FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65  
66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   >>   >|  
t was dying. The ranches were stripped of stock, no carts creaked along the highways, and the roads, like the little farms, were growing up to weeds. Stores were empty, the people were idle. Over all was an atmosphere of decay, and, what was far more significant, the people seemed content. All morning the monotonous journey continued--a trial to Alaire and Dolores, but to Jose Sanchez a red-letter experience. He covered the train from end to end, making himself acquainted with every one and bringing to Alaire the gossip that he picked up. It was not until midday that the first interruption occurred; then the train pulled in upon a siding, and after an interminable delay it transpired that a north-bound troop-train was expected. Jose brought this intelligence: "Soon you will behold the flower of the Mexican army," he told Alaire. "You will see thousands of Longorio's veterans, every man of them a very devil for blood. They are returning to Nuevo Pueblo after destroying a band of those rebels. They had a great victory at San Pedro--thirty kilometers from La Feria. Not a prisoner was spared, senora." "Is General Longorio with them?" Alaire inquired, quickly. "That is what I came to tell you. It is believed that he is, for he takes his army with him wherever he goes. He is a great fighter; he has a nose for it, that man, and he strikes like the lightning--here, there, anywhere." Jose, it seemed, was a rabid Potosista. But Dolores held opposite sympathies. She uttered a disdainful sniff. "To be sure he takes his army with him, otherwise the Constitutionalistas would kill him. Wait until Pancho Gomez meets this army of Longorio's. Ha! You will see some fighting." Jose blew two fierce columns of cigarette smoke from his nostrils. "Longorio is a gentleman; he scorns to use the tricks of that bandit. Pancho Gomez fights like a savage. Think of the cowardly manner in which he captured Espinal the last time. What did he do then? I'll tell you. He laid in wait and allowed a train-load of our troops to pass through his lines toward Chihuahua; then he took possession of the telegraph wires and pretended to be the Federal commander. He sent a lying message back to Espinal that the railway tracks were torn up and he could not reach Chihuahua, and so, of course, he was ordered to return. That was bad enough, but he loaded his bandits upon other trains--he locked them into freight-cars like cattle so that not a head could
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65  
66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Longorio

 

Alaire

 
Pancho
 
Dolores
 
Espinal
 

Chihuahua

 

people

 

Potosista

 

fierce

 

gentleman


strikes

 

nostrils

 

lightning

 

cigarette

 

columns

 
opposite
 

Constitutionalistas

 
sympathies
 

disdainful

 
uttered

fighting

 

railway

 
tracks
 

message

 

pretended

 

Federal

 

commander

 

ordered

 

return

 

freight


cattle

 
locked
 

trains

 

loaded

 

bandits

 

telegraph

 

possession

 

manner

 

captured

 

cowardly


tricks

 

bandit

 

fights

 

savage

 

troops

 

allowed

 
scorns
 
victory
 
continued
 

Sanchez