Free Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado

surprised Big João and was struggling with him now. But when he’d passed by that place he hadn’t heard any noise…He said:
    “If he takes too long they’ll be coming.”
    They whistled again, there was no answer. Pedro Bala decided:
    “Let’s go back in…”
    But they heard Big João’s whistle and soon he was beside them. Pedro asked:
    “Where were you?”
    Cat had taken the dog by the collar and pushed him inside the gate. They took the rope off the latch and disappeared along the other side of the street. There João explained:
    “When I stuck my finger in the bell the lady up there got all scared. She threw open the window, it looked like she was going to jump right there. She was looking out like to scare you. She was even crying. Then I felt sorry and climbed up the drain pipe to tell her not to cry anymore because there was no reason to. That we’d swiped the papers. And since I had to explain everything to her it held me up…”
    Cat asked with great curiosity:
    “She was good, eh?”
    “She was pretty, yes. She ran her hand over my head, then she said thank you very much, God protect you.”
    “Don’t be a booby, boy. I was asking if she was good for bed. If you got a look at her hips…”
    The black boy didn’t reply. A car was coming down the street. Pedro Bala patted the black boy on the shoulder and Big João knew that the leader was approving of what he’d done. Then his face opened up in satisfaction and he murmured:
    “I’d like to see the Spaniard’s face when his boss opens the package and doesn’t find what he expected.”
    And on another street now, the three of them gave off that broad, free, and noisy laugh of the Captains of the Sands, which was like a hymn of the people of Bahia.

THE LIGHTS OF THE CARROUSEL
    The “Great Japanese Carrousel” was nothing but a small native merry-go-round that arrived after a sad pilgrimage through inland towns during those winter months when the rains are long and Christmas is still far off. So faded was the paint, paint that had once been blue and red, that the blue was a dirty white now and the red was almost pink, and so many pieces were missing on certain horses and benches that Nhôzinho França decided not to set it up in any of the main squares of the city but in Itapagipe. The families there aren’t so rich, there are a lot of streets where only workers live, and poor children would appreciate the faded old carrousel. The canvas also had a lot of holes along with an enormous gash that left the carrousel at the mercy of the rain. It had been beautiful once, it had even been the pride and joy of the children of Maceió in other days. At that time it stood alongside a Ferris wheel and a sideshow, always on the same square, and on Sundays and holidays rich children dressed in sailor suits or like little English lords, the girls in Dutch costumes or fine silk dresses, came to claim their favorite horses, the little ones sitting on the benches with their nannies. The fathers would go on the Ferris wheel, others preferred the sideshow, where they could push up against women, often touching their thighs and buttocks. Nhôzinho França’scarnival was the joy of the city in those days. And, above all, the carrousel brought in money, tirelessly turning with its lights of all colors. Nhôzinho found life good, the women pretty, the men friendly to him, but he found that drink was good too, it made the men more friendly and the women prettier. And in that way he drank away first the sideshow and then the Ferris wheel. Then, since he didn’t wish to be separated from the carrousel, for which he had a special affection, he took it down one night with the help of some friends and began to wander through the towns in Alagoas and Sergipe. During this time his creditors cursed him with every ugly name they knew. Nhôzinho did a lot of traveling with his carrousel. After covering all the small towns in the two states, getting drunk in all their bars,