badly. My son Manuel joined the army last night and
with him his wife and two little ones. Now we have no man in the house--we
shall starve."

"But your daughter's husband?"

"Francisco was killed last week in a fight. The soldiers brought the news.
Carlotta has four little ones now and no man."

"That is very bad. I am sorry. What soldiers do you mean?"

"Last night. The soldiers who came from the north."

"D'you mean that the crowd that was fighting up here in the hills were
soldiers?" broke in Scott, eagerly. "Federal soldiers?"

"No, no, the soldiers of the revolution--Sonora troops. They march south
against Sinaloa." Carlotta had crept nearer and was taking part in the
conversation.

"I don't get you. Who was doing the fighting?" demanded Scott.

The old woman burst into rapid speech, leaving Scott in the lurch
immediately. Clara came to his rescue.

"The poor old thing is more Indian than Mexican and she doesn't talk very
clearly," she said. "She says that the party which came along the road
last night was a regiment of cavalry from up north. They saw the barn
burning and thought that the bandits were on the march; so they started
over that way. They fell in with the stragglers of the Yaqui crowd and
started to fight. As near as I can tell, each party seems to have thought
that the other was Angel Gonzales' band. The Yaquis had been rooted out of
their village by Gonzales and were on the warpath, poor creatures.

"Fortunately, there were a lot of Yaquis in the troop and by the time the
fellows who were trying to loot us came along they began to understand the
situation and the lot of them joined the troops. This old lady's son,
Manuel, joined too, and his wife and babies went along. That explains why
they let us alone last night."

"It does," said Scott. "And it shows that Angel is around somewhere bent
on deviltry. Here, old lady, is something to buy chow for the babies for a
few days--better luck to you!" He handed her some money and they drove
away amid loud thanks and happy smiles.

"What in the world do you mean by the wife and babies going, too?"
demanded Polly, excitedly.

"Why, here in Mexico war is a family affair," replied Scott. "There's no
such thing as the girl I left behind me. The Missus goes along and so do
the youngsters. She does most of the foraging for food on the march."

"The Mexican believes in equality of the sexes," said Hard. "He believes
that the woman has just as much ri