"I will tell you. I will make the story short. Gentle God, what a thing
it was! I was for Gonzales then--a loyal gentleman, he called me--I,
a gentleman! But that was his way. I was more of a spy for him. Well,
I found out that a revolution was to happen, so I gave the word to
Gonzales, and with the soldiers came to Puebla. The leaders were
captured in a house, brought out, and without trial were set against a
wall. I can remember it so well--so well! The light was streaming from
an open door upon the wall. They were brought out, taken across the road
and stood against a wall. I was standing a distance away, for at the
moment I was sorry, though, to be sure, senor, it was for the cause of
the country then, I thought. As I stood there looking, the light that
streamed from the doorway fell straight upon a man standing against that
wall. It was my brother--Alphonso, my brother. I shrieked and ran
forward, but the rifles spat out at the moment, and the five men fell.
Alphonso--ah, I thank the Virgin every day! he did not know. His zarape
hangs there on the wall, his sombrero, his sword, and his stirrups."

Sherry shifted nervously in his seat. "There's stuff for you, amigo,"
he said to me. "Makes you chilly, doesn't it? Shot his own brother--
amounts to same thing, doesn't it? All right, Becodar, we're both sorry,
and will pray for his departed spirit; go ahead, Becodar."

The beggar kept pulling at a piece of black ribbon which was tied to the
arm of the chair in which he now sat. "Senors, after that I became a
revolutionist--that was the only way to make it up to my brother, except
by masses--I gave candles for every day in the year. One day they were
all in my house here, sitting just where you sit in those chairs. Our
leader was Castodilian, the bandit with the long yellow hair. We had a
keg of powder which we were going to distribute. All at once Gonzales's
soldiers burst in. There was a fight, we were overpowered, and