attire, and stringing out a volley of oaths, he
sprang out of the doorway after his intended
victim.

But Pedro Garcia, though fat, was surprisingly
quick on his feet. He dropped the rope and burst
into a run, heading frantically past the house
toward the trail. And, though Felipe leaped
after him, still clad only in fiery-red undershirt,
the storekeeper gained the trail and set out at
top speed across the settlement. Felipe pursued.
Hair aflaunt, shirt-tail whipping in the breeze,
bare feet paddling in the dust of the trail, naked
legs crossing each other like giant scissors in
frenzied effort, he hurtled forward exactly one
leap behind his intended victim. He strained to
close up the gap, but he could not overtake the
equally speedy Pedro, whose short legs fairly
buzzed in the terror of their owner. Thus they
ran, mounting the slight rise before the general
store, then descending into the heart of the settlement,
with Pedro whipping along frantically, and
Felipe still one whole leap behind, until a derisive
shout, a feminine exclamation of shrieking glee,
awoke Felipe to the spectacle he was making of
himself before the eyes of the community. He
stopped; growled disappointed rage; darted back
along the trail. Once in the privacy of his house,
he hurriedly donned his clothes and gave himself
over to deliberations. The result of these
deliberations was that he concluded to return to
work.

After a scant breakfast of chili and coffee he

[[25]]

p024 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p025w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p026

v?