CHAPTER XVI
THE HOISTING CRANE.
While two of the actors were singing the Incarnatus est in the
church at the celebration of mass on the last day of the fiesta,
and all were kneeling and the priests were bowing their heads, a man
whispered in Ibarra's ear: "During the ceremony of the blessing of
the corner stone, do not go near the priest, do not go in the ditch,
do not approach the corner stone. Your life will depend on it."
Ibarra looked and saw that it was Elias, the pilot, but, as soon as
he had spoken, he lost himself in the crowd.
The yellow-skinned man kept his word. It was not a simple lifting
crane which he had built over the ditch for the purpose of lowering
the enormous block of granite. It was not the mere tripod which Ñor
Juan had wanted for holding a tackle-block. It was something more. It
was at the same time a machine and an ornament, grand and imposing.
The confusing and complicated scaffolding had been raised to a height
of more than eight meters. Four heavy timbers buried in the ground
and supporting each other with colossal, diagonal braces, served
as the base. The braces were joined to each other by immense nails,
about half driven into the wood, perhaps because the apparatus was
only of a provisional nature, and it could then be more easily taken
down. Enormous cables were hanging from all sides, giving the entire
apparatus an aspect of solidity and grandeur. The top was gay with
flags and banners of various colors, floating pennants, and massive
garlands of flowers and leaves, all artistically interwoven.
On high, in the shade of the projecting timbers, banners and wreaths,
a large three-wheeled tackle-block was suspended by ropes and iron
hooks. Over the shining rims of these pulleys great cables passed,
holding suspended in the air a massive stone. The center of this stone
had been chiseled out so that when lowered upon the hollowed stone,
which had already been placed in the ditch, a small enclosure would be
formed between the two. This space was to contain an account of the
ceremonies, newspapers, manuscripts and coins, to be transmitted,
perhaps, to other generations, in the far distant future. From
this tackle-block at the top of the structure, the cable passed
down to another smaller pulley which was fastened at the base of the
apparatus. Through this pulley, the cable passed to the cylinder of a
windlass which was held to the ground by massive beams. This windlass
which can be operated by only two hands, multiplies man's strength by
