The people from Monte Lavre heard the whistle of the bullets, and José Medronho is bleeding from his face, he was lucky, it was just a graze, but he’ll be scarred for the rest of his life. Gracinda Mau-Tempo is weeping, clinging to her husband, she heads off with other people down the narrow streets, how terrible, they can hear the triumphant cry of the guards as they make their arrests, and suddenly Leandro Leandres appears along with other dragons from the PIDE, a half dozen of them, João Mau-Tempo saw them and turned pale, and then he did something quite mad, he stood in the path of the enemy, trembling, but not with fear, ladies and gentlemen, let us be quite clear about that, but the other man either did not see him or did not recognize him, though those eyes are not easy to forget, and when the dragons had passed him by, João Mau-Tempo could no longer hold back his tears, tears of rage and deep sadness too, when will our suffering end. José Medronho’s wound is no longer bleeding, no one would think that he had been within a millimeter of having the bones in his face shattered, what would he look like now if that had happened. Sigismundo Canastro is breathing hard, but the others are fine, and Gracinda Mau-Tempo is a girl again, sobbing, I saw him, he fell to the ground, dead, that’s what she’s saying, but some disagree, no, they say, he was taken to the hospital, although how we don’t know, whether on a stretcher or in someone’s arms, they wouldn’t dare just drag him there even if they wanted to, Kill them all, comes the cry from the castle, however, one must respect the formalities, a man is not dead until a doctor says he is, and even then. Dr. Cordo is here, dressed in his white coat, let us hope his soul is of the same color, and as he is about to approach the body, Leandro Leandres blocks his path and says in a voice of urgent authority, Doctor, this man is wounded, he must be taken to Lisbon at once, and you must go with him for his greater safety. Those of us who have been listening to these stories from the latifundio are amazed to see the dragon Leandro Leandres taking pity on a victim and expressing a wish to save him, Take him, Doctor, an ambulance is already on its way, a car, quickly, there’s no time to lose, the sooner he leaves here the better, hearing him talk like this, so urgently, so briskly, it’s hard to believe what happened to João Mau-Tempo, or what he claims happened, when he was taken prisoner eight years earlier, that’s how long ago it was, they obviously couldn’t have treated him so very badly, apart from that statue business, the proof being that he came from Monte Lavre to take part in this demonstration, he clearly hasn’t learned his lesson, he was lucky a bullet didn’t find him.
Dr. Cordo goes over to José Adelino dos Santos and says, This man is dead, there is no denying such words, after all, a doctor studies for many years, and in that time he must have learned how to tell a dead man from a live one, however, Leandro Leandres was taught from a different primer and is, in his own way, a connoisseur of the living and the dead, and based on that knowledge and on his own self-interest, he insists, This man is wounded, Doctor, and must be taken to Lisbon, even a child would understand that these words are intended as a threat, but the doctor’s soul clearly is as white as the coat he’s wearing, and if it’s stained with blood, that’s because the soul has blood in it too, and he responds, I take the wounded to Lisbon, but I do not accompany the dead, and Leandro Leandres loses his temper and propels the doctor into an empty room, I’m warning you, if you don’t take him, you’ll pay for it, and the doctor answers, Do what you like, but I’m not taking a dead man to Lisbon, and having said that, he left the room to deal with the genuinely wounded, of which there were many, and some of whom went straight from there to prison, in fact, more than a hundred men, whether wounded or unscathed, were arrested, and if José Adelino dos Santos did end up being transported to Lisbon, it was simply a drama put on by the PIDE, a way of pretending that they had done everything they could to save him, a form of mockery really, and along with José Adelino dos Santos, they took other men arrested on that same day, and each one suffered as João Mau-Tempo suffered and as we have described.
The party from Monte Lavre escaped the patrols scouring and encircling the town, and all returned save one, António Mau-Tempo, who told his father, I’m going to stay here in Montemor, I’ll be back tomorrow, and there was no point arguing with him, he replied to all their arguments with, Don’t worry, I’m not in any danger, and though he had no clear idea of what he was going to do, he felt he had to stay, and then the others set off along ancient paths into the countryside, they’re going to be tired out by the time they get home, although perhaps, farther on, when they rejoin the road, someone will come along and give them a lift to Monte Lavre, where the news of what happened has already spread, and oddly enough, when they did arrive, Faustina Mau-Tempo immediately heard their knock at the door and understood everything they said as if she had the keenest hearing in the world, even though she’s deaf as a post, although some might hint that
