose death would prevent them from seeing each other again. "It's over, brother Simon!" said Lorenzo Caccamo. "We destroyed it," said the general, "and now the only thing left is to start all over again." "Let's do it," said Lorenzo Caccamo. "I'm not going to do it," said the general. "All I need is to throw me in the dustbin." Lorenzo Caccamo gave him as a souvenir a pair of pistols in a red silk case.He knew the general disliked firearms, and in his few personal fights he let himself use the sword.But the two guns have moral value because they were fortunately used in a love duel.The general accepted it excitedly.In a few days' time the general would receive word at Turbaco that Caccamo had died. On the afternoon of Sunday, May 21st, under the auspicious omens, the general embarked on another journey.The boat was pushed forward not so much by the oars as it was by the current, and the sampans left the sheer rock faces and the mirages of the beach behind.Now the number of wooden rafts encountered on the way is more than in the past, and the speed is faster.The difference from what I saw in the first few days is that these wooden rafts are covered with fantastic small houses, flower pots are placed on the window sills, clothes are dried in the window, chicken coops made of wire are also raised, and there are cows , prematurely aging children are waving goodbye to the sampan that has passed far away.The fleet sailed all night in the calm water reflecting the starry sky. When it was dawn, the town of Zambrano could be seen shining in the first sun. On the pier, Castullo Campillo, who was called the big boy, greeted them under the canopy of the kapok tree. He prepared coastal-style cassava and banana meat at home to welcome the general.He was inspired by legend to issue such an invitation.It is said that when the General visited Zambrano for the first time, he had lunch in a pitifully small restaurant on the side of the big rock on the pier. I have to come here again.The hostess of the restaurant was so flattered by the presence of such an important guest that she sent for plates and cutlery to be borrowed from the distinguished Campillo's.The General could not remember the details of that meal.Jose Palacios isn't sure, either, but is that coastal cassava banana meat the same thing as a Venezuelan stew.However, General Carreno thought it was the same, and he did dine at the big rock on the pier, but not during the Battle of the Magdalena River, but three years before this battle, he came here by motorboat When eating.The general, increasingly disturbed by the decline of his memory, humbly affirmed the testimonies offered. The Campillo family had a magnificent mansion with many tall almond trees in the courtyard, and the grenadiers of the guard ate their lunch on a wooden table under the almond trees, covered with banana leaves instead of tablecloths.On the inner terrace, which overlooked the whole courtyard, there was a sumptuous table, furnished in the exact English manner, for the General, his adjutants, and a few guests.The hostess explained that they did not receive the news from Mompox until four o'clock in the morning, and there was hardly enough time to slaughter the best cattle and sheep raised in their ranch.The tender and delicious meat has been cut into pieces and boiled in water over high heat, accompanied by various fruits from the garden. The general was so annoyed at the news that a luncheon had been prepared that he had not been informed, that José Palacios had to use all his peacemaker skills to persuade the general to accept the invitation to land.The genial and hospitable atmosphere of the family dinner greatly improved his mood.He justly praised the delicious taste of the dishes and the tenderness and sweetness of the girls of the host family. The shy and attentive girls entertained the guests seated at the VIP table neatly in the ancient way.他特别赞赏了银质餐具上地道、精致的钢印和已被新时代的不幸所吞噬的某家族的徽记，但是，他使用的是自己带的餐具。 唯一引起他不快的是一个在坎皮略家族庇护下生活的法国人，他来参加午宴是想在这样一位显要的贵宾面前显示他对古往今来所有不解之谜的广博学识。他在一次海难中丢失了所有行李，从差不多一年之前起，他和他的助手及佣人就占据了坎皮略家住所的一半，等待着应从新奥尔良寄给他的一笔没有把握的救济金，何塞?帕拉西奥斯知道他叫迪奥克勒?阿特朗蒂克，但他不清楚他的专业属哪一门学科，也不知道他来新格拉纳达是干什么的。要是他光着身子。手里拿把三叉戟的话，与海神的样子毫无两样，他为人的粗鲁和邋遢，镇上无人不知其名。但是与将军吃饭这件事使他很是激动，就餐前特别洗了个澡，指甲显得干干净净，五月的大热天，穿着象冬天巴黎沙笼里一样的衣装，上身是配有金灿灿钮扣的蓝礼服，下面是时装指南上的老式条纹裤。 从打完第一声招呼起，他就以纯正的西班牙语开始了他渊博的讲座。他说，一位格勒诺布尔小学时代的同学，经过14 年不懈的努力，刚刚破译出了埃及的象形文字，玉米的原产地不是墨西哥而是美索不达米亚的一个她区，在那儿发现的有关化石，早于哥伦布到达安的列斯群岛的年代．亚述人早就获得了天体对疾病产生影响的实验证明，与一部刚出版的百科全书所说的相反，希腊人直到公元前400 年才知道了猫。他以权威的口气片刻不停地谈着一个又一个问题，只是当他抱怨拉丁美洲烹饪技术的文化缺陷时，才稍作紧急的停顿。 将军坐在他对面，装着吃得比往常多的样子，眼睛盯着餐盘，勉强对法国人以礼貌性的注意。从一开始法国人就试图用法语跟将军交谈，出于客气，他回以法语，但随即仍用西班牙文讲话。那一天将军的耐性使何塞?劳伦西奥?席尔瓦感到意外，他知道欧洲人的专制主义如何使他恼怒。 法国人向应邀的客人、甚至坐得较远的客人高声说话，但是，很明显，只有将军的注意力才是他感兴趣的。据说，他从鸡谈到驴地突然直接问将军，归根结蒂哪一种政府制度最适于拉丁美洲的这些新共和国。将军仍然没有抬起目光，反问道：“您怎么看呢？” '我认为拿破仑的事例不仅对我们来说是好的，对于整个世界也是如此。”法国人说。 “我不怀疑您这样认为”，将军丝毫没有掩饰他的讥讽，“欧洲人以为只有欧洲搞出来的东西对全世界才是好的，而所有别的一切都是该斥责的。” “据我所知阁下是君主制方案的推动者。”法国人说。 将军第一次抬起了目光，“您该忘记这件事了，我的额头永远不会被一顶皇冠沾污。”他指着他的副官们结束道：“我有伊图尔维德在那儿，他将提醒我这件事。” “就说他”法国人说，“您在处决这位皇帝时发表的声明使欧洲的君主主义者大大松了一口气。” “我对当时说的话一个字也不会动，”将军说，“我对象伊图尔维德的父亲这样平常的人能作出这样了不起的事情感到惊异，但愿上帝能象把我从与他一样的生涯中解脱出来那样，把我从他遭遇的命运中解救出来，虽然我知道，永远也不会把我从他经受过的那种忘恩负义中解脱出来。” 接着，将军试图缓和说话的生硬语气，他解释说，提出在这些新诞生的共和国建立君主制度的是何塞?安东尼奥?派斯。这一主张传播开后，便得到了代表各种利益集团的推动，他本人甚至考虑将它披上终身总统职务的外衣，作为不惜一切代价争取并保持美洲完整性的孤注一掷的方案。但是很快他就觉察到了它的自相矛盾。 “联邦制我觉得正好相反，”将军说道，“由于它要求于我们的超越了我们的品德和才能，我觉得，对于我们这些国家它太完美了。” “不管怎么说，”法国人说，“不是制度，而是制度的过分化的东西使历史失去人性。” “我们已经背得出这个讲话了，”将军说，“实质上，这就是欧洲最了不起的趋炎附势者本哈明?康斯坦特的那种需要。他先是反对革命，然后又支持革命。他开始反对拿破仑，可后来成了他的廷臣。很多次，他晚上临睡时是共和党人，早晨醒来时却是君主主义分子，或者相反。而现在，由于欧洲的绝对优势，他又成了我们真理的绝对保管人。” “康斯坦特反对专制的论据是很清楚的。”法国人说。 “作为良好的法国人，康斯坦特先生是专制利益的狂热鼓吹者，”将军说，“相反，有关那场辩论，唯一清楚的论点是普拉特讲的，他指出政治的好坏取决于推行它的时间及地点。在生死攸关的战争里，我亲自下令一天里处决过80 名西班牙俘虏，包括瓜伊拉医院里生病的战俘。今天，如来在同样的环境下，我的嗓音将毫不颤抖地再一次发出那样的命令，欧洲人将没有什么道德权威来指责我，因为如果一部历史浸透了鲜血、卑鄙和不义的话，那这就是欧洲的历史。” 在一片有如笼罩着整个小镇的肃静中，随着分析的深入，他自己的怒火越烧越旺。被驳得喘不过气来的法国人想打断他的话，但他一挥手就把对方镇住了。将军回顾了欧洲历史上那些令人发指的屠杀。巴黎的巴托洛梅之夜，十个小时内，死者超过2000。在文艺复兴的鼎盛时期，15000 名由皇家军队收买的雇佣军焚烧了罗马城并把它洗劫一空，又用刺刀杀死了它的8000 名居民。精彩的结局是全俄罗斯的沙皇伊凡四世，叫他“可怕的人”一点也不错，他杀绝了莫斯科和诺夫哥罗德之间的所有城镇的居民，而在诺夫哥罗德，仅仅因为怀疑有人密谋反对他，在一次袭击中就下令屠杀了它的20000 居民。 “所以，就请别再给我们说我们应该干什么了，”将军说道，“别试图教训我们应该怎样为人处世，别想让我们成为和你们一样的人，别企求我们在20 年里做好你们化了2000 年尚且做得如此糟的事。” 他把餐具交叉地放在盘子上，第一次用他喷射着火焰的目光盯住法国人．“娘的，请让我们安安静静地搞我们中世纪吧！” 一阵咳嗽使他几乎缓不过气来，当咳嗽平静后，他恼怒的痕迹一点也没有了。他露着最动人的微笑向坎皮略转过身去，特别向他表示道：“亲爱的朋友，请您原谅，今天这样的唠叨不配这顿如此值得回忆的午餐。” 威尔逊上校曾把将军的这段插曲告诉过当时的一位记者，但此人没有留神记住。“可怜的将军已经完了，”威尔逊说。实际上，凡是在他最后一次旅途中见到过他的人，都确信是这样，也许这就是谁也没有留下有关文字材料的原因。他的某些随行人员甚至认为他将不会被写进历史。 过了桑布拉诺，热带雨林不那么稠密了，沿岸的居民点气氛更为愉快，色彩更为鲜艳，有些地方的街巷里还传出“不为了什么”的乐曲声。将军躺在吊床上试图用一个平静的午睡来消化法国人的狂妄言辞，但没有做到。他在想着那个法国人。并向何塞?帕拉西奥斯说可惜他没有能及时找到击中要害的句子和无可辩驳的论据，而现在，当他躺在孤独的吊床下和对手已远离射程之外时，这些话，这些论据都一一浮现在他的脑际。但是，傍晚时分，他的感觉稍微好了一点，便指示卡雷尼奥让政府努力改善那个倒霉的法国人的状况。 随着船队将要临近大海时，人们对大自然的渴望愈来愈强烈，大多数军官都欣喜若狂，有帮助划桨的，有用刺刀捕杀鳄鱼的，更有的把简易的事情复杂化，做船上犯人的活儿来消耗过剩的精力。相反，何塞?劳伦西奥?库尔瓦只要有可能就白天睡觉，夜里干活，他这徉做是因为惧怕自己可能因白内障而引起失明，就像他外婆家几个亲人所遭遇的那样。因此，他在夜里起床干活，以便学会做一个有用的盲人。在战地营房的那些难眠之夜，将军曾多次听到他二手干活的忙碌声，锯断自己刨光的木板，组装已做好的零件，轻轻地敲击锤子以免把别人从睡梦中吵醒。次日，人们很难相信这样的细木工活儿是在夜里摸黑干的。在皇家港口的那个晚上，何塞? 劳伦西奥，席尔瓦因没有及时回答口令，值班的哨兵以为有人企图趁着黑夜偷偷接近将军的吊床，差一点向他开枪。 船队行得既快又稳，唯一的小事敌是海军准将埃尔韦斯的一艘轮船造成的。当这条船排故着汽，从一旁往相反方向驶去时，产生的尾波危及到了船队，一条装满给养的舢舨被掀翻了。轮船的挑檐上可以看到“解放者”这几个写得很大的字母。将军沉思地凝视着那艘船，直到危险过去，那条船在视野里消失了为止。他咕哝道： “解放者。”接着，就象某人翻开书的下一页似地自语道：“他们以为那是我！” 夜里，他躺在吊床上无法入睡，缓慢的桨声玩着与热带雨林里卷尾猴、小鹦鹉、大蟒蛇的声音比美的游戏。突然，谁也没有想到，有个人说道，坎皮略一家由于害怕被传染上结核病，把那套英国餐具，捷克波希米亚的玻璃器皿和荷兰台布全都埋在院子里了。 虽然在大河一带这己是人所皆知的消息，而且很快将传遍整个海滨地区。但是，这是将军第一次听到对他病症的马路诊断。何塞?帕拉西奥斯感到将军受到了震惊，因为他的吊床不再摆动。经过长长的沉默思虑后，他说：“我是用的自己的餐具。” 第二天，船队在特内里费镇靠岸，以补充路上掉进水里的给养。将军悄悄地呆在了舢舨上，但是派威尔逊登岸打听一位姓莱奥努瓦或莱奥努瓦尔的法国商人，此人有个女儿叫阿尼塔，其时大概20岁左右。由于在特内里费没有查到结果，将军希望也去附近的瓜伊达罗、萨拉米纳和皮尼翁详尽地了解一下，最后，他才确信在现实中这是一个没有任何根据的传说。 他在这件事上的兴趣是可以理解的，因为数年来，有种不怀好意的议论从加拉加斯到利马一直在跟踪着他，据说，大河战役期，他路过特内里费时曾与阿尼塔?莱奥努瓦发生过违法的、失去理智的情爱关系。这种流言蜚语一直使他内心不安，但他也没有任何办法给以澄清。首先，因为他的父亲胡安?维森特?玻利瓦尔上校曾因所谓强奸成年和幼年女子一事和滥施初夜权并与很多女人有不正当的关系而在圣马特奥地方主教面前受过好几次的控告。其次，在大河战役期间，他在特内里费总共才呆了两天，两天的时间对于如此炽烈的爱情是远远不够的。但有关这件事的传说竟达到了这样的地步，甚至在特内见费的公墓里有座立着的安娜?莱奥努瓦墓碑的墓，直到世纪末，它都是情人们朝拜的地方。 在将军的随从人员里，何塞?玛丽亚?卡雷尼奥的残臂所感到的不便是大家友善地取笑的原因。虽然他的胳膊里已没有了骨头，但是手的动作、手指的触觉他都感觉得到，阴天骨骼的疼痛他也有知觉。他仍具有讥嘲自己的幽默感。相反，使他担心的是在睡梦中回答别人问话的习惯。在梦里他能与人进行任何方面的交谈，但无一点清醒时的控制能力。在梦中他还能说出他在醒着时守口如瓶的打算和挫折。某一次，曾有人毫无根据地指控他泄露军情。船队航行的最后一天夜里，靠着将军吊床守夜的何塞?帕拉西奥斯听见睡在船头上的卡雷尼奥在说话：“7982 个”。 “你在说什么啦？”何塞?帕拉西奥斯问道。 “说星星，”卡雷尼奥答。 将军睁开了眼睛，他确信卡雷尼奥在说梦话，于是欠起身透过窗户看了一眼夜空。夜，广袤辽阔，皎洁灿烂，明晃晃的星星填满了天幕。“差不多要多十倍”，将军说。 “就是我说的那个数字”，卡雷尼奥说，“加上两个在我数数时一闪而过的流星。” 这时将军离开了吊床，看到他仰面睡在船头上，显得比什么时候都清醒，光着的身子上布满了横七竖八的伤疤，他正在用伤残的胳膊数着星星。委内瑞拉白岗子那一仗结束后，找到他时就象这样，上下染满鲜血，浑身几乎被砍得稀烂，人们都以为他死了，就把他放在了泥沼里。身上有14 处被马刀砍伤，其中几刀使他丢掉了胳膊。后来，又在别的战斗中受了另外一些伤。但是，他的精神丝毫无损，他的左手处得如此灵巧，以致他不仅耍弄刀、枪得心应手，声名卓著，他那精妙的书法也闻名遐迩。 连星星也逃脱不了命运的捉弄”，卡雷尼奥说，“现在就比l8年前少了”。 “你疯了，”将军说。 “没有，”他答道，“我老了，但我不愿相信这是真的。” “我比你足足大八岁”，将军说。 我的每处伤口要算两岁，”卡雷尼奥说，”这样我就变成了我们中间年龄最大的人。 " “如果这样说，最大的要称何塞?劳伦西奥，”将军说，“他有五处枪伤，七处被长矛刺伤、两处箭伤。” 卡雷尼奥就势抓住了他的回答，回敬了一句恶意深藏的话：“而最年轻的可能是您了，您皮也没有挠破过一块。” 将军听到这种既是事实也是责备的话已不是第一次了，但在卡雷尼奥的语调里好象并没有怨恨，两人之间的友谊经受过最严峻的考验。他在卡雷尼奥身边坐了下来，帮他欣赏映在河里的星星。当卡雷尼奥再次与将军说话时，那是在间隔了长长的停顿之后，当时他已进入了梦乡。“我拒绝接受这次旅行将是生命结束的说法。”他说。 “人们的生命不仅仅以死亡来结束，”将军说，“还有别的方式，包括某些更为值得的方式。” 卡雷尼奥仍不愿意接受将军的解释。“得干点什么，"他说，“即使用紫硬毛香菊给我们洗一次澡也成。而且不只是给我们几个，应给整个解放者军队洗一次。” 将军在第二次去巴黎之前，尚未听说过关于用紫硬毛香菊洗澡的事。紫硬毛香菊即伦塔纳花，用它来洗澡是委内瑞拉民间用来消灾祈福的一种方法。有关此花具有这样的功能，是温布尔特的合作者埃梅?邦普郎博士以一种唬人的、科学的郑重语气告诉他的。就在那个时候，他认识了法国司法界一位令人尊敬的法官，他在加拉加斯度过了他的少年时期。这位法官披着漂亮的长发，蓄着被消灾的浴水染紫的胡子经常出入于巴黎的文学沙龙。 将军嘲笑一切散发出迷信或超自然绝技气味的东西，并讥讽有悖于他的老师西蒙?罗德里格斯的唯理论的一切信仰。当时．他刚满20 岁．是共济会成员，殷实富有，不久前丧偶，他对拿破仑?波拿巴的登基加冕大惑不解。他高声背诵卢梭的《爱弥儿》和《新爱洛绮丝》里他所喜爱的片断，这两本书多少年来都是他的床头读物，在老师们的照顾下，他身背挎包，徒步穿越了几乎整个欧洲。一次，在一座山顶上，俯瞰着脚下的罗马城，西蒙?罗德里格斯给他说了句有关美洲各国命运的豪壮的预言。对于这一点他看得更加清楚。 “对这些讨厌的西班牙人，应该做的就是把他们从委内瑞拉撵走，”他说，“我向您发誓我将这样去干。” 当他达到成人年龄并终于能够支配遗产后．便开始了一种适应于当时的狂热和他本人性格特点的生活，三个月里．他花去了15万法郎。在巴黎最豪华的旅馆里包有数个最昂贵的房间，随身跟有两个制服笔挺的仆人，进出是一辆配有土耳其车夫、几匹纯白良马拉着的马车，在不同的场合携带不同的情妇，有陪他去他喜爱的普罗科佩咖啡馆喝咖啡的，有陪他去蒙马特跳舞的，还有陪他去歌剧院他的私人包厢看戏的，他向所有相信他的人讲述怎么在一个倒霉的夜里玩轮盘赌，一下输了3000 比索。 回到加拉加斯后，他以羞于告人的激情继续阅读一本被他两手翻得皱折不堪的《新爱洛绮丝》，他与卢梭比跟自己的心靠得还近。然而，6 月25 日暗杀阴谋不久之前，那时他己圆圆满满、富富有余地履行了他在罗马立下的誓言．当曼努埃拉?萨恩斯第十遍朗读《爱弥儿》时，他让她别再往下念了，因为他觉得这是本令人讨厌的书。就是这一次，他这样对她说：“任何地方也没有1804 年在巴黎时那样使我厌倦。相反，他在巴黎逗留期间，曾认为自己不仅是幸福的，而且是世上最幸福的人，并且也没有用紫硬毛香菊的预言之水浸染他的命运。 24 年之后，当他深为大河的魅力所吸引，自己的生命己近垂危，且为对手所败时，也许他问过自己是否有勇气把牛至和鼠尾草的叶子，还有何塞?帕拉西奥斯为他准备洗浴消遣用的苦橙子扔进粪坑里去，是否有勇气遵从卡雷尼奥的忠告，与他的叫化子军队，他那废物一堆的荣誉，他那些值得铭记的错误，还有整个祖国和他自己，一起沉入用紫硬毛香菊泡成的救苦救难的大海海底。 这是一个万籁俱寂的夜晚，就象在利亚诺斯无垠的河滩上，静得数莱瓜以外两个人的悄声密谈都能听得清清楚楚。克里斯托瓦尔?哥伦布曾经历过这样的时刻，他在日记里这样写道“整个夜里，我都感到飞鸟的声音。”因为经过69 天的航行，陆地终于近在眼前了。将军也感到了飞鸟的声音。鸟儿差不多是八点钟开始飞过的，当时卡雷尼奥已沉入梦乡，一个小时后，他头顶上的鸟儿如此之多，翅膀煽起的风比刮的风还大。过了一会儿，由于水底映出的星星而迷失方向的数条大鱼．从舢舨下面游了过去，东北方向腐物发生的臭气，也一阵一阵地扑面而来。那种即将获得自由的奇特感觉在大家心里产生的无限力量，无需要看见它才去承认它。“天哪！”将军长叹了一声，“我们到了。”确实，大海就在那儿，海的那一边就是世界。