“Who said there wouldn’t be a school?”
“I say so. The White Fathers have called Don Crisóstomo plibastiero. There won’t be any school.”
The peasants questioned each other’s faces. The word was new to them.
“And is that a bad name?” one at last ventured to ask.
“It’s the worst one Christian can give another.”
“Worse than tarantado and saragate?”
“If it weren’t, it wouldn’t amount to much.”
“Come now. It can’t be worse than indio, as the alférez says.”
He whose son was to be a carter looked gloomy. The other shook his head and reflected.
“Then is it as bad as betalapora, that the old woman of the alférez says?”