“Tell them right now that you take back what you said about the Virgen de la Caridad, that you were mistaken!”

“The engineer is such a scrupulous man, yet he wants to help himself with a lie. Worse yet, a useless lie. Look at your Indians, your poor little lambs. They’re running wild, and when they decide to launch an attack on the Ladinos no one can stop them.”

“And you’re happy about that?”

“At least I’m not going to make myself an obstacle so they can trample me underfoot.”

They were facing each other. César was dominating the situation, and in a slightly condescending tone he said, “There’s nothing for me to do but follow wherever the current takes them. But you, who feel sorry for them, who think they’re victims of exploitation and injustice, why don’t you take command?”

“Because I don’t believe in violence.”

“You won’t believe in it even when all these people are put to the knife before your eyes?”

“I came to try to avoid that.”

“And you’re asking them to disband. As if that would be of any use! The ranchers have convinced the governor to teach them a lesson. And they will be taught a lesson. They’ll look for the last Indian, in the last corner, to kill him. At least here, together, they can defend themselves better.”

“With what weapons?”

“They’ll find something. A machete, a hoe, a rock. Anything will do. Haven’t you ever been told how the Chamulas covered the mouths of the guns with their palm-leaf hats during the Revolution?”

“And?”

“And they were blown to bits, as you would expect. But another one came, with another hat. There are a lot of them. An endless number.”

From out in the night, the echo of a drum reached them along with broken sounds of weeping and song.

“He who wants to dance must pay the piper, ingeniero. You talked to them about land. But the ranchers aren’t going to give land to the Indians just for their pretty faces. You have to be prepared to lose something.”

César had passed imperceptibly from condescension to arrogance. His provincial maliciousness made him feel superior in age and experience to this engineer from the capital.

“You have to be practical, ingeniero.”

“Yes. I’m not opposed to what you’re suggesting or to what these people want to do on moral grounds. I know you don’t keep your hands clean or your conscience easy in politics. But what justifies that are results. And what would we achieve if we were to become the leaders of this uprising?”

“We’d scare the Coletos.”

“That’s not enough. Tell me that we’ll win and I’ll accept it. But fear brings reprisals» not concessions.”

“And if we win?”