I didn't come to make
trouble, and I won't stay to make any. We've been friends; let's
stay that way. I'm a gringo, all right, but I've lived more with your
people than my own, and if you want the truth, I don't know but what
I feel more at home with them. And the same with Jack. We've eaten and
slept with Spaniards and worked with them and played with them, half
our lives."
"Still it is as Jose says," reiterated Manuel stubbornly. "Till the
gringos came all was well; when they came, trouble came also. Till
the gringos came, no watch was put over the cattle, for only those
who hungered killed and ate. Now they steal the patron's cattle by
hundreds, they steal his land, and if Jose speaks truly, they would
steal also--" He hesitated to speak what was on his tongue, and
finished lamely: "what is more precious still.
"And the patron will have a gringo for majordomo?" He returned to the
issue. "Then I, Manuel, must leave the patron's employ. I and half the
vaqueros. The patron," he added with what came close to a sneer, "had
best seek gringo vaqueros--with the clay of the mines on their boots,
and their red shirts to call the bulls!"
"I shall do what it pleases me to do," declared the don sternly.
"Advice from my vaqueros I do not seek. And you," he said haughtily,
"have choice of two things; you may crave pardon for your insolence to
my guest, who is also my friend, and who will henceforth have charge
of my vaqueros and my cattle, or you may go whither you will; to Don
Jose Pacheco, I doubt not.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110