Arenal Docks is the old wharf beside the Guadalquivir River where Celestino Peregil is due to hand over Father Ferro to the woman accompanying him. The deserted riverside setting gives an apparently routine criminal arrangement a moment of calm before Peregil encounters two men who abruptly threaten that calm.

Setting and Approach

At a quarter to eleven, Peregil stands beneath Triana Bridge, listening to the clock chime while watching lights reflected in the dark river. Above him, car headlights move along the iron railing, riveted arches, and stone pillars; at the water’s edge, the scene remains quiet. He then walks across the open ground toward Arenal Docks, where a breeze from Sanlúcar lightly ruffles the Guadalquivir.

The route passes a largely empty promenade. Apart from an occasional courting couple or solitary fisherman, Peregil sees few people; frogs call among the reeds, and the moon rises over Triana. These details make the old wharf feel temporarily removed from the traffic and activity overhead, even as the hour of the arranged meeting approaches.

The Handover Arrangement

The meeting is set for eleven beside the boat where Don Ibrahim and his men are waiting. Pencho Gavira has given Peregil instructions and assurances: the woman and the tall priest are expected, and Peregil is to complete the delivery without trouble. Father Ferro is to be taken off the Canela Fina, and the pair will be received in one of the old dock warehouses. Peregil carries the key in his pocket, making the wharf not merely a rendezvous but the planned site of the transfer.

The arrangement is backed by a payment that Peregil has negotiated through Gavira’s assistant. He carries four and a half million in ten-thousand-peseta notes hidden beneath his shirt, inside the waistband of his underpants. At home he has another half-million, which he managed to extract from his employer at the last moment by claiming it was needed to complete the job. The money makes his walk stiff, as if he were wearing a corset, but he is pleased by the prospect of finishing and spending some of it at the Casino, with five thousand duros set aside for Dolores la Negra.

False Calm and Interruption

After the events of the preceding hours, Peregil believes that matters are returning to normal. Even his ulcer seems quiet. He whistles as he heads toward the docks, eager to conclude the business and move on to his own plans. The serene riverbank and his anticipation of a profitable night contrast with the danger built into the handover: he is carrying a large concealed payment, acting on Gavira’s assurances, and heading to a place where other men are already waiting.

Near the docks, two figures rise from a stone bench and greet him. They are Gitano Mairena and Pollo Muelas, men whose sudden appearance stops Peregil in his tracks. A cloud covers the moon—or, as the narration allows, his vision clouds—and black specks dance before his eyes. His ulcer flares violently and his legs weaken. The planned delivery has not yet taken place; instead, Arenal Docks becomes the setting for an abrupt encounter that breaks Peregil’s confidence and leaves him fearing that he is about to collapse.