turn; the end of each set of Minutes was signed; each new topic was given its stamp.
The Minutes contained such things as the following:
Lucio’s Proposal
– In the future in order to rob without needing locksmith’s tools, we should make wax models of the keys of all the houses we visit.
Enrique’s Proposal
– We should also make a plan of each house where we get the keys from. These plans will be kept secret with the documents of the Order and must be sure to mention all peculiarities of the building for the greater convenience of the person who will be sent to operate there.
General Agreement of the Order
– Associate Enrique is hereby named the Club’s official forger and draughtsman.
Silvio’s Proposal
– To introduce nitro-glycerine into a fortified zone, take an egg, empty it of the yolk and the white and inject the explosive using a syringe.
If the acids in the nitro-glycerine destroy the eggshell, make it a sheath out of gun cotton. Nobody will suspect that the harmless-looking sheath hides an explosive charge.
Enrique’s Proposal
– The Club should have a library of scientific works in order for its associates to be certain that they are robbing and killing according to the most modern industrial procedures. Also, after being a member of the Club for three months, each associate will be obliged to own a Browning pistol, a pair of rubber gloves and 100 grams of chloroform. The Club’s official chemist will be Associate Silvio.
Lucio’s Proposal
– All bullets should be poisoned with prussic acid and its toxic power should be tested by shooting a dog’s tail off with a single shot. The dog has to die in ten minutes.
‘
Che
, Silvio.’
‘What?’ Enrique said.
‘I was just thinking. We should organise clubs in every town in the Republic.’
‘No, the important thing,’ I interrupted, ‘is to practise for what we’re doing tomorrow. There’s no point concerning ourselves with trifles now.’
Lucio pulled up a bundle of dirty clothes that he was using as an ottoman. I continued:
‘Training as thieves has one key advantage: it makes you cold-blooded, which is the most important thing for the job. Also, experiencing danger makes you prudent.’
Enrique said:
‘Let’s cut all this speechifying and get down to something interesting. Here in the alley behind the butcher’s shop – the wall of Irzubeta’s house gave onto this alley – there’s a gringo who parks his car every night and then goes off to sleep in a room he rents in one of those big old houses in Zamudio Street. What about it Silvio, if we make his magneto and his horn… disappear?’
‘You know that’s a serious job?’
‘There’s no danger,
che
. We jump over the wall. The butcher sleeps like the dead. Yeah, we’ll have to wear gloves, I guess.’
‘And the dog?’
‘And why should I care? I’m friends with the dog.’
‘I just think he’s going to go off on one.’
‘What do you think, Silvio?’
‘And don’t forget that we’ll make more than a hundred for the magneto.’
‘It’s a good job, but slippery.’
‘Lucio, are you up for it?’
‘Trying to strong-arm me?… sure… I’ll put on my old trousers so I don’t rip my Sunday best…’
‘And you, Silvio?’
‘I’ll get out as soon as the old lady’s asleep.’
‘When should we meet up?’
‘Look,
che
, Enrique. I don’t like the job.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t like it. They’re going to suspect us. The alley… The dog that didn’t bark in the night-time… if we can get there so easily we’re bound to leave traces… I don’t like it. You know I’m up for anything, but I don’t like it. It’s too close and the pigs are too nosy.’
‘Well we won’t do it then.’
We smiled as if we had just escaped from danger.
And so we lived days of unparalleled emotion, enjoying the money we had made from our robberies, money that had a special value for us and even seemed to speak to us in its own lively
The Minutes contained such things as the following:
Lucio’s Proposal
– In the future in order to rob without needing locksmith’s tools, we should make wax models of the keys of all the houses we visit.
Enrique’s Proposal
– We should also make a plan of each house where we get the keys from. These plans will be kept secret with the documents of the Order and must be sure to mention all peculiarities of the building for the greater convenience of the person who will be sent to operate there.
General Agreement of the Order
– Associate Enrique is hereby named the Club’s official forger and draughtsman.
Silvio’s Proposal
– To introduce nitro-glycerine into a fortified zone, take an egg, empty it of the yolk and the white and inject the explosive using a syringe.
If the acids in the nitro-glycerine destroy the eggshell, make it a sheath out of gun cotton. Nobody will suspect that the harmless-looking sheath hides an explosive charge.
Enrique’s Proposal
– The Club should have a library of scientific works in order for its associates to be certain that they are robbing and killing according to the most modern industrial procedures. Also, after being a member of the Club for three months, each associate will be obliged to own a Browning pistol, a pair of rubber gloves and 100 grams of chloroform. The Club’s official chemist will be Associate Silvio.
Lucio’s Proposal
– All bullets should be poisoned with prussic acid and its toxic power should be tested by shooting a dog’s tail off with a single shot. The dog has to die in ten minutes.
‘
Che
, Silvio.’
‘What?’ Enrique said.
‘I was just thinking. We should organise clubs in every town in the Republic.’
‘No, the important thing,’ I interrupted, ‘is to practise for what we’re doing tomorrow. There’s no point concerning ourselves with trifles now.’
Lucio pulled up a bundle of dirty clothes that he was using as an ottoman. I continued:
‘Training as thieves has one key advantage: it makes you cold-blooded, which is the most important thing for the job. Also, experiencing danger makes you prudent.’
Enrique said:
‘Let’s cut all this speechifying and get down to something interesting. Here in the alley behind the butcher’s shop – the wall of Irzubeta’s house gave onto this alley – there’s a gringo who parks his car every night and then goes off to sleep in a room he rents in one of those big old houses in Zamudio Street. What about it Silvio, if we make his magneto and his horn… disappear?’
‘You know that’s a serious job?’
‘There’s no danger,
che
. We jump over the wall. The butcher sleeps like the dead. Yeah, we’ll have to wear gloves, I guess.’
‘And the dog?’
‘And why should I care? I’m friends with the dog.’
‘I just think he’s going to go off on one.’
‘What do you think, Silvio?’
‘And don’t forget that we’ll make more than a hundred for the magneto.’
‘It’s a good job, but slippery.’
‘Lucio, are you up for it?’
‘Trying to strong-arm me?… sure… I’ll put on my old trousers so I don’t rip my Sunday best…’
‘And you, Silvio?’
‘I’ll get out as soon as the old lady’s asleep.’
‘When should we meet up?’
‘Look,
che
, Enrique. I don’t like the job.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t like it. They’re going to suspect us. The alley… The dog that didn’t bark in the night-time… if we can get there so easily we’re bound to leave traces… I don’t like it. You know I’m up for anything, but I don’t like it. It’s too close and the pigs are too nosy.’
‘Well we won’t do it then.’
We smiled as if we had just escaped from danger.
And so we lived days of unparalleled emotion, enjoying the money we had made from our robberies, money that had a special value for us and even seemed to speak to us in its own lively
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