JК
Sharpes Devil :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 146 из 209"
"How dead was the night?" Cochraneasked Suarez, suddenly speaking in Spanish and, when the Major just gaped at him, Cochrane condescended to make the question more intelligible. "What time was Bias Vivar buried?"
"Past midnight." Suarez gazed at the grave which was now deepening perceptibly. "Father Josef said the Mass and whoever was still awake attended."
Sharpe, remembering his conversation with Blair, the British Consul in Valdivia, frowned. "I thought a lot of people were invited here for the funeral?"
"No, senor, that was for a Requiem Mass a week later. But Captain-General Vivar was buried by then."
"Who filled the grave with cement?" Sharpe asked.
"The Captain-General ordered it done, after you had left the fortress. I don't know why." Suarez hunched back onto the stone bench that edged the choir. Above him a marble slab recalled the exemplary life of a Colonel's wife who, with all her children, had drowned off Puerto Crucero in 1711. Beside that slab was another, commemorating her husband, who had been killed by heathen savages in 1713. The garrison church was full of such memorials, reminders of how long the Spanish had ruled this harsh coast.
Cochrane watched the cement being chipped out of the hole, then turned accusingly on the mild Major Suarez. "So what do they say about Vivar's death?"
"I'm sorry, senor, I don't understand."
"Did the rebels kill him? Or Bautista?"
Suarez licked his lips. "I don't know, senor." He reddened, suggesting that gossip in the Citadel pointed to Bautista's guilt, but Suarez's continuing fear of the Captain-General was quite sufficient to impose tact on him. "All I do know," he tried to divert Cochrane with another morsel of gossip, "is that there was much consternation when Captain-General Vivar's body could not be found. I heard that Madrid was asking questions. Many of us were sent to search for the body. I and my company were sent twice to the valley, but—" Suarez shrugged to show that his men had failed to find Vivar's corpse.
"So who did find it?" Sharpe asked.
"One of General Bautista's men from Valdivia, serior. A Captain called Marquinez."
"That greasy bastard," Sharpe said with feeling.
"The General was much relieved when the body was discovered," Suarez added.
"And no wonder," Cochrane laughed raucously. "Bloody careless to lose the supremo's body!"
"This is a church!" the Dominican surgeon, goaded by Cochrane's laughter, snapped in English.
"How dead was the night?" Cochraneasked Suarez, suddenly speaking in Spanish and, when the Major just gaped at him, Cochrane condescended to make the question more intelligible. "What time was Bias Vivar buried?"
"Past midnight." Suarez gazed at the grave which was now deepening perceptibly. "Father Josef said the Mass and whoever was still awake attended."
Sharpe, remembering his conversation with Blair, the British Consul in Valdivia, frowned. "I thought a lot of people were invited here for the funeral?"
"No, senor, that was for a Requiem Mass a week later. But Captain-General Vivar was buried by then."
"Who filled the grave with cement?" Sharpe asked.
"The Captain-General ordered it done, after you had left the fortress. I don't know why." Suarez hunched back onto the stone bench that edged the choir. Above him a marble slab recalled the exemplary life of a Colonel's wife who, with all her children, had drowned off Puerto Crucero in 1711. Beside that slab was another, commemorating her husband, who had been killed by heathen savages in 1713. The garrison church was full of such memorials, reminders of how long the Spanish had ruled this harsh coast.
Cochrane watched the cement being chipped out of the hole, then turned accusingly on the mild Major Suarez. "So what do they say about Vivar's death?"
"I'm sorry, senor, I don't understand."
"Did the rebels kill him? Or Bautista?"
Suarez licked his lips. "I don't know, senor." He reddened, suggesting that gossip in the Citadel pointed to Bautista's guilt, but Suarez's continuing fear of the Captain-General was quite sufficient to impose tact on him. "All I do know," he tried to divert Cochrane with another morsel of gossip, "is that there was much consternation when Captain-General Vivar's body could not be found. I heard that Madrid was asking questions. Many of us were sent to search for the body. I and my company were sent twice to the valley, but—" Suarez shrugged to show that his men had failed to find Vivar's corpse.
"So who did find it?" Sharpe asked.
"One of General Bautista's men from Valdivia, serior. A Captain called Marquinez."
"That greasy bastard," Sharpe said with feeling.
"The General was much relieved when the body was discovered," Suarez added.
"And no wonder," Cochrane laughed raucously. "Bloody careless to lose the supremo's body!"
"This is a church!" the Dominican surgeon, goaded by Cochrane's laughter, snapped in English.