按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
d upon her as a big；。 brokendown doll that they carried back and forth from one corner to another wrapped in colored cloth and with her face painted with soot and annatto； and once they were on the point of plucking out her eyes with the pruning shears as they had done with the frogs。 Nothing gave them as much excitement as the wanderings of her mind。 Something； indeed； must have happened to her mind during the third year of the rain； for she was gradually losing her sense of reality and confusing present time with remote periods of her life to the point where； on one occasion； she spent three days weeping deeply over the death of Petronila Iguarán； her greatgrandmother； buried for over a century。 She sank into such an insane state of confusion that she thought little Aureliano was her son the colonel during the time he was taken to see ice； and that the Jos？Arcadio who was at that time in the seminary was her firstborn who had gone off with the gypsies。 She spoke so much about the family that the children learned to make up imaginary visits with beings who had not only been dead for a long time； but who had existed at different times。 Sitting on the bed； her hair covered with ashes and her face wrapped in a red kerchief； ？rsula was happy in the midst of the unreal relatives whom the children described in all detail； as if they had really known them。 ？rsula would converse with her forebears about events that took place before her own existence； enjoying the news they gave her； and she would weep with them over deaths that were much more recent than the guests themselves。 The children did not take long to notice that in the course of those ghostly visits ？rsula would always ask a question destined to establish the one who had brought a lifesize plaster Saint Joseph to the house to be kept until the rains stopped。 It was in that way that Aureliano Segundo remembered the fortune buried in some place that only ？rsula knew； but the questions and astute maneuvering that occurred to him were of no use because in the labyrinth of her madness she seemed to preserve enough of a margin of lucidity to keep the secret which she would reveal only to the one who could prove that he was the real owner of the buried gold。 She was so skillful and strict that when Aureliano Segundo instructed one of his carousing panions to pass himself off as the owner of the fortune； she got him all caught up in a minute interrogation sown with subtle traps。
Convinced that ？rsula would carry the secret to her grave； Aureliano Segundo hired a crew of diggers under the pretext that they were making some drainage canals in the courtyard and the backyard； and he himself took soundings in the earth with iron bars and all manner of metaldetectors without finding anything that resembled gold in three months of exhaustive exploration。 Later on he went to Pilar Ternera with the hope that the cards would we more than the diggers； but she began by explaining that any attempt would be useless unless ？rsula cut the cards。 On the other hand； she confirmed the existence of the treasure with the precision of its consisting of seven thousand two hundred fourteen coins buried in three canvas sacks reinforced with copper wire within a circle with a radius of three hundred eightyeight feet with ？rsula’s bed as the center； but she warned that it would not be found until it stopped raining and the suns of three consecutive Junes had changed the piles of mud into dust。 The profusion and meticulous vagueness of the information seemed to Aureliano Segundo so similar to the tales of spiritualists that he kept on with his enterprise in spite of the fact that they were in August and they would have to wait at least three years in order to satisfy the conditions of the prediction。 The first thing that startled him； even though it increased his confusion at the same time； was the fact that it was precisely three hundred eightyeight feet from ？rsula’s bed to the backyard wall。 Fernanda feared that he was as crazy as his twin brother when she saw him taking the measurements； and even more when he told the digging crew to make the ditches three feet deeper。 Overe by an exploratory delirium parable only to that of his greatgrandfather when he was searching for the route of inventions； Aureliano Segundo lost the last layers of fat that he had left and the old resemblance to his twin brother was being accentuated again； not only because of his slim figure； but also because of the distant air and the withdrawn attitude。 He no longer bothered with the children。 He ate at odd hours； muddled from head to toe； and he did so in a corner in the kitchen； barely answering the occasional questions asked by Santa Sofía de la Piedad。 Seeing him work that way； as she had never dreamed him capable of doing； Fernanda thought that his stubbornness was diligence； his greed abnegation； and his thickheadedness perseverance； and her insides tightened with remorse over the virulence with which she had attacked his idleness。 But Aureliano Segundo was in no mood for merciful reconciliations at that time。 Sunk up to his neck in a morass of dead brandies and rotting flowers； he flung the dirt of the garden all about after having finished with the courtyard and the backyard； and he excavated so deeply under the foundations of the east wing of the house that one night they woke up in terror at what seemed to be an earthquake； as much because of the trembling as the fearful underground creaking。 Three of the rooms were collapsing and a frightening crack had opened up from the porch to Fernanda’s room。 Aureliano Segundo did not give up the search because of that。 Even when his last hopes had been extinguished and the only thing that seemed to make any sense was what the cards had predicted； he reinforced the jagged foundation； repaired the crack with mortar； and continued on the side to the west。 He was still there on the second week of the following June when the rain began to abate and the clouds began to lift and it was obvious from one moment to the next that it was going to clear。 That was what happened。 On Friday at two in the afternoon the world lighted up with a crazy crimson sun as harsh as brick dust and almost as cool as water； and it did not rain again for ten years。
Macondo was in ruins。 In the swampy streets there were the remains of furniture； animal skeletons covered with red lilies； the last memories of the hordes of newers who had fled Macondo as wildly as they had arrived。 The houses that had been built with such haste during the banana fever had been abandoned。 The banana pany tore down its installations。 All that remained of the former wiredin city were the ruins。 The wooden houses； the cool terraces for breezy cardplaying afternoons； seemed to have been blown away in an anticipation of the prophetic wind that years later would wipe Macondo off the face of the earth。 The only human trace left by that voracious blast was a glove belonging to Patricia Brown in an automobile smothered in wild pansies。 The enchanted region explored by Jos？Arcadio Buendía in the days of the founding； where later on the banana plantations flourished； was a bog of rotting roots； on the horizon of which one could manage to see the silent foam of the sea。 Aureliano Segundo went through a crisis of affliction on the first Sunday that he put on dry clothes and went out to renew his acquaintance with the town。 The survivors of the catastrophe； the same ones who had been living in Macondo before it had been struck by the banana pany hurricane； were sitting in the middle of the street enjoying their first sunshine。 They still had the green of the algae on their skin and the musty smell of a corner that had been stamped on them by the rain； but in their hearts they seemed happy to have recovered the town in which they had been born。 The Street of the Turks was again what it had been earlier； in the days when the Arabs with slippers and rings in their ears were going about the world swapping knickknacks for macaws and had found in Macondo a good bend in the road where they could find respite from their ageold lot as wanderers。 Having crossed through to the other side of the rain。 the merchandise in the booths was falling apart； t