The Reign of Greed | Page 9

their homes were not very far apart. Isagani lived on the
seashore of the opposite coast. Simoun examined him with such
marked attention that he was annoyed, turned squarely around, and
faced the jeweler with a provoking stare.
"Well, what is the province like?" the latter asked, turning again to
Basilio.
"Why, aren't you familiar with it?"
"How the devil am I to know it when I've never set foot in it? I've been
told that it's very poor and doesn't buy jewels."
"We don't buy jewels, because we don't need them," rejoined Isagani
dryly, piqued in his provincial pride.
A smile played over Simoun's pallid lips. "Don't be offended, young
man," he replied. "I had no bad intentions, but as I've been assured that
nearly all the money is in the hands of the native priests, I said to

myself: the friars are dying for curacies and the Franciscans are
satisfied with the poorest, so when they give them up to the native
priests the truth must be that the king's profile is unknown there. But
enough of that! Come and have a beer with me and we'll drink to the
prosperity of your province."
The youths thanked him, but declined the offer.
"You do wrong," Simoun said to them, visibly taken aback. "Beer is a
good thing, and I heard Padre Camorra say this morning that the lack of
energy noticeable in this country is due to the great amount of water the
inhabitants drink."
Isagani was almost as tall as the jeweler, and at this he drew himself up.
"Then tell Padre Camorra," Basilio hastened to say, while he nudged
Isagani slyly, "tell him that if he would drink water instead of wine or
beer, perhaps we might all be the gainers and he would not give rise to
so much talk."
"And tell him, also," added Isagani, paying no attention to his friend's
nudges, "that water is very mild and can be drunk, but that it drowns
out the wine and beer and puts out the fire, that heated it becomes
steam, and that ruffled it is the ocean, that it once destroyed mankind
and made the earth tremble to its foundations!" [8]
Simoun raised his head. Although his looks could not be read through
the blue goggles, on the rest of his face surprise might be seen. "Rather
a good answer," he said. "But I fear that he might get facetious and ask
me when the water will be converted into steam and when into an
ocean. Padre Camorra is rather incredulous and is a great wag."
"When the fire heats it, when the rivulets that are now scattered through
the steep valleys, forced by fatality, rush together in the abyss that men
are digging," replied Isagani.
"No, Señor Simoun," interposed Basilio, changing to a jesting tone,
"rather keep in mind the verses of my friend Isagani himself:

'Fire you, you say, and water we, Then as you wish, so let it be; But let
us live in peace and right, Nor shall the fire e'er see us fight; So joined
by wisdom's glowing flame, That without anger, hate, or blame, We
form the steam, the fifth element, Progress and light, life and
movement.'"
"Utopia, Utopia!" responded Simoun dryly. "The engine is about to
meet--in the meantime, I'll drink my beer." So, without any word of
excuse, he left the two friends.
"But what's the matter with you today that you're so quarrelsome?"
asked Basilio.
"Nothing. I don't know why, but that man fills me with horror, fear
almost."
"I was nudging you with my elbow. Don't you know that he's called the
Brown Cardinal?"
"The Brown Cardinal?"
"Or Black Eminence, as you wish."
"I don't understand."
"Richelieu had a Capuchin adviser who was called the Gray Eminence;
well, that's what this man is to the General."
"Really?"
"That's what I've heard from a certain person,--who always speaks ill of
him behind his back and flatters him to his face."
"Does he also visit Capitan Tiago?"
"From the first day after his arrival, and I'm sure that a certain person
looks upon him as a rival--in the inheritance. I believe that he's going to
see the General about the question of instruction in Castilian."

At that moment Isagani was called away by a servant to his uncle.
On one of the benches at the stern, huddled in among the other
passengers, sat a native priest gazing at the landscapes that were
successively unfolded to his view. His neighbors made room for him,
the men on passing taking off their hats, and the gamblers not daring to
set their table near where he was. He said little, but neither smoked nor
assumed arrogant airs, nor did he disdain to mingle with the other men,
returning the salutes with courtesy