The Pilgrimage Read Free Page B

been forgot- ten by most other human beings, something that I was
     unable to identify. But it was a strange and powerful feeling, and I decided to quicken my
     pace and arrive as soon as possible at the place where Mme Lourdes had said my guide would
     be waiting for me. Without stop-
    ping, I took off my shirt and put it in my knapsack. The straps cut into my bare shoulders
     a bit, but at least my old sneakers were broken in enough that they caused me no
     discomfort. After almost forty minutes, at a curve in the road that circled around a
     gigantic rock, I came upon an old abandoned well. There, sitting on the ground, was a man
     of about fifty; he had black hair and the look of a gypsy, and he was searching for
     something in his knapsack.
    Hola, I said in Spanish, with the same timidity that I show whenever I meet someone new.
     You must be waiting for me. My name is Paulo.
    The man interrupted his search through the knap- sack and looked me up and down. His gaze
     was cold, and he seemed not at all surprised by my arrival. I also had the vague
     impression that I knew him.
    Yes, I was waiting for you, but I didnt know that I was going to meet you so soon. What do
     you want?
    I was a little disconcerted by his question and answered that it was I whom he was to
     guide along the Milky Way in search of my sword.
    Thats not necessary, said the man. If you want me to, I can find it for you. But you have
     to decide right now whether you want me to.
    This conversation with the stranger seemed increas- ingly weird to me. But since I had
     sworn complete obedience, I tried to respond. If he could find my sword for me, it would
     save an enormous amount of time, and I could return immediately to my friends
    and my business in Brazil; they were always on my mind. This could also be a trick, but
     there was no harm in giving him an answer.
    As I was about to say yes, I heard a voice behind me say, in heavily accented Spanish, You
     dont have to climb a mountain to find out whether or not its high.
    It was the password! I turned and saw a man of about forty, in khaki Bermudas and a white,
     sweaty T- shirt, staring at the gypsy. He was gray-haired, and his skin was darkened by
     the sun. In my haste, I had forgot- ten the most elementary rules of self-protection and
     had thrown myself body and soul into the arms of the first stranger I had met.
    The ship is safest when its in port, but thats not what ships were built for, I said, as
     the correct response. Meanwhile, the man looked directly at the gypsy and the gypsy stared
     at the man. Both confronted each other, with no sign of fear or challenge, for some time.
     Then the gypsy left the knapsack on the ground, smiled disdainfully, and walked off in the
     direction of Saint- Jean-Pied-de-Port.
    My name is Petrus,* said the new arrival as soon as the gypsy had disappeared behind the
     huge stone that I had circled a few minutes earlier. Next time, be more cautious.
    * Actually, Petrus told me his real name. I have changed it in order to protect his
     privacy, but this is one of the few times that names have been changed in this book.
    I heard a sympathetic tone in his voice, it was differ- ent from the tone of the gypsy and
     of Mme Lourdes. He lifted the knapsack from the ground, and I noticed that it had the
     scallop shell on its back. He produced a bottle of wine, took a swallow, and offered it to
     me. After I had taken a drink, I asked him who the gypsy was.
    This is a frontier route often used by smugglers and terrorist refugees from the Spanish
     Basque country, said Petrus. The police hardly ever come near here.
    But youre not answering me. You two looked at each other like old acquaintances. And I had
     the feeling that I knew him, too. Thats why I was so much at ease.
    Petrus smiled and said that we should move along. I picked up my things, and we began to
     walk in silence. From Petruss smile I knew that he was thinking the same