General Ríos had been put up for this district without opposition, and from that moment the partisans of the Casona had rivalled Don Servando's in zeal and efficacy in serving him. This was the usual tactics among them. When they found it impossible to struggle they humiliated their proud heads, and did all that they could to win the deputy's friendship, or at least his good will, to beg a few of the crumbs of favor, so that they might not be wholly at the mercy of their implacable enemies. They well knew by experience that if this happened, they were liable to all kinds of annoyances, and sometimes to the guard-house, since each party excelled in letting the star of the morning witness their dissipations.
Owing to this state of affairs, though the general inclined toward the Casiña party, he had not consented to the others being maltreated, and he had even gone so far as to leave in their hands certain offices which were in the gift of the state, and this stirred up the wrath of Don Servando's friends, and made them so indignant that they secretly murmured against the count, and even proposed to "pay him off" when the suitable occasion came.
Thus it was that as the horizon was now darkened by a second deputy, who they hoped would be absolutely in their interests, and tear up by the roots Don Martín's influence in the concejo,[52] at least for a long season.
It was for this reason that Don Servando had the keen foresight to lodge him in his house, in order that neither Don Martín nor any of Don Martín's friends could call upon him.
On the next morning after his arrival Miguel wrote Maximina, and sallied forth to drop the letter in the post-office, thinking that it was a good time to explore the town. In the first street, which ran into the Muelle, he discerned a letter-box, and made for it; but, as he came near to it, he found that it had a board nailed over the aperture. He walked along a little farther and soon saw another; but here this same state of things was repeated, and likewise in three or four others which he happened upon in various parts of the village.
"Will you please tell me where I can mail this letter?... All the boxes that I have found are nailed up," he said to a domestic who was passing.
"It's because Don Matías is postmaster now ... you'll find it in a provision store near the Muelle, do you see?... Don't miss your way ... follow this street down, and you'll see it."
The postmastership, as he discovered afterwards, was one of the perquisites which the two parties of Serín quarrelled over furiously, it having passed alternately from the hands of one of Don Servando's friends to those of one of Don Martín's, and vice versa. As each time it came into the hands of a different person,—for it was necessary to satisfy all,—it happened that many of the houses in Serín had been pierced for letter-boxes. The postmaster received the salary of three thousand five hundred reals[53] a year.
As he was walking along one of the streets he met Don Servando, who greeted him solemnly, and started to pass on.
"What is the good word, Señor Bustelo; are you going home?"