Elias rowed on in a silence which was for some time unbroken.
“I believe you are not wrong when you say that justice should interest herself in the education of criminals,” said Crisóstomo at length; “but it is impossible, it is Utopia; where get the money necessary to create so many new offices?”
“Why not use the priests, who vaunt their mission of peace and love? Can it be more meritorious to sprinkle a child’s head with water than to wake, in the darkened conscience of a criminal, that spark lighted by God in every soul to guide it in the search for truth? Can it be more humane to accompany a condemned man to the gallows than to help him in the hard path that leads from vice to virtue? And the spies, the executioners, the guards, do not they too cost money?”
“My friend, if I believed all this, what could I do?”
“Alone, nothing; but if the people sustained you?”
“I shall never be the one to lead the people when they try to obtain by force what the Government does not think it time to give them. If I should see the people armed, I should range myself on the side of the Government. I do not recognize my country in a mob. I desire her good; that is why I build a school. I seek this good through instruction; without light there is no route.”
“Without struggle, no liberty; without liberty, no light. You say you know your country little. I believe you. You do not see the conflict coming, the cloud on the horizon: the struggle begun in the sphere of the mind is going to descend to the arena of blood. Listen to the voice of God; woe to those who resist it! History shall not be theirs!”
Elias was transfigured. He stood uncovered, his manly face illumined by the white light of the moon. He shook his mane of hair and continued:
“Do you not see how everything is waking? The sleep has lasted centuries, but some day the lightning will strike, and the bolt, instead of bringing ruin, will bring life. Do you not see minds in travail with new tendencies, and know that these tendencies, diverse now, will some day be guided by God into one way? God has not failed other peoples; He will not fail us!”
The words were followed by solemn silence. The boat, drawn on by the waves, was nearing the bank. Elias was the first to speak.