Once More I
Would Abhor And Shudder At The Black Phantom, And When The Thought Of
Annihilation Was Most Insistent,
I would often recall the bitter,
poignant words about death and immortality spoken to me about two
years before by
An old gaucho landowner who had been our neighbour in
my former home.
He was a rough, rather stern-looking man, with a mass of silver-white
hair and grey eyes; a gaucho in his dress and primitive way of life,
the owner of a little land and a few animals-the small remnant of the
estancia which had once belonged to his people. But he was a vigorous
old man, who spent half of his day on horseback, looking after the
animals, his only living. One day he was at our house, and coming out
to where I was doing something in the grounds, he sat down on a bench
and called me to him. I went gladly enough, thinking that he had some
interesting bird news to give me. He remained silent for some time,
smoking a cigar, and staring at the sky as if watching the smoke
vanish in the air. At length he opened fire.
"Look," he said, "you are only a boy, but you can tell me something I
don't know. Your parents read books, and you listen to their
conversation and learn things. We are Roman Catholics, and you are
Protestants. We call you heretics and say that for such there is no
salvation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 328 of 355
Words from 90798 to 91047
of 98444
