"What the devil are you waiting for, fool? If the chief
likes you, what more do you want?"

Camilla felt something rise within her breast, an empty
ache that became a knot when it reached her throat; she
closed her eyes fast to hold back the tears that welled up
in them. Then, with the back of her hand, she wiped her
wet cheeks, and just as she had done three days
ago, fled with all the swiftness of a young deer.




XII


Demetrio's wound had already healed. They be-
gan to discuss various projects to go northward where,
according to rumor, the rebels had beaten the Federal
troops all along the line.

A certain incident came to precipitate their action.
Seated on a crag of the sierra in the cool of the after-
noon breeze, Luis Cervantes gazed away in the distance,
dreaming and killing time. Below the narrow rock Pan-
cracio and Manteca, lying like lizards between the
jarales along one of the river margins, were playing
cards. Anastasio Montanez, looking on indifferently,
turned his black hairy face toward Luis Cervantes and,