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Lina Khalid
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Software Architecture 12th European Conference on
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Lina Khalid
Software
Architecture
for Business
Software Architecture for Business
Lina Khalid
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Software architecture has many axes when you first begin with it: the business goals
of the system, the architecture requirements of the system, etc. This book is where
you can gather all the knowledge on everything you need to know regarding soft-
ware architecture.
This book, which mainly focuses on software architecture and its relation to
business, is for students who just start their studies in software engineering field and
are in the first course on software architecture; it helps them know the main con-
cepts on software architecture and highlights their thoughts on relating this concept
with business context. It shows that through building high-quality products, it helps
the architects in the business field to think more efficiently in qualities through
building the architecture of the products.
I have been trying to gather the sum of my knowledge in the software architec-
ture field in one place to make it simple, short, yet thorough, and all-inclusive, and
here it is, right between your hands. This is the perfect guide for the beginners in
software architecture. The reason why I am proud of what I managed to put together
is not only because of the knowledge contained within this book but also because I
believe this is suitable for any student especially the beginners in the field.
So, whether you are taking your first class in software architecture or you are
new to a job in this field, this is the book for you.
This book has two main pillars: the first one is software architecture and its rela-
tion to quality and the techniques that are used to gather information for quality,
such as QAS and QAW, and the second pillar is the business world and how to build
high-quality products through software architecture, which would make them com-
petitive in the market.
This will be worth your time.
Good luck!
Lina Khalid
v
Acknowledgment
First of all, I thank God for answering my prayers and helping me through my
journey.
Many thanks to the Springer team for guiding me through this process.
Many thanks go to the light of my life, Leen, for her courage and support and for
always giving me a push. Thank you, Leen.
I hope all my efforts yield a well-guiding book for students all over the world.
Lina
vii
Contents
1 Introduction���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
1.1 Architecture Definition �������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
1.2 Basic Types of Architecture�������������������������������������������������������������� 2
1.2.1 Software Architecture ���������������������������������������������������������� 2
1.2.2 System Architecture�������������������������������������������������������������� 5
1.2.3 Enterprise Architecture �������������������������������������������������������� 5
1.2.4 Modern App Architecture for the Enterprise������������������������ 7
1.3 Architecture Life Cycle�������������������������������������������������������������������� 10
1.3.1 Architecture and Requirements�������������������������������������������� 11
1.3.2 The Life Cycle of Architecture �������������������������������������������� 11
1.3.3 Documenting Architecture���������������������������������������������������� 13
1.4 Architecture and Technology������������������������������������������������������������ 14
1.4.1 Influence of Architecture on Systems ���������������������������������� 14
1.5 Architecture’s Role in Business�������������������������������������������������������� 16
1.5.1 What Makes Good Architecture in Business?���������������������� 17
1.6 Architectural Pattern ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 18
1.7 Summary ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 19
References�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20
2 Business Software Architecture (BSA)�������������������������������������������������� 21
2.1 Business Software Architecture�������������������������������������������������������� 21
2.1.1 Software Architects Need Business Education �������������������� 22
2.1.2 Roles of Software Architects and Business Managers in
Business Software Architecture�������������������������������������������� 23
2.2 Defining Requirements for Business Architecture���������������������������� 24
2.3 Pragmatic Architecture Today���������������������������������������������������������� 27
2.4 Business Architecture’s Roles in Management�������������������������������� 27
2.5 Summary ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 30
References�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 31
ix
x Contents
Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 157
Dealing With Quality Patterns and Tactics
QAS Chapter 4
QAW
Chapter 3
A quick tour
xiii
Chapter 1
Introduction
Software systems are built to achieve the business goals of organizations. The archi-
tecture of the system paves the way to achieve these goals. The path seems to be
complex, but the life cycle of the architecture attenuates this complexity. Architecture
is the basic part of any system. It is embodied in its components, their relationships
with each other, and the environment.
Every system has its own architecture, which represents the abstract view of the
system, and this is called software architecture. Many other types of architecture are
related to software architecture, but they are broader than software architecture.
These include system architecture, enterprise architecture, and business
architecture.
There is no standard definition for software architecture. You can realize that easily
through searching. For example:
Philippe Kruchten, Grady Booch, Kurt Bittner, and Rich Reitman derived and
refined a definition of software architecture as the following:
Software architecture encompasses the set of significant decisions about the organization of
a software system including the selection of the structural elements and their interfaces by
which the system is composed; behavior as specified in collaboration among those ele-
ments; composition of these structural and behavioral elements into larger subsystems; and
an architectural style that guides this organization. Software architecture also involves func-
tionality, usability, resilience, performance, reuse, comprehensibility, economic and tech-
nology constraints, tradeoffs and aesthetic concerns.
Mary Shaw and David Garlan, from their early works, defined software architec-
ture as:
Software architecture goes beyond the algorithms and data structures of the computation;
designing and specifying the overall system structure emerges as a new kind of problem.
Structural issues include gross organization and global control structure; protocols for com-
munication, synchronization, and data access; assignment of functionality to design ele-
ments; physical distribution; composition of design elements; scaling and performance; and
selection among design alternatives
architecturally significant can change over a system’s lifetime; and, in the end,
architecture boils down to whatever the important stuff is.”
The definition that is going to be used in this book is the one that is defined by
Bass, Clements, and Kazman in their book Software Architecture in Practice (3rd
edition):
The software architecture of a system is the set of structures needed to reason about the
system, which comprise software elements, relations among them, and properties of both.
The above makes the thought of software architecture simpler: it consists of ele-
ments and relations between these elements. The main characteristics of this defini-
tion are:
1. Architecture Defines Structure
Structure is a set of elements held together by relations. Elements and relations
might be runtime related such as a “sends data to” relation between processes or
tasks. Elements and relations might also be non-runtime related such as an “inherits
from” relation between classes.
Software systems are composed of many structures, and no single structure can
hold the architecture. The most important thing for a structure is minimizing depen-
dencies between elements and components, creating a loosely coupled architecture
from a set of highly cohesive components. Every system has documentation for
software architecture in case people that uses it are long gone and to prevent the
source code from being lost.
2. Architecture Is an Abstraction
Abstraction means that architecture deals with certain information of the ele-
ments without going into their details. Through abstraction, dealing with the com-
plexity of the system becomes very easy.
Complexity of the system means that the system encompasses several proper-
ties of pieces of software, all of which affect internal interactions.
Those were some of the important features of modern software architecture, but
it is important to know that architecture itself is:
• A big picture of the system.
• A set of quality attributes: the most important ones are usability, stability, and
scalability.
• Costly to change. This affects the architecture decisions.
1.2 Basic Types of Architecture 5
Architecture is the skeleton of the system; it outlines the elements and their interactions
in a system including its hardware and software elements. It includes software architec-
ture in its definition and provides a suitable environment for the software architecture,
that is why a system architect should understand not only the individual components
but also the interrelationships among them. System architecture is on the top level in
system building, strategic decisions, engineering tradeoff, and their associated ratio-
nales regarding how the system will meet the allocated requirements. System architec-
ture may dominate functional behavior and emergent behavior. It also provides
guidance and structure to later phases of system. In conclusion, system architecture is
a way to understand, design, and manage complex systems. The complexity of the
system comes from two main aspects:
• Integration of components: With integration, a large numbers of components are
interrelated.
• Heterogeneity of components: Many fields need to design complex systems
which make it very difficult to have a heterogeneous vision.
One way to understand complex systems is by structuring the system as a hierar-
chy, layers, etc. It is done through two main types of system quality attributes:
modularity and integrity.
The meaning of enterprise architecture differs upon the person you ask. “Enterprise”
is any organization or collaborative collections of sub-organizations with the same
goals. Previously defined, “architecture” is the structure and behavior of the
system.
“Enterprise architecture” is managing enterprise analysis, design, plan, and
implementation for successful development and execution. Enterprise applies the
principle and practice of architecture to guide the changes for the organization.
The primary reason for developing enterprise architecture is to support the
enterprise by providing the fundamental technology and process structure for the
strategy of IT.
6 1 Introduction
Enterprise architecture makes sure that the IT landscape has three main qualities:
robust, flexible, and efficient.
Enterprise software architecture is closely matched with the enterprise’s internal
organization, business model, and processes. To improve the speed and functional-
ity of the enterprise, enterprise software architecture should have the following
characteristics:
• Simplicity: It should be simple enough to facilitate effective communication
among key team members. A lot of people with different viewpoints, skills, and
roles regarding the software are engaged for deciding the structure and specify-
ing the enterprise software.
• Flexibility and maintainability: Each enterprise system should continuously
adapt to the new needs of the evolving markets, business organizations, and legal
changes. So, the architect must create a highly maintainable and flexible system.
The architecture should have unique components that could be reorganized. The
reorganization should be carried out in a flexible way so that the local modifica-
tions done in the system do not influence the system overall.
• Reusability: This can be achieved by developing blocks and constantly reusing
them. This can be achieved by providing standard functionality in code libraries,
which are used across various projects.
• Adaptation and modification: The final architecture must adapt not only to the
changes that occur in technologies but also to the real life cycles of the imple-
mented technologies.
EA is not system information, service, or solution architecture. It is the output of
the stakeholder. So architects need to know about stakeholders and their objectives
and views (Fig. 1.1).
The organization may develop the architecture using industry mechanisms which
include IT industry technique and other methods that are used to develop enterprise
architecture.
Stakeholders of
The Enterprise
Enterprise Architecture
Principles of
Architecture with
Technology and Build Framework of The Architecture
Methodology used
by Enterprise
From
Software is the critical part that defines the company regardless of the product.
Software is how you connect the customers, reach new customers, understand their
data, promote your products, and process their order.
To do this, software is going to be composed of small pieces (microservices) that
are designed to do a specific job. Each service from the microservices is built with
all the important components, which makes it able to “run” a specific job. These
services are loosely coupled together so they can be changed at anytime.
8 1 Introduction
kernel
1.2 Basic Types of Architecture 9
VM MOINETOR
HOST OS
SERVER
DOCKER
HOST OS
SERVER
The clear advantage in this architecture is that you do not need guest
OS. Everything works as Dockers containers.
To make apps smarter, a new technology appears to enhance enterprise applica-
tions. This technology is called serverless. Serverless is a software development
approach. It first described applications that are significantly or fully dependent on
services to manage server logic side which is known as backend as a service or
“BaaS” that make serverless use third party in its architecture. Another meaning of
serverless which overlaps with the previous definition is that serverless can also
mean applications where some amount of server side is written briefly. This will be
called “Function as a service or FaaS.” The most popular implementation of FaaS is
AWS lambda. With lambda you can run any type of code; you only upload the code
and lambda takes care of everything and scales the code with high availability. AWS
lambda is the newer definition of BaaS.
To conclude:
• Docker is a software container platform; it packages all the tools into one iso-
lated container.
• AWS lambda is the implementation of FaaS; it lets you code without servers.
Serverless cloud such as lambda is built on container, but the advantage is that it
does not need to be managed.
It is important to review the software architecture life cycle because the develop-
ment of architecture would be carried out within. The architecture development life
cycle can be seen as a general model which contains all the activities that are needed
to develop software architecture.
1.3 Architecture Life Cycle 11
Requirements are descriptions of the services that a software system must provide
and the constraints under which it must operate. Requirements can range from high-
level abstract statements of services or system constraints to detailed mathematical
functional specifications. All requirements fall under the following classification:
• Functional requirements: These are a set of services the system should provide
and the reaction of the system to an input. Sometimes functional requirements
may also state what the system should not do. The reaction of the architecture to
this type of requirement is the basis of design decisions according to the respon-
sibilities assigned to architectural elements
• Quality attribute requirements: These are the qualification of functional require-
ments. Qualification is how fast the functional requirement must be performed
(e.g., how fast the function is executed). The various structures that are designed
into architecture satisfy this type of requirements.
• Constraints: A constraint is a design decision that has already been made such as
using a specific programming language or reusing a certain existing module; all
these choices are made from the view of an architect. Accepting the design decisions
and integrating them with others are the reactions of architecture to this type of
requirements.
Architectural Requirements
QAW and Analysis
ADD Method
Architectural Design
The last stage is the evaluation of the software architecture. This stage focuses on
evaluating the software architecture and whether it satisfies the requirements which
it is built on or not. The most important method used to evaluate the final architec-
ture is the one that comes from SEI which is called ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff
Analysis Method). The main purpose of this technique is to evaluate the conse-
quences of architectural decisions according to the business goals and quality attri-
bute requirements.
Documenting the architectural involves writing the documents that describe differ-
ent structures that build the architecture for the purpose of communicating it effi-
ciently to the different system stakeholders. An important output of this process is a
set of architectural views, which represent the system’s structures, their composing
elements, and the relationships among them. Documenting the architecture involves
creating a set of related views which can be classified into different types: module
views which show the structures where the elements are implementation units,
component-and-connector views which show how the elements in the structures
behave at runtime, and allocation views which show how the elements in the struc-
tures are allocated to the physical resources. Quality view is another type of view
which is tailored for specific stakeholders or to deal with a specific concern. For
example, security view shows all the responsibility measures to handle the security
quality; it will show the components that have some security role and any data
repository for security information. UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a way
for documenting architecture views.
Documentation is very important to the architects, whether they still work on the
system or not. It is used for:
• Construction: Documentation tells the developers what to build, how the ele-
ments should behave, and how they connect together.
• Analysis: Analysts will use the documentation to direct the architect for his job
specifically to provide the required behavior and quality attributes.
• Education: Architecture documentation can be used to introduce people and new
team members to the system.
• Communication: Architecture documentation serves as a primary vehicle for
communication among stakeholders.
• Clarifying business goals, requirements, and activities: With a proper documen-
tation, you can share the business goals and requirement with your managers and
team so that they have a clear vision and goals.
14 1 Introduction
Architects make the design decisions of the system early in the life cycle of the
project. Many of these decisions are difficult to validate until the final system is
built. This is why sometimes building a prototype of a system is useful in the design
approach, but it remains difficult to be certain of the success of a specific design
choice in the context of the application. Thus, pattern, an abstract representation of
architecture, is used. Patterns will be explained in Chap. 4
Architect
Building The
Architecture
Business, Technical, Stakeholders
Project Influences
The role of software architecture in business is very important to improve the under-
standing of the business clearly and then to help solve the problems of that business
and to support the business and its activities.
Software architecture in business increases the productivity and efficiency of the
business and all that is done through following:
• Decision support: This needs understanding of ADD (Attribute-Driven Design)
method of the software architecture and also the types of pattern that is used.
According to SEI, ADD method is an approach to define software architecture in
which the design process is based on the software quality attribute
requirements.
• Availability of using a new way of technologies, for example, the web services
that is used in the business to support interaction with suppliers of goods sold by
the web shop application.
• The process improvement of the business, which is supported by the software
architect, improves the functionality of the business.
For a business manager, the thing he focuses on the most is being able to change
the product quickly, and that makes the software architect constantly thinking about
changeability quality. The important thing to know is that the software architect
needs practical knowledge of the business to make good judgment or design. That
is why the software architect must understand business issues well. Understanding
the business helps define the design solutions to solve its problems to reach its goals
and then choose a good structure for the business.
The architect has five roles in developing a good business:
• Business strategy: The role of this is for business rather than IT. It works on top
management which supports decisions around commercial issues of business.
• Business architect: The role of this is for anyone who looks and observes the way
of work in business. Also, the business architect has to identify the implementa-
tion of the improvements according to the nature of the organization. The soft-
ware architects use this as a basis for the design of business software solutions.
• Solution architect: The role of this is sometimes synonymous to application
architect. This type is one of software architect types when moving from busi-
ness to software. The difference between a business architect and a software
architect is that the business architect architects the business while the software
architect architects the software that supports the business.
• Architect of technical infrastructure: The role of this is not directly involved in
the software development. This role is needed to deploy a set of solutions that
come from the solution architect. This means these two roles must work together
to ensure the productivity of the system operators.
• Enterprise architect: The role of this is to collect business, solution, and techni-
cal infrastructure roles, depending on how you define the enterprise architec-
ture. This role focuses on the big picture rather than details; for example, the
1.5 Architecture’s Role in Business 17
Business strategy
architect
Enterprise architect
Architect of
Business architect Solution architect technical
infrastructure
Nothing can define exactly what good or bad architecture is, but in general a good
architecture is the one that allows a system to meet its functionality and quality
attributes to reach its goal.
As with business architecture or other types of architectures, there must be set of
rules that must be taken into consideration when designing any type of architecture,
and some of them are:
18 1 Introduction
1.7 Summary
— Donnez toute la vapeur. Cet animal est plus rapide que nous,
dit Judson. Et en route vers l’aval.
— C’est la guerre… la guerre, sacrédié ! Il va tirer, dit Davies qui
regardait par l’écoutille de la machine.
Sans un mot d’explication, la canonnière blanche tira trois coups
de canon qui réduisirent en charpie verte les arbres de la rive.
Judson-Pardieu tenait la roue, et Davies, avec l’aide du courant,
donnait au bateau une allure presque honorable.
Ce fut une chasse palpitante, mais qui ne dura pas plus de cinq
minutes. La canonnière blanche tira de nouveau, et dans sa
chambre de la machine Davies poussa un cri sauvage.
— Qu’est-ce qui se passe ? Touché ? demanda Judson-Pardieu.
— Non. Je viens de comprendre votre ruse de guerre. Excusez-
moi, commandant.
— Ça va. Encore un petit rien de vitesse en plus.
Sans cesser de surveiller ses repères du rivage, qui se mettaient
en ligne avec la prestesse de troupes désireuses de l’aider, Judson
tourna la roue d’une main ferme. La plate flaira le haut-fond sous
elle, hésita un instant, et passa.
— A présent nous y sommes. Venez-y donc, tas de brigands !
s’écria Judson.
La canonnière blanche, trop pressée même pour faire feu, se
précipitait en trombe dans le sillage de la plate, gouvernant comme
elle. Ce qui lui porta malheur, car le petit bâtiment se trouvait en
plein sur l’ex-bouée.
— Qu’est-ce que vous faites par ici ? lança une voix, du bossoir.
— Je continue. Tenez ferme. Vous voilà installés.
Avec un grincement et un tintamarre, la canonnière blanche
piqua du nez dans le haut-fond, et le limon roux se souleva sous son
étrave en cercles vaseux. Puis, avec une lenteur pleine de grâce, le
courant rabattit son arrière sur tribord et entraîna son flanc jusque
sur le haut-fond. Elle s’y coucha sous un angle indécent, et son
équipage poussa les hauts cris.
— Chic ! Oh ! n. d. D., chic ! lança Davies en trépignant sur les
tôles de la machine, tandis que les soutiers krou rayonnaient.
La plate vira pour remonter de nouveau le courant, et passa sous
le flanc bâbord incliné de la canonnière blanche, qui l’accueillit par
des hurlements et des imprécations proférées en une langue
étrangère. Le bateau échoué, montrant à l’air jusqu’à ses virures
inférieures, était aussi inoffensif qu’une tortue sur le dos, sans
l’avantage que sa carapace donne à cette dernière. Et l’unique
grosse brute de canon qui armait l’avant de la plate était
fâcheusement proche de lui.
Mais son capitaine était brave et blasphémait puissamment.
Judson-Pardieu n’y fit pas la moindre attention. Son devoir était de
remonter le fleuve.
— Nous allons venir avec une flottille de bateaux et écraser vos
abjectes ruses ! prononça le capitaine, dans un langage qu’il est
inutile de reproduire.
Alors Judson-Pardieu, qui était polyglotte :
— Vous rester-o où vous être-o, ou sinon je percer-o un trou-o
dans votre coque-o qui vous rendra mucho transperçados.
La réplique contenait beaucoup de charabia, mais Judson-
Pardieu fut hors de portée en peu de minutes, et Davies, homme
pourtant sobre de paroles, confia à l’un de ses subordonnés que le
lieutenant était « un officier des plus remarquablement prompts à
vous régler ça ».
Durant deux heures la plate patouilla éperdument parmi les eaux
boueuses, et ce qui n’était au début qu’un murmure devint
distinctement une canonnade.
— On a déclaré la guerre ? demanda Davies, à l’hilarité de
Judson-Pardieu. Alors, que le diable l’emporte, ce type a failli
démolir ma jolie petite machine. Quand même, il y a de la guerre par
là-haut.
Au prochain tournant ils découvrirent en plein un village
minuscule mais fort animé, qui environnait une assez prétentieuse
maison de pisé blanchie à la chaux. On voyait des sections
nombreuses d’une soldatesque basanée, en uniformes blancs
crasseux, courir çà et là et brailler alentour d’un individu couché
dans une litière, et sur une pente douce qui s’étendait vers l’intérieur
du pays, l’espace de deux ou trois kilomètres, une sorte de vif
combat faisait rage à l’entour d’un fortin rudimentaire. Un relent de
cadavres non enterrés emplissait l’air : il offusqua l’odorat sensible
de Davies, qui cracha par-dessus bord.
— Je vais braquer ce canon-ci sur cette maison-là, dit Judson-
Pardieu en désignant la plus haute habitation, par-dessus le toit en
terrasse de laquelle flottait le pavillon bleu et blanc.
Les petites hélices jumelées firent voler l’eau, exactement
comme une poule fait voler la poussière avec ses pattes, avant de
s’y accroupir en un bain. Le petit bateau se tourna péniblement de
gauche à droite, recula, dévia de nouveau, avança, et finalement la
volée grise et terne du canon se braqua aussi ferme qu’un canon de
fusil vers le but indiqué. Alors Davies se permit d’actionner le sifflet
comme il n’est pas permis de le faire dans le service de Sa Majesté
par crainte de gaspiller la vapeur. La soldatesque basanée du village
se rassembla en troupes, en groupes et en tas, le feu cessa sur la
pente, et tout le monde poussa de grands cris, excepté les gens de
la plate. Quelque chose qui ressemblait à un vivat anglais arriva
jusqu’à eux, porté par le vent.
— Nos gars en danger sérieux, probable, dit Davies. On doit
avoir déclaré la guerre depuis des semaines, en quelque sorte, il me
semble.
— Tenez-nous en place, espèce d’enfant de troupe ! beugla
Judson-Pardieu, comme la pièce de canon s’écartait de la maison
blanche.
Un projectile tinta sur les tôles avant de la plate avec la violence
d’une cloche de navire, un projectile éclaboussa l’eau, et un autre
creusa un sillon dans le plancher du pont, à trois centimètres en
avant du pied gauche de Judson-Pardieu. La soldatesque basanée
faisait feu à volonté, et l’individu en litière brandissait une épée
flamboyante. Comme elle pointait sur le mur en pisé au fond du
jardin de la maison, la bouche du gros canon recula d’un cran. Sa
charge comportait quatre kilos de poudre inclus dans quarante de
métal. Trois ou quatre mètres de pisé sursautèrent un peu, comme
on sursaute quand on reçoit un coup de genou dans le creux du dos,
et puis tombèrent en avant, s’étalant en éventail dans leur chute. La
soldatesque ne tira plus ce jour-là, et Judson vit une vieille négresse
apparaître sur le toit en terrasse de la maison. Elle farfouilla un
instant parmi les drisses de pavillon, puis, les trouvant emmêlées,
retira son unique vêtement, un jupon de couleur isabelle, et l’agita
frénétiquement. L’individu en litière déploya un mouchoir blanc.
Judson ricana.
— A présent nous allons leur en envoyer un par là-haut. Faites-
nous virer, Davies. Au diable le canonnier qui a inventé ce genre
d’affût flottant. Pourrai-je tirer à coup sûr sans massacrer l’un ou
l’autre de ces petits diables ?
Le flanc de la hauteur était parsemé d’hommes qui se rabattaient
vers la berge du fleuve, en désordre. Derrière eux s’avançait un
corps peu nombreux mais très serré, formé d’hommes qui étaient
sortis un par un du fortin. Ces derniers traînaient avec eux des
canons à tir rapide.
— Pardieu, c’est une armée régulière. Je me demande à qui ? fit
Judson-Pardieu.
Et il attendit la suite.
Les troupes descendantes rencontrèrent celles du village et se
joignirent à elles ; puis, la litière à leur centre, se répandirent en
masse vers le fleuve. Mais lorsque les hommes avec les canons à tir
rapide arrivèrent derrière eux, ils se replièrent à droite et à gauche et
le détachement passa au milieu.
— Flanquez-moi à l’eau ces sacrés outils-là ! commanda le chef
de cette troupe.
Et l’un après l’autre dix petits gatlings firent le plongeon dans
l’eau limoneuse. La plate était embossée proche de la rive.
— Quand vous aurez tout à fait fini, prononça poliment Judson-
Pardieu, ça ne vous dérangerait pas de me dire ce qui se passe ?
C’est moi qui commande ici.
— Nous sommes, répondit le chef, les pionniers de la Compagnie
générale de mise en valeur. Voilà douze heures que ces petits
crapauds-là n’ont cessé de nous harceler dans notre campement, et
nous nous débarrassons de leurs gatlings. Il a fallu faire une sortie
pour les prendre ; mais ils ont chipé les mécanismes de culasse…
Enchanté de vous voir.
— Perdu du monde ?
— Personne de tué à vrai dire ; mais nous avons très soif.
— Êtes-vous capable de tenir vos hommes ?
L’individu se retourna et avec un ricanement considéra ses
soldats. Ils étaient soixante-dix, tous poudreux et hirsutes.
— Nous ne saccagerons pas cette poubelle, si c’est cela que
vous voulez dire. Sans en avoir l’air nous sommes ici, pour la
plupart, des gens comme il faut.
— Parfait. Envoyez-moi à bord le chef de ce poste, ou fort, ou
village, ou ce qu’on voudra, et tâchez de trouver un logement pour
vos hommes.
— Nous trouverons bien un baraquement pour les caserner. Hé
là-bas ! vous, l’homme à la litière, venez à bord de la canonnière.
Ses subordonnés firent demi-tour, s’avancèrent parmi la
soldatesque dispersée, et se mirent à explorer le village, en quête de
cases disponibles.
Le petit homme de la litière vint à bord en souriant avec gêne. Il
était en uniforme de grand tralala, surchargé de plusieurs mètres de
galon d’or et de gourmettes tintantes. Il portait en outre de
largissimes éperons : le cheval le plus proche n’était guère qu’à six
cents kilomètres de là.
— Mes enfants, prononça-t-il, tourné vers la soldatesque muette,
déposez vos armes.
La plupart des hommes les avaient déjà rejetées et s’étaient
installés pour fumer.
— Sous aucun prétexte, ajouta-t-il dans sa langue à lui, ne vous
laissez aller à massacrer ceux qui se sont mis sous votre protection.
— A présent, dit Judson-Pardieu, qui n’avait pas saisi cette
dernière phrase, voulez-vous avoir la bonté de m’expliquer ce que
diantre signifie toute cette absurdité.
— C’était de nécessité, répondit le petit homme. Les opérations
de guerre sont déplaisantes. Je suis gouverneur et fais fonction de
capitaine. Voici mon épée !
— Au diable votre épée, monsieur ! Je n’en ai que faire. Vous
avez tiré sur notre pavillon. Depuis huit jours vous ne cessez de tirer
sur nos gens ici présents, et quand j’ai remonté le fleuve on m’a tiré
dessus.
— Ah ! C’est la Guadala. Elle vous aura pris par erreur pour un
négrier. Comment vont-ils sur la Guadala ?
— Prendre par erreur un vaisseau de Sa Majesté pour un
négrier ! Vous prendriez n’importe quel bâtiment pour un négrier,
vous ! Pardieu, monsieur, j’ai bonne envie de vous faire pendre à ma
grand’vergue !
Ce qui ressemblait le plus à ce redoutable agrès était la badine
de Judson, dans le porte-parapluie de sa cabine. Le gouverneur leva
les yeux vers l’unique mât et eut un sourire de protestation
suppliante.
— La position est embarrassante, dit-il. Capitaine, croyez-vous
que ces illustres marchands vont brûler ma capitale ? Mon peuple va
leur donner de la bière.
— Laissons les marchands, je veux une explication.
— Hum ! Il y a eu un soulèvement populaire en Europe,
capitaine… dans mon pays.
Son œil parcourut vaguement l’horizon.
— Quel rapport cela a-t-il avec…
— Capitaine, vous êtes bien jeune. Il y a encore de l’espoir. Mais
moi (et il se frappa la poitrine, à faire tinter ses épaulettes), moi, je
suis royaliste jusqu’au tréfonds de toutes mes entrailles.
— Continuez, dit Judson, dont la bouche se crispait.
— L’ordre me parvient d’établir ici un poste de douane, et de
prélever la taxe sur les marchands quand la nécessité les amène par
ici. Cela résultait d’arrangements politiques entre votre pays et le
mien. Mais aussi dans cette combinaison il n’y avait pas d’argent.
Diable non ! pas le moindre caurie [36] ! Je souhaite diablement
élargir toutes opérations commerciales, et pour cause ! Je suis
royaliste, et il y a rébellion dans mon pays… Oui, je vous assure… la
République toute prête à commencer. Vous ne me croyez pas ?
Vous verrez un jour ce qu’il en est. Je ne puis établir ces postes de
douane et payer ainsi les fonctionnaires à haute paye. De plus les
gens de mon pays ils disent que le roi n’a pas souci de l’honneur de
son peuple. Il gaspille tout… « gladstone » tout, comme vous diriez,
hein ?
[36] Monnaie de très faible valeur, aux Indes et en
Afrique, et représentée dans cette dernière par des
coquillages blancs.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .