The Wrath of the Vines

An eyewitness account of the accident that took place on 10 August 1920.

‘The explosion shook the walls of the houses throughout the village like an earthquake.

But that was only in the end…

At first, only the thirst that gripped Nando das Dornas on a summer’s afternoon was noteworthy. It was the heat that made him stagger and trip over the cobblestone streets. It definitely wasn’t the two or three glasses he’d already drank to wet his throat. Not a chance. It wasn’t even that that gave him the idea of going into the wine cellar to try and drink some of that explosive liquor. Not at all.

It wasn’t far away and, after being kicked out of Ti Maria’s inn, it was the only place he could quench his thirst. The Northern Guard at the door could be an issue. Nando had to find a way to get him to leave his post. But that wouldn’t be hard. Carlitos believed in almost everything, God bless the boy. He hadn’t been the brightest ever since he was a kid, playing spinning tops with his seven brothers. Nando das Dornas hid in a bush, found a stone, threw it at the back of the armoury and made the guard dogs bark.

«Who’s there?» shouted Carlitos.

«No-one!» replied Nando, disguising his voice and trying not to laugh.

Carlitos, as expected, left the door of the armoury and went to check on the two dogs. That left the way open for Nando to enter the reserve and taste the sweet nectar of war. Darkness was now his new enemy. He searched his pockets and found a box of matches. He lit one. In front of him, metres and metres of barrels straddled, ready to be sent to the front as fuel for the mechas[1]. He approached a tap, put his head under it, and turned it on.

The explosion shook the walls of the houses throughout the village like an earthquake.

Where the armoury once stood, all that remained was a smoking crater… and of the thirst of Nando das Dornas, not a trace…’

[1] The first prototypes, designed by Mechnikov, had been paraded on 19 January of the same year at the inauguration of the Reais Oficinas de Armamento.