returned to the hotel, singing to himself:

"Someone plunged a knife
Deep in my side.
Did he know why?
I don't know why.
Maybe he knew,
I never knew."

XIV

Stale cigarette smoke, the acrid odors of sweaty clothing, the vapors
of alcohol, the breathing of a crowded multitude, worse by far than a
trainful of pigs.

Texas hats, adorned with gold braid, and khaki predominate. "Gentlemen,
a well-dressed man stole my suitcase in the station. My life's savings!
I haven't enough to feed my little boy now!"

The shrill voice, rising to a shriek or trailing off into a sob, is
drowned out by the tumult within the train.

"What the hell is the old woman talking about?" Blondie asks, entering
in search of a seat.

"Something about a suitcase ... and a well-dressed man," Pancracio
replies. He has already the laps of two civilians to sit on.

Demetrio and the others elbow their way in. Since those on whom
Pancracio had sat preferred to stand up, Demetrio and Luis Cervantes
quickly seize the vacant seats.

Suddenly a woman who has stood up holding a child all the way from
Irapuato, faints. A civilian takes the child in his arms. The others
pretend to have seen nothing. Some women, traveling with the soldiers,
occupy two or three seats with baggage, dogs, cats, parrots. Some of
the men wearing Texan hats laugh at the plump arms and pendulous
breasts of the woman who fainted.

"Gentlemen, a well-dressed man stole my suitcase at the station in
Silao! All my life's savings ... I haven't got enough to feed my little
boy now! ..."

The old woman speaks rapidly, parrotlike, sighing and sobbing. Her
sharp eyes peer about on all sides. Here she gets a bill, and further
on, another. They shower money upon her. She finishes the collection,
and goes a few seats ahead.

"Gentlemen, a well-dressed man stole my suitcase in the station at
Silao." Her words produce an immediate and certain effect.

A well-dressed man, a dude, a tenderfoot, stealing a suitcase! Amazing,
phenomenal! It awakens a feeling of universal indignation. It's a pity:
if this well-dressed man were here every one of the generals would
shoot him one after the other!

"There's nothing as vile as a city dude who steals!" a man says,
exploding with indignation.

"To rob a poor old lady!"

"To steal from a poor defenseless woman!"

They prove their compassion by word and deed: a harsh verdict against
the culprit; a five-peso bill for the vict