The Bridge on the Drina - PDFDrive.com Page 34

  papersasthe'easternrailway'.ItwastolinkSarajevowiththeSerbianfrontierat

  Vardište and the boundary of the Turkish-held Sanjak of Novi Pazar at Uvce.

  Thelineranrightthroughthetownwhichwasthemostimportantstationonit.

  Muchwassaidandwrittenaboutthepoliticalandstrategicsignificanceofthis

  line, of the impending annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the further

  aimsofAustro-HungarythroughtheSanjaktoSalonicaandallthecomplicated

  problems connected with them. But in the town all these things still seemed

  completely innocent and even attractive. There were new contractors, fresh

  hordesofworkmenandnewsourcesofgainformany.

  This time everything was on a grand scale. The building of the new line, 166

  kilometres long, on which were about 100 bridges and viaducts and about 130

  tunnels, cost the state seventy-four million crowns. The people spoke of this

  great number of millions and then looked vaguely into the far distance as if tryinginvaintoseetherethisgreatmountainofmoneywhichwentfarbeyond

  any calculation or imagining. 'Seventy-four millions!' repeated many of them

  knowinglyasiftheycouldcountthemonthepalmoftheirhand.Foreveninthis

  remote little town where life in two-thirds of its forms was still completely

  oriental, men began to become enslaved by figures and to believe in statistics.

  'Something less than half a million, or to be accurate 445,782.12 crowns per

  kilometre.'Sothepeoplefilledtheirmouthswithbigfiguresbuttherebyneither

  becamerichernorwiser.

  Duringthebuildingoftherailway,thepeopleforthefirsttimefeltthattheeasy,

  carefreegainsofthefirstyearsaftertheoccupationexistednolonger.Forsome

  yearspastthepricesofgoodsandeverydaynecessitieshadbeenleapingupward.

  They leapt upward but never fell back and then, after a shorter or a longer

  period,leaptupagain.Itwastruetherewasstillmoneytobemadeandwages

  were high, but they were always at least twenty per cent less than real needs.

  Thiswassomemadandartfulgamewhichmoreandmoreembitteredthelives

  ofmoreandmorepeople,butinwhichtheycoulddonothingforitdependedon

  something far away, on those same unattainable and unknown sources whence

  hadcomealsotheprosperityofthefirstyears.Manymenwhohadgrownrich

  immediatelyaftertheoccupation,somefifteenortwentyyearsbefore,werenow

  poorandtheirsonshadtoworkforothers.True,therewerenewmenwhohad

  made money, but even in their hands the money played like quick-silver, like

  some spell by which a man might easily find himself with empty hands and

  tarnishedreputation.Itbecamemoreandmoreevidentthatthegoodprofitsand

  easierlifewhichtheyhadbroughthadtheircounterpartandwereonlypiecesin

  some great and mysterious game of which no one knew all the rules and none

  couldforeseetheoutcome.Andyeteveryoneplayedhispartinthisgame,some

  withasmallersomewithagreaterrole,butallwithpermanentrisk.

  In the summer of the fourth year the first train, decorated with green branches

  andflags,passedthroughthetown.Itwasamomentofgreatpopularrejoicing.

  Theworkmenwereservedwithafreeluncheonwithgreatbarrelsofbeer.The

  engineershadtheirpicturestakenaroundthefirstlocomotive.Allthatdaytravel

  ontherailwaywasfree('Onedayfreeandawholecenturyformoney,'mocked

  Alihodjaatthosewhotookadvantageofthisfirsttrain).

  Onlynow,whentherailwayhadbeencompletedandwasworking,coulditbe

  seen what it meant for the bridge and its role in the life of the town. The line went down to the Drina by that slope below Mejdan, cut into the hillside,

  circumvented the town itself and then went down to the level ground by the farthest houses near the banks of the Rzav, where the station was. All traffic,

  bothpassengersandgoods,withSarajevoandbeyondSarajevototherestofthe

  westernworld,nowremainedontherightbankoftheDrina.Theleftbank,and

  withitthebridge,wascompletelyparalysed.Onlythosefromthevillagesonthe

  left bank now went across the bridge, peasants with their little overburdened

  horses and bullock carts or wagons dragging timber from distant forests to the

  station.

  TheroadwhichledupwardsfromthebridgeacrossLijeskatoSemećandthence

  acrosstheGlasinacandRomaniarangestoSarajevo,andwhichhadatonetime

  echoed to the songs of the drovers and the clatter of packhorses, began to be

  overgrownwithgrassandthatfinegreenmosswhichgraduallyaccompaniesthe

  decline of roads and buildings. The bridge was no longer used for travelling,

  farewellswerenolongersaidonthe kapia andmennolongerdismountedthere

  todrinkthestirrup-cupsofplumbrandy'fortheroad'.

  The packhorse owners, their horses, the covered carts and little old-fashioned

  fiacresbywhichmenatonetimetravelledtoSarajevoremainedwithoutwork.

  The journey no longer lasted two whole days with a halt for the night at

  Rogatica, as up till now, but a mere four hours. That was one of those figures

  which made men stop and think, but they still spoke of them without

  understanding and with emotion, reckoning up all the gains and savings given

  them by speed. They looked with wonder at the first townsmen who went one

  day to Sarajevo, finished their business, and returned home again the same

  evening.

  Alihodja,alwaysmistrustful,pig-headed,plain-spokenandapartinthatasinall

  else, was the exception. To those who boasted of the speed with which they

  couldnowfinishtheirbusinessandreckonedhowmuchtime,moneyandeffort

  they had saved, he replied ill-humouredly that it was not important how much

  timeamansaved,butwhathedidwithitwhenhehadsavedit.Ifheuseditfor

  evilpurposesthenithadbeenbetterhehadneverhadit.Hetriedtoprovethat

  themainthingwasnotthatamanwentswiftlybutwherehewentandforwhat

  purposeandthat,therefore,speedwasnotalwaysanadvantage.

  'Ifyouaregoingtohell,thenitisbetterthatyoushouldgoslowly,'hesaidcurtly

  toayoungmerchant.'YouareanimbecileifyouthinkthattheSchwabeshave

  spenttheirmoneyandbroughttheirmachinehereonlyforyoutotravelquickly

  andfinishyourbusinessmoreconveniently.Allyouseeisthatyoucanride,but

  you do not ask what the machine brings here and takes away other than you yourself and others like you. That you can't get into your head. Ride then, my

  finefellow,rideasmuchasyoulike,butIgreatlyfearthatallyourridingwill

  leadonlytoafalloneofthesefinedays.ThetimewillcomewhentheSchwabes

  willmakeyouridewhereyoudon'twanttogoandwhereyouneverevendreamt

  ofgoing.'

  Whenever he heard the engine whistle as it rounded
the bends on the slope

  behind the Stone Han, Alihodja would frown and his lips would move in

  incomprehensible murmurs and, looking out slantwise from his shop at the

  unchangingbridge,hewouldgoonelaboratinghisformeridea;thatthegreatest

  buildingsarefoundedbyawordandthatthepeaceandexistenceofwholetowns

  andtheirinhabitantsmightdependuponawhistle.Orsoatleastitseemedtothis

  weakenedmanwhorememberedmuchandhadgrownsuddenlyold.

  ButinthatasinallelseAlihodjawasaloneinhisopinionslikeaneccentricand

  a dreamer. In truth the peasants too found it hard to grow accustomed to the

  railway. They made use of it, but could not feel at ease with it and could not

  understanditswaysandhabits.Theywouldcomedownfromthemountainsat

  the first crack of dawn, reaching the town about sunrise, and by the time they

  reachedthefirstshopswouldbeginaskingeveryonetheymet:

  'Hasthemachinegone?'

  'Byyourlifeandhealth,neighbour,ithasgonelongago,'theidleshopkeepers

  liedheartlessly.

  'Reallygone?'

  'Nomatter.There'llbeanothertomorrow.'

  They asked everyone without stopping for a moment, hurrying onwards and

  shoutingattheirwivesandchildrenwholaggedbehind.

  Theyarrivedatthestationrunning.Oneoftherailwaymenreassuredthemand

  told them that they had been misinformed and that there were still three good

  hoursbeforethedepartureofthetrain.Thentheyrecoveredtheirbreathandsat

  downalongthewallsofthestationbuildings,tookouttheirbreakfasts,atethem,

  and chatted or dozed, but remained continually alert. Whenever they heard the

  whistle of some goods engine they would leap to their feet and bundle their

  thingstogether,shouting:

  'Getup!Herecomesthemachine!'

  Thestationofficialontheplatformcursedthemanddrovethemoutagain:

  'Didn'tIjusttellyouthatitwasmorethanthreehoursbeforethe train comes?

  Whatareyourushingfor?Haveyoutakenleaveofyoursenses?'

  Theywentbacktotheiroldplacesandsatdownoncemore,butstillsuspicious

  and distrustful. At the first whistle or even only at some uncertain noise they

  once more leaped to their feet and crowded on to the platform, only to be

  repulsed once more to wait patiently and listen attentively. For however much

  the officials told them and explained to them, they could not get it into their

  heads that the 'machine' was not some sort of swift, mysterious and deceitful

  contraption invented by the Schwabes which slipped away from anyone

  inattentiveenoughtowinkaneyeandwhichhadonlyoneideainitsmind:how

  tocheatthepeasantandleavewithouthim.

  But all these things, the peasants' stupidity and Alihodja's bad-tempered

  grumbling,werethingsofnoimportance.Thepeoplelaughedatthemandatthe

  same time soon grew accustomed to the railway as they had to everything else

  that was new, easy and pleasant. They still went out to the bridge and sat on

  the kapia astheyhadalwaysdone,andcrosseditontheireverydayaffairs,but

  they travelled in the direction and manner imposed on them by the new times.

  Quickly and easily they grew reconciled to the idea that the road across the

  bridgenolongerledtotheoutsideworldandthatthebridgewasnolongerwhat

  it once had been: the link between East and West. Better to say, most of them

  neverthoughtaboutit.

  Butthebridgestillstood,thesameasithadalwaysbeen,withtheeternalyouth

  ofaperfectconception,oneofthegreatandgoodworksofman,whichdonot

  knowwhatitmeanstochangeandgrowoldandwhich,orsoitseemed,donot

  sharethefateofthetransientthingsofthisworld.

  XVII

  Butthere,besidethebridge,inthetownboundtoitbyfate,thefruitsofthenew

  timeswereripening.Theyear1908broughtwithitgreatuneasinessandasortof

  obscure threat which thenceforward never ceased to weigh upon the town. In

  fact this had begun much earlier, about the time of the building of the railway

  line and the first years of the new century. With the rise in prices and the

  incomprehensible but always perceptible fluctuations of government paper,

  dividendsandexchanges,therewasmoreandmoretalkofpolitics.

  Tillthenthetownspeoplehadconcernedthemselvesexclusivelywithwhatwas

  neartothemandwellknown,withtheirgains,theirpastimesand,inthemain,

  onlywithquestionsoftheirfamilyandtheirhomes,theirtownortheirreligious

  community,butalwaysdirectlyandwithindefinitelimits,withoutlookingmuch

  ahead or too far into the past. Now, however, more and more frequently in

  conversationquestionsarosewhichlayfartheraway,outsidethisnarrowcircle.

  In Sarajevo religious and national organizations and parties were founded,

  Serbian and Moslem, which immediately set up their sub-committees in

  Višegrad.NewpaperswerestartedinSarajevoandbegantoarriveinthetown.

  Reading rooms and choral societies were founded; first Serbian, then Moslem

  and finally Jewish. Students from the secondary schools and the universities at

  Vienna and Prague returned to their homes in the vacations and brought with

  themnewbooks,pamphletsandanewmannerofexpression.Bytheirexample

  theyshowedtotheyoungertownsfolkthattheydidnotalwayshavetokeeptheir

  mouthsshutandkeeptheirthoughtstothemselvesastheireldershadconstantly

  believed and affirmed. Names of new organizations began to come into the

  conversation, religious and national, on wide bases and with bold aims, and

  finallyworkers'organizationsalso.Thentheword'strike'washeardinthetown

  forthefirsttime.Theyoungapprenticesbecamemoreserious.Intheevenings

  on the kapia they carried on conversations incomprehensible to others and

  exchangedlittlepaper-backedpamphletswithsuchtitlesas:'Whatissocialism?',

  'Eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, eight hours of self-improvement' and

  'Aimsandwaysoftheworldproletariat'.

  There was talk to the peasants on the agrarian problem, the relations between

  serfs and landowners, of Turkish feudal landholding. The peasants listened,

  looking a little aside with imperceptible movements of their moustaches and

  littlefrowns,asiftryingtorememberallthatwassaidinordertothinkitover

  later,eitheraloneorindiscussionwiththeirfellows.

  Therewereplentyofcitizenswhocontinuedtokeepadiscreetsilenceandwho

  rejected such novelties and such boldness of thought and language. But there

  weremanymore,especiallyamongtheyoungerones,thepoorandtheidle,who

  accepted all this as a joyful confirmation which corresponded to their inner

  needs long kept silent, and brought into their lives that somethin
g great and

  exciting which had up till then been lacking. When reading speeches and

  articles,protestsandmemorandaissuedbypartyorreligiousorganizations,each

  oneofthemhadthefeelingthathewascastingoffchains,thathishorizonwas

  widening, his thoughts freed and his forces linked with those of men more

  distantandwithotherforcesneverthoughtofuntilthen.

  Now they began to look at one another from a point of view they had never

  beforetaken.Inshort,itseemedtothem,inthismatteralso,thattheirlifehad

  become more expansive and richer, that the frontiers of the impermissible and

  theimpossiblehadmovedbackandthatthereopenedbeforethemprospectsand

  possibilitiessuchashadneverbeforeexisted,evenforhimwhountilthenhad

  neverpossessedthem.

  Inactualfact,evennowtheyhadnothingnewnorweretheyabletoseeanything

  better,buttheywereabletolookbeyondtheeverydaylifeofthetown,andthat

  gave them the exciting illusion of space and power. Their habits had not

  changed,theirwaysoflifeandtheformsofmutualrelationsremainedthesame,

  only that in the time-honoured ritual of sitting idly over coffee, tobacco and

  plumbrandy,boldwordsandnewmethodsofconversationhadbeenintroduced.

  Menbegantoleavetheiroldassociatesandformnewgroups,toberepelledor

  attracted according to new criteria and new ideas, but under the stress of old

  passionsandancestralinstincts.

  Nowtoo,externaleventsbegantofindtheirechointhetown.Firsttherewere

  thedynasticchangesof1903inSerbiaandthenthechangeofrégimeinTurkey.

  ThetownwhichwasrightontheSerbianfrontierandnotfarfromtheTurkish

  boundaries, linked by deep and invisible bonds to one or other of these two

  lands, felt these changes, lived them and interpreted them, although nothing of

  all that was thought and felt about them was ever said publicly or talked of

  openly.

  Theactivitiesandpressureoftheauthoritiesbegantobefeltmoreopenlyinthe

  town,firstthecivilauthoritiesandthenthemilitaryaswell.Andthatinquitea