k in terror.

The lieutenant stood up, silent, cold and motionless as a statue.

"Shoot them!" the woman croaked.

"Oh, come, you'll surely spare us! I didn't know you were there. I'll
always stand up for a brave man."

Demetrio stood his ground, looking them up and down, an insolent and
disdainful smile wrinkling his face.

"Yes, I not only respect brave men, but I like them. I'm proud and
happy to call them friends. Here's my hand on it: friend to friend."
Then, after a pause: "All right, Demetrio Macias, if you don't want to
shake hands, all right! But it's because you don't know me, that's why,
just because the first time you saw me I was doing this dog's job. But
look here, I ask you, what in God's name can a man do when he's poor
and has a wife to support and kids? ... Right you are, Sergeant, let's
go: I've nothing but respect for the home of what I call a brave man, a
real, honest, genuine man!"

When they had gone, the woman drew close to Demetrio.

"Holy Virgin, what agony! I suffered as though it was you they'd shot."

"You go to father's house, quick!" Demetrio ordered. She wanted to hold
him in her arms; she entreated, she wept. But he pushed away from her
gently and, in a sullen voice, said, "I've an idea the whole lot of
them are coming."

"Why didn't you kill 'em?"

"Their hour hasn't struck yet."

They went out together; she bore the child in her arms. At the door,
they separated, moving off in different directions.

The moon peopled the mountain with vague shadows. As he advanced at
every turn of his way Demetrio could see the poignant, sharp silhouette
of a woman pushing forward painfully, bearing a child in her arms.

When, after many hours of climbing, he gazed back, huge flames shot up
from the depths of the canyon by the river. It 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
t