The Reign of Greed | Page 6

great enterprises carried out with small means. Thus were
constructed the Pyramids, Lake Moeris, and the Colosseum in Rome.
Entire provinces came in from the desert, bringing their tubers to feed
on. Old men, youths, and boys labored in transporting stones, hewing
them, and carrying them on their shoulders under the direction of the
official lash, and afterwards, the survivors returned to their homes or
perished in the sands of the desert. Then came other provinces, then
others, succeeding one another in the work during years. Thus the task
was finished, and now we admire them, we travel, we go to Egypt and
to Home, we extol the Pharaohs and the Antonines. Don't fool
yourself--the dead remain dead, and might only is considered right by
posterity."
"But, Señor Simoun, such measures might provoke uprisings," objected
Don Custodio, rather uneasy over the turn the affair had taken.
"Uprisings, ha, ha! Did the Egyptian people ever rebel, I wonder? Did
the Jewish prisoners rebel against the pious Titus? Man, I thought you
were better informed in history!"

Clearly Simoun was either very presumptuous or disregarded
conventionalities! To say to Don Custodio's face that he did not know
history! It was enough to make any one lose his temper! So it seemed,
for Don Custodio forgot himself and retorted, "But the fact is that you
're not among Egyptians or Jews!"
"And these people have rebelled more than once," added the
Dominican, somewhat timidly. "In the times when they were forced to
transport heavy timbers for the construction of ships, if it hadn't been
for the clerics--"
"Those times are far away," answered Simoun, with a laugh even drier
than usual. "These islands will never again rebel, no matter how much
work and taxes they have. Haven't you lauded to me, Padre Salvi," he
added, turning to the Franciscan, "the house and hospital at Los Baños,
where his Excellency is at present?"
Padre Salvi gave a nod and looked up, evading the question.
"Well, didn't you tell me that both buildings were constructed by
forcing the people to work on them under the whip of a lay-brother?
Perhaps that wonderful bridge was built in the same way. Now tell me,
did these people rebel?"
"The fact is--they have rebelled before," replied the Dominican, "and
ab actu ad posse valet illatio!"
"No, no, nothing of the kind," continued Simoun, starting down a
hatchway to the cabin. "What's said, is said! And you, Padre Sibyla,
don't talk either Latin or nonsense. What are you friars good for if the
people can rebel?"
Taking no notice of the replies and protests, Simoun descended the
small companionway that led below, repeating disdainfully, "Bosh,
bosh!"
Padre Sibyla turned pale; this was the first time that he, Vice-Rector of
the University, had ever been credited with nonsense. Don Custodio

turned green; at no meeting in which he had ever found himself had he
encountered such an adversary.
"An American mulatto!" he fumed.
"A British Indian," observed Ben-Zayb in a low tone.
"An American, I tell you, and shouldn't I know?" retorted Don
Custodio in ill-humor. "His Excellency has told me so. He's a jeweler
whom the latter knew in Havana, and, as I suspect, the one who got
him advancement by lending him money. So to repay him he has had
him come here to let him have a chance and increase his fortune by
selling diamonds--imitations, who knows? And he so ungrateful, that,
after getting money from the Indians, he wishes--huh!" The sentence
was concluded by a significant wave of the hand.
No one dared to join in this diatribe. Don Custodio could discredit
himself with his Excellency, if he wished, but neither Ben-Zayb, nor
Padre Irene, nor Padre Salvi, nor the offended Padre Sibyla had any
confidence in the discretion of the others.
"The fact is that this man, being an American, thinks no doubt that we
are dealing with the redskins. To talk of these matters on a steamer!
Compel, force the people! And he's the very person who advised the
expedition to the Carolines and the campaign in Mindanao, which is
going to bring us to disgraceful ruin. He's the one who has offered to
superintend the building of the cruiser, and I say, what does a jeweler,
no matter how rich and learned he may be, know about naval
construction?"
All this was spoken by Don Custodio in a guttural tone to his neighbor
Ben-Zayb, while he gesticulated, shrugged his shoulders, and from time
to time with his looks consulted the others, who were nodding their
heads ambiguously. The Canon Irene indulged in a rather equivocal
smile, which he half hid with his hand as he rubbed his nose.
"I tell you, Ben-Zayb," continued Don Custodio, slaping the journalist
on the arm, "all the trouble comes