heir clothes on, an' a line of policemen. I guess it's goin'
t' be one o' th' funniest lookin' armies that was ever seen outside of a
lunatic asylum. What I'd like to do, Professor, instead o' tryin' t' do
any fightin' with it, is just t' take th' whole outfit back t' th'
States an' make a show of it. I'd get Benito Nichols t' go in with
me--he's a first-class man, Benito is, an' he's a boss hand as a show
manager--an' we'd call it 'Th' Aztec Warrior Army an' Circus
Combination,' an' we'd just rake in th' dollars quicker'n we could count
'em. That makes me think o' that show we were talkin' about makin' with
Pablo an' his burro." Young's voice changed as he spoke, and there was a
huskiness in it as he added: "I s'pose by this time there ain't much
left for show-makin' purposes of either of 'em. No, I guess I'll stay
around an' take a hand in any fightin' that's goin' on; for I'd pretty
near be willin' t' be killed right away after it myself for th' chance
t' square things with that old devil for killin' our boy. He was a good
boy, Professor, an'--How this devilish dust does get into my eyes an'
make 'em water." With which highly irrelevant remark--for there was no
dust blowing just then--Young suddenly ceased speaking and walked away.

This was the only time that we spoke of Pablo while we lay at Huitzilan,
for talk about the boy only increased the bitter sorrow for him that was
in all our hearts. As for my own heart, it was wellnigh broken as I
thought that but for me his gentle life would still be flowing on
smoothly--as I had found it flowing when, in an evil hour, I joined his
fortunes with mine, and so had brought him to so untimely and to so
cruel a death. And I, too, longed for the fighting to begin that I might
avenge him; for the accomplishment of which vengeance I was not merely
in part, but altogether ready to yield up my own life.

Indeed, excepting only Fray Antonio, who saw in warfare only the
wickedness and the cruelty of it, we all were most eager for our
inaction to end, and for the battling to begin that would give us
opportunity to let the life out of some of those by whom Pablo had been
slain. It was with delight, therefore, that we noted the rapidity with
which the preparations for the impending campaign were carried forward,
and saw how each day the disorderly host that had been gathered at
Huitzilan was changing from a confused mass of good fighting material
into a body fairly well adapted to the