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
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