CHAPTER NINE
THE ADMINISTRADOR
Fatima, the children's hometown, in that year of 1917, was locally governed by the arondissement of Vila Nova de Ourém. For several years the Chief or Administrador of this aronidssement was Arthur d'Oliveira Santos. In August a messenger arrived to the heads of the dos Santos and Marto families, bearing a summons for them and the children to appear before the Administrador at Ourém.at a given hour the next day.
Stalwart Papa Marto ran true to form.
"I'll go myself," he firmly declared, "but Francesco and Jacinta are staying home. They can't walk that long distance and if I put them on horseback they're going to fall off. Anyway, there can be no earthly reason for summoning such young children to appear in court."
He was not exaggerating the difficulties of a journey to Ourém.for it took three hours to reach on foot as part of the road consisted of a steep and hazardous decline.
No such qualms beset Lucia's parents, however.
"Our child is going!" Maria Rosa informed her husband. "Let her answer for herself."
Lucia was lifted on to a donkey early the following morning. She was to fall from its saddle three times during the journey.
Having arrived at the house of her uncle, Lucia and her father found him still getting dressed, so Lucia nipped into Jacinta's room. Fearful, she thought that this might be her last opportunity of seeing Jacinta, so she hugged her in farewell. Seeing her sadness, Jacinta began to cry.
Lucia faced the Administrador later that day. Having been waiting for their arrival, he noted that her cousins were missing.
"What secret were you told at the Cova da Iria?" he demanded. Mutely Lucia looked down at the ground.
"Promise you will never again return there," the Administrador insisted. Lucia held her tongue.
Finally, the Administrador sent them away.
Upon her arrival home a tired Lucia went first to the well in the backyard, where she found both her cousins.
A few days later three men on horseback arrived at Fatima to question the children. After the interview was over, the men did not have the answer they sought, as to the nature of the secret the children had been told at the Cova.The children were threatened with execution.
One of Lucia's aunts, living in a district which did not fall under the Administrador's jurisdiction, heard the news. She rushed down to Aljustrel to invite the children to come and stay at her house. Appreciative of her kindness though they were, they refused her offer.
"Whether they kill us or not is the same thing. If they do, we'll just go to Heaven."
The thirteenth of August brought an enormous influx of spectators to Fatima. Newspaper reporters who had come to cover the event, were to surmise that by midday between fifteen- and eighteen thousand people had arrived at the Cova. Vehicles of every sort and description drove into town. People arrived on foot, by bicycle, on donkeys and on horseback. Carts and cars stood in long rows and the piles of bicycles resembled small mountains.
Amid the general air of excitement and anticipation the children felt unhappy and insecure. The fact that they were to see the Lady later that day was being obscured by the importunate way people poured into their gardens, questioning and giving messages for the Lady without giving them a chance to answer. It made Lucia tired.
In the midst of this chaos a messenger arrived. He announced that the Administrador was awaiting Lucia and her father at the house of the Marto family. Antonio dos Santos and Lucia obeyed his summons. When they arrived, they found the Administrador engaged in the process of interrogating Jacinta and Francesco concerning the secret. When he had abandoned this task, he started asking them to promise not to return to the Cova.
Finding that he was getting nowhere with the children, the Administrador then ordered their fathers to bring them to the Presbytery. There too they refused to give the answer.
The Administrador then offered the children a lift to the Cova in his carriage.
Once in the carriage, the coach took the turn right and entered the road towards Ourém.
"That's not the way," Lucia demurred, a tiny doubt beginning to stir within her.
Inscrutably the Administrador regarded her. It did not take the children long to realise that they had been deceived. Having given them food and played for time, the Administrador finally announced that it was twelve o'clock and that they would not see the Lady. Heartbroken but resigned, the chidlren awaited further developments.
Back at the Cova, the multititude impatiently awaited the arrival of the little shepherds. They had already sung several hymns and recited the Rosary together, but still the children did not arrive. Seated around the holm oak, people started wondering aloud about the reason for this absence. Then like wildfire the rumour started doing the rounds.
"The Administrador has taken the children to Ourém.by force," someone said. The message passed along the rows of people and it was not long before everyone present had been told some version of the children's plight.
Near the front a young man rose. pulling off his cap, he motioned it into the direction of Ourém.
"Come with me to Ourém.all of you!" he shouted angrily. "It's time we taught the Administrador a lesson."
As the crowd was struggling to its feet and putting away the rosaries in prepartion for a march on the Administrador, a tremendous thunderclap shook the sky as a geat light illumined the heavens.
Next a white cloud, pleasant to the sight, settled itself above the holm oak for a space of ten minutes, after which it ascended and disappeared.
After this heavenly sign, the people found that they had lost their desire to rebel. For a while they discussed what they had observed. Then, peacefully, they set off for home.
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