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And it is Itchoua who is talking: "If she hesitates and she will not hesitate, be sure of it but if she hesitates, well! we will kidnap her. Let me arrange this, my plan is all made. It will be in the evening, you understand? We will bring her anywhere and imprison her in a room with you.
A bass voice, behind them, interrupts them, with a Basque greeting, hollow like a sound in a cavern, while a large and heavy hand rests on Ramuntcho's shoulder as if to take possession of him: Itchoua, Itchoua who has just finished chanting his liturgy!
"Let us see," says Itchoua, "you, Marcos, are a sailor who wishes to pass his life on the ocean and seek fortune in America; you, Joachim, are a farm hand who prefers not to quit his village and his soil here. Each of you will discuss alternately, in couplets of equal length, the pleasures of his trade to the tune to the tune of the 'Iru Damacho'. Go on."
But his look, like that of Florentino, has turned from Itchoua. A terror comes to him of this man, of this imperious and cold influence, so completely felt already; an entire soft and refined side of his nature is awakened, made disquiet and in revolt. Silence has followed the tale, and Itchoua, discontented with the effect of it, proposes a song in order to change the course of ideas.
"Far enough, yes. Over there, toward Navarre, five or six hours of a carriage drive. They have changed her convent twice. She lives at Amezqueta now, beyond the oak forests of Oyanzabal; the road is through Mendichoco; you know, we must have gone through it together one night with Itchoua." The high mass is ended.
The debonair Florentino, turned from Itchoua his disapproving eyes. Florentino would hesitate; he would not kill. This is divined in the expression of his face. "You would not hesitate," repeated Itchoua, scrutinizing Ramuntcho this time in a special manner; "you would not hesitate, either, I suppose, if you were caught, would you?" "Surely," replied Ramuntcho, submissively. "Oh, no, surely "
Quite resolved now, she opened the door to the chief smuggler with a smile of greeting that the latter had never seen in her: "Come in, Itchoua," she said, "warm yourself while I go wake up my son."
And now that his secret is known to Itchoua, now that his cherished project is being elaborated in that obstinate and sharp brain, it seems to Ramuntcho that he has made a decisive step toward the execution of his plan, that all has suddenly become real and approaching.
Passing by Ramuntcho, Itchoua has whispered in his ear: "When will you tell me about your plan?" "In a moment, at our return! Oh, do not fear, Itchoua, I will tell you!"
At this moment when his chest is heaving and his muscles are in action, all his faculties doubled and exasperated by his trade, he does not hesitate, Ramuntcho; in the present exaltation of his strength and of his combativeness he knows no moral obstacles nor scruples. The idea which came to his accomplice to associate himself with Itchoua frightens him no longer. So much the worse!
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