first, General?" Luis Cervantes asked.

"What for?"

"Our funds are melting slowly."

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

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

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

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

"To the sierra! To the sierra! Hurrah for the moun-
tains!"

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

Dawn broke behind a cloud of fine reddish dust; the
sun rose an immense curtain of fiery purple. Luis Cer-
vantes pulled his reins and waited for Quail.
"What's the last word on our deal, Quail?"