"Nobody threw me down," Solis said. "I'm here because I like to playsafe."
The irony in Solis' voice brought a blush to Cervantes' cheek.
"By God, that chief of yours is a man!" Solis said. "What daring, whatassurance! He left me gasping--and a hell of a lot of other men withmore experience than me, too!"
Luis Cervantes vouchsafed no answer.
"What! Weren't you there? Oh, I see! You found a nice place foryourself at the right time. Come here, Luis, I'll explain; let's gobehind that rock. From this meadow to the foot of the hill, there's noroad save this path below. To the right, the incline is too sharp; youcan't do anything there. And it's worse to the left; the ascent is sodangerous that a second's hesitation means a fall down those rocks anda broken neck at the end of it. All right! A number of men from Moya'sbrigade who went down to the meadow decided to attack the enemy'strenches the first chance they got. The bullets whizzed about us, thebattle raged on all sides. For a time they stopped firing, so wethought they were being attacked from behind. We stormed theirtrenches--look, partner, look at that meadow! It's thick with corpses!Their machine guns did that for us. They mowed us down like wheat; onlya handful escaped. Those Goddamned officers went white as a sheet; eventhough we had reinforcements they were afraid to order a new charge.That was when Demetrio Macias plunged in. Did he wait for orders? Nothe! He just shouted:
"'Come on, boys! Let's go for them!'
"'Damn fool!' I thought. 'What the hell does he think he's doing!'
"The officers, surprised, said nothing. Demetrio's horse seemed to weareagle's claws instead of hoofs, it soared so swiftly over the rocks.'Come on! Come on!' his men shouted, following him like wild deer,horses and men welded into a mad stampede. Only one young fellowstepped wild and fell headlong into the pit. In a few seconds theothers appeared at the top of the hill, storming the trenches andkilling the Federals by the thousand. With his rope, Demetrio lassoedthe machine guns and carried them off, like a bull herd throwing asteer. Yet his success could not last much longer, for the Federalswere far stronger in numbers and could easily have destroyed Demetrioand his men. But we took advantage of their confusion, we rushed uponthem and they soon cleared out of their position. That chief of yoursis a wonderful soldier!"
Standing on the crest of the hill, they could easily sight one side ofthe Bufa peak. Its highest crag spread out like the feathered head of aproud Aztec king. The three-hundred-foot slope was literally coveredwith dead, their hair matted, their clothes clotted with grime andblood. A host of ragged women, vultures of prey, ranged over the tepidbodies of the dead, stripping one man bare, despoiling another, robbingfrom a third his dearest possessions.
Amid clouds of white rifle smoke and the dense black vapors of flamingbuildings, houses with wide doors and windows bolted shone in thesunlight. The streets seemed to be piled upon one another, or woundpicturesquely about fantastic corners, or set to scale the hillsnearby. Above the graceful cluster of houses, rose the lithe columns ofa warehouse and the towers and cupola of the church.
"How beautiful the revolution! Even in its most barbarous aspect it isbeautiful," Solis said with deep feeling. Then a vague melancholyseized him, and speaking low:
"A pity what remains to do won't be as beautiful! We must wait a while,until there are no men left to fight on either side, until no sound ofshot rings through the air save from the mob as carrion-like it fallsupon the booty; we must wait until the psychology of our race,condensed into two words, shines clear and luminous as a drop of water:Robbery! Murder! What a colossal failure we would make of it, friend,if we, who offer our enthusiasm and lives to crush a wretched tyrant,became the builders of a monstrous edifice holding one hundred or twohundred thousand monsters of exactly the same sort. People withoutideals! A tyrant folk! Vain bloodshed!"
Large groups of Federals pushed up the hill, fleeing from the "highhats." A bullet whistled past them, singing as it sped. After hisspeech, Alberto Solis stood lost in thought, his arms crossed.Suddenly, he took fright.
"I'll be damned if I like these plaguey mosquitoes!" he said. "Let'sget away from here!"
So scornfully Luis Cervantes smiled that Solis sat down on a rock quitecalm, bewildered. He smiled. His gaze roved as he watched the spiralsof smoke from the rifles, the dust of roofs crumbling from houses asthey fell before the artillery. He believed he discerned the symbol ofthe revolution in these clouds of dust and smoke that climbed upwardtogether, met at the crest of the hill and, a moment after, werelost....
"By heaven, now I see what it all means!"
He sketched a vast gesture, pointing to the station. Locomotivesbelched huge clouds of black dense smoke rising in columns; the trainswere overloaded with fugitives who had barely managed to escape fromthe captured town.
Suddenly he felt a sharp blow in the stomach. As though his legs wereputty, he rolled off the rock. His ears buzzed... Then darkness ...silence ... eternity....
PART TWO
I
Demetrio, nonplussed, scratched his head: "Look here, don't ask me anymore questions.... You gave me the eagle I wear on my hat, didn't you?All right then; you just tell me: 'Demetrio, do this or do that,' andthat's all there is to it."
To champagne, that sparkles and foams as the beaded bubbles burst atthe brim of the glass, Demetrio preferred the native tequila, limpidand fiery.
The soldiers sat in groups about the tables in the restaurant, raggedmen, filthy with sweat, dirt and smoke, their hair matted, wild,disheveled.
"I killed two colonels," one man clamored in a guttural harsh voice. Hewas a small fat fellow, with embroidered hat and chamois coat, wearinga light purple handkerchief about his neck.
"They were so Goddamned fat they couldn't even run. By God, I wish youcould have seen them, tripping and stumbling at every step they took,climbing up the hill, red as tomatoes, their tongues hanging out likehounds. 'Don't run so fast, you lousy beggars!' I called after them.'I'm not so fond of frightened geese--stop, You bald-headed bastards: Iwon't harm you! You needn't worry!' By God, they certainly fell for it.Pop, pop! One shot for each of them, and a well-earned rest for a pairof poor sinners, be damned to them!"
"I couldn't get a single one of their generals!" said a swarthy man whosat in one corner between the wall and the bar, holding his riflebetween his outstretched legs. "I sighted one: a fellow with a hell ofa lot of gold plastered all over him. His gold chevrons shone like aGoddamned sunset. And I let him go by, fool that I was. He took off hishandkerchief and waved it. I stood there with my mouth wide open like afool! Then I ducked and he started shooting, bullet after bullet. I lethim kill a poor cargador. Then I said: 'My turn, now! Holy Virgin,Mother of God! Don't let me miss this son of a bitch.' But, by Christ,he disappeared. He was riding a hell of a fine nag; he went by me likelightning! There was another poor fool coming up the road. He got itand turned the prettiest somersault you ever saw!"
Talk flew from lip to lip, each soldier vying with his fellow,snatching the words from the other's mouth. As they declaimedpassionately, women with olive, swarthy skins, bright eyes, and teethof ivory, with revolvers at their waists, cartridge-belts across theirbreasts, and broad Mexican hats on their heads, wove their way likestray street curs in and out among groups. A vulgar wench, with rougedcheeks and dark brown arms and neck, gave a great leap and landed onthe bar near Demetrio's table.
He turned his head toward her and literally collided with a pair oflubric eyes under a narrow forehead and thick, straight hair, parted inthe middle.
The door opened wide. Anastasio, Pancracio, Quail, and Meco filed in,dazed.
Anastasio uttered a cry of surprise and stepped forward to shake handswith the little fat man wearing a charro suit and a lavender bandanna.A pair of old friends, met again. So warm was their embrace, so tightlythey clutched each other that the blood rushed to their heads, theyturned purple.
"Look here, Demetrio, I want the honor of introducing you to Blondie.He's a real friend, you know. I love him like a brothe
r. You must getto know him, Chief, he's a man! Do you remember that damn jail atEscobedo, where we stayed together for over a year?"
Without removing his cigar from his lips, Demetrio, buried in a sullensilence amid the bustle and uproar, offered his hand and said:
"I'm delighted to meet you!"
"So your name is Demetrio Macias?" the girl asked suddenly. Seated onthe bar, she swung her legs; at every swing, the toes of her shoestouched Demetrio's back.
"Yes: I'm Demetrio Macias!" he said, scarcely turning toward her.
Indifferently, she continued to swing her legs, displaying her bluestockings with ostentation.
"Hey, War Paint, what are you doing here? Step down and have a drink!"said the man called Blondie.
The girl accepted readily and boldly thrust her way through the crowdto a chair facing Demetrio.
"So you're the famous Demetrio Macias, the hero of Zacatecas?" the girlasked.
Demetrio bowed assent, while Blondie, laughing, said:
"You're a wise one, War Paint. You want to sport a general!"
Without understanding Blondie's words, Demetrio raised his eyes tohers; they gazed at each other like two dogs sniffing one another withdistrust. Demetrio could not resist her furiously provocative glances;he was forced to lower his eyes.
From their seats, some of Natera's officers began to hurl obscenitiesat War Paint. Without paying the slightest attention, she said:
"General Natera is going to hand you out a little general's eagle. Putit here and shake on it, boy!"
She stuck out her hand at Demetrio and shook it with the strength of aman. Demetrio, melting to the congratulations raining down upon him,ordered champagne.
"I don't want no more to drink," Blondie said to the waiter, "I'mfeeling sick. Just bring me some ice water."
"I want something to eat," said Pancracio. "Bring me anything you'vegot but don't make it chili or beans!"
Officers kept coming in; presently the restaurant was crowded. Smallstars, bars, eagles and insignia of every sort or description dottedtheir hats. They wore wide silk bandannas around their necks, largediamond rings on their fingers, large heavy gold watch chains acrosstheir breasts.
"Here, waiter," Blondie cried, "I ordered ice water. And I'm notbegging for it either, see? Look at this bunch of bills. I'll buy you,your wife, and all you possess, see? Don't tell me there's none left--Idon't care a damn about that! It's up to you to find some way to get itand Goddamned quick, too. I don't like to play about; I get mad whenI'm crossed.... By God, didn't I tell you I wouldn't stand for anybackchat? You won't bring it to me, eh? Well, take this...."
A heavy blow sent the waiter reeling to the floor.
"That's the sort of man I am, General Macias! I'm clean-shaven, eh? Nota hair on my chin? Do you know why? Well, I'll tell you! You see I getmad easy as hell; and when there's nobody to pick on, I pull my hairuntil my temper passes. If I hadn't pulled my beard hair by hair, I'dhave died a long time ago from sheer anger!"
"It does you no good to go to pieces when you're angry," a man affirmedearnestly from below a hat that covered his head as a roof does ahouse. "When I was up at Torreon I killed an old lady who refused tosell me some enchiladas. She was angry, I can tell you; I got noenchiladas but I felt satisfied anyhow!"
"I killed a storekeeper at Parral because he gave me some change andthere were two Huerta bills in it," said a man with a star on his hatand precious stones on his black, calloused hands.
"Down in Chihuahua I killed a man because I always saw him sitting atthe table whenever I went to eat. I hated the looks of him so I justkilled him! What the hell could I do!"
"Hmm! I killed...."
The theme is inexhaustible.
By dawn, when the restaurant was wild with joy and the floor dottedwith spittle, young painted girls from the suburbs had mingled freelyamong the dark northern women. Demetrio pulled out his jeweled goldwatch, asking Anastasio Montanez to tell him the time.
Anastasio glanced at the watch, then, poking his head out of a smallwindow, gazed at the starry sky.
"The Pleiades are pretty low in the west. I guess it won't be long nowbefore daybreak...."
Outside the restaurant, the shouts, laughter and song of the drunkardsrang through the air. Men galloped wildly down the streets, the hoofsof their horses hammering on the sidewalks. From every quarter of thetown pistols spoke, guns belched. Demetrio and the girl called WarPaint staggered tipsily hand in hand down the center of the street,bound for the hotel.
II
"What damned fools," said War Paint convulsed with laughter! "Where thehell do you come from?..... Soldiers don't sleep in hotels and innsany more....... Where do you come from? You just go anywhere you likeand pick a house that pleases you, see. When you go there, makeyourself at home and don't ask anyone for anything. What the hell isthe use of the revolution? Who's it for? For the folks who live intowns? We're the city folk now, see? Come on, Pancracio, hand me yourbayonet. Damn these rich people, they lock up everything they've got!"
She dug the steel point through the crack of a drawer and, pressing onthe hilt, broke the lock, opened the splinted cover of a writing desk.Anastasio, Pancracio and War Paint plunged their hands into a mass ofpost cards, photographs, pictures and papers, scattering them all overthe rug. Finding nothing he wanted, Pancracio gave vent to his anger bykicking a framed photograph into the air with the toe of his shoe. Itsmashed on the candelabra in the center of the room.
They pulled their empty hands out of the heap of paper, cursing. ButWar Paint was of sterner stuff; tirelessly she continued to unlockdrawer after drawer without failing to investigate a single spot. Intheir absorption, they did not notice a small gray velvet-covered boxwhich rolled silently across the floor, coming to a stop at LuisCervantes' feet.
Demetrio, lying on the rug, seemed to be asleep; Cervantes, who hadwatched everything with profound indifference, pulled the box closer tohim with his foot, and stooping to scratch his ankle, swiftly picked itup. Something gleamed up at him, dazzling. It was two pure-waterdiamonds mounted in filigreed platinum. Hastily he thrust them insidehis coat pocket.
When Demetrio awoke, Cervantes said:
"General, look at the mess these boys have made here. Don't you thinkit would be advisable to forbid this sort of thing?"
"No. It's about their only pleasure after putting their bellies up astargets for the enemy's bullets."
"Yes, of course, General, but they could do it somewhere else. You see,this sort of thing hurts our prestige, and worse, our cause!"
Demetrio leveled his eagle eyes at Cervantes. He drummed with hisfingernails against his teeth, absent-mindedly. Then:
"Come along, now, don't blush," he said. "You can talk like that tosomeone else. We know what's mine is mine, what's yours is yours. Youpicked the box, all right; I picked my gold watch; all right too!"
His words dispelled any pretense. Both of them, in perfect harmony,displayed their booty.
War Paint and her companions were ransacking the rest of the house.Quail entered the room with a twelve-year-old girl upon whose foreheadand arms were already marked copper-colored spots. They stopped short,speechless with surprise as they saw the books lying in piles on thefloor, chairs and tables, the large mirrors thrown to the ground,smashed, the huge albums and the photographs torn into shreds, thefurniture, objets d'art and bric-a-brac broken. Quail held his breath,his avid eyes scouring the room for booty.
Outside, in one corner of the patio, lost in dense clouds ofsuffocating smoke, Manteca was boiling corn on the cob, feeding hisfire with books and paper that made the flames leap wildly through theair.
"Hey!" Quail shouted. "Look what I found. A fine sweat-cover for mymare."
With a swift pull he wrenched down a hanging, which fell over ahandsomely carved upright chair.
"Look, look at all these naked women!" Quail's little companion cried,enchanted at a de luxe edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. "I like this;I think I'll take it along."
She began to tear out the illustrations which pleased her most.
Demetrio crossed the room and sat down beside Luis Cervantes. Heordered some beer, handed one bottle up to his secretary, downed hisown bottle at one gulp. Then, drowsily, he half closed his eyes, andsoon fell sound asleep.
"Hey!" a man called to Pancracio from the threshold. "When can I seeyour general?"
"You can't see him. He's got a hangover this morning. What the hell doyou want?"
"I want to buy some of those books you're burning."
"I'll sell them to you myself."
"How much do you want for them?"
Pancracio frowned in bewilderment.
"Give me a nickel for those with pictures, see. I'll give you the restfor nothing if you buy all those with pictures."
The man returned with a large basket to carry away the books....
"Come on, Demetrio, come on, you pig, get up! Look who's here! It'sBlondie. You don't know what a fine man he is!"
"I like you very much, General Macias, and I like the way you dothings. So if it's all right, I'd like very much to serve under you!"
"What's your rank?" Demetrio asked him.
"I'm a captain, General."
"All right, you can serve with me now. I'll make you major. How's that?"
Blondie was a round little fellow, with waxed mustache. When helaughed, his blue eyes disappeared mischievously between his foreheadand his fat cheeks. He had been a waiter at "El Monico," in Chihuahua;now he proudly wore three small brass bars, the insignia of his rank inthe Northern Division.