Seated before a blank sheet of paper, a goose-quill pen in
his hand and surged upon from all sides, he turned to the right and to
the left, repeating with solemn insistence--
"Caballeros, a moment of silence! A moment of silence! We ought to make
it clear that we bow in all good faith to the accomplished facts."
The utterance of that phrase seemed to give him a melancholy
satisfaction. The hubbub of voices round him was growing strained and
hoarse. In the sudden pauses the excited grimacing of the faces would
sink all at once into the stillness of profound dejection.
Meantime, the exodus had begun. Carretas full of ladies and children
rolled swaying across the Plaza, with men walking or riding by their
side; mounted parties followed on mules and horses; the poorest were
setting out on foot, men and women carrying bundles, clasping babies in
their arms, leading old people, dragging along the bigger children. When
Charles Gould, after leaving the doctor and the engineer at the Casa
Viola, entered the town by the harbour gate, all those that had meant to
go were gone, and the others had barricaded themselves in their houses.
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