ou lousy beggars!' I called after them.
'I'm not so fond of frightened geese--stop, You bald-headed bastards: I
won't harm you! You needn't worry!' By God, they certainly fell for it.
Pop, pop! One shot for each of them, and a well-earned rest for a pair
of poor sinners, be damned to them!"

"I couldn't get a single one of their generals!" said a swarthy man who
sat in one corner between the wall and the bar, holding his rifle
between his outstretched legs. "I sighted one: a fellow with a hell of
a lot of gold plastered all over him. His gold chevrons shone like a
Goddamned sunset. And I let him go by, fool that I was. He took off his
handkerchief and waved it. I stood there with my mouth wide open like a
fool! Then I ducked and he started shooting, bullet after bullet. I let
him kill a poor cargador. Then I said: 'My turn, now! Holy Virgin,
Mother of God! Don't let me miss this son of a bitch.' But, by Christ,
he disappeared. He was riding a hell of a fine nag; he went by me like
lightning! There was another poor fool coming up the road. He got it
and turned the prettiest somersault you ever saw!"

Talk flew from lip to lip, each soldier vying with his fellow,
snatching the words from the other's mouth. As they declaimed
passionately, women with olive, swarthy skins, bright eyes, and teeth
of ivory, with revolvers at their waists, cartridge-belts across their
breasts, and broad Mexican hats on their heads, wove their way like
stray street curs in and out among groups. A vulgar wench, with rouged
cheeks and dark brown arms and neck, gave a great leap and landed on
the bar near Demetrio's table.

He turned his head toward her and literally collided with a pair of
lubric eyes under a narrow forehead and thick, straight hair, parted in
the middle.

The door opened wide. Anastasio, Pancracio, Quail, and Meco filed in,
dazed.

Anastasio uttered a cry of surprise and stepped forward to shake hands
with the little fat man wearing a charro suit and a lavender bandanna.
A pair of old friends, met again. So warm was their embrace, so tightly
they clutched each other that the blood rushed to their heads, they
turned purple.

"Look here, Demetrio, I want the honor of introducing you to Blondie.
He's a real friend, you know. I love him like a brother. You must get
to know him, Chief, he's a man! Do you remember that damn jail at
Escobedo, where we stayed together for over a year?"

Without removing his cigar from his lips,