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Page 23
After their supply of words was exhausted, they gave
over gambling and, their arms about each other's shoul-
ders, marched off in search of a drink of alcohol.
"I don't like to fight with my tongue either, it's not de-
cent. I'm right, too, eh? I tell you no man living has ever
breathed a word to me against my mother. I want to be
respected, see? That's why you've never seen me fooling
with anyone." There was a pause. Then, suddenly, "Look
there, Tenderfoot," Anastasio said, changing his tone
and standing up with one hand spread over his eyes.
"What's that dust over there behind the hillock. By God,
what if it's those damned Federals and we sitting here
doing nothing. Come on, let's go and warn the rest of the
boys."
The news met with cries of joy.
"Ah, we're going to meet them!" cried Pancracio jubi-
lantly, first among them to rejoice.
"Of course, we're going to meet them! We'll strip them
clean of everything they brought with them."
A few moments later, amid cries of joy and a bustle of
arms, they began saddling their horses. But the enemy
turned out to be a few burros and two Indians, driving
them forward.
"Stop them, anyhow. They must have come from some-
where and they've probably news for us," Demetrio
said.
Indeed, their news proved sensational. The Federal
troops had fortified the hills in Zacatecas; this was said
to be Huerta's last stronghold, but everybody predicted
the fall of the city. Many families had hastily fled south-
ward. Trains were overloaded with people; there was a
scarcity of trucks and coaches; hundreds of people,
panic-stricken, walked along the highroad with their be-
longings in a pack slung over their shoulders. General
Panfilo Natera was assembling his men at Fresnillo; the
Federals already felt it was all up with them.
"The fall of Zacatecas will be Huerta's requiescat in
pace," Luis Cervantes cried with unusual excitement.
"We've got to be there before the fight starts so that we
can join Natera's army."
Then, suddenly, he noted the surprise with which De-
metrio and his men greeted his suggestion. Crestfallen,
he realized they still considered him of no account.
On the morrow, as the men set off in search of good
mounts before taking to the road again, Demetrio called
Luis Cervantes:
"Do you really want to come with us? Of course you're
cut from another timber, we all know that; God knows
why you should like this sort of life. Do you imagine
we're in this game because we like it? Now, I like the ex-
citement all right, but that's not all. Sit down here;
that's right. Do you want to know why I'm a rebel? Well,
I'll tell you.
"Before the revolution, I had my land all plowed, see,
and just right for sowing and if it hadn't been for a little
quarrel with Don Monico, the boss of my town, Moya-
hua, I'd be there in a jiffy getting the oxen ready for the
sowing, see?
"Here, there, Pancracio, pull down two bottles of beer
for me and this tenderfoot. . . . By the Holy Cross . . .
drinking won't hurt me, now, will it?"
XIII
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