Los de abajo. English

by Mariano Azuela

  "You certainly earn your pay all right, my lad," Demetrio interruptedkindly. "You complain and complain, but you aren't no loafer, you workand work." Then, aside to Camilla: "There's always more damned fools inthe valley than among us folk in the sierra, don't you think?"

  "Of course!" she replied.

  They went on. The valley was lost in darkness; stars came out. Demetrioput his arm around Camilla's waist amorously and whispered in her ear.

  "Yes," she answered in a faint voice.

  She was indeed beginning to "fall for him" as she had expressed it.

  Demetrio slept badly. He flung out of the house very early.

  "Something is going to happen to me," he thought.

  It was a silent dawn, with faint murmurs of joy. A thrush sang timidlyin one of the ash trees. The animals in the corral trampled on therefuse. The pig grunted its somnolence. The orange tints of the sunstreaked the sky; the last star flickered out.

  Demetrio walked slowly to the encampment.

  He was thinking of his plow, his two black oxen--young beasts theywere, who had worked in the fields only two years--of his two acres ofwell-fertilized corn. The face of his young wife came to his mind,clear and true as life: he saw her strong, soft features, so graciouswhen she smiled on her husband, so proudly fierce toward strangers. Butwhen he tried to conjure up the image of his son, his efforts werevain; he had forgotten....

  He reached the camp. Lying among the farrows, the soldiers slept withthe horses, heads bowed, eyes closed.

  "Our horses are pretty tired, Anastasio. I think we ought to stay hereat least another day."

  "Well, Compadre Demetrio, I'm hankering for the sierra.... If you onlyknew.... You may not believe me but nothing strikes me right here. Idon't know what I miss but I know I miss something. I feel sad ...lost...."

  "How many hours' ride from here to Limon?"

  "It's no matter of hours; it's three days' hard riding, Demetrio."

  "You know," Demetrio said softly, "I feel as though I'd like to see mywife again!"

  Shortly after, War Paint sought out Camilla.

  "That's one on you, my dear.... Demetrio's going to leave you flat! Hetold me so himself; 'I'm going to get my real woman,' he says, and hesays, 'Her skin is white and tender ... and her rosy cheeks.... Howbeautiful she is!' But you don't have to leave him, you know; if you'reset on staying, well--they've got a child, you know, and I suppose youcould drag it around...."

  When Demetrio returned, Camilla, weeping, told him everything.

  "Don't pay no attention to that crazy baggage. It's all lies, lies!"

  Since Demetrio did not go to Limon or remember his wife again, Camillagrew very happy. War Paint had merely stung herself, like a scorpion.

  XI

  Before dawn, they left for Tepatitlan. Their silhouettes waveredindistinctly over the road and the fields that bordered it, rising andfalling with the monotonous, rhythmical gait of their horses, thenfaded away in the nacreous light of the swooning moon that bathed thevalley. Dogs barked in the distance.

  "By noon we'll reach Tepatitlan, Cuquio tomorrow, and then ... on tothe sierra!" Demetrio said.

  "Don't you think it advisable to go to Aguascalientes first, General?"Luis Cervantes asked.

  "What for?"

  "Our funds are melting slowly."

  "Nonsense ... forty thousand pesos in eight days!"

  "Well, you see, just this week we recruited over five hundred new men;all the money's gone in advance loans and gratuities," Luis Cervantesanswered in a low voice.

  "No! We'll go straight to the sierra. We'll see later on."

  "Yes, to the sierra!" many of the men shouted.

  "To the sierra! To the sierra! Hurrah for the mountains!"

  The plains seemed to torture them; they spoke with enthusiasm, almostwith delirium, of the sierra. They thought of the mountains as of amost desirable mistress long since unvisited.

  Dawn broke behind a cloud of fine reddish dust; the sun rose an immensecurtain of fiery purple. Luis Cervantes pulled his reins and waited forQuail. "What's the last word on our deal, Quail?"

  "I told you, Tenderfoot: two hundred for the watch alone."

  "No! I'll buy the lot: watches, rings, everything else. How much?"

  Quail hesitated, turned slightly pale; then he cried spiritedly:

  "Two thousand in bills, for the whole business!"

  Luis Cervantes gave himself away. His eyes shone with such an obviousgreed that Quail recanted and said:

  "Oh, I was just fooling you. I won't sell nothing! Just the watch, see?And that's only because I owe Pancracio two hundred. He beat me atcards last night!"

  Luis Cervantes pulled out four crisp "double-face" bills of Villa'sissue and placed them in Quail's hands.

  "I'd like to buy the lot.... Besides, nobody will offer you more thanthat!"

  As the sun began to beat down upon them, Manteca suddenly shouted:

  "Ho, Blondie, your orderly says he doesn't care to go on living. Hesays he's too damned tired to walk."

  The prisoner had fallen in the middle of the road, utterly exhausted.

  "Well, well!" Blondie shouted, retracing his steps. "So little mama'sboy is tired, eh? Poor little fellow. I'll buy a glass case and keepyou in a corner of my house just as if you were the Virgin Mary's ownlittle son. You've got to reach home first, see? So I'll help you alittle, sonny!"

  He drew his sword out and struck the prisoner several times.

  "Let's have a look at your rope, Pancracio," he said. There was astrange gleam in his eyes. Quail observed that the prisoner no longermoved arm or leg. Blondie burst into a loud guffaw: "The Goddamnedfool. Just as I was learning him to do without food, too!"

  "Well, mate, we're almost to Guadalajara," Venancio said, glancing overthe smiling row of houses in Tepatitlan nestling against the hillside.

  They entered joyously. From every window rosy cheeks, dark luminouseyes observed them. The schools were quickly converted into barracks;Demetrio found lodging in the chapel of an abandoned church.

  The soldiers scattered about as usual pretending to seek arms andhorses, but in reality for the sole purpose of looting.

  In the afternoon some of Demetrio's men lay stretched out on the churchsteps, scratching their bellies. Venancio, his chest and shouldersbare, was gravely occupied in killing the fleas in his shirt. A mandrew near the wall and sought permission to speak to the commander. Thesoldiers raised their heads; but no one answered.

  "I'm a widower, gentlemen. I've got nine children and I barely make aliving with the sweat of my brow. Don't be hard on a poor widower!"

  "Don't you worry about women, Uncle," said Meco, who was rubbing hisfeet with tallow, "we've got War Paint here with us; you can have herfor nothing."

  The man smiled bitterly.

  "She's only got one fault," Pancracio observed, stretched out on theground, staring at the blue sky, "she goes mad over any man she sees."

  They laughed loudly; but Venancio with utmost gravity pointed to thechapel door. The stranger entered timidly and confided his troubles toDemetrio. The soldiers had cleaned him out; they had not left a singlegrain of corn.

  "Why did you let them?" Demetrio asked indolently.

  The man persisted, lamenting and weeping. Luis Cervantes was about tothrow him out with an insult. But Camilla intervened.

  "Come on, Demetrio, don't be harsh, give him an order to get his cornback."

  Luis Cervantes was obliged to obey; he scrawled a few lines to whichDemetrio appended an illegible scratch.

  "May God repay you, my child! God will lead you to heaven that you mayenjoy his glory. Ten bushels of corn are barely enough for this year'sfood!" the man cried, weeping for gratitude. Then he took the paper,kissed everybody's hand, and withdrew.

  XII

  They had almost reached Cuquio, when Anastasio Montanez rode up toDemetrio: "Listen, Compadre, I almost forgot to tell you.... You oughtto have seen the wonderful joke that man Blondie played. You know wha
the did with the old man who came to complain about the corn we'd takenaway for horses? Well, the old man took the paper and went to thebarracks. 'Right you are, brother, come in,' said Blondie, 'come in,come in here; to give you back what's yours is only the right thing todo. How many bushels did we steal? Ten? Sure it wasn't more than ten?... That's right, about fifteen, eh? Or was it twenty, perhaps? ... Tryand remember, friend.... Of course you're a poor man, aren't you, andyou've a lot of kids to raise.... Yes, twenty it was. All right, now!It's not ten or fifteen or twenty I'm going to give you. You're goingto count for yourself.... One, two, three ... and when you've hadenough you just tell me and I'll stop.' And Blondie pulled out hissword and beat him till he cried for mercy."

  War Paint rocked in her saddle, convulsed with mirth. Camilla, unableto control herself, blurted out:

  "The beast! His heart's rotten to the core! No wonder I loathe him!"

  At once War Paint's expression changed.

  "What the hell is it to you!" she scowled. Camilla, frightened, spurredher horse forward. War Paint did likewise and, as she trotted pastCamilla, suddenly she reached out, seized the other's hair and pulledwith all her might. Camilla's horse shied; Camilla, trying to brush herhair back from over her eyes, abandoned the reins. She hesitated, losther balance and fell in the road, striking her forehead against thestones.

  War Paint, weeping with laughter, pressed on with utmost skill andcaught Camilla's horse.

  "Come on, Tenderfoot; here's a job for you," Pancracio said as he sawCamilla on Demetrio's saddle, her face covered with blood.

  Luis Cervantes hurried toward her with some cotton; but Camilla,choking down her sobs and wiping her eyes, said hoarsely:

  "Not from you! If I was dying, I wouldn't accept anything from you ...not even water."

  In Cuquio Demetrio received a message.

  "We've got to go back to Tepatitlan, General," said Luis Cervantes,scanning the dispatch rapidly. "You've got to leave the men there whileyou go to Lagos and take the train over to Aguascalientes."

  There was much heated protest, the men muttering to themselves or evengroaning out loud. Some of them, mountaineers, swore that they wouldnot continue with the troop.

  Camilla wept all night. On the morrow at dawn, she begged Demetrio tolet her return home.

  "If you don't like me, all right," he answered sullenly.

  "That's not the reason. I care for you a lot, really. But you know howit is. That woman ..."

  "Never mind about her. It's all right! I'll send her off to hell today.I had already decided that."

  Camilla dried her tears....

  Every horse was saddled; the men were waiting only for orders from theChief. Demetrio went up to War Paint and said under his breath:

  "You're not coming with us."

  "What!" she gasped.

  "You're going to stay here or go wherever you damn well please, butyou're not coming along with us."

  "What? What's that you're saying?" Still she could not catch Demetrio'smeaning. Then the truth dawned upon her. "You want to send me away? ByGod, I suppose you believe all the filth that bitch..."

  And War Paint proceeded to insult Camilla, Luis Cervantes, Demetrio,and anyone she happened to remember at the moment, with such power andoriginality that the soldiers listened in wonder to vituperation thattranscended their wildest dream of profanity and filth. Demetrio waiteda long time patiently. Then, as she showed no sign of stopping, he saidto a soldier quite calmly:

  "Throw this drunken woman out."

  "Blondie, Blondie, love of my life! Help! Come and show them you're areal man! Show them they're nothing but sons of bitches! ..."

  She gesticulated, kicked, and shouted.

  Blondie appeared; he had just got up. His blue eyes blinked under heavylids; his voice rang hoarse. He asked what had occurred; someoneexplained. Then he went up to War Paint, and with great seriousness,said:

  "Yes? Really? Well, if you want my opinion, I think this is just whatought to happen. So far as I'm concerned, you can go straight to hell.We're all fed up with you, see?"

  War Paint's face turned to granite; she tried to speak but her muscleswere rigid.

  The soldiers laughed. Camilla, terrified, held her breath.

  War Paint stared slowly at everyone about her. It all took no more thana few seconds. In a trice she bent down, drew a sharp, gleaming daggerfrom her stocking and leapt at Camilla.

  A shrill cry. A body fell, the blood spurting from it.

  "Kill her, Goddamn it," cried Demetrio, beyond himself. "Kill her!"

  Two soldiers fell upon War Paint, but she brandished her dagger,defying them to touch her:

  "Not the likes of you, Goddamn you! Kill me yourself, Demetrio!"

  War Paint stepped forward, surrendered her dagger and, thrusting herbreast forward, let her arms fall to her side.

  Demetrio picked up the dagger, red with blood, but his eyes clouded; hehesitated, took a step backward. Then, with a heavy hoarse voice hegrowled, enraged:

  "Get out of here! Quick!"

  No one dared stop her. She moved off slowly, mute, somber.

  Blondie's shrill, guttural voice broke the silent stupor:

  "Thank God! At last I'm rid of that damned louse!"

  XIII

  Someone plunged a knife Deep in my side. Did he know why? I don't know why. Maybe he knew, I never knew. The blood flowed out Of that mortal wound. Did he know why? I don't know why. Maybe he knew, I never knew.

  His head lowered, his hands crossed over the pommel of his saddle,Demetrio in melancholy accents sang the strains of the intriguing song.Then he fell silent; for quite a while he continued to feel oppressedand sad.

  "You'll see, as soon as we reach Lagos you'll come out of it, General.There's plenty of pretty girls to give us a good time," Blondie said.

  "Right now I feel like getting damn drunk," Demetrio answered, spurringhis horse forward and leaving them as if he wished to abandon himselfentirely to his sadness.

  After many hours of riding he called Cervantes.

  "Listen, Tenderfoot, why in hell do we have to go to Aguascalientes?"

  "You have to vote for the Provisional President of the Republic,General!"

  "President, what? Who in the devil, then, is this man Carranza? I'll bedamned if I know what it's all about."

  At last they reached Lagos. Blondie bet that he would make Demetriolaugh that evening.

  Trailing his spurs noisily over the pavement, Demetrio entered "ElCosmopolita" with Luis Cervantes, Blondie, and his assistants.

  The civilians, surprised in their attempt to escape, remained wherethey were. Some feigned to return to their tables to continue drinkingand talking; others hesitantly stepped up to present their respects tothe commander.

  "General, so pleased! ... Major! Delighted to meet you!"

  "That's right! I love refined and educated friends," Blondie said."Come on, boys," he added, jovially drawing his gun, "I'm going to playa tune that'll make you all dance."

  A bullet ricocheted on the cement floor passing between the legs of thetables, and the smartly dressed young men-about-town began to jump muchas a woman jumps when frightened by a mouse under her skirt. Pale asghosts, they conjured up wan smiles of obsequious approval. Demetriobarely parted his lips, but his followers doubled over with laughter.

  "Look, Blondie," Quail shouted, "look at that man going out there.Look, he's limping."

  "I guess the bee stung him all right."

  Blondie, without turning to look at the wounded man, announced withenthusiasm that he could shoot off the top of a tequila bottle atthirty paces without aiming.

  "Come on, friend, stand up," he said to the waiter. He dragged him outby the hand to the patio of the hotel and set a tequila bottle on hishead. The poor devil refused. Insane with fright, he sought to escape,but Blondie pulled his gun and took aim.

  "Come on, you son of a sea cook! If you keep on I'll give you a nicewarm one!"

  Blondie went to the op
posite wall, raised his gun and fired. The bottlebroke into bits, the alcohol poured over the lad's ghastly face.

  "Now it's a go," cried Blondie, running to the bar to get anotherbottle, which he placed on the lad's head.

  He returned to his former position, he whirled about, and shot withoutaiming. But he hit the waiter's ear instead of the bottle. Holding hissides with laughter, he said to the young waiter:

  "Here, kid, take these bills. It ain't much. But you'll be all rightwith some alcohol and arnica."

  After drinking a great deal of alcohol and beer, Demetrio spoke:

  "Pay the bill, Blondie, I'm going to leave you."

  "I ain't got a penny, General, but that's all right. I'll fix it. Howmuch do we owe you, friend?"

  "One hundred and eighty pesos, Chief," the bartender answered amiably.

  Quickly, Blondie jumped behind the bar and with a sweep of both arms,knocked down all the glasses and bottles.

  "Send the bill to General Villa, understand?"

  He left, laughing loudly at his prank.

  "Say there, you, where do the girls hang out?" Blondie asked, reelingup drunkenly toward a small well-dressed man, standing at the door of atailor shop.

  The man stepped down to the sidewalk politely to let Blondie pass.

  Blondie stopped and looked at him curiously, impertinently.