Capítulo 50: Chapter 50: Spirit of Contract
"Hello, Mayor Thomas." Chief Twin Wolf got off his horse and greeted politely, then greeted the translator, "And the bird's nest."
Then he considered and said slowly: "We came here this time to discuss the land issue again."
Mayor Thomas frowned and asked, "How do you want to discuss this? Do you plan to sell more land?"
"No, on the contrary... We intend to cancel this transaction." Chief Twin Wolf paused, "We will return everything we traded to each other, the land of the Twin Wolf Clan, and your goods."
"Canceling the deal is no problem." Mayor Thomas smiled. "Wait a moment, let me find the contract."
He found a piece of paper with a few short paragraphs written in English, as well as a signature and a handprint.
Looking at the contract in his hand, Mayor Thomas said, "Oh, here, take a look at what our breach of contract clause says. If one party cancels the transaction without authorization, it must pay a penalty of... $80,000!"
"So, Chief of the Twin Wolf Clan, as long as you pay me $80,000, this deal can be canceled."
"What!" Chief Twin Wolf was not very clear about the value of the dollar, but he knew that it was an astronomical figure.
Eighty thousand dollars, even if you sell the scalps of your entire family you still wouldn't get that much!
He immediately said: "This is impossible, I don't remember this clause in the contract!"
Mayor Thomas said, "How could it not be there? It's written in black and white. If you don't believe me, you can take out your contract and have a look."
The Twin Wolf Chieftain's face turned red and white. He took out his contract and said, "You must be talking nonsense!"
Mayor Thomas said nothing, but a barely concealed sarcasm appeared on his face. At the same time, he secretly put his hands behind his back and made a gesture.
Chief Twin Wolf took out a crumpled English contract and compared it with Mayor Thomas's contract: "Look, the two contracts are exactly the same!"
"It's exactly the same. It says you have to pay me $80,000!" Mayor Thomas pushed the translation bird's nest and said, "Tell them what it is."
Niaowo lowered his head and pointed to the same words on the two contracts: "Here is the breach of contract clause. If you want to cancel the transaction, you will need to pay Mayor Thomas $80,000..."
"Did you hear that, Comanche? I didn't modify the contract, nor did I say anything nonsense. This is what you signed, oh, or should I say pressed." Mayor Thomas smiled and tapped his fingers twice on the handprint on the contract.
He put the contract away again and continued, "Since you have pressed your fingerprints, you must abide by the spirit of the contract. Of course, there is no problem in canceling the transaction, as long as you pay the penalty of $80,000... I am a kind person, I can give you half the price, $40,000, how about it?"
Chief Shuanglang couldn't help but look at the bird's nest, his voice trembling slightly: "You...why did you lie to me!"
The bird's nest said nothing.
"You traitor, you betrayed the Comanche!" the Comanches cursed.
When Niaowo heard this, his face suddenly turned red, and the veins on his neck popped out. He said unyieldingly: "I have nothing to do with you barbarians. I have already converted to Christianity. My name is Adam now. What obligation do I have to help you!"
Chief Shuanglang was also angry: "Even if you don't want to help us, you shouldn't lie to us!"
Bird's Nest: "You are illiterate, you deserve it! A civilization as ignorant as yours should have been extinct long ago. America is the Manifest Destiny!"
In fact, Americans at that time did not regard themselves as having a destiny. The term "Manifest Destiny" did not become popular in the United States until 1845, the next year.
But Bird's Nest seems to be even more enthusiastic than the original American, and he may even be the first person to use this term.
"Okay, stop arguing with them." Thomas patted Bird's Nest's shoulder. "They are just a bunch of barbarians."
The bird's nest nodded and calmed down: "Indeed, I shouldn't pay attention to them."
"Let's get back to the deal." Thomas took a long puff of his cigarette and puffed out the smoke. "So, dear chief, what are you going to do now? Pay the $40,000 or take your contract back with you?"
The Twin Wolf Chieftain's breathing was a little rapid: "You tricked me into signing this contract. It doesn't count. You were the ones who violated the spirit of the contract first!"
Thomas laughed. "We have always abided by the spirit of the contract. This is our most important tradition, but the spirit of the contract does not include mercy for ignorance."
"This deal must be canceled!" The angry Twin Wolf Chief tore up the contract directly, and scraps of paper fell to the ground.
Looking at the torn contract, Mayor Thomas looked expressionless and only said: "What a pity."
"Bang!" As soon as the words fell, several gunshots came from behind the Comanches, and two Comanches were shot dead on the spot. It turned out that a group of white people had come around behind them at some point.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Immediately afterwards, the white people in front also opened fire at the Comanches.
Thomas suddenly stepped forward and rushed towards the Twin Wolf Chief.
The Twin Wolf Chief was old and caught off guard, so he was strangled by the man on the spot, with a look of horror on his face.
"Surrender!" Thomas shouted, "unless you are desperate to donate some fresh scalps!"
The Comanches were attacked from both sides and were quickly at a disadvantage. Their chieftain was captured and they were doomed to fail. As the bird's nest translated, some people had already chosen to surrender.
However, one Comanche broke out of the encirclement and fled away on horseback.
Thomas himself fetched a rifle, aimed it at the fleeing fellow, and pulled the trigger.
"boom!"
The Comanche screamed, but he was shot in the shoulder, which almost made him fall off his horse. But in the end, he gritted his teeth and held on, disappearing from the white man's sight.
Thomas frowned as he looked at the fleeing figure, then looked towards the bird's nest: "There shouldn't be many warriors left in the Twin Wolf Clan, right?"
"That's right." Niaowo nodded, "They were originally a small clan. After losing these people, they have even fewer warriors left."
"We don't have to worry at all, Mayor. In fact, I think we should have done this from the beginning. There is no need to spend money to buy land." said a white man.
Thomas said nothing.
The captured Twin Wolf Chieftain angrily said: "The Sons of the Sky will punish you!"
"What did he say?" Thomas asked casually.
The bird's nest said: "He said the gods will punish us."
Although Indians are more casual in naming, a name like "Son of the Sky" obviously does not sound like a human name.
Therefore, as a Comanche who had long since converted to America and distanced himself from Indian society, Niaowo subconsciously believed that this was the name of a god, and the whole sentence was just an ordinary curse.
"Haha, God will not stand on the side of the barbarians." People laughed.
"It should be said that barbarians will not stand on the side of God." Someone said so.
"That's not necessarily true, my friend. Look, the bird's nest is right here," Thomas corrected.
"That's right, hahaha!" people laughed.
Bird's Nest also laughed, and when there was a break in the laughter, he said quickly, "I am Adam now, Adam, not Bird's Nest anymore."
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