"'"You do well to come to me, my children," he says. "The Senor
Juan"--that's what the padre calls Spencer--"the Senor Juan is dead.
It is ten days since he passed. The Donna Anna? She also is dead an'
with the Senor Juan. We must go to the Hacienda Tulorosa, which is
the house of the Donna Anna. That will be to-morrow. Meanwhile, who
is to protect Juarez, my beloved chicken, in his battle when I will
be away? Ah! I remember! The Don Jose Miguel will do. He is skilful
of cocks of the game. Also he has bet money on Juarez; so he will be
faithful. Therefore, to-morrow, my children, we will go to the Donna
Anna's house. There I will tell you the story of the Senor Juan."
"'The Hacienda Tulorosa is twenty miles back further in the hills.
The padre, the law sharp an' me is started before sun-up, an' a good
road-gait fetches us to the Hacienda Tulorosa in a couple of hours.
It's the sort of a ranch which a high grade Mexican with a strong
bank-roll would throw up. It's built all 'round a court, with a
flower garden and a fountain in the centre. As we comes up, I
observes the old Magdalena projectin' about the main door of the
casa, stirrin' up some lazy peonies to their daily toil--which, to
use the word "toil," however, in connection with a Greaser, is plumb
sarcastic. The padre leads us into the cases, an' the bitter-lookin'
Magdalena hustles us some grub; after which we-all smokes a bit.
Then the padre gets up an' leads the way.
"'"Come, my children," says the padre, "I will show you the graves.
Then you shall hear what there is of the Senor Juan an' the Donna
Anna."
"'It's a set-back,' continyoos Enright, as he signals Black Jack the
barkeep to show us he's awake; 'it's shorely a disaster that some
book-instructed gent like Peets or Colonel Sterett don't hear this
padre when he makes them revelations that day. Not that I overlooks
a bet, or don't recall 'em none; but I ain't upholstered with them
elegancies of diction needed to do 'em justice now. My language is
roode an' corrupted with years of sech surroundin's as cattle an'
kyards. It's too deeply freighted with the slang of the plains an'
the faro-banks to lay forth a tale of love an' tenderness, as the
o'casion demands. Of course, I can read an' write common week-day
print; but when thar's a call for more, I'm mighty near as
illit'rate that a-way as Boggs.'
"'Which, as you su'gests, I'm plumb ignorant,' admits Boggs, 'but it
ain't the fault none of my bringin' up neither. It jest looks like I
never can learn print nohow when I'm young. I'm simply born book-
shy, an' is terrified at schools from my cradle. An', say! I'm yere
to express my regrets at them weaknesses. If I was a eddicated gent
like Doc Peets is, you can put down all you has, I'd be the
cunnin'est wolf that ever yelps in Cochise County.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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