世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第8章Part 5

Carmelita Montiel, a twenty-year-old virgin, had just bathed in orange-blossom water and was strewing rosemary leaves on Pilar Ternera's bed when the shot rang out. Aureli-ano José had been destined to find with her the happiness that Amaranta had denied him, to have seven children, and to die in her arms of old age, but the bullet that entered his back and shattered his chest had been directed by a wrong interpretation of the cards. Captain Aquiles Ricardo, who was really the one destined to die that night, did indeed die, four hours before Aureli-ano José. As won as the shot was heard he was brought down by two simultaneous bullets whose origin was never established and a shout of many voices shook the night.
"Long live the Liberal party! Long live Colonel Aure-liano Buendía!"
At twelve o'clock, when Aureli-ano, José had bled to death and Carmelita Montiel found that the cards showing her future were blank, more than four hundred men had filed past the theater and discharged their revolvers into the abandoned body of Captain Aquiles Ricardo. A patrol had to use a wheelbarrow to carry the body, which was heavy with lead and fell apart like a water-soaked loaf of bread.
Annoyed by the outrages of the regular army, General José Raquel used his political influence, put on his uniform again, and assumed the civil and military leadership of Macondo. He did not expect, however, that his conciliatory attitude would be able to prevent the inevitable. The news in September was contradictory. While the government announced that it was maintaining control throughout the country, the Liberals were receiving secret news of armed uprisings in the interior. The regime would not admit a state of war until it was proclaimed in a decree that had followed a court-martial which had condemned Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía to death in absentia. The first unit that captured him was ordered to carry the sentence out. "This means he's come back," úrsula said joyfully to General . But he himself knew nothing about it.
Actually, Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía had been in the country for more than a month. He was preceded by conflicting rumors, supposed to be in the most distant places at the same time, and even General did not believe in his return until it was officially announced that he had seized two states on the coast. "Congratulations, dear friend," he told úrsula, showing her the telegram. "You'll soon have him here." úrsula was worried then for the first time. "And what will you do?" she asked. General had asked himself that same question many times.
"The same as he, my friend," he answered. "I'll do my duty."
At dawn on the first of October Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía attacked Macondo with a thousand well--armed men and the garrison received orders to resist to the end. At noon, while General was lunching with úrsula, a rebel cannon shot that echoed in the whole town blew the front of the municipal treasury to dust. "They're as well armed as we are," General sighed, "but besides that they're fighting because they want to." At two o'clock in the afternoon, while the earth trembled with the artillery fire from both sides, he took leave of úrsula with the certainty that he was fighting a losing battle.
"I pray to God that you won't have Aureli-ano in the house tonight," he said. "If it does happen that way, give him an embrace for me, because I don't expect ever to see him again."

卡梅麗達·蒙蒂埃爾是個二十歲的姑娘，剛在自己身上灑了花露水，把迷迭香花瓣撒在皮拉·苔列娜牀上，就聽到了槍聲。從紙牌的占卜看來，奧雷連諾·霍塞註定要跟她一塊兒得到幸福（阿瑪蘭塔曾經拒絕給他這種幸福），有七個孩子，他年老以後將會死在她的懷裏，可是貫穿他的脊背到胸膛的上一顆子彈，顯然不太理解紙牌的頂示。然而，註定要在這天夜裏死亡的阿基列斯。 裏卡多上尉真的死了，而且比奧雷連諾。霍塞早死四個小時，槍聲一響，上尉也倒下了，不知是誰向他射出了兩顆子彈，而且許多人的叫喊聲震動了夜間的空氣。
“自由黨萬歲！奧雷連諾上校萬歲！”
夜裏十二點，當奧雷連諾·霍塞流血致死，卡梅麗達。蒙蒂埃爾發現紙牌向她預示的未來十分渺茫的時候，有四百多人在劇場前面經過，又用手槍朝阿基列斯·裏卡多的屍體叭叭地射出一些子彈。把滿身鉛彈的沉重屍體搬上車子，需要好幾個士兵，這個屍體象浸溼的麪包一樣瓦解了。
對政府軍的卑劣行怪感到惱怒的霍塞。 拉凱爾。 蒙卡達將軍，運用自己的政治影響，重新穿上制服，掌握了馬孔多的軍政權力。但他並不指望自己調和的態度能夠防止不可避免的事情。九月裏的消息是互相矛盾的。政府聲稱控制了全國，而自由黨人卻接到了內部地區武裝起義的祕密情報。只有在宣佈軍事法庭缺席判決奧雷連諾上校死刑時，政府當局才承認故爭狀態。哪一個警備隊首先逮住上校，就由哪一個警備隊執行判決。“可見，他回來啦，”烏蘇娜向蒙卡達將軍高興他說。然而，蒙卡達將軍還沒有這樣的情報。
其實，奧雷連諾上校一個多月前已經回國。他的回國引起了各種各樣的謠言；根據這些謠言，他同時出現在相距幾百公里的好幾個地方，所以，在政府宣佈奧雷連諾上校佔領了沿海兩州之前，甚至蒙卡達將軍自己也不相信他已回國。“祝賀您，大娘，”蒙卡達將軍向烏蘇娜說，並且拿電報給她看。“您很快就能在這裏見到他了。”這時烏蘇娜才第一次感到不安。“可您怎麼辦呢？”她問。蒙卡達將軍已經多次向自己提出過這個問題。
“象他一樣：履行自己的職責。”
十月一日拂曉，奧雷連諾上校率領一千名裝備精良的士兵進攻馬孔多。警備隊奉命抵抗到底。晌午，蒙卡達將軍跟烏蘇娜一起吃飯時，起義者的排炮象雷一樣在整個市鎮上空隆隆地響，把地方金庫的門面轟毀了。“他們的武器不次於我們，” 蒙卡達將軍說，“而且戰鬥意志更強。”下午兩點，雙方的炮擊震撼大地的時候，將軍就跟烏蘇娜告別了，他完全相信自己正在進行一場註定失敗的戰鬥。
“奧雷連諾上校也許今晚就在這座房子裏了，”他說。“如果真是那樣，請您替我擁抱他，因爲我以爲再也見不到他了。