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Johnny used his influence with the custom-house to get the
goods without the usual inspection. The bale was brought to the
consulate and placed in the back room. That night he opened it and
took out a handful of cockle-burrs. He examined them carefully. The
cockleburrs were as sharp as needles.
Later in the night, when Coralio was asleep, he and Billy went
out into the deserted streets with all their pockets full of cockleburrs.
They went up and down the streets putting the sharp cockleburrs
carefully in the sand between the silent houses. No place where the
foot of man, woman or child might step was missed. And then, early
in the morning, they went home to sleep.
With the rising sun came the sellers of fruits and meat and
arranged their wares in and around the little market-house. The
market-house stood at one end of the town near the beach and the
cockleburrs had not been carried so far. The dealers waited long after
the hour when their sales usually began. None came to buy. "What is
the matter?" they began to exclaim, one to another.
At their usual time from every palm hut came women — black
women, brown women and lemon-coloured women. They were the
marketers, going to purchase the family supply of food. They were
bare-armed and bare-footed. They stepped from their doorways into
the streets. The first that went out began to scream, and raised one
foot quickly. Another step and they sat down with cries of alarm to
pick at the new and painful insects that had stung them upon the feet.
They sat down in the grass and began to complain together with their
sisters in the paths. The sellers in the market still wondered why no
customers came.
Then men, lords of the earth, came out. They too, began to hop,
to dance, to limp and to curse. And then the children ran out to play.
And now to the noise the cries of the children were added. Every
minute brought fresh victims.
The first to find the cure was the barber, an educated man who
travelled a lot.
"Oh, my friends, these are the insects of devil. I know them
well. They fly through the skies in swarms. These are the dead ones
that fell during the night. In Yucatan I have seen them as large as
oranges. Yes! It is shoes— shoes that one needs!"
He limped to Mr. Hemstetter's store, and bought shoes. Coming
out, he walked down the streets, cursing loudly the insects of the