Pippineddu teneva sotto tiro i maiali che pascolavano in sa coretta , dall’alto di una grande roccia che aveva eletto come suo fortino. Il suo occhio inquadrava le bestie a filo del piccolo pezzo di legno che fungeva da mirino al fucile di canna, e le abbatteva ad una ad una con i colpi che uscivano dalla sua bocca – PUM, PUM e attérra un attiru !
In quel modo aveva già sterminato diverse volte la mandria affidata alla sua custodia. Questa però magicamente resuscitava e continuava a mangiare ignara i fichi d’india che lui stesso aveva provveduto a buttare giù in sa coretta , prendendole con una lunga cannùga dalle alte mòlas che bordavano i terreni lungo la strada.
Un muggito che proveniva dalla curva dello stradone sterrato gli fece voltare la testa e cessare la sua “ cassa manna “ personale. Aguzzò le orecchie e strinse gli occhi quasi a potenziare la sua vista già perfetta.
Concentrò lo sguardo sulla fine della curva finché non vide, preceduta da una nuvola di polvere che si alzava dal bianco stradone, una coppia di buoi rossi col mantello coperto di sudore e polvere seguiti da un uomo col berretto calato sugli occhi per proteggerli dal sole che iniziava il suo cammino verso il tramonto e che in quel momento si trovava proprio al di sopra delle colline ad ovest. Puntava i suoi raggi ad illuminare e riscaldare tutta la parte bassa del Montiferru e arrivava dritto in faccia a chiunque si trovava a camminare lungo lo stradone venendo verso Bonarcanto.
Pippineddu scese dalla roccia e si avvicinò ai maiali per evitare che impauriti dai buoi si dessero alla fuga e anche per poter vedere in faccia l’uomo che li conduceva. Questi intanto con un richiamo aveva fermato le bestie e si avvicinava a passo lento verso il ragazzo immobile vicino ai suoi maiali; per non impaurirlo si era tolto il berretto facendo vedere il suo volto impolverato da cui risaltavano i denti bianchi nella bocca semi aperta in un sorriso.
When he was at a couple of meters away from him the boy seemed to recognize that face smiling and relaxed to tense up again when he noticed the dirty shirt at chest height of what he looked like blood.
Grigula face change in the boy hastened to speak. - Pippineddu Salud! You're grazing pigs sisters Serchis?.
The poor frightened nodded his head as his eyes moved from his shirt stained with the shotgun slung over his shoulder in the young.
- Do not be afraid. I am a friend of your boss. ... I do not want to hurt you!
- I seem to know, in fact. - Managed to say Pippineddu uncertain voice - Perhaps you've seen a few more times. But because you're covered in blood?
- Oh, this? It 's just a scratch that I have done by passing too close to a bush Tiria conducting these beasts. Listen, I need a favor from you. These oxen are of your master and you have someone bring them back to their stables in the country, so you should go call the nephew of the Lord is to blame. Tell him to find the Bridge Nou I stop there because the river to give me a wash.
- Okay. So I had to also include pigs ... tell me your name on merigheddu certainly will want to know. - But the request was directed to satisfy his curiosity as sure I've seen, it still did not know the name.
But the young man who had no intention of revealing his identity, he answered - Do not worry. When you tell him to come and take the horse will also understand who they are.
The boy did not think he should insist that the pigs gathered and drove them along the road towards the town.
Grigula, left alone, he took the same route by sending the horse forward and to the bridge before crossing it, pushed them down to the shore where a piece of rope fashioned a " trobèa " with whom he tied one leg in front of both animals so that when watered could not leave.
done this he took off from the shoulders rifle, cartridge belt and haversack and placed them on a large flat rock near the water.
At that point the river, about ten meters from the bridge, there were several flat stones and polished that protruded from the shore to the water and were used by the village women to wash clothes.
They knelt su quelle lastre di basalto, immergevano i panni nel fiume e li tiravano fuori per sfregarli col sapone fatto in casa, li battevano sulla pietra e li ributtavano in acqua per risciacquarli.
Dopo aver dato una rapida occhiata in giro, si tolse scarponi e “ cambàles ” e insieme al berretto li depose vicino al fucile; si tolse anche il corpetto e la camicia sporca di sangue, poi entrò in acqua fino alle ginocchia lasciandosi addosso i vecchi “ pantalones a s’isporte ”.
Bagnò la camicia, la sfregò fino a quando il sangue non fu più visibile dopodiché la mise ad asciugare su un cespuglio di rovi. Rientrò nel fiume and began to wash his face and torso tan.
've finished washing, you sat on a rock and still lit by the setting sun while waiting for hair and pants dry, lit a cigar stub and savored with eyes closed to tobacco smoke, the smell of wild mint and Other herbs that grew on the river bank.
A slight breeze carried the meantime, the murmur of the water that flowed under the bridge and served as the soundtrack to that single moment of peace of that eventful day.
About twenty minutes later, while he was checking the degree of dryness of the shirt and still concluded that it would take at least one Oretta, the road towards the village came the sound of the hooves of a horse approaching.
Quickly picked up the rifle and cartridge belt and crept under the arch of the bridge. The wait was short. After a few minutes because a rider crossed the bridge and stood on the edge of the road scanning the river bank. Just saw the horse tethered his horse pushed down to the river bank near the water and just got down right next to the stone where Grigula had left of his clothes and his haversack.
From his hiding place under the bridge he saw the young stranger just behind the tall poplar trees that cast shade on the banks prevented him from distinguishing clearly. He was of massive build, with broad shoulders, arms and short legs but big and muscular, curly hair and blacks; Grigula was almost sure of his identity until the stranger made a motion that removed all remaining doubts by making a couple of shots sudden neck and simultaneously raising his head to the right and the left shoulder.
- Hold it right there! I hold you at gunpoint with my rifle. At the first move I will discharge him! - Said Grigula out from under the bridge. In becoming the nearest he continued - I had intended to steal the horse, right? But you have miscalculated ... Turn around slowly and be seen in his face.
Quello di spalle a sentire quelle parole scoppiò a ridere e contemporaneamente si girò facendo vedere un viso largo e scuro contornato da un corta barba riccia come i capelli che portava lunghi sulla fronte quasi fino alle sopracciglia.
- Antoni Grigula! Prima mi fàes tzirrìare e poscas mi puntas su fusìle? Balla! De te custu non mi d’ispettào ! - disse quello che si rivelò essere un giovane sulla ventina ma che dimostrava più della sua età.
- Di questi tempi bisogna diffidare di tutti e guardarsi sempre le spalle! Quante volte te l’ho detto Karrabusu? - Rispose Grigula abbassando l’arma e approached the young man laughed again, showing that robust a set of teeth that are the envy of a horse. Then as the first head spun right in with two fast movements accompanied by a lift of the left shoulder.
- Enough of this farce! - Grigula snorted. - With me you do not need to pretend!.
- You are right my friend! But it is the force of my aunts ... I repeat continuously not trust anyone and to continue to pretend ... even when I'm alone! - Said Joseph Peppe Serchis known or on merigheddu . Karrabusu nicknamed for his dark complexion, hair blacks and the strength of his stocky body that made him look like just the eponymous insect.
Serchis was nephew of the sisters, Gavina Antoniangela, after Don Tattanu were the most affluent of Bonarcanto, at least before the start of the theft against them.
Son of Paul and his younger brother Gavin Antoniangela Serchis and only male of the family. Borànzelu His father had already lost hope of having a male heir to whom to leave the family assets when fifteen years after the birth last Antoniangela daughter, his wife gave birth to a boy called Matthew who as his paternal grandfather.
Unfortunately due to complications arising parturition and also because of his no longer young woman came to see Elena completed the first month of life of his only son and died at age 48 leaving her husband and daughters to take care of the newborn.
Paul grew up being spoiled by all the smallest of the family and the father in particular had high expectations for him, so sent him to study by the monks in Oristano and later at the University of Cagliari.
Paul attended law school and his father if he imagined the former judge or notary having demonstrated considerable aptitude for study, until one day you fell in love with a girl who served Iglesias in the house of his classmate at the University.
The girl's name was Teresa Manis and came from a very poor family but this did not matter to Paul, was fascinated by his gentle manner, with thick curly hair that adorned his head and dark complexion from that which shone two eyes and deep blacks when he was lost every time he looked at her.
Teresa corresponded almost immediately that Paul had feelings for her and began to look more and more often so much so that the profit in his studies will suffer. Now the young student could no longer concentrate on books and classes and during one of his visits to his father's house revealed its intention to leave school and marry the woman he loved.
Borànzelu Serchis saw collapse in a moment all the projects he had done for his only son, and lost the light of reason. He yelled and cursed, cursed the woman who he had misled his son and refused his consent to the marriage in fact, threatened that if Paul did not leave immediately and resume his studies would have disowned him and would not have any money.
But young people see the world in a different way and the young man while loving deeply his family could not think of his life without Teresa, so reluctantly abandoned his family home and was married to Cagliari with a simple ceremony. Immediately after the two newlyweds moved into Sulcis where Paul found work in a mine and rented a cottage in the village where the miners Teresa, after a year of marriage, 8 January 1899, gave birth to a baby boy they named Joseph.
When the child was almost a year, while his father and his team were working on opening a new tunnel in the second well of the mine, there was a collapse that imprisoned all the miners who were there . To remove the rubble for help it took almost a week and when they finally reached the point where the miners had been caught, they found only 8 dead bodies. They were all dead from lack of air. The body of the young Serchis was placed in a coffin that looked like a wooden crate packing and flow-Cagliari at the expense of the mining company, loaded on the train and brought up to where Abbasanta Borànzelu and daughters took over and led her to Bonarcanto for the funeral.
A week later, Teresa, left alone with her baby received a bit 'of money as compensation from the administration of the mine and now not having any reason to stay there, he found a ride in Cagliari where he spent part of the money for travel by train to Orissa. The next day, with little Joseph in her arms knocked the big front door Serchis.
was open Gavina's mouth dropped open for at least a minute before the stranger who was to focus on the door. He had never seen in person, only in a photograph that his brother had brought when he expressed an intention to marry her. He recognized her even though her complexion a little 'off and the dark circles under the eyes. Teresa just said - His name is Joseph - and before that Gavin could open his mouth he found himself in her arms a child wrapped in a blanket as he looked up with big bright eyes. When he raised his eyes in front of her there was no one.
Teresa disappeared and she never heard from again because no one gave him the time to look for it. Borànzelu partly repaid by the loss of his son with the arrival of his nephew, had no interest in looking for her and her two sisters adopted the baby as if it were their son Joseph, and soon forgot their unfortunate sister.
The child grew strong and healthy with a robust physique. Dark-skinned and curly-haired like her mother, was nicknamed by his Karrabusu fadàles because it feared that the disproportionate force already manifested as a child. When he was 10 years, grandfather Borànzelu wanted to satisfy his passion for horses and brought down by Santulussurgiu that it intended to give him a beautiful bay. You want to snug
essere lui a domarlo prima di consegnarlo al nipote, dimenticando che per quelle faccende è sempre meglio tener conto dell'età e che anche se ben portati 70 anni hanno sempre il loro peso.
Dopo un paio di giorni in cui faceva girare il cavallo in un recinto, tenendolo con una lunga fune come cavezza e una frusta per dirigerlo e imporgli il passo. Nonostante le rimostranze delle figlie, armato di frustino e speroni mentre 2 tzeràccos tenevano fermo il cavallo, saltò in groppa e iniziò il lavoro per abituarlo al peso del cavaliere e a reagire ai comandi imposti col morso e la briglia.
Andò tutto bene per la prima mezzora ma quanto il baio iniziò ad essere stanco, dimostrò sempre più insofferenza verso the novelty of the rider on his back and began to unwrap and bucking always more strongly until, in his movement does not clash against the wall of the stables Boranzélu sending Don to beat a contonàda and breaking her knee.
The man lost the support of the leg wound, and slid from the saddle and the other foot was caught in the stirrup kept him attached to the horse dragged him around the fence in his attempt to break free from the burden. His head struck the ground violently and when sos tzeràccos finally managed to capture the animal and release him, immediately notice the seriousness of his condition and sent immediately to the doctor but was living in Seneghe and, when passed nearly an hour, managed to reach could not help but note the death of poor Borànzelu.
After his father's death the two sisters turned their attention even more to Joseph being now the only male survivor of the lineage of Serchis. No wonder then if in 1899, when he got the call to arms for their beloved grandson, two sisters so much intrigue and money spent to get the exemption Peppe simulating a fake physical infirmity which made it impossible to recruit . He had never seen it as a soldier who was about to finish shooting in the grip of violent tics that were inadvertently turn your head!
Not trusting, however, of those who envy or resentment could do the spy discovered the deception, the two women begged his nephew to pretend even if it was just ... at least until the end of the war.
Grigula knew the whole story and he liked to tease a bit 'young Serchis that his part was so admired him and friends to forgive him everything, which was difficult with others.
Continuing the discourse on livestock, Karrabusu said - You were very quick to retrieve the horse. I was sure we'd be successful. If my aunts had given me a straight, even when there are other thefts would have been to instruct you to go back il bestiame!
- Sono stato fortunato. – disse Grigula schermendosi - I ladri non avevano fatto molta strada e le tracce del loro passaggio erano abbastanza visibili. Ma sediamoci un attimo mentre aspetto che finisca di asciugarsi la camicia e ti racconto tutto.
Continua...
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