CHAPTER XXVI
After this occurrence his success among the humbler Mexicans was moremarked than ever, but some of the men of property who had been subsidizedby MacDougall were not so easily won over. Such a case was that of oldPedro Alcatraz who owned a little store in the town of Vallecitos, a bitof land and a few thousand sheep. Alcatraz was a tall boney old man, andwas of nearly pure Navajo Indian blood, as one could tell by the queercrinkled character of his beard and moustache, which were like those of achinaman. He was simple and direct like an Indian, too, lacking theMexican talent for lying and artifice. In his own town he was a pettyczar, like Alfego, but on a much smaller scale. By reason of being_Hermano Mayor_ of the local _penitente_ chapter, and of having most ofthe people in his own neighbourhood in debt to him, he had considerablepower. He was advising men to sell their lands, and was lending more moneyon land than it was reasonable to suppose he owned. Beyond a doubt, he hadbeen won by MacDougall's dollars.
Ramon found Alcatraz unresponsive. The old man listened to a long harangueon the subject of the race issue without a word of reply, and withoutlooking up. Ramon then played what should have been his strongest card.
"My friend," he said, "you may not know it, but I am your brother in theblood of Christ. Do I not then deserve better of you than a gringo who istrying to take this country away from the Mexican people?"
"Yes," the old man answered quietly, "I know you are a _penitente_, and Iknow why. Do you think that I am a fool like these _pelados_ that herd mysheep? You wear the scars of a _penitente_ because you think it will helpyou to make money and to do what you want. You are just like MacDougall,except that he uses money and you use words. A poor man can only choosehis masters, and for my part I have more use for money than for words." Sosaying, the blunt old savage walked to the other end of his store andbegan showing a Mexican woman some shawls.
Ramon went away, breathing hard with rage, slapping his quirt against hisboots. He would show that old _cabron_ who was boss in these mountains!
He went immediately and hired the little _adobe_ hall which is found inevery Mexican town of more than a hundred inhabitants, and madepreparations to give a _baile_.
To give a dance is the surest and simplest way to win popularity in aMexican town, and Ramon spared no expense to make this affair a success.He sent forty miles across the mountains for two fiddlers to help out theblind man who was the only local musician. He arranged a feast, and in aback room he installed a small keg of native wine and one of beer.
The invitation was general and every one who could possibly reach theplace in a day's journey came. The women wore for the most part calicodresses, bright in colour and generous in volume, heavily starched andabsolutely devoid of fit. Their brown faces were heavily powdered,producing in some of the darker ones a purplish tint, which was ghastly inthe light of the oil lamps. Some of the younger girls were comely despitetheir crude toilets, with soft skins, ripe breasts, mild dark heifer-likeeyes, and pretty teeth showing in delighted grins. The men wore the cheapready-made suits which have done so much to make Americans look alikeeverywhere, but they achieved a degree of originality by choosing brightercolours than men generally wear, being especially fond of brilliantelectric blues and rich browns. Their broad but often handsome faces wereradiant with smiles, and their thick black hair was wetted and greasedinto shiny order.
The dance started with difficulty, despite symptoms of eagerness on allhands. Bashful youths stalled and crowded in the doorway like a log jam inthe river. Bashful girls, seated all around the room, nudged and titteredand then became solemn and self-conscious. Each number was preceded by amarch, several times around the room, which was sedate and formal in theextreme. The favourite dance was a fast, hopping waltz, in which the swainseized his partner firmly in both hands under the arms and put her througha vigorous test of wind and agility. The floor was rough and sanded, andthe rasping of feet almost drowned the music. There were long Virginiareels, led with peremptory dash by a master of ceremonies, full of graceand importance. Swarthy faces were bedewed with sweat and dark eyes glowedwith excitement, but there was never the slightest relaxation of theformalism of the affair. For this dance in an earthen hovel on a plankfloor was the degenerate but lineal descendant of the splendid and formalballs which the Dons had held in the old days, when New Spain belonged toits proud and wealthy conquerors; it was the wistful and grotesque remnantof a dying order.
Ramon had a vague realization of this fact as he watched the affair. Itstirred a sort of sentimental pity in him. But he threw off that feeling,he had work to do. He entered into the spirit of the thing, dancing withevery woman on the floor. He took the men in groups to the back room andtreated them. He missed no opportunity to get in a word against thegringos, and incidentally against those Mexicans who betrayed theirfellows by advising them to sell their lands. He never mentioned Alcatrazby name, but he made it clear enough to whom he referred.
Late in the evening, when all were mellowed by drink and excited bydancing, he gained the attention of the gathering on the pretext ofannouncing a special dance, and boldly gave a harangue in which he urgedall Mexicans to stick together against the gringos, and above all not tosell their homes which their fathers had won from the barbarians, and werethe foundations of their prosperity and freedom.
"Remember," he urged them in a burst of eloquence that surprised himself,"that in your veins is the blood of conquerors--blood which was poured outon these hills and valleys to win them from the Indians, precious bloodwhich has made this land priceless to you for all time!"
His speech was greeted with a burst of applause unquestionablyspontaneous. It filled him with a sense of power that was almostintoxicating. In the town he might be neglected, despised, picked for aneasy mark, but here among his own people he was a ruler and leader bybirth.
The most important result of the _baile_ was that it won over the stubbornAlcatraz. He did not attend it, but he knew what happened there. Herealized that advice in favour of selling land would not be popular inthat section for a long time, and he acknowledged his defeat by invitingRamon to dinner at his house, and driving a shrewd bargain with him,whereby he gave his influence in exchange for certain grazing privileges.
On his way home a few days later Ramon looked back at the mountains withthe feeling that they belonged to him by right of conquest.