milk, beans, anything you've got! We're starving!"

"Curse the sierra! It would take the Devil himself
not to lose his way!"

"Guess again, Sergeant! Even the Devil would go
astray if he were as drunk as you are."

The first speaker wore chevrons on his arm, the other
red stripes on his shoulders.

"Whose place is this, old woman? Or is it an empty
house? God's truth, which is it?"

"Of course it's not empty. How about the light and
that child there? Look here, confound it, we want to
eat, and damn quick tool Are you coming out or are we
going to make you?"

"You swine! Both of you! You've gone and killed my
dog, that's what you've done! What harm did he ever do
you? What did you have against him?"

The woman reentered the house, dragging the dog be-
hind her, very white and fat, with lifeless eyes and flabby
body.

"Look at those cheeks, Sergeant! Don't get riled, light
of my life: I swear I'll turn your home into a dovecot,
see?"