Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXVII. Summer
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uneasy. He knew I was the master, he knew I
could catch him with the lasso as I had done
before, he knew that the whip in my hand was
for him. The dogs knew it equally well where
they sat in a circle round Billy’s tree wagging
their tails with clear consciences, thoroughly
enjoying the situation—dogs rather like to assist
at the whipping of somebody else. Suddenly
Elisa put her hands over her abdomen with a
piercing scream and was dragged on to her bed
in the cottage in the nick of time by Pacciale and
me while Baldassare rushed to fetch the midwife.
When I returned to his tree Billy had vanished, so
much the better for him and for me, I hate to
punish animals.
I had besides other things to think about. I
had always taken a keen interest in Don Giacinto.
I was most anxious to know something more
about his death, about his life I knew quite
enough. Don Giacinto had the reputation of
being the richest man on the island, he was said
to possess an income amounting to twenty-five
lire every hour of his life, ‘anche quando dorme,’
even when he was asleep. I had watched him for
many years squeezing the last penny out of his
poor tenants, evicting them from their homes
when the olives had failed and they could not
pay their rent, leaving them to starve when they
were getting old and had no more strength to
toil for him. I had never heard of his giving
away a penny, nor had anybody else. I knew I
should cease to believe in any divine justice on
this side of the grave if Almighty God had
bestowed upon this old bloodsucker the greatest
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