DC03 - Though Mountains Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

fear any peasant.
    “Don Hidalgo,” Domingo said softly, with a little bow of the head to show at least the pretense of respect, “I think in his haste my American amigo has failed to mention one or two things that may interest you. First, everyone knows Hacienda El Prado enjoyed the favor of Pancho Villa, and while he lived none of his men would dare lift a hand against you. But Pancho Villa is dead.” Again, Caleb noticed Domingo making the sign of the cross on his chest as he said this. “You no longer have him to protect you, my haciendado, and if El Pantera comes all this way with a hundred armed men, do you really think he will be satisfied with the spoils of a few poor gringo campesinos ?”
    Caleb glanced up at Hidalgo’s wife. Her eyes widened perceptibly.
    Domingo leaned a little closer to Hidalgo and said very calmly, “El Pantera will never stop with the outlying farms, Don Hidalgo, and you know it. His men are fierce and well-trained. They learned how to storm a hacienda during the Revolution. You and your family can sail away to Europe if you wish, but when you return your fancy furniture and your beautiful paintings will be gone, and your grand hacienda will be a smoking pile of rubble.”
    Caleb caught a glimpse of outright fear in Hidalgo’s wife’s face, and the involuntary opening of her mouth before she raised a black-lace fan to hide it.
    There was fire in Hidalgo’s eyes, and his chair slid back roughly as he rose to his full height, jerking stiffly at the hem of his tunic.
    “Your audience is at an end, Señor Bender. I will not be intimidated in my own house. My servant will show you out.”With a hard glare at Domingo he added, “And take your insolent peon with you!”
    ———
    Driving back home, neither of them said anything until they were clear of the hacienda village and Caleb quietly asked, “What do you think he will do?”
    Domingo laughed out loud. “Did you see the look on his wife’s face when she heard what would happen to her lovely hacienda? You are a married man, Señor Bender—you tell me what he will do.”
    Caleb couldn’t suppress a grin, though the ethics of it bothered him a little. “It was wrong to lie to him, Domingo. El Pantera doesn’t have a hundred men.”
    Domingo met this with a shrug. “It was not exactly a lie. I only asked what he will do if El Pantera comes with a hundred men. I did not say he would.”

    In the evening, just before sundown when the Benders were gathered at the supper table, Caleb heard hoofbeats rounding the house and went to the back door to see who it was.
    Diego Fuentes, Hidalgo’s right-hand man and overseer of his estate, cantered up to the corral on his big black Friesian. As he climbed down from his silver-studded saddle Caleb strolled out to see what he wanted.
    “I have something for you,” Fuentes said, handing him an envelope bearing only the name Montoya on the front. “I am told it contains a letter and a cheque . Don Hidalgo instructed me to give it to you, and that you would know what to do with it. He said he would have attended to the matter himself but he is far too busy with the affairs of his estate just now.”
    Caleb smiled, running a rough thumb over the fancy waxseal. “The haciendado is a proud man. Tell Don Hidalgo it will be done, and tell him muchas gracias.”

    Caleb hitched the surrey and left two hours before daylight the next morning, picking up Domingo in San Rafael and making it to Arteaga in time to catch the afternoon train to Monterrey. They arrived in the bureaucrat’s office bright and early the next morning. Once Caleb presented Hidalgo’s cheque he found Montoya much more amenable than he had been on Caleb’s last visit. There were no federales available at the moment, Montoya said, but he promised an entire company within a fortnight.
    “I only hope they will not come too late,” Caleb said.
    They caught the train back to Arteaga before nightfall, shaving a whole day off the