登陆注册
15296700000027

第27章 THE CHINAGO(3)

Schemmer had pointed to the bruises when, on the witness-stand, he had identified Ah Cho.It was only just now that the marks had become no longer visible.That had been a blow.Half an inch nearer the centre and it would have taken out his eye.Then Ah Cho forgot the whole happening in a vision he caught of the garden of meditation and repose that would be his when he returned to his own land.

He sat with impassive face, while the magistrate rendered the judgment.

Likewise were the faces of his four companions impassive.And they remained impassive when the interpreter explained that the five of them had been found guilty of the murder of Chung Ga, and that Ah Chow should have his head cut off, Ah Cho serve twenty years in prison in New Caledonia, Wong Li twelve years, and Ah Tong ten years.There was no use in getting excited about it.Even Ah Chow remained expressionless as a mummy, though it was his head that was to be cut off.The magistrate added a few words, and the interpreter explained that Ah Chow's face having been most severely bruised by Schemmer's strap had made his identification so positive that, since one man must die, he might as well be that man.Also, the fact that Ah Cho's face likewise had been severely bruised, conclusively proving his presence at the murder and his undoubted participation, had merited him the twenty years of penal servitude.And down to the ten years of Ah Tong, the proportioned reason for each sentence was explained.Let the Chinagos take the lesson to heart, the Court said finally, for they must learn that the law would be fulfilled in Tahiti though the heavens fell.

The five Chinagos were taken back to jail.They were not shocked nor grieved.The sentences being unexpected was quite what they were accustomed to in their dealings with the white devils.From them a Chinago rarely expected more than the unexpected.The heavy punishment for a crime they had not committed was no stranger than the countless strange things that white devils did.In the weeks that followed, Ah Cho often contemplated Ah Chow with mild curiosity.His head was to be cut off by the guillotine that was being erected on the plantation.For him there would be no declining years, no gardens of tranquillity.Ah Cho philosophized and speculated about life and death.As for himself, he was not perturbed.Twenty years were merely twenty years.By that much was his garden removed from him--that was all.He was young, and the patience of Asia was in his bones.He could wait those twenty years, and by that time the heats of his blood would be assuaged and he would be better fitted for that garden of calm delight.He thought of a name for it; he would call it The Garden of the Morning Calm.He was made happy all day by the thought, and he was inspired to devise a moral maxim on the virtue of patience, which maxim proved a great comfort, especially to Wong Li and Ah Tong.Ah Chow, however, did not care for the maxim.His head was to be separated from his body in so short a time that he had no need for patience to wait for that event.He smoked well, ate well, slept well, and did not worry about the slow passage of time.

Cruchot was a gendarme.He had seen twenty years of service in the colonies, from Nigeria and Senegal to the South Seas, and those twenty years had not perceptibly brightened his dull mind.He was as slow-witted and stupid as in his peasant days in the south of France.He knew discipline and fear of authority, and from God down to the sergeant of gendarmes the only difference to him was the measure of slavish obedience which he rendered.In point of fact, the sergeant bulked bigger in his mind than God, except on Sundays when God's mouthpieces had their say.God was usually very remote, while the sergeant was ordinarily very close at hand.

Cruchot it was who received the order from the Chief Justice to the jailer commanding that functionary to deliver over to Cruchot the person of Ah Chow.Now, it happened that the Chief Justice had given a dinner the night before to the captain and officers of the French man-of-war.His hand was shaking when he wrote out the order, and his eyes were aching so dreadfully that he did not read over the order.It was only a Chinago's life he was signing away, anyway.So he did not notice that he had omitted the final letter in Ah Chow's name.The order read "Ah Cho," and, when Cruchot presented the order, the jailer turned over to him the person of Ah Cho.

Cruchot took that person beside him on the seat of a wagon, behind two mules, and drove away.

Ah Cho was glad to be out in the sunshine.He sat beside the gendarme and beamed.He beamed more ardently than ever when he noted the mules headed south toward Atimaono.Undoubtedly Schemmer had sent for him to be brought back.Schemmer wanted him to work.Very well, he would work well.

Schemmer would never have cause to complain.It was a hot day.There had been a stoppage of the trades.The mules sweated, Cruchot sweated, and Ah Cho sweated.But it was Ah Cho that bore the heat with the least concern.

He had toiled three years under that sun on the plantation.He beamed and beamed with such genial good nature that even Cruchot's heavy mind was stirred to wonderment.

"You are very funny," he said at last.

Ah Cho nodded and beamed more ardently.Unlike the magistrate, Cruchot spoke to him in the Kanaka tongue, and this, like all Chinagos and all foreign devils, Ah Cho understood.

"You laugh too much," Cruchot chided."One's heart should be full of tears on a day like this.""I am glad to get out of the jail."

"Is that all?" The gendarme shrugged his shoulders.

"Is it not enough?" was the retort.

"Then you are not glad to have your head cut off?"Ah Cho looked at him in abrupt perplexity, and said--"Why, I am going back to Atimaono to work on the plantation for Schemmer.

Are you not taking me to Atimaono?"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 疯狂采集船

    疯狂采集船

    普通院校毕业的李牧,在工作上处处碰壁,相恋三年多的女友也离他而去,愤怒的李牧去海边喝闷酒的时候却是意外的得到了一套来自域外的资源采集系统,从此将改变人生,走向巅峰!财富,唾手可得,权势,一手掌握!这是一个屌丝逐渐逆袭的过程
  • 领域复仇

    领域复仇

    只想平平凡凡,却注定万众景仰;是天生废柴还是资质无双,浅滩难困蛟龙,面对最强敌人,踏上复仇之旅
  • 养尸人

    养尸人

    养尸,是从祖上传下来的行当,我从未想过用它改变什么。但是我却没想到,我偏偏因为一具尸体而发生巨大的改变。
  • EXO之鬼蝠

    EXO之鬼蝠

    “这里是illegaltradingcenter(鬼市)。”主要人物:鹿晗,吴亦凡,朴灿烈,边伯贤,D.O。人和吸血鬼本来就是二个世界。
  • 闲日

    闲日

    一个不一样的少年,心里的梦,和大家一起分享
  • 我武风云

    我武风云

    浩瀚宇宙,星球无穷无尽,一个强大的外星人,魂族将“人类”当成魂兽食物豢养。为了人类未来,一个来自地球的少年拳王得到天尊的传承,来到修练武道的世界,诛邪除恶,一步一步登上武道巅峰,为人类的未来而战……
  • 九纹剑帝

    九纹剑帝

    十步杀一人,千里不留行。一篇诗、一斗酒、一曲长歌、一剑天涯。就算修为低下又如何?剑的奥义无视这一切!剑魔剑帝之名又有何用?我要让这天再也遮不了我的眼睛;让这地再也动不了我的心;让这天下永远惧怕我那无穷无尽的剑意!
  • 特亚英雄传说

    特亚英雄传说

    那是一块神奇的大陆,有着无数的英雄,就像天上的繁星一样璀璨。。。。。。
  • 娘子,要抱抱

    娘子,要抱抱

    冉府公子少根筋,只会胡闹和败家。皇上赐婚,西南大将军之女无奈嫁给他,当做是行善积德。可谁知道,他这个少根筋天天让她怒火值满格。妖孽!!他简直就是老天派来克她的妖孽!她栽了一片药田,他说,“娘子,为夫觉得那田里种的草太丑了,为夫让人给拔了,换上好看的牡丹。”“……”她剿匪,他骑着小毛驴,悠闲的哼着小曲来找她,“娘子,为夫给你唱小曲助阵来了。”“……”士可忍姐不可忍,她决定好好改造他。他说,“娘子,要我回炉重造是不可能了,咱们还是来造人吧。”