Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Eight

Throughout the day, the city gates of Cardiz were bustling with people. For three days, as soon as it was daylight, there was a great procession of carriages and saddled mules beside the ship of St. Anthony.Twenty or thirty men, dancing up and down, hastened to bring bags full of flour, chickpeas, dried pork, and firewood, as well as oil cans and wine jugs, boxes of suet, or boxes of oranges. Basket unloaded wagon or mule... Although the weather is cool in January, most of the porters are still bare to the upper body, with beads of sweat glistening on their shoulders.Standing in front of the cabin at the stern, Jia Boye watched the crowd coming and going.

He hung a stationery case over the side and wrote the contents and quantity of the shipment on the back of a leather sheet.Occasionally, he would look up and watch the black Saiba Tian lightly slide into the pier along the hull. Under the captain's strict supervision, he lifted up an awning, opened a bag, roughly estimated, and even carefully counted the number of items inside. thing.If everything complies with the regulations, Sai Batian will raise his hand and wave to Jia Boye who is in charge of taking records. Twice, however, he held his fist high, thumb down, and the whole line of porters stopped immediately because a quintal of flour had been mixed with rye.Later, several cans of powder needed to launch light artillery shells were not packaged properly, and became hard lumps due to moisture.

"Once the powder is wet, it becomes ineffective powder," Sai Batian smiled. "Powders that are ineffective are like many soldiers who have chosen the wrong side with light shells!" The captain of the St. Anthony, a thin, gray-haired man with the dark complexion of a Moor, took up some of the merchandise angrily, and said in a high-pitched voice: "Hey, black person! Who do you think you are? I don't need a nigger to lecture me! I, I own the ship!" "I'm sorry, Captain," Sai Batian said calmly, while irritating a group of sailors. "On the boat, maybe you are the captain, but by the pier, you are not. The owner here is him!"

He pointed at Jia Boye, who immediately came over as soon as he noticed that there was a dispute between them.He moved cleanly, like his expression and eyes, and he opened the flour bags and powder jars himself. Everyone stared at his back, their eyeballs were darker than Ba ​​Tian's.He agreed with the results of the examination in a frosty tone: "Mr. Sebatian is absolutely right, gentlemen. Do you think I should accept this third-class product? This powder cannot be detonated even in the oven. As for this flour, only insects like it! " The merchants protested, and the captain complained.After Jia Boye glanced at Sai Batian, who was smiling more and more happily, he said in a firm voice:

"I said no, gentlemen, just no. Don't waste time, take your goods away quickly, before Mr. Sebatian throws them all into the sea." All other unloading conditions are good.Finally, an hour before dark, all the crowds crowding the pier where the St. Anthony was moored had subsided. After the last carriage had gone away, the pier returned to calm, only the sound of the shaking of the hull and mast, the cry of seagulls or the laughter of sailors repairing the canvas could be heard intermittently. When Jia Boye was busy sucking up the recorded materials with gravel, he was startled by a strong voice:

"I think you should be satisfied, Mr. Adviser to the Governor! The cargo holds are full, and according to your instructions..." Like a cat, the captain quietly walked to the rear cabin, pointed to the open ledger and the pen still in Jia Boye's hand, and said: "This is the first time my cargo has been inspected in this way. If you want to know what's in my heart, sir, I think it's like a judge trying a case!" Jia Boye couldn't help laughing out: "Your inner thoughts, Captain, are full of imagination and blunders. In fact, Governor Pizarro has entrusted me with a task to do my best, and I did. Come on! Don't be upset, Goodbye. Regarding the purchase of flour and medicinal powder... the Ducato gold coins you extorted from me in your wallet should be enough to compensate you for this loss."

The captain's face turned red immediately, and his voice was as choking as a large bucket of concentrated salt water. "You are young, sir, to see these things. On that basis, as far as I know, this should be your first voyage! . . . Let me tell you, I have seen a lot for a rookie like you. Yes. They always set off for Indian with pride, but you wait and see, only a few make it back safely! . . . Good night, sir. We shall weigh anchor an hour before daylight .” As soon as he turned around and walked into the deckhouse, Jia Boye heard Sai Batian's shallow laughter. "It's over, no one will smile at you for two months!"

"As long as he sails the ship to the other side of the ocean," Jia Boye jokingly said, "I will be his most capable assistant." When he closed the account book and put away the paper and pen, the smile on Sai Batian's face turned into a rare embarrassment. "I should thank you, Mr. Jia Boye." "Thank me?" "Normally, the average person always calls me Negro, Ebony, Nigger, or something milder. Few people call me 'Mr. Sebatian'! Except for the Greek Bedo, really..." Under the sincere gaze of the black man, Jia Boye was stunned for a while, and then laughed loudly pretending to be indifferent:

"My God, Mr. Sebatian, I don't find it strange at all. Together we will conquer Peru and expand the world, so it is only natural that we both must cherish each other's partners in the future!" They laughed heartily together, but the unnatural atmosphere still made the two of them turn their heads away immediately, looking at a large area of ​​flagpoles and mastyards, which swayed gently with the sea water in the afterglow of the setting sun. Jia Boye thought to himself, in a few minutes, the scorching sun will rise from the seemingly calm sea.When it's night here, it's there, glowing over that golden country!We're about to head out there, where I can finally be 100% myself.God knows if the Greeks were right. Is that birthmark on my shoulder really extraordinary?

"It's hard to predict what will happen over there, Mr. Jia Boye." Sai Batian murmured, as if he had guessed his mind. "Sometimes, I dream that Peru has a lot of gold, so I can be a free man there, free enough to turn my skin white! But it's all just fairy tales. Mr. Francisco may be the Governor of Peru , but until now, the area under his jurisdiction is still a dream. Peru is on the other side of the world, and the Inca kings that the Indian Filipino keeps mentioning are the local masters, and they will never obey us easily .Mr. Francesco hasn't even found enough people to—”

"I know," Jia Boye interrupted him. "The captain of this ship also knows that before the Indian Advisory Officer Corps gave us the right to pass the customs, he asked me for fifty more Ducato gold coins, allowing us to leave the port at midnight! Don't be nervous, we can go to the port later. Panama has found some sailors." "I hope there are still many lunatics who are willing to follow us! I can tell you privately, Mr. Jia Boye, based on everything you have done, we have long regarded you as one of us." "I've been wondering for days, do they really think I'm one of them?" "You mean Enando?" "The captain's brothers aren't much better at all, if I'm not mistaken: that Juan and Gonzalo are impulsive, I wish they were good fighters. Other than that...in fact, it doesn't matter It is important. We can only pin our dreams on Mr. Francesco. Tonight, this night, my life will start again. I know, I feel it! Yes, the colorful clouds in the sky seem to be calling me, It seems like even the sun is about to take me down to the other end of the horizon!"