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At half past ten that night, three figures arrived at Tadeu's garden. The gate stood in a place where few people passed. The men argued there for several minutes. One of them gave the orders, and the others listened in silence. That man was Baltasar Coutinho. The other two were his servants.
Baltasar ordered them to move away from the gate. If Simão died there, everyone would suspect Baltasar or Tadeu. The servants therefore had to separate and listen for the horse. They would then follow Simão and shoot him far from the garden.
One servant asked whether Simão might come on foot. In that case, Baltasar would give a signal. The men would follow the young man until they had a good place to shoot. The other servant asked whether Simão might leave his father's house and enter the garden. Baltasar assured them that Simão was not at Domingos's house. He ordered the two men to hide behind the church and remain alert.
The servants left, but Baltasar remained beside the wall. At a quarter to eleven, he pressed his ear to the gate. He heard Teresa stepping on the dry leaves in the garden. He then moved away quickly, keeping close to the wall.
At that moment, João da Cruz arrived from the opposite direction. João moved quickly and examined every dark place. He went around the church, two hundred paces from the garden. He saw two figures in the tower's shadow but could not see their faces. The servants recognised João, the farrier who cared for horses' hooves. João had served Baltasar and opened his workshop with Baltasar's money. However, Domingos had saved João from the gallows. One servant distrusted him, but the other said that bullets could kill him too.
Soon afterwards, they heard the sound of a horse's hooves in the distance. When they left their hiding place, João appeared ahead of the rider. Simão readied his pistols, and the man guiding the horse readied another weapon. João said that he had seen nothing new on the road. However, Simão might already have been hit by four bullets in the chest. The man accompanying Simão was João's brother-in-law and recognised him. Simão held out his hand to the farrier with emotion. He wanted to feel the hand of an honourable man in his own. João replied that men reveal themselves in difficult moments. He then said that there was no time for conversation.
Behind the church were two men whom João did not know. He could almost swear that they were Baltasar's servants. He told Simão to dismount because he expected a fight. Simão replied that he was not trembling. João said that they would see about that before the enemy. Simão dismounted, and João led the horse back. He tied the animal to a ring in the wall of an inn. João and his brother-in-law would walk twenty paces ahead. Simão had to stop if he saw them stop near the garden. The young man felt humiliated at needing that protection. He tried to protest, but the farrier would accept no reply. ‘Do as I tell you, sir,’ João ordered.
The two men advanced, watching every corner. Near the garden, they saw a figure disappear beside the wall. João decided to advance towards the men hidden by the church. That way, Simão could enter and they would guard his departure. Before the wall was a steep slope covered with stones. Farther down, a dark avenue began. The servants heard the horse stop and remembered their orders. They went to the avenue to wait for Simão when he came out. Meanwhile, Simão reached the gate and entered the garden. The gate closed behind him.
The killers saw João and his brother-in-law approaching. One of them went down the slope without waiting for his companion. The other, although braver, fled as well. Baltasar appeared before them at the corner of the garden. He called them cowards and asked whom they were fleeing. Ashamed, the servants stopped and readied their firearms. João and his brother-in-law arrived soon afterwards. Baltasar ordered them to stop. João asked his brother-in-law to speak because he did not wish to be recognised. João's brother-in-law asked who was ordering them to stop. Baltasar replied that he had three firearms.
João asked his brother-in-law to delay them until Simão came out. João's brother-in-law asked what those men wanted. Baltasar demanded to know who they were and advanced several paces. João told his brother-in-law to threaten Baltasar. If he took another step, he would be shot. Baltasar stopped. A servant secretly told him that the silent man looked like João. The farrier heard and decided to withdraw with his brother-in-law. The two men turned their backs and went along the wall. The servants thought that they had won and began to pursue them. Baltasar still ordered them not to go after the two men. But the servants wanted to avenge the shame of their flight.
Simão heard the quick steps of his protectors. Teresa was frightened too, and Simão opened the garden gate. João warned him humorously that there was no time for conversation. Simão understood the danger and tightly squeezed Teresa's hand. Simão left the garden at once. He still wanted to identify the two figures standing at a distance. João ordered him to go straight ahead and not look back.
Simão found the horse, mounted and waited for his two guards. João and his brother-in-law returned slowly. They did not understand the servants' sudden disappearance. They feared another ambush outside the town.
João knew a shortcut that returned to the road farther ahead. He told Simão to ride quickly and promised to meet him later. Offended, Simão refused to look cowardly and went even more slowly. João and his brother-in-law followed the shortcut under cover to the bend in the road.
The attackers could fire from there, hidden behind the cork oaks. João and his brother-in-law heard the attackers crossing a bridge. The horse was still far behind, and João and his brother-in-law ran without fear. His brother-in-law wanted to shout, but João said that it was already too late. João said that, whether or not they killed Simão, he would catch the attackers on their return.
As they climbed the slope, they heard two shots. João ran to stop the men from returning to the road. The servants were returning by the same shortcut. They thought that Simão's companions were on the road. João's brother-in-law saw them approaching. João sat behind a small bank of earth. He did not want to run after them.
At ten paces, the killers saw the two men rise. One ran into a vineyard, and the other threw himself into the brambles. João told his brother-in-law to shoot at the man on the left. The two weapons fired at the same time. João's shot immediately killed one of the attackers. His brother-in-law missed the other man, who disappeared among the bushes.
At that moment, Simão appeared on the ridge and ran towards them. João asked whether the shots had killed him. Simão replied that he believed he was alive. João said that his man lay dead in the vineyard. He went down three broad vineyard terraces to see the dead man's face. He regretted not having two weapons to kill the man's companion as well. João's brother-in-law called him because Simão was wounded in one shoulder. Blood was running down his arm. João bound the wound with several handkerchiefs.
Simão said that he had seen two heads at the top of a slope. He had thought that they were João and his brother-in-law. He stopped the horse and asked whether anything was wrong. When no one answered, he began to dismount. He still had one foot in the stirrup when the men fired first. One of the shots struck Simão in the shoulder. He tried to climb the slope, but the bushes stopped him. He went the longer way around and only then noticed the wound. João declared that it was only a scratch. He said that he was used to treating many wounds. Smiling, Simão asked whether he treated donkeys' wounds. João replied that he treated Christians too.
At that moment, they heard leaves moving in the bushes. João listened carefully and realised that the second man was still there. He asked Simão for a pistol and ran towards the noise. The branches broke as though a wild boar were passing through. João told his brother-in-law to throw stones into the bushes. Simão went around the hedge and entered a cultivated field. He warned João not to shoot him by mistake. João replied that they now had the fugitive surrounded.
The fugitive had injured a knee in his fall and lost consciousness. When he woke, he dragged himself towards some trees, but the birds betrayed him. He returned to the scrub while João's brother-in-law threw large stones. João took a pruning hook, a blade for cutting branches, from his pocket. He began to cut a path through the bushes. As the work was slow, he decided to use fire. He told his brother-in-law to find dry straw to burn the bushes.
On hearing that, the fugitive found the strength to escape. He broke through the bushes and jumped over a wall into the field. Simão and João's brother-in-law ran towards him at the same time. When he realised he had been caught, the man fell to his knees. He raised his hands, begged for mercy and said that his master had forced him. João's brother-in-law was about to strike him in the chest with the weapon. Simão held his arm and prevented the blow. ‘You do not strike a defenceless man like that,’ Simão said. He then told the servant to stand up. The man replied that he had a broken leg. At that moment, João arrived with the pruning hook in his hand. He was surprised to find the attacker still alive and rushed towards him.
Simão gave a clear order: ‘Do not kill the man, Mr João.’ João protested that this witness could send him to the gallows. Simão was the son of a magistrate and might remain safe. João was only a farrier and could end up on the gallows. One witness was enough, especially with Baltasar using his influence.
The servant promised to remain silent and never return to Castro Daire. Simão again asked João to let him live. He said that he could not punish a wretched man who did not resist. João asked whether the enemy would have shown the same mercy. Simão ended the argument and ordered them to leave the man there. João obeyed, but remained thoughtful and scratched his head. He muttered that a man who spares his enemy may die by his hand.
The three men left the field and went down towards the road. João then said that he had left the weapon beside the hedge. He asked the others to continue and went back alone. João's brother-in-law led the horse, which was eating grass beside the road. Soon afterwards, Simão heard cries coming from the field. He immediately understood what João was doing. João's brother-in-law said that João was doing justice and knew what he was doing.
João reappeared soon afterwards, wiping the bloodstained pruning hook with ferns. He alone had killed the wounded man who had surrendered. Simão called him cruel. João replied that he was not cruel. ‘If someone must die, let it be my father, for he is older,’ he said. To him, killing one man was no different from killing two. He also said that a task once begun had to be finished.
He declared that his conscience was now clear. The law could investigate, but it could no longer hear the two witnesses.
Simão was horrified by that man and regretted having allied himself with him.