“I know it!” ejaculated Diego. “Hombre! But I have been too close to matters religious and political in this country all my life not to know that Don Wenceslas has this time committed 116 the blunder of being a bit too eager. Had he waited a few months longer, and then pulled the string––Dios y diablo! there would have been such a fracas as to turn the Cordilleras bottom up! Now all that is set back for years––Quien sabe?”
“But,” queried the puzzled Josè, “how could Wenceslas, a priest, profit by an anticlerical war?”
“Caramba, amigo! But the good Wenceslas is priest only in name! He is a politician, bred to the game. He lays his plans with the anticlericals, knowing full well that Church and State can not be separated in this land of mutton-headed peones. Bueno, the clever man precipitates a revolution that can have but one result, the closer union of Rome and the Colombian Government. And for this he receives the direction of the See of Cartagena and the disposition of the rich revenues from the mines and fincas of his diocese. Do you get me?”
“And, amigo, how long will this disturbance continue?” said Josè, speaking earnestly.
“I have told you, a few weeks at the most,” replied Diego with a show of petulance. “But, just the same, as agent of your friend Wenceslas, I have been a mite too active along the river, especially in the town of Banco, to find safety anywhere within the pale of civilization until this little fracas blows over. This one being an abortion, the next revolution can come only after several years of most painstaking preparation. But, mark me, amigo, that one will not miscarry, nor will it be less than a scourge of the Lord!”
Despite the sordidness of the man, Josè was profoundly grateful to him for this information. And there could be no doubt of its authenticity, coming as it did from a tool of Wenceslas himself. Josè became cheerful, even animated.
“Good, then! Now when do you expect to set out for San Lucas?” he asked. “Rosendo may return any day.”
“Diablo! Then I must be off at once!”
“To-morrow?” suggested Josè eagerly.
“Caramba, hermano! Why so desirous of my departure? To be sure, to-morrow, if possible. But I must have a chat with our good friend, the Alcalde. So do me the inexpressible favor to accompany me to his door, and there leave me. My peones are down at the boat, and I would rather not face the people of Simití alone.”