PART ONE


"How beautiful the revolution!
Even in its most barbarous aspect it is beautiful,"
Solis said with deep feeling.



I


"That's no animal, I tell you! Listen to the dog bark-
ing! It must be a human being."

The woman stared into the darkness of the sierra.

"What if they're soldiers?" said a man, who sat In-
dian-fashion, eating, a coarse earthenware plate in his
right hand, three folded tortillas in the other.

The woman made no answer, all her senses directed
outside the hut. The beat of horses' hoofs rang in the
quarry nearby. The dog barked again, louder and more
angrily.

"Well, Demetrio, I think you had better hide, all the
same."