and without trial were set against a
wall. I can remember it so well--so well! The light was streaming from
an open door upon the wall. They were brought out, taken across the road
and stood against a wall. I was standing a distance away, for at the
moment I was sorry, though, to be sure, senor, it was for the cause of
the country then, I thought. As I stood there looking, the light that
streamed from the doorway fell straight upon a man standing against
that wall. It was my brother--Alphonso, my brother. I shrieked and ran
forward, but the rifles spat out at the moment, and the five men fell.
Alphonso--ah, I thank the Virgin every day! he did not know. His zarape
hangs there on the wall, his sombrero, his sword, and his stirrups."

Sherry shifted nervously in his seat. "There's stuff for you, amigo," he
said to me. "Makes you chilly, doesn't it? Shot his own brother--amounts
to same thing, doesn't it? All right, Becodar, we're both sorry, and
will pray for his departed spirit; go ahead, Becodar."

The beggar kept pulling at a piece of black ribbon which was tied to
the arm of the chair in which he now sat. "Senors, after that I became a
revolutionist--that was the only way to make it up to my brother, except
by masses--I gave candles for every day in the year. One day they were
all in my house here, sitting just where you sit in those chairs. Our
leader was Castodilian, the bandit with the long yellow hair. We had a
keg of powder which we were going to distribute. All at once Gonzales's
soldiers burst in. There was a fight, we were overpowered, and
Castodilian dropped his cigar--he had kept it in his mouth all the
time--in the powder-keg. It killed most of us. I lost my eyes. Gonzales
forgave me, if I would promise to be a revolutionist no more. What
was there to do? I took the solemn oath at the grave of my mother; and
so--and so, senors."

Sherry had listened with a quizzical intentness, now and again cocking
his head at some dramatic bit, and when Becodar paused he suddenly
leaned over and thrust a dollar into the ever-waiting hand. Becodar
gave a great sign of pleasure, and fumbled again with the money in his
pocket. Then, after a moment, it shifted to the bit of ribbon that hung
from the chair: "See, senors," he said. "I tied this ribbon to the chair
all those years ago."

My eyes were on the peg and the holes in the wall. Sherry questioned
him. "Why do you spike the wall with the little red peg, Becodar?"

"