ere. I think we should join
them before they capture Zacatecas. All we need do is speak to the
General."

"I'm no good at that sort of thing. And I don't like the idea of
accepting orders from anybody very much."

"But you've only a handful of men down here; you'll only be an
unimportant chieftain. There's no argument about it, the revolution is
bound to win. After it's all over they'll talk to you just as Madero
talked to all those who had helped him: 'Thank you very much, my
friends, you can go home now....'"

"Well that's all I want, to be let alone so I can go home."

"Wait a moment, I haven't finished. Madero said: 'You men have made me
President of the Republic. You have run the risk of losing your lives
and leaving your wives and children destitute; now I have what I
wanted, you can go back to your picks and shovels, you can resume your
hand-to-mouth existence, you can go half-naked and hungry just as you
did before, while we, your superiors, will go about trying to pile up a
few million pesos....'"

Demetrio nodded and, smiling, scratched his head.

"You said a mouthful, Louie," Venancio the barber put in
enthusiastically. "A mouthful as big as a church!"

"As I was saying," Luis Cervantes resumed, "when the revolution is
over, everything is over. Too bad that so many men have been killed,
too bad there are so many widows and orphans, too bad there was so much
bloodshed.

"Of course, you are not selfish; you say to yourself: 'All I want to do
is go back home.' But I ask you, is it fair to deprive your wife and
kids of a fortune which God himself places within reach of your hand?
Is it fair to abandon your motherland in this solemn moment when she
most needs the self-sacrifice of her sons, when she most needs her
humble sons to save her from falling again in the clutches of her
eternal oppressors, executioners, and caciques? You must not forget
that the thing a man holds most sacred on earth is his motherland."

Macias smiled, his eyes shining.

"Will it be all right if we go with Natera?"

"Not only all right," Venancio said insinuatingly, "but I think it
absolutely necessary."

"Now Chief," Cervantes pursued, "I took a fancy to you the first time I
laid eyes on you and I like you more and more every day because I
realize what you are worth. Please let me be utterly frank. You do not
yet realize your lofty noble function. You are a modest man without
ambitions, you do not wish to realize the exce