| Pero Del Solar no admitía ya componenda ninguna. |
But already Del Solar would make no allowance for compromise. |
| -Con o sin Espíritu de la Tierra- exclamó-, ¡que nos dejen en paz los extranjeros! |
“With or without the Spirit of the Earth” he exclaimed, “foreigners should leave us in peace! This is no longer a country: it’s a factory.” |
| La posición de uno y otro bando era irreductible: una guerra civil parecía inminente. |
The position of each faction was unyielding before the other; a civil war seemed imminent. |
| Y el ardor bélico asomaba ya en todos los ojos, cuando mister Chisholm, deponiendo una indiferencia que a nadie había engañado, hizo llover sobre Del Solar todo el hielo de las brumas natales. |
In the eyes of all present a warlike ardour could already be seen, when mister Chisholm, casting aside an indifference which had fooled nobody, made hail upon Del Solar all the ice of his homeland's mists. |
| Una ingratitud y una salvajada. |
“That is ingratitude” he said. |
| Me gustaría saber qué hubiera sido esta nación, por ejemplo, sin el concurso de Inglaterra. |
“Ingratitude and a form of savagery. I would like to know how far this nation could have progressed, to give an example, were it not for the assistance it received from England. I would like to know, word of honour!” |
| El asombro más vivo se reflejó en todas las caras. |
The most vivid amazement was reflected on everybody’s faces. |
| Del Solar, Buenosayres, Pereda, Bernini, Franky, todos a una se miraron en silencio y como petrificados. |
Del Solar, Buenosayres, Pereda, Bernini and Franky all at once stared at each other in silence as though petrified. |
| En seguida, e instintivamente, aquellos hombres tan desiguales en origen, humor y pensamiento se acercaron el uno al otro, tal como si estrecharan filas contra un peligro común. |
Immediately and instinctively, those men of so divergent origin, temperament and thought came together as if closing ranks against a common adversary. |
| Cierta oleada de calor heroico les encendía ya los semblantes: los pelos de la nuca se les erizaban ante la inminencia del choque. |
A certain wave of heroic heat burned upon their countenances; the hairs on the backs of their necks stood on end in anticipation of the clash. |
| Y el primero en salir a la liza fue Bernini, cuya intrepidez era famosa en este género be batallas internacionales. |
And the first to charge into the hurly-burly was Bernini, whose intrepidity was famous in this kind of international battle. |
| -Creo que mister no ha entendido bien –empezó a decir-. |
“I believe mister has not adequately understood” he began. |
| Para nosotros Inglaterra no es el extranjero. |
“We do not consider England to be foreign.” |
| -¡Ah, ah! |
“Ah, ah!” smiled mister Chisholm with satisfaction. |
| ¿Qué cosa es entonces? |
“What exactly is it then?” |
| -¡Inglaterra es el enemigo! |
“England is the enemy!” replied Bernini, his voice like a trumpet. |
| Fue la señal del asalto. |
It was the signal for the assault. |
| Samuel Tesler se adelantó de pronto hasta mister Chisholm, y tras una profunda reverencia le anunció solemnemente: |
Samuel Tesler came forward with alacrity and, after regaling mister Chisholm with a low bow, solemnly pronounced the words: |
| -Delenda est Britannia! |
“Delenda est Britannia!” |
| -Les rechazamos dos invasiones –tronó Del Solar-, pero nos han vencido en la tercera: la de la esterlina. |
“We repelled two of their invasions” thundered Del Solar, “but they have defeated us with the third: the invasion of the sterling.” |
| Rojo como un gallo de pelea mister Chisholm tendió su puño a los insurgentes. |
Red like a fighting cock, mister Chisholm brandished his fist at the insurgents. |
| -¡Nadie puede negar la misión civilizadora de Inglaterra! |
“No one can deny the civilising mission of England!” he rasped. |
| ¿Quién se atreve a negarla? |
“Who would dare deny it?” |
| –dijo el filósofo-. |
“I would” said the philosopher. |
| Nunca se dejó civilizar del todo, rebelde como es a la línea tradicional y al orden eterno. |
“Historically speaking, England carries on just as it did in Roman times. It never allowed itself to be fully civilised, rebel as it is against the traditional line and against the eternal order of the universe. And these barbarians wrapped in elegant cashmeres endeavour to civilise men who carry forty centuries of metaphysics in their blood!” |
| -¡Ya salió con sus cuarenta siglos! |
“He’s off already with his forty centuries!” muttered mister Johansen resentfully. |
| -¡Indios! |
“Indians!” grumbled mister Chisholm. |
| ¡Peores que indios! |
“They’re worse than the Indians!” |
| Y aquí Bernini dio la carga famosa que habría de valerle tanto laurel en lo futuro. |
And then Bernini gave the famous discharge which one day would avail him of so many laurels. |
| Volviéndose a sus pares exclamó: |
Turning to his peers, he exclaimed: |
| -¡Basta de fiorituras! |
“Enough bagatelles! Let’s not beat around the bush. They must give us back the Falkland Islands!” |
| Al fin y al cabo, ¡que nos devuelvan las Malvinas! |
From that moment the confusion became indescribable. |
| A partir de aquel instante la confusión se hizo indecible: gritos, risas y amenazas respondieron al clamor del petizo. |
Shouts, mirth and threats greeted the diminutive man’s cry. |
| Con su español enrevesado que esgrimía como una espada rota, mister Chisholm trataba de responder a tantos enemigos; pero su voz no se oía bajo el peso de las muchas que lo acosaban. |
With his complicated Spanish that he wielded like a broken sword, mister Chisholm attempted to hold his own against numerous enemies, but his voice was inaudible beneath the weight of the many who accosted him. |
| Franky se había dirigido al diván celeste, y, dejándose caer entre su hermana Ethel y Ruty Johansen, agitaba su cabeza pelirroja en un tremendo ataque de risa. |
Franky had gone to the cerulean divan and, allowing himself to fall between his sister Ethel and Ruty Johansen, shook his head of red hair in a tremendous attack of laughter. |
| Erguido ahora en el taburete del piano y tendiendo a míster Chisholm un puño agresor, Samuel Tesler vociferaba: |
Raised up now upon the piano stool and fiercely waving his fist at mister Chisholm, Samuel Tesler vociferated: |
| -¡Que nos devuelvan las Malvinas! |
“Give us back the Falkland Islands!” |
