leveling his kindly gaze upon him, asked:

"Why so sad, you from the city? What are you day-
dreaming about? Come on over here and let's have a
chat!"

Luis Cervantes did not move; Anastasio went over to
him and sat down beside him like a friend.

"What you need is the excitement of the city. I wager
you shine your shoes every day and wear a necktie. Now,
I may look dirty and my clothes may be torn to shreds,
but I'm not really what I seem to be. I'm not here because
I've got to be and don't you think so. Why, I own twenty
oxen. Certainly I do; ask my friend Demetrio. I cleared
ten bushels last harvest time. You see, if there's one
thing I love, that's riling these Government fellows and
making them furious. The last scrape I had--it'll be eight
months gone now, ever since I've joined these men--I
stuck my knife into some captain. He was just a no-
body, a little Government squirt. I pinked him here, see,
right under the navel. And that's why I'm here: that and
because I wanted to give my mate Demetrio a hand."
"Christ! The bloody little darling of my life!" Manteca
shouted, waxing enthusiastic over a winning hand. He
placed a twenty-cent silver coin on the jack of spades.

"If you want my opinion, I'm not much on gam-
bling. Do you want to bet? Well, come on then, I'm game.
How do you like the sound of this leather snake jingling,