Chata and Chinita, Chapters XXXIX-XLI [pp. 291-310]

1887.] Chata and Chrnita. 297
ference, the wine and flattering notice of "The cockerel crows loud," he said. "He
the Liberal President, completed the over- was always a blusterer. Well, we shall see;
throw of the little caution that he had a week at latest will decide all that.
hitherto maintained in his speech and Bah! if the fellow but had in him the blood
demeanor. of his father! but with the name of his
The toasts drunk were loud and frequent, mother he must have taken a braggart's
and the name of Ramirez was the most tongue. Well for him if it does not weary
deeply execrated. Many of the young men my patience in the end. But for my promindulged in extravagant boasts and declara- ise to Reyes
tions as to the deeds they should accomplish He frowned darkly. Had Ruiz seen his
in the near future, scorning the prowess of face then he might have repented his boast.
the man at whose very name they were ac- As it was, his niad words served as a spur
customed to tremble. Some one spoke with urging him to the inevitable future.
a laugh of a beautiful girl who had been
seen in his company but a few days before. XL.
It was not until afterwards that Ruiz reflected
that the spy had probably caught a glimpse Never perhaps had a more marked change
of Chata on her way from Tres Hermanos. occurred in the discipline and carriage of
At the moment his mind was full of Chinita, any body of men from apparently so slight a
and rising impetuously, in a torrent of fiery cause as that which had fallen upon the
words he broke into denunciation and in- troops of which Ruiz was still the nominal
vective, telling the tale of Pedro's martyr- coinmander, after the withdrawal of Chinita
dom as he had heard it, and vowing that as became known as an absolute fact. The
he had slain the poor peasant, so he him- wildest rumors of her probable action had
self would accomplish the defeat and death run like wildfire through the ranks, and the
of the "mountain wolf." "I promise you, position of Ruiz had been rapidly becomSenores," he concluded, "that when you ing untenable, so ready were officers and
next hear of Fernando Ruiz you shall re- men alike for a crisis that should turn them
member the vow I have made. Ramirez is either to the right or the left, but at least
doomed!" produce a leader to guide them.
The stoical man at the head of the table It had been with intense relief that Ruiz
smiled faintly at the storm of applause that himself greeted the appearance of Gonzales,
followed this speech, and as Ruiz a few mo- unexpected though it was; and it had been
ments later took his departure, muttered to hailed with acclamation by the unstable and
his neighbor, "That young fellow will bear discontei~ted troops, who would perhaps
watching. He has either a tremendous per- have turned enthusiastically to any leader of
sonal wrong to avenge, or he is striving to repute, however doubtful his views. As it
mislead us. I know him to be the godson was, the flame of patriotism and devotion
of this very Ramirez whom he thunders to the harassed and grief-stricken lady, their
against. A Mexican may turn against, may patroness, sprung up afresh among them,
even murder, his own father; but his god- and in a few hours Gonzales had found himfather - he must be a renegade indeed to self with a genuine ascendency over the force,
attempt his destruction!" which but for his timely arrival would prob His neighbor assented; and when the ably have disbanded and left him to his
words of Ruiz were reported to Ramirez fate, or even incontinently joined the enemy.
as reported they were a few days later - he Upon the very night after the arrival of
smiled as grimly as Benito Juarez had done. Gonzales, when Ruiz with seeming cordial