Read The Bridge in the Jungle for Free Online Page B

plunge. Even a cat would have struggled and made some noise. But there was just the one brief, sharp splash, and nothing followed.
    Ignacio laughed. He knew all the secrets of the American oil companies. 'Only you, Don Agustin, because you are a maestro maquinista and have never had any experience with oil people, only you can talk the way you do. Can't you see, hombre, why they cement the hole at twelve hundred feet instead of going down to three or four thousand? Easy to see for one who is in the know, as I am. It is because they have struck oil already at twelve hundred, so they don't have to go down farther. That's why they cement now.'
    Manuel, the big brother from Texas, was standing by a girl, talking to her almost incessantly while she just giggled. He was different from all other boys she knew. She could see that. That was because he worked in Texas. He sees the wide world, and so he knows a pretty girl if he meets one. Out there in Texas he has learned how to tell the pretty and clever girls from the dumb ones. She let him understand clearly enough that she was willing any time he said so. Next time he came for a visit he would surely bring her a fine dress such as the gringo women in Texas wear all day long. He had become a genuine pocho up there in Texas, he even spoke American, and so she was immensely proud that he had chosen her for the dance tonight.
    'Well, Don Nacho,' the pump-master said, 'you shouldn't really tell me such things about gringos. As for me, all gringos may go to hell straight away. I don't give a peanut for any of them. Only you mustn't tell me that they are stupid. Whatever they are, even godless heathen who don't believe in the Holy Virgin, stupid they are not.'
    'I never said that they are stupid, Don Agustin. You mustn't turn my words round. I mean it just the opposite way, see? They are too smart, that's what they are. And that's exactly what I meant to say. If they would get no oil at twelve hundred, why should they cement? They would go down at least another twelve hundred to make sure. Otherwise they'd lose all that good money the hole has cost them so far. And now I'll tell you why they cement. It's a secret, but it's true just the same. You see, they have found oil and lots of it at twelve hundred. Now they cement it tight, but stake it as their legal property. They then say that they have struck nothing, not even a sneeze of gas. Why do they deny it? Because they haven't yet got leases on all the land around. If they now can make landholders believe that there is no oil on their properties they will get all the leases they want and they'll get them for a few hundred dollars. Otherwise companies with more money would come down and whip the prices for leases so high up to heaven that this company would have to let it go or spend a hundred times more than they spend now. As soon as they have got possession of all the leases they are after, then they return and break open all the cemented holes, and then you'll see the oil flowing like rivers in the rainy season.'
    The pump-master was convinced that he had underestimated the wisdom of his friend and neighbour Ignacio. His eyes widened, he looked admiringly at him and said: 'Well, Don Nacho, I have to hand it to you. You are right after all. What you have told me right now, that must be correct, because it's exactly what I always expected that these gringos would do to us. Stealing not alone all our oil, but also all our land, that's what they do. For if they buy the leases for a hundred dollars instead of paying ten thousand, which is the real price, that's what I call a goddamned robbery. The government should know about that and of such dirty doings. Yet, as I've said before a hundred times over, stupid they're not. I see this clearer every day. They are not stupid, though I frankly admit that they are a damn bunch of bandits, and cabrones too.'
    'There you see, Don Agustin,' Ignacio shouted triumphantly, 'there you see, what did I