anez said,
examining his rifle springs. Yet he was previous; an hour or more
elapsed with no sound or stir save the song of the locust in the brush
or the frog stirring in his mudhole. At last, when the ultimate faint
rays of the moon were spent in the rosy dimness of the dawn, the
silhouette of a soldier loomed at the end of the trail. As they
strained their eyes, they could distinguish others behind him, ten,
twenty, a hundred. ... Then, suddenly, darkness swallowed them up. Only
when the sun rose, Demetrio's band realized that the canyon was alive
with men, midgets seated on miniature horses.

"Look at 'em, will you?" said Pancracio. "Pretty, ain't they? Come on,
boys, let's go and roll marbles with 'em."

Now the moving dwarf figures were lost in the dense chaparral, now they
reappeared, stark and black against the ocher. The voices of officers,
as they gave orders, and soldiers, marching at ease, were clearly
audible. Demetrio raised his hand; the locks of rifles clicked. "Fire!"
he cried tensely.

Twenty-one men shot as one; twenty-one soldiers fell off their horses.
Caught by surprise, the column halted, etched like bas-reliefs in stone
against the rocks.

Another volley and a score of soldiers hurtled down from rock to rock.

"Come out, bandits. Come out, you starved dogs!"

"To hell with you, you corn rustlers!"

"Kill the cattle thieves! Kill 'em!"

The soldiers shouted defiance to their enemies; the latter, giving
proof of a marksmanship which had already made them famous, were
content to keep under cover, quiet, mute.

"Look, Pancracio," said Meco, completely black save for his eyes and
teeth. "This is for that man who passes that tree. I'll get the son of
a ..."

"Take that! Right in the head. You saw it, didn't you, mate? Now, this
is for the fellow on the roan horse. Down you come, you shave-headed
bastard!"

"I'll give that lad on the trail's edge a shower of lead. If you don't
hit the river, I'm a liar! Now: look at him!"

"Oh, come on, Anastasio don't be cruel; lend me your rifle. Come along,
one shot, just one!"

Manteca and Quail, unarmed, begged for a gun as a boon, imploring
permission to fire at least a shot apiece. "Come out of your holes if
you've got any guts!"

"Show your faces, you lousy cowards!"

From peak to peak, the shouts rang as distinctly as though uttered
across a street. Suddenly, Quail stood up, naked, holding his trousers
to windward as though he were a bull