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diff --git a/20888-tei/20888-tei.tei b/20888-tei/20888-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c6420a --- /dev/null +++ b/20888-tei/20888-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,9372 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?> + +<!-- +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blood of the Conquerors +by Harvey Fergusson + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Blood of the Conquerors + +Author: Harvey Fergusson + +Release Date: March 2007 [Ebook #20888] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 +--> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> + +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Blood of the Conquerors</title> + <author><name reg="Fergusson, Harvey">Harvey Fergusson</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2007-03-23">March 23, 2007</date> + <idno type="etext-no">20888</idno> + <idno type="DPid">projectID454122582ab3c</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + <title>The Blood of the Conquerors</title> + <author>Harvey Fergusson</author> + <imprint> + <publisher>Alfred A. Knopf</publisher> + <pubPlace>New York</pubPlace> + <date>1921</date> + </imprint> + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + <projectDesc> + <p>Produced by Roland Schlenker + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at + <http://www.pgdp.net/c></p> + <p>Page-images available at + <http://www.pgdp.net/projects/projectID454122582ab3c/></p> + </projectDesc> + <editorialDecl> + <p>The Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines Version 1.9.c, + generated January 1, 2006 at <http://www.pgdp.net/> were + used to transcribe this text.</p> + <p>Corrections were made when it was obvious a mistake was made + in the original text. An errata is supplied to locate these + corrections.</p> + <p>Quotation marks have been changed to TEI + encoding <q> and </q>.</p> + <p>Hyphenated words at the end of a line or at the end of a page + have had their hyphens removed. The second part of the hyphenated + word has been moved to the previous line or page. No information + has been kept as to the location of these changes.</p> + <p>Characters not in ISO-8859-1 have been changed to TEI + entities.</p> + <p>The original book had no table of contents. A table of contents + was made for this electronic edition.</p> + </editorialDecl> + <classDecl> + <taxonomy id="lc"> + <bibl> + <title>Library of Congress Classification</title> + </bibl> + </taxonomy> + </classDecl> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en">English</language> + </langUsage> + <textClass> + <classCode scheme="lc">PS</classCode> + <classCode scheme="lc">PZ</classCode> + <keywords scheme="lc"> + <list> + <item>American literature -- + By period -- 20th century</item> + <item>American literature -- + Individual authors -- 1900-1960</item> + <item>Fiction and juvenile belles lettres -- + Fiction in English</item> + </list> + </keywords> + </textClass> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2007-03-23">Febraury 23, 2007</date> + <respStmt> + <name>Roland Schlenker and<lb/></name> + <name>Online Distributed Proofreading Team</name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg Edition</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<text lang="en"> + +<front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader"/> + </div> + + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc"/> + </div> + + <titlePage rend="page-break-before: right; text-align: center"> + <pb n="3"/><anchor id="Pg3"/> + <docTitle> + <titlePart type="main"> + <hi rend="font-size: 175%">The Blood of the Conquerors</hi><lb/> + </titlePart> + </docTitle> + <byline> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">by</hi><lb/> + <docAuthor> + <hi rend="font-size: 150%">Harvey Fergusson</hi><lb/> + <lb/> + </docAuthor> + </byline> + <docImprint> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">New York</hi><lb/> + <hi rend="font-size: 150%">Alfred · A · Knopf</hi><lb/> + </docImprint> + <docDate> + <hi rend="font-size: 100%">1921</hi><lb/> + </docDate> + </titlePage> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always; text-align: center" type="verso"> + <pb n="4"/><anchor id="Pg4"/> + <p rend="page-float: 't'"> + <hi rend="font-size: 75%">COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY</hi><lb/> + <hi rend="font-size: 75%">ALFRED A. KNOPF, <hi + rend="font-variant: small-caps">Inc</hi>.</hi></p> + + <p rend="page-float: 'b'"> + <hi rend="font-size: 50%">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</hi></p> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <index index="pdf"/> + <head rend="text-align: center">Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc"/> + </div> +</front> + +<body> + +<!-- <pb n="1"/><anchor id="Pg1"/> +[Extra Page] + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Blood of +the Conquerors</hi> --> + +<!-- <pb n="2"/><anchor id="Pg2"/> +[Extra Page] + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">NEW BORZOI NOVELS +FALL, 1921</hi> + +/* +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Pan</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Knut Hamsun</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dreamers</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Knut Hamsun</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Tortoise</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Mary Borden</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The China Shop</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">G. B. Stern</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Briary-Bush</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Floyd Dell</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Deadlock</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Dorothy Richardson</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Other Magic</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">E. L. Grant-Watson</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">White Shoulders</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">George Kibbe Turner</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Charmed Circle</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Edward Alden Jewell</hi> + +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Blood of the Conquerors</hi> + <hi rend="font-style: italic">Harvey Furgusson[**corr: Fergusson]</hi> +*/ --> + +<!-- <pb n="3"/><anchor id="Pg3"/> +[Title Page] + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Blood of the Conquerors</hi> + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">by</hi> + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Harvey Fergusson</hi> + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">New York</hi> + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Alfred � A � Knopf</hi> + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">1921</hi> --> + +<!-- <pb n="4"/><anchor id="Pg4"/> +[Extra Page] + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY +ALFRED A. KNOPF, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Inc</hi>. + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA --> + +<!-- <pb n="5"/><anchor id="Pg5"/> +[Extra Page] + +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Blood of +the Conquerors</hi> --> + +<!-- <pb n="6"/><anchor id="Pg6"/> +[Blank Page] --> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC01" type="chapter"> +<pb n="7"/><anchor id="Pg7"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER I</hi> +</head> + +<p>Whenever Ramon Delcasar boarded a railroad +train he indulged a habit, not uncommon among +men, of choosing from the women passengers the +one whose appearance most pleased him to be the +object of his attention during the journey. If +the woman were reserved or well-chaperoned, or +if she obviously belonged to another man, this attention +might amount to no more than an occasional +discreet glance in her direction. He never +tried to make her acquaintance unless her eyes and +mouth unmistakably invited him to do so.</p> + +<p>This conservatism on his part was not due to an +innate lack of self-confidence. Whenever he felt +sure of his social footing, his attitude toward +women was bold and assured. But his social footing +was a peculiarly uncertain thing for the reason +that he was a Mexican. This meant that he +faced in every social contact the possibility of a +more or less covert prejudice against his blood, +and that he faced it with an unduly proud and sensitive +spirit concealed beneath a manner of aristocratic +indifference. In the little southwestern +town where he had lived all his life, except the +<pb n="8"/><anchor id="Pg8"/> +last three years, his social position was ostensibly +of the highest. He was spoken of as belonging +to an old and prominent family. Yet he knew of +mothers who carefully guarded their daughters +from the peril of falling in love with him, and most +of his boyhood fights had started when some one +called him a <q>damned Mexican</q> or a <q>greaser.</q></p> + +<p>Except to an experienced eye there was little in +his appearance or in his manner to suggest his +race. His swarthy complexion indicated perhaps +a touch of the Moorish blood in his Spanish ancestry, +but he was no darker than are many Americans +bearing Anglo-Saxon names, and his eyes +were grey. His features were aquiline and +pleasing, and he had in a high degree that bearing, +at once proud and unself-conscious, which is called +aristocratic. He spoke English with a very slight +Spanish accent.</p> + +<p>When he had gone away to a Catholic law +school in St. Louis, confident of his speech and +manner and appearance, he had believed that he +was leaving prejudice behind him; but in this he +had been disappointed. The raw spots in his consciousness, +if a little less irritated at the college, +were by no means healed. Some persons, it is +true, seemed to think nothing of his race one way +or the other; to some, mostly women, it gave him +an added interest; but in the long run it worked +against him. It kept him out of a fraternity, and +<pb n="9"/><anchor id="Pg9"/> +it made his career in football slow and hard.</p> + +<p>When he finally won the coveted position of +quarterback, in spite of team politics, he made a +reputation by the merciless fashion in which he +drove his eleven, and by the fury of his own playing.</p> + +<p>The same bitter emulative spirit which had impelled +him in football drove him to success in his +study of the law. Books held no appeal for him, +and he had no definite ambitions, but he had a +good head and a great desire to show the gringos +what he could do. So he had graduated high in +his class, thrown his diploma into the bottom of +his trunk, and departed from his alma mater without +regret.</p> + +<p>The limited train upon which he took passage +for home afforded specially good opportunity for +his habit of mental philandering. The passengers +were continually going up and down between the +dining car at one end of the train and the observation +car at the other, so that all of the women +daily passed in review. They were an unusually +attractive lot, for most of the passengers were +wealthy easterners on their way to California. +Ramon had never before seen together so many +women of the kind that devotes time and money +and good taste to the business of creating charm. +Perfectly gowned and groomed, delicately scented, +they filled him with desire and with envy for the +<pb n="10"/><anchor id="Pg10"/> +men who owned them. There were two newly +married couples among the passengers, and several +intense flirtations were under way before the +train reached Kansas City. Ramon felt as though +he were a spectator at some delightful carnival. +He was lonely and restless, yet fascinated.</p> + +<p>For no opportunity of becoming other than a +spectator had come to him. He had chosen without +difficulty the girl whom he preferred, but had +only dared to admire her from afar. She was a +little blonde person, not more than twenty, with +angelic grey eyes, hair of the colour of ripe wheat +and a complexion of perfect pink and white. The +number of different costumes which she managed +to don in two days filled him with amazement and +gave her person an ever-varying charm and interest. +She appeared always accompanied by a very +placid-looking and portly woman, who was evidently +her mother, and a tall, cadaverous sick +man, whose indifferent and pettish attitude toward +her seemed to indicate that he was either a brother +or an uncle, for Ramon felt sure that she was not +married. She acquired no male attendants, but +sat most of the time very properly, if a little restlessly, +with her two companions. Once or twice +Ramon felt her look upon him, but she always +turned it away when he glanced at her.</p> + +<p>Whether because she was really beautiful in her +own petite way, or because she seemed so unattainable, +<pb n="11"/><anchor id="Pg11"/> +or because her small blonde daintiness had +a peculiar appeal for him, Ramon soon reached a +state of conviction that she interested him more +than any other girl he had ever seen. He discreetly +followed her about the train, watching for +the opportunity that never came, and consoling +himself with the fact that no one else seemed +more fortunate in winning her favour than he. +The only strange male who attained to the privilege +of addressing her was a long-winded and elderly +gentleman of the British perpetual-travelling +type, at least one representative of which is found +on every transcontinental train, and it was plain +enough that he bored the girl.</p> + +<p>Ramon took no interest in landscapes generally, +but when he awoke on the last morning of his +journey and found himself once more in the wide +and desolate country of his birth, he was so deeply +stirred and interested that he forgot all about +the girl. Devotion to one particular bit of soil is +a Mexican characteristic, and in Ramon it was +highly developed because he had spent so much +of his life close to the earth. Every summer of +his boyhood he had been sent to one of the sheep +ranches which belonged to the various branches +of his numerous family. Each of these ranches +was merely a headquarters where the sheep were +annually dipped and sheared and from which the +herds set out on their long wanderings across the +<pb n="12"/><anchor id="Pg12"/> +open range. Often Ramon had followed them—across +the deserts where the heat shimmered and +the yellow dust hung like a great pale plume over +the rippling backs of the herd, and up to the summer +range in the mountains where they fed above +the clouds in lush green pastures crowned with +spires of rock and snow. He had shared the +beans and mutton and black coffee of the herders +and had gone to sleep on a pile of peltries to the +evensong of the coyotes that hung on the flanks +of the herd. Hunting, fishing, wandering, he had +lived like a savage and found the life good.</p> + +<p>It was this life of primitive freedom that he had +longed for in his exile. He had thought little of +his family and less of his native town, but a nostalgia +for open spaces and free wanderings had +been always with him. He had come to hate the +city with its hard walled-in ways and its dirty air, +and also the eastern country-side with its little +green prettiness surrounded by fences. He longed +for a land where one can see for fifty miles, and not +a man or a house. He thought that alkaline dust +on his lips would taste sweet.</p> + +<p>Now he saw again the scorched tawny levels, +the red hills dotted with little gnarled +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pinon</hi> trees, +the purple mystery of distant mountains. A great +friendly warmth filled his body, and his breath +came a little quickly with eagerness. When he +<pb n="13"/><anchor id="Pg13"/> +saw a group of Mexicans jogging along the road +on their scrawny mounts he wanted to call out to them: +<q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Como lo va, amigos?</hi></q> +He would have +liked to salute this whole country, which was his +country, and to tell it how glad he was to see it +again. It was the one thing in the world that he +loved, and the only thing that had ever given him +pleasure without tincture of bitterness.</p> + +<p>He heard two men in the seat behind him talking.</p> + +<p><q>Did you ever see anything so desolate?</q> one +asked.</p> + +<p><q>I wouldn’t live in this country if they gave it +to me,</q> said the other.</p> + +<p>Ramon turned and looked at them. They were +solid, important-looking men, and having visited +upon the country their impressive disapproval, +they opened newspapers and shut it away from +their sight. Dull fools, thought Ramon, who do +not know God’s country when they see it.</p> + +<p>And then he continued to look right over their +heads and their newspapers, for tripping down +the aisle all by herself at last, came the girl of +his fruitless choice. His eyes, deep with dreams, +met hers. She smiled upon him, radiantly, +blushed a little, and hurried on through the car.</p> + +<p>He sat looking after her with a foolish grin on +his face. He was pleased and shaken. So she +<pb n="14"/><anchor id="Pg14"/> +had noticed him after all. She had been waiting +for a chance, as well as he. And now that it had +come, he was getting off the train in an hour. It +was useless to follow her.… He turned to the +window again.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC02" type="chapter"> +<pb n="15"/><anchor id="Pg15"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER II</hi> +</head> + +<p>Usually in each generation of a large and long-established +family there is some one individual +who stands out from the rest as a leader and as +the most perfect embodiment of the family traditions +and characteristics. This was especially +true of the Delcasar family. It was established +in this country in the year 1790 by Don Eusabio +Maria Delcasar y Morales, an officer in the army +of the King of Spain, who distinguished himself in +the conquest of New Mexico, and especially in +certain campaigns against the Navajos. As was +customary at that time, the King rewarded his +faithful soldier with a grant of land in the new +province. This Delcasar estate lay in the Rio +Grande Valley and the surrounding +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> lands. +By the provisions of the King’s grant, its dimensions +were each the distance that Don Delcasar +could ride in a day. The Don chose good horses +and did not spare them, so that he secured to his +family more than a thousand square miles of land +with a strip of rich valley through the middle and +a wilderness of desert and mountain on either side. +Much of this principality was never seen by Don +Eusabio, and even the four sons who divided the +<pb n="16"/><anchor id="Pg16"/> +estate upon his death had each more land than he +could well use.</p> + +<p>The outstanding figure of this second generation +was Don Solomon Delcasar, who was noted for +the magnificence of his establishment, and for his +autocratic spirit.</p> + +<p>No Borgia or Bourbon ever ruled more absolutely +over his own domain than did Don Solomon +over the hundreds of square miles which made up +his estate. He owned not only lands and herds +but also men and women. The +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi> who +worked his lands were his possessions as much as +were his horses. He had them beaten when they +offended him and their daughters were his for the +taking. He could not sell them, but this restriction +did not apply to the Navajo and Apache +slaves whom he captured in war. These were his +to be sold or retained for his own use as he preferred. +Adult Indians were seldom taken prisoner, +as they were +<corr sic="untamable"><anchor id="E1"/> +<ref target="e1">untameable</ref></corr>, +but boys and girls +below the age of fifteen were always taken alive, +when possible, and were valued at five hundred +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pesos</hi> each. +Don Solomon usually sold the boys, as he had plenty of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi>, +but he never sold a comely Indian girl.</p> + +<p>The Don was a man of proud and irascible +temper, but kindly when not crossed. He had +been known to kill a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peon</hi> +in a fit of anger, and then +<pb n="17"/><anchor id="Pg17"/> +afterward to bestow all sorts of benefits upon the +man’s wife and children.</p> + +<p>The life of his home, like that of all the other +Mexican gentlemen in his time, was an easy and +pleasant one. He owned a great +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> house, +built about a square courtyard like a fort, and +shaded pleasantly by cottonwood trees. There he +dwelt with his numerous family, his +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi> and his +slaves. In the spring and summer every one +worked in the fields, though not too hard. In the +fall the men went east to the great plains to kill a +supply of buffalo meat for the winter, and often +after the hunt they travelled south into Sonora +and Chihuahua to trade mustangs and buffalo +hides for woven goods and luxuries.</p> + +<p>There was a pleasant social life among the +aristocrats of dances and visits. Marriages, +funerals and christenings were occasions of great +ceremony and social importance. Indeed everything +done by the Dons was characterized by +much formality and ceremony, the custom of which +had been brought over from Spain. But they +were no longer really in touch with Spanish civilization. +They never went back to the mother +country. They had no books save the Bible and +a few other religious works, and many of them +never learned to read these. Their lives were +made up of fighting, with the Indians and also +<pb n="18"/><anchor id="Pg18"/> +among themselves, for there were many feuds; +of hunting and primitive trade; and of venery +upon a generous and patriarchal scale. They +were Spanish gentlemen by descent, all for honour +and tradition and sentiment; but by circumstance +they were barbarian lords, and their lives were +full of lust and blood.</p> + +<p>Circumstance somewhat modified the vaunted +purity of their Spanish blood, too. The Indian +slave girls who lived in their houses bore the +children of their sons, and some of these half-bred +and quarter-bred children were eventually accepted by the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">gente de razon</hi>, +as the aristocrats +called themselves. In this way a strain of Navajo +blood got into the Delcasar family, and doubtless +did much good, as all of the Spanish stock was +weakened by much marrying of cousins.</p> + +<p>Dona Ameliana Delcasar, a sister of Don Solomon, +was responsible for another alien infusion +which ultimately percolated all through the family, +and has been thought by some to be responsible +for the unusual mental ability of certain Delcasars. +Dona Ameliana, a beautiful but somewhat +unruly girl, went into a convent in Durango, +Mexico, at the age of fifteen. At the age of +eighteen she eloped with a French priest named +Raubien, who was a man of unusual intellect and +a poet. The errant couple came to New Mexico +and took up lands. They were excommunicated, +<pb n="19"/><anchor id="Pg19"/> +of course, and both of them were buried in unconsecrated +ground; but despite their spiritual +handicaps they raised a family of eleven comely +daughters, all of whom married well, several of +them into the Delcasar family. Thus some of the +Delcasars who boasted of their pure Castilian +blood were really of a mongrel breed, comprising +along with the many strains that have mingled +in Spain, those of Navajo and French.</p> + +<p>Don Solomon Delcasar played a brilliant part +in the military activities which marked the winning +of Mexican Independence from Spain in the +eighteen-twenties, and also in the incessant Indian +wars. He was a fighter by necessity, but also by +choice. They shed blood with grace and nonchalance +in those days, and the Delcasars were +always known as dangerous men.</p> + +<p>The most curious thing about this r�gime of the +old-time Dons was the way in which it persisted. +It received its first serious blow in 1845 when the +military forces of the United States took possession +of New Mexico. Don Jesus Christo Delcasar, +who was then the richest and most powerful +of the family, was suspected of being a party to +the conspiracy which brought about the Taos massacre—the +last organized resistance made to the +gringo domination. At this time some of the +Delcasars went to Old Mexico to live, as did a +good many others among the Dons, feeling that +<pb n="20"/><anchor id="Pg20"/> +the old ways of life in New Mexico were sure to +change, and having the Spanish aversion to any +departure from tradition. But their fears were +not realized, and life went on as before. In 1865 the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi> +and Indian slaves were formally set +free, but all of them immediately went deeply in +debt to their former masters and thus retained +in effect the same status as before. So it happened +that in the seventies, when New York was +growing into a metropolis, and the factory system +was fastening itself upon New England, and the +middle west was getting fat and populous and +tame, life in the Southwest remained much as it +had been a century before.</p> + +<p>Laws and governments were powerless there +to change ways of life, as they have always been, +but two parallel bars of steel reaching across the +prairies brought change with them, and it was +great and sudden. The railroad reached the Rio +Grande Valley early in the eighties, and it smashed +the colourful barbaric pattern of the old life as the +ruthless fist of an infidel might smash a stained +glass window. The metropolis of the northern +valley in those days was a sleepy little +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> town +of a few hundred people, reclining about its dusty +<hi rend="font-style: italic">plaza</hi> +near the river. The railroad, scorning to +notice it, passed a mile away. Forthwith a new +town began growing up between, the old one and +the railroad. And this new town was such a town +<pb n="21"/><anchor id="Pg21"/> +as had never before been seen in all the Southwest. +It was built of wood and only half painted. It was +ugly, noisy and raw. It was populated largely +by real estate agents, lawyers, politicians and barkeepers. +It cared little for joy, leisure, beauty or +tradition. Its God was money and its occupation +was business.</p> + +<p>This thing called business was utterly strange +to the Delcasars and to all of the other Dons. +They were men of the saddle, fighting men, and +traders only in a primitive way. Business seemed +to them a conspiracy to take their lands and their +goods away from them, and a remarkably successful +conspiracy. Debt and mortgage and speculation +were the names of its weapons. Some of the +Dons, including many of the Delcasars, who were +now a very numerous family, owning each a comfortable +homestead but no more, sold out and went +to Old Mexico. Many who stayed lost all they +had in a few years, and degenerated into petty +politicians or small storekeepers. Some clung to +a bit of land and went on farming, making always +less and less money, sinking into poverty and insignificance, +until some of them were no better off +than the men who had once been their +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi>.</p> + +<p>Diego Delcasar and Felipe Delcasar, brothers, +were two who owned houses in the Old Town and +farms nearby, who stayed in the country and held +their own for a time and after a fashion. Diego +<pb n="22"/><anchor id="Pg22"/> +Delcasar was far the more able of the two, and a +true scion of his family. He caught onto the +gringo methods to a certain extent. He divided +some farm land on the edge of town into lots and +sold them for a good price. With the money he +bought a great area of mountain land in the northern +part of the state, where he raised sheep and +ruled with an iron hand, much as his forbears had +ruled in the valley. He also went into politics, +learned to make a good stump speech and got +himself elected to the highly congenial position of +sheriff. In this place he made a great reputation +for fearlessness and for the ruthless and skilful +use of a gun. He once kicked down the locked +door of a saloon and arrested ten armed gamblers, +who had threatened to kill him. He was known +and feared all over the territory and was a tyrant +in his own section of it. When a gringo prospector +ventured to dispute with him the ownership +of a certain mine, the gringo was found dead in +the bottom of the shaft. It was reported that +he had fallen in and broken his neck and no one +dared to look at the bullet hole in his back.</p> + +<p>Don Diego’s wife died without leaving him any +children, but he had numerous children none-the-less. +It was said that one could follow his wanderings +about the territory by the sporadic occurrence +of the unmistakable Delcasar nose among +the younger inhabitants. All of his sons and +<pb n="23"/><anchor id="Pg23"/> +daughters by the left hand he treated with notable +generosity. He was a sort of hero to the native +people—a great fighter, a great lover—and +songs about his adventures were +<corr sic="comoposed"><anchor id="E2"/> +<ref target="e2">composed</ref></corr> +and sung around the fires in sheep camps and by gangs +of trackworkers.</p> + +<p>Don Diego, in a word, was a true Delcasar and +a great man. Had he used his opportunities +wisely he might have been a millionaire. But at +the age of sixty he owned little besides his house +and his wild mountain lands. He drank a good +deal and played poker almost every night. Once +he had been a famous winner, but in these later +years he generally lost. He also formed a partnership +with a real estate broker named MacDougall, +for the development of his wild lands, +and it was predicted by some that the leading +development would be an ultimate transfer of +title to Mr. MacDougall, who was known to be +lending the Don money and taking land as security.</p> + +<p>Don Felipe’s career was far less spectacular +than that of his brother. He owned more than +Don Diego to start with, and he spent his life +slowly losing it, so that when he died he left +nothing but a house in Old Town and a single +small sheep ranch, which afforded his widow, +two daughters and one son a scant living.</p> + +<p>This son, Ramon Delcasar, was the hope of +<pb n="24"/><anchor id="Pg24"/> +the family. He would inherit the estate of Don +Diego, if the old Don died before spending it +all, which it did not seem likely that he would +do. But Ramon early demonstrated that he +had a more important heritage in the sharp intelligence, +and the proud, plucky and truculent +spirit which had characterized the best of the +Delcasars throughout the family history.</p> + +<p>As there was no considerable family estate for +him to settle upon, he was sent to law school at +the age of twenty, and returned three years later +to take up the practice of his profession in his +native town. Thus he was the first of the Delcasars +to face life with his bare hands. And he +was also the last of them in a sense, to face the +gringos. All the others of his name, save the +senile Don, had either died, departed or sunk +from sight into the mass of the peasantry.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC03" type="chapter"> +<pb n="25"/><anchor id="Pg25"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER III</hi> +</head> + +<p>The year that Ramon returned to his native +town the annual fair, which took place at the +fair-grounds in Old Town, was an especially gorgeous +and throngful event, rich in spectacle and +incident. A steer was roped and hog-tied in +record time by Clay MacGarnigal of Lincoln +County. A seven-mile relay race was won by a +buck named Slonny Begay. In the bronco busting +contest two men were injured to the huge enjoyment +of the crowd. The twenty-seventh cavalry +from Fort Bliss performed a sham battle. +The home team beat several other teams. Enormous +apples raised by irrigation in the Pecos Valley +attracted much attention, and a hungry Mexican +absconded with a prize Buff Orpington rooster.</p> + +<p>Twice a day the single narrow street which +connected the neat brick and frame respectability +of New Town with the picturesque <hi +rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> squalor +of Old Town was filled by a curiously varied +crowd. The tourist from the East, distinguished +by his camera and his unnecessary umbrella, +jostled the Pueblo squaw from Isleta, +with her latest-born slung over her shoulder in +a fold of red blanket. Mexican families from +<pb n="26"/><anchor id="Pg26"/> +the country marched in single file, the men first, +then the women enveloped in huge black shawls, +carrying babies and leading older children by the +hand. Cowboys, Indians and soldiers raced +their horses through the swarming street with +reckless skill. Automobiles honked and fretted. +The street cars, bulging humanity at every door +and window, strove in vain to relieve the situation. +Several children and numerous pigs and +chickens were run over. From the unpaved +street to the cloudless sky rose a vast cloud of +dust, such as only a rainless country made of +sand can produce. Dust was in every one’s eyes +and mouth and upon every one’s clothing. It was +the unofficial badge of the gathering. It turned +the green of the cottonwood trees to grey, and +lay in wait for unsuspecting teeth between the +halves of hamburger sandwiches sold at corner +booths.</p> + +<p>Ramon, who had obtained a pass to the grounds +through the influence of his uncle, went to the fair +every day, although he was not really pleased +with it. He was assured by every one that it was +the greatest fair ever held in the southwest, but +to him it seemed smaller, dustier and less exciting +than the fairs he had attended in his boyhood.</p> + +<p>This impression harmonized with a general +feeling of discontent which had possessed him +since his return. He had obtained a position in +<pb n="27"/><anchor id="Pg27"/> +the office of a lawyer at fifty dollars a month, +and spent the greater part of each day making +out briefs and borrowing books for his employer +from other lawyers. It seemed to him a petty +and futile occupation, and the way to anything +better was long and obscure. The town was +full of other young lawyers who were doing the +same things and doing them with a better grace +than he. They were impelled by a great desire to +make money. He, too, would have liked a great +deal of money, but he had no taste for piling it +up dollar by dollar. The only thing that cheered +him was the prospect of inheriting his uncle’s +wealth, and that was an uncertain prospect. Don +Diego seemed to be doing what he could to get +rid of his property before he died.</p> + +<p>Local society did not please Ramon either. +The girls of the gringo families were not nearly +as pretty, for the most part, as the ones he had +seen in the East. The dryness and the scorching +sun had a bad effect on their complexions. The +girls of his own race did not much interest him; +his liking was for blondes. And besides, girls +were relatively scarce in the West because of the +great number of men who came from the East. +Competition for their favours was keen, and he +could not compete successfully because he had so +little money.</p> + +<p>The fair held but one new experience for him, +<pb n="28"/><anchor id="Pg28"/> +and that was the Montezuma ball. This took +place on the evening of the last day, and was an +exclusive invitation event, designed to give +elegance to the fair by bringing together +prominent persons from all parts of the state. +Ramon had never attended a Montezuma ball, +as he had been considered a mere boy before +his departure for college and had not owned a +dress suit. But this lack had now been supplied, +and he had obtained an invitation through the +Governor of the State, who happened to be a +Mexican.</p> + +<p>He went to the ball with his mother and his eldest +sister in a carriage which had been among the +family possessions for about a quarter of a century. +It had once been a fine equipage, and had +been drawn by a spirited team in the days before +Felipe Delcasar lost all his money, but now it had +a look of decay, and the team consisted of a couple +of rough coated, low-headed brutes, one of which +was noticeably smaller than the other. The +coachman was a ragged native who did odd jobs +about the Delcasar house.</p> + +<p>The Montezuma ball took place in the new +Eldorado Hotel which had recently been built +by the railroad company for the entertainment of +its transcontinental passengers. It was not a +beautiful building, but it was an apt expression of +the town’s personality. Designed in the ancient +<pb n="29"/><anchor id="Pg29"/> +style of the early Spanish missions, long, low +and sprawling, with deep verandahs, odd little +towers and arched gateways it was made of cement +and its service and prices were of the Manhattan +school. A little group of Pueblo Indians, lonesomely +picturesque in buck-skin and red blankets, +with silver and turquoise rings and bracelets, +were always seated before its doors, trying to sell +fruit and pottery to well-tailored tourists. It +had a museum of Southwestern antiquities and +curios, where a Navajo squaw sulkily wove +blankets on a handloom for the edification of the +guilded stranger from the East. On the platform +in front of it, perspiring Mexicans smashed baggage +and performed the other hard labour of a +modern terminal.</p> + +<p>Thus the Eldorado Hotel was rich in that contrast +between the old and the new which everywhere +characterized the town. Generally speaking, +the old was on exhibition or at work, while +the new was at leisure or in charge.</p> + +<p>When the Delcasar carriage reached the hotel, +it had to take its place in a long line of crawling +vehicles, most of which were motor cars. Ramon +felt acutely humiliated to arrive at the ball in a +decrepit-looking rig when nearly every one else +came in an automobile. He hoped that no one +would notice them. But the smaller of the two +horses, which had spent most of his life in the +<pb n="30"/><anchor id="Pg30"/> +country, became frightened, reared, plunged, and +finally backed the rig into one of the cars, smashing +a headlight, blocking traffic, and making the +Delcasars a target for searchlights and oaths. +The Dona Delcasar, a ponderous and swarthy +woman in voluminous black silk, became excited +and stood up in the carriage, shouting shrill and +useless directions to the coachman in Spanish. +People began to laugh. Ramon roughly seized +his mother by the arm and dragged her down. +He was trembling with rage and embarassment.</p> + +<p>It was an immense relief to him when he had +deposited the two women on chairs and was able +to wander away by himself. He took up his +position in a doorway and watched the opening of +the ball with a cold and disapproving eye. The +beginning was stiff, for many of those present were +unknown to each other and had little in common. +Most of them were <q>Americans,</q> Jews and +Mexicans. The men were all a good deal alike +in their dress suits, but the women displayed an +astonishing variety. There were tall gawky +blonde wives of prominent cattlemen; little natty +black-eyed Jewesses, best dressed of all; swarthy +Mexican mothers of politically important families, +resplendent in black silk and diamonds; and +pretty dark Mexican girls of the younger generation, +who did not look at all like the se�oritas +<pb n="31"/><anchor id="Pg31"/> +of romance, but talked, dressed and flirted in a +thoroughly American manner.</p> + +<p>The affair finally got under way in the form of +a grand march, which toured the hall a couple of +times and disintegrated into waltzing couples. +Ramon watched this proceeding and several other +dances without feeling any desire to take part. +He was in a state of grand and gloomy discontent, +which was not wholly unpleasant, as is often the +case with youthful glooms. He even permitted +himself to smile at some of the capers cut by +prominent citizens. But presently his gaze settled +upon one couple with a real sense of resentment +and uneasiness. The couple consisted of his +uncle, Diego Delcasar, and the wife of James +MacDougall, the lawyer and real estate operator +with whom the Don had formed a partnership, +and whom Ramon believed to be systematically +fleecing the old man.</p> + +<p>Don Diego was a big, paunchy Mexican with +a smooth brown face, strikingly set off by fierce +white whiskers. His partner was a tall, tight-lipped, +angular woman, who danced painfully, +but with determination. The two had nothing to +say to each other, but both of them smiled +resolutely, and the Don visibly perspired under +the effort of steering his inflexible friend.</p> + +<p>Although he did not formulate the idea, this +<pb n="32"/><anchor id="Pg32"/> +couple was to Ramon a symbol of the disgust with +which the life of his native town inspired him. +Here was the Mexican sedulously currying +favour with the gringo, who robbed him for his +pains. And here was the specific example of that +relation which promised to rob Ramon of his +heritage.</p> + +<p>For the gringos he felt a cold hostility—a +sense of antagonism and difference—but it was his +senile and fatuous uncle, the type of his own defeated +race, whom he despised.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC04" type="chapter"> +<pb n="33"/><anchor id="Pg33"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER IV</hi> +</head> + +<p>When the music stopped Ramon left the hall +for the hotel lobby, where he soothed his sensibilities +with a small brown cigarette of his own +making. In one of the swinging benches covered +with Navajo blankets two other dress-suited +youths were seated, smoking and talking. One of +them was a short, plump Jew with a round and +gravely good-natured face; the other a tall, +slender young fellow with a great mop of curly +brown hair, large soft eyes and a sensitive mouth.</p> + +<p><q>She’s good looking, all right,</q> the little fellow +assented, as Ramon came up.</p> + +<p><q>Good looking!</q> exclaimed the other with enthusiasm. +<q>She’s a little queen! Nothing like +her ever hit this town before.</q></p> + +<p><q>Who’s all the excitement about?</q> Ramon demanded, +thrusting himself into the conversation +with the easy familiarity which was his right as +one of <q>the bunch.</q></p> + +<p>Sidney Felberg turned to him in mock amazement.</p> + +<p><q>Good night, Ramon! Where have you been? +Asleep? We’re talking about Julia Roth, same +as everybody else.…</q></p> + +<p><q>Who’s she?</q> Ramon queried coolly, discharging +<pb n="34"/><anchor id="Pg34"/> +a cloud of smoke from the depths of his lungs. +<q>Never heard of her.</q></p> + +<p><q>Well, she’s our latest social sensation … sister +of some rich lunger that recently hit town; +therefore very important. But that’s not the only +reason. Wait till you see her.</q></p> + +<p><q>All right; introduce me to her,</q> Ramon suggested.</p> + +<p><q>Go on; knock him down to the lady,</q> Sidney +proposed to his companion.</p> + +<p><q>No, you,</q> Conny demurred. <q>I refuse to +take the responsibility. He’s too good looking.</q></p> + +<p><q>All right,</q> Sidney assented. <q>Come on. It’s +the only way I can get a look at her anyway—introducing +somebody else. A good-looking girl +in this town can start a regular stampede. We +ought to import a few hundred.…</q></p> + +<p>It was during an intermission. They forced +their way through a phalanx of men brandishing +programs and pencils, each trying to bring himself +exclusively to the attention of a small blonde +person who seemed to have some such quality of +attractiveness for men as spilled honey has for insects.</p> + +<p>When Ramon saw her he felt as though something +inside of him had bumped up against his +diaphragm, taking away his breath for a moment, +agitating him strangely. And he saw an answering +<pb n="35"/><anchor id="Pg35"/> +surprised recognition in her wide grey eyes.</p> + +<p><q>You … you’re the girl on the train,</q> he remarked +idiotically, as he took her hand.</p> + +<p>She turned pink and laughed.</p> + +<p><q>You’re the man that wouldn’t look up,</q> she +mocked.</p> + +<p><q>What’s all this about?</q> demanded Sidney. +<q>You two met before?</q></p> + +<p><q>May I have a dance?</q> Ramon inquired, +suddenly recovering his presence of mind.</p> + +<p><q>Let me see … you’re awfully late.</q> They +put their heads close together over her program. +He saw her cut out the name of another man who +had two dances, and then she held her pencil +poised.</p> + +<p><q>Of course I didn’t get your name,</q> she +admitted<corr sic=","><anchor id="E3"/><ref target="e3">.</ref></corr></p> + +<p><q>No; I’ll write it … Was it Carter? Delcasar? +Ramon Delcasar. You must be Spanish. I was +wondering … you’re so dark. I’m awfully +interested in Spanish people.…</q> She wrote +the name in a bold, upright, childish hand.</p> + +<p>Ramon found that he had lost his mood of discontent +after this, and he entered with zest into +the spirit of the dance which was fast losing its +stiff and formal character. Punch and music had +broken down barriers. The hall was noisy with +the ringing, high pitched laughter of excitement. +It was warm and filled with an exotic, stimulating +<pb n="36"/><anchor id="Pg36"/> +odour, compounded of many perfumes and of perspiration. +Every one danced. Young folk +danced as though inspired, swaying their bodies in +time to the tune. The old and the fat danced with +pathetic joyful earnestness, going round and round +the hall with red and perspiring faces, as though +in this measure they might recapture youth and +slimness if only they worked hard enough. Now +and then a girl sang a snatch of the tune in a clear +young voice, full of abandon, and sometimes +others took up the song and it rose triumphant +above the music of the orchestra for a moment, +only to be lost again as the singers danced apart.</p> + +<p>Ramon had been looking forward so long and +with such intense anticipation to his dance with +Julia Roth that he was a little self-conscious at +its beginning, but this feeling was abolished by +the discovery that they could dance together perfectly. +He danced in silence, looking down upon +her yellow head and white shoulders, the odour of +her hair filling his nostrils, forgetful of everything +but the sensuous delight of the moment.</p> + +<p>This mood of solemn rapture was evidently not +shared by her, for presently the yellow head was +thrown back, and she smiled up at him a bit +mockingly.</p> + +<p><q>Just like on the train,</q> she remarked. <q>Not +a thing to say for yourself. Are you always thus +silent?</q></p> +<pb n="37"/><anchor id="Pg37"/> + +<p>Ramon grinned.</p> + +<p><q>No,</q> he countered, <q>I was just trying to get +up the nerve to ask if you’ll let me come to see +you.</q></p> + +<p><q>That doesn’t take much nerve,</q> she assured +him. <q>Practically every man I’ve danced with +tonight has asked me that. I never had so many +dates before in my life.</q></p> + +<p><q>Well; may I follow the crowd, then?</q></p> + +<p><q>You may,</q> she laughed. <q>Or call me up first, +and maybe there won’t be any crowd.</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC05" type="chapter"> +<pb n="38"/><anchor id="Pg38"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER V</hi> +</head> + +<p>His mother and sister had left early, for which +fact he was thankful. He walked home alone +with his hat in his hand, letting the cold wind of +early morning blow on his hot brow. Punch and +music and dancing had filled him with a delightful +excitement. He felt glad of life and full +of power. He could have gone on walking for +hours, enjoying the rhythm of his stride and the +gorgeous confusion of his thoughts, but in a remarkably +short time he had covered the mile to his +house in Old Town.</p> + +<p>It was a long, low <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> +with a paintless and +rickety wooden verandah along its front, and +with deep-set, iron-barred windows looking upon +the square about which Old Town was built. Delcasars +had lived in this house for over a century. +Once it had been the best in town. Now it was +an antiquity pointed out to tourists. Most of the +Mexicans who had money had moved away from +Old Town and built modern brick houses in New +Town. But this was an expensive proceeding. +The old <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> houses which +they left brought them little. The Delcasars had never been able +to afford this removal. They were deeply attached +<pb n="39"/><anchor id="Pg39"/> +to the old house and also deeply ashamed +of it.</p> + +<p>Ramon passed through a narrow hallway into +a courtyard and across it to his room. The light +of the oil lamp which he lit showed a large oblong +chamber with a low ceiling supported by heavy +timbers, whitewashed walls and heavy old-fashioned +walnut furniture. A large coloured +print of Mary and the Babe in a gilt frame hung +over the wash-stand, and next to it a college pennant +was tacked over a photograph of his graduating +class. Several Navajo blankets covered +most of the floor and a couple of guns stood in a +corner.</p> + +<p>When he was in bed his overstimulated state +of mind became a torment. He rolled and tossed, +beset by exciting images and ideas. Every +time that a growing confusion of these indicated +the approach of sleep, he was brought sharply +back to full consciousness by the crowing of a +rooster in the backyard. Finally he threw off +the covers and sat up, cursing the rooster in two +languages and resolving to eat him.</p> + +<p>Sleep was out of the question now. Suddenly +he remembered that this was Sunday morning, and +that he had intended going to the mountains. +To start at once would enable him to avoid an +argument with his mother concerning the inevitability +of damnation for those who miss early +<pb n="40"/><anchor id="Pg40"/> +Mass. He rose and dressed himself, putting +on a cotton shirt, a faded and dirty pair of overalls +and coarse leather riding boots; tied a red +and white bandana about his neck and stuck on his +head an old felt hat minus a band and with a +drooping brim. So attired he looked exactly like +a Mexican countryman—a poor +<hi rend="font-style: italic">ranchero</hi> or a +woodcutter. This masquerade was not intentional +nor was he conscious of it. He simply wore +for his holiday the kind of clothes he had always +worn about the sheep ranches.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he felt almost as different from +his usual self as he looked. A good part of his +identity as a poor, discontented and somewhat +lazy young lawyer was hanging in the closet with +his ready-made business suit. He took a long +and noisy drink from the pitcher on the wash-stand, +picked up his shot-gun and slipped cautiously +out of the house, feeling care-free and +happy.</p> + +<p>Behind the house was a corral with an +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> +wall that was ten feet high except where it +had fallen down and been patched with boards. +A scrub cow and three native horses were kept +there. Two of the horses made the ill-matched +team that hauled his mother and sister to church +and town. The other was a fiery ragged little +roan mare which he kept for his own use. None +of these horses was worth more than thirty dollars, +<pb n="41"/><anchor id="Pg41"/> +and they were easily kept on a few tons of alfalfa +a year.</p> + +<p>The little mare laid back her ears and turned as +though to annihilate him with a kick. He quickly +stepped right up against the threatening hind legs, +after the fashion of experienced horsemen who +know that a kick is harmless at short range, and +laid his hand on her side. She trembled but +dared not move. He walked to her head, sliding +his hand along the rough, uncurried belly and +talking to her in Spanish. In a moment he had +the bridle on her.</p> + +<p>The town was impressively empty and still as +he galloped through it. Hoof beats rang out like +shots, scaring a late-roaming cat, which darted +across the street like a runaway shadow.</p> + +<p>Near the railroad station he came to a large +white van, with a beam of light emerging from +its door. This was a local institution of longstanding, +known as the chile-wagon, and was the +town’s only all-night +<corr sic="resturant"><anchor id="E4"/> +<ref target="e4">restaurant</ref></corr>. +Here he aroused +a fat, sleepy old Mexican.</p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Un tamale y cafe</hi>,</q> +he ordered, and then had +the proprietor make him a couple of sandwiches +to put in his pocket. He consumed his breakfast +hurriedly, rolled and lit a little brown cigarette, +and was off again.</p> + +<p>His way led up a long steep street lined with new +houses and vacant lots; then out upon the high +<pb n="42"/><anchor id="Pg42"/> +empty level of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>. It +was daylight now, of a clear, brilliant morning. He was riding +across a level prairie, which was a grey desert most +of the year, but which the rainy season of late summer +had now touched with rich colours. The +grass in many of the hollows was almost high +enough to cut with a scythe, and its green expanse +was patched with purple-flowered weeds. Meadow +larks bugled from the grass; flocks of wild +doves rose on whistling wings from the weed +patches; a great grey jack-rabbit with jet-tipped +ears sprang from his form beside the road and +went sailing away in long effortless bounds, like a +wind-blown thing. Miles ahead were the mountains—an +angular mass of blue distance and purple +shadow, rising steep five thousand feet above the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, with little round +foothills clustering at their +feet. A brisk cool wind fanned his face and +fluttered the brim of his hat.</p> + +<p>But with the rising of the sun the wind dropped, +it became warm and he felt dull and sleepy. +When he came to a little juniper bush which spread +its bit of shadow beside the road, he dismounted, +pulled the saddle off his sweating mare, +and sat down in the shade to eat his lunch. When +he had finished he wished for a drink of water and +philosophically took a smoke instead. Then he +lay down, using his saddle for a pillow, puffing +luxuriously at his cigarette. It was cool in his +<pb n="43"/><anchor id="Pg43"/> +bit of shadow, though all the world about him +swam in waves of heat.… Cool and very quiet. +He felt drowsily content. This sunny desolation +was to him neither lonely nor beautiful; it was +just his own country, the soil from which he had +sprung.… Colours and outlines blurred as his +eyelids grew heavy. Sleep conquered him in a sudden +black rush.</p> + +<p>It was late afternoon when he awakened. He +had meant to shoot doves, but it was too late now +to do any hunting if he was to reach Archulera’s +place before dark. He saddled his mare hurriedly +and went forward at a hard gallop.</p> + +<p>Archulera’s place was typical of the little Mexican +ranches that dot the Southwest wherever there +is water enough to irrigate a few acres. The +brown block of <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> house stood +on an arid, rocky hillside, and looked like a part of it, save +for the white door, and a few bright scarlet strings +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">chile</hi> hung over the +rafter ends to dry. Down +in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">arroyo</hi> was the +little fenced patch where +corn and <hi rend="font-style: italic">chile</hi> and beans +were raised, and behind +the house was a round goat corral of wattled +brush. The skyward rocky waste of the mountain +lifted behind the house, and the empty reach of +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> lay before—an +immense and arid loneliness, +now softened and beautified by many +shadows.</p> + +<p>Ramon could see old man Archulera far up the +<pb n="44"/><anchor id="Pg44"/> +mountainside, rounding up his goats for evening +milking, and he could faintly hear the bleating +of the animals and the old man’s shouts and +imprecations. He whistled loudly through his +fingers and waved his hat.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic"><q>Como lo va primo!</q></hi> +he shouted, and he saw +Archulera stop and look, and heard faintly his +answering, <hi rend="font-style: italic"><q>Como la va!</q></hi></p> + +<p>Soon Archulera had his goats penned, and +Ramon joined him while he milked half a dozen +ewes.</p> + +<p><q>I’m glad you came,</q> Archulera told him, <q>I +haven’t seen a man in a month except one gringo +that said he was a prospector and stole a kid +from me.… How was the fair?</q></p> + +<p>When the milking was over, the old man selected +a fat kid, caught it by the hind leg and +dragged it, bleating in wild terror, to a gallows +behind the house, where he hung it up and skilfully +cut its throat, leaving it to bleat and bleed +to death while he wiped his knife and went on +talking volubly with his guest. The occasional +visits of Ramon were the most interesting events +in his life, and he always killed a kid to express +his appreciation. Ramon reciprocated with gifts +of tobacco and whisky. They were great friends.</p> + +<p>Archulera was a short, muscular Mexican +with a swarthy, wrinkled face, broad but well-cut. +His big, thin-lipped mouth showed an amazing +<pb n="45"/><anchor id="Pg45"/> +disarray of strong yellow teeth when he smiled. +His little black eyes were shrewd and full of +fire. Although he was sixty years old, there +was little grey in the thick black hair that hung +almost to his shoulders. He wore a cheap print +shirt and a faded pair of overalls, belted at the +waist with a strip of red wool. His foot-gear +consisted of the uppers of a pair of old shoes with +soles of rawhide sewed on moccasin-fashion.</p> + +<p>With no more disguise than a red blanket and +a grunt Archulera could have passed for an Indian +anywhere, but he made it clear to all that he regarded +himself as a Spanish gentleman. He +was descended, like Ramon, from one of the old +families, which had received occasional infusions +of native blood. There was probably more Indian +in him than in the young man, but the chief +difference between the two was due to the fact that +the Archuleras had lost most of their wealth a +couple of generations before, so that the old man +had come down in the social scale to the condition +of an ordinary goat-herding <hi rend="font-style: italic">pelado</hi>. +There are many such fallen aristocrats among the New +Mexican peasantry. Most of them, like Archulera, +are distinguished by their remarkably choice +and fluent use of the Spanish language, and by the +formal, eighteenth-century perfection of their +manners, which contrast strangely with the barbaric +way of their lives.</p> +<pb n="46"/><anchor id="Pg46"/> + +<p>The old man was now skinning and butchering +the goat with speed and skill. Nothing was +wasted. The hide was flung over a rafter end to +dry. The head was washed and put in a pan, as +were the smaller entrails with bits of fat clinging +to them, and the liver and heart. The meat was +too fresh to be eaten tonight, but these things +would serve well enough for supper, and he called +to his daughter, Catalina, to come and get them.</p> + +<p>The two men soon joined her in the low, whitewashed +room, which had hard mud for a floor, +and was furnished with a bare table and a few +chairs. It was clean, but having only one window +and that always closed, it had a pronounced and +individual odour. In one corner was a little fireplace, +which had long served both for cooking +and to furnish heat, but as a concession to +modern ideas Archulera had lately supplemented +it with a cheap range in the opposite corner. +There Catalina was noisily distilling an aroma +from goat liver and onions. The entrails she +threaded on little sticks and broiled them to a +delicate brown over the coals, while the head she +placed whole in the oven. Later this was cracked +open and the brains taken out with a spoon, piping +hot and very savoury. These viands were supplemented +by a pan of large pale biscuits, and a big +tin pot of coffee. Catalina served the two men, +saying nothing, not even raising her eyes, while +<pb n="47"/><anchor id="Pg47"/> +they talked and paid no attention to her. After +eating her own supper and washing the dishes she +disappeared into the next room.</p> + +<p>This self-effacing behaviour on the part of the +girl accorded with the highest standards of Mexican +etiquette, and showed her good breeding. +The fact that old Archulera paid no more attention +to her than to a chair did not indicate that he +was indifferent to her. On the contrary, as Ramon +had long ago discovered, she was one of the +chief concerns of his life. He could not forget +that in her veins flowed some of the very best of +Spanish blood, and he considered her altogether +too good for the common sheep-herders and wood-cutters +who aspired to woo her. These he summarily +warned away, and brought his big Winchester +rifle into the argument whenever it became +warm. When he left the girl alone, in order to +guard her from temptation he locked her into the +house together with his dog. Catalina had led a +starved and isolated existence.</p> + +<p>After the meal, Archulera became reminiscent +of his youth. Some thirty-five years before he +had been one of the young bloods of the country, +having fought against the Navajos and Apaches. +He had made a reputation, long since forgotten +by every one but himself, for ruthless courage +and straight shooting, and many a man had he +killed. In his early life, as he had often told +<pb n="48"/><anchor id="Pg48"/> +Ramon, he had been a boon companion of old +Diego Delcasar. The two had been associated +in some mining venture, and Archulera claimed +that Delcasar had cheated him out of his share of +the proceeds, and so doomed him to his present +life of poverty. When properly stimulated by +food and drink Archulera never failed to tell this +story, and to express his hatred for the man who +had deprived him of wealth and social position. +He had at first approached the subject diffidently, +not knowing how Ramon would regard an attack +on the good name of his uncle, and being anxious +not to offend the young man. But finding that +Ramon listened tolerantly, if not sympathetically, +he had told the story over and over, each time +with more detail and more abundant and picturesque +denunciation of Diego Delcasar, but with +substantial uniformity as to the facts. As he +spoke he watched the face of Ramon narrowly. +Always the recital ended about the same way.</p> + +<p><q>You are not like your uncle,</q> he assured the +young man earnestly, in his formal Spanish. +<q>You are generous, honourable. When your +uncle is dead, you will repay me for the wrongs +that I have suffered—no?</q></p> + +<p>Ramon would always laugh at this. This night, +in order to humour the old man, he asked him how +much he thought the Delcasar estate owed him +for his ancient wrong.</p> +<pb n="49"/><anchor id="Pg49"/> + +<p><q>Five thousand dollars!</q> Archulera replied +with slow emphasis. He probably had no idea +how much he had lost, but five thousand dollars +was his conception of a great deal of money.</p> + +<p>Ramon again laughed and refused to commit +himself. He certainly had no idea of giving +Archulera five thousand dollars, but he thought +that if he ever did come into his own he would +certainly take care of the old man—and of +Catalina.</p> + +<p>Soon after this Archulera went off to sleep in the +other end of the house, after trying in vain to +persuade Ramon to occupy his bed. Ramon, as +always, refused. He would sleep on a pile of +sheep skins in the corner. He really preferred +this, because the sheep skins were both cleaner and +softer than Archulera’s bed, and also for another +reason.</p> + +<p>After the old man had gone, he stretched out +on his pallet, and lit another cigarette. He could +hear his host thumping around for a few minutes; +then it was very still, save for a faint moan of +wind and the ticking of a cheap clock. This +late still hour had always been to him one of the +most delightful parts of his visits to Archulera’s +house. For some reason he got a sense of peace +and freedom out of this far-away quiet place. +And he knew that in the next room Catalina +was waiting for him—Catalina with the strong, +<pb n="50"/><anchor id="Pg50"/> +shapely brown body which her formless calico +smock concealed by day, with the eager, blind +desire bred of her long loneliness.</p> + +<p>During his first few visits to Archulera, he +had scarcely noticed the girl. That was doubtless +one reason why the old man had welcomed him. +He had come here simply to go deer-hunting with +Archulera, to eat his goat meat and chile, to get +away from the annoyance and boredom of his life +in town, and into the crude, primitive atmosphere +which he had loved as a boy. Catalina had been +to him just the usual slovenly figure of a Mexican +woman, a self-effacing drudge.</p> + +<p>He had felt her eyes upon him several times, +had not looked up quickly enough to meet them, +but had noticed the pretty soft curve of her cheek. +Then one night when he was stretched out on his +sheep skins after Archulera had gone to bed, the +girl came into the room and began pottering +about the stove. He had watched her, wondering +what she was doing. As she knelt on the floor +he noticed the curve of her hip, the droop of her +breast against her frock, the surprising round perfection +of her outstretched arm. It struck him +suddenly that she was a woman to be desired, and +one who might be taken with ease. At the same +time, with a quickening of the blood, he realized +that she was doing nothing, and had merely come +into the room to attract his attention. Then she +<pb n="51"/><anchor id="Pg51"/> +glanced at him, daring but shy, with great brown +eyes, like the eyes of a gentle animal. When she +went back to her own room a moment later, he +confidently followed.</p> + +<p>Ever since then Catalina had been the chief object +of his week-end journeys, and his hunting +largely an excuse. She had completed this life +which he led in the mountains, and which was so +pleasantly different from his life in town. For +a part of the week he was a poor, young lawyer, +watchful, worried, careful; then for a couple of +days he was a ragged young Mexican and the lover +of Catalina—a different man. He was the product +of a transition, and two beings warred in +him. In town he was dominated by the desire +to be like the Americans, and to gain a foothold +in their life of law, greed and respectability; in +the mountains he relapsed unconsciously into the +easy barbarous ways of his fathers. Incidentally, +this periodical change of personality was refreshing +and a source of strength. Catalina had been +an important part of it.… As he lay now +sleepily puffing a last cigarette, he wondered why +it was that he had suddenly lost interest in the +girl.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC06" type="chapter"> +<pb n="52"/><anchor id="Pg52"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VI</hi> +</head> + +<p>At ten o’clock in the morning Ramon was hard +at work in the office of James B. Green. He +worked efficiently and with zest as he always did +after one of his trips to the mountains. He got +out of these ventures into another environment +about what some men get out of sprees—a complete +change of the state of mind. Archulera and +his daughter were now completely forgotten, and +all of his usual worries and plans were creeping +back into his consciousness.</p> + +<p>But this day he had a feeling of pleasant anticipation. +At first he could not account for it. +And then he remembered the girl—the one he had +seen on the train and had met again at the +Montezuma ball. It seemed as though the +thought of her had been in the back of his mind +all the time, and now suddenly came forward, +claiming all his attention, stirring him to a quick, +unwonted excitement. She had said he might +come to see her. He was to ’phone first. Maybe +she would be alone.…</p> + +<p>In this latter hope he was disappointed. She +gave him the appointment, and she herself admitted +him. He thought he had never seen such +<pb n="53"/><anchor id="Pg53"/> +a dainty bit of fragrant perfection, all in pink that +matched the pink of her strange little crinkled +mouth.</p> + +<p><q>I’m awfully glad you came,</q> she told him. +(Her gladness was always awful.) She led him +into the sitting room and presented him to the tall +emaciated sick man and the large placid woman +who had watched over her so carefully on the +train.</p> + +<p>Gordon Roth greeted him with a cool and +formal manner into which he evidently tried to +infuse something of cordiality, as though a desire +to be just and broad-minded struggled with prejudice. +Mrs. Roth looked at him with curiosity, +and gave him a still more restrained greeting. +The conversation was a weak and painful affair, +kept barely alive, now by one and now by another. +The atmosphere was heavy with disapproval. If +their greetings had left Ramon in any doubt as +to the attitude of the girl’s family toward him, +that doubt was removed by the fact that neither +Mrs. Roth nor her son showed any intention of +leaving the room. This would have been not unusual +if he had called on a Mexican girl, especially +if she belonged to one of the more old-fashioned +families; but he knew that American girls +are left alone with their suitors if the suitor is at +all welcome.</p> + +<p>He knew a little about this family from hear-say. +<pb n="54"/><anchor id="Pg54"/> +They came from one of the larger factory +towns in northern New York, and were supposed +to be moderately wealthy. They used a very +broad <q>a</q> and served tea at four o’clock in the +afternoon. Gordon Roth was a Harvard graduate +and did not conceal the fact. Neither did +he conceal his hatred for this sandy little western +town, where ill-health had doomed him to spend +many of his days and perhaps to end them.</p> + +<p>The girl was strangely different from her +mother and brother. Whereas their expressions +were stiff and solemn, her eyes showed an irrepressible +gleam of humour, and her fascinating +little mouth was mobile with mirth. She fidgeted +around in her chair a good deal, as a child does +when bored.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roth decorously turned the conversation +toward the safe and reliable subjects of literature +and art.</p> + +<p><q>What do you think of Maeterlinck, Mr. Delcasar?</q> +she enquired in an innocent manner that +must have concealed malice.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know him,</q> Ramon admitted, <q>Who +is he?</q></p> + +<p>Mrs. Roth permitted herself to smile. Gordon +Roth came graciously to the rescue.</p> + +<p><q>Maeterlinck is a great Belgian writer,</q> he +explained. <q>We are all very much interested in +him.…</q></p> +<pb n="55"/><anchor id="Pg55"/> + +<p>Julia gave a little flounce in her chair, and +crossed her legs with a defiant look at her +mother.</p> + +<p><q>I’m not interested in him,</q> she announced +with decision. <q>I think he’s a bore. Listen, +Mr. Delcasar. You know Conny Masters? +Well, he was telling me the most thrilling tale +the other day. He said that the country Mexicans +have a sort of secret religious fraternity +that most of the men belong to, and that they +meet every Good Friday and beat themselves with +whips and sit down on cactus and crucify a man on +a cross and all sorts of horrible things … for +penance you know, just like the monks and things +in the Middle Ages.… He claims he saw +them once and that they had blood running down +to their heels. Is that all true? I’ve forgotten +what he called them.…</q></p> + +<p>Ramon nodded.</p> + +<p><q>Sure. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>. +I’ve seen them lots of times.</q></p> + +<p><q>O, do tell us about them. I love to hear +about horrible things.</q></p> + +<p><q>Well, I’ve seen lots of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> processions, +but the best one I ever saw was a long time ago, +when I was a little kid. There are not so many +of them now, and they don’t do as much as they +used to. The church is down on them, you know, +and they’re afraid. Ten years ago if you tried +<pb n="56"/><anchor id="Pg56"/> +to look at them, they would shoot at you, but now +tourists take pictures of them.</q></p> + +<p>Gordon Roth’s curiosity had been aroused.</p> + +<p><q>Tell me,</q> he broke in. <q>What is the meaning +of this thing? How did it get started?</q></p> + +<p><q>I don’t know exactly,</q> Ramon admitted. +<q>My grandfather told me that they brought it +over from Spain centuries ago, and the Indians +here had a sort of whipping fraternity, and the +two got mixed up, I guess. The church used to +tolerate it; it was a regular religious festival. +But now it’s outlawed. They still have a lot of +political power. They all vote the same way. +One man that was elected to Congress—they say +that the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> +stripes on his back carried him +there. And he was a gringo too. But I don’t +know. It may be a lie.…</q></p> + +<p><q>But tell us about that procession you saw when +you were a little boy,</q> Julia broke in. She was +leaning forward with her chin in her hand, and +her big grey eyes, wide with interest, fixed upon +his face.</p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">Well, I was only about ten years old, and I +was riding home from one of our ranches with my +father. We were coming through <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tijeras</hi> +canyon. It was March, and there was snow on the ground +in patches, and the mountains were cold and bare, +and I remember I thought I was going to freeze. +Every little while we would get off and set fire to +<pb n="57"/><anchor id="Pg57"/> +a tumble-weed by the road, and warm our hands +and then go on again.… +</q></p> + +<p><q>Anyway, pretty soon I heard a lot of men singing, +all together, in deep voices, and the noise +echoed around the canyon and sounded awful solemn. +And I could hear, too, the slap of the big +wide whips coming down on the bare backs, wet +with blood, like slapping a man with a wet towel, +only louder. I didn’t know what it was, but my +father did, and he called to me and we spurred +our horses right up the mountain, and hid in a +clump of cedar up there. Then they came around +a bend in the road, and I began to cry because +they were all covered with blood, and one of them +fell down.… My father slapped me and told +me to shut up, or they would come and shoot us.</q></p> + +<p><q>But what did they look like? What were +they doing?</q> Julia demanded frowning at him, +impatient with his rambling narrative.</p> + +<p><q>Well, in front there was <hi rend="font-style: italic">un +carreta del muerto</hi>. +That means a wagon of death. I don’t think you +would ever see one any more. It was just an ordinary +wagon drawn by six men, naked to the +waist and bleeding, with other men walking beside +them and beating them with blacksnake whips, +just like they were mules. In the wagon they had +a big bed of stones, covered with cactus, and a man +sitting in the cactus, who was supposed to represent +death. And then they had a Virgin Mary, +<pb n="58"/><anchor id="Pg58"/> +too. Four <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> just +like the others, with +nothing on but bloody pants and black bandages +around their eyes, carried the image on a litter +raised up over their heads, and they had swords +fastened to their elbows and stuck between their +ribs, so that if they let down, the swords would +stick into their hearts and kill them. And behind +that came the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cristo</hi>—the +man that represented +Jesus, you know, dragging a big cross. Behind +him came twenty or thirty more +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>, the +most I ever saw at once, some of them whipping +themselves with big broad whips made out of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">amole</hi>. One +was too weak to whip himself, so +two others walked behind him and whipped him. +Pretty soon he fell down and they walked over +him and stepped on his stomach.…</q></p> + +<p><q>But did they crucify the man, the whatever-you-call-him?</q> +Gordon demanded.</p> + +<p><q>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cristo</hi>. Sure. +They crucify one every +year. They used to nail him. Now they generally +do it with ropes, but that’s bad enough, because +it makes him swell up and turn blue.… +Sometimes he dies.</q></p> + +<p>Julia was listening with lips parted and eyes +wide, horrified and yet fascinated, as are so many +women by what is cruel and bloody. But Gordon, +who had become equally interested, was cool +and inquisitive.</p> + +<p><q>And you mean to tell me that at one time +<pb n="59"/><anchor id="Pg59"/> +nearly all the—er—native people belonged to this +barbaric organization, and that many of them do +yet?</q></p> + +<p><q>Nearly all the common +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pelados</hi>,</q> Ramon +hastened to explain. <q>They are nearly all Indian +or part Indian, you know. Not the educated people.</q> +Here a note of pride came into his voice. +<q>We are descended from officers of the Spanish +army—the men who conquered this country. In +the old days, before the Americans came, all these +common people were our slaves.</q></p> + +<p><q>I see,</q> said Gordon Roth in a dry and judicial +tone.</p> + +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>, +as a subject of conversation, +seemed exhausted for the time being and Ramon +had given up all hope of being alone with Julia. +He rose and took his leave. To his delight Julia +followed him to the door. In the hall she gave +him her hand and looked up at him, and neither +of them found anything to say. For some reason +the pressure of her hand and the look of her eyes +flustered and confused him more than had all the +coldness and disapproval of her family. At +last he said good-bye and got away, with his hat +on wrong side before and the blood pounding in +his temples.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC07" type="chapter"> +<pb n="60"/><anchor id="Pg60"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VII</hi> +</head> + +<p>During the following weeks Ramon worked +even less than was his custom. He also neglected +his trips to the mountains and most of his other +amusements. They seemed to have lost their +interest for him. But he was a regular attendant +upon the weekly dances which were held at the +country club, and to which he had never gone +before.</p> + +<p>The country club was a recent acquisition of +the town, backed by a number of local business +men. It consisted of a picturesque little frame +lodge far out upon the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, +and a nine-hole golf +course, made of sand and haunted by +<corr sic="lizzards"><anchor id="E5"/> +<ref target="e5">lizards</ref></corr> and +rattlesnakes. It had become a centre of local +society, although there was a more exclusive +organization known as the Forty Club, which gave +a formal ball once a month. Ramon had +never been invited to join the Forty Club, but the +political importance of his family had procured +him a membership in the country club and it served +his present purpose very well, for he found Julia +Roth there every Saturday night. This fact was +the sole reason for his going. His dances with +her were now the one thing in life to which he +<pb n="61"/><anchor id="Pg61"/> +looked forward with pleasure, and his highest +hope was that he might be alone with her.</p> + +<p>In this he was disappointed for a long time because +Julia was the belle of the town. Her +dainty, provocative presence seemed always to be +the centre of the gathering. Women envied her +and studied her frocks, which were easily the +most stylish in town. Men flocked about her and +guffawed at her elfin stabs of humour. Her +program was always crowded with names, and +when she went for a stroll between dances she +was generally accompanied by at least three men +of whom Ramon was often one. And while the +others made her laugh at their jokes or thrilled +her with accounts of their adventures, he was +always silent and worried—an utter bore, he +thought.</p> + +<p>This girl was a new experience to him. With +the egotism of twenty-four, he had regarded himself +as a finished man of the world, especially with +regard to women. They had always liked him. +He was good to look at and his silent, self-possessed +manner touched the feminine imagination. +He had had his share of the amorous adventures +that come to most men, and his attitude toward +women had changed from the hesitancy of adolesence +to the purposeful, confident and somewhat +selfish attitude of the male accustomed to easy +conquest.</p> +<pb n="62"/><anchor id="Pg62"/> + +<p>This girl, by a smile and touch of her hand, +seemed to have changed him. She filled him with +a mighty yearning. He desired her, and yet there +was a puzzling element in his feeling that seemed +to transcend desire. And he was utterly without +his usual confidence and purpose. He had reason +enough to doubt his success, but aside from that +she loomed in his imagination as something +high and unattainable. He had no plan. His +strength seemed to have oozed out of him. He +pursued her persistently enough—in fact too +persistently—but he did it because he could not +help it.</p> + +<p>The longer he followed in her wake, the more +marked his weakness became. When he approached +her to claim a dance he was often aware +of a faint tremble in his knees, and was embarrassed +by the fact that the palms of his hands were +sweating. He felt that he was a fool and swore +at himself. And he was wholly unable to believe +that he was making any impression upon her. +True, she was quite willing to flirt with him. +She looked up at him with an arch, almost enquiring +glance when he came to claim her for a dance, +but he seldom found much to say at such times, +being too wholly absorbed in the sacred occupation +of dancing with her. And it seemed to him +that she flirted with every one else, too. This +did not in the least mitigate his devotion, but it +<pb n="63"/><anchor id="Pg63"/> +made him acutely uncomfortable to watch her +dance with other men, and especially with Conny +Masters.</p> + +<p>Masters was the son of a man who had made +a moderate fortune in the tin-plate business. He +had come West with his mother who had a weak +throat, had fallen in love with the country, and +scandalized his family by resolutely refusing to +go back to Indiana and tin cans. He spent most +of his time riding about the country, equipped with +a note book and a camera, studying the Mexicans +and Indians, and taking pictures of the scenery. +He said that he was going to make a literary +career, but the net product of his effort for two +years had been a few sonnets of lofty tone but +vague meaning, and a great many photographs, +mostly of sunsets.</p> + +<p>Conny was not a definite success as a writer, +but he was unquestionably a gifted talker, and +he knew the country better than did most of the +natives. He made real to Julia the romance +which she craved to find in the West. And her +watchful and suspicious family seemed to tolerate +if not to welcome him. Ramon knew that he +went to the Roth’s regularly. He began to feel +something like hatred for Conny whom he had +formerly liked.</p> + +<p>This feeling was deepened by the fact that +Conny seemed to be specially bent on defeating +<pb n="64"/><anchor id="Pg64"/> +Ramon’s ambition to be alone with the girl. If +no one else joined them at the end of a dance, +Conny was almost sure to do so, and to occupy +the intermission with one of his ever-ready monologues, +while Ramon sat silent and angry, wondering +what Julia saw to admire in this windy fool, +and occasionally daring to wonder whether she +really saw anything in him after all.</p> + +<p>But a sufficiently devoted lover is seldom wholly +without a reward. There came an evening when +Ramon found himself alone with her. And he +was aware with a thrill that she had evaded not +only Conny, but two other men. Her smile was +friendly and encouraging, too, and yet he could +not find anything to say which in the least expressed +his feelings.</p> + +<p><q>Are you going to stay in this country long?</q> +he began. The question sounded supremely +casual, but it meant a great deal to him. He +was haunted by a fear that she would depart +suddenly, and he would never see her again. She +smiled and looked away for a moment before replying, +as though perhaps this was not exactly +what she had expected him to say.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know. Gordon wants mother and +me to go back East this fall, but I don’t want to go +and mother doesn’t want to leave Gordon +alone.… We haven’t decided. Maybe I +won’t go till next year.</q></p> +<pb n="65"/><anchor id="Pg65"/> + +<p><q>I suppose you’ll go to college won’t you?</q></p> + +<p><q>No; I wanted to go to Vassar and then study +art, but mother says college spoils a girl for +society. She thinks the way the Vassar girls +walk is perfectly dreadful. I offered to go right +on walking the same way, but she said anyway +college makes girls so frightfully broad-minded.…</q></p> + +<p>Ramon laughed.</p> + +<p><q>What will you do then?</q></p> + +<p><q>I’ll come out.</q></p> + +<p><q>Out of what?</q></p> + +<p><q>Make my d�but, don’t you know?</q></p> + +<p><q>O, yes.</q></p> + +<p><q>In New York. I have an aunt there. She +knows all the best people, mother says.</q></p> + +<p><q>What happens after you come out?</q></p> + +<p><q>You get married if anybody will have you. +If not, you sort of fade away and finally go into +uplift work about your fourth season.</q></p> + +<p><q>But of course, you’ll get married. I bet +you’ll marry a millionaire.</q></p> + +<p><q>I don’t know. Mother wants me to marry a +broker. She says the big financial houses in New +York are conducted by the very best people. +But Gordon thinks I ought to marry a professional +man—a doctor or something. He thinks +brokers are vulgar. He says money isn’t everything.</q></p> +<pb n="66"/><anchor id="Pg66"/> + +<p><q>What do you think?</q></p> + +<p><q>I haven’t a thought to my name. All my +thinking has been done for me since infancy. I +don’t know what I want, but I’m pretty sure I +wouldn’t get it if I did.… Come on. They’ve +been dancing for ten minutes. If we stay here +any longer it’ll be a scandal.</q></p> + +<p>She rose and started for the hall. He suddenly +realized that his long-sought opportunity +was slipping away from him. He caught her by +the hand.</p> + +<p><q>Don’t go, please. I want to tell you something.</q></p> + +<p>She met his hand with a fair grip, and pulled +him after her with a laugh.</p> + +<p><q>Some other time,</q> she promised.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC08" type="chapter"> +<pb n="67"/><anchor id="Pg67"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VIII<corr + sic="."><anchor id="E6"/><ref target="e6"> </ref></corr></hi> +</head> + +<p>In most of their social diversions the town folk +tended always more and more to ape the ways of +the East. Local colour, they thought, was all +right in its place, which was a curio store or a +museum, but they desired their town to be modern +and citified, so that the wealthy eastern health-seeker +would find it a congenial home. The +scenery and the historic past were recognized as +assets, but they should be the background for a +life of <q>culture, refinement and modern convenience</q> +as the president of the Chamber of Commerce +was fond of saying.</p> + +<p>Hence the riding parties and picnics of a few +years before had given way to aggressively formal +balls and receptions; but one form of entertainment +that was indigenous had survived. This +was known as a <q><hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> +supper.</q> It might take +place anywhere in the surrounding wilderness of +mountain and desert. Several auto-loads of +young folk would motor out, suitably chaperoned +and laden with provisions. Beside some water +hole or mountain stream fires would be built, +steaks broiled and coffee brewed. Afterward +<pb n="68"/><anchor id="Pg68"/> +there would be singing and story-telling about the +fire, and romantic strolls by couples.</p> + +<p>It was one of these expeditions that furnished +Ramon with his second opportunity in three weeks +to be alone with Julia Roth. The party had journeyed +to Los Ojuellos, where a spring of clear +water bubbled up in the centre of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>. A +grove of cottonwood trees shadowed the place, +and there was an ancient +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> ruin which looked +especially effective by moonlight.</p> + +<p>The persistent Conny Masters was a member +of the party, but he was handicapped by the fact +that he knew more about camp cookery than anyone +else present. He had made a special study +of Mexican dishes and had written an article +about them which had been rejected by no less than +twenty-seven magazines. He made a specialty +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">enchilada</hi>, +which is a delightful concoction +of corn meal, eggs and chile, and he had perfected +a recipe of his own for this dish which he had +named the Conny Masters junior.</p> + +<p>As soon as the baskets were unpacked and the +chaperones were safely anchored on rugs and +blankets with their backs against trees, there was +a general demand, strongly backed by Ramon, +that Conny should cook supper. He was soon +absorbed in the process, volubly explaining every +step, while the others gathered about him and offered +<pb n="69"/><anchor id="Pg69"/> +encouragement and humorous suggestion. +But there was soon a gradual dispersion of the +group, some going for wood and some for water, +and others on errands unstated.</p> + +<p>Ramon found himself strolling under the +cottonwoods with Julia. Neither of them had +said anything. It was almost as though the tryst +had been agreed upon before. She picked her +way slowly among the tussocks of dried grass, her +skirt daintily kilted. A faint but potent perfume +from her hair and dress blew over him. He +ventured to support her elbow with a reverent +touch. Never had she seemed more desirable, +nor yet, for some reason, more remote.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she stopped and looked up at the +great desert stars.</p> + +<p><q>Isn’t it big and beautiful?</q> she demanded. +<q>And doesn’t it make you feel free? It’s never +like this at home, somehow.</q></p> + +<p><q>What is it like where you live?</q> he enquired. +He had a persistent desire to see into her life and +understand it, but everything she told him only +made her more than ever to him a being of mysterious +origin and destiny.</p> + +<p><q>It’s a funny little New York factory city with +very staid ways,</q> she said. <q>You go to a dance +at the country club every Saturday night and to +tea parties and things in between. You fight, +<pb n="70"/><anchor id="Pg70"/> +bleed and die for your social position and +once in a while you stop and wonder why.… +It’s a bore. You can see yourself going on doing +the same thing till the day of your death.…</q></p> + +<p>Her discontent with things as they are found +ready sympathy.</p> + +<p><q>That’s just the way it is here,</q> he said with +conviction. <q>You can’t see anything ahead.</q></p> + +<p><q>Oh, I don’t think its the same here at all,</q> she +protested. <q>This country’s so big and interesting. +It’s different.</q></p> + +<p><q>Tell me how,</q> he demanded. <q>I haven’t seen +anything interesting here since I got back,—except +you.</q></p> + +<p>She ignored the exception.</p> + +<p><q>I can’t express it exactly. The people here are +just like people everywhere else—most of them. +But the country looks so big and unoccupied. And +blue mountains are so alluring. There might be +anything beyond them … adventures, opportunities.…</q></p> + +<p>This idea was a bit too rarefied for Ramon, but +he could agree about the mountains.</p> + +<p><q>It’s a fine country,</q> he assented. <q>For those +that own it.</q></p> + +<p><q>It’s just a feeling I have about it,</q> she went +on, trying to express her own half-formulated +idea. <q>But then I have that feeling about life in +<pb n="71"/><anchor id="Pg71"/> +general, and there doesn’t seem to be anything in +it. I mean the feeling that it’s full of thrilling +things, but somehow you miss them all.</q></p> + +<p><q>I have felt something like that,</q> he admitted. +<q>But I never could say it.</q></p> + +<p>This discovery of an idea in common seemed +somehow to bring them closer together. His +hand tightened gently about her arm; almost unconsciously +he drew her toward him. But she +seemed to be all absorbed in the discussion.</p> + +<p><q>You have no right to complain,</q> she told him. +<q>A man can do something about it.</q></p> + +<p><q>Yes,</q> he agreed, speaking a reflection without +stopping to put it in conventional language. <q>It +must be hell to be a woman … excuse me … I mean.…</q></p> + +<p><q>Don’t apologize. It is—just that. A man +at least has a fighting chance to escape boredom. +But they won’t even let a woman fight. I wish +I were a man.</q></p> + +<p><q>Well; I don’t,</q> he asserted with warmth, unconsciously +tightening his hold upon her arm. <q>I +can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re a woman.</q></p> + +<p><q>Oh, are you?</q> She looked up at him with +challenging, provocative eyes.</p> + +<p>For an instant a kiss was imminent. It hovered +between them like an invisible fairy presence +<pb n="72"/><anchor id="Pg72"/> +of which they both were sweetly aware, and no +one else.</p> + +<p><q>Hey there! all you spooners!</q> came a jovial +and irreverent voice from the vicinity of the camp +fire. <q>Come and eat.</q></p> + +<p>The moment was lost; the fairy presence gone. +She turned with a little laugh, and they went in +silence back to the fire. They were last to enter +the circle of ruddy light, and all eyes were upon +them. She was pink and self-conscious, looking +at her feet and picking her way with exaggerated +care. He was proud and elated. This, he +knew, would couple their names in gossip, would +make her partly his.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC09" type="chapter"> +<pb n="73"/><anchor id="Pg73"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER IX</hi> +</head> + +<p>He wanted to call on her again, but he felt that +he had been insulted and rejected by the Roths, +and his pride fought against it. Unable to think +for long of anything but Julia he fell into the +habit of walking by her house at night, looking at +its lighted windows and wondering what she was +doing. Often he could see the moving figures +and hear the laughter of some gay group about +her, but he could not bring himself to go in and +face the chilly disapproval of her family. At +such times he felt an utter outcast, and sounded +depths of misery he had never known before. +For this was his first real love, and he loved in +the helpless, desperate way of the Latin, without +calculation or humour.</p> + +<p>One evening there was a gathering on the +porch of the Roth house. She was there, sitting +on the steps with three men about her. He +could see the white blur of her frock and hear her +funny little bubbling laugh above the deeper +voices of the men. Having ascertained that +neither Gordon Roth nor his mother was there, +he summoned his courage and went in. She +<pb n="74"/><anchor id="Pg74"/> +could not see who he was until he stood almost +over her.</p> + +<p><q>O, it’s you! I’m awfully glad.…</q> Their +hands met and clung for a moment in the darkness. +He sat down on the steps at her feet, and +the conversation moved on without any assistance +from him. He was now just as happy as he had +been miserable a few minutes before.</p> + +<p>Presently two of the other men went away, but +the third, who was Conny Masters, stayed. He +talked volubly as ever, telling wonderful and +sometimes incredible stories of things he had seen +and done in his wanderings. Ramon said nothing. +Julia responded less and less. Once she +moved to drop the wrap from about her shoulders, +and the alert Conny hastened to assist her. +Ramon watched and envied with a thumping +heart as he saw the gleam of her bare white +shoulders, and realized that his rival might have +touched them.</p> + +<p>Conny went on talking for half an hour with +astonishing endurance and resourcefulness, but it +became always more apparent that he was not +captivating his audience. He had to laugh at his +own humour and expatiate on his own thrills. +Finally a silence fell upon the three, broken only +by occasional commonplace remarks.</p> + +<p><q>Well, I guess it’s time to drift,</q> Conny observed +at last, looking cautiously at his watch.</p> +<pb n="75"/><anchor id="Pg75"/> + +<p>This suggestion was neither seconded by +Ramon nor opposed by Julia. The silence literally +pushed Conny to his feet.</p> + +<p><q>Going, Ramon? No? Well, Good night.</q> +And he retired whistling in a way which showed +his irritation more plainly than if he had sworn.</p> + +<p>The two impolite ones sat silent for a long +moment. Ramon was trying to think of what he +wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. Finally +without looking at her he said in a low husky +voice.</p> + +<p><q>You know … I love you.</q></p> + +<p>There was more silence. At last he looked up +and met her eyes. They were serious for the +first time in his experience, and so was her usually +mocking little mouth. Her face was transformed +and dignified. More than ever she +seemed a strange, high being. And yet he knew +that now she was within his reach.… That he +could kiss her lips … incredible.… And yet +he did, and the kiss poured flame over them and +welded them into each others’ arms.</p> + +<p>They heard Gordon Roth in the house coughing, +the cough coming closer.</p> + +<p>She pushed him gently away.</p> + +<p><q>Go now,</q> she whispered. <q>I love you … Ramon.</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC10" type="chapter"> +<pb n="76"/><anchor id="Pg76"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER X</hi> +</head> + +<p>His conquest was far from giving him peace. +Her kiss had transformed his high vague yearning +into hot relentless desire. He wanted her. +That became the one clear thing in life to him. +Reflections and doubts were alien to his young +and primitive spirit. He did not try to look far +into the future. He only knew that to have her +would be delight almost unimaginable and to lose +her would be to lose everything.</p> + +<p>His attitude toward her changed. He claimed +her more and more at dances. She did not +want to dance with him so much because <q>people +would talk,</q> but his will was harder than hers +and to a great extent he had his way. He now +called on her regularly too. He knew that she +had fought hard for him against her family, and +had won the privilege for him of calling <q>not too +often.</q></p> + +<p><q>I’ve lied for you frightfully,</q> she confessed. +<q>I told them I didn’t really care for you in the +least, but I want to see you because you can tell +such wonderful things about the country. So talk +about the country whenever they’re listening. +And don’t look at me the way you do.…</q></p> +<pb n="77"/><anchor id="Pg77"/> + +<p>Mother and brother were alert and suspicious +despite her assurance, and manœuvred with cool +skill to keep the pair from being alone. Only +rarely did he get the chance to kiss her—once +when her brother, who was standing guard over +the family treasure, was seized with a fit of +coughing and had to leave the room, and again +when her mother was called to the telephone. At +such times she shrank away from him at first as +though frightened by the intensity of the emotion +she had created, but she never resisted. To him +these brief and stolen embraces were almost intolerably +sweet, like insufficient sips of water to +a man burned up with thirst.</p> + +<p>She puzzled him as much as ever. When he +was with her he felt as sure of her love as of his +own existence. And yet she often sought to +elude him. When he called up for engagements +she objected and put him off. And she surrounded +herself with other men as much as ever, and +flirted gracefully with all of them, so that he was +always feeling the sharp physical pangs of +jealousy. Sometimes he felt egotistically sure +that she was merely trying by these devices to +provoke his desire the more, but at other times +he thought her voice over the phone sounded +doubtful and afraid, and he became wildly eager +to get to her and make sure of her again.</p> + +<p>Just as her kiss had crystallized his feeling for +<pb n="78"/><anchor id="Pg78"/> +her into driving desire, so it had focussed and intensified +his discontent. Before he had been +more or less resigned to wait for his fortune and +the power he meant to make of it; now it seemed +to him that unless he could achieve these things +at once, they would never mean anything to him. +For money was the one thing that would give him +even a chance to win her. It was obviously useless +to ask her to marry him poor. He would +have nothing to bring against the certain opposition +of her family. He could not run away with +her. And indeed he was altogether too poor to +support a wife if he had one, least of all a wife +who had been carefully groomed and trained to +capture a fortune.</p> + +<p>There was only one way. If he could go to +her strong and rich, he felt sure that he could +persuade her to go away with him, for he knew +that she belonged to him when he was with her. +He pictured himself going to her in a great motor +car. Such a car had always been in his imagination +the symbol of material strength. He felt +sure he could destroy her doubts and hesitations. +He would carry her away and she would be all +and irrevocably his before any one could interfere +or object.</p> + +<p>This dream filled and tortured his imagination. +Its realization would mean not only fulfilment +of his desire, but also revenge upon the Roths for +<pb n="79"/><anchor id="Pg79"/> +the humiliations they had made him feel. It +pushed everything else out of his mind—all +consideration of other and possibly more feasible +methods of pushing his suit. He came of a race +of men who had dared and dominated, who had +loved and fought, but had never learned how to +work or to endure.</p> + +<p>When he gave himself up to his dream he was +almost elated, but when he came to contemplate +his actual circumstances, he fell into depths of +discouragement and melancholy. His uncle stood +like a rock between him and his desire. He +thought of trying to borrow a few thousand dollars +from old Diego, and of leaving the future to luck, +but he was too intelligent long to entertain such a +scheme. The Don would likely have provided +him with the money, and he would have done it +by hypothecating more of the Delcasar lands to +MacDougall. Then Ramon would have had to +borrow more, and so on, until the lands upon which +all his hopes and dreams were based had passed +forever out of his reach.</p> + +<p>The thing seemed hopeless, for Don Diego +might well live for many years. And yet Ramon +did not give up hope. He was worried, desperate +and bitter, but not beaten. He had still that +illogical faith in his own destiny which is the gift +that makes men of action.</p> + +<p>At this time he heard particularly disquieting +<pb n="80"/><anchor id="Pg80"/> +things about his uncle. Don Diego was reputed +to be spending unusually large sums of money. +As he generally had not much ready cash, this +must mean either that he had sold land or that he +had borrowed from MacDougall, in which case +the land had doubtless been given as security. +Once it was converted into cash in the hands of +Diego, Ramon knew that his prospective fortune +would swiftly vanish. He determined to watch +the old man closely.</p> + +<p>He learned that Don Diego was playing poker +every night in the back room of the White Camel +pool hall. Gambling was supposed to be prohibited +in the town, but this sanctum was regularly +the scene for a game, which had the reputation of +causing more money to change hands than any +other in the southwest. Ramon hung about the +White Camel evening after evening, trying to +learn how much his uncle was losing. He would +have liked to go and stand behind his chair and +watch the game, but both etiquette and pride +prevented him doing this. On two nights his +uncle came out surrounded by a laughing crowd, +a little bit tipsy, and was hurried into a cab. +Ramon had no chance to speak either to him or to +any one else who had been in the +game<corr sic=","><anchor id="E12"/><ref target="e12">.</ref></corr> +But the third night he came out alone, heavy with liquor, +talking to himself. The other players had already +gone out, laughing. The place was nearly +<pb n="81"/><anchor id="Pg81"/> +deserted. The Don suddenly caught sight of +Ramon and came to him, laying heavy hands on +his shoulders, looking at him with bleary, tear-filled +eyes.</p> + +<p><q>My boy, my nephew,</q> he exclaimed in Spanish, +his voice shaking with boozy emotion, <q>I am glad +you are here. Come I must talk to you.</q> And +steadied by Ramon he led the way to a bench in a +corner. Here his manner suddenly changed. He +threw back his head haughtily and slapped his +knee.</p> + +<p><q>I have lost five hundred dollars tonight,</q> he +announced proudly. <q>What do I care? I am a +rich man. I have lost a thousand dollars in the +last three nights. That is nothing. I am rich.</q></p> + +<p>He thumped his chest, looking around defiantly. +Then he leaned forward in a confidential manner +and lowered his voice.</p> + +<p><q>But these gringos—they have gone away and +left me. You saw them? <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cabrones!</hi> They +have got my money. That is all they want. +My boy, all gringos are alike. They want +nothing but money. They can hear the rattle of +a <hi rend="font-style: italic">peso</hi> as far as a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">burro</hi> can smell a bear. They +are mean, stingy! Ah, my boy! It is not now as +it was in the old days. Then money counted for +nothing! Then a man could throw away his last +dollar and there were always friends to give him +more. But now your dollars are your only true +<pb n="82"/><anchor id="Pg82"/> +friends, and when you have lost them, you are +alone indeed. Ah, my boy! The old days were +the best!</q> The old Don bent his head over his +hands and wept.</p> + +<p>Ramon looked at him with a mighty disgust and +with a resentment that filled his throat and made +his head hot. He had never before realized how +much broken by age and drink his uncle was. +Before, he had suspected and feared that Don +Diego was wasting his property; now he knew it.</p> + +<p>The Don presently looked up again with tear-filled +eyes, and went on talking, holding Ramon +by the lapel of the coat in a heavy tremulous grip. +He talked for almost an hour, his senile mind +wandering aimlessly through the scenes of his +long and picturesque career. He would tell tales +of his loves and battles of fifty years ago—tales +full of lust and greed and excitement. He would +come back to his immediate troubles and curse the +gringos again for a pack of miserable dollar-mongers, +who knew not the meaning of friendship. +And again his mind would leap back +irrelevantly to some woman he had loved or some +man he had killed in the spacious days where his +imagination dwelt. Ramon listened eagerly, +hoping to learn something definite about the +Don’s dealings with MacDougall, but the old man +never touched upon this. He did tell one story to +which Ramon listened with interest. He told +<pb n="83"/><anchor id="Pg83"/> +how, twenty-five years before, he and another man +named Cristobal Archulera had found a silver +mine in the Guadelupe Mountains, and how he +had cheated the other out of his interest by filing +the claim in his own name. He told this as a +capital joke, laughing and thumping his knee.</p> + +<p><q>Do you know where Archulera is now?</q> +Ramon ventured to ask.</p> + +<p><q>Archulera? No, No; I have not seen +Archulera for twenty years. I heard that he +married a very common woman, half Indian.… +I don’t know what became of him.</q></p> + +<p>The last of the pool players had now gone out; +a Mexican boy had begun to sweep the floor; the +place was about to close for the night. Ramon +got his uncle to his feet with some difficulty, and +led him outdoors where he looked about in vain +for one of the cheap autos that served the town +as taxicabs. There were only three or four of +them, and none of these were in sight. The flat-wheeled +street car had made its last screeching +trip for the night. There was nothing for it +but to take the Don by the arm and pilot him +slowly homeward.</p> + +<p>Refreshed by the night air, the old man partially +sobered, walked with a steady step, and +talked more eloquently and profusely than ever. +Women were his subject now, and it was a subject +upon which he had great store of material. He +<pb n="84"/><anchor id="Pg84"/> +told of the women of the South, of Sonora and +Chihuahua where he had spent much of his youth, +of how beautiful they were. He told of a slim +little creature fifteen years old with big black eyes +whom he had bought from her <hi rend="font-style: italic">peon</hi> +father, and of how she had feared him and how he had conquered +her and her fear. He told of slave girls +he had bought from the Navajos as children and +raised for his pleasure. He told of a French +woman he had loved in Mexico City and how he +had fought a duel with her husband. He rose to +heights of sentimentality and delved into depths +of obscenity, now speaking of his +heart and what it had suffered, and again leering +and chuckling like a satyr over some tale of splendid +desire.</p> + +<p>Ramon, walking silent and outwardly respectful +by his side, listened to all this with a strange +mixture of envy and rage. He envied the old +Don the rich share he had taken of life’s feast. +Whatever else he might be the Don was not one +of those who desire but do not dare. He had +taken what he wanted. He had tasted many +emotions and known the most poignant delights. +And now that he was old and his blood was slow, +he stood in the way of others who desired as +greatly and were as avid of life as ever he had +been. Ramon felt a great bitterness that clutched +at his throat and half blinded his eyes. He too +<pb n="85"/><anchor id="Pg85"/> +loved and desired. And how much more greatly +he desired than ever had this old man by his side, +with his wealth and his easy satisfactions! The +old Don apparently had never been thwarted, +and therefore he did not know how keen and +punishing a blade desire may be!</p> + +<p>Tense between the two was the enmity that +ever sunders age and youth—age seeking to keep +its sovereignty of life by inculcating blind respect +and reverence, and youth rebellious, demanding +its own with the passion of hot blood and untried +flesh.</p> + +<p>Between Old Town and New Town flowed an +irrigating ditch, which the connecting street +crossed by means of an old wooden bridge. The +ditch was this night full of swift water, which +tore at the button willows on the bank and gurgled +against the bridge timbers. As they crossed +it the idea came into Ramon’s head that if a man +were pushed into the brown water he would be +swiftly carried under the bridge and drowned.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC11" type="chapter"> +<pb n="86"/><anchor id="Pg86"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XI</hi> +</head> + +<p>The following Saturday evening Ramon was +again riding across the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, +clad in his dirty hunting clothes, with his shotgun hung in the +cinches of his saddle. At the start he had been +undecided where he was going. Tormented by +desire and bitter over the poverty which stood +between him and fulfilment, he had flung the +saddle on his mare and ridden away, feeling none +of the old interest in the mountains, but impelled +by a great need to escape the town with all its +cruel spurs and resistances.</p> + +<p>Already the rhythm of his pony’s lope and the +steady beat of the breeze in his face had calmed +and refreshed him. The bitter, exhausting +thoughts that had been plucking at his mind gave +way to the idle procession of sensations, as they +tend always to do when a man escapes the artificial +existence of towns into the natural, animal +one of the outdoors. He began to respond to +the deep appeal which the road, the sense of +going somewhere, always had for him. For he +came of a race of wanderers. His forbears had +been restless men to cross an ocean and most of +<pb n="87"/><anchor id="Pg87"/> +a continent in search of homes. He was bred to +a life of wandering and adventure. Long pent-up +days in town always made him restless, and +the feel of a horse under him and of distance to +be overcome never failed to give him a sense of +well-being.</p> + +<p>Crossing a little <hi rend="font-style: italic">arroyo</hi>, +he saw a covey of the +blue desert quail with their white crests erect, +darting among the rocks and cactus on the hillside. +It was still the close season, but he never +thought of that. In an instant he was all hunter, +like a good dog in sight of game. He slipped +from his horse, letting the reins fall to the ground, +and went running up the rocky slope, cleverly +using every bit of cover until he came within +range. At the first shot he killed three of the +birds, and got another as they rose and whirred +over the hill top. He gathered them up quickly, +stepping on the head of a wounded one, and +stuffed them into his pockets. He was grinning, +now, and happy. The bit of excitement had +washed from his mind for the time being the last +vestige of worry. He lit a cigarette and lay on +his back to smoke it, stretching out his legs luxuriously, +watching the serene gyrations of a buzzard. +When he had extracted the last possible +puff from the tobacco, he went back to his horse +and rode on toward Archulera’s ranch, feeling a +<pb n="88"/><anchor id="Pg88"/> +keen interest in the coarse but substantial supper +which he knew the old man would give him.</p> + +<p>His visit this time proceeded just as had all of +the others, and he had never enjoyed one more +thoroughly. Again the old man killed a fatted +kid in his honour, and again they had a great feast +of fresh brains and tripe and biscuits and coffee, +with the birds, fried in deep lard, as an added +luxury. Catalina served them in silence as usual, +but stole now and then a quick reproachful look +at Ramon. Afterward, when the girl had gone, +there were many cigarettes and much talk, as +before, Archulera telling over again the brave +wild record of his youth. And, as always, he +told, just as though he had never told it before, +the story of how Diego Delcasar had cheated +him out of his interest in a silver mine in the +Guadelupe Mountains. As with each former +telling he became this time more unrestrained in +his denunciation of the man who had betrayed +him.</p> + +<p><q>You are not like him,</q> he assured Ramon +with passionate earnestness. <q>You are generous, +honourable! When your uncle is dead—when he +is dead, I say—you will pay me the five thousand +dollars which your family owes to mine. Am I +right, <hi rend="font-style: italic">amigo?</hi></q></p> + +<p>Ramon, who was listening with only half an ear, +was about to make some off-hand reply, as he had +<pb n="89"/><anchor id="Pg89"/> +always done before. But suddenly a strange, +stirring idea flashed through his brain. Could it +be? Could that be what Archulera meant? He +glanced at the man. Archulera was watching +him with bright black eyes—cunning, feral—the +eyes of a primitive fighting man, eyes that had +never flinched at dealing death.</p> + +<p>Ramon knew suddenly that his idea was right. +Blood pounded in his temples and a red mist of +excitement swam before his eyes.</p> + +<p><q>Yes!</q> he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. +<q>Yes! When my uncle is dead I will pay you the +five thousand dollars which the estate owes you!</q></p> + +<p>The old man studied him, showing no trace of +excitement save for the brightness of his eyes.</p> + +<p><q>You swear this?</q> he demanded.</p> + +<p>Ramon stood tall, his head lifted, his eyes +bright.</p> + +<p><q>Yes; I swear it,</q> he replied, more quietly +now. <q>I swear it on my honour as a Delcasar!</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC12" type="chapter"> +<pb n="90"/><anchor id="Pg90"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XII</hi> +</head> + +<p>The murder of Don Diego Delcasar, which occurred +about three weeks later, provided the +town with an excitement which it thoroughly enjoyed. +Although there was really not a great +deal to be said about the affair, since it remained +from the first a complete mystery, the local papers +devoted a great deal of space to it. The +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Evening +Journal</hi> announced the event in a great black +headline which ran all the way across the top of +the first page. The right-hand column was devoted +to a detailed description of the scene of the +crime, while the rest of the page was occupied by +a picture of the Don, by a hastily written and +highly inaccurate account of his career, and by +statements from prominent citizens concerning +the great loss which the state had suffered in the +death of this, one of its oldest and most valued +citizens.</p> + +<p>In the editorial columns the Don was described +as a Spanish gentleman of the old school, and one +who had always lived up to its highest traditions. +The fact was especially emphasized that he had +commanded the respect and confidence of both +<pb n="91"/><anchor id="Pg91"/> +the races which made up the population of the +state, and his long and honourable association in a +business enterprise with a leading local attorney +was cited as proof of the fact that he had been +above all race antagonisms.</p> + +<p>The morning <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi> +took a slightly different +tack. Its editorial writer was a former New +York newspaperman of unusual abilities who had +been driven to the Southwest by tuberculosis. In +an editorial which was deplored by many prominent +business men, he pointed out that unpunished +murderers were all too common in the State. +He cited several cases like this of Don Delcasar +in which prominent men had been assassinated, +and no arrest had followed. Thus, only a few +years before, Col. Manuel Escudero had been +killed by a shot fired through the window of a +saloon, and still more recently Don Solomon +Estrella had been found drowned in a vat of +sheep-dip on his own ranch. He cited statistics +to show that the percentage of convictions in +murder trials in that State was exceedingly small. +Daringly, he asked how the citizens could expect +to attract to the State the capital so much needed +for its development, when assassination for personal +and political purposes was there tolerated +much as it had been in Europe during the Middle +Ages. He ended by a plea that the Mounted +<pb n="92"/><anchor id="Pg92"/> +Police should be strengthened, so that it would be +capable of coping with the situation.</p> + +<p>This editorial started a controversy between +the two papers which ultimately quite eclipsed in +interest the fact that Don Delcasar was dead. +The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morning Journal</hi> +declared that the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi> +editorial was in effect a covert attack upon the +Mexican people, pointing out that all the cases +cited were those of Mexicans, and it came gallantly +and for political reason to the defence of +the race. At this point the +<hi rend="font-style: italic"><q>Tribuna del Pueblo</q></hi> +of Old Town jumped into the fight with an editorial +in which it was asserted that both the gringo +papers were maligning the Mexican people. It +pointed out that the gringos controlled the political +machinery of the State, and that if murder was +there tolerated the dominant race was to blame.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the known facts about the murder +of Don Delcasar remained few, simple and unilluminating. +About once a month the Don used +to drive in his automobile to his lands in the +northern part of the State. He always took the +road across the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, which +passed near the mouth of Domingo Canyon and through the scissors +pass, and he nearly always went alone.</p> + +<p>When he was half way across the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, the +front tires of the Don’s car had been punctured +by nails driven through a board and hidden in +the sand of the road. Evidently the Don had +<pb n="93"/><anchor id="Pg93"/> +risen to alight and investigate when he had been +shot, for his body had been found hanging across +the wind-shield of the car with a bullet hole +through the head.</p> + +<p>The discovery of the body had been made by a +Mexican woodcutter who was on the way to town +with a load of wood. He had of course been +held by the police and had been closely questioned, +but it was easily established that he had no connection +with the crime.</p> + +<p>It was evident that the Don had been shot +from ambush with a rifle, and probably from a +considerable distance, but absolutely no trace of +the assassin had been found. Not only the chief +of police and several patrolmen, and the sheriff +with a posse, but also many private citizens in +automobiles had rushed to the scene of the crime +and joined in the search. The surrounding +country was dry and rocky. Not even a track +had been found.</p> + +<p>The motive of the murder was evidently not +robbery, for nothing had been taken, although +the Don carried a valuable watch and a considerable +sum of money. Indeed, there was no evidence +that the murderer had even approached the +body.</p> + +<p>The Don had been a staunch Republican, +and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morning Herald</hi>, +also Republican, advanced +the theory that he had been killed by +<pb n="94"/><anchor id="Pg94"/> +political enemies. This theory was ridiculed by +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Evening Journal</hi>, +which was Democratic.</p> + +<p>The local police arrested as a suspect a man +who was found in hiding near a water tank at +the railroad station, but no evidence against him +could be found and he had to be released. The +sheriff extracted a confession of guilt from a +sheep herder who was found about ten miles +from the scene of the crime, but it was subsequently +proved by this man’s relatives that he +was at home and asleep at the time the crime was +committed, and that he was well known to be of +unsound mind. For some days the newspapers +continued daily to record the fact that a <q>diligent +search</q> for the murderer was being conducted, +but this search gradually came to an end along +with public interest in the crime.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC13" type="chapter"> +<pb n="95"/><anchor id="Pg95"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XIII</hi> +</head> + +<p>The day after the news of his uncle’s murder +reached him, Ramon lay on his bed in his darkened +room fully dressed in a new suit of black. He +was not ill, and anything would have been easier +for him than to lie there with nothing to do but +to think and to stare at a single narrow sunbeam +which came through a rent in the window blind. +But it was a Mexican custom, old and revered, +for the family of one recently dead to lie upon +its beds in the dark and so to receive the condolences +of friends and the consolations of religion. +To disregard this custom would have +been most unwise for an ambitious young man, +and besides, Ramon’s mother clung tenaciously to +the traditional Mexican ways, and she would not +have tolerated any breach of them. At this +moment she and her two daughters were likewise +lying in their rooms, clad in new black silk and +surrounded by other sorrowing females.</p> + +<p>It was so still in the room that Ramon could +hear the buzz of a fly in the vicinity of the solitary +sunbeam, but from other parts of the house came +occasional human sounds. One of these was an +<pb n="96"/><anchor id="Pg96"/> +intermittent howling and wailing from the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">placita</hi>. +This he knew was the work of two old Mexican +women who made their livings by acting as professional +mourners. They did not wait for an invitation +but hung about like buzzards wherever there +was a Mexican corpse. Seated on the ground with +their black shawls pulled over their heads, they +wailed with astonishing endurance until the coffin +was carried from the house, when they were sure +of receiving a substantial gift from the grateful +relatives. Ramon resolved that he would give +them ten dollars each. He felt sure they had +never gotten so much. He was determined to do +handsomely in all things connected with the +funeral.</p> + +<p>He could also hear faintly a rattle of wagons, +foot steps and low human voices coming from the +front of the house. A peep had shown him that +already a line of wagons, carriages and buggies +half a block long had formed in the street, and he +could hear the arrival of another one every few +minutes. These vehicles brought the numerous +and poor relations of Don Delcasar who lived in +the country. All of them would be there by +night. Each one of them would come into Ramon’s +room and sit by his bedside and take his hand +and express sympathy. Some of them would +weep and some would groan, although all of +<pb n="97"/><anchor id="Pg97"/> +them, like himself, were profoundly glad that the +Don was dead. Ramon hoped that they would +make their expressions brief. And later, he +knew, all would gather in the room where the +casket rested on two chairs. They would sit in a +silent solemn circle about the room, drinking +coffee and wine all night. And he would be +among them, trying with all his might to look +properly sad and to keep his eyes open.</p> + +<p>All the time that he lay there in enforced idleness +he was longing for action, his imagination +straining forward. At last his chance had come—his +chance to have her. And he would +have her. He felt sure of it. He was now a +rich man. As soon as the will had been read and +he had come into his own, he would buy a big +automobile. He would go to her, he would +sweep away her doubts and hesitations. He +would carry her away and marry her. She +would be his.… He closed his eyes and drew +his breath in sharply.…</p> + +<p>But no; he would have to wait … a decent interval. +And the five thousand dollars must be +gotten to Archulera. That was obviously important. +And there might not be much cash. The +Don had never had much ready money. He +might have to sell land or sheep first. All of +these things to be done, and here he lay, staring +<pb n="98"/><anchor id="Pg98"/> +at the ceiling and listening to the wailing of old +women!</p> + +<p>There was a knock on the door.</p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Entra!</hi></q> he called.</p> + +<p>The door opened softly and a tall, black-robed +figure was silhouetted for a moment against the +daylight before the door closed again. The +black figure crossed the room and sat down by +the bed, silent save for a faint rustle.</p> + +<p>Although he could not see the face, Ramon +knew that this was the priest, Father Lugaria. +He knew that Father Lugaria had come to arrange +for the mass over the body of Don Delcasar. +He disliked Father Lugaria, and knew that +the Father disliked him. This mutual antipathy +was due to the fact that Ramon seldom went to +Church.</p> + +<p>There were others of his generation who +showed the same indifference toward religion, and +this defection of youth was a thing which the +Priests bitterly contested. Ramon was perfectly +willing to make a polite compromise with them. +If Father Lugaria had been satisfied with an occasional +appearance at early mass, a perfunctory +confession now and then, the two might have been +friends. But the Priest made Ramon a special +object of his attention. He continually went to +the Dona Delcasar with complaints and that devout +woman incessantly nagged her son, holding +<pb n="99"/><anchor id="Pg99"/> +before him always pictures of the damnation he +was courting. Once in a while she even produced +in him a faint twinge of fear—a recrudescence +of the deep religious feeling in which he was bred—but +the feeling was evanescent. The chief +result of these labours on behalf of his soul had +been to turn him strongly against the priest who +instigated them.</p> + +<p>Father Lugaria seemed all kindness and sympathy +now. He sat close beside Ramon and +took his hand. Ramon could smell the good +wine on the man’s breath, and could see faintly +the brightness of his eyes. The grip of the +priest’s hand was strong, moist and surprisingly +cold. He began to talk in the low monotonous +voice of one accustomed to much chanting, and +this droning seemed to have some hypnotic quality. +It seemed to lull Ramon’s mind so that he +could not think what he was going to say or do.</p> + +<p>The priest expressed his sympathy. He spoke +of the great and good man the Don had been. +Slowly, adroitly, he approached the real question +at issue, which was how much Ramon would pay +for a mass. The more he paid, the longer the +mass would be, and the longer the mass the speedier +would be the journey of the Don’s soul +through purgatory and into Paradise.</p> + +<p><q>O, my little brother in Christ!</q> droned the +priest in his vibrant sing-song, <q rend="post: none">I must not let you +<pb n="100"/><anchor id="Pg100"/> +neglect this last, this greatest of things which you +can do for the uncle you loved. It is unthinkable +of course that his soul should go to hell—hell, +where a thousand demons torture the soul for an +eternity. Hell is for those who commit the +worst of sins, sins they dare not lay before God +for his forgiveness, secret and terrible sins—sins +like murder. But few of us go through life +untouched by sin. The soul must be purified before +it can enter the presence of its maker.… +Doubtless the soul of your uncle is in purgatory, +and to you is given the sweet power to speed that +soul on its upward way.… +</q></p> + +<p><q>Don Delcasar, we all know, killed.… +More than once, doubtless, he took the life of a +fellow man. But he did it in combat as a soldier, +as a servant of the State.… That is not murder. +That would not doom him to hell, which is +the special punishment of secret and unforgiven +murder.… But the soul of the Don must be +cleansed of these earthly stains.…</q></p> + +<p>The strong, cold grip of the priest held Ramon +with increasing power. The monotonous, hypnotic +voice went on and on, becoming ever more +eloquent and confident. Father Lugaria was a +man of imagination, and the special home of his +imagination was hell. For thirty years he had +held despotic sway over the poor Mexicans who +made up most of his flock, and had gathered +<pb n="101"/><anchor id="Pg101"/> +much money for the Church, by painting word-pictures +of hell. He was a veritable artist of +hell. He loved hell. Again and again he digressed +from the strict line of his argument to +speak of hell. With all the vividness of a thing +seen, he described its flames, its fiends, the terrible +stink of burning flesh and the vast chorus of +agony that filled it.… And for some obscure +reason or purpose he always spoke of hell as the +special punishment of murderers. Again and +again in his discourse he coupled murder and hell.</p> + +<p>Ramon was wearied by strong emotions and a +shortness of sleep. His nerves were overstrung. +This ceaseless iteration of hell and murder, +murder and hell would drive him crazy, he +thought. He wished mightily that the priest +would have done and name his price and go. +What was the sense and purpose of this endless +babble about hell and murder?… A sickening +thought struck him like a blow, leaving him weak. +What if old Archulera had confessed to the +priest?</p> + +<p>Well; what if he had? A priest could not +testify about what he had heard in confessional. +But a priest might tell some one else.… O, God! +If the man would only go and leave him to think. +Hell and murder, murder and hell. The two +words beat upon his brain without mercy. He +longed to interrupt the priest and beg him to +<pb n="102"/><anchor id="Pg102"/> +leave off. But for some reason he could not. +He could not even turn his head and look at the +man. The priest was but a clammy grip that held +him and a disembodied voice that spoke of hell +and murder. Had he done murder? And was +there a hell? He had long ceased to believe in +hell, but hell had been real to him as a child. His +mother and his nurse had filled him with the fear +of hell. He had been bred in the fear of hell. It +was in his flesh and bones if not in his mind, and +the priest had hypnotized his mind. Hell was +real to him again. Fear of hell came up from the +past which vanishes but is never gone, and gripped +him like a great ugly monster. It squeezed a +cold sweat out of his body and made his skin +prickle and his breath come short.…</p> + +<p>The priest dropped the subject of hell, and +spoke again of the mass. He mentioned a sum of +money. Ramon nodded his head muttering his +assent like a sick man. The grip on his hand +relaxed.</p> + +<p><q>Good-bye, my little brother,</q> murmured the +priest. <q>May Christ be always with you.</q> His +gown rustled across the room and as he opened +the door, Ramon saw his face for a moment—a +sallow, shrewd face, bedewed with the sweat of a +great effort, but wearing a smile of triumphant +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Ramon lay sick and exhausted. It seemed to +<pb n="103"/><anchor id="Pg103"/> +him that there was no air in the room. He was +suffocating. His body burned and prickled. He +rose and tore loose his collar. He must get out +of this place, must have air and movement.</p> + +<p>It was dusk now. The wailing of the old +women had ceased. Doubtless they were being +rewarded with supper. He began stripping off +his clothes—his white shirt and his new suit of +black. Eagerly rummaging in the closet he found +his old clothes, which he wore on his trips to the +mountains.</p> + +<p>In the dim light he slipped out of the house, +indistinguishable from any Mexican boy that +might have been about the place. He saddled +the little mare in the corral, mounted and galloped +away—through Old Town, where skinny dogs +roamed in dark narrow streets and men and +women sat and smoked in black doorways—and +out upon the valley road. There he spurred his +mare without mercy, and they flew over the soft +dust. The rush of the air in his face, and the thud +and quiver of living flesh under him were infinitely +sweet.</p> + +<p>He stopped at last five miles from town on the +bank of the river. It was a swift muddy river, +wandering about in a flood plain a quarter of a +mile wide, and at this point chewing noisily at a +low bank forested with scrubby cottonwoods.</p> + +<p>Dismounting, he stripped and plunged into the +<pb n="104"/><anchor id="Pg104"/> +river. It was only three feet deep, but he wallowed +about in it luxuriously, finding great +comfort in the caress of the cool water, and of +the soft fine sand upon the bottom which clung +about his toes and tickled the soles of his feet. +Then he climbed out on the bank and stood where +the breeze struck him, rubbing the water off of his +slim strong body with the flats of his hands.</p> + +<p>When he had put on his clothes, he indulged +his love of lying flat on the ground, puffing a +cigarette and blowing smoke at the first stars. +A hunting owl flitted over his head on muffled +wing; a coyote yapped in the bushes; high up in +the darkness he heard the whistle of pinions as +a flock of early ducks went by.</p> + +<p>He took the air deeply into his lungs and +stretched out his legs. In this place fear of hell +departed from his mind as some strong liquors +evaporate when exposed to the open air. The +splendid healthy animal in him was again dominant, +and it could scarcely conceive of death and +had nothing more to do with hell than had the +owl and the coyote that killed to live. Here he +felt at peace with the earth beneath him and the +sky above. But one thought came to disturb him +and it was also sweet—the thought of a woman, +her eyes full of promise, the curve of her mouth.… +She was waiting for him, she would be his. +That was real.… Hell was a dream.</p> +<pb n="105"/><anchor id="Pg105"/> + +<p>He saw now the folly of his fears about +Archulera, too. Archulera never went to church. +There was no danger that he would ever confess +to any one. And even if he did, he could scarcely +injure Ramon. For Ramon had done no wrong. +He had but promised an old man his due, righted +an ancient wrong.… He smiled.</p> + +<p>Slowly he mounted and rode home, filled with +thoughts of the girl, to put on his mourning +clothes and take his decorous place in the circle +that watched his uncle’s bier.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC14" type="chapter"> +<pb n="106"/><anchor id="Pg106"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XIV</hi> +</head> + +<p>All the ceremonies and procedures, religious +and legal, which had been made necessary by the +death of Don Diego Delcasar, were done. The +body of the Don had been taken to the church in +Old Town and placed before the altar, the casket +covered with black cloth and surrounded by +candles in tall silver candlesticks which stood upon +the floor. A Mass of impressive length had been +spoken over it by Father Lugaria assisted by +numerous priests and altar boys, and at the end of +the ceremony the hundreds of friends and relatives +of the Don, who filled the church, had +lifted up their voices in one of the loudest and +most prolonged choruses of wailing ever heard in +that country, where wailing at a funeral is as much +a matter of formal custom as is cheering at a +political convention. Afterwards a cortege nearly +a mile in length, headed by a long string of carriages +and tailed by a crowd of poor Mexicans +trudging hatless in the dust, had made the hot +and wearisome journey to the cemetery in the +sandhills.</p> + +<p>Then the will had been read and had revealed +that Ramon Delcasar was heir to the bulk of his +<pb n="107"/><anchor id="Pg107"/> +uncle’s estate, and that he was thereby placed in +possession of money, lands and sheep to the value +of about two hundred thousand dollars. It was +said by those who knew that the Don’s estate had +once been at least twice that large, and there were +some who irreverently remarked that he had been +taken off none too soon for the best interests of +his heirs.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the reading of the will, Ramon +rode to the Archulera ranch, starting before daylight +and returning after dark. He exchanged +greetings with the old man, just as he had always +done.</p> + +<p><q>Accept my sympathy, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">amigo</hi>,</q> Archulera said +in his formal, polite way, <q>that you have lost your +uncle, the head of your great family.</q></p> + +<p><q>I thank you, friend,</q> Ramon replied. <q>A +man must bear these things. Here is something I +promised you,</q> he added, laying a small heavy +canvas bag upon the table, just as he had always +laid a package of tobacco or some other small +gift.</p> + +<p>Old Archulera nodded without looking at the +bag.</p> + +<p><q>Thank you,</q> he said.</p> + +<p>Afterward they talked about the bean crop and +the weather, and had an excellent dinner of goat +meat cooked with chile.</p> + +<p>In town Ramon found himself a person of noticeably +<pb n="108"/><anchor id="Pg108"/> +increased importance. One of his first +acts had been to buy a car, and he had attracted +much attention while driving this about the +streets, learning to manipulate it. He killed one +chicken and two dogs and handsomely reimbursed +their owners. These minor accidents were due +to his tendency, the result of many years of horsemanship, +to throw his weight back on the steering +wheel and shout <q>whoa!</q> whenever a sudden emergency +occurred. But he was apt, and soon was +running his car like an expert.</p> + +<p>His personal appearance underwent a change +too. He had long cherished a barbaric leaning +toward finery, which lack of money had prevented +him from indulging. Large diamonds fascinated +him, and a leopard skin vest was a thing he had +always wanted to own. But these weaknesses he +now rigorously suppressed. Instead he noted +carefully the dress of Gordon Roth and of other +easterners whom he saw about the hotel, and +ordered from the best local tailor a suit of quiet +colour and conservative cut, but of the very best +English material. He bought no jewelry except a +single small pearl for his necktie. His hat, his +shoes, the way he had his neck shaved, all were +changed as the result of a painstaking observation +such as he had never practised before. He +wanted to make himself as much as possible like +the men of Julia’s kind and class. And this desire +<pb n="109"/><anchor id="Pg109"/> +modified his manner and speech as well as his +appearance. He was careful, always watching +himself. His manner was more reserved and +quiet than ever, and this made him appear older +and more serious. He smiled when he overheard +a woman say that <q>he took the death of his uncle +much harder than she would have expected.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon now received business propositions +every day. Men tried to sell him all sorts of +things, from an idea to a ranch, and most of them +seemed to proceed on the assumption that, being +young and newly come into his money, he should +part with it easily. Several of the opportunities +offered him had to do with the separation of the +poor Mexicans from their land holdings. A +prominent attorney came all the way from a town +in the northern part of the State to lay before +him a proposition of this kind. This lawyer, +named Cooley, explained that by opening a store +in a certain rich section of valley land, opportunities +could be created for lending the Mexicans +money. Whenever there was a birth, a funeral +or a marriage among them, the Mexicans needed +money, and could be persuaded to sign mortgages, +which they generally could not read. In each +Mexican family there would be either a birth, a +marriage or a death once in three years on an +average. Three such events would enable the +lender to gain possession of a ranch. And Cooley +<pb n="110"/><anchor id="Pg110"/> +had an eastern client who would then buy the land +at a good figure. It was a chance for Ramon to +double his money.</p> + +<p><q>You’ve got the money and you know the native +people,</q> Cooley argued earnestly. <q>I’ve got the +sucker and I know the law. It’s a sure thing.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon thanked him politely and refused firmly. +The idea of robbing a poor Mexican of his ranch +by nine years of usury did not appeal to him at all. +In the first place, it would be a long, slow tedious +job, and besides, poor people always aroused his +pity, just as rich ones stirred his greed and envy. +He was predatory, but lion-like, he scorned to +spring on small game. He did not realize that a +lion often starves where a jackal grows fat.</p> + +<p>Only one opportunity came to him which interested +him strongly. A young Irishman named +Hurley explained to him that it was possible to +buy mules in Mexico, where a revolution was going +on, for ten dollars each at considerable personal +risk, to run them across the Rio Grande and to +sell them to the United States army for twenty +dollars. Here was a gambler’s chance, action and +adventure. It caught his fancy and tempted him. +But he had no thought of yielding. Another +purpose engrossed him.</p> + +<p>These weeks after his uncle’s funeral gave him +his first real grapple with the world of business, +and the experience tended to strengthen him in a +<pb n="111"/><anchor id="Pg111"/> +certain cynical self-assurance which had been +growing in him ever since he first went away to +college, and had met its first test in action +when he spoke the words that lead to the Don’s +death. He felt a deep contempt for most of +these men who came to him with their schemes +and their wares. He saw that most of them were +ready enough to swindle him, though few of them +would have had the courage to rob him with a gun. +Probably not one of them would have dared to kill +a man for money, but they were ready enough to +cheat a poor <hi rend="font-style: italic">pelado</hi> +out of his living, which often +came to the same thing. He felt that he was +bigger than most of them, if not better. His self-respect +was strengthened.</p> + +<p><q>Life is a fight,</q> he told himself, feeling that he +had hit upon a profound and original idea. +<q>Every man wants pretty women and money. +He gets them if he has enough nerve and enough +sense. And somebody else gets hurt, because +there aren’t enough pretty women and money to +go around.</q></p> + +<p>It seemed to him that this was the essence of +all wisdom.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC15" type="chapter"> +<pb n="112"/><anchor id="Pg112"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XV</hi> +</head> + +<p>Ramon had always been rather a solitary figure +in his own town. Although he belonged nominally +to the <q>bunch</q> of young gringos, Jews and +Mexicans, who foregathered at the White Camel +Pool Hall, their amusements did not hold his +interest very strongly. They played a picayune +game of poker, which resulted in a tangled mass +of debt; they went on occasional mild sprees, and +on Saturday nights they +<corr sic="visted"><anchor id="E7"/> +<ref target="e7">visited</ref></corr> +the town’s red light +district, hardy survivor of several vice crusades, +where they danced with portly magdalenes in +gaudy kimonos to the music of a mechanical piano, +luxuriating in conscious wickedness.</p> + +<p>All of this had seemed romantic and delightfully +vicious to Ramon a few years before, but it +soon palled on his restless and discontented spirit. +He had formed the habit of hunting alone, and +had found adventures more to his taste. But now +he found himself in company more than ever +before. He was bid to every frolic that took +place. In the White Camel he was often the +centre of a small group, which included men older +than himself who had never paid any attention +<pb n="113"/><anchor id="Pg113"/> +to him before, but now addressed him with a +certain deference. Although he understood well +enough that most of the attentions paid him had +an interested motive, he enjoyed the sense of +leadership which these gatherings gave him. If +he was not a real leader now, he intended to become +one. He listened to what men said, watched +them, and said little himself. He was quick to +grasp the fact that a reputation for shrewdness +and wisdom is made by the simple method of keeping +the mouth shut.</p> + +<p>He made many acquaintances among the new +element which had recently come to town from the +East in search of health or money, but he made no +real friends because none of these men inspired +him with respect. Only one man he attached to +himself, and that one by the simple tie of money. +His name was Antonio Cortez. He was a small, +skinny, sallow Mexican with a great moustache, +behind which he seemed to be discreetly hiding, +and a consciously cunning eye. Of an old and +once wealthy Spanish family, he had lost all of his +money by reason of a lack of aptitude for business, +and made his living as a sort of professional +political henchman. He was a bearer of secret +messages, a maker of deals, an eavesdropper. +The Latin aptitude for intrigue he had in a high +degree. He was capable of almost anything in +<pb n="114"/><anchor id="Pg114"/> +the way of falsehood or evasion, but he had that +great capacity for loyalty which is so often the +virtue of weaklings.</p> + +<p><q>I have known your family for many years,</q> +he told Ramon importantly, <q>And I feel an +interest in you, almost as though you were my +own son. You need an older friend to advise +you, to attend to details in the management of +your great estate. You will probably go into +politics and you need a political manager. As an +old friend of your family I want to do these +things for you. What do you say?</q></p> + +<p>Ramon answered without any hesitation and +prompted solely by intuition:</p> + +<p><q>I thank you, friend, and I accept your offer.</q></p> + +<p>He knew instinctively that he could trust this +man and also dominate him. It was just such a +follower that he needed. Nothing was said +about money, but on the first of the month Ramon +mailed Cortez a check for a hundred dollars, +and that became his regular salary.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC16" type="chapter"> +<pb n="115"/><anchor id="Pg115"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XVI</hi> +</head> + +<p>About two weeks after the Don’s funeral, +Ramon received a summons which he had been +vaguely expecting. He was asked by Mr. MacDougall’s +secretary over the telephone to call, +whenever it would be convenient, at Mr. MacDougall’s +office.</p> + +<p>He knew just what this meant. MacDougall +would try to make with him an arrangement +somewhat similar to the one he had had with the +Don. Ramon knew that he did not want such an +arrangement on any terms. He felt confident +that not one could swindle him, but at the same +time he was half afraid of the Scotchman; he felt +instinctively that MacDougall was a man for him +to avoid. And besides, he intended to use his +lands in his own way. He would sell part of +them to the railroad, which was projected to be +built through them, if he could get a good price; +but the hunger for owning land, for dominating a +part of the earth, was as much a part of him as his +right hand. He wanted no modern business +partnership. He wanted to be <hi rend="font-style: italic"><q>el +patron,</q></hi> as so +many Delcasars had been before him.</p> + +<p>Here was a temptation to be dramatic, to hurl +<pb n="116"/><anchor id="Pg116"/> +a picturesque defiance at the gringo. Ramon +might have yielded to it a few months before. +Sundry brave speeches flashed through his mind, +as it was. But he resolutely put them aside. +There was too much at stake … his love. He +determined to call on MacDougall promptly and +to be polite.</p> + +<p>MacDougall was a heavy, bald man of Scotch +descent, and very true to type. He had come to +town from the East about fifteen years before +with his wife and his two tall, raw-boned children—a +boy and a girl. The family had been +very poor. They had lived in a small +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> +house on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>. +For ten years Mrs. MacDougall +had done all of her own housework, including +the washing; the two children had gone to +school in clothes that seemed always too small for +them; and MacDougall had laboured obscurely +day and night in a small dark office. During +these ten years the MacDougalls had been completely +overlooked by local society, and if they +felt any resentment they did not show it.</p> + +<p>Meantime MacDougall had been systematically +and laboriously laying the foundations of a +fortune. His passion was for land. He loaned +money on land, chiefly to Mexicans, and he took +mortgages on land in return for defending his +Mexican clients, largely on criminal charges. +Some of the land he farmed, and some he rented, +<pb n="117"/><anchor id="Pg117"/> +but much of it lay idle, and the taxes he had to +pay kept his family poor long after it might have +been comfortable. But his lands rose steadily in +value; he began selling, discreetly; and the MacDougalls +came magnificently into their own. +MacDougall was now one of the wealthiest men +in the State. In five years his way of living had +undergone a great change. He owned a large +brick house in the highlands and had several servants. +The boy had gone to Harvard, and the +girl to Vassar. Neither of them was so gawky +now, and both of them were much sought socially +during their vacations at home. MacDougall +himself had undergone a marked change for a man +past fifty. He had become a stylish dresser and +looked younger. He drove to work in a large +car with a chauffeur. In the early morning he +went riding on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, +mounted on a big +Kentucky fox-trotter, clad in English riding +clothes, jouncing solemnly up and down on his +flat saddle, and followed by a couple of carefully-laundered +white poodles. On these expeditions +he was a source of great edification and some +amusement to the natives.</p> + +<p>In the town he was a man of weight and influence, +but the country Mexicans hated him. +Once when he was looking over some lands +recently acquired by the foreclosure of mortgages, +a bullet had whistled close to his ear, and another +<pb n="118"/><anchor id="Pg118"/> +had punctured the hood of his car. He now hired +a man to do his <q>outside work.</q></p> + +<p>Thus both MacDougall and his children had +thrived and developed on their wealth. Mrs. +MacDougall, perhaps, had been the sacrifice. +She remained a tall, thin, pale, tired-looking +woman with large hands that were a record of +toil. She laboured at her new social duties and +<q>pleasures</q> in exactly the same spirit that she +had formerly laboured at the wash tub.</p> + +<p>MacDougall’s offices now occupied all of the +ground floor of a large new building which he had +built. Like everything else of his authorship this +building represented a determined effort to lend +the town an air of Eastern elegance. It was +finished in an imitation of white marble and the +offices had large plate glass windows which bore +in gilt letters the legend: <q>MacDougall Land +and Cattle Company, Inc.</q> Within, half a +dozen girls in glass cages could be seen working +at typewriters and adding machines, while a cashier +occupied a little office of his own with a large +safe at his back, a little brass grating in front of +him, and a revolver visible not far from his right +hand.</p> + +<p>The creator of this magnificence sat behind a +glasstop desk at the far end of a large and sunny +office with a bare and slippery floor. Many a +Mexican beggar for mercy, with a mortgage on +<pb n="119"/><anchor id="Pg119"/> +his home, had walked across this forbidding expanse +of polished hardwood toward the big man +with the merciless eye, as fearfully as ever a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peon</hi>, sentenced to +forty lashes and salt in his +wounds, approached the seat of his owner to +plead for a whole skin. Truly, the weak can but +change masters.</p> + +<p>This morning MacDougall was all affability. +As he stood up behind his desk, clad in a light +grey suit, large and ruddy, radiant of health and +prosperity, he was impressive, almost splendid. +Only the eyes, small and closeset, revealed the +worried and calculating spirit of the man.</p> + +<p><q>Mr. Delcasar,</q> he said when they had shaken +hands and sat down, <q>I am glad to welcome you +to this office, and I hope to see you here many +times more. I will not waste time, for we are +both busy men. I asked you to come here because +I want to suggest a sort of informal partnership +between us, such as I had with your late +uncle, one of my best friends. I believe my plan +will be for the best interests of both of us.… I +suppose you know about what the arrangement +was between the Don and myself?</q></p> + +<p><q>No; not in detail,</q> Ramon confessed. He +felt MacDougall’s power at once. Facing the +man was a different matter from planning an +interview with him when alone. But he retained +sense enough to let MacDougall do the talking.</p> +<pb n="120"/><anchor id="Pg120"/> + +<p><q>Have a cigar,</q> the great man continued, full +of sweetness, pushing a large and fragrant box +of perfectos across the desk. <q>I will outline the +situation to you briefly, as I see it.</q> Nothing +could have seemed more frank and friendly than +his manner.</p> + +<p><q>As you doubtless know,</q> he went on, <q rend="post: none">your +estate includes a large area of mountain and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> +land—a little more than nine thousand acres I +believe—north and west of the San Antonio +River in Arriba County. I own nearly as much +land on the east side of the river. The valley +itself is owned by a number of natives in small +farming tracts. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">I believe your estate also includes a few small +parcels of land in the valley, but not enough, you +understand, to be of much value by itself. Your +uncle also owned a few tracts in the valley east of +the river which he transferred to me, for a consideration, +because they abutted upon my holdings. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">Now the valley, as I scarcely need tell you, +is the key to the situation. In the first place, if +the country is to be properly developed as sheep +and cattle range, the valley will furnish the farming +land upon which hay for winter use can be +raised, and it also furnishes some good winter +range. Moreover, it is now an open secret that +the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad proposes +building a branch line through that country and +<pb n="121"/><anchor id="Pg121"/> +into the San Juan Valley. No surveys have been +made, but it is certain that the road must follow +the San Antonio to the top of the divide. There +is no other way through. I became aware of +this project some time ago through my eastern +connections, and told your uncle about it. He +and I joined forces for the purpose of gaining +control of the San Antonio Valley, and of the +railroad right-of-way. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">The proposition is a singularly attractive one. +Not only could the right-of-way be sold for a very +large sum, but we would afterward own a splendid +bit of cattle range, with farming land in the +valley, and with a railroad running through the +centre of it. There is nothing less than a fortune +to be made in the San Antonio Valley, Mr. +Delcasar. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">And the lands in the valley can be acquired. +Some of the small owners will sell outright. +Furthermore, they are all frequently in need of +money, especially during dry years when the crops +are not good. By advancing loans judiciously, +and taking land as security, title can often be +acquired.… I daresay you are not wholly unfamiliar +with the method. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">This work, Mr. Delcasar, requires large +capital, which I can command. It also requires +certain things which you have in an unusual +degree. You are of Spanish descent, you speak +<pb n="122"/><anchor id="Pg122"/> +the language fluently. You have political and +family prestige among the natives. All of this +will be of great service in persuading the natives +to sell, and in getting the necessary information +about land titles, which, as you know, requires +much research in old Spanish Church records +and much interviewing of the natives themselves. +</q></p> + +<p><q>In the actual making of purchases, my name +need not appear. In fact, I think it is very +desirable that it should not appear. But understand +that I will furnish absolutely all of the capital +for the enterprise. I am offering you, Mr. +Delcasar, an opportunity to make a fortune without +investing a cent, and I feel that I can count +upon your acceptance.</q></p> + +<p>At the close of this discourse, Ramon felt like +a surf-bather who has been overwhelmed by a +great and sudden wave and comes up gasping for +breath and struggling for a foothold. Never +had he heard anything so brilliantly plausible, +for never before had he come into contact with a +good mind in full action. Yet he regained his +balance in a moment. He was accustomed to +act by intuition, not by logic, and his intuition was +all against accepting MacDougall’s offer. He +was not deceived by the Scotchman’s show of +friendship and beneficence; he himself had an +aptitude for pretence, and he understood it better +<pb n="123"/><anchor id="Pg123"/> +than he would have understood sincerity. He +knew that whether he formed this partnership or +not, there was sure to be a struggle between him +and MacDougall for the dominance of the San +Antonio Valley. And his instinct was to stand +free and fight; not to come to grips, MacDougall +was a stronger man than he. The one advantage +which he had—his influence over the natives—he +must keep in his own hands, and not let his +adversary turn it against him.</p> + +<p>He took his cigar out of his mouth, looked at +it a moment, and cleared his throat.</p> + +<p><q>Mr. MacDougall,</q> he said slowly, <q>this offer +makes me proud. That you should have so much +confidence in me as to wish to make me your partner +is most gratifying. I am sorry that I must +refuse. I have other plans.…</q></p> + +<p>MacDougall nodded, interrupting. This was +evidently a contingency he had calculated.</p> + +<p><q>I’m sorry, Mr. Delcasar. I had hoped to be +permanently associated with you in this venture. +But I think I understand. You are young. +Perhaps marriage, a home are your immediate +objects, and you need cash at once, rather than +a somewhat distant prospect of greater wealth. +In that case I think I can meet your wishes. I +am prepared to make you a good offer for all of +your holdings in the valley, and those immediately +<pb n="124"/><anchor id="Pg124"/> +adjoining it. The exact amount I cannot state at +this moment, but I feel sure we could agree as +to price.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon was taken aback by the promptness of +the counter, confused, forced to think. Money +was a thing he wanted badly. He had little cash. +If MacDougall would give him fifty thousand, +he could go with Julia anywhere. He would be +free. But again the inward prompting, sure and +imperative, said no. He wanted the girl above +all things. But he wanted land, too. His was +the large and confident greed of youth. And he +could have the girl without making this concession. +MacDougall wanted to take the best of +his land and push him out of the game as a weakling, +a negligible. He wouldn’t submit. He +would fight, and in his own way. What he +wanted now was to end the interview, to get away +from this battering, formidable opponent. He +rose.</p> + +<p><q>I will think it over, Mr. MacDougall,</q> he +said. <q>And meantime, if you will send me an +offer in writing, I will appreciate it.</q></p> + +<p>Some of the affability faded from MacDougall’s +face as he too rose, and the worried +look in his little grey eyes intensified, as though +he sensed the fact that this was an evasion. +None-the-less he said good-bye cordially and +promised to write the letter.</p> +<pb n="125"/><anchor id="Pg125"/> + +<p>Ramon went back to his office, his mind stimulated, +working intensely. Never before had he +thought so clearly and purposefully. He got +out an old government map of Arriba County, +and with the aid of the deeds in the safe which +contained all his uncle’s important papers, he +managed to mark off his holdings. The whole +situation became as clear to him as a checker +game. He owned a bit of land in the valley +which ran all the way across it, and far out upon +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> +in a long narrow strip. That was the +way land holdings were always divided under the +Spanish law—into strips a few hundred feet wide, +and sometimes as much as fourteen miles long. +This strip would in all probability be vital to +the proposed right-of-way. It explained MacDougall’s +eagerness to take him as a partner or +else to buy him out. By holding it, he would +hold the key to the situation.</p> + +<p>In order really to dominate the country and +to make his property grow in value he would have +to own more of the valley. And he could not +get money enough to buy except very slowly. +But he could use his influence with the natives to +prevent MacDougall from buying. MacDougall +was a gringo. The Mexicans hated him. He +had been shot at. Ramon could <q>preach the race +issue,</q> as the politicians put it.</p> + +<p>The important thing was to strengthen and +<pb n="126"/><anchor id="Pg126"/> +assert his influence as a Mexican and a Delcasar. +He must go to Arriba County, open the old ranch +house he owned there, go among the people. He +must gain a real ascendency. He knew how to +do it. It was his birthright. He was full of +fight and ambition, confident, elated. The way +was clear before him. Tomorrow he would go +to Julia.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC17" type="chapter"> +<pb n="127"/><anchor id="Pg127"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XVII</hi> +</head> + +<p>He had received a note of sympathy from her +soon after his uncle’s death and he had called at +the Roths’ once, but had found several other +callers there and no opportunity of being alone +with her. Then she had gone away on a two-weeks, +automobile trip to the Mesa Verde +National Park, so that he had seen practically +nothing of her. But all of this time he had been +thinking of her more confidently than ever before. +He was rich now, he was strong. All of the +preliminaries had been finished. He could go +to her and claim her.</p> + +<p>He called her on the telephone from his +office, and the Mexican maid answered. She +would see if Miss Roth was in. After a long +wait she reported that Miss Roth was out. He +tried again that day, and a third time the next +morning with a like result.</p> + +<p>This filled him with anxious, angry bewilderment. +He felt sure she had not really been out +all three times. Were her mother and brother +keeping his message from her? Or had something +turned her against him? He remembered +with a keen pang of anxiety, for the first time, +<pb n="128"/><anchor id="Pg128"/> +the insinuations of Father Lugaria. Could that +miserable rumour have reached her? He had no +idea how she would have taken it if it had. He +really did not know or understand this girl at +all; he merely loved her and desired her with a +desire which had become the ruling necessity of +his life. To him she was a being of a different +sort, from a different world—a mystery. They +had nothing in common but a rebellious discontent +with life, and this glamorous bewildering +thing, so much stronger than they, so far +beyond their comprehension, which they called +their love.</p> + +<p>That was the one thing he knew and counted +on. He knew how imperiously it drove him, and +he knew that she had felt its power too. He had +seen it shine in her eyes, part her lips; he had +heard it in her voice, and felt it tremble in her +body. If only he could get to her this potent +thing would carry them to its purpose through +all barriers.</p> + +<p>Angry and resolute, he set himself to a systematic +campaign of telephoning. At last she +answered. Her voice was level, quiet, weary.</p> + +<p><q>But I have an engagement for tonight,</q> she +told him.</p> + +<p><q>Then let me come tomorrow,</q> he urged.</p> + +<p><q>No; I can’t do that. Mother is having some +people to dinner.…</q></p> +<pb n="129"/><anchor id="Pg129"/> + +<p>At last he begged her to set a date, but she refused, +declared that her plans were unfixed, told +him to call <q>some other time.</q></p> + +<p>His touchy pride rebelled now. He cursed +these gringos. He hated them. He wished +for the power to leave her alone, to humble her +by neglect. But he knew that he did have it. +Instead he waited a few days and then drove to +the house in his car, having first carefully ascertained +by watching that she was at home.</p> + +<p>All three of them received him in their sitting +room, which they called the library. It was an +attractive room, sunny and tastefully furnished, +with a couple of book cases filled with new-looking +books in sets, a silver tea service on a little +wheeled table, flowers that matched the wall +paper, and a heavy mahogany table strewn with +a not-too-disorderly array of magazines and +paper knives. It was the envy of the local women +with social aspirations because it looked elegant +and yet comfortable.</p> + +<p>Conversation was slow and painful. Mrs. +Roth and her son were icily formal, confining +themselves to the most commonplace remarks. +And Julia did not help him, as she had on his +first visit. She looked pale and tired and carefully +avoided his eyes.</p> + +<p>When he had been there about half an hour, +Mrs. Roth turned to her daughter.</p> +<pb n="130"/><anchor id="Pg130"/> + +<p><q>Julia,</q> she said, <q>If we are going to get to +Mrs. MacDougall’s at half-past four you must +go and get ready. You will excuse her, won’t you +Mr. Delcasar?</q></p> + +<p>The girl obediently went up stairs without +shaking hands, and a few minutes later Ramon +went away, feeling more of misery and less of +self-confidence than ever before in his life.</p> + +<p>He almost wholly neglected his work. Cortez +brought him a report that MacDougall had a +new agent, who was working actively in Arriba +County, but he paid no attention to it. His +life seemed to have lost purpose and interest. +For the first time he doubted her love. For the +first time he really feared that he would lose her.</p> + +<p>Most of his leisure was spent riding or walking +about the streets, in the hope of catching a glimpse +of her. He passed her house as often as he +dared, and studied her movements. When he +saw her in the distance he felt an acute thrill of +mingled hope and misery. Only once did he meet +her fairly, walking with her brother, and then +she either failed to see him or pretended not to.</p> + +<p>One afternoon about five o’clock he left his +office and started home in his car. A storm was +piling up rapidly in big black clouds that rose +from behind the eastern mountains like giants +peering from ambush. It was sultry; there were +loud peals of thunder and long crooked flashes of +<pb n="131"/><anchor id="Pg131"/> +lightning. At this season of late summer the +weather staged such a portentous display almost +every afternoon, and it rained heavily in the +mountains; but the showers only reached the +thirsty <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> and +valley lands about one day in +four.</p> + +<p>Ramon drove home slowly, gloomily wondering +whether it would rain and hoping that it +would. A Southwesterner is always hoping for +rain, and in his present mood the rush and beat of +a storm would have been especially welcome.</p> + +<p>His hopes were soon fulfilled. There was a +cold blast of wind, carrying a few big drops, and +then a sudden, drumming downpour that tore up +the dust of the street and swiftly converted it +into a sea of mud cut by yellow rivulets.</p> + +<p>As his car roared down the empty street, he +glimpsed a woman standing in the shelter of a big +cottonwood tree, cowering against its trunk. A +quick thrill shot through his body. He jammed +down the brake so suddenly that his car skidded +and sloughed around. He carefully turned and +brought up at the curb.</p> + +<p>She started at sight of him as he ran across the +side-walk toward her.</p> + +<p><q>Come on quick!</q> he commanded, taking her +by the arm, <q>I’ll get you home.</q> Before she +had time to say anything he had her in the car, +and they were driving toward the Roth house. +<pb n="132"/><anchor id="Pg132"/> +By the time they had reached it the first strength +of the shower was spent, and there was only a +light scattering rain with a rift showing in the +clouds over the mountains.</p> + +<p>He deliberately passed the house, putting on +more speed as he did so.</p> + +<p><q>But … I thought you were going to take me +home,</q> she said, putting a hand on his arm.</p> + +<p><q>I’m not,</q> he announced, without looking +around. His hands and eyes were fully occupied +with his driving, but a great suspense held his +breath. The hand left his arm, and he heard her +settle back in her seat with a sigh. A great +warm wave of joy surged through him.</p> + +<p>He took the mountain road, which was a short +cut between Old Town and the mountains, +seldom used except by wood wagons. Within +ten minutes they were speeding across the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>. +The rain was over and the clouds running across +the sky in tatters before a fresh west wind. Before +them the rolling grey-green waste of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, spotted +and veined with silver waters, +reached to the blue rim of the mountains—empty +and free as an undiscovered world.</p> + +<p>He slowed his car to ten miles an hour and +leaned back, steering with one hand. The other +fell upon hers, and closed over it. For a time +they drove along in silence, conscious only of that +<pb n="133"/><anchor id="Pg133"/> +electrical contact, and of the wind playing in their +faces and the soft rhythmical hum of the great +engine.</p> + +<p>At the crest of a rise he stopped the car and +stood up, looking all about at the vast quiet wilderness, +filling his lungs with air. He liked that +serene emptiness. He had always felt at peace +with these still desolate lands that had been the +background of most of his life. Now, with the +consciousness of the woman beside him, they filled +him with a sort of rapture, an ecstasy of reverence +that had come down to him perhaps from +savage forebears who had worshipped the Earth +Mother with love and awe.</p> + +<p>He dropped down beside her again and without +hesitation gathered her into his arms. After +a moment he held her a little away from him and +looked into her eyes.</p> + +<p><q>Why wouldn’t you let me come to see you? +Why did you treat me that way?</q> he plead.</p> + +<p>She dropped her eyes.</p> + +<p><q>They made me.</q></p> + +<p><q>But why? Because I’m a Mexican? And +does that make any difference to you?</q></p> + +<p><q>O, I can’t tell you.… They say awful +things about you. I don’t believe them. No; +nothing about you makes any difference to me.</q></p> + +<p>He held her close again.</p> +<pb n="134"/><anchor id="Pg134"/> + +<p><q>Then you’ll go away with me?</q></p> + +<p><q>Yes,</q> she answered slowly, nodding her head. +<q>I’ll go anywhere with you.</q></p> + +<p><q>Now!</q> he demanded. <q>Will you go now? +We can drive through Scissors Pass to Abol on +the Southeastern and take a train to Denver.…</q></p> + +<p><q>O, no, not now,</q> she plead. <q>Please not +now.… I can’t go like this.…</q></p> + +<p><q>Yes; now,</q> he urged. <q>We’ll never have a +better chance.…</q></p> + +<p><q>I beg you, if you love me, don’t make me go +now. I must think … and get ready.… Why +I haven’t even got any powder for my nose.</q></p> + +<p>They both laughed. The tension was broken. +They were happy.</p> + +<p><q>Give me a little while to get ready,</q> she +proposed, <q>and I’ll go when you say.</q></p> + +<p><q>You promise?</q></p> + +<p><q>Cross my heart.… On my life and honour. +Please take me home now, so they won’t suspect +anything. If only nobody sees us! Please hurry. +It’ll be dark pretty soon. You can write to me. +It’s so lonely out here!</q></p> + +<p>He turned his car and drove slowly townward, +his free hand seeking hers again. It was dusk +when they reached the streets. Stopping his car +in the shadow of a tree, he kissed her and helped +her out.</p> + +<p>He sat still and watched her out of sight. A +<pb n="135"/><anchor id="Pg135"/> +tinge of sadness and regret crept into his mind, +and as he drove homeward it grew into an active +discontent with himself. Why had he let her +go? True, he had proved her love, but now she +was to be captured all over again. He ought to +have taken her. He had been a fool. She +would have gone. She had begged him not to +take her, but if he had insisted, she would have +gone. He had been a fool!</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC18" type="chapter"> +<pb n="136"/><anchor id="Pg136"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XVIII</hi> +</head> + +<p>The second morning after this ride, while he +was labouring over a note to the girl, he was +amazed to get one from her postmarked at +Lorietta, a station a hundred miles north of town +at the foot of the Mora Mountains, in which +many of the town people spent their summer vacations. +It was a small square missive, exhaling a +faint scent of lavender, and was simple and direct +as a telegram.</p> + +<p><q>We have gone to the Valley Ranch for a +month,</q> she wrote. <q>We had not intended to go +until August, but there was a sudden change of +plans. Somebody saw you and me yesterday. I +had an awful time. Please don’t try to see me +or write to me while we’re here. It will be best +for us. I’ll be back soon. I love you.</q></p> + +<p>He sat glumly thinking over this letter for a +long time. The disappointment of learning that +he would not see her for a month was bad enough, +but it was not the worst thing about this +sudden development. For this made him realize +what alert and active opposition he faced on the +part of her mother and brother. Their dislike +for him had been made manifest again and again, +<pb n="137"/><anchor id="Pg137"/> +but he had supposed that Julia was successfully +deceiving them as to his true relations with her. +He had thought that he was regarded merely as +an undesirable acquaintance; but if they were +changing their plans because of him, taking the +girl out of his reach, they must have guessed the +true state of affairs. And for all that he knew, +they might leave the country at any time. His +heart seemed to give a sharp twist in his body at +this thought. He must take her as soon as she +returned to town. He could not afford to miss +another chance. And meantime his affairs must +be gotten in order.</p> + +<p>He had been neglecting his new responsibilities, +and there was an astonishing number of things to +be done—debts to be paid, tax assessments to be +protested, men to be hired for the sheep-shearing. +His uncle had left his affairs at loose ends, and on +all hands were men bent on taking advantage of +the fact. But he knew the law; he had known +from childhood the business of raising sheep on +the open range which was the backbone of his +fortune; and he was held in a straight course by +the determination to keep his resources together +so that they would strengthen him in his purpose.</p> + +<p>A few weeks before, he had sent Cortez to +Arriba County to attend to some minor matters +there, and incidentally to learn if possible what +MacDougall was doing. Cortez had spent a +<pb n="138"/><anchor id="Pg138"/> +large part of his time talking with the Mexicans +in the San Antonio Valley, eavesdropping on conversations +in little country stores, making friends, +and asking discreet questions at +<hi rend="font-style: italic">bailes</hi> and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">fiestas</hi>.</p> + +<p><q>Well; how goes it up there?</q> Ramon asked +him when he came to the office to make his report.</p> + +<p><q>It looks bad enough,</q> Cortez replied lighting +with evident satisfaction the big cigar his patron +had given him. <q>MacDougall has men working +there all the time. He bought a small ranch on +the edge of the valley just the other day. He is +not making very fast progress, but he’ll own the +valley in time if we don’t stop him.</q></p> + +<p><q>But who is doing the work? Who is his +agent?</q> Ramon enquired.</p> + +<p><q>Old Solomon Alfego, for one. He’s boss of +the county, you know. He hates a gringo as +much as any man alive, but he loves a dollar, too, +and MacDougall has bought him, I’m afraid. I +think MacDougall is lending money through him, +getting mortgages on ranches that way.</q></p> + +<p><q>Well; what do you think we had better do?</q> +Ramon enquired. The situation looked bad +on its face, but he could see that Cortez had a +plan.</p> + +<p><q>Just one thing I thought of,</q> the little man +answered slowly. <q>We have got to get Alfego +on our side. If we can do that, we can keep out +MacDougall and everybody else … buy when +<pb n="139"/><anchor id="Pg139"/> +we get ready. We couldn’t pay Alfego much, +but we could let him in on the railroad deal … +something MacDougall won’t do. And Alfego, +you know, is a <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi>. +He’s <hi rend="font-style: italic">hermano mayor</hi> +(chief brother) up there. And all those little +<hi rend="font-style: italic">rancheros</hi> are +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>. It’s the strongest +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> county +in the State, and you know none +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> +like gringos. None of those +fellows like MacDougall; they’re all afraid of +him. All they like is his money. You haven’t so +much money, but you could spend some. You +could give a few <hi rend="font-style: italic">bailes</hi>. +You are Mexican; your +family is well-known. If you were a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi>, +too.…</q></p> + +<p>Cortez left his sentence hanging in the air. +He nodded his head slowly, his cigar cocked at a +knowing angle, looking at Ramon through narrowed +lids.</p> + +<p>Ramon sat looking straight before him for a +moment. He saw in imagination a procession of +men trudging half-naked in the raw March +weather, their backs gashed so that blood ran +down to their heels, beating themselves and each +other.… The <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>! +Other men, even +gringos, had risen to power by joining the order. +Why not he? It would give him just the prestige +and standing he needed in that country. He +would lose a little blood. He would win … +everything!</p> +<pb n="140"/><anchor id="Pg140"/> + +<p><q>You are right, <hi rend="font-style: italic">amigo</hi>,</q> +he told Cortez. <q>But +do you think it can be arranged?</q></p> + +<p><q>I have talked to Alfego about it,</q> Cortez +admitted. <q>I think it can be arranged.</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC19" type="chapter"> +<pb n="141"/><anchor id="Pg141"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XIX</hi> +</head> + +<p>He was all ready to leave for Arriba County +when one more black mischance came to bedevil +him. Cortez came into the office with a worried +look in his usually unrevealing eyes.</p> + +<p><q>There’s a woman in town looking for you,</q> +he announced. <q>A Mexican girl from the +country. She was asking everybody she met +where to find you. You ought to be more +careful. I took her to my house and promised I +would bring you right away.</q></p> + +<p>Cortez lived in a little square box of a brick +cottage, which he had been buying slowly for the +past ten years and would probably never own. +In its parlour, gaudy with cheap, new furniture, +Ramon confronted Catalina Archulera. She was +clad in a dirty calico dress, and her shoes were +covered with the dust of long tramping, as was +the black shawl about her head and shoulders. +Once he had thought her pretty, but now she +looked to him about as attractive as a clod of +earth.</p> + +<p>She stood before him with downcast eyes, +speechless with misery and embarassment. At +first he was utterly puzzled as to what could have +<pb n="142"/><anchor id="Pg142"/> +brought her there. Then with a queer mixture +of anger and pity and disgust, he noticed the +swollen bulk of her healthy young body.</p> + +<p><q>Catalina! Why did you come here?</q> he +blurted, all his self-possession gone for a moment.</p> + +<p><q>My father sent me,</q> she replied, as simply as +though that were an all-sufficient explanation.</p> + +<p><q>But why did you tell him … it was I? +Why didn’t you come to me first?</q></p> + +<p><q>He made me tell,</q> Catalina rolled back her +sleeve and showed some blue bruises. <q>He beat +me,</q> she explained without emotion.</p> + +<p><q>What did he tell you to say?</q></p> + +<p><q>He told me to come to you and show you how +I am.… That is all.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon swore aloud with a break in his voice. +For a long moment he stood looking at her, bewildered, +disgusted. It somehow seemed to him +utterly wrong, utterly unfair that this thing should +have happened, and above all that it should have +happened now. He had taken other girls, as had +every other man, but never before had any such +hard luck as this befallen him. And now, of +all times!</p> + +<p>In Catalina he felt not the faintest interest. +Before him was the proof that once he had desired +her. Now that desire had vanished as completely +as his childhood.</p> + +<p>And she was Archulera’s daughter. That was +<pb n="143"/><anchor id="Pg143"/> +the hell of it! Archulera was the one man of all +men whom he could least afford to offend. And +he knew just how hard to appease the old man +would be. For among the Mexicans, seduction +is a crime which, in theory and often in practice, +can be atoned only by marriage or by the shedding +of blood. Marriage is the door to freedom for +the women, but virginity is a thing greatly revered +and carefully guarded. The unmarried girl is +always watched, often locked up, and he who +appropriates her to his own purpose is violating +a sacred right and offending her whole family.</p> + +<p>In the towns, all this has been somewhat +changed, as the customs of any country suffer +change in towns. But old Archulera, living in +his lonely canyon, proud of his high lineage, +would be the hardest of men to appease. And +meantime, what was to be done with the girl?</p> + +<p>It was this problem which brought his wits +back to him. A plan began to form in his mind. +He saw that in sending her to him Archulera had +really played into his hands. The important +thing now was to keep her away from her father. +He looked at her again, and the pity which he +always felt for weaklings welled up in him. He +knew many Mexican ranches in the valley where +he could keep her in comfort for a small amount. +That would serve a double purpose. The old +man would be kept in ignorance as to what Ramon +<pb n="144"/><anchor id="Pg144"/> +intended, and the girl would be saved from +<corr sic="furthur"><anchor id="E8"/> +<ref target="e8">further</ref></corr> +punishment. Meantime, he could send +Cortez to see Archulera and find out what money +would do.</p> + +<p>The whole affair was big with potential damage +to him. Some of his enemies might find out +about it and make a scandal. Archulera might +come around in an ugly mood and make trouble. +The girl might run away and come to town again. +And yet, now that he had a plan, he was all +confidence.</p> + +<p>Cortez kept Catalina at his house while Ramon +drove forty miles up the valley and made arrangements +with a Mexican who lived in an isolated +place, to care for her for an indefinite period. +When he took Catalina there, he told her on the +way simply that she was to wait until he came for +her, and above all, that she must not try to communicate +with her father. The girl nodded, +looking at him gravely with her large soft eyes. +Her lot had always been to obey, to bear burdens +and to suffer. The stuff of rebellion and of self-assertion +was not in her, but she could endure misfortune +with the stoical indifference of a savage. +Indeed, she was in all essentials simply a squaw. +During the ride to her new home she seemed more +interested in the novel sensation of travelling at +thirty miles an hour than in her own future. She +clung to the side of the car with both hands, and +<pb n="145"/><anchor id="Pg145"/> +her face reflected a pathetic mingling of fear and +delight.</p> + +<p>The house of Nestor Gomez to which Ramon +took her was prettily set in a grove of cottonwoods, +with white hollyhocks blooming on either +side of the door, and strings of red chile hanging +from the rafter-ends to dry. Half a dozen +small children played about the door, the younger +ones naked and all of them deep in dirt. A hen +led her brood of chicks into the house on a foray +for crumbs, and in the shade of the wall a mongrel +bitch luxuriously gave teat to four pups. Bees +humming about the hollyhocks bathed the scene +in sleepy sound.</p> + +<p>Catalina, utterly unembarassed, shook hands +with her host and hostess in the limp, brief way +of the Mexicans, and then, while Ramon talked +with them, sat down in the shade, shook loose +her heavy black hair and began to comb it. A +little half-naked urchin of three years came and +stood before her. She stopped combing to place +her hands on his shoulders, and the two regarded +each other long and intently, while Catalina’s +mouth framed a smile of dull wonder.</p> + +<p>As Ramon drove back to town, he marvelled +that he should ever have desired this clod of a +woman; but he was grateful to her for the bovine +calm with which she accepted things. He would +visit her once in a while. He felt pretty sure +<pb n="146"/><anchor id="Pg146"/> +that he could count on her not to make trouble.</p> + +<p>Afterward he discussed the situation with +Cortez. The latter was worried.</p> + +<p><q>You better look out,</q> he counselled. <q>You +better send him a message you are going to marry +her. That will keep him quiet for a while. +When he gets over being mad, maybe you can +make him take a thousand dollars instead.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon shook his head. If he gave Archulera +to understand that he would marry the girl, word +of it might get to town.</p> + +<p><q>He’ll never find her,</q> he said confidently. +<q>I’ll do nothing unless he comes to me.</q></p> + +<p><q>I don’t know,</q> Cortez replied doubtfully. +<q>Is he a <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi>?</q></p> + +<p><q>Yes; I think he is,</q> Ramon admitted.</p> + +<p><q>Then maybe he’ll find her pretty quick. +There are some <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> +still in the valley and +all <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> +work together. You better look +out.</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC20" type="chapter"> +<pb n="147"/><anchor id="Pg147"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XX</hi> +</head> + +<p>He had resolutely put the thought of Julia as +much out of his mind as possible. He had +conquered his disappointment at not being able to +see her for a month, and had resolved to devote +that month exclusively to hard work. And now +came another one of those small, square, brief +letters with its disturbing scent of lavender, and +its stamp stuck upside down near the middle of +the envelope.</p> + +<p><q>I will be in town tomorrow when you get +this,</q> she wrote, <q>But only for a day or two. We +are going to move up to the capital for the rest of +the year. Gordon is going to stay here now. +Just mother and I are coming down to pack up +our things. You can come and see me tomorrow +evening.</q></p> + +<p>It was astonishing, it was disturbing, it was +incomprehensible. And it did not fit in with his +plans. He had intended to go North and return +before she did; then, with all his affairs in order, +ask her to go away with him. Cortez had +already sent word to Alfego that Ramon was +coming to Arriba County. He could not afford +a change of plans now. But the prospect of +<pb n="148"/><anchor id="Pg148"/> +seeing her again filled him with pleasure, sent a +sort of weakening excitement tingling through +his body.</p> + +<p>And what did it mean that he was to be allowed +to call on her? Had she, by any chance, won +over her mother and brother? No; he couldn’t +believe it. But he went to her house that evening +shaken by great hopes and anticipations.</p> + +<p>She wore a black dress that left her shoulders +bare, and set off the slim perfection of her little +figure. Her face was flushed and her eyes were +deep. How much more beautiful she was than +the image he carried in his mind! He had been +thinking of her all this while, and yet he had forgotten +how beautiful she was. He could think +of nothing to say at first, but held her by both +hands and looked at her with eyes of wonder +and desire. He felt a fool because his knees were +weak and he was tremulous. But a happy fool! +The touch and the sight of her seemed to dissolve +his strength, and also the hardness and the bitterness +that life had bred in him, the streak of +animal ferocity that struggle brought out in him. +He was all desire, but desire bathed in tenderness +and hope. She made him feel as once long ago +he had felt in church when the music and the +pageantry and sweet odours of the place had filled +his childish spirit with a strange sense of harmony. +He had felt small and unworthy, yet happy and +<pb n="149"/><anchor id="Pg149"/> +forgiven. So now he felt in her presence that he +was black and bestial beside her, but that possession +of her would somehow wash him clean and +bring him peace.</p> + +<p>When he tried to draw her to him she shook +her head, not meeting his eyes and freed herself +gently.</p> + +<p><q>No, no. I must tell you.…</q> She led +him to a seat, and went on, looking down at a toe +that played with a design in the carpet. <q>I must +explain. I promised mother that if she would +let me see you this once to tell you, I would never +try to see you again.</q></p> + +<p>There was a long silence, during which he +could feel his heart pounding and could see that +she breathed quickly. Then suddenly he took her +face in both hot hands and turned it toward him, +made her meet his eyes.</p> + +<p><q>But of course you didn’t mean that,</q> he said.</p> + +<p>She struggled weakly against his strength.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know. I thought I did.… It’s terrible. +You know… I wrote you … some +one saw us together. Gordon and mother found +out about it. I won’t tell you all that they said, +but it was awful. It made me angry, and they +found out that I love you. It had a terrible effect +on Gordon. It made him worse. I can’t tell you +how awful it is for me. I love you. But I love +him too. And to think I’m hurting him when +<pb n="150"/><anchor id="Pg150"/> +he’s sick, when I’ve lived in the hope he would get +well.…</q></p> + +<p>She was breathing hard now. Her eyes were +bright with tears. All her defences were down, +her fine dignity vanished. When he took her in +his arms she struggled a little at first; then yielded +with closed eyes to his hot kisses.</p> + +<p>Afterward they talked a little, but not to much +purpose. He had important things to tell her, +they had plans to make. But their great disturbing +hunger for each other would not let them +think of anything else. Their conversation was +always interrupted by hot confusing embraces.</p> + +<p>The clock struck eleven, and she jumped up.</p> + +<p><q>I promised to make you go home at eleven,</q> +she told him.</p> + +<p><q>But I must tell you … I have to leave town +for a while.</q> He found his tongue suddenly. +Briefly he outlined the situation he faced with +regard to his estate. Of course, he said nothing +about the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>, +but he made her understand +that he was going forth to fight for both their +fortunes.</p> + +<p><q>I can’t do it, I won’t go, unless I know I am +to have you,</q> he finished. <q>Everything I have +done, everything I am going to do is for you. If +I lose you I lose everything. You promise to go +with me?</q></p> + +<p>His eyes were burning with earnestness, and +<pb n="151"/><anchor id="Pg151"/> +hers were wide with admiration. He did not +really understand her, nor she him. Unalterable +differences of race and tradition and temperament +stood between them. They had little in common +save a great primitive hunger. But that, none-the-less, +for the moment genuinely transfigured +and united them.</p> + +<p>She drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p><q>Yes. You must promise not to try to see me +until then. When you are ready, let me know.</q></p> + +<p>She threw back her head, opening her arms to +him. For a moment she hung limp in his embrace; +then pushed him away and ran upstairs, +leaving him to find his way out alone.</p> + +<p>He walked home slowly, trying to straighten +out his thoughts. Her presence seemed still to +be all about him. One of her hairs was tangled +about a button of his coat; her powder and the +scent of her were all over his shoulder; the recollection +of her kisses smarted sweetly on his +mouth. He was weak, confused, ridiculously +happy. But he knew that he would carry North +with him greater courage and purpose than ever +before he had known.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC21" type="chapter"> +<pb n="152"/><anchor id="Pg152"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXI</hi> +</head> + +<p>In the dry clean air of the Southwest all things +change slowly. Growth is slow and decay is even +slower. The body of a dead horse in the desert +does not rot but dessicates, the hide remaining +intact for months, the bones perhaps for years. +Men and beasts often live to great age. The +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pinon</hi> trees on +the red hills were there when the +conquerors came, and they are not much larger +now—only more gnarled and twisted.</p> + +<p>This strange inertia seems to possess institutions +and customs as well as life itself. In the +valley towns, it is true, the railroads have brought +and thrown down all the conveniences and incongruities +of civilization. But ride away from the +railroads into the mountains or among the lava +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesas</hi>, and you +are riding into the past. You +will see little earthen towns, brown or golden or +red in the sunlight, according to the soil that bore +them, which have not changed in a century. You +will see grain threshed by herds of goats and +ponies driven around and around the threshing +floors, as men threshed grain before the Bible was +written. You will see Indian pueblos which have +not changed materially since the brave days when +<pb n="153"/><anchor id="Pg153"/> +Coronado came to Taos and the Spanish soldiers +stormed the heights of Acoma. You will hear +of strange Gods and devils and of the evil eye. +It is almost as though this crystalline air were +indeed a great clear crystal, impervious to time, +in which the past is forever encysted.</p> + +<p>The region in which Ramon’s heritage lay was +a typical part of this forgotten land. In the +southern end of the Rocky Mountains, it was a +country of great tilted +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesas</hi> reaching above +timber line, covered for the most part with heavy +forests of pine and fir, with here and there great +upland pastures swept clean by forest fires of +long ago. Along the lower slopes of the mountains, +where the valleys widened, were primitive +little <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> +towns, in which the Mexicans lived, +each owning a few acres of tillable land. In the +summer they followed their sheep herds in the +upland pastures. There were not a hundred +white men in the whole of Arriba County, and no +railroad touched it.</p> + +<p>In this region a few Mexicans who were +shrewder or stronger than the others, who owned +stores or land, dominated the rest of the people +much as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">patrones</hi> +had dominated them in the +days before the Mexican War. Here still +flourished the hatred for the gringo which culminated +in that war. Here that strange sect, the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes hermanos</hi>, +half savage and half mediaeval, +<pb n="154"/><anchor id="Pg154"/> +still was strong and still recruited its +strength every year with young men, who elsewhere +were refusing to undergo its brutal tortures.</p> + +<p>For all of these reasons, this was an advantageous +field for the fight Ramon proposed to +make. In the valley MacDougall’s money and +influence would surely have beaten him. But +here he could play upon the ancient hatred for the +gringo; here he could use to the best advantage the +prestige of his family; here, above all, if he could +win over the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>, +he could do almost anything +he pleased.</p> + +<p>His plan of joining that ancient order to gain +influence was not an original one. Mexican +politicians and perhaps one or two gringos had +done it, and the fact was a matter of common +gossip. Some of these <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> +for a purpose +had been men of great influence, and their initiations +had been tempered to suit their sensitive +skins. Others had been Mexicans of the poorer +sort, capable of sharing the half-fanatic, half sadistic +spirit of the thing.</p> + +<p>Ramon came to the order as a young and almost +unknown man seeking its aid. He could not hope +for much mercy. And though he was primitive +in many ways, there was nothing in him that +responded to the spirit of this ordeal. The +thought of Christ crucified did not inspire him to +endure suffering. But the thought of a girl with +yellow hair did.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC22" type="chapter"> +<pb n="155"/><anchor id="Pg155"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXII</hi> +</head> + +<p>Ramon went first to the ranch at the foot of +the mountains which his uncle had used as a headquarters, +and which had belonged to the family +for about half a century. It consisted merely +of an <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> ranch house +and barn and a log corral +for rounding up horses.</p> + +<p>Here Ramon left his machine. Here also he +exchanged his business suit for corduroys, a wide +hat and high-heeled riding boots. He greatly +fancied himself in this costume and he embellished +it with a silk bandana of bright scarlet and with +a large pair of silver spurs which had belonged +to his uncle, and which he found in the saddle +room of the barn. From the accoutrement in +this room he also selected the most pretentious-looking +saddle. It was a heavy stock saddle, +with German silver mountings and saddle bags +covered with black bear fur. A small red and +black Navajo blanket served as a saddle pad and +he found a fine Navajo bridle, too, woven of +black horsehair, with a big hand-hammered silver +buckle on each cheek.</p> + +<p>He had the old Mexican who acted as caretaker +for the ranch drive all of the ranch horses into +<pb n="156"/><anchor id="Pg156"/> +the corral, and chose a spirited roan mare for a +saddle animal. He always rode a roan horse +when he could get one because a roan mustang +has more spirit than one of any other colour.</p> + +<p>The most modern part of his equipment was +his weapon. He did not want to carry one +openly, so he had purchased a small but highly +efficient automatic pistol, which he wore in a +shoulder scabbard inside his shirt and under his +left elbow.</p> + +<p>When his preparations were completed he +rode straight to the town of Alfego where the +powerful Solomon had his establishment, dismounted +under the big cottonwoods and strolled +into the long, dark cluttered +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> room which +was Solomon Alfego’s store. Three or four Mexican +clerks were waiting upon as many Mexican +customers, with much polite, low-voiced conversation, +punctuated by long silences while the customers +turned the goods over and over in their +hands. Ramon’s entrance created a slight diversion. +None of them knew him, for he had not +been in that country for years, but all of them +recognized that he was a person of weight and +importance. He saluted all at once, lifting his +hat, with a cordial <q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Como +lo va, amigos</hi>,</q> and +then devoted himself to an apparently interested +inspection of the stock. This, if conscientiously +<pb n="157"/><anchor id="Pg157"/> +done, would have afforded a week’s occupation, +for Solomon Alfego served as sole merchant for +a large territory and had to be prepared to supply +almost every human want. There were shelves +of dry goods and of hardware, of tobacco and of +medicines. In the centre of the store was +a long rack, heavily laden with saddlery and +harness of all kinds, and all around the top of the +room, above the shelves, ran a row of religious +pictures, including popes, saints, and cardinals, +Mary with the infant, Christ crucified and Christ +bearing the cross, all done in bright colours and +framed, for sale at about three dollars each.</p> + +<p>It was not long before word of the stranger’s +arrival reached Alfego in his little office behind +the store, and he came bustling out, beaming and +polite.</p> + +<p><q>This is Senor Solomon Alfego?</q> Ramon +enquired in his most formal Spanish.</p> + +<p><q>I am Solomon Alfego,</q> replied the bulky little +man, with a low bow, <q>and what can I do for the +Senor?</q></p> + +<p><q>I am Ramon Delcasar,</q> Ramon replied, extending +his hand with a smile, <q>and it may be that +you can do much for me.</q></p> + +<p><q>Ah-h-h!</q> breathed Alfego, with another bow, +<q>Ramon Delcasar! And I knew you when you +were <hi rend="font-style: italic">un muchachito</hi></q> +(a little boy). He bent +<pb n="158"/><anchor id="Pg158"/> +over and measured scant two feet from the floor +with his hand. <q>My house is yours. I am at +your service. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Siempre!</hi></q></p> + +<p>The two strolled about the store, talking of +the weather, politics, business, the old days—everything +except what they were both thinking +about. Alfego opened a box of cigars, and having +lit a couple of these, they went out on the long +porch and sat down on an old buggy seat to +continue the conversation. Alfego admired +Ramon’s horse and especially his silver-mounted +saddle.</p> + +<p><q>Ha! you like the saddle!</q> Ramon exclaimed +in well-stimulated delight. He rose, swiftly undid +the cinches, and dropped saddle and blanket +at the feet of his host. <q>It is yours!</q> he announced.</p> + +<p><q>A thousand thanks,</q> Alfego replied. <q>Come; +I wish to show you some Navajo blankets I +bought the other day.</q> He led the way into the +store, and directed one of his clerks to bring forth +a great stack of the heavy Indian weaves, and +began turning them over. They were blankets +of the best quality, and some of the designs in red, +black and grey were of exceptional beauty. +Ramon stood smiling while his host turned over +one blanket after another. As he displayed each +one he turned his bright pop-eyes on Ramon with +an eager enquiring look. At last when he had +<pb n="159"/><anchor id="Pg159"/> +seen them all, Ramon permitted himself to pick up +and examine the one he considered the best with +a restrained murmur of admiration.</p> + +<p><q>You like it!</q> exclaimed Alfego with delight. +<q>It is yours!</q></p> + +<p>Mutual good feeling having thus been signalized +in the traditional Mexican manner by an exchange +of gifts, Alfego now showed his guest all +over his establishment. It included, in addition to +the store, several ware rooms where were piled +stinking bales of sheep and goat and cow hides, +sacks of raw wool and of corn, pelts of wild +animals and bags of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pinon</hi> nuts, and of beans, all +taken from the Mexicans in trade. Afterward +Ramon met the family, of patriarchal proportions, +including an astonishing number of little brown +children having the bright eyes and well developed +noses of the great Solomon. Then came supper, +a long and bountiful feast, at which great quantities +of mutton, chile, and beans were served.</p> + +<p>Having thus been duly impressed with the +greatness and substance of his host, and also with +his friendly attitude, Ramon was led into the +little office, offered a seat and a fresh cigar. He +knew that at last the proper time had come for +him to declare himself.</p> + +<p><q>My friend,</q> he said, leaning toward Alfego +confidentially, <q>I have come to this country and to +you for a great purpose. You know that a rich +<pb n="160"/><anchor id="Pg160"/> +gringo has been buying the lands of the poor +people—my people and yours—all through this +country. You know that he intends to own all of +this country—to take it away from us Mexicans. +If he succeeds, he will take away all of your +business, all of my lands. You and I must fight +him together. Am I right?</q></p> + +<p>Solomon nodded his head slowly, watching +Ramon with wide bright eyes.</p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Verdad!</hi></q> +he pronounced unctuously.</p> + +<p><q>I have come,</q> Ramon went on more boldly, +<q>because my own lands are in danger, but also +because I love the Mexican people, and hate the +gringos! Some one must go among these good +people and warn them not to sell their lands, not +to be cheated out of their birthrights. My friend, +I have come here to do that.</q></p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Bueno!</hi></q> exclaimed Alfego. +<q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Muy bueno!</hi></q></p> + +<p><q>My friend, I must have your help.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon said this as impressively as possible, and +paused expectantly, but as Alfego said nothing, he +went on, gathering his wits for the supreme effort.</p> + +<p><q>I know that you are a leader in the great +fraternity of the penitent brothers, who are the +best and most pious of men. My friend, I wish +to become one of them. I wish to mingle my +blood with theirs and with the blood of Christ, +that all of us may be united in our great purpose +<pb n="161"/><anchor id="Pg161"/> +to keep this country for the Spanish people, who +conquered it from the barbarians.</q></p> + +<p>Alfego looked very grave, puffed his cigar +violently three times and spat before he answered.</p> + +<p><q>My young friend,</q> (he spoke slowly and +solemnly) <q>to pour out your blood in penance and +to consecrate your body to Christ is a great thing +to do. Have you meditated deeply upon this +step? Are you sure the Lord Jesus has called you +to his service? And what assurance have I that +you are sincere in all you say, that if I make you +my brother in the blood of Christ, you will truly +be as a brother to me?</q></p> + +<p>Ramon bowed his head.</p> + +<p><q>I have thought long on this,</q> he said softly, +<q>and I know my heart. I desire to be a blood +brother to all these, my people. And to you—I +give you my word as a Delcasar that I will +serve you well, that I will be as a brother to you.</q></p> + +<p>There was a silence during which Alfego stared +with profound gravity at the ash on the end of +his cigar.</p> + +<p><q>Have you heard,</q> Ramon went on, in the +same soft and emotional tone of voice, <q>that the +Denver and Rio Grande Railroad is going to +build a line through the San Antonio Valley?</q></p> + +<p>Alfego, without altering his look of rapt meditation, +nodded his head slowly.</p> +<pb n="162"/><anchor id="Pg162"/> + +<p><q>Do you suppose that you will gain anything +by that, if this gringo gets these lands?</q> Ramon +went on. <q>You know that you will not. But I +will make you my partner. And I will give you +the option on any of my mountain land that you +may wish to rent for sheep range. More than +that, I will make you a written agreement to do +these things. In all ways we will be as brothers.</q></p> + +<p><q>You are a worthy and pious young man!</q> +exclaimed Solomon Alfego, rolling his eyes upward, +his voice vibrant with emotion. <q>You +shall be my brother in the blood of Christ.</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC23" type="chapter"> +<pb n="163"/><anchor id="Pg163"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXIII</hi> +</head> + +<p>Ramon went to the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi>, the chapter house +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi>, +alone and late at night, for all +of the whippings and initiations of the order, +except those of Holy Week, are carried on in the +utmost secrecy.</p> + +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi> +stood halfway up the slope north +of the little town, at the elevation where the tall +yellow pines of the mountains begin to replace +the scrubby juniper and <hi rend="font-style: italic">pinon</hi> +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesas</hi> and +foothills. It was a cool moonlit night of late +summer. A light west wind breathed through +the trees, making the massive black shadows of +the juniper bushes faintly alive. As he toiled up +the rocky path Ramon heard the faraway yap and +yodel of a coyote, and the still more distant +answer of another one. From the valley below +came the intermittent bay of a cur, inspired by the +moon and his wild kin, and now and then the tiny +silver tinkle of a goat bell.</p> + +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi> +stood in an open space. It was +an oblong block of <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi>, +and gave forth neither +light nor sound. Ramon stopped a little way +from it in the shadow of a tree and lit a cigarette +to steady his nerves. He felt now for the first +<pb n="164"/><anchor id="Pg164"/> +time something of the mystery and terribleness of +this barbaric order which he proposed to use for +his purpose. All his life the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> had been +to him a well-known fact of life. For the past +week he had spent much of his time with the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">maestro de novios</hi> +of the local chapter, a wizened +old sheep herder, who had instructed him monotonously +in the secrets of the order, almost lulling +him to sleep with his endless mumblings of +the ritual that was written in a little leather book +a century old. He had learned that if he betrayed +the secrets of the order, he would be buried +alive with only his head sticking out of the +ground, so that the ants might eat his face. He +had been informed that if he fell ill he would be +taken to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi> +where his brothers in Christ +would pray for him, and seek to drive the devil +out of his body, and that if he died, they would +send his shoes to his family as a notice of that +event; and would bury him in consecrated +ground. Some of the things he had learned had +bored him and some had made him want to laugh, +but none of them had impressed him, as they +were intended to do, with the might and dignity +of the ancient order.</p> + +<p>He was impressed now as he stood before this +dark still house where a dozen ignorant fanatics +waited to take his blood for what was to them a +holy purpose. He knew that this +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi> was a +<pb n="165"/><anchor id="Pg165"/> +very old one. He thought of all the true penitents +who had knocked for admission at its door +and had gone through its bloody ordeal with a +zeal of madness which had enabled them to cry +loudly for blows and more blows until they fell +insensible. He tried to imagine their state of +mind, but he could not. He was of their race +and a growth of the same soil, but an alien civilization +had touched him and sundered him from +them, yet without taking him for its own. He +could only nerve himself to face this ordeal because +it would serve his one great purpose.</p> + +<p>As he stood there, a curious half-irrelevant +thought came into his mind. He knew that the +marks they would make on his back would be +permanent. He had seen the long rough scars +on the backs of sheep-herders, stripped to the +waist for the hot work of shearing. And he +wondered how he would explain these strange +scars to Julia. He imagined her discovering +them with her long dainty hands, her round white +arms. A great longing surged up in him that +seemed to weaken the very tissues of his body. +He shook himself, threw away his cigarette, went +to the heavy wooden door and knocked.</p> + +<p>Now he spoke a rigamarole in Spanish which +had been taught him by rote.</p> + +<p><q>God knocks at this mission’s door for His +clemency,</q> he called.</p> +<pb n="166"/><anchor id="Pg166"/> + +<p>From within came a deep-voiced chorus, the +first sound he had heard from the house, seeming +weirdly to be the voice of the house itself.</p> + +<p><q>Penance, penance, which seeks salvation!</q> it +chanted.</p> + +<p><q>Saint Peter will open to me the gate, bathing +me with the light, in the name of Mary, with the +seal of Jesus,</q> Ramon went on, repeating as he +had learned. <q>I ask this confraternity. Who +gives this house light?</q></p> + +<p><q>Jesus,</q> answered the chorus within.</p> + +<p><q>Who fills it with joy?</q></p> + +<p><q>Mary.</q></p> + +<p><q>Who preserves it with faith?</q></p> + +<p><q>Joseph!</q></p> + +<p>The door opened and Ramon entered the +chapel room of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi>. +It was lighted by a +single candle, which revealed dimly the rough +earthen walls, the low roof raftered with round +pine logs, the wooden benches and the altar, +covered with black cloth. This was decorated +with figures of the skull and cross-bones cut from +white cloth. A human skull stood on either side +of it, and a small wooden crucifix hung on the wall +above it. The solitary candle—an ordinary +tallow one in a tin holder—stood before this.</p> + +<p>The men were merely dark human shapes. +The light did not reveal their faces. They said +nothing to Ramon. He could scarcely believe +<pb n="167"/><anchor id="Pg167"/> +that these were the same good-natured +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pelados</hi> +he had known by day. Indeed they were not the +same, but were now merely units of this organization +which held them in bondage of fear and awe.</p> + +<p>One of them took Ramon silently by the arm +and led him through a low door into the other +room which was the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morada</hi> +proper. This +room was supposed never to be entered except by +a member of the order or by a candidate. It was +small and low as the other, furnished only with a +few benches about the wall, and lighted by a +couple of candles on a small table. A very old +and tarnished oil painting of Mary with the Babe +hung at one end of it. All the way around the +room, hanging from pegs driven into the wall, +was a row of the broad heavy braided lashes of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">amole</hi> weed, called +<hi rend="font-style: italic">disciplinas</hi>, used in Holy +Week, and of the blood-stained drawers worn on +that occasion by the flagellants.</p> + +<p>Still in complete silence Ramon was forced to +his knees by two of the men, who quickly stripped +him to the waist. Beside him stood a tall powerfully-built +Mexican with his right arm bared. In +his hand he held a triangular bit of white quartz, +cleverly chipped to a cutting edge. This man +was the <hi rend="font-style: italic">sangredor</hi>, +whose duty it was to place the +seal of the order upon the penitent’s back. His +office required no little skill, for he had to make +three cuts the whole length of the back and three +<pb n="168"/><anchor id="Pg168"/> +the width, tearing through the skin so as to leave +a permanent scar, but not deep enough to injure +the muscle. Ramon, glancing up, saw the gleam +of the candle light on the white quartz, and also +in the eyes of the man, which were bright with +eagerness.</p> + +<p>Now came the supreme struggle with himself. +How could he go through with this ugly agony? +He longed to leap to his feet and fight these +ignorant louts, who were going to mangle him +and beat him for their own amusement. He +held himself down with all his will, striving to +think of the girl, to hold his purpose before his +mind, to endure.…</p> + +<p>He felt the hand of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">sangredor</hi> upon his +neck, and gritted his teeth. The man’s grip was +heavy, hot and firm. A flash of pain shot up and +down his back with lightning speed, as though a +red hot poker had been laid upon it. Again and +again and again! Six times in twice as many +seconds the deft flint ripped his skin, and he fell +forward upon his hands, faint and sick, as he +felt his own blood welling upon his back and +trickling in warm rivulets between his ribs.</p> + +<p>But this was not all. To qualify, he knew, he +must call for the lash of his own free will.</p> + +<p><q>For the love of God,</q> he uttered painfully, +as he had been taught, <q>the three meditations of +the passion of our Lord.</q></p> +<pb n="169"/><anchor id="Pg169"/> + +<p>On his torn back a long black snake whip came +down, wielded with merciless force. But he felt +the full agony of the first blow only. The second +seemed faint, and the third sent him plunging +downward through a red mist into black nothingness.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC24" type="chapter"> +<pb n="170"/><anchor id="Pg170"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXIV</hi> +</head> + +<p>A few days later one bright morning Ramon +was sitting in the sun before the door of his +friend, Francisco Guiterrez, feeling still somewhat +sore, but otherwise surprisingly well. Guiterrez, +a young sheep-herder, held the position +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">coadjutor</hi> of the +local <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> chapter, and +one of his duties as such was to take the penitent +to his house and care for him after the initiation. +He had washed Ramon’s wounds in a tea made +by boiling Romero weed. This was a remedy +which the <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> +had used for centuries, and +its efficacy was proved by the fact that Ramon’s +cuts had begun to heal at once, and that he had +had very little fever.</p> + +<p>For a couple of days Ramon had been forced +to lie restlessly in the only bed of the Guiterrez +establishment. The Senora Guiterrez, a pretty +buxom young Mexican woman, had fed him on +<hi rend="font-style: italic">atole</hi> gruel and +on all of the eggs which her small +flock of scrub hens produced; the seven little dirty +brown Guiterrez children had come in to marvel +at him with their fingers in their mouths; the +Guiterrez goats and dogs and chickens had +<pb n="171"/><anchor id="Pg171"/> +wandered in and out of the room in a companionable +way, as though seeking to make him feel +at ease; and Guiterrez himself had spent his +evenings sitting beside Ramon, smoking cigarettes +and talking.</p> + +<p>This time of idleness had not been wholly wasted, +either, for it had come out in the course of +conversation that Guiterrez had been offered a +thousand dollars for his place by a man whom he +did not know, but whom Ramon had easily identified +as an agent of MacDougall. Tempted by +an amount which he could scarcely conceive, +Guiterrez was thinking seriously of accepting the +offer.</p> + +<p>Now that he had won over Alfego and had +gotten the influence of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitentes</hi> on his side, +Ramon’s one remaining object was to defeat just +such deals as this, which MacDougall already +had under way. He intended to stir up feeling +against the gringos, and to persuade the Mexicans +not to sell. Later, such lands as he needed +in order to control the right-of-way, he would +gain by lending money and taking mortgages. +But he did not intend to cheat any one. Such +Mexicans as he had to oust from their lands, he +would locate elsewhere. He was filled with a +large generosity, and with a real love for these, +his people. He meant to dominate this country, +<pb n="172"/><anchor id="Pg172"/> +but his pride demanded that no one should be +poor or hungry in his domain. So now he argued +the matter to Guiterrez with real sincerity.</p> + +<p><q>A thousand dollars? +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Por Dios</hi>, man! Don’t +you know that this place is worth many thousand +dollars to you?</q></p> + +<p><q>How can it be worth many thousand?</q> +Guiterrez demanded. <q>What have I here? A +few acres of chile and corn, a little hay, some +range for my goats, a few cherry trees, a house.… +Many thousands? No.</q></p> + +<p><q>You have here a home, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">amigo</hi>,</q> Ramon reminded +him. <q>Do you know how long a thousand +dollars would support you? A year, perhaps. +Then you would have to work for other +men the rest of your life. Here you are free +and independent.</q></p> + +<p>Guiterrez said nothing, but he had obviously +received a new idea, and was impressed. Ramon +never returned to the direct argument, but he +missed no chance to stimulate Guiterrez’s pride +in his establishment.</p> + +<p><q>This is a good little house you have +<hi rend="font-style: italic">amigo</hi>,</q> +he would observe. And Guiterrez would tell +him that the house had been built by his grandfather, +but that its walls were as firm as ever, +and that he had been intending for several years +to plaster it, but had never gotten time. Before +<pb n="173"/><anchor id="Pg173"/> +he was out of bed, Ramon was reasonably sure +that Guiterrez would never sell.</p> + +<p>The house was indeed charmingly situated on a +hillside at the foot of which a little clear trout +stream, called Rio Gallinas, chuckled over the +bright pebbles in its bed and ran to hide in thickets +of willow.</p> + +<p>Sitting on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">portal</hi>, +which ran the length of +the house and consisted of a projection of the roof +supported by rough pine logs, Ramon could look +down the canyon to where it widened into a little +valley that lost itself in the vast levels of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>. There thirsty +sands swallowed the stream +and not a sprig of green marred the harmony of +grey and purple swimming in vivid light, reaching +away to the horizon where faint blue mountains +hung in drooping lines.</p> + +<p>By turning his head, Ramon could look into +the heart of the mountains whence the stream issued +through a narrow canyon, with steep, forested +ridges on either side, and little level glades +along the water, set with tall, conical blue spruce +trees, pines with their warm red boles, and little +clumps of aspen with gleaming white stems, and +trembling leaves of mingled gold and green.</p> + +<p>Ramon spent many hours with his back against +the wall, his knees drawn up under his chin, Mexican +fashion, smoking and vaguely dreaming of +<pb n="174"/><anchor id="Pg174"/> +the girl he loved and of the things he would do. +The vast sun drenched landscape before him was +too much a part of his life, too intimate a thing +for him to appreciate its beauty, but after his +struggles with doubt and desire, it filled him with +an unaccountable contentment. Its warmth and +brightness, its unchanging serenity, its ceaseless +soft voices of wind and water, lulled his mind and +comforted his senses. The country was like some +great purring creature that let him lie in its +bosom and filled his body with the warm steady +throb of its untroubled strength.</p> + +<p>After a week of recuperation, he bought a +horse from Guiterrez for a pack animal, loaded +it with bedding and provisions and rode away +into the mountains. His task was now to find +other men who had fallen under the influence of +MacDougall, and to persuade them not to sell +their lands. Some of them would be at their +homes, but others would be with the sheep herds, +scattered here and there in the high country. +He faced long days of mountain wandering, and +for all that he longed to be done with his task, +this part of it was sweet to him.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC25" type="chapter"> +<pb n="175"/><anchor id="Pg175"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXV</hi> +</head> + +<p>These were days of power and success, days of +a glamour that lingered long in his mind. Beyond +a doubt he was destroying MacDougall’s +plan and realizing his own. Sometimes he met +a surly Mexican who would not listen to him, but +nearly always he won the man over in the end. +He was amazed at his own resourcefulness and +eloquence. It seemed as though some inhibition +in him had been broken down, some magical elixir +poured into his imagination. He found that he +could literally take a sheep camp by storm, entering +into the life of the men, telling them stories, +singing them songs, passing out presents of +tobacco and whisky, often delivering a wildly +applauded harangue on the necessity for all Mexicans +to act together against the gringos, who +would otherwise soon own the country. Never +once did he think of the incongruity of thus fanning +the flames of race hatred for the love of a +girl with grey eyes and yellow hair.</p> + +<p>He did not always reach a house or a sheep +camp at night. Many a time he camped alone, +catching trout for his supper from a mountain +stream, and going to sleep to the lonely music of +<pb n="176"/><anchor id="Pg176"/> +running water in a wilderness. At such times +many a man would have lost faith in himself, +would have feared his crimes and lost his hopes. +But to Ramon this loneliness was an old friend. +Like all who have lived much out-of-doors he was +at heart a pantheist, and felt more at peace and +unity with wild nature than ever he had with men.</p> + +<p>But there was one such night when he felt +troubled. As he rode up the Tusas Canyon at +twilight, a sense of insecurity came over him, +amounting almost to fear. He had had a somewhat +similar feeling once when a panther had +trailed him on a winter night. Now, as then, he +had no idea what it was that menaced him; he +was simply warned by that sixth sense which +belongs to all wild things, and to men in whom +there remains something of the feral. His horses +shared his unrest. When he picketed them, just +before dark, they fed uneasily, stopping now and +then to stand like statues with lifted heads, testing +the wind with their nostrils, moving their ears to +catch some sound beyond human perception.</p> + +<p>When he had eaten his supper and made his +bed, Ramon took the little automatic revolver out +of its scabbard and went down the canyon a +quarter of a mile, slipping along in the shadow of +the brush that lined the banks of the stream. +This was necessary because a half-moon made the +open glades bright. He paused and peered a +<pb n="177"/><anchor id="Pg177"/> +dozen times. So cautious were his movements +that he came within forty feet of a drinking deer, +and was badly startled when it bounded away with +a snort and a smashing of brush. But he saw +nothing dangerous and went back to his camp and +to bed. There he lay awake for an hour, still +troubled, oppressed by a vague feeling of the +littleness and insecurity of human life.</p> + +<p>A long, rippling snort of fear from his saddle +horse, picketed near his bed, awakened him and +probably saved his life. When he opened his +eyes, he saw the figure of a man standing directly +over him. He was about to speak, when the man +lifted his arms, swinging upward a heavy club. +With quick presence of mind, Ramon jerked the +blankets and the heavy canvas tarpaulin about his +head, at the same time rolling over. The club +came down with crushing force on his right +shoulder. He continued to roll and flounder with +all his might, going down a sharp slope toward +the creek which was only a few yards away. +Twice more he felt the club, once on his arm and +once on his ribs, but his head escaped and the +heavy blankets protected his body.</p> + +<p>The next thing he knew, he had gone over the +bank of the creek, which was several feet high in +that place, and lay in the shallow icy water. +Meantime he had gotten his hand on the automatic +pistol. He now jerked upright and fired at the +<pb n="178"/><anchor id="Pg178"/> +form of his assailant, which bulked above him. +The man disappeared. For a moment Ramon sat +still. He heard footsteps, and something like a +grunt or a groan. Then he extricated himself +from the cold, sodden blankets, climbed upon the +bank, and began cautiously searching about, with +his weapon ready. He found the club—a heavy +length of green spruce-and put his hand accidentally +on something wet, which he ascertained by +smelling it to be blood.</p> + +<p>He was shivering with cold and badly bruised +in several places, but he was afraid to build a fire. +In case his enemy were not badly injured or had a +companion, that would have been risking another +attack. He stood in the shadow of a spruce, +stamping his feet and rubbing himself, acutely uncomfortable, +waiting for daylight and wondering +what this attack meant. He doubted whether +MacDougall would have countenanced such tactics, +but it might well have been an agent of MacDougall +acting on his own responsibility. Or it +might have been some one sent by old Archulera. +Then, too, there were many poor connections of +the Delcasar family who would profit by his death.</p> + +<p>As he stood there in the dark, shivering and +miserable, the idea of death was not hard for him +to conceive. He realized that but for the snort +of the saddle horse he would now be lying under +the tree with the top of his head crushed in. The +<pb n="179"/><anchor id="Pg179"/> +man would probably have dragged his body into +the thick timber and left it. There he would have +lain and rotted. Or perhaps the coyotes would +have eaten him and the buzzards afterward picked +his bones. He shuddered. Despite his acute +misery, life had never seemed more desirable. +He thought of sunlight and warmth, of good food +and of the love of women, and these things seemed +more sweet than ever before. He realized, for +the first time, too, that he faced many dangers +and that the chance of death walked with him all +the time. He resolved fiercely that he would +beat all his enemies, that he would live and have +his desires which were so sweet to him.</p> + +<p>Daylight came at last, showing him first the +rim of the mountain serrated with spruce tops, +and then lighting the canyon, revealing his disordered +camp and his horses grazing quietly in +the open. He went immediately and examined +the ground where the struggle had taken place. +A plain trail of blood lead away from the place, +as he had expected. He formed a plan of action +immediately.</p> + +<p>First he made a great fire, dried and warmed +himself, cooked and ate his breakfast, drinking a +full pint of hot coffee. Then he rolled up all his +belongings, hid them in the bushes, and picketed +his horses in a side canyon where the grass was +good. When these preparations were complete, +<pb n="180"/><anchor id="Pg180"/> +he took the trail of blood and followed it with the +utmost care. He carried his weapon cocked in +his hand, and always before he went around a +bend in the canyon, or passed through a clump of +trees, he paused and looked long and carefully, +like an animal stalking dangerous prey.</p> + +<p>At last, from the cover of some willows, he saw +a man sitting beside the creek. The man was +half-naked, and was binding up his leg with some +strips torn from his dirty shirt. He was a Mexican +of the lowest and most brutal type, with a +swarthy skin, black hair and a bullet-shaped head. +Ramon walked toward him.</p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Buenas Dias, +amigo</hi>,</q> he saluted.</p> + +<p>The man looked up with eyes full of patient +suffering, like the eyes of a hurt animal. He did +not seem either surprised or frightened. He +nodded and went on binding up his leg.</p> + +<p>Ramon watched him a minute. He saw that +the man was weak from loss of blood. There +was a great patch of dried blood on the ground +beside him, now beginning to flake and curl in +the sun.</p> + +<p><q>I will come back in a minute, friend,</q> he said.</p> + +<p>He went back to his camp, saddled his horses, +putting some food in the saddle pockets. When +he returned, the Mexican sat in exactly the same +place with his back against a rock and his legs and +<pb n="181"/><anchor id="Pg181"/> +arms inert. Ramon fried bacon and made coffee +for him. He had to help the man put the food in +his mouth and hold a cup for him to drink. +Afterward, with great difficulty, he loaded the +man on his saddle horse, where he sat heavily, +clutching the pommel with both hands. Ramon +mounted the pack horse bareback.</p> + +<p><q>Where do you live, friend?</q> Ramon asked.</p> + +<p><q>Tusas,</q> the Mexican replied, naming a little +village ten miles down the canyon.</p> + +<p>They exchanged no other words until they came +within sight of the group of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> houses. Then +Ramon stopped his horse and turned to the man.</p> + +<p><q>You were hunting,</q> he told him slowly and +impressively, <q>and you dropped your gun and shot +yourself. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Sabes?</hi></q></p> + +<p>The man nodded.</p> + +<p><q>How much were you paid to kill me, friend?</q> +Ramon then asked.</p> + +<p>The man looked at the pommel of the saddle, +and his swarthy face darkened with a heavy flush.</p> + +<p><q>One hundred dollars,</q> he admitted. <q>I +needed the money to christen a child. Could I +let my child go to hell? But I did not mean to +kill you. Only to beat you, so you would go away. +Do not ask who sent me, for the love of +God.…</q></p> + +<p><q>I ask nothing more, friend,</q> Ramon assured +<pb n="182"/><anchor id="Pg182"/> +him. <q>And since you were to have a hundred +dollars for making me leave the country, here is a +hundred dollars for not succeeding.</q></p> + +<p>Both of them laughed. Ramon then rode on +and delivered the man to his excited and grateful +wife. He went back to his camp very weary and +sore, but feeling that he had done an excellent +stroke of work for his purpose.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC26" type="chapter"> +<pb n="183"/><anchor id="Pg183"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXVI</hi> +</head> + +<p>After this occurrence his success among the +humbler Mexicans was more marked than ever, +but some of the men of property who had been +subsidized by MacDougall were not so easily won +over. Such a case was that of old Pedro Alcatraz +who owned a little store in the town of Vallecitos, +a bit of land and a few thousand sheep. Alcatraz +was a tall boney old man, and was of nearly pure +Navajo Indian blood, as one could tell by the +queer crinkled character of his beard and moustache, +which were like those of a chinaman. He +was simple and direct like an Indian, too, lacking +the Mexican talent for lying and artifice. In his +own town he was a petty czar, like Alfego, but on +a much smaller scale. By reason of being +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Hermano Mayor</hi> +of the local <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> chapter, +and of having most of the people in his own neighbourhood +in debt to him, he had considerable +power. He was advising men to sell their lands, +and was lending more money on land than it was +reasonable to suppose he owned. Beyond a +doubt, he had been won by MacDougall’s dollars.</p> + +<p>Ramon found Alcatraz unresponsive. The +old man listened to a long harangue on the subject +<pb n="184"/><anchor id="Pg184"/> +of the race issue without a word of reply, and +without looking up. Ramon then played what +should have been his strongest card.</p> + +<p><q>My friend,</q> he said, <q>you may not know it, +but I am your brother in the blood of Christ. +Do I not then deserve better of you than a gringo +who is trying to take this country away from the +Mexican people?</q></p> + +<p><q>Yes,</q> the old man answered quietly, <q>I know +you are a <hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi>, +and I know why. Do you +think that I am a fool like these +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pelados</hi> that herd +my sheep? You wear the scars of a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">penitente</hi> +because you think it will help you 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 choose his +masters, and for my part I have more use for +money than for words.</q> So saying, the blunt old +savage walked to the other end of his store and +began showing a Mexican woman some shawls.</p> + +<p>Ramon went away, breathing hard with rage, +slapping his quirt against his boots. He would +show that old <hi rend="font-style: italic">cabron</hi> +who was boss in these +mountains!</p> + +<p>He went immediately and hired the little +<hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> +hall which is found in every Mexican town of +more than a hundred inhabitants, and made preparations +to give a <hi rend="font-style: italic">baile</hi>.</p> + +<p>To give a dance is the surest and simplest way +<pb n="185"/><anchor id="Pg185"/> +to win popularity in a Mexican 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 the blind man who was the +only local musician. He arranged a feast, and in +a back room he installed a small keg of native +wine and one of beer.</p> + +<p>The invitation was general and every one who +could possibly reach the place in a day’s journey +came. The women wore for the most part calico +dresses, bright in colour and generous in volume, +heavily starched and absolutely devoid of fit. +Their brown faces were heavily powdered, producing +in some of the darker ones a purplish tint, +which was ghastly in the light of the oil lamps. +Some of the younger girls were comely despite +their crude toilets, with soft skins, ripe breasts, +mild dark heifer-like eyes, and pretty teeth showing +in delighted grins. The men wore the cheap +ready-made suits which have done so much to +make Americans look alike everywhere, but they +achieved a degree of originality by choosing +brighter colours than men generally wear, being +especially fond of brilliant electric blues and rich +browns. Their broad but often handsome faces +were radiant with smiles, and their thick black +hair was wetted and greased into shiny order.</p> + +<p>The dance started with difficulty, despite symptoms +of eagerness on all hands. Bashful youths +<pb n="186"/><anchor id="Pg186"/> +stalled and crowded in the doorway like a log jam +in the river. Bashful girls, seated all around the +room, nudged and tittered and then became +solemn and self-conscious. Each number was +preceded by a march, several times around the +room, which was sedate and formal in the extreme. +The favourite dance was a fast, hopping waltz, +in which the swain seized his partner firmly in both +hands under the arms and put her through a +vigorous test of wind and agility. The floor was +rough and sanded, and the rasping of feet almost +drowned the music. There were long Virginia +reels, led with peremptory dash by a master of +ceremonies, full of grace and importance. +Swarthy faces were bedewed with sweat and dark +eyes glowed with excitement, but there was never +the slightest relaxation of the formalism of the +affair. For this dance in an earthen hovel on a +plank floor was the degenerate but lineal descendant +of the splendid and formal balls which the +Dons had held in the old days, when New Spain +belonged to its proud and wealthy conquerors; +it was the wistful and grotesque remnant of a +dying order.</p> + +<p>Ramon had a vague realization of this fact as +he watched the affair. It stirred 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 with every woman on +<pb n="187"/><anchor id="Pg187"/> +the floor. He took the men in groups to the +back room and treated them. He missed no +opportunity to get in a word against the gringos, +and incidentally against those Mexicans who betrayed +their fellows by advising them to sell their +lands. He never mentioned Alcatraz by name, +but he made it clear enough to whom he referred.</p> + +<p>Late in the evening, when all were mellowed +by drink and excited by dancing, he gained the +attention of the gathering on the pretext of announcing +a special dance, and boldly gave a harangue +in which he urged all Mexicans to stick +together against the gringos, and above all not +to sell their homes which their fathers had won +from the barbarians, and were the foundations of +their prosperity and freedom.</p> + +<p><q>Remember,</q> he urged them in a burst of eloquence +that surprised himself, <q>that in your veins +is the blood of conquerors—blood which was +poured out on these hills and valleys to win them +from the Indians, precious blood which has made +this land priceless to you for all time!</q></p> + +<p>His speech was greeted with a burst of applause +unquestionably spontaneous. It filled him with +a sense of power that was almost intoxicating. +In the town he might be neglected, despised, +picked for an easy mark, but here among his +own people he was a ruler and leader by birth.</p> + +<p>The most important result of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">baile</hi> was that +<pb n="188"/><anchor id="Pg188"/> +it won over the stubborn Alcatraz. He did not +attend it, but he knew what happened there. He +realized that advice in favour of selling land would +not be popular in that section for a long time, +and he acknowledged his defeat by inviting Ramon +to dinner at his house, and driving a shrewd +bargain with him, whereby he gave his influence +in exchange for certain grazing privileges.</p> + +<p>On his way home a few days later Ramon +looked back at the mountains with the feeling +that they belonged to him by right of conquest.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC27" type="chapter"> +<pb n="189"/><anchor id="Pg189"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXVII</hi> +</head> + +<p>A week later Ramon was driving across the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> west of town, +bound for the state capital. +He was following the same route that Diego +Delcasar had followed on the day of his death, +and he passed within a few miles of Archulera’s +ranch; but no thought either of his uncle or of +Archulera entered his mind. For in his pocket +was a letter consisting of a single sentence hastily +scrawled in a large round upright hand on lavender-scented +note paper. The sentence was:</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> + +<p><q rend="post: none">Meet you at the +southwest corner of the Plaza Tuesday at seven thirty.</q></p> + +<p rend="text-align: right; margin-right: 4"><q rend="post: +none">Love,</q></p> + +<p rend="text-align: right; margin-right: 2"><q>J. R.</q></p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> + +<p>A great deal of trouble and anxiety had preceded +the receipt of that message. First he had +written her a letter that was unusually long and +exuberant for him, telling her of his success and +that now he was ready to come and get her in +accordance with their agreement, suggesting a +time and place. Three days of cumulative doubt +and agony had gone by without a reply. Then he +had tried to reach her by long distance telephone, +<pb n="190"/><anchor id="Pg190"/> +but without success. Finally he had wired, although +he knew that a telegram is a risky vehicle +for confidential business. Now he had her +answer, the answer that he wanted. His spirit +was released and leapt forward, leaving resentments +and doubts far behind.</p> + +<p>It was eighty miles to the state capital, the +road was good all the way, the day bright and +cool. His route lead across the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, through +the Scissors Pass, and then north and east along +the foot of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Immense and empty the country stretched before +him—a land of far-flung levels and even +farther mountains; a land which makes even the +sea, with its near horizons, seem little; a land +which has always produced men of daring because +it inspires a sense of freedom without any limit +save what daring sets.</p> + +<p>He had dared and won. He was going to +take the sweet price of his daring. The engine +of his big car sang to him a song of victory and +desire. He rejoiced in the sense of power under +his hand. He opened the throttle wider and the +car answered with more speed, licking up the +road like a hungry monster. How easily he +mastered time and distance for his purpose!</p> + +<p>He was to have her, she would be his. So +sang the humming motor and the wind in his ears. +Her white arms and her red mouth, her splendid +<pb n="191"/><anchor id="Pg191"/> +eyes that feared and yielded! She was waiting +for him! More speed. He conquered the hills +with a roar of strength to spare, topped the +crests, and sped down the long slopes like a bird +coming to earth.</p> + +<p>He was to have her, she would be his. Could +it be true? The great machine that carried him +to their tryst roared an affirmative, the wind sang +of it, his blood quickened with anticipation incredibly +keen. And always the distance that lay +between them was falling behind in long, grey +passive miles.</p> + +<p>He had reached his destination a little after +six. As he drove slowly through the streets of +the little dusty town, the mood of exaltation that +had possessed him during the trip died down. +He was intent, worried practical. Having registered +at the hotel, he got a handful of time +tables and made his plans with care. They +would drive to a town twenty-five miles away, be +married, and catch the California Limited. +There would just be time. Once he had her in +his car, nothing could stop them.</p> + +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">plaza</hi> +or public square about which the old +town was built, and which had been its market +place in the old days, was now occupied by a neat +little park with a band stand. Retail stores and +banks fronted on three sides of it, but the fourth +was occupied by a long low <hi rend="font-style: italic">adobe</hi> building +<pb n="192"/><anchor id="Pg192"/> +which was very old and had been converted into a +museum of local antiquities. It was dark and +lifeless at night, and in its shadow-filled verandah +he was to meet her.</p> + +<p>He had his car parked beside the spot ten minutes +ahead of time. It was slightly cold now, +with a gusty wind whispering about the streets +and tearing big papery leaves from the cottonwood +trees in the park. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">plaza</hi> was empty +save for an occasional passer-by whose quick footfalls +rang sharply in the silence. Here and there +was an illuminated shop window. The drug +store on the opposite corner showed a bright interior, +where two small boys devoured ice cream +sodas with solemn rapture. Somewhere up a +side street a choir was practising a hymn, making +a noise infinitely doleful.</p> + +<p>He had a bear-skin to wrap her in, and he +arranged this on the seat beside him and then +tried to wait patiently. He sat very tense and +motionless, except for an occasional glance at his +watch, until it showed exactly seven-thirty. +Then he got out of his car and began walking +first to one side of the corner and then to the +other, for he did not know from which direction +she would come. At twenty-five minutes of eight +he was angry, but in another ten minutes anger +had given way to a dull heavy disappointment +that seemed to hold him by the throat and make +<pb n="193"/><anchor id="Pg193"/> +it difficult to swallow. None-the-less he waited a +full hour before he started up his car and drove +slowly back to the hotel.</p> + +<p>On the way he debated with himself whether +he should try to communicate with her tonight or +wait until the next day. He knew that the wisest +thing would be to wait until the next day and send +her a note, but he also knew that he could not +wait. He would find out where she lived, call +her on the telephone, and learn what had +prevented her from keeping the appointment. +He had desperate need to know that something +besides her own will had kept her away.</p> + +<p>When he went to the hotel desk, a clerk handed +him a letter.</p> + +<p><q>This was here when you registered, I think,</q> +he said. <q>But I didn’t know it. I’m sorry.</q></p> + +<p>When he saw the handwriting of the address +he was filled with commotion. Here, then, was +her explanation. This would tell him why she +had failed him. This, in all probability, would +make all right.</p> + +<p>He went to his room to read it, sat down on +the edge of the bed and ripped the envelope open +with an impatient finger. The letter was dated +two days earlier—the day after she had received +his telegram.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know what to say,</q> she +wrote, <q rend="post: none">but it +doesn’t matter much. You will despise me anyway, +<pb n="194"/><anchor id="Pg194"/> +and I despise myself. But I can’t help it—honestly +I can’t. I meant to keep my +promise and I would have kept it, but they found +your telegram and mother read it—by mistake, +of course. I ought to have had sense +enough to burn it. You can’t imagine how awful +it has been. Mother said the most terrible +things about you, things she had heard. And she +said that I would be ruining my life and hers. +I said I didn’t care, because I loved you. I can’t +tell you what an awful quarrel we had! And I +wouldn’t have given in, but she told Gordon and +he was so terribly angry. He said it was a disgrace +to the family, and he began to cough and +had a hemorrhage and we thought he was going +to die. Mother said he probably would die unless +I gave you up.</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">That finished me. I couldn’t do anything +after that—I just couldn’t. There was nothing +but misery in sight either way, so what was +the use? I’ve lost all my courage and all my +doubts have come back. I do love you—terribly. +But you are so strange, so different. And +I don’t think we would have gotten along or +anything. I try to comfort myself by thinking +it’s all for the best, but it doesn’t really comfort +me at all. I never knew people could be as +miserable as I am now. I don’t think its fair.</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">When you get +this I will be on my way to +<pb n="195"/><anchor id="Pg195"/> +New York and nearly there. We are going to +sail for Europe immediately. I will never see +you again. I will always love you.</q></p> + +<p rend="text-align: right; margin-right: 1"><q>Julia.</q></p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> + +<p>Rage possessed him at first—the rage of +defeated desire, of injured pride, of a passionate, +undisciplined nature crossed and beaten. He +flung the letter on the floor, and strode up and +down the room, looking about for something to +smash or tear. So she was that kind of a +creature—a miserable, whimpering fool that +would let an old woman and a sick man rule her! +She was afraid her brother might die. What an +excuse! And he had killed, or at least sanctioned +killing, for her sake. He had poured out his +blood for her. There was nothing he would not +have dared or done to have her. And here she +had the soul of a sheep!</p> + +<p>But no—perhaps that was not it. Perhaps +she had been playing with him all along, had +never had any idea of marrying him—because he +was a Mexican!</p> + +<p>Bitter was this thought, but it died as his anger +died. Something that sat steady and clear inside +of him told him that he was a fool. He was +reading the letter again, and he knew it was all +truth. <q>There was nothing but misery in sight +either way,</q> she had written.</p> +<pb n="196"/><anchor id="Pg196"/> + +<p>Suddenly he understood; suffering and an +awakened imagination had given him insight. +For the first time in his life, he realized the feelings +of another. He realized how much he had +asked of this girl, who had all her life been ruled, +who had never tasted freedom nor practised self-reliance. +He saw now that she had rebelled and +had fought against the forces and fears that oppress +youth, as had he, and that she had been bewildered +and overcome.</p> + +<p>His anger was gone. All hot emotion was +gone. In its place was a great loneliness, tinged +with pity. He looked at the letter again. Its +handwriting showed signs of disturbance in the +writer, but she had not forgotten to scent it with +that faint delightful perfume which was forever +associated in his mind with her. It summoned +the image of her with a vividness he could not +bear.</p> + +<p>But courage and pride are not killed at a blow. +He threw the letter aside and shook himself +sharply, like a man just awake trying to shake off +the memory of a nightmare. She was gone, she +was lost. Well, what of it? There were many +other women in the world, many beautiful women. +And he was strong now, successful. One woman +could not hurt him by her refusal. He tried resolutely +to put her out of his mind, and to think +of his business, of his plans. But these things +<pb n="197"/><anchor id="Pg197"/> +which had glowed so brightly in his imagination +just a few hours before were suddenly as dead as +cinders. He knew that he cared little for dollars +and lands in themselves. His nature demanded +a romantic object, and this love had given it to +him. Love had found him a wretch and a weakling, +and had made him suddenly strong and +ruthless, bringing out all the colours of his being, +dark and bright, making life suddenly intense and +purposeful.</p> + +<p>And she had meant so much to him besides +love. To have won her would have been to win +a great victory over the gringos—over that +civilization, alien to him in race and temper, +which antagonized and yet fascinated him, with +which he was forced to grapple for his life.</p> + +<p>She was gone, he had lost her. Perhaps it was +just as well, after all, he told himself, speaking +out of his pride and his courage. But in his +heart was a great bitterness. In his heart he +felt that the gringos had beaten one more Delcasar.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC28" type="chapter"> +<pb n="198"/><anchor id="Pg198"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXVIII</hi> +</head> + +<p>The next few days Ramon spent quietly and +systematically drinking whisky. This he did +partly because he had a notion that it was an appropriate +thing to do under the circumstances, +and partly because he had a genuine need for +something to jolt his mind out of its rut of misery. +He was not sociable in his cups, and did not seek +company of either sex, inviting a man to drink +with him or accepting such an invitation only +when he had to do so. His favourite resort was +the Silver Dollar Saloon, which was furnished +with tables set between low partitions, so that +when he had one of these booths to himself he +enjoyed a considerable degree of isolation. He +drank carefully, like a Spaniard, never losing +control of his feet or of his eyes, taking always +just enough to keep his mind away from realities +and filled with dreams. In these dreams +Julia played a vivid and delightful part. He +imagined himself encountering her under all sorts +of circumstances, and always she was yielding, +repentant, she was his. In a dozen different +ways he conquered her, taking in imagination, as +men have always done, what the reality had denied. +<pb n="199"/><anchor id="Pg199"/> +Some of his fancies were delightful and +filled him with a sense of triumph, so that men +glanced curiously at the bright-eyed boy who sat +there in his corner all alone, absorbed and intent. +But there were other times at night when his defeated +desire came and lay in his arms like an +invisible unyielding succuba, torturing, maddening, +driving him back to the street to drink until +drunken sleep came with its sudden brutal mercy.</p> + +<p>But after a few days alcohol began to have little +effect upon him, except that when he awoke his +hands were all aflutter so that he spilled his coffee +and tore his newspaper. He felt sick and weary, +his misery numbed by many repetitions of its every +twinge. A sure instinct urged him to get out of +the town and into the mountains, but he hated to +go alone and lacked the initiative to start. He +had a friend in the capital named Curtis, who was +half Mexican and half Irish. This young man +was a dealer in mules and horses, and he had a +herd of some twenty head to take across the mountains +about sixty miles. Badly in need of a helper +and unable to hire one, he asked Ramon to go +with him. The proposition was accepted with relief +but without enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Trouble started immediately. The horses were +only half broken, and the one they chose for a pack +animal rebelled ten miles from town and bucked +the pack off, scattering tin dishes, sides of bacon, +<pb n="200"/><anchor id="Pg200"/> +loaves of bread and cans of condensed milk all +over a quarter of a mile of rough country. They +rounded up the recalcitrant in a pouring rain, and +made a wet and miserable camp, sleeping the sleep +of exhaustion in sodden blankets. The next +morning the pack horse opened the exercises by +rolling down a steep bank into the creek, plastering +himself on the way from head to tail with a +half gallon of high grade sorghum syrup which +had been on top of the load. At this Ramon’s +tortured nerves exploded and he jumped into the +water after the floundering animal, belabouring it +with a quirt, and cursing it richly in two languages.</p> + +<p>He then put a slip noose around its upper lip +and led it unmercifully, while Curtis encouraged +it from behind with a rope-end. Like all Mexicans, +they had little sympathy for horseflesh.</p> + +<p>These labours and hardships were Ramon’s +salvation. The exercise and air restored his +health and in fighting the difficulties of unlucky +travel he relieved in some degree the rage against +life that embittered him.</p> + +<p>When he got back to his room in the hotel he +felt measurably at peace, though weary in mind +and body. He came across Julia’s letter, and the +sight and scent of it struck him a sharp painful +blow, but he did not pause now to savour his pain; +he tore the letter into small pieces and threw it +<pb n="201"/><anchor id="Pg201"/> +away. Then he got out his car and started for +home.</p> + +<p>He went back beaten over the same road that he +had followed in the moment of his highest hope, +when life had seemed about to keep all the +wonderful promises it whispers in the ear of youth. +But strangely this trip was not the sad and sentimental +affair it should have been. His rugged +health had largely recovered from the shock of +disappointment and dissipation, an excellent breakfast +was digesting within him, the sky was bright +as polished turquoise and the ozonous west wind, +which is the very breath of hope, played sweetly in +his face. He began to discover various consoling +conditions in his lot, which had seemed so intolerable +just a few days before.</p> + +<p>Probably no man under forty ever lost a woman +without feeling in some degree compensated by a +sense of freedom regained, and in the man of +solitary and self-reliant nature, to whom freedom +is a boon if not a necessity, this feeling is not slow +to assert itself. Moreover, Ramon was now +caught in the inevitable reaction from a purpose +which had gathered and concentrated his energies +with passionate intensity for almost four months. +During that time he had lived with taut nerves for +a single hope; he had turned away from a dozen +alluring by-paths; he had known that absorbed +<pb n="202"/><anchor id="Pg202"/> +singleness of purpose which belongs only to lovers, +artists and other monomaniacs.</p> + +<p>The bright hope that had led him had suddenly +exploded, leaving him stunned and flat for a +time. Now he got to his feet and looked about. +He realized that the world still lay before him, a +place of wonderful promise and possibility, and +apparently he could stray in any direction he chose. +He had money and freedom and an excellent +equipment of appetites and curiosities. Things +he had dreamed of doing long ago, in case he +should ever come into his wealth, now revisited +his imagination. He had promised himself for +one thing some hunting trips—long ones into the +mountains and down the river in his car. Gambling +had always fascinated him, and he had +longed to sit in a game high enough to be really +interesting, instead of the quarter-limit affair that +he had always played before. And there were +women … other women. And he meant to go +to New York or Chicago sometime and sample +the fleshpots of a really great city.… Life +after all was still an interesting thing.</p> + +<p>Not that he forgot his serious purposes. He +meant to open a law office, to cultivate his political +connections, to pursue his conquest of Arriba +County. But although he did not realize it, his +plans for making himself a strong and secure position +in life had lost their vitalizing purpose. All +<pb n="203"/><anchor id="Pg203"/> +of these things he would do, but there was no hurry +about them. His desire now was to taste the +sweetness of life, and to rest. He was without a +strong acquisitive impulse, and now that his great +purpose in making money was gone, these projects +did not strongly engage his imagination. He had +plenty of money. He refused to worry. He +felt reckless, too. If he had lost his great hope, +his reward was to be released from the discipline +it had imposed.</p> + +<p>Nor was there any other discipline to take its +place. If there had been a strong creative impulse +in him, or if he had faced a real struggle for his +life or his personal freedom, he might now have +recovered that condition of trained and focussed +energy which civilized life demands of men. But +he was too primitive to be engaged by any purely +intellectual purpose, and his money was a buffer +between him and struggle imposed from without.</p> + +<p>As he thought of all the things he would do, he +felt strong and sure of himself. He thought that +he was now a shrewd, cynical man, who could not +be deceived or imposed upon, who could take the +good things of life and discount the disillusionments.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC29" type="chapter"> +<pb n="204"/><anchor id="Pg204"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXIX</hi> +</head> + +<p>One of his first acts in town was to negotiate a +note at the bank for several thousand dollars. +This was necessary because he had little cash and +would not have much until spring, when he would +sell lambs and shear his sheep. He not only +needed money for himself, but his mother and +sister, after many lean years, were eager to spend.</p> + +<p>He drove out to see Catalina, and found her +big with child and utterly indifferent to him, which +piqued him slightly and relieved him a great deal. +She had heard nothing about her father, and +Ramon sent Cortez out to Domingo Canyon to see +what had become of the old man. Cortez +reported the place deserted. Ramon made +inquiry in town and learned that Archulera had +been seen there in his absence, very much dressed-up +and very drunk, followed by a crowd of young +Mexicans who were evidently parasites on his +newly-acquired wealth. Then he had disappeared, +and some thought he had gone to +Denver. It was evident that his five thousand +dollars had proved altogether too much for him.</p> + +<p>Ramon now hung out a shingle, announcing +himself as an attorney-at-law. Of course, no +<pb n="205"/><anchor id="Pg205"/> +business came to him. The right way to get a +practice would have been to go back to the office +of Green or some other established lawyer for +several years. But Ramon had no idea of doing +anything so tiresome and so relatively humiliating. +The idea of running errands for Green +again was repugnant to him.</p> + +<p>He went every morning to his office and for a +while he took a certain amount of satisfaction in +merely sitting there, reading the local papers, +smoking a cigar, now and then taking down one +of his text books and reading a little. But study +as such had absolutely no appeal to him. He +might have dug at the dry case books to good +purpose if he had been driven by need, but as it +was he would begin to yawn in ten or fifteen +minutes, and then would put the book away. He +went home to a noonday dinner rather early and +came back in the afternoon, feeling sleepy and +bored. Now the office, and indeed the whole +town, seemed a dreary place to him. At this +season of the year there were often high winds +which mantled the town in a yellow cloud of sand, +and rattled at every loose shutter and door with +futile dreary persistence. Ramon would wander +about the office for a little while with his hands +in his pockets and stare out the window, feeling +depressed, thoughts of his disappointment coming +back to him bitterly. Then he would take his +<pb n="206"/><anchor id="Pg206"/> +hat and go out and look for some one to play +pool with him. Often he took an afternoon off +and went hunting, not alone as formerly he had +done, but with as large a party as he could gather. +They would drive out into the sand hills and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesas</hi> twenty +or thirty miles from town, where +the native quail and rabbits were still abundant +as automobiles had just begun to invade their +haunts. When they found a covey of quail the +sport would be fast and furious, with half a +dozen guns going at once and birds rising and +falling in all directions. Ramon keenly enjoyed +the hot excitement and dramatic quality of this.</p> + +<p>At night he was usually to be found at the +White Camel Pool Hall where the local sporting +element foregathered and made its plans for the +evening. Sometimes a party would be formed to +<q>go down the line,</q> as a visit to the red light +district was called. Sometimes the rowdy dance +halls of Old Town were invaded. On Saturday +nights the dance at the country club always drew +a considerable attendance. There was also a +<q>dancing class</q> conducted by an estimable and +needy spinster named Grimes, who held assembly +dances once in two weeks in a little hall which +had been built by the Woman’s Club. This +event always drew a large and very mixed crowd, +including some of the <q>best people</q> and others +who were considered not so good. Usually two +<pb n="207"/><anchor id="Pg207"/> +or three different sets were represented at +these gatherings, each tending to keep to itself. +But there was also a tendency for the sets to overlap. +Thus a couple of very pretty German girls, +who were the daughters of a local saloon keeper, +always appeared accompanied by young men of +their own circle with whom they danced almost +exclusively at first. But young men of the first +families could not resist their charms, and they +soon were among the most popular girls on the +floor. This was deplored by the young women +of more secure social position, who were wont to +remark that the crowd was deteriorating frightfully. +Some of these same superior virgins +found it necessary for politeness to dance with +Joe Bartello, the son of an Italian saloon owner, +and a very handsome and nimble-footed youth. +In a word, this was a place of social hazard and +adventure, and that was more than half its charm. +It finally became so crowded that dancing was +almost impossible.</p> + +<p>The back room at the White Camel, where +poker games were nightly in progress, also +afforded Ramon frequent diversion. He played +in the <q>big</q> game now, where the stakes and limits +were high, and was one of the most daring and +dangerous of its patrons. He had more money +back of him than most of the men who played +there, and he also had more courage. If he +<pb n="208"/><anchor id="Pg208"/> +started a bluff he carried it through to the end, +which was always bitter for some one. He had +been known to stand pat on a pair and scare +every one else out of the game by the resolute +confidence of his betting. His plunges, of course, +sometimes cost him heavily, but for a long time +he was a moderate winner. His limitations as a +poker player were finally demonstrated to him +by one Fitzhugh Chesterman, a man with one +lung.</p> + +<p>Chesterman was about twenty-six years old and +had come from Richmond, Virginia, about two +years before, with most of one lung gone and the +other rapidly going. He was a tall, thin blond +youth with the sensitive, handsome face which +so often marks the rare survivor of the old southern +aristocracy. He was totally lacking in the +traditional southern sentimentality. His eye had +a cold twinkle of courage that even the imminent +prospect of death could not quench, and his thin +shapely lips nearly always wore a smile slightly +twisted by irony. He established himself at the +state university, which had almost a hundred +students and boasted a dormitory where living was +very cheap. Chesterman sat before this dormitory +twelve to fourteen hours a day, even in +relatively cold weather. He made a living by +coaching students in mathematics and Greek. +He never raised his voice, he seldom laughed, he +<pb n="209"/><anchor id="Pg209"/> +never lost his temper. With his unwavering +ironical smile, as though he appreciated the keen +humour of taking so much trouble over such an insignificant +thing as a human life, he husbanded +his energy and fought for health. He took all +the treatments the local sanatoria afforded, but +he avoided carefully all the colonies and other +gatherings of the tubercular. When his lung +began to heal, as it did after about a year, and +his strength to increase, he enlarged his earnings +by playing poker. He won for the simple reason +that he took no more chances than he had to. +He systematically capitalized every bit of recklessness, +stupidity and desperation in his opponents.</p> + +<p>When Ramon first encountered him, the game +soon simmered down to a struggle between the +two. Never were the qualities of two races more +strikingly contrasted. Ramon bluffed and +plunged. Chesterman was caution itself, playing +out antes in niggardly fashion until he had a hand +which put the law of probabilities strongly on his +side. Ramon was full of daring, intuition, imagination, +bidding always for the favour of the fates, +throwing logic to the winds. He was not above +moving his seat or putting on his hat to change his +luck. Chesterman smiled at these things. He +was cold courage battling for a purpose and praying +to no deities but Cause and Effect. Ramon +<pb n="210"/><anchor id="Pg210"/> +thought he was playing for money, but he was +really playing for the sake of his own emotions, +revelling alike in hope and despair, triumph and +victory, flushed and bright-eyed. Chesterman +stifled every emotion, discounted every hope, said +as little as possible, never relaxed his faint twisted +smile.</p> + +<p>Ramon made some spectacular winnings, but +Chesterman wore him down as surely as a slow +hound wears down a deer despite its astounding +bursts of speed. Ramon was sure to lose in the +long run because he was always piling up odds +against himself by the long chances he took, while +his bluffs seldom deceived his cool and courageous +opponent. The finish came at one o’clock in the +morning. Chesterman was pale with exhaustion, +but otherwise unchanged. Ramon was hoarse +and flushed, chewing a cigar to bits. He held a +full house and determined to back it to the limit. +Chesterman met him, bet for bet, raising every +time. Ramon knew that he must be beaten. He +knew that Chesterman would not raise him unless +he had a very strong hand. But he was beaten +anyway. At the bottom of his consciousness, he +knew that he had met a better man. He wanted +to end the contest on this hand. When Chesterman +showed four kings, Ramon fell back in his +chair, weak and disgusted. The other players, +most of whom had long been out of the game, +<pb n="211"/><anchor id="Pg211"/> +got up and said good night one by one. Only +the two were left, Ramon plunged in gloomy +reaction, Chesterman coolly counting his money, +putting it away.</p> + +<p><q>I seem to have made quite a killing,</q> he remarked, +<q>how much did you lose?</q></p> + +<p><q>O, I don’t know … about five hundred. +Hell, what’s five hundred to me … I don’t +give a damn … I’m rich.…</q></p> + +<p>Chesterman glanced at him keenly.</p> + +<p><q>Well,</q> he remarked, <q>I’m glad you feel that +way about it, because I sure need the money.</q></p> + +<p>He got up and walked away with the short +careful steps of a man who cherishes every ounce +of his energy.</p> + +<p>Ramon was disgusted with himself. Chesterman +had made him feel like a weakling and a +child. He had thought himself a lion in this +game, and he had found out that he was an easily-shorn +lamb. He could not afford to lose five +hundred dollars either. He was not really a rich +man. He went home feeling deeply depressed +and discouraged. Vaguely he realized that in +Chesterman he had encountered the spirit which +he felt against him everywhere—a cool, calculating, +unmerciful spirit of single purpose, against +which the play and flow of his emotional and +imaginative nature was as ineffectual as mercury +against the point of a knife.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC30" type="chapter"> +<pb n="212"/><anchor id="Pg212"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXX</hi> +</head> + +<p>Within the next few days Ramon was sharply +reminded that he lived in a little town where news +travels fast and nobody’s business is exclusively +his own. Cortez came into his office and accepted +a seat and a cigar with that respectful but worried +manner which always indicated that he had something +to say.</p> + +<p><q>I hear you lost five hundred dollars the other +night,</q> he observed gravely, watching his young +employer’s face.</p> + +<p><q>Well, what of it?</q> Ramon enquired, a bit +testily.</p> + +<p><q>You can’t afford it,</q> Cortez replied. <q>And +not only the money … you’ve got to think of +your reputation. You know how these gringos +are. They keep things quiet. They expect a +young man to lead a quiet life and tend to business. +It’s all right to have a little fun … they +all do it … but for God’s sake be careful. +You hurt your chances this way … in the law, +in politics.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon jerked his head impatiently and flushed +a little, but reflection checked his irritation. +Hatred of restraint, love of personal liberty, the +<pb n="213"/><anchor id="Pg213"/> +animal courage that scorns to calculate consequences +were his by heritage. But he knew that +Cortez spoke the truth.</p> + +<p><q>All right Antonio,</q> he said with dignity. +<q>I’ll be careful.</q></p> + +<p>The next day he got a letter which emphasized +the value of his henchman’s warning and made +Ramon really thoughtful. It was from MacDougall, +and made him another offer for his land. +It had a preamble to the effect that land values +were falling, money was <q>tight,</q> and therefore +Ramon would do well to sell now, before a further +drop in prices. It made him an offer of ten +thousand dollars less than MacDougall had offered +before.</p> + +<p>Ramon knew that the talk about falling values +was largely bluff, that MacDougall had heard of +his losses and of his loose and idle life, and +thought that he could now buy the lands at his +own price. The gringo had confidently waited +for the Mexican to make a fool of himself. +Ramon resolved hotly that he would do no such +thing. He had no idea of selling. He would be +more careful with his money, and next summer he +would go back to Arriba County, renew his campaign +against MacDougall and buy some land with +the money he could get for timber and wool. +He replied very curtly to MacDougall that his +lands were not for sale.</p> +<pb n="214"/><anchor id="Pg214"/> + +<p>After that he stayed away from poker games +for a while. This was made easier by a new +interest which had entered his life in the person of +a waitress at the Eldorado Lunch room. The +girls at this lunch room had long borne a bad +reputation. Even in the days before the big hotel +had been built, when the railroad company maintained +merely a little red frame building there, +known as the Eating House, these waitresses had +been a mainstay of local bachelordom. Their +successors were still referred to by their natural +enemies, the respectable ladies of the town, as +<q>those awful eating house girls</q>; while the advent +of a new <q>hash-slinger</q> was always a matter of +considerable interest among the unmarried exquisites +who fore-gathered at the White Camel. +In this way Ramon quickly heard of the new +waitress. She was reputed to be both prettier +and less approachable than most of her kind. +Sidney Felberg had made a preliminary reconnaissance +and a pessimistic report.</p> + +<p><q>Nothing doing,</q> he said. <q>She’s got a husband +somewhere and a notion she’s cut out for +better things.… I’m off her!</q></p> + +<p>This immediately provoked Ramon’s interest. +He went to the lunch room at a time when he +knew there would be few customers. When he +saw the girl he felt a faint thrill. The reason for +this was that Dora McArdle somewhat resembled +<pb n="215"/><anchor id="Pg215"/> +Julia. The resemblance was slight and superficial, +yet instantly noticeable. She was a little larger, +but had about the same figure, and the same +colour of hair, and above all the same sensuous, +provocative mouth. Ramon followed her with +his eyes until she became conscious of his scrutiny, +when she tossed her head with that elaborate affectation +of queenly scorn, which seems to be the +special talent of waitresses everywhere. Nevertheless, +when she came to take his order she gave +him a pleasant smile. He saw now that she was +not really like Julia. She was coarse and commonplace, +but she was also shapely, ripe-breasted, +good-natured, full of the appeal of a healthy +animalism.</p> + +<p><q>What time do you get done here?</q> Ramon +enquired.</p> + +<p><q>Don’t know that it’s any of your business,</q> +she replied with another one of her crushing tosses +of the head, and went away to get his order. +When she came back he asked again.</p> + +<p><q>What time did you say?</q></p> + +<p><q>Well, about nine o’clock, if it’ll give you any +pleasure to know.</q></p> + +<p><q>I’ll come for you in my car,</q> he told her.</p> + +<p><q>Oh! will you?</q> and she paid no more attention +to him until he started to go, when she gave +him a broad smile, showing a couple of gold teeth.</p> + +<p>At nine o’clock he was waiting for her at the +<pb n="216"/><anchor id="Pg216"/> +door, and she went with him. He took her for +a drive on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi>, +heading for the only road +house which the vicinity boasted. It was a great +stone house, which had been built long ago by a +rich man, and had later fallen into the hands of an +Italian named Salvini, who installed a bar, and +had both private dining rooms and bed rooms, +these latter available only to patrons in whom he +had the utmost confidence. This resort was informally +known as the <q>chicken ranch.</q></p> + +<p>When Ramon tried to take his fair partner +there, on the plea that they must have a bite to +eat, she objected.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t believe that place is respectable,</q> she +told him very primly. <q>I don’t think you ought +to ask me to go there.</q></p> + +<p><q>O Hell!</q> said Ramon to himself. But aloud +he proposed that they should drive to an adjacent +hill-top from which the lights of the town could +be seen. When he had parked the car on this +vantage point and lit a cigarette, Dora began a +narrative of a kind with which he was thoroughly +familiar. She was of that well-known type of +woman who is found in a dubious position, but explains +that she has known better days. Her +father had been a judge in Kansas, the family had +been wealthy, she had never known what work +was until she got married, her marriage had been a +tragedy, her husband had drank, there had been a +<pb n="217"/><anchor id="Pg217"/> +smash-up, the family had met with reverses. On +and on went the story, its very tone and character +and the grammar she used testifying eloquently to +the fact that she was no such crushed violet as +she claimed to be. Ramon was bored. A year +ago he would have been more tolerant, but now he +had experienced feminine charm of a really high +order, and all the vulgarity and hypocrisy of this +woman was apparent to him. And yet as he sat +beside her he was keenly, almost morbidly conscious +of the physical attraction of her fine young +body. For all her commonness and coarseness, +he wanted her with a peculiarly urgent desire. +Here was the heat of love without the flame and +light, desire with no more exaltation than accompanies +a good appetite for dinner. He was +puzzled and a little disgusted.… He did not +understand that this was his defeated love, seeking, +as such a love almost inevitably does, a vicarious +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Repugnance and desire struggled strangely +within him. He was half-minded to take her +home and leave her alone. At any rate he was +not going to sit there and listen to her insane babble +all night. To put his fortunes to the test, he +abruptly took her in his arms. She made a futile +pretence of resistance. When their lips touched, +desire flashed up in him strongly, banishing all his +hesitations. He talked hot foolishness to which +<pb n="218"/><anchor id="Pg218"/> +she listened greedily, but when he tried to take +her to Salvini’s again, she insisted on going home. +Before he left her he had made another appointment.</p> + +<p>Now began an absurd contest between the two +in which Ramon was always manœuvring to get +her alone somewhere so that he might complete +his conquest if possible, while her sole object was +to have him gratify her vanity by appearing in +public with her. This he knew he could not +afford to do. He could not even drive down the +street with her in daylight without all gossips +being soon aware he had done so. No one knew +much about her, of course, but she was <q>one of +those eating house girls</q> and to treat her as a +social equal was to court social ostracism. He +would win the enmity of the respectable women +of the town, and he knew very well that respectable +women rule their husbands. His prospects +in business and politics, already suffering, would +be further damaged.</p> + +<p>Here again was a struggle within him. He +was of a breed that follows instinct without fear, +that has little capacity for enduring restraints. +And he knew well that the other young lawyers, +the gringos, were no more moral than he. But +they were careful. Night was their friend and +they were banded together in a league of obscene +secrecy. He despised this code and yet he feared +<pb n="219"/><anchor id="Pg219"/> +it. For the gringos held the whip; he must +either cringe or suffer.</p> + +<p>So he was careful and made compromises. +Dora wanted him to take her to dinner in the +main dining room of the hotel, and he evaded and +compromised by taking her there late at night +when not many people were present. She wanted +him to take her to a movie and he pleaded that he +had already seen the bill, and asked her if she +wanted to bore him. And when she pouted he +made her a present of a pair of silk stockings. +She accepted all sorts of presents, so that he felt +he was making progress. She was making vague +promises now of <q>sometime</q> and <q>maybe,</q> and +his desire was whipped up with anticipation, making +him always more reckless.</p> + +<p>One night late he took her to the Eldorado +and persuaded her to drink champagne, thinking +this would forward his purpose. The wine made +her rosy and pretty, and it also made her forget +her poses and affectations. She was more charming +to him than ever before, partly because of the +change in her, and partly because his own critical +faculties were blunted by alcohol. He was almost +in love with her and he felt sure that he was +about to win her. But presently she began +wheedling him in the old vein. She wanted him +to take her to the dance at the Woman’s Club!</p> + +<p>This would be to slap convention in the face, +<pb n="220"/><anchor id="Pg220"/> +and at first he refused to consider it. But he +foolishly went on drinking, and the more he drank +the more feasible the thing appeared. Dora had +quit drinking and was pleading with him.</p> + +<p><q>I dare you!</q> she told him. <q>You’re afraid.… +You don’t think I’m good enough for you.… +And yet you say you love me.… I’m just as good +as any girl in this town.… Well if you won’t, +I’m going home. I’m through! I thought you +really cared.</q></p> + +<p>And then, when he had persuaded her not to +run away, she became sad and just a little tearful.</p> + +<p><q>It’s terrible,</q> she confided. <q>Just because I +have to make my own living.… +<corr sic="Its"><anchor id="E13"/><ref target="e13">It’s</ref></corr> +not fair. I +ought never to speak to you again.… And yet, I +do care for you.…</q></p> + +<p>Ramon was touched. The pathos of her situation +appealed strongly to his tipsy consciousness. +Why not do it? After all, the girl was respectable. +As she said, nobody <q>had anything on +her.</q> The dance was a public affair. Any one +could go. He had been too timid. Not three +people there knew who she was. By God, he +would do it!</p> + +<p>At first they did not attract much attention. +Dora was pretty and fairly well dressed, in no way +conspicuous. They danced exclusively with each +other, as did some other couples present, and +nothing was thought of that.</p> +<pb n="221"/><anchor id="Pg221"/> + +<p>But soon he became aware of glances, hostile, +disapproving. Probably it was true that only a +few of the men at first knew who Dora was, but +they told other men, and some of the men told the +women. Soon it was known to all that he had +brought <q>one of those awful eating house girls</q> +to the dance! The enormity of the mistake he +had made was borne in upon him gradually. +Some of the men he knew smiled at him, generally +with an eye-brow raised, or with a shake of the +head. Sidney Felberg, who was a real friend, +took him aside.</p> + +<p><q>For the love of God, Ramon, what did you +bring that Flusey here for? You’re queering +yourself at a mile a minute. And you’re drunk, +too. For Heaven’s sake, cart her away while +the going’s good!</q></p> + +<p>Ramon had not realized how drunk he was +until he heard this warning.</p> + +<p><q>O, go to hell, Sid!</q> he countered. <q>She’s as +good as anybody … I guess I can bring anybody +I want here.…</q></p> + +<p>Sidney shook his head.</p> + +<p><q>No use, no use,</q> he observed philosophically. +<q>But it’s too bad!</q></p> + +<p>Ramon’s own words sounded hollow to him. +He was in that peculiar condition when a man +knows that he is making an ass of himself, and +knows that he is going right ahead doing it. He +<pb n="222"/><anchor id="Pg222"/> +was more attentive to Dora than ever. He +brought her a glass of water, talked to her continually +with his back to the hostile room. He was +fully capable of carrying the thing through, even +though girls he had known all his life were refusing +to meet his eyes.</p> + +<p>It was Dora who weakened. She became +quiet and sad, and looked infinitely forlorn. +When a couple of women got up and moved +pointedly away from her vicinity, her lip began +to tremble, and her wide blue eyes were brimming.</p> + +<p><q>Come on, take me away quick,</q> she said pathetically. +<q>I’m going to cry.</q></p> + +<p>When they were in the car again she turned in +the seat, buried her face in her arms and sobbed +passionately with a gulping noise and spasmodic +upheavals of her shoulders. Ramon drove +slowly. He was sober now, painfully sober! +He was utterly disgusted with himself, and bitterly +sorry for Dora. A strong bond of sympathy +had suddenly been created between them, +for he too had tasted the bitterness of prejudice. +For the first time Dora was not merely a frumpy +woman who had provoked in him a desire he half-despised; +she was a fellow human, who knew the +same miseries.… He had intended to take her +this night, to make a great play for success, but +he no longer felt that way. He drove to the +boarding house where she lived.</p> +<pb n="223"/><anchor id="Pg223"/> + +<p><q>Here you are,</q> he said gently, <q>I’ll call you +up tomorrow.</q></p> + +<p>Dora looked up for the first time.</p> + +<p><q>O, no!</q> she plead. <q>Don’t go off and leave +me now. Don’t leave me alone. Take me somewhere, +anywhere.… Do anything you want +with me.… You’re all I’ve got!</q></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC31" type="chapter"> +<pb n="224"/><anchor id="Pg224"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXI</hi> +</head> + +<p>The rest of the winter Ramon spent in an aimlessly +pleasant way. He tried to work but without +arousing in himself enough enthusiasm to insure +success. He played pool, gambled a little +and hunted a great deal. He relished his pleasures +with the keen appetite of health and youth, +but when they were over he felt empty-minded +and restless and did not know what to do about it.</p> + +<p>Some business came to his law office. Because +of his knowledge of Spanish and of the country +he was several times employed to look up titles to +land, and this line of work he might have developed +into a good practice had he possessed the +patience. But it was monotonous, tedious work, +and it bored him. He would toil over the papers +with a good will for a while, and then a state of +apathy would come over him, and like a boy in +school he would sit vaguely dreaming.… Such +dull tasks took no hold upon his mind.</p> + +<p>He defended several Mexican criminals, and +found this a more congenial form of practice, but +an unremunerative one. The only case which +advanced him toward the reputation for which +every young attorney strives brought him no +<pb n="225"/><anchor id="Pg225"/> +money at all. A young Mexican farmer of good +reputation named Juan Valera had been converted +to the Methodist faith. Like most of the few +Mexicans who are won over to Protestantism, he +had brought to his new religion a fanatical spirit, +and had made enemies of the priests and of many +of his neighbours by proselyting. Furthermore, +his young and pretty wife remained a Catholic, +which had caused a good deal of trouble in his +house. But the couple were really devoted and +managed to compromise their differences until a +child was born. Then arose the question as to +whether it should be baptized a Catholic or a +Methodist. The girl wanted her baby to be +baptized in the Catholic faith, and was fully +persuaded by the priests that it would otherwise +go to purgatory. She was backed by her father, +whose interference was resented by Juan more +than anything else. He consulted the pastor of +his church, a bigoted New Englander, who counselled +him on no account to yield.</p> + +<p>One evening when Juan was away from home, +his father-in-law came to his house and persuaded +the girl to go with him and have the child baptized +in the Catholic faith, in order that it might be +saved from damnation. After the ceremony they +went to a picture-show by way of a celebration. +When Juan came home he learned from the neighbours +what had happened. His face became very +<pb n="226"/><anchor id="Pg226"/> +pale, his lips set, and his eyes had a hot, dangerous +look. He got out a butcher knife from the +kitchen, whetted it to a good point, and went and +hid behind a big cottonwood tree near the moving-picture +theatre. When his wife with the child +and her father came out, he stepped up behind +the old man and drove the knife into the back of +his neck to the hilt, severing the spinal column. +Afterward he looked at the dead man for a moment +and at his wife, sitting on the ground shrieking, +then went home and washed his hands and +changed his shirt—for blood had spurted all over +him—walked to the police station and gave himself +up.</p> + +<p>This man had no money, and it is customary +in such cases for the court to appoint a lawyer to +conduct the defence. Usually a young lawyer who +needs a chance to show his abilities is chosen, and +the honor now fell upon Ramon.</p> + +<p>This was the first time since he had begun to +study law that he had been really interested. He +understood just how Juan Valera had felt. He +called on him in jail. Juan Valera was composed, +almost apathetic. He said he was willing to die, +that he did not fear death.</p> + +<p><q>Let them hang me,</q> he said. <q>I would do +the same thing again.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon studied the law of his case with exhaustive +thoroughness, but the law did not hold out +<pb n="227"/><anchor id="Pg227"/> +much hope for his client. It was in his plea to +the jury that he made his best effort. Here again +he discovered the eloquence that he had used the +summer before in Arriba County. Here he lost +for a moment his sense of aimlessness, felt again +the thrill of power and the joy of struggle. He +described vividly the poor Mexican’s simple faith, +his absolute devotion to it, showed that he had +killed out of an all-compelling sense of right and +duty. He found a good many witnesses to testify +that Juan’s father-in-law had hectored the +young man a good deal, insulted him, intruded in +his home. Half of the jurors were Mexicans. +For a while the jury was hung. But it finally +brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree, +which was practically inevitable. Juan accepted +this with a shrug of his shoulders and announced +himself ready to hang and meet his Methodist +God. But Ramon insisted on taking an appeal. +He finally got the sentence commuted to life +imprisonment. He then felt disgusted, and +wished that he had let the man hang, feeling that +he would have been better off dead than in the +state penitentiary. But Juan’s wife, who really +loved him, came to Ramon’s office and embraced +his knees and laughed and cried and swore that +she would do his washing for nothing as long as +she lived. For now she could visit her husband +once a month and take him <hi rend="font-style: italic">tortillas!</hi> Ramon +<pb n="228"/><anchor id="Pg228"/> +gave her ten dollars and pushed her out the door. +He had worked hard on the case. He felt old +and weary and wanted to get drunk.</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>One day Ramon received an invitation to go +hunting with Joe Cassi and his friends. He +accepted it, and afterward went on many trips +with the Italian saloon-owner, thereby doing +further injury to his social standing.</p> + +<p>Cassi had come to the town some twenty years +before with a hand organ and a monkey. The +town was not accustomed to that form of entertainment; +some of the Mexicans threw rocks +at Cassi and a dog killed his monkey. Cassi was +at that time a slender youth, handsome, ragged +and full of high hopes. When his monkey was +killed he first wept with rage and then swore that +he would stay in that town and have the best of it. +He now owned three saloons and the largest +business building in town. He was a lean, grave, +silent little man.</p> + +<p>Cassi had made most of his money in the days +when gambling was <q>open</q> in the town, and he +had surrounded himself with a band of choice +spirits who were experts in keno, roulette and +poker. These still remained on his hands, some +of them in the capacity of barkeepers, and others +practically as pensioners. They were all great +sportsmen, heavy drinkers and loyal-to-the-death +<pb n="229"/><anchor id="Pg229"/> +friends. At short intervals they went on hunting +trips down the river, generally remaining over +the week-end. It was of these expeditions that +Ramon now became a regular member. Sometimes +the whole party would get drunk and come +back whooping and singing as the automobiles +bowled along, occasionally firing shotguns into the +air. At other times when luck was good everyone +became interested in the sport and forgot to +drink. Ramon had a real respect for Cassi, and +a certain amount of contempt for most of the rest +of them; yet he felt more at home with these +easy-going, pleasure-loving, loyal fellows than he +did with those thrifty, respectable citizens in whose +esteem the dollar stood so invariably first.</p> + +<p>Cassi and his friends used most often to go to +a Mexican village some fifty miles down the river +where the valley was low and flat, and speckled +with shallow alkaline ponds made by seepage +from the river. Every evening the wild ducks +flew into these ponds from the river to feed, and +the shooting at this evening flight Ramon especially +loved. The party would scatter out, each +man choosing his own place on the East side of +one of the little lakes, so that the red glare of the +sunset was opposite him. There he would lie +flat on the ground, perhaps making a low blind of +weeds or rushes.</p> + +<p>Seldom even in January was it cold enough to +<pb n="230"/><anchor id="Pg230"/> +be uncomfortable. Ramon would lie on an +elbow, smoking a cigarette, watching the light +fade, and the lagoon before him turn into molten +gold to match the sunset sky. It would be very +quiet save for such sounds as the faraway barking +of dogs or the lowing of cattle. When the sky +overhead had faded to an obscure purple, and the +flare of the sunset had narrowed to a belt along +the horizon, he would hear the distant eerie +whistle of wild wings. Nothing could be seen +yet, but the sound multiplied. He could distinguish +now the roar of a great flock of mallards, +circling round and round high overhead, scouting +for danger. He could hear the sweet flute-notes +of teal and pintails, and the raucous, cautious +quack of some old green-head. A teal would +pitch suddenly down to the water before him and +rest there, erect and wary, painted in black upon +the golden water. Another would join it and +another. The cautious mallards, encouraged by +this, would swing lower. The music of their +wings seemed incredibly close; he would grip his +gun hard, holding himself rigidly still, feeling +clearly each beat of his heart.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the ducks would come into view … dark +forms with ghostly blurs for wings, shooting +with a roar into the red flare of light. The flash +of his shotgun would leap out twice. The startled +birds would bound into the air like blasted +<pb n="231"/><anchor id="Pg231"/> +rock from a quarry, and be lost in the purple +mystery of sky, except two or three that hurtled +over and over and struck the water, each with a +loud spat, throwing up little jets of gold.</p> + +<p>Sometimes there were long waits between shots, +but at others the flight was almost continuous, the +air seemed full of darting birds, and the gun +barrels were hot in his hands. His excitement +would be intense for a time; yet after he had +killed a dozen birds or so he would often lose +interest and lie on his back listening to the music +of wings and of bird voices. He had that aversion +to excess which seems to be in all Latin +peoples. Besides, he did not want many ducks to +dispose of.… It was the rush and colour, the +dramatic quality of the thing that he loved.</p> + +<p>Most of the others killed to the limit with a +fine unflagging lust for blood, giving a brilliant +demonstration of the fact that civilized man is +the most destructive and bloodthirsty of all the +predatory mammals.</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>The coming of spring was marked by a few +heavy rains, followed by the faint greening of the +cottonwood trees and of the alfalfa fields. The +grey waste of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> +showed a greenish tinge, +too, heralding its brief springtime splendor when +it would be rich with the purple of wild-peas, +pricked out in the morning with white blossoms +<pb n="232"/><anchor id="Pg232"/> +of the prairie primrose. Now and then a great +flock of geese went over the town, following the +Rio Grande northward half a mile high, their +faint wild call seeming the very voice of this +season of lust and wandering.</p> + +<p>Ramon felt restless and lost interest in all his +usual occupations. He began to make plans and +preparations for going to the mountains. He +bought a tent and a new rifle and overhauled all +his camping gear. He thought he was getting +ready for a season of hard work, but in reality +his strongest motive was the springtime longing +for the road and the out-of-doors. He was sick +of whisky and women and hot rooms full of +tobacco smoke.</p> + +<p>Withal it was necessary that he should go to +Arriba County, follow up his campaign of the +preceding fall, arrange a timber sale if possible +so that he might buy land, and above all see that +his sheep herds were properly tended. This was +the crucial season in the sheep business. Like +the other sheep owners, he ranged his herds +chiefly over the public domain, and he gambled on +the weather. If the rain continued into the early +summer so that the waterholes were filled and +the grass was abundant, he would have a good +lamb crop. The sale of part of this and of the +wool he would shear would make up the bulk of +his income for the year. And he had already +<pb n="233"/><anchor id="Pg233"/> +spent that income and a little more. He could +not afford a bad year. If it was a dry spring, +so that lambs and ewes died, he would be seriously +embarrassed. In any case, he was determined to +be on the range in person and not to trust the +herders. If it came to the worst and the spring +was dry he would rent mountain range from the +Forest Service and rush his herds to the upland +pastures as early as possible. He was not at all +distressed or worried; he knew what he was about +and had an appetite for the work.</p> + +<p>One morning when he was in the midst of his +preparations, he went to his office and found on +the desk a small square letter addressed in a +round, upright, hand. This letter affected him +as though it had been some blossom that filled the +room with a fragrant narcotic exhalation. It +quickened the beat of his heart like a drug. It +drove thought of everything else out of his mind. +He opened it and the faint perfume of it flowed +over him and possessed his senses and his +imagination.…</p> + +<p>It was a long, gossipy letter and told him of +nearly everything that Julia had done in the six +months since they had parted <q>forever</q>. The +salient fact was that she had been married. A +young man in a New York brokerage office who +had long been a suitor for her hand, and to whom +she had once before been engaged for part of a +<pb n="234"/><anchor id="Pg234"/> +summer, had followed the Roths to Europe and +he and Julia had been married immediately after +their return.</p> + +<p><q>I give you my word, I don’t know why I did +it,</q> she wrote. <q rend="post: none">Mother wanted me to, and I +just sort of drifted into it. First thing I knew I +was engaged and the next thing mother was sending +the invitations out, and then I was in for it. +It was a good deal of fun being engaged, but +when it came to being married I was scared to +death and couldn’t lift my voice above a whisper. +Since then it has been rather a bore. Now my +husband has been called to London. I am living +alone here in this hotel. That is, more or less +alone. A frightful lot of people come around +and bore me, and I have to go out a good deal. +I’m supposed to be looking for an apartment, too; +but I haven’t really started yet. Ralph won’t +be back for another two or three weeks, so I +have plenty of time.</q></p> + +<p><q>I don’t know why in the world I’m writing +you this long frightfully intimate letter. I don’t +seem to know why I do anything these days. I +know its most improper for a respectable married +lady, and I certainly have no reason to suppose +you want to be bothered by me any more after the +way I did. But somehow you stick in the back +of my head. You might write me a line, just out +of compassion, if you’re not too busy with all +<pb n="235"/><anchor id="Pg235"/> +your sheep and mountains and things.</q> She +signed herself <q>as ever</q>, which, he reflected bitterly, +might mean anything.</p> + +<p>At first the fact that she was married wholly +engaged his attention. She was then finally and +forever beyond his reach. This was the end sure +enough. He was not going to start any long +aimless correspondence with her to keep alive the +memory of his disappointment. He planned +various brief and chilly notes of congratulation.… +Then another thought took precedence +over that one. She was alone there in that hotel. +Her husband was in London. She had written to +him and given him her address.… His blood +pounded and his breath came quick. He made +his decision instantly, on impulse. He would go +to New York.</p> + +<p>He wired the hotel where she was stopping for +a reservation, but sent no word at all to her. He +gave the bewildered and troubled Cortez brief +orders by telephone to go to Arriba County in his +place, arranged a note at the bank for two thousand +dollars, and caught the limited the same +night at seven-thirty-five.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC32" type="chapter"> +<pb n="236"/><anchor id="Pg236"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXII</hi> +</head> + +<p>He looked at New York through a taxicab +window without much interest. A large damp +grey dirty place, very crowded, where he would +not like to live, he thought. He managed himself +and his baggage with ease and dispatch; his +indifferent, dignified manner and his reckless use +of money were ideally effective with porters, taxi +drivers and the like. When he reached the hotel +about eight o’clock at night he went to his room +and made himself carefully immaculate. He +studied himself with a good deal of interest in the +full length mirror which was set in the bath room +door; for he had seldom encountered such a mirror +and he had a considerable amount of vanity of +which he was not at all conscious. It struck him +that he was remarkably good-looking, and indeed +he was more so than usual, his eyes bright, his +face flushed, his whole body tense and poised with +purpose and expectation.</p> + +<p>He went down to the lobby, looked Julia up in +the register, ascertained the number of her room, +and made a note of it. Then he asked the telephone +girl to call her and learn whether she +was in.</p> +<pb n="237"/><anchor id="Pg237"/> + +<p><q>Yes; she is in. She wants to know who’s +calling, please.</q></p> + +<p><q>Tell her an old friend who wants to surprise +her.</q> He did not care to risk any evasion, and +he also wanted his arrival to have its full dramatic +effect.</p> + +<p>The telephone girl transmitted his message.</p> + +<p><q>She says she can’t come down yet … not +for about half an hour.</q></p> + +<p><q>Tell her I’ll wait. If she asks for me I’ll be +in that little room there.</q> He pointed to a +small reception room opening off the mezzanine +gallery, which he had selected in advance. He +had planned everything carefully.</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>When he stood up to meet her she gave a little +gasp, and took a step back.</p> + +<p><q>Why, you! Ramon! How could you? +You shouldn’t have come. You know you +shouldn’t. I didn’t mean that … I had no +idea.…</q></p> + +<p>He came forward and took her hand and led +her to a settee. Despite all her protests he could +see very plainly that he had scored heavily in his +own favour. She was flustered with excitement +and pleasure. Like all women, she was captivated +by sudden, decisive action and loved the +surprising and the dramatic.</p> + +<p>They sat side by side, looking at each other, +<pb n="238"/><anchor id="Pg238"/> +smiling, making unimportant remarks, and then +looking at each other again. Ramon felt that +she had changed. She was as pretty as ever, and +never had she stirred him more strongly. But her +appeal seemed more immediate than before; she +seemed less remote. The innocence of her wide +eyes was a little less noticeable and their flash of +recklessness a little more so. It seemed to him +that her mouth was larger, which may have been +due to the fact that she had rouged it a little too +much. She wore a pink decollete with straps over +the shoulders one of which kept slipping down +and had to be pulled up again.</p> + +<p>Ramon was tremulous with a half-acknowledged +anticipation, but he held himself strongly in hand. +He felt that he had an advantage over her—that +he was more at ease and she less so than at +any previous meeting—and he meant to keep it.</p> + +<p>But she was rapidly regaining her composure, +and took refuge in a rather formal manner.</p> + +<p><q>Are you going to be here long?</q> she enquired +in the conventional tone of mock-interest.</p> + +<p><q>Just a week or so on business,</q> he explained, +determined not to be outpointed in the game. <q>I +had to come some time this spring, and when I got +your note I thought I would come while you are +here.</q></p> + +<p><q>But I’ll be here the rest of my life probably. +This is where I live. You ought to have come +<pb n="239"/><anchor id="Pg239"/> +when my husband was here. I’d like to have you +meet him. As it is, I can’t see much of you, of +course.…</q></p> + +<p>He refused to be put out by this coldness, but +tried to strike a more intimate note.</p> + +<p><q>Tell me about your marriage,</q> he asked. +<q>Are you really happy?… Do you like it?</q></p> + +<p>She looked at the floor gravely.</p> + +<p><q>You shouldn’t ask that, of course,</q> she reproved. +<q>Everyone who has just been married +is very, very happy.… No, I don’t like it a +darn bit.</q></p> + +<p><q>It’s not what you expected, then.</q></p> + +<p><q>I don’t know what I expected, but from the +way people talk about it and write about it you +would certainly think it was something wonderful—love +and passion and bliss and all that, I mean. +I feel that I’ve either been lied to or cheated … +of course<corr sic=""><anchor id="E9"/><ref target="e9">,</ref></corr></q> +she added with a little side glance at +him, <q>I didn’t exactly love my husband.…</q> +She blushed and looked down again; then laughed +softly and rather joyfully for a lady with a broken +heart.</p> + +<p><q>If mother could only hear me now!</q> she +observed.… <q>She’d faint. I don’t care.… +That’s just the way I feel.… I don’t care! +All my life I’ve been trained and groomed and +prepared for the grand and glorious event of +marriage. I’ve been taught it’s the most wonderful +<pb n="240"/><anchor id="Pg240"/> +thing that can happen to anyone. That’s what +all the books say, and all the people I know. +And here it turns out to be a most uncomfortable +bore.…</q></p> + +<p>He looked gravely sympathetic.</p> + +<p><q>Do you think it would have been different +with—someone you did love?</q> he enquired +cautiously.</p> + +<p>She gave him another quick thrilling glance.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know,</q> she said.… <q>Maybe … +I felt so different about you.</q></p> + +<p>Their hands met on the settee and they both +moved instinctively a little closer together.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she jerked away from him, looking +him in the eyes with her head thrown back and +a smile of irony on her lips.</p> + +<p><q>Aren’t we a couple of idiots?</q> she demanded.</p> + +<p><q>No!</q> he declared with fierce emphasis, and +throwing an arm about her, pounced on her lips.</p> + +<p>Just then a bell boy passed the door. They +jerked apart and upright very self-consciously. +Then they looked at each other and laughed. But +their eyes quickly became deep and serious again, +and their fingers entangled.</p> + +<p>She sighed in mock exasperation.</p> + +<p><q rend="pre: none"><corr sic=""><anchor id="E10"/> +<ref target="e10">“</ref></corr>For Heaven’s +sake, say something!</q> she +demanded. <q>We can’t sit here and make eyes at +each other all evening. Besides I’m compromising +my priceless reputation. It’s after ten o’clock. +<pb n="241"/><anchor id="Pg241"/> +I’ve got to go.</q> She rose, and held out her hand, +which he took without saying anything.</p> + +<p><q>Good night,</q> she said. <q>I think you were +mean to come and camp on me this way … dumb +as ever, I see … well, good night.</q></p> + +<p>She went to the door, stopped and looked back, +smiled and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Ramon went down to the lobby and roamed +all over the two floors which constituted the public +part of the hotel. He looked at everything and +smoked a great many cigarettes, thus restlessly +whiling away an hour. Then he went to a writing +room. He collected some telegrams and letters +about him and appeared to be very busy. When +a bell boy went by, he rapped sharply on the desk +with a fifty-cent piece, and as the boy stopped, +tossed it to him.</p> + +<p><q>Get me the key to 207!</q> he ordered sharply; +then turned back to his imaginary business.</p> + +<p><q>Yes sir,</q> said the boy. He returned in a few +minutes with the key.</p> + +<p>Ramon sat for a long moment looking at it, +tremulous with a great anticipation. He was +divided between a conviction that she expected +him and a fear that she did not.… His fear +proved groundless.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC33" type="chapter"> +<pb n="242"/><anchor id="Pg242"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXIII</hi> +</head> + +<p>The next day they met for dinner at a little +place near Washington Square where it was certain +that none of Julia’s friends ever went. Julia +was a singularly contented-looking criminal. +Never, Ramon thought had her skin looked more +velvety, her eyes deeper or more serene. He +was a trifle haggard, but happy, and both of them +were hungry.</p> + +<p><q>Do you know?… I’ve made a discovery,</q> +she told him. <q>I haven’t any conscience. I slept +peacefully nearly all day, and when I waked up I +considered the matter carefully … I don’t +believe that I have any proper appreciation of the +enormity of what I’ve done at all. I have always +thought that if anything like this ever happened +to me I would go off and chloroform myself, but +as a matter of fact I have no such intention … of +course, though, it was not my fault in the least. +You’re so terrible!… I simply couldn’t help +myself, and I don’t see what I can do now … that’s +comforting. But one thing is certain. +We’ve got to be awfully careful. Thank Heaven, +mother and Gordon are still in Florida and they +won’t dare to come North on Gordon’s account +<pb n="243"/><anchor id="Pg243"/> +until it gets a good deal warmer. But we must +be careful. I’m not sorry, like I should be, but +I sure am scared.…</q></p> + +<p>They sat for a long time after the meal, Ramon +smoking a cigar, their knees touching under the +table. He was filled with a vast contentment. +He thought nothing of the troubled past, nor did +he look into the obviously troubled future. He +merely basked in the consciousness of a possession +infinitely sweet.</p> + +<p>Now began for them a life of clandestine +adventure. Julia had a good many engagements, +but she managed to give him some part of every +day. They never met in the hotel, but usually +took taxicabs separately and met in out-of-the-way +parts of that great free wilderness of city. +Ramon spent most of the time when he was not +with her exploring for suitable meeting places. +They became patrons of cellar restaurants in +Greenwich Village, of French and Italian places +far down town, of obscure Brooklyn hotels. If +the regular fare at these establishments was not +all they desired, Ramon would lavishly bribe the +head waiter, call the proprietor into consultation +if necessary, insist on getting what Julia wanted. +He spent his money like a millionaire, and usually +created the general impression that he was a +wealthy foreigner. Every morning he had +flowers sent to Julia’s room. Often they would +<pb n="244"/><anchor id="Pg244"/> +take a taxi and spend hours riding about the +streets with the blinds drawn, locked in each +others’ arms.</p> + +<p>For a week they were keenly, excitedly happy, +living wholly in the joy of the moment. Then a +flaw appeared upon the glowing perfect surface +of their happiness.</p> + +<p><q>When is your husband coming back?</q> he +enquired once, when they were riding through +Central Park.</p> + +<p><q>I don’t know. In a week or two. Why?</q></p> + +<p><q>Because we must decide pretty soon what we’re +going to do.</q></p> + +<p><q>Do? What can we do?</q></p> + +<p><q>We must decide where we’re going. You +must go with me somewhere. I’m not going to +let you get away from me again … not even +for a little while.</q></p> + +<p><q>But Ramon, how can we? I’m married. I +can’t go anywhere with you.…</q></p> + +<p>He seized her fiercely by the shoulders and +held her away from him, looking into her eyes.</p> + +<p><q>Don’t you love me, then?</q> he demanded.</p> + +<p><q>Ramon! You know I do!</q></p> + +<p><q>Then you’ll go. We can go to Mexico City, or +South America … I’ll sell out at home.…</q></p> + +<p><q>O, Ramon … I can’t. I haven’t got the +courage. Think of the fuss it would raise. And +it would kill Gordon, I know it would.…</q></p> +<pb n="245"/><anchor id="Pg245"/> + +<p><q>Damn Gordon!</q> he exclaimed, <q>he’s not going +to get in the way again! You’re mine and I’m +going to keep you. You will go. I’ll take you!</q></p> + +<p>He had seized her in his arms, was holding her +furiously tight. She put her arms around him, +caressed his face with soft fluttering hands.</p> + +<p><q>Please, Ramon! Please don’t make me +miserable. Don’t spoil the only happiness I ever +had! I will go with you if ever I can, if I can get +a divorce or something. But I can’t run off like +that. I haven’t got it in me … please let me +be happy!</q></p> + +<p>Her touch and her voice seemed to overcome +his determination, seemed to sheer him of his +strength. Weaker she was than he, but her charm +was her power. It dragged him away from his +thoughts and purposes, binding him to her and to +the moment.… She drew his head down to her +breast, found his lips with hers and so effectively +cut his protests short.</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>The cream of his happiness was gone. +Always when he was alone, he was thinking and +planning how he could keep her. All of his +possessiveness was aroused. He wanted her to +have a baby. Somehow he felt that then his conquest +would be complete, that then he would be +at peace.…</p> + +<p>He said nothing more to Julia because he saw +<pb n="246"/><anchor id="Pg246"/> +that it was useless. He began to understand her +a little. It was futile to ask her to make a decision, +to take any initiative. She could hold out +forever against pleas which involved an effort of +the will on her part. And yet as he knew she +could yield charmingly to pressure adroitly +applied. If he had asked her to meet him in New +York this way, he reflected, she would have been +horrified, she would never have consented. But +when he came, suddenly, that had been different. +So it was now. If he could only form a really +good plan, and then put her in a cab and take her … that +would be the only way. The difficulty +was to form the plan. He had capacity for +sudden and decisive action. He lacked neither +courage nor resolution. But when it came to +making a plan which would require much time and +patience, he found his limitations.</p> + +<p>What could he do? he asked himself, not realizing +that in formulating the question he acknowledged +his impotence. If he went away and left +her while he settled his affairs, she was lost as +surely as a bird released from a cage. The idea +of Mexico City allured him. But he had hardly +enough money to take them there. How could he +raise money on short notice? It would take time +to settle his estate in New Mexico and get anything +out of it.…</p> + +<p>Two unrealized facts lay at the root of his +<pb n="247"/><anchor id="Pg247"/> +difficulty. One was that he had no capacity for +large and intricate plans, and the other was that +he felt bound as by an invisible tether to the land +where he had been born.</p> + +<p>As he struggled with all these conflicting considerations +and emotions, his head fairly ached with +futile effort. He was glad to lay it upon Julia’s +soft bosom, to forget everything else again in the +sweetness of a stolen moment.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC34" type="chapter"> +<pb n="248"/><anchor id="Pg248"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXIV</hi> +</head> + +<p>He had been in New York about ten days when +he awoke one morning near noon. An immense +languor possessed him. He had been with Julia +the night before and never had she been more +charming, more abandoned.… He ordered his +breakfast to be sent up, and then stretched out in +bed and lit an expensive Russian cigarette. He +had that love of sensuous indolence, which, +together with its usual complement, the capacity +for brief but violent action, marked him as a +primitive man—one whom the regular labors and +restraints of civilization would never fit.</p> + +<p>His telephone bell rang, and when he took +down the receiver he heard Julia’s voice. It was +not unusual for her to call him about this time, +but what she told him now caused a blank and +hapless look to come over his face. She was not +in her room, but in another hotel.</p> + +<p><q>My husband got in this morning,</q> she explained +in a voice that was thin with misery and +confusion. <q>I got his message last night, but I +didn’t tell you because I knew it would spoil our +last time together, and I was afraid you would do +something foolish.… Please say you’re not +<pb n="249"/><anchor id="Pg249"/> +angry. You know there was nothing for it. We +couldn’t have done any of those wild things you +talked about. I’ll always love you, honestly I +will. Won’t you even say goodby?…</q></p> + +<p>He at last did say goodby and hung up the +receiver and went across the room and sat in an +armchair. It suddenly struck him that he was +very tired. He had not realized it before … how +tired he was. There was none of the mad +rebellion in him now that had filled him when first +she had run away from him. Although he had +never acknowledged it to himself he had been +more than half prepared for this. He had told +himself that he was going to do something bold +and decisive, but he had procrastinated; he had +never really formed a plan.</p> + +<p>Weariness was his leading emotion. He was +spent, physically and emotionally. He wanted +her almost as much as ever. While she was no +longer the remote and dazzling star she had been, +the bond of flesh that had been created between +them seemed a stronger, a more constant thing +than blinding unsatisfied desire. But a great +despair possessed him. There was so obviously +nothing he could do. Just as his other disappointment +had given him his first stinging impression of +the irony of life, that cunningly builds a hope and +then smashes it; so now he felt for the first time +something of the helplessness of man in the +<pb n="250"/><anchor id="Pg250"/> +current or his destiny, driven by deep-laid desires +he seldom understands, and ruled by chances he +can never calculate. From love a man learns +life in quick and painful flashes.</p> + +<p>Through the open window came the din of the +New York street—purr and throb of innumerable +engines, rumble and clatter of iron wheels, tapping +of thousands of restless feet, making a blended +current of sound upon which floated and tossed the +shrillness of police whistles and newsboys’ voices +and auto horns. It had been the background of +his life during memorable days. Once it had +stirred his pulses, seeming a wild accompaniment +to the song of his passion. Now it wearied him +inexpressibly; it seemed to be hammering in his +ears; he wanted to get away from it. He would +go home that day.</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>As always on his trips across the continent he +sat apathetically smoking through the wide green +lushness of the middle west. Only when the +cultivated lands gave way to barren hills and +faint blue mountains peeping over far horizons +did he turn to the window and forget his misery +and his weariness. How it spoke to his heart, +this country of his own! He who loved no man, +who had gone to women with desire and come +away with bitterness, loved a vast and barren +land, baking in the sun. The sight of it quickened +<pb n="251"/><anchor id="Pg251"/> +his pulses, softened and soothed his spirit. Like +a good liquor it nursed and beautified whatever +mood was in him. When he had come back to it +a year before, it had spoken to him of hope, its +mysterious distances had seemed full of promise +and hidden possibility. And now that he came +back to it with hopes broken, weary in mind and +body, it seemed the very voice of rest. He +thought of long cool nights in the mountains and +of the lullaby that wind and water sing, of the +soothing monotony of empty sunlit levels, of the +cool caress of deep, green pools, of the sweet +satisfaction that goes with physical weariness and +a full belly and a bed upon the ground.</p> + +<p>But when on the last morning of his journey he +waked up within a hundred miles of home, and +less than half that far from his own mountain +lands, his new-found comfort quickly changed to +a keen anxiety. For he saw at a glance that the +country was under the blight of drought. The +hills that should have borne a good crop of +gramma grass at this time of the year, if the rains +had been even fair, were nothing but bare red +earth from which the rocks and the great roots of +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">pinion</hi> +trees stood out like the bones of a +starving animal. Here and there on the hillsides +he could see a scrubby pine that had died, its +needles turned rust-red—the sure sign of a serious +drought.</p> +<pb n="252"/><anchor id="Pg252"/> + +<p>During the half month that he had been gone +he had thought not once of his affairs at home. +The moment had absorbed him completely. Now +it all came back to him suddenly. When he had +left, the promise of the season had been good. +It had not rained for more than a week, but everyone +had been expecting rain every day. It was +clear to him that the needed rain had never come. +And he knew just what that meant to him. It +meant that he had lost lambs and ewes, that he +would have no money this year with which to +meet his notes at the bank. He sank deep in +despair and disgust again. Not only was the +assault on his fortunes a serious one, but he felt +little inclined to meet it. He was weary of struggle. +He saw before him a long slow fight to get +on his feet again, with the chance of ultimate +failure if he had another bad year.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans firmly believe, in the face of +much evidence to the contrary, that seven wet +years are always followed by seven dry ones. He +had heard the saying gravely repeated many +times. He more than half believed it. And he +knew that for a good many years, perhaps as +many as six or seven, the rains had been remarkably +good. He was intelligent, but superstition +was bred in his bones. Like all men of a primitive +type he had a strong tendency to believe in +<pb n="253"/><anchor id="Pg253"/> +fortune as a deliberate force in the affairs of men. +It seemed clear to him now, in his depressed and +exhausted condition, that bad luck had marked +him for its prey.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC35" type="chapter"> +<pb n="254"/><anchor id="Pg254"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXV</hi> +</head> + +<p>His forebodings were confirmed in detail the +next morning when Cortez came into his office, +his face wrinkled with worry and darkened by +exposure to the weather. He was angry too.</p> + +<p><q><hi rend="font-style: italic">Por Dios</hi>, +man! To go off like that and not +even leave me an address. If I could have gotten +more money to hire men I might have saved some +of them … yes, more than half of the lambs +died, and many of the ewes. There is nothing +to do now. They are on the best of the range, +and it has begun to rain in the mountains. But +it is too bad. It cost you many thousands … that +trip to New York.</q></p> + +<p>Ramon gave Cortez a cigar to soothe his +sensibilities, thanked him with dignity for his loyal +services, and sent him away. Then he put on +his hat and went outside to walk and think.</p> + +<p>The town seemed to him quiet as though half-deserted. +This was partly by contrast with the +place of din which he had just left, and partly +because this was the dull season, when the first +hot spell of summer drove many away from the +town and kept those who remained in their houses +most of the day. The sandy streets caught the +<pb n="255"/><anchor id="Pg255"/> +sun and cherished it in a merciless glare. They +were baked so hot that barefoot urchins hopped +gingerly from one patch of shade to the next. +In the numerous vacant lots rank jungles of weeds +languished in the dry heat, and long blue-tailed +lizards, veritable heat-sprites, emerged to frolic +and doze on deserted sidewalks. The leaves of +the cottonwoods hung limp, and the white downy +tufts that carried their seeds everywhere drifted +and swam in the shimmering air. The river had +shrunk to a string of shallow pools in a sandy +plain, the irrigation ditches were empty, and in +Old Town the Mexicans were asking God for +rain by carrying an image of the Virgin Mary +about on a litter and firing muskets into the air.</p> + +<p>Quickly wearied, Ramon sat down on a shaded +bench in the park and tried to think out his situation +and to decide what he should do. The easy +way was to sell out, pay his debts, provide for his +mother and sister and with what was left go his +own way—buy a little ranch perhaps in the mountains +or in the valley where he could live in peace +and do as he pleased. Wearied as he was by +struggle and disappointment, this prospect allured +him, and yet he could not quite accept it. He +felt vaguely the fact that in selling his lands, he +would be selling out to fate, he would be surrendering +to MacDougall, to the gringos, he would +be renouncing all his high hopes and dreams. +<pb n="256"/><anchor id="Pg256"/> +His mountain lands, with their steadily increasing +value, the power they gave him, would make of +his life a thing of possibilities—an adventure. +Settled on a little ranch somewhere, his whole +story would be told in one of its years.</p> + +<p>This he did not reason clearly, but the emotional +struggle within him was therefore all the +stronger. It was his old struggle in another +guise—the struggle between the primitive being +in him and the civilized, between earth and the +world of men. Each of them in turn filled his +mind with images and emotions, and he was impotent +to judge between them.</p> + +<p>His being was fairly rooted in the soil, and the +animal happiness it offered—the free play of +instinct, the sweetness of being physically and +emotionally at peace with environment—was the +only happiness he had ever known. Vaguely yet +surely he had felt the world of men and works, +the artificial world, to contain something larger +and more beautiful than this. Julia Roth had +been to him a stimulating symbol of this higher, +this more desirable thing. His love for her had +been the soil in which his aspirations had grown. +That love had turned to bitterness and lust, +and his aspirations had led him among greeds and +fears and struggles that differed from those of +the wild things only in that they were covert and +<pb n="257"/><anchor id="Pg257"/> +devious, lacking the free beauty of instinct fearlessly +followed and the dignity of open battle. +Of civilization he had encountered only the raw +and ugly edge, which is uglier than savagery. He +knew no more of the true spirit of it than a man +who has camped in a farmer’s back pasture knows +of the true spirit of wildness. It had treated +him without mercy and brought out the worst of +him. And yet because he had once loved and +dreamed he could not go back to the easy but +limited satisfactions of the soil and be wholly +content.</p> + +<p>So he could not make up his mind at first to +surrender, but in the next few days one thing +after another came to tempt him that way. MacDougall +made him an offer for his lands which +to his surprise was a little better than the last one. +He learned afterward that the over-shrewd +lawyer had misinterpreted his trip to New York, +imagining that he had gone there to interest +eastern capital in his lands.</p> + +<p>His mother and sister were two very cogent +arguments in favour of selling. The Dona +Delcasar, a simple and vain old lady, now +regarded herself as a woman of wealth, and was +always after him for money. Her ambition was +to build a house in the Highlands and serve tea +at four o’clock (although it was thick chocolate +<pb n="258"/><anchor id="Pg258"/> +she liked) and break into society. His one +discussion of the matter with her was a bitter +experience.</p> + +<p><q>Holy Mary!</q> she exclaimed in her shrill +Spanish, when he broached a plan of retrenchment, +<q>What a son I have! You spend thousands +on yourself, chasing women and buying automobiles, +and now you want us to spend the rest of +our lives in this old house and walk to church so +that you can make it up. God, but men are +selfish!</q></p> + +<p>He saw that if he tried to save money and +make a fight for his lands he would have to +struggle not only with MacDougall and the +weather, but with two ignorant, ambitious and +sharp-tongued women. And family pride here +fought against him. He did not want to see +his women folk go shabbily in the town. He +wanted them to have their brick house and their +tea parties, and to uphold the name of Delcasar +as well as they might.</p> + +<p>One day while he was still struggling with his +problem he went to look at a ranch that was +offered for sale in the valley a few miles north of +town. It was this place more than anything else +which decided him. The old house had been +built by one of his ancestors almost a hundred +years before, and had then been the seat of an +estate which embraced all the valley and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mesa</hi> +<pb n="259"/><anchor id="Pg259"/> +lands for miles in every direction. It had changed +hands several times and there were now but a +few hundred acres. The woodwork of the house +was in bad repair, but its adobe walls, three feet +thick, were firm as ever. There were still traces +of the adobe stockade behind it, with walls ten +feet high, and the building which had housed the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">peones</hi> +was still standing, now filled with fragrant +hay. In front of it stood an old cedar post with +rusty iron rings to which the recalcitrant field +hands had been bound for beating.</p> + +<p>Every detail of this home of his forefathers +stirred his emotions. The ancient cottonwood +trees in front of the house with their deep, +welcome shade and the soft voices of courting +doves among the leaves; the alfalfa fields heavy +with purple blossom, ripe for cutting; the orchard +of old apple trees and thickets of Indian plum +run wild; the neglected vineyard that could be +made to yield several barrels of red wine—all +of these things spoke to him with subtle voices. +To trade his heritage for this was to trade hope +and hazard for monotonous ease; but with the +smell of the yielding earth in his nostrils, he no +more thought of this than a man in love thinks of +the long restraints and irks of marriage when the +kiss of his woman is on his lips.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always" id="BC36" type="chapter"> +<pb n="260"/><anchor id="Pg260"/> +<index index="toc"/> +<index index="pdf"/> +<head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER XXXVI</hi> +</head> + +<p>Ramon’s life on his farm quickly fell into a +routine that was for the most part pleasant. He +hired an old woman to do his cooking and washing, +and a man to work on the place. Other +men he hired as he needed them, and he spent +most of his days working with them as a foreman.</p> + +<p>He attended to the business of farming ably. +The trees of the old orchard he pruned and +sprayed and he set out new ones. He put his +idle land under irrigation and planted it in corn +and alfalfa. He set out beds of strawberries +and asparagus. He bought blooded livestock +and chickens. He put his fences in repair and +painted the woodwork of his house. The creative +energy that was in him had at last found an +outlet which was congenial though somewhat +picayune. For the place was small and easily +handled. As the fall came on, and his crops had +been gathered and the work of irrigation was +over for the season, he found himself looking +about restlessly for something to do. On Saturday +nights he generally went to town, had +dinner with his mother and sister, and spent the +evening drinking beer and playing pool. But he +<pb n="261"/><anchor id="Pg261"/> +felt increasingly out of place in the town; his +visits there were prompted more by filial duty +and the need of something to break the monotony +of his week than by a real sense of pleasure in +them.</p> + +<p>He was still caring for Catalina on the ranch +up the valley, and when the woman who had been +doing his work left him, he decided to bring the +girl to his place and let her earn her keep by +cooking and washing. He no longer felt any +interest in her, and thought that perhaps she +would marry Juan Cardenas, the man who milked +his cows and chopped wood for him. But +Catalina showed no interest in Juan. Instead, +she emphatically rejected all his advances, and +displayed an abject, squaw-like devotion to +Ramon’s welfare. Everything possible was done +for his comfort without his asking. The infant, +now almost a year old, was trained not to cry in +his presence, and acquired a certain awe of him, +watching him with large solemn eyes whenever +he was about. Ramon, reflecting that this was +his son, set out to make the baby’s acquaintance, +and became quite fond of it. He often played +with it in the evening.</p> + +<p>He paid Catalina regular wages and she spent +most of the money on clothes. When she +prepared herself for Church on Sunday she was +a truly terrible spectacle, clad in an ill-fitting +<pb n="262"/><anchor id="Pg262"/> +ready-made suit of brilliant colour, and wearing +a cheap hat on which a dead parrot sprawled +among artificial poppies, while her swarthy face, +heavily powdered, took on a purple tinge. But +about the place, dressed in clean calico, with a +shawl over her shoulders, she was really pretty. +Her figure was a good one of peasant type, and +the acquisition of some shoes which fitted her +revealed the fact that she had inherited from +her remote Castilian ancestry a small and shapely +foot and ankle.</p> + +<p>Ramon could not help noticing all of these +things, and so gradually he became aware of +Catalina again as a desirable woman, and one +whom it was easy for him to take.</p> + +<p>After this his animal contentment was deeper +than ever. He did not go to town so often, for +one of the restlessnesses which had driven him +there was removed. Often for weeks at a +stretch he would not go at all unless it was necessary +to get some tools or supplies for the farm. +Then rather than take any of his men away from +work, he would himself hitch up a team and drive +the five miles. Sitting hunched over on the +spring-seat of a big farm wagon, clad in overalls +and a print shirt, with a wide hat tilted against +the sun and a cigarette dangling from his lips, he +was indistinguishable from any other +<hi rend="font-style: italic">paisano</hi> on +the road. This change in appearance was helped +<pb n="263"/><anchor id="Pg263"/> +by the fact that he had grown a heavy moustache. +Often, as he drove through the streets of the +town, he would pass acquaintances who did not +recognize him, and he was just as well satisfied +that they did not.</p> + +<p>As is the way of unreflecting men, Ramon +formed no definite opinion of his life, but liked +it more or less according to the mood that was in +him. There were bright, cool days that fall +when, lacking work to do, he took his shot-gun +and a saddle horse and went for long rambles. +Sometimes he would follow the river northward, +stalking the flocks of teal and mallards that dozed +on the sandbars in the wide, muddy stream, +perhaps killing three or four fat birds. Other +times he went to the foot of the mountains and +hunted the blue quail and cotton tail rabbits in +the arroyos of the foot-hills. Once he and his +man loaded a wagon with food and blankets and +drove forty miles to a canyon where they killed a +big black-tail buck, and brought him back in high +triumph.</p> + +<p>Returning from such trips full of healthy +hunger and weariness, to find his hot supper and +his woman waiting for him, Ramon would doze +off happily, every want of his physical being satisfied, +feeling that life was good.… But there +were other nights when a strange restlessness +possessed him, when he lay miserably awake +<pb n="264"/><anchor id="Pg264"/> +through long dark hours. The silence of the +black valley was emphasized now and then by the +doleful voices of dogs that answered each other +across the sleeping miles. At such times he felt +as though he had been caught in a trap. He saw +in imagination the endless unvaried chain of his +days stretching before him, and he rebelled against +it and knew not how to break it. His experience +of life was comparatively little and he was no +philosopher. He did not know definitely either +what was the matter with him or what he wanted. +But he had tasted high aspiration, and desire +bright and transforming, and wild sweet joy.… +These things had been taken away, and now life +narrowed steadily before him like a blind canyon +that pierces a mountain range. The trail at the +bottom was easy enough to follow, but the walls +drew ever closer and became more impassable, +and what was the end?…</p> + +<p><milestone unit="tb"/></p> + +<p>This sense of dissatisfaction reached its futile +crux one day in the spring when he received a +letter from Julia—the last he was ever to get. +The sight and scent of it stirred him as they +always had done, filling him with poignant painful +memories.</p> + +<p><q>This is really the last time I’ll ever bother +you,</q> she wrote, <q rend="post: none">but I do want to know what has +happened to you, and how you feel about things. +<pb n="265"/><anchor id="Pg265"/> +I can’t forget. All our troubles seem to have +worn some sort of a permanent groove in my poor +brain, and I believe the thought of you will be +there till the day of my death. +</q></p> + +<p><q rend="post: none">As, for me, I’m in society up to my eyes, and +absolutely without the courage or energy to climb +out. Those days in New York were the first and +the last of my freedom. Now I’ve been introduced +to everybody, and I have an engagement +book that tells me what I’m going to do whether +I want to or not for three weeks ahead. I’m a +model of conduct and propriety for the simple +reason that I can’t travel over a block without +everybody that I know finding out about it. +</q></p> + +<p><q>Of course it hasn’t all been a bore. I have +had some fun, and I’ve met some really interesting +people. I’ve gotten used to being married and +my husband treats me kindly and gives me a good +home. Sounds as if I was a kitten, doesn’t it? +Well, I have very much the same sort of life as a +kitten, but a kitten has no imagination and it has +never been in love. Sometimes I think that I +can’t stand it any longer. It seems to me that +I’m not really living, as I used to imagine I would, +but just being dragged through life by circumstances +and other people—I don’t know what all. +I still have desperate plans and ideas once in a +while, but of course, I never do anything. When +you come right down to it, what can I do?</q></p> +<pb n="266"/><anchor id="Pg266"/> + +<p>Ramon read this letter sitting on the sunny +side of his house with his heels under him and +his back against the wall—a position any Mexican +can hold for hours. When he had finished it he +sat motionless for a long time, painfully going +over the past, trying ineptly to discover what had +been the matter with it. More acutely than ever +before he felt the cruel guerdon of youth—the +contrast between the promise of life and its fulfillment. +He felt that he ought to do something, +that he ought not to submit. But somehow all +the doors that led out of his present narrow way +into wider fields seemed closed. There was no +longer any entrancing vista to tempt him. Mentally +he repeated her query, What could he do?</p> + +<p>His thoughts went round and round and got +nowhere. The spring sunshine soaked into his +body. A faint hum of early insects lulled him, +and to his nostrils came the scent of new-turned +earth and manure from the garden where his man +was working. He grew drowsy; his dissatisfaction +simmered down to a vague ache in the background +of his consciousness. Idly he tore the +letter to little bits.</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> + +<trailer rend="text-align: center; font-size: 75%">THE END</trailer> +</div> + +</body> + +<back> + <div rend="page-break-before: right" type="extra pages"> + <index index="toc"/> + <index index="pdf"/> + <head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">EXTRA PAGES</hi> + </head> + + <div rend="page-break-before: right" type="extra pages"> + <pb n="1"/><anchor id="Pg1"/> + <p rend="text-align: center; margin-left: 20"> + <hi rend="font-style: italic; font-size: 150%">The Blood of + <lb/>the Conquerors</hi></p> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always" type="extra pages"> + <pb n="2"/><anchor id="Pg2"/> + <list rend="font-style: italic; font-size: 75%"> + <item><hi rend="margin-left: 2">NEW BORZOI NOVELS</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="margin-left: 4">FALL, 1921</hi></item> + </list> + + <list rend="font-size: 75%"> + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Pan</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Knut Hamsun</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dreamers</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Knut Hamsun</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Tortoise</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Mary Borden</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The China Shop</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">G. B. Stern</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Briary-Bush</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Floyd Dell</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Deadlock</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Dorothy Richardson</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Other Magic</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">E. L. Grant-Watson</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">White Shoulders</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">George Kibbe Turner</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Charmed Circle</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; + margin-left: 1">Edward Alden Jewell</hi></item> + + <item><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Blood of + the Conquerors</hi></item> + <item><hi rend="font-style: italic; margin-left: 1">Harvey + <corr sic="Furgusson"><anchor id="E11"/> + <ref target="e11">Fergusson</ref></corr></hi></item> + </list> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: right" type="extra pages"> + <pb n="5"/><anchor id="Pg5"/> + <p rend="text-align: center; margin-left: 20"> + <hi rend="font-style: italic; font-size: 150%">The Blood of + <lb/>the Conquerors</hi></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: right" type="errata"> + <index index="toc"/> + <index index="pdf"/> + <head rend="text-align: center"> + <hi rend="font-size: 125%">ERRATA</hi> + </head> + + <list><anchor id='e1'/> + <item>CHAPTER II</item> + <item>Changed: they were <ref target="E1"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">untamable</hi></ref>, + but boys</item> + <item>To: they were <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">untameable</hi>, + but boys</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e2'/> + <item>CHAPTER II</item> + <item>Changed: adventures were <ref target="E2"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">comoposed</hi></ref> + and sung </item> + <item>To: adventures were <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">composed</hi> + and sung </item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e3'/> + <item>CHAPTER IV</item> + <item>Changed: your name,” she admitted<ref target="E3"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">,</hi></ref> + </item> + <item>To: your name,” she admitted<hi + rend="font-weight: bold">.</hi> + </item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e4'/> + <item>CHAPTER V</item> + <item>Changed: only all-night <ref target="E4"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">resturant</hi></ref>. + Here he </item> + <item>To: only all-night <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">restaurant</hi>. + Here he </item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e5'/> + <item>CHAPTER VII</item> + <item>Changed: haunted by <ref target="E5"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold"></hi>lizzards</ref> + and rattlesnakes.</item> + <item>To: haunted by <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">lizards</hi> + and rattlesnakes.</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e6'/> + <item>CHAPTER VIII</item> + <item>Changed: CHAPTER VIII<ref target="E6"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">.</hi></ref> + </item> + <item>To: CHAPTER VIII<hi + rend="font-weight: bold"> </hi> + </item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e12'/> + <item>CHAPTER XI</item> + <item>Changed: the game<ref target="E12"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">,</hi></ref> + But the</item> + <item>To: the game<hi + rend="font-weight: bold">.</hi> + But the</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e7'/> + <item>CHAPTER XV</item> + <item>Changed: nights they <ref target="E7"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">visted</hi></ref> + the town’s</item> + <item>To: nights they <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">visited</hi> + the town’s</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e8'/> + <item>CHAPTER XIX</item> + <item>Changed: saved from <ref target="E8"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">furthur</hi></ref> + punishment. Meantime,</item> + <item>To: saved from <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">further</hi> + punishment. Meantime,</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e13'/> + <item>CHAPTER XXXI</item> + <item>Changed: own living.… <ref target="E13"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">Its</hi></ref> + not fair.</item> + <item>To: own living.… <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">It’s</hi> + not fair.</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e9'/> + <item>CHAPTER XXXII</item> + <item>Changed: of course<ref target="E9"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold"> </hi></ref>” + she added</item> + <item>To: of course<hi + rend="font-weight: bold">,</hi>” + she added</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e10'/> + <item>CHAPTER XXXII</item> + <item>Changed: <ref target="E10"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold"> </hi></ref>For + Heaven’s sake, say something!”</item> + <item>To: <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">“</hi>For + Heaven’s sake, say something!”</item> + </list> + + <list><anchor id='e11'/> + <item>Page 2</item> + <item>Changed: Harvey <ref target="E11"><hi + rend="font-weight: bold">Furgusson</hi></ref> + </item> + <item>To: Harvey <hi + rend="font-weight: bold">Fergusson</hi> + </item> + </list> + </div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<divGen type="pgfooter"/> +</div> + +</back> + + </text> +</TEI.2> +<!-- +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 20888-tei.tei or 20888-tei.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/8/20888/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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