Captains of the Sands (27 page)

“You’re my sweetheart now. Someday we’ll get married.”

He kept his eyes closed. She said in a very low voice:

“You’re my boyfriend.”

Not even knowing that it was love, they felt that it was good.

When Legless and Big João arrived, Pedro Bala got up off the sand and called the leaders together. They went over to the Professor’s candle. Dora came too and sat down between Big João and Good-Life. The drifter lighted a cigarette, said to Dora:

“I’m learning how to play a wild samba. And I’m going to get me a guitar, sister.”

“You really are playing good, brother.”

“It went over big at parties…”

Pedro Bala interrupted the conversation. They were looking at his lip, his swollen eye. He told them about the episode:

“Four against one…”

“He needs a lesson,” Legless was laughing. “I won’t let the guy get away with it.”

They worked out a plan of battle. And around midnight some thirty went out. Ezequiel’s gang slept around the Pôrto da Lenha, in some overturned boats and on the dock. Dora went alongside Pedro Bala and she carried a switchblade too. Legless said:

“She even looks like Rosa Palmeirão.”

There never had been a woman as brave as Rosa Palmeirão. She took on six policemen all at one time. Every sailor on the waterfront of Bahia knows her ABC ballad. That’s why Dora likes the comparison and smiles:

“Thank you, brother.”

Brother…It’s a nice and friendly word. They’d grown accustomed to calling her sister. She calls them brother too.
For the younger ones she’s a kind of little mother, just like a little mother. She takes care of them. For the older ones she’s like a sister who says nice things and plays with them innocently and goes through the dangers of the adventurous life they lead. But no one knows that she’s Pedro Bala’s sweetheart. Not even the Professor knows. And in his heart Professor calls her sweetheart too.

The dog Legless got goes along barking. Dry Gulch imitates the barking of a dog, they all laugh. Big João whistles a samba. Good-Life begins to sing it aloud:

“My mulatta’s gone and left me…”

They go along merrily. They carry switchblades and knives in their pants. But they’ll only take them out if the others do. Because abandoned children have a law and a morality too, a sense of human dignity.

Suddenly Big João shouts:

“There they are.”

With the uproar they make, Ezequiel comes out from under a boat:

“Who goes there?”

“The Captains of the Sands, who don’t swallow any insults…” Pedro Bala answered.

And they pounce on the others.

The return was a triumphal procession. In spite of Legless’s getting a cut and Outrigger’s almost having to be carried from such a beating (a big fellow from Ezequiel’s gang was beating him up until Dry Gulch knocked him down), they were all returning happily, talking about their victory. The ones who’d stayed behind in the warehouse cheered them. They stayed up for a long time talking, making comments. They talked about the courage of Dora, who fought just like a boy. “Just like a man,” Big João said. She was like a sister, just like a sister…

Like a sweetheart, just like a sweetheart, Pedro Bala was thinking, lying on the sand. The moon was yellowing the sands, the stars were reflected in the blue Bahia sea. She came, lay down beside him. And they began to talk about silly things. Just like a sweetheart. They didn’t kiss, they didn’t embrace, sex didn’t
call them at that moment. Her blond hair only touched Pedro Bala lightly.

She laughed, looked at his hair:

“Yours too.”

They both laughed and then it turned into a cackle. It was a habit of the Captains of the Sands. She began to tell about things on the hilltop, stories about her neighbors, he remembered things from the agitated life of the gang:

“I came here when I was five. Younger than your brother…”

They laughed innocently, happy to be beside each other. Then sleep came. They were separated. Pedro took her hand, squeezed it. They slept like brother and sister.

The
Jornal da Tarde
carried the news in large letters. A headline across the front page read:

LEADER OF “CAPTAINS OF THE SANDS” CAPTURED

Then came the headings over a picture where Pedro Bala, Dora, Big João, Legless, and Cat were seen, surrounded by policemen and detectives:

A GIRL IN GROUP—HER STORY—SENT TO ORPHANAGE—LEADER OF “CAPTAINS OF THE SANDS” IS SON OF STRIKER—OTHERS ABLE TO GET AWAY—REFORMATORY WILL STRAIGHTEN THEM OUT DIRECTOR STATES.

Under the picture came this: “After this picture was taken, the leader of the vagrants started an argument and an uproar that enabled the rest of the urchins arrested to escape. The leader is the one marked by an X and alongside him is Dora, the new lady-friend of the Bahia urchins.”

The story followed:

Yesterday the police of Bahia struck a blow. They succeeded in apprehending the leader of the gang of juvenile delinquents known as the “Captains of the Sands.” More than once this newspaper has dealt with the problem of juveniles who live on the streets of the city and dedicate themselves to thievery.

We have also reported several times raids carried out by this same gang. The city has really been living under a constant fear of these boys. No one knew where they lived or who their leader was. Some months back we had occasion to publish letters from the Chief of Police, the Juvenile Judge, and the Director of the Reformatory of Bahia with regard to this problem. They all promised to initiate a campaign against juvenile delinquents and in particular against the “Captains of the Sands.”

This worthy campaign bore its first fruit yesterday with the arrest of the leader of this pack and several members of the gang, including a girl. Unhappily, due to a wise ruse on the part of Pedro Bala, the leader, the rest managed to escape from the hands of the police. In any case, the police have already accomplished a great deal by catching the leader and the romantic inspiration for the robberies: Dora, a most interesting figure of a juvenile delinquent. With these commentaries let us go on to the facts:

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY

Late yesterday afternoon five boys and a girl entered the mansion of Dr. Alcibíades Meneses on the Ladeira de São Bento. They were heard by the son of the owner, however, a medical student who let them get into a room where he locked them in. He then called police and detectives and handed them over.

Reporters from the
Jornal da Tarde
, informed of the circumstances, went to Dr. Alcibíades’s house. When they arrived they found the minors ready to be taken to Police Headquarters. We then asked permission to take a picture of the group. The police very kindly consented. At the moment when the photographer exploded the magnesium and took the picture, Pedro Bala, the fearsome leader of the “Captains of the Sands” made possible the

ESCAPE

Putting into use an unusual agility, Pedro Bala freed himself from the hands of the detective who was holding him and knocked him down with a
capoeira
kick. He did not flee, however. It is clear that the other policemen and detectives landed on him to prevent his flight. Only then were they able to understand the plan of the leader of the “Captains of the Sands,” because he shouted to his comrades:

“Beat it, you guys…”

A single policeman managed to grab two others and one of them, very agile, knocked him down too with a
capoeira
kick. And they ran off down the Ladeira da Montanha.

AT THE POLICE STATION

At Police Headquarters we wanted to hear from Pedro Bala. But he would not tell us anything, nor would he tell the authorities the place where the “Captains of the Sands” slept and kept their loot. He only gave his name, said that he was the son of an old striker who had been killed at a rally during the famous dock strike of 191_, and that he had no one in the world. As for Dora, she is the daughter of a washerwoman who died of smallpox during the epidemic that swept the city. She has only been with the “Captains of the Sands” for four months, but has already taken part in many attacks. And she seems to take great pride in this.

SWEETHEARTS

Dora declared to our reporters that she was the sweetheart of Pedro Bala and that they were going to be married. She is still an ingenuous girl, more worthy of pity than punishment. She speaks of her engagement with the greatest innocence. She is not more than fourteen years old, while Pedro Bala is around sixteen. Dora was taken to Our Lady of Mercy Orphanage. In those holy surroundings she will soon forget Pedro Bala, the romantic bandit-boyfriend and her criminal life with the “Captains of the Sands.”

As for Pedro Bala, he will be remanded to the Reformatory for Juveniles as soon as the police are able to get him to reveal the gang’s hiding place. The police have great hopes of getting the information today.

WORDS OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE REFORMATORY

The director of the Bahia Reformatory for Juvenile Delinquents and Abandoned Boys is an old friend of the
Jornal da Tarde
. One of our reporters once put an end to a series of libels brought against that educational establishment and its director. Today he was at the police station, waiting to take the minor Pedro Bala with him. To our question he replied:

“He’ll reform. Remember the title of the institution I direct: ‘Reformatory.’ He’ll reform.”

And to another question of ours he smiled:

“Escape? It’s not easy to escape from the Reformatory. I can guarantee that he won’t.”

That night the Professor read the news to everybody. Legless said:

“He’s in the Reformatory now. I saw him when he left the police station.”

“And she’s in the Orphanage…” Big João added.

“We’ll get them out,” Professor stated. Then he turned to Legless. “Until Pedro Bala gets out, you’re leader, Legless.”

Big João held his arms out to the others, spoke:

“People, until Bullet comes back, Legless is leader…”

Legless said:

“He stayed behind so we could be free. We have to free him. Isn’t that right?”

They all agreed.

When they took him into that room, Pedro Bala imagined what was waiting for him. He didn’t see any guard. Two policemen, a detective, and the director of the Reformatory came in. They closed the door. The detective said in a laughing voice:

“Now that the reporters have gone, kid, you’re going to tell us what you know, whether you like it or not.”

“Talk now…”

The detective asked:

“Where do you sleep?”

Pedro Bala looked at him with hatred:

“If you think I’m going to tell…”

“You will…”

“You can stand on your head.”

He turned his back. The detective signaled to the policemen. Pedro Bala felt two clubs at the same time. And the detective’s boot on his face. He rolled on the ground, cursing.

“You still won’t talk?” the Reformatory director asked. “This is just the beginning.”

“No,” was all that Pedro Bala said.

Now they were hitting him on all sides. Whacks, punches, and kicks. The director of the Reformatory got up, kicked him, Pedro Bala fell to the other side of the room. He didn’t get up. The policemen twirled their clubs. He saw Big João,
Professor, Dry Gulch, Legless, and Cat. They all depended on him. The safety of all of them depended on his courage. He was the leader, he couldn’t betray them. He remembered the scene in the afternoon. He had managed to let the others get away in spite of being caught too. Pride filled his chest. He wouldn’t talk; he’d escape from the Reformatory, he’d free Dora. And he’d get his revenge…He’d get his revenge…