The Underdogs | Page 3

was his house, blazing....
II
Everything was still swathed in shadows as Demetrio Macias began his descent to the
bottom of the ravine. Between rocks striped with huge eroded cracks, and a squarely cut
wall, with the river flowing below, a narrow ledge along the steep incline served as a
mountain trail.
"They'll surely find me now and track us down like dogs," he mused. "It's a good thing
they know nothing about the trails and paths up here.... But if they got someone from
Moyahua to guide them..." He left the sinister thought unfinished. "All the men from
Limon or Santa Rosa or the other nearby ranches are on our side: they wouldn't try to trail
us. That cacique who's chased and run me ragged over these hills, is at Mohayua now;
he'd give his eyeteeth to see me dangling from a telegraph pole with my tongue hanging
out of my mouth, purple and swollen...."
At dawn, he approached the pit of the canyon. Here, he lay on the rocks and fell asleep.
The river crept along, murmuring as the waters rose and fell in small cascades. Birds sang
lyrically from their hiding among the pitaya trees. The monotonous, eternal drone of
insects filled the rocky solitude with mystery.
Demetrio awoke with a start. He waded the river, following its course which ran counter
to the canyon; he climbed the crags laboriously as an ant, gripping root and rock with his
hands, clutching every stone in the trail with his bare feet.
When he reached the summit, he glanced down to see the sun steeping the valley in a lake
of gold. Near the canyon, enormous rocks loomed protrudent, like fantastic Negro skulls.
The pitaya trees rose tenuous, tall, like the tapering, gnarled fingers of a giant; other trees
of all sorts bowed their crests toward the pit of the abyss. Amid the stark rocks and dry
branches, roses bloomed like a white offering to the sun as smoothly, suavely, it
unraveled its golden threads, one by one, from rock to rock.
Demetrio stopped at the summit. Reaching backward, with his right arm he drew his horn
which hung at his back, held it up to his thick lips, and, swelling his cheeks out, blew
three loud blasts. From across the hill close by, three sharp whistles answered his signal.
In the distance, from a conical heap of reeds and dry straws, man after man emerged, one
after the other, their legs and chests naked, lambent and dark as old bronze. They rushed
forward to greet Demetrio, and stopped before him, askance. "They've burnt my house,"
he said.
A murmur of oaths, imprecations, and threats rose among them.
Demetrio let their anger run its course. Then he drew a bottle from under his shirt and
took a deep swig; then he wiped the neck of the bottle with the back of his hand and

passed it around. It passed from mouth to mouth; not a drop was left. The men passed
their tongues greedily over their lips to recapture the tang of the liquor.
"Glory be to God and by His Will," said Demetrio, "tonight or tomorrow at the latest
we'll meet the Federals. What do you say, boys, shall we let them find their way about
these trails?"
The ragged crew jumped to their feet, uttering shrill cries of joy; then their jubilation
tamed sinister and they gave vent to threats, oaths and imprecations.
"Of course, we can't ten how strong they are," said Demetrio as his glance traveled over
their faces in scrutiny.
"Do you remember Medina? Out there at Hostotipaquillo, he only had a half a dozen men
with knives that they sharpened on a grindstone. Well, he held back the soldiers and the
police, didn't he? And he beat them, too."
"We're every bit as good as Medina's crowd!" said a tall, broad-shouldered man with a
black beard and bushy eyebrows.
"By God, if I don't own a Mauser and a lot of cartridges, if I can't get a pair of trousers
and shoes, then my name's not Anastasio Montanez! Look here, Quail, you don't believe
it, do you? You ask my partner Demetrio if I haven't half a dozen bullets in me already.
Christ! Bullets are marbles to me! And I dare you to contradict me!"
"Viva Anastasio Montanez," shouted Manteca.
"All right, all right!" said Montanez. "Viva Demetrio Macias, our chief, and long life to
God in His heaven and to the Virgin Mary."
"Viva Demetrio Macias," they all shouted.
They gathered dry brush and wood, built a fire and placed chunks of fresh meat upon the
burning coals. As the blaze rose, they collected about the fire, sat down Indian-fashion
and inhaled the odor of the meat as it twisted on the crackling