The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican RevolutionAzuela, Mariano
History
The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution
Azuela, Mariano
Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920 -- Fiction
Late in the afternoon Luis Cervantes rubbed his eyes and sat up. He had
been sleeping on the hard pavement, close to the trunk of a fruit tree.
Anastasio, Pancracio and Quail slept nearby, breathing heavily.
His lips were swollen, his nose dry and cold. There were bloodstains on
his hands and shirt. At once he recalled what had taken place. Soon he
rose to his feet and made for one of the bedrooms. He pushed at the
door several times without being able to force it open. For a few
minutes he stood there, hesitating.
No--he had not dreamed it. Everything had really occurred just as he
recalled it. He had left the table with his bride and taken her to the
bedroom, but just as he was closing the door, Demetrio staggered after
them and made one leap toward them. Then War Paint dashed in after
Demetrio and began to struggle with him. Demetrio, his eyes white-hot,
his lips covered with long blond hairs, looked for the bride, in
despair. But War Paint pushed him back vigorously.
"What the hell is the matter with you? What the hell are you trying to
do?" he demanded, furious.
War Paint put her leg between his, twisted it suddenly, and Demetrio
fell to the ground outside of the bedroom. He rose, raging.
"Help! Help! He's going to kill me!" she cried, seizing Demetrio's
wrist and turning the gun aside. The bullet hit the floor. War Paint
continued to shriek. Anastasio disarmed Demetrio from behind.
Demetrio, standing like a furious bull in the middle of the arena, cast
fierce glances at all the bystanders, Luis Cervantes, Anastasio,
Manteca, and the others.
"Goddamn you! You've taken my gun away! Christ! As if I needed any gun
to beat the hell out of you."
Flinging out his arms, beating and pummeling, he felled everyone within
reach. Down they rolled like tenpins. Then, after that, Luis Cervantes
could remember nothing more. Perhaps his bride, terrified by all these
brutes, had wisely vanished and hidden herself.
"Perhaps this bedroom communicates with the living room and I can go in
through there," he thought, standing at the threshold. At the sound of
his footsteps, War Paint woke up. She lay on the rug close to Demetrio
at the foot of a couch filled with alfalfa and corn where the black
horse had fed.
"What are you looking for? Oh, hell, I know what you want! Shame on
you! Why, I had to lock up your sweetheart because I couldn't struggle
any more against this damned Demetrio. Take the key, it's lying on that
table, there!"
Luis Cervantes searched in vain all over the house.
"Come on, tell me all about your girl."
Nervously, Luis Cervantes continued to look for the key.
"Come on, don't be in such a hurry, I'll give it to you. Come along,
tell me; I like to hear about these things, you know. That girl is your
kind, she's not a country person like us."
"I've nothing to say. She's my girl and we're going to get married,
that's all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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