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Page 26
"Ain't it wonderful to be able to read and write!"
They both sighed, sadly. Luis Cervantes came in with
several others to find out the day of their departure.
"We're leaving no later than tomorrow," said Demetrio
without hesitation.
Quail suggested that musicians be summoned from
the neighboring hamlet and that a farewell dance be
given. His idea met with enthusiasm on all sides.
"We'll go, then," Pancracio shouted, "but I'm certainly
going in good company this time. My sweetheart's coming
along with me!"
Demetrio replied that he too would willingly take along
a girl he had set his eye on, but that he hoped none of his
men would leave bitter memories behind them as the
Federals did.
"You won't have long to wait. Everything will be ar-
ranged when you return," Luis Cervantes whispered to him.
"What do you mean?" Demetrio asked. "I thought
that you and Camilla . . ."
"There's not a word of truth in it, Chief. She likes you
but she's afraid of you, that's all."
"Really? Is that really true?"
"Yes. But I think you're quite right in not wanting
to leave any bitter feelings behind you as you go. When
you come back as a conqueror, everything will be dif-
ferent. They'll all thank you for it even."
"By God, you're certainly a shrewd one," Demetrio re-
plied, patting him on the back.
At sundown, Camilla went to the river to fetch water
as usual. Luis Cervantes, walking down the same trail,
met her. Camilla felt her heart leap to her mouth. But,
without taking the slightest notice of her, Luis Cervantes
hastily took one of the turns and disappeared among the
rocks.
At this hour, as usual, the calcinated rocks, the sun-
burnt branches, and the dry weeds faded into the semi-
obscurity of the shadows. The wind blew softly, the green
lances of the young corn leaves rustling in the twilight.
Nothing was changed; all nature was as she had found it
before, evening upon evening; but in the stones and the
dry weeds, amid the fragrance of the air and the light
whir of falling leaves, Camilla sensed a new strangeness,
a vast desolation in everything about her.
Rounding a huge eroded rock, suddenly Camilla found
herself face to face with Luis, who was seated on a stone,
hatless, his legs dangling.
"Listen, you might come down here to say good-bye."
Luis Cervantes was obliging enough; he jumped down
and joined her.
"You're proud, ain't you? Have I been so mean that
you don't even want to talk to me?"
"Why do you say that, Camilla? You've been extreme-
ly kind to me; why, you've been more than a friend,
you've taken care of me as if you were my sister. Now
I'm about to leave, I'm very grateful to you; I'll always
remember you."
"Liar!" Camilla said, her face transfigured with joy.
"Suppose I hadn't come after you?"
"I intended to say good-bye to you at the dance this
evening."
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