One Hundred Years of Solitude

already stopped flowing out
of his right ear. They found
no wound on his body nor
could they locate the weapon.
Nor was it possible to remove
the smell of powder from the
corpse. First they washed him
three times with soap and a
scrubbing brush, and they
rubbed him with salt and
vinegar, then with ashes and
lemon, and finally they put
him in a barrel of lye and let
him stay for six hours. They