He was going to go on, but Colonel Aureliano Buendía stopped him with a signal. “Don’t waste your time, doctor.?he said. “The important thing is that from now on we’ll be fighting only for power.?Still smiling, he took the documents the delegates gave him and made ready to sign them.
“Since that’s the way it is,?he concluded, “we have no objection to accepting.?
His men looked at one another in consternation. “Excuse me, colonel,?Colonel Gerineldo Márquez said softly, “but this is a betrayal.?
Colonel Aureliano Buendía held the inked pen in the air and discharged the whole weight of his authority on him.
“Surrender your weapons,?he ordered.
Colonel Gerineldo Márquez stood up and put his sidearms on the table.
“Report to the barracks,?Colonel Aureliano Buendía ordered him. “Put yourself at the disposition of the revolutionary court.?
Then he signed the declaration and gave the sheets of paper to the emissaries, saying to them:
“Here an your papers, gentlemen. I hope you can get some advantage out of them.?
Two days later, Colonel Gerineldo Márquez, accused of high treason, was condemned to death. Lying in his hammock, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was insensible to the pleas for clemency. On the eve of the execution, disobeying the order not to bother him, ?rsula visited him in his bedroom. Encased in black, invested with a rare solemnity, she stood during the three minutes of the interview. “I know that you’re going to shoot Gerineldo,?she said calmly, “and that I can’t do anything to stop it. But I give you one warning: as soon as I see his body I swear to you by the bones of my father and mother, by the memory of Jos?Arcadio Buendía, I swear to you before God that I will drag you out from wherever you’re hiding and kill you with my own two hands.?Before leaving the room, without waiting for any reply, she concluded: