What? called the black.
Have you seen a mule.
Mule?
I lost a mule. I think he come this way.
The black wiped his face with the back of his arm. Somethin come down the road about a hour back. I think it went down the river yonder. It might of been a mule. It didnt have no tail nor no hair to speak of but it did have long ears.
The other two blacks grinned. The kid looked off down the river. He spat and set off along the path through the willows and swales of grass.
He found it about a hundred yards downriver. It was wet to its belly and it looked up at him and then lowered its head again into the lush river grass. He threw down the saddle and took up the trailing rope and tied the animal to a limb and kicked it halfheartedly. It shifted slightly to the side and continued to graze. He reached atop his head but he had lost the crazy hat somewhere. He made his way down through the trees and stood looking at the cold swirling waters. Then he waded out into the river like some wholly wretched baptismal candidate.
III
Sought out to join an army — Interview with Captain White — His views — The camp — Trades his mule — A cantina in the Laredito — A Mennonite — Companion killed.
He was lying naked under the trees with his rags spread across the limbs above him when another rider going down the river reined up and stopped.
He turned his head. Through the willows he could see the legs of the horse. He rolled over on his stomach.
The man got down and stood beside the horse.
He reached and got his twinehandled knife.
Howdy there, said the rider.
He didnt answer. He moved to the side to see better through, the branches.
Howdy there. Where ye at?
What do you want?
Wanted to talk to ye.
What about?
Hell fire, come on out. I'm white and Christian.
The kid was reaching up through the willows trying to get his breeches. The belt was hanging down and he tugged at it but the breeches were hung on a limb.
Goddamn, said the man. You aint up in the tree are ye?
Why dont you go on and leave me the hell alone.
Just wanted to talk to ye. Didnt intend to get ye all riled up.
You done got me riled.
Was you the feller knocked in that Mexer's head yesterday evenin? I aint the law.
Who wants to know?
Captain White. He wants to sign that feller up to join the army.
The army?
Yessir.
What army?
Company under Captain White. We goin to whip up on the Mexicans.
The war's over.
He says it aint over. Where are you at?
He rose and hauled the breeches down from where he'd hung them and pulled them on. He pulled on his boots and put the knife in the right bootleg and came out from the willows pulling on his shirt.
The man was sitting in the grass with his legs crossed. He was dressed in buckskin and he wore a plug hat of dusty black silk and he had a small Mexican cigar in the corner of his teeth. When he saw what clawed its way out through the willows he shook his head.
Kindly fell on hard times aint ye son? he said.
I just aint fell on no good ones.
You ready to go to Mexico?
I aint lost nothin down there.
It's a chance for ye to raise ye self in the world. You best make a move someway or another fore ye go plumb in under.
What do they give ye?
Ever man gets a horse and his ammunition. I reckon we might find some clothes in your case.
I aint got no rifle.
We'll find ye one.
What about wages?
Hell fire son, you wont need no wages. You get to keep ever-thing you can raise. We goin to Mexico. Spoils of war. Aint a man in the company wont come out a big landowner. How much land you own now?
I dont know nothin about soldierin.
The man eyed him. He took the unlit cigar from his teeth and turned his head and spat and put it back again. Where ye from? he said.
Tennessee.
Tennessee. Well I dont misdoubt but what you can shoot a rifle.
The kid squatted in the grass. He looked at the man's horse. The horse was fitted out in tooled leather with worked silver trim. It had a white blaze on its face and four white stockings and it was cropping up great teethfuls of the rich grass. Where you from, said the kid.
I been in Texas since thirty-eight. If I'd not run up on Captain White I dont know where I'd be this day. I was a sorrier sight even than what you are and he come along and raised me up like Lazarus. Set my feet in the path of righteousness. I'd done took to drinkin and whorin till hell wouldnt have me. He seen somethin in me worth savin and I see it in you. What do ye say?
I dont know.
Just come with me and meet the captain.
The boy pulled at the halms of grass. He looked at the horse again. Well, he said. Dont reckon it'd hurt nothin.
They rode through the town with the recruiter splendid on the stockingfooted horse and the kid behind him on the mule like something he'd captured. They rode through narrow lanes where the wattled huts steamed in the heat. Grass and prickly pear grew on the roofs and goats walked about on them and somewhere off in that squalid kingdom of mud the sound of the little deathbells tolled thinly. They turned up Commerce Street through the Main Plaza among rafts of wagons and they crossed another plaza where boys were selling grapes and figs from little trundlecarts.
A few bony dogs slank off before them. They rode through the Military Plaza and they passed the little street where the boy and the mule had drunk the night before and there were clusters of women and girls at the well and many shapes of wickercovered clay jars standing about. They passed a little house where women inside were wailing and the little hearsecart stood at the door with the horses patient and motionless in the heat and the flies.
The captain kept quarters in a hotel on a plaza where there were trees and a small green gazebo with benches. An iron gate at the hotel front opened into a passageway with a courtyard at the rear. The walls were whitewashed and set with little ornate colored tiles. The captain's man wore carved boots with tall heels that rang smartly on the tiles and on the stairs ascending from the courtyard to the rooms above. In the courtyard there were green plants growing and they were freshly watered and steaming. The captain's man strode down the long balcony and rapped sharply at the door at the end. A voice said for them to come in.
He sat at a wickerwork desk writing letters, the captain. They stood attending, the captain's man with his black hat in his hands. The captain wrote on nor did he look up. Outside the kid could hear a woman speaking in Spanish. Other than that there was just the scratching of the captain's pen.
When he had done he laid down the pen and looked up. He looked at his man and then he looked at the kid and then he bent his head to read what he'd written. He nodded to himself and dusted the letter with sand from a little onyx box and folded it. Taking a match from a box of them on the desk he lit it and held it to a stick of sealing wax until a small red medallion had pooled onto the paper. He shook out the match, blew briefly at the paper and knuckled the seal with his ring. Then he stood the letter between two books on his desk and leaned back in his chair and looked at the kid again. He nodded gravely. Take seats, he said.
They eased themselves into a kind of settle made from some dark wood. The captain's man had a large revolver at his belt and as he sat he hitched the belt around so that the piece lay cradled between his thighs. He put his hat over it and leaned back. The kid folded his busted boots one behind the other and sat upright.