BREAKFAST WITH THE BANDIT
"Let him tell thee who he is--or else let the devil take him. Damn the
luck! Can't a man sleep?"
Nacional heard this answer through the door of his master's room, and
transmitted it to a _peon_ belonging to the hacienda who stood waiting
on the stairs.
"Let him tell thee who he is! Unless he does, the master won't get up."
It was eight o'clock. The _banderillero_ peeped out of the window,
following with his gaze the _peon_ who ran along the road in front of
the plantation until he came to the farther end of the wire fence that
surrounded the estate. Near the entrance to this enclosure he saw a man
on horseback,--so small in the distance, both man and horse seemed to
have stepped out of a box of toys.
The laborer soon returned, after having talked with the horseman.
Nacional, interested in these goings and comings, received him at the
foot of the stairs.
"He says he must see the master," faltered the _peon_. "He looks like an
ill-tempered fellow. He says he wants the master to come down at once
because he's got news for him."
The _banderillero_ hastened upstairs to pound on the master's door
again, paying no attention to his protests. He must get up; it was late
for the country and that man might bring an important message.
"I'm coming!" said Gallardo, gruffly, without rising from his bed.
Nacional peeped out again and saw that the horseman was advancing along
the road toward the farmhouse.
The _peon_ ran out with the answer. He, poor man, seemed nervous, and in
his two dialogues with the _banderillero_ stammered with an expression
of fear and doubt as though not daring to reveal his thoughts. When he
joined the man on horseback, he listened to him a few moments and then
returned on a run toward the house, this time with even more
precipitation. Nacional heard him come up the stairs with no abatement
of speed, till he stood before him, trembling and pale.
"It's Plumitas, Senor Sebastian! He says he's Plumitas and that he must
talk to the master. My heart told me that the minute I saw him."
Plumitas! The voice of the _peon_, in spite of his stammering and his
panting with fatigue, seemed to pierce the walls and scatter through
every room as he pronounced this name. The _banderillero_ was struck
dumb with surprise. The sound of oaths accompanied by the swish of
clothing and the thud of a body that hastily flung itself out of bed
were heard in the master's room. In the one Dona Sol occupied there was
a sudden activity that seemed to respond to the tremendous news.
"But, damn him! What does that man want with me? Why does he intrude
himself at La Rinconada? And especially just now!"
It was Gallardo who rushed madly out of his room, with only his trousers
and jacket hurriedly thrown on over his underclothing. He ran past the
_banderillero_, and threw himself down the stairs, followed by
Nacional.
The rider was dismounting before the door. A herder was holding the
reins of the mare and the other workmen formed a group a short distance
away, contemplating the newcomer with curiosity and respect.
He was a man of medium stature, stocky rather than tall, full-faced,
blonde, and with short strong limbs. He was dressed in a gray blouse
trimmed with black braid, dark, well-worn breeches with a double
thickness of cloth on the inside of the leg, and leathern leggings
cracked by sun, rain, and mud. Under his blouse his girth was enlarged
by the addition of a heavy girdle and a cartridge-belt, to which were
added the bulkiness of a heavy revolver and a formidable knife. In his
right hand he carried a repeating carbine. A hat which had once been
white covered his head, its brim flapping and worn ragged by the
inclement weather. A red handkerchief knotted around his neck was the
gayest adornment of his person.
His countenance, broad and chub-cheeked, had the placidity of a full
moon. His cheeks still revealed the fair skin through their heavy tan;
the sharp points of a blonde beard, not shaven for many days, protruded,
gleaming like old gold in the sunlight. His eyes were the only
disquieting feature of his kindly face, which looked like that of a
village sacristan; eyes small and triangular, sunken in bubbles of
fat--narrow eyes, that reminded one of the eyes of pigs, with a wicked
pupil of dark blue.
When Gallardo appeared at the door of the farmhouse the bandit
recognized him instantly and lifted his hat from his round head.
"God give you good-day, Senor Juan," he said with the grave courtesy of
the Andalusian country people.
"Good-day."
"The family well, Senor Juan?"
"Well, thanks, and yours?" asked the matador with the automatism of
custom.
"Well, also, I believe. I haven't seen them for some time."
The two men had drawn near together, examining one another at close
range with simple frankness as though they were two travellers met in
the open country. The bull-fighter was pale and his lips were compressed
to hide his emotion. Did the bandit think he was going to scare him? On
another occasion perhaps this visit would have frightened him; but now,
having upstairs whom he had, he felt equal to fighting him as though he
were a bull, should he announce any evil intentions.
Some seconds passed in silence. All the men of the plantation who had
not gone to their labors in the field, obsessed by the dark fame of his
name, contemplated this terrible personage with an amazement that had in
it something infantile.
"Can they take the mare to the stable to rest a little?" asked the
bandit.
Gallardo made a sign and a boy tugged at the animal's reins, leading her
away.
"Care for her well," said Plumitas. "Remember that she's the best thing
I've got in the world and that I love her more than my wife and
children."
Potaje now came out with his shirt unbuttoned, stretching himself with
all the brutal bigness of his athletic body. He rubbed his eyes, always
blood-shot and inflamed from abuse of drink, and striding up to the
bandit he let a great rough hand fall on one of his shoulders with
studied familiarity, as if he enjoyed making him wince beneath his fist,
but expressing to him at the same time a rude sympathy.
"How art thou, Plumitas?"
He had not seen him before. The bandit shrank back as though to spring
from this rude caress, and his right hand raised his rifle, but the blue
eyes, fastened on the _picador_, seemed to recognize him.
"Thou art Potaje, if I don't deceive myself. I have seen thee stir up
the bulls at Seville and in other plazas. Comrade, what terrible falls
thou hast suffered! How strong thou art! As though made of iron."
And to return his greeting, he grasped one of Potaje's arms with his
callous hand, feeling his muscle with a smile of admiration. The two
stood gazing at one another with affectionate eyes. The _picador_
laughed sonorously.
"Ho! Ho! I imagined thee a bigger man, Plumitas. But it matters not;
take thee altogether, thou art a fine fellow."
The bandit turned to Gallardo:
"Can I breakfast here?"
Gallardo made a gesture of the _gran senor_.
"Nobody who comes to La Rincona' goes without breakfasting."
They all entered the kitchen of the farmhouse, a vast room with a
bell-shaped chimney, the habitual place of these gatherings.
The _matador_ seated himself in an arm-chair; the farmer's daughter
busied herself putting on his shoes, for he had rushed down in his
slippers.
Nacional, wishing to show signs of existence and tranquillized now by
the courteous aspect of the visitor, appeared with a bottle of native
wine and glasses.
"I know thee, also," said the bandit with as much politeness as to the
_picador_. "I have seen thee lodge the _banderillas_. When thou wishest
thou dost it well; but thou shouldst get closer."
Potaje and the _maestro_ laughed at this counsel. When he went to raise
his glass, Plumitas was embarrassed by his carbine, which he held
between his knees.
"Say, man, put that down," said the _picador_. "Must thou keep on guard
even when thou goest on a visit?"
The bandit grew serious. It was all right where it was; it was his
custom. The rifle accompanied him always, even when he slept. And this
allusion to the weapon, which was like an additional member, ever united
to his body, turned him grave again. He looked in all directions with a
nervous restlessness. Anxiety showed in his face the habit of living
alert, of trusting nobody, with no other reliance than his own strength,
having a presentiment of danger near him every hour.
A herder walked through the kitchen in the direction of the door.
"Where's that man going?"
As he said this he rose in his seat, drawing the rifle towards his
breast with his knees.
He was bound for a large field nearby where the farm laborers were
working. Plumitas settled himself peacefully again.
"Listen, Senor Juan. I have come for the pleasure of seeing you and
because I know you are a gentleman, incapable of breathing a whisper
against me. Besides, you must have heard talk of Plumitas. 'Tis not
easy to catch him and whoever does it shall pay for it."
The _picador_ intervened before his _maestro_ could speak.
"Plumitas, don't be silly. Here thou art among comrades while thou dost
behave and carry thyself decently."
And the bandit, becoming suddenly relieved, began to talk to the
_picador_ about his mare, boasting of her merits. The two men met on a
common ground of enthusiasm as fearless riders, which caused them to
regard horses with more affection than people.
Gallardo, still somewhat restless, walked about the kitchen, while the
brown, broad-shouldered women of the farm stirred the fire and prepared
breakfast, looking out of the corners of their eyes at the celebrated
Plumitas. In one of his evolutions he drew near Nacional. He must go to
Dona Sol's room and beg her not to come down. The bandit would surely go
after breakfast. Why let herself be seen by this annoying personage?
The _banderillero_ disappeared, and Plumitas noticing that the _maestro_
was taking no part in the conversation, turned to him, asking him with
interest about the rest of the season's bull-fights.
"I am a Gallardist, you know. I have applauded you more times than you
can imagine. I have seen you in Seville, in Jaen, in Cordova, in many
places."
Gallardo was surprised at this. How could he, who had a veritable army
of persecutors at his heels, quietly attend bull-fights? Plumitas smiled
with an expression of superiority.
"Bah! I go where I wish. I am everywhere."
Then he told of the occasions when he had seen the _matador_ on the way
to the plantation, sometimes accompanied, sometimes alone, passing him
close in the road without being noticed, as though he were a humble
herder riding on his nag to carry a message to some nearby hut.
"When you came from Seville to buy the two mills you have below, I met
you on the road. You were carrying five thousand _duros_. Were you not?
Tell the truth. You see I know all about it. Again I saw you in one of
those 'animals' they call automobiles, with another gentleman from
Seville, your manager, I think. You were going to sign the papers for
the Priests' olive orchard and you were carrying a still larger bag of
money."
Gallardo little by little recalled the exactness of these facts, and
looked with astonishment at this man who was informed of everything. And
the bandit went on to tell how little respect he had for obstacles.
"You see those things they call automobiles? Mere trifles! Such vermin I
stop with nothing but this." And he touched his rifle. "In Cordova I had
accounts to settle with a rich _senor_ who was my enemy. I planted my
mare on one side of the road and when the beast came along, raising dust
and stinking of petroleum, I shouted 'Halt!' It wouldn't stop, and I let
the thing that goes around the wheel have a ball. To abbreviate: the
auto stopped a little farther on and I set out at a gallop to join the
_senor_ and settle accounts. A man that can send a ball where he wants
to can stop anything on the road."
Gallardo listened in astonishment to Plumitas' calm professional talk of
his deeds on the highway.
"There was no reason for stopping you. You do not belong to the rich.
You spring from the poor as I do, but with better luck, with more of
fortune in your work than I, and if you have made money you have well
earned it. I have great respect for you, Senor Juan. I like you because
you are a brave _matador_ and I have a weakness for valiant men. We two
are almost comrades; we both live by exposing our lives. So, although
you did not know me, I was there, watching you pass, without even asking
for a cigarette, to see that nobody dared so much as touch one of your
finger nails; to see that no shameless fellow took advantage of you by
riding out into the road and saying he was Plumitas, for stranger things
have happened."
An unexpected apparition ended the bandit's speech and moved the
bull-fighter's countenance to anger. "Damn it! Dona Sol!" But hadn't
Nacional given her his message? The _banderillero_ followed the lady,
and as he stood in the kitchen door he made gestures of despair to
indicate to the _maestro_ that his prayers and counsel had been useless.
Dona Sol came in wearing her travelling cloak, her golden hair loosely
combed and knotted in all haste. Plumitas at the plantation! What joy!
She had been thinking of him half the night with sweet thrills of
terror, proposing to herself to ride over all the lonely places near La
Rinconada, hoping good luck would cause her to fall in with the
interesting bandit. And, as if her thoughts had exercised a power of
attraction, the highwayman had obeyed her desires and presented himself
at the plantation early in the morning!
Plumitas! That name brought to her mind the typical figure of a bandit.
She hardly needed to meet him; she would scarcely experience surprise.
She imagined him tall, well-formed, well-browned, with a three-cornered
hat above a red handkerchief, from beneath which fell jet black curls;
his agile body dressed in black velvet; his tapering waist bound by a
belt of purple silk; his legs encased in date-colored leather
leggings--a knight errant of the Andalusian steppes, almost like those
elegant tenors she had seen in "Carmen" who discard the soldiers'
uniform and become contrabandists for the sake of love.
Her eyes, wide with curiosity, wandered over the kitchen without finding
a three-cornered hat or an ancient fire-lock. She saw an unknown man who
rose to his feet; a kind of a country guard with a carbine, like those
she had often met on the family estates.
"Good-day, Senora Marquesa. And your uncle, the Marquis, does he keep
well?"
The gaze of all, converging upon this man, told her the truth. Ah! this
was Plumitas!
He had removed his hat with rough courtesy, embarrassed by the lady's
presence; he continued standing, the carbine in one hand and the old
felt hat in the other.
Gallardo wondered at the bandit's words. The man knew everybody. He knew
who Dona Sol was and with a respectful impulse he gave her the family
title.
The lady, recovering from her surprise, made a sign for him to be seated
and to cover himself, but, although he obeyed the former, he put his hat
on a nearby chair. As if divining a question in Dona Sol's eyes, which
were fixed on him, he added:
"Let the Senora Marquesa not be surprised that I know her; I have seen
her many times with the Marquis and other gentlemen when they were
going to test calves. I have also seen from a distance how the lady
attacked the beasts. The Senora is very brave and the finest girl I have
seen in this, God's own country! It is perfect joy to see her on
horseback, with her three-cornered hat, her cravat, and her belt. The
men must follow in crowds after her heavenly little eyes!"
The bandit allowed himself to be drawn by his Southern enthusiasm into
the greatest frankness, seeking new expressions of praise for the lady.
She turned pale, her eyes grew large with happy terror, and she began to
find the bandit interesting. Could he have come to the plantation solely
on her account? Did he intend to kidnap her and carry her away to his
hiding-place in the mountains with the hungry rapacity of a bird of prey
who returns from the plain to his nest on the heights?
The bull-fighter also grew alarmed on hearing these expressions of rude
admiration. Damn it! In his own house and in his very face! If this kept
up he was going upstairs after his gun, and even though this were
Plumitas, they should see who would have her!
The bandit suddenly seemed to understand the annoyance his words caused
and he adopted a respectful attitude.
"Pardon, Senora Marquesa. It is only banter. I have a wife and four
children. The poor girl weeps more on my account than ever wept the
Virgin of Agonies. I am a peaceful Moor; an unfortunate fellow that is
what he is because an evil shadow follows him."
And as though he took pains to be agreeable to Dona Sol, he broke out
into enthusiastic praises of her family. The Marquis of Moraima was one
of the men he most respected in all the world.
"If all the rich were like that! My father worked for him, and told us
about his charity. I had the fever in a herder's hut in a pasture of
his. He knew it but he said nothing. At his farmhouses he leaves an
order for them to give me what I ask and to leave me in peace. Such
things are never forgotten. When I least expect it I meet him alone,
mounted on his horse like a young fellow, as if he did not feel the
passing of the years. 'God be with you, Senor Marques.' 'Greeting, boy.'
He does not guess who I am because I carry my companion"--and he
motioned to his carbine--"under my blanket. I long to stop him and ask
his hand, not to clasp it, no, not that; how could such a good man clasp
hands with me, who have so many killed and maimed to my account? No, to
kiss it, as though he were my father, to kneel before him and give him
thanks for what he does for me."
The earnestness with which he spoke of his gratitude did not move Dona
Sol. So that was the famous Plumitas! A poor man; a mild rabbit of the
plains whom all thought a wolf, deceived by his fame.
"There are also bad rich men," continued the bandit. "How some of them
make the poor suffer! Near my town there is one that lends money and is
meaner than Judas. I sent him word not to grind the poor so, and the
vile thief, instead of paying attention to me, told the civil guard to
catch me. Well, I burned a barnful of straw for him and I did other
little things to him and it has been over half a year since he has dared
go to Seville, or even out of the town for fear of meeting Plumitas.
Another one was going to turn out a poor little old woman because for a
year she hadn't paid the rent of the miserable hut she had held ever
since her father's time. I went to see the _senor_, just at nightfall,
when he was going to sit down to supper with his family. 'My master, I
am Plumitas, and I need a hundred _duros_.' He gave them to me and I
went to the old woman with them. 'Grandmother, take this; pay that Jew;
what is left over is for you and may it serve your good health.'"
Dona Sol contemplated the bandit with more interest.
"And killed?" she asked. "How many have you killed?"
"Senora, let us not speak of that," said the bandit gravely. "You would
feel repugnance for me and I am only a poor, unfortunate, persecuted
fellow who must defend himself as he can."
A long silence fell.
"You know not how I live, Senora Marquesa," he continued. "The wild
beasts fare better than I. I sleep where I can, or I do not sleep at
all. I get up in one end of the province to lie down in the other. One
must keep his eye well open and his hand firm so they will respect and
not betray one. The poor are good, but poverty is an ugly thing and
turns the best bad. If they hadn't been afraid of me they would have
handed me over to the guards many times. I have no true friends but my
mare and this"--holding up his carbine. "Suddenly I feel a longing to
see my wife and babies, and I enter my town at night while all the
people who recognize me open their eyes wide. But some day it will end
wrong. There are days when I get tired of being by myself and I need to
see people. Long have I wanted to come to La Rincona'. Why should I not
see at close range the Senor Juan Gallardo, I who appreciate him and
have often applauded him? But I always saw you with many friends, or
else your wife and your mother and the children were here. I understand
that; they would have been scared to death at the mere sight of
Plumitas. Now it is different. This time you came with the Senora
Marquesa, and I said to myself: 'Let's go and greet those fine people
and chat with them a while.'"
The peculiar smile that accompanied these words seemed to recognize a
difference between the bull-fighter's family and the lady, and made it
clear that Gallardo's relations with Dona Sol were no secret to him.
Respect for the legitimacy of matrimony dwelt in the soul of this poor
countryman, and he felt that he was authorized in taking greater
liberties with the bull-fighter's aristocratic friend than with the poor
women who composed his family.
Dona Sol paid no attention to these words and besieged the highwayman
with questions, wishing to know how he had come to his present state.
"Nothing, Senora Marquesa; an injustice; one of those misfortunes that
fall on us poor people. I was one of the cleverest in my town and the
workmen always chose me as spokesman when there was anything to be asked
of the rich. I know how to read and write. As a boy I was a sacristan
and they gave me the nickname of Plumitas because I was always after the
chickens to pull out their feathers for my writings."
A rough caress from Potaje's strong hand interrupted him.
"_Compadre_, the minute I saw thee I guessed that thou wert a church rat
or something like that."
Nacional held his peace, respecting these confidences, but he smiled
slightly. A sacristan converted into a bandit! What things Don Joselito
would say when he told him that!
"I married my wife and we had our first baby. One night a couple of
guards came to the house and took me outside the town to the
threshing-floor. Some shots had been fired into a rich man's door, and
those good gentlemen were determined that it was I who did it. I denied
it and they beat me with their guns. I denied it again and they beat me
more. To abbreviate, they kept me till daybreak, beating me all over,
sometimes with the barrel, sometimes with the butt-end, until they were
worn out and I lay on the ground senseless. They had me tied hand and
foot, and beat me as if I were a bale of goods. And all the while they
kept saying to me, 'Art thou not the bravest man in the town? Come on,
defend thyself; let's see how far thy brags can carry thee.' This was
what hurt most, their jibes. My poor little wife cured me as best she
could, but I never rested, I could not endure the remembrance of those
blows and jibes. To abbreviate again, one day one of the guards was
found dead on that same threshing-floor and I, to avoid trouble, took to
the mountains--and I have lived there to this day."
"Boy, thou hast a good hand," said Potaje with admiration. "And the
other?"
"I don't know; he must be somewhere in the world. He left the town; he
asked for transfer in spite of his bravery, but I don't forget him. I
have a message for him. I get sudden news that he is on the other side
of Spain and I go there; I would follow him even into the very Hell
itself. I leave the mare and the carbine with some friend to keep for
me, and I take the train like a gentleman. I have been in Barcelona, in
Valladolid, in many cities. I take my place near the jail and I look
over the guards that go and come. 'This is not my man, nor this either.'
They have given me wrong information, but it doesn't matter. It is years
since I began looking for him, but I shall find him--unless he is dead,
which would be a pity."
Dona Sol followed this tale with interest. An original creature was this
Plumitas! She had made a mistake in thinking him a rabbit. The bandit
became silent, knitting his brows as if he feared he had said too much,
and meant to avoid a new outburst of confidence.
"With your permission," he said to the swordsman, "I'll go to the stable
and see how the mare has been treated. Wilt thou come along, comrade?
Thou shalt see something worth while."
Potaje, accepting the invitation, went out of the kitchen with him.
When the two were left alone, the bull-fighter and the lady, he showed
his ill-humor. Why had she come down? It was foolhardy to present
herself before a man like that; a bandit whose name was the terror of
the people.
But Dona Sol, pleased with the excellent success of her encounter,
laughed at the bull-fighter's fears. The bandit seemed to her a decent
man, a poor fellow whose mischievousness was exaggerated by popular
fancy. He was almost a servant in her family.
"I imagined him different, but anyway I am glad I have seen him. We will
give him an alms when he goes. What an original land this is! What
types! And how interesting his pursuit of that civil guard all over
Spain! What a thrilling article one could write about that!"
The women of the ranch lifted off the flames of the fireplace two great
frying-pans that shed an agreeable odor of sausage.
"Come to breakfast, gentlemen," shouted Nacional, who assumed the
functions of _mayordomo_ at his master's farmhouse.
In the centre of the kitchen stood a great table covered with a cloth,
on which were placed round loaves of bread and numerous bottles of wine.
Plumitas and Potaje and several farm hands answered the call, the
overseer, the farmer, and all those who filled places of greater trust.
They began seating themselves on two benches placed along the length of
the table, while Gallardo glanced undecided at Dona Sol. She ought to
eat upstairs in the rooms set apart for the family. But the lady,
smiling at this suggestion, seated herself at the head of the table. She
enjoyed rustic life and thought it interesting to eat with these people.
She was born to be a soldier. And with a manly air she invited the
_matador_ to be seated, dilating her nostrils with a voluptuous
enjoyment of the savory odor of the sausages. A very rich dish! How
hungry she was!
"This is right," sententiously remarked Plumitas, looking over the
table; "the masters and servants eating together, as they say was the
custom in olden times. I have never seen it before." And he seated
himself near the _picador_, without letting go of his carbine, which he
held between his knees.
"Move over, _guason_," he said, shoving Potaje with his body.
The _picador_, who treated him with rude _camaraderie_, answered with
another shove and the two strong fellows laughed as they pushed back and
forth, amusing every one at the table by their horse-play.
"But, damn it!" said the _picador_. "Get that blunder-bus out from
between thy knees. Dost thou not see that it is aiming straight at me?
An accident may happen."
The bandit's carbine, resting between his knees, was pointing its black
muzzle at the _picador_.
"Hang that up, _malaje!_" he insisted. "Dost thou need it to eat with?"
"It's all right where it is. Never fear," answered the bandit shortly,
frowning as if he did not like to hear any comments upon his
precautions.
He grasped his spoon, scooped up a great piece of bread, and impelled by
rural courtesy, glanced at the others to make sure that the moment for
eating had arrived.
"Good health, gentlemen!"
He attacked the enormous dish that had been placed in the centre of the
table for him and the two bull-fighters. Another like it steamed farther
down for the farm hands. Suddenly he seemed ashamed of his voracity, and
after a few spoonfuls he stopped, thinking an explanation necessary.
"Since yesterday morning I have tasted nothing but a crumb and a little
milk they gave me in a herder's hut. A good appetite!"
He attacked the plate again, winking his eyes and working his jaws
steadily. The _picador_ invited him to drink. Intimidated in the
master's presence, he gazed wistfully at the bottles of wine placed
within reach of his hand.
"Drink, Plumitas. Dry grazing is bad. It should be moistened."
Before the bandit accepted his invitation the _picador_ drank, and drank
deeply. Plumitas only occasionally touched his glass after much
vacillation. He was afraid of wine; he had lost the habit of drinking
it. He did not always get it on the plains. Besides, wine was the worst
enemy of a man like him, who must live wide awake and on guard.
"But here thou art among friends," said the _picador_. "Consider,
Plumitas, that thou art in Seville, beneath the very mantle of the
Virgin of Macarena. There is no one to touch thee. And if by chance the
civil guards should come, I would put myself at thy side, I would grasp
a spear, and we wouldn't leave one of those lazy devils alive. A little
more and I would be willing to become a free-lance of the mountains!
That has always attracted me."
"Potaje!" admonished the _maestro_ from the end of the table, fearing
the loquacity of the _picador_ and his proximity to the bottles.
The bandit, in spite of drinking little, was red in the face and his
eyes shone with a happy light. He had chosen his place facing the
kitchen door, from which the entrance to the plantation could be seen,
showing a portion of the solitary road. From time to time, a cow, a hog,
a goat, passed along this belt of land, and the shadow of their bodies,
outlined by the sun on the yellow ground, was enough to make Plumitas
jump, ready to drop his spoon and grasp his rifle. He talked with his
companions at the table, but without withdrawing his attention from what
might be outside the door. It was his habit to live at all hours ready
for resistance or for flight, making it a point of honor never to be
taken by surprise.
After he had done eating he accepted one more glass from Potaje, his
last, and he sat with a hand beneath his jaw, gazing out of the door,
dulled and silent by his heavy meal. His was the digestion of a boa, or
a stomach accustomed to irregular nourishment by his prodigious
gorgings, and to long periods of fast. Gallardo offered him an Havana.
"Thanks, Senor Juan. I don't smoke, but I will save it for a companion
of mine who is in the mountains, and the poor boy will value something
to smoke more than a meal itself. He is a young fellow who has had bad
luck and he helps me when there is work for two."
He put the cigar in his blouse, and the recollection of this companion,
who at this very hour wandered in safety far away, caused him to smile
with a ferocious joy. The wine had animated Plumitas. His countenance
was changed. His eyes had metallic gleams of shifting light. His puffy
face contracted with a grin that seemed to dispel his habitual kindly
aspect. He evinced a desire to talk, to boast of his deeds, to pay for
the hospitality by astonishing his benefactors.
"You must have heard about what I did last month on the Fregenal
highway. Have you really heard nothing about that? I planted myself in
the road with my young companion--for we had to stop a diligence and
give a message to a rich man, who has had me on his mind for a while. A
domineering fellow was this man, accustomed to ordering _alcaldes_,
important persons, and even civil guards at his will--what they call in
the papers a _cacique_. I sent him a message asking him for a hundred
_duros_ for a pressing need and what he did was to write to the
governor of Seville, raise a row up there in Madrid, and make them chase
me worse than ever. It was his fault that I had a gun-fight with the
civil guards, and I came out of it shot in the leg; and still not
satisfied, he asked them to imprison my wife, as if the poor thing could
know where her husband was plundering. That Judas dared not stir out of
his town for fear of Plumitas; but about then I disappeared. I went on a
trip, one of those trips I've told you about, and my man took courage
and went to Seville one day on business and to set the authorities
against me."
"We lay in ambush for the coach on its return trip from Seville. My
young companion, who has hands of gold for stopping anything on the
road, ordered the driver to halt. I stuck my head and my carbine in at
the door. Screams of women, cries of children, men who said nothing but
seemed made of wax! I said to the travellers: 'Nothing is going to
happen to you. Calm yourselves, ladies; greeting, gentlemen, and a good
journey. But come, let that fat man step out.' And my man, cringing as
if he were going to hide under the women's skirts, got down, as white as
if his blood had left him, and lisping as if he were drunk. The coach
drove on and we stood in the middle of the road alone. 'Listen; I am
Plumitas, and I am going to give thee something that thou shalt not
forget.' And I gave it to him. But I didn't kill him right off. I hit
him in a place I know, so that he would live twenty-four hours, and so
that when the guards gathered him up he could say it was Plumitas that
had killed him. Thus there could be no mistake nor could others air
themselves with importance."
Dona Sol listened, intensely pale, her lips compressed in terror, and in
her eyes the strange glitter that accompanied her mysterious thoughts.
Gallardo made a wry face, disturbed at this ferocious tale.
"Every one knows his trade, Senor Juan," said Plumitas, as if he divined
his thoughts. "We both live by killing; you kill bulls, and I people.
Only you are rich and get the applause and the fine women, while I often
go hungry and if I don't take care I will end riddled like a sieve in
the open plains for the crows to eat. But you don't beat me in knowing
your trade, Senor Juan! You know where to strike the bull so he will
fall at once. I know where to hit a Christian so that he will fall
doubled up and last a while, or else spend a few weeks remembering
Plumitas, who wishes not to mix with anybody, but who knows how to
settle with those who meddle with him."
Again Dona Sol felt curiosity to know the number of his crimes.
"And killed? How many people have you killed?"
"You will take a dislike to me, Senora Marquesa; but since you
persist.... Understand that I cannot recollect them all, no matter how
much I want to remember. They probably amount to thirty or thirty-five;
I don't know for sure. In this wandering life, who thinks of keeping
accounts? But I am a luckless fellow, Senora Marquesa; an unfortunate
fellow. The fault belongs to them that made me bad. That matter of
killing is like eating cherries. You pull one and the others come after,
by dozens. One must kill to go on living and if one feels pity he is
eaten for his pains."
There was a long silence. The lady contemplated the bandit's short
thick hands with his uneven finger nails. But Plumitas was not looking
at the Senora Marquesa. All his attention was given to the _matador_ in
his desire to show him gratitude for having received him at his table
and to dispel the bad effect his words seemed to have upon him.
"I respect you, Senor Juan," he said. "The first time I saw you fight
bulls, I said to myself, 'That's a brave fellow.' You have many devotees
who admire you, but not the way I do! Believe me, that to see you, I
have many times disguised myself, and gone into the towns where you were
fighting the bulls with the risk of being captured. Is that devotion?"
Gallardo smiled with an affirmative nodding of his head, flattered now
in his artistic pride.
"Besides," continued the bandit, "nobody can say I came to La Rincona'
to ask even a piece of bread. Many times I have gone hungry or have
lacked five _duros_, riding around near here, and never till to-day has
it occurred to me to pass through the wire fence of the plantation.
'Senor Juan is sacred to me,' I said to myself always. 'He earns his
money the same as I do, exposing his life. Comradeship must be
respected.' For you will not deny, Senor Juan, that although you are a
great personage, and I one of the most unfortunate of men, we are alike,
we both live by playing with death. We are quietly eating here, but some
day, if God tires of us and deserts us, they'll gather me up from the
roadside like a mad dog shot to pieces, and you with all your capital
will be carried out of a ring foot foremost; and although the papers may
talk of your misfortune four weeks or so, damned little you will thank
them over there in the other world."
"It is true--it is true," said Gallardo, with sudden pallor at the
bandit's words.
The superstitious fear he felt when moments of danger drew near was
reflected in his countenance. His destiny seemed similar to that of this
terrible vagabond who must necessarily fall some day or other in his
unequal struggle.
"But do you believe I think of death?" continued Plumitas. "I repent of
nothing and I go on my way. I also have my desires and my little pride,
the same as you, when you read in the papers that you did good work on
such a bull and that they gave you the ear. Remember that they talk of
Plumitas all over Spain, that the newspapers tell the greatest lies
about me, and, according to what they say, they are going to bring me
out in the theatres. Even in Madrid, in that palace where the deputies
meet to hold parley, they talk of me nearly every week.
"On top of all this, the pride of having an army following my steps, of
being able, a lone man, to stir the wrath of thousands who live off of
the government and wield a sword! The other day, on Sunday, I entered a
town at mass time and I stopped my mare in the square near some blind
men who were playing the guitar and singing. The people were staring at
a picture the singers had, representing a fine fellow with a
three-cornered hat, whiskers, dressed in the finest style, mounted on a
magnificent horse, with his blunderbuss on the horn of his saddle and a
plump lass on the crupper. I stopped when I saw that the fine fellow in
the picture was Plumitas! That gives pleasure. When one is condemned
like Adam to work or starve, it is well to have the people imagine his
existence different. I bought the paper from the blind singers and I
carry it here; the complete life of Plumitas, with many lies, but all
set to verse. A fine thing! When I lie down on the mountain I read it to
learn it by heart. Some _senor_ who knows much must have written it."
The dreaded Plumitas showed an infantile pride as he talked of his
glory. The silent modesty with which he entered the plantation was gone;
the desire that they should forget his fame and look upon him as nothing
but a poor traveller pressed by hunger had vanished. He glowed when he
remembered that his name was famous and that his deeds received the
honors of publicity.
"Who would have known me," he went on, "if I had kept on living in my
village? I have thought much about that. We downtrodden fellows have no
other recourse than to toil for others, or to follow the only career
that gives money and name--killing! I was no good at killing bulls. My
village is in the mountains and has no fierce cattle. Besides, I am
heavy and unskilled. So I kill people. It is the best thing a poor man
can do to be respected and make his way."
Nacional, who had listened to the bandit's words with silent gravity,
thought it necessary to intervene.
"What the poor man needs is education: to know how to read and write."
Nacional's words provoked the laughter of all who knew his hobby.
"There thou hast let loose one of thy ideas, comrade," said Potaje. "Let
Plumitas go on explaining himself, for what he says is very good."
The bandit received the _banderillero's_ interruption with scorn; he had
little respect for him on account of his timidity in the ring.
"I know how to read and write. And of what use is that? When I lived in
the village it only brought me into notice and made my fate seem harder.
What the poor man needs is justice; let them give him what belongs to
him and if they won't give it to him, let him take it. One must be a
wolf and cause terror. The other wolves will then respect him, and the
cattle even let him eat gratefully. If they find thee a coward and
without strength, even the sheep will despise thee."
Potaje, who was now drunk, assented with enthusiasm to all Plumitas
said. He did not understand his words well, but through the dark mist of
his intoxication he thought he could distinguish a glow of supreme
wisdom.
"That's right, comrade. A club to all the world. Go on, for thou art
very clever."
"I know people," continued the bandit. "The world is divided into two
families, the shearers and the shorn. I don't want to be shorn; I was
born to shear, because I am very brave and am afraid of nobody. The same
thing has happened to you, Senor Juan. By being of good kidney you have
lifted yourself up from the common herd, but your way is better than
mine."
He sat contemplating the _maestro_ a while and then added with an accent
of conviction: "I think, Senor Juan, that we have come into the world
rather late. What deeds of valor and glory young fellows like ourselves
would have done in other times! You would not kill bulls and I would not
roam over the plains hunted like a wild beast. We would be viceroys,
grand moguls! Some great thing across the seas! You have not heard of
one Pizarro, Senor Juan?"
Senor Juan made an ambiguous gesture, not wishing to reveal his
ignorance of this mysterious name which he heard for the first time.
"The Senora Marquesa knows who he is better than I and she will pardon
me if I say wild things. I learned that history when I was a sacristan
and turned myself loose on old romances belonging to the priest. Well,
Pizarro was a poor fellow like us, who crossed the sea with twelve or
thirteen youths as ragged as himself, and entered a country finer than
Paradise--a kingdom where lies Potosi--I need say no more. They had I
don't know how many battles with the natives of the Americas who wear
feathers and carry bows and arrows, and finally they became their
masters, appropriated the treasures of the kings of the country, and the
least of them filled his house to the roof all with gold coins, and
there wasn't one that wasn't made a marquis, a general, or a personage
of power. Many others are like them. Imagine, Senor Juan, if we had only
lived then! What would it have cost us for you and me and some of these
stout fellows who are listening to me to do as much or more than that
Pizarro?"
And the men of the plantation, ever silent, but with eyes glowing with
emotion at this marvellous history, assented to the bandit's theories,
nodding their heads.
"I repeat that we are born too late, Senor Juan. Great careers are
closed to the poor. The Spaniard knows not what to do. There is no
longer any place left for him to go. What there used to be in the world
to be divided up, now the English and other foreigners have
appropriated. The door is closed and we brave men have to rot inside
this barn-yard listening to hard words because we don't surrender
ourselves to our fate. I, who like enough would have become a king in
the Americas, or some other place, go along the roads branded as an
outcast, and they even call me a thief! You, who are a valiant man, kill
bulls and get applause, but I know that many gentlemen look upon
bull-fighting as a low-down trade."
Dona Sol intervened to give the highwayman counsel. Why did he not
become a soldier? He could go to distant lands where there were wars and
utilize his powers nobly.
"Yes, I would be good for that, Senora Marquesa. I have often thought of
it. When I sleep at some plantation or hide myself in my house a few
days, the first time I get into bed like a Christian and eat a hot meal
on a table like this, my body is grateful for it, but I soon tire, and
it seems to me the mountain calls me with all its poverty, and I long to
sleep in the open wrapped in my blanket with a stone for a pillow. Yes;
I would make a good soldier. But where could I go? There are no longer
any real wars, where each one with a handful of comrades does whatever
seems wisest to him. To-day there are only herds of men all wearing the
same color and the same brand, who live and die like clowns. The same
thing happens as in the world: shearers and shorn. You do a great deed
and the colonel appropriates it; you fight a wild beast and they give
the reward to the general. No, I was also born too late to be a
soldier."
Plumitas lowered his eyes, remaining a long time as if absorbed in
inward contemplation of his misfortune, realizing that he had no place
in the present epoch.
Suddenly he grasped his carbine, about to rise.
"I must go--many thanks, Senor Juan, for your attentions. Farewell,
Senora Marquesa."
"But where art thou going?" said Potaje pulling him back. "Sit down,
_malaje_. In no place art thou better off than here."
The _picador_ desired to prolong the highwayman's stay, pleased to be
able to talk with him as with a life-long friend, to be able to tell
afterward in the city about his interesting adventure.
"I have spent three hours here and I must go. I never stay so long in an
open, level place like La Rincona'. It may be that some one has already
gone with a whisper that I am here."
"Art thou afraid of the guards?" asked Potaje. "They won't come, and if
they do, I am with thee."
Plumitas made a deprecatory gesture. The guards! They were men like
others; there might be brave ones, but they were all fathers of families
who tried not to see him, and when they heard he was at a certain place,
they came too late. They only went against him when chance threw them
face to face, without means of evasion.
"Last month I was at the Five Chimneys plantation breakfasting as I am
here, though not in such good company, when I saw six guards coming
afoot. I am sure that they did not know I was there, and that they came
only for refreshment. Bad luck, but neither they nor I could fly in
plain sight of all the people on the plantation. That would cause talk,
and evil tongues make one lose respect, and they will say we are all
cowards. The owner of the hacienda shut the gate, and the guards began
to beat on it with their muskets to make him open up. I ordered him and
a herder to stand behind the doors. 'When I say _now_, open wide.' I
mounted the mare and held my revolver in my hand. '_Now_!' The gate
opened and I rode off flinging demons! You don't know what my poor
little mare can do. They sent I know not how many shots after me, but
nothing! I, too, let loose as I rode away, and according to what they
say, I hit two guards. To abbreviate: I went leaning along my mare's
neck so they couldn't hit me and the guards took their revenge by giving
the men of the hacienda a beating. That's why it is better to say
nothing about my visits, Senor Juan. Along will come those fellows with
their cocked hats and they'll make you dizzy with questions and
declarations, as though they were going to catch me with that."
The men of La Rinconada assented dumbly. They already knew it. They must
keep quiet about the visit to avoid trouble, as was done in all the
plantations and herders' ranches. This general silence was the bandit's
most powerful aid. Moreover, all these countrymen were Plumitas'
admirers. In their rude enthusiasm they looked upon him as an avenging
hero. They had nothing to fear from him. His threats only weighed
against the rich.
"I am not afraid of the guards," continued the bandit. "It's the poor I
fear. They are all good, but what an ugly thing is poverty! I know those
of the cocked hats will not kill me; they have no balls for me. If
anybody kills me, it will be some poor fellow. One lets them come near
without fear, because they are one's own kind, and then they take
advantage of one's carelessness. I have enemies; people sworn against
me. Sometimes there are rascals who carry the whisper in the hope of a
few _pesetas_, or renegades who are sent to do a thing and don't do it,
and one must keep a firm hand to have the respect of all. If one
really harms them the family is left to avenge him. If one is good and
contents himself with giving them a caress with a handful of nettles and
thistles, they remember that joke all their lives--the poor, my own
kind, are those I fear."
[Illustration: "For me?" asked the bandit in tones of surprise and
wonder. "For me, Senora Marquesa?"]
Plumitas stopped, and gazing at Gallardo added:
"Besides, there are the admirers, the pupils, the young fellows that
come chasing along behind. Senor Juan, tell the truth, which tire you
more, the bulls, or all those hungry young bull-fighters who are always
wanting favors of the _maestro_? The same thing happens to me. Didn't I
tell you that we are equals! In every town there's some fine young
fellow who dreams of being my heir and hopes to catch me some day
sleeping in the shade of a tree and-blow my head off. A fine
advertisement it will be for him who catches Plumitas!"
After this he got up and went to the stable followed by Potaje, and a
quarter of an hour afterward he led out into the courtyard his strong
mare, the inseparable companion of his wanderings. The big-boned animal
seemed larger and handsomer after the brief hours of feasting in the
mangers at La Rinconada. Plumitas stopped arranging his blanket over the
horn to caress her flanks. She might indeed be content. Seldom would she
be so well treated as at this hacienda of Senor Juan Gallardo. Now she
must behave, for the journey would be long.
"And where art thou going, comrade?" said Potaje.
"You shouldn't ask that. Abroad through the land! I myself know not. To
meet whatever comes along."
And putting the toe of his boot in one of the blackened and
mud-bespattered stirrups, he gave a spring and rose into the saddle.
Gallardo moved away from Dona Sol, who contemplated the bandit's
preparation for his journey with her mysterious eyes, her lips pale and
compressed by emotion. The bull-fighter searched in the inside of his
jacket and walked toward the rider offering him without ostentation some
papers crushed in his hand.
"What is that?" said the bandit. "Money? Thanks, Senor Juan. You have
heard that it is best to give me something when I leave an hacienda, but
that is for others, for the rich who earn their money in flowery ease.
You earn it by exposing your life. We are companions. Keep it, Senor
Juan."
Senor Juan put the bills back, somewhat annoyed by the bandit's refusal
and by his determination to treat him as a comrade.
"You may tender me a bull if we ever meet in the ring," added Plumitas.
"That is worth more than all the gold in the world."
Dona Sol advanced till she stood close to one of the horseman's legs,
and unfastening an autumn rose she wore on her breast she offered it
silently, gazing at him with her gold-green eyes.
"For me?" asked the bandit in tones of surprise and wonder. "For me,
Senora Marquesa?"
Seeing the lady's nod of affirmation he accepted the flower with
embarrassment, handling it stupidly as if it were of astonishing weight,
not knowing where to put it, till at last he thrust it into a buttonhole
of his blouse, between the two ends of the red handkerchief he wore
around his neck.
"This surely is good!" he exclaimed, his round face broadening into a
smile. "Nothing to equal this ever happened to me before in all my
life."
The rough horseman seemed touched and disturbed at the same time by the
feminine character of the gift. Roses for him--!
He pulled at his mare's reins.
"Health to all, gentlemen! Until we meet again! Health, brave fellow!
Sometime I'll throw thee a cigar if thou dost stick thy lance in well."
He bade the _picador_ farewell, giving him a blow with his hand, and the
centaur answered him with a slap on the thigh that made the bandit's
vigorous muscles tremble. What a fine fellow, that Plumitas! Potaje, in
his mellow state of intoxication, wished to take to the mountains in
company with him.
"_Adios_! _Adios_!"
And setting spurs to his steed he rode away from the hacienda at a swift
trot.
Gallardo manifested satisfaction on seeing him go. Then he looked at
Dona Sol, who stood motionless, following the horseman with her eyes as
he vanished in the distance.
"What a woman!" murmured the swordsman with dismay. "What a mad lady!"
It was good luck that Plumitas was ugly, and went ragged and dirty like
a vagabond. If not, verily she would have gone with him.