Gonzales

“ Had not Isabella Gonzales treated Lorenzo Bezan as she did at their last meeting, he would never have accepted the governor-general's pardon on the terms offered, nor life itself, if it separated him from her he loved. But as it was, he seemed to feel that life had lost its charm, ambition its incentive for him, and he cast himself forth upon the troubled waters without compass or rudder. ”

“ Dobie drew up at the forks and considered the two roads. He knew it would be foolhardy for him to ride into Mexico. There were no laws in Verdugo, except the word of Gonzales, an outlaw. It was a hotbed of revolutionists, smugglers, outlaws of every description.
There was an army in Verdugo; originally part of the Federal forces of Mexico, but now in the pay of Gonzales. Dobie knew that it would be suicide for any white man, not connected with Gonzales, to enter Verdugo.
The buckskin moved restlessly, jingling the bit-chains, kicking up a film of the yellow dust. ”

“ The merit of Gonzales had raised him to the rank of a gentleman in the household of Don Henry, and his character was held in much estimation; but his confidence was obtained and betrayed by a moor of the Assanhaji tribe [10] , whom he had taken on board to serve as an interpreter with the natives on the coast of Africa. Misled by this crafty African, who held out great hopes of acquiring plunder, Gonzales steered for the island of Arguin, and put into a creek or bay on the coast, in lat. 22° 48' N. about fourteen leagues to the south of Rio del Ouro, and forty-five to the north of Cape Branco. ”

“ On our word of honor, you shall live, if you yield the store."
"Well," whispered Pedro to us, "what do you say?"
"Tell him the fortune-teller fooled him," says I.
"Tell him to go to hell," says Gonzales.
"It is a trick," says the other man.
"So think I," says Pedro. He called aloud: "We are large healthy men. To make us live is necessary we have more than your word of honor—do not play further, cowards that you are! The store you may have when we give it to you. We will kill you all—all!" ”

“ Hark you, Gil Blas! said Euphrasia; fortune declares in your favor if you do not balk her. Let us put our heads together, my good friend. Don Gonzales is old, and a good deal shaken in constitution; so that a very little fever, in the hands of a very great doctor, would carry him to a better place. Let us take time by the forelock, and ply our arts so busily as to secure to me the largest slice of his effects. If I prosper, you shall not starve, I promise you; and my bare word is a better security than all the deeds and conveyances of all the lawyers in Madrid. ”

“ Boats run up the river from here to Castle Dome. There is an excellent hotel here. Tourists usually stop over to visit the Gonzales place, and I suppose you will not neglect the opportunity. The house is a marvel of beauty. It was built by direction of Mr. Morning.”
“Does he live there when at home?” queried the baroness.
“Oh, no, madame! The Gonzales family nursed Morning through an attack of fever, after he was shot by the Apaches near the old Gonzales hacienda several years ago. The Señorita Murella never left his bedside for weeks. Really, the doctors say the girl saved his life. ”

“ But as you represent His Excellency the President of the Republic of Santa Marina I suppose you come on business, Senior Gonzales?"
"Precisely. I am enchanted that you apprehend the fact without the tiresomeness of explanations. For business is a cold, usually a disagreeable affair, is it not so? That being the case, let us get it over."
"First do us the honor to be seated, Senor Gonzales."
Comfortably bestowed in a camp-chair in the shade, the Spaniard resumed:
"My friend, this island belongs, as of course you are aware, to the republic of which I have the honor to be a citizen. ”

“ He walked the room in a new and undefinable excitement. The sight of Don Rafael, to whom the destruction of the property that was precious as his life seemed as nothing to the pleasure of baffling the man he abhorred of the money he believed absolutely necessary to his success in leading troops to encounter the well-reinforced and well-equipped Gonzales, revealed to him the hatred and horror in which he was held. Doubtless that of the servant was but a mere reflection of that of Doña Isabel.
Well, let them hate him with reason; let the wild mountaineers take their own sport unchecked. ”

“ Gonzales laughed softly and shook his head.
“Never trust a gringo,” he advised. “When their own color is concerned, they do not always count the cost. In many ways they are very great fools.”
“They will go back before the priest comes.”
“We do not know,” argued Gonzales. “They have said that this tall prisoner’s friend escaped to carry the news, and Hawk Hole will be a dangerous place for them. They will torture the tall one, in order to force him to confess, but what then? By this time there are men riding toward the border, Guadalupe, my friend.” ”

“ And then he hissed again, a hiss of pain and fright. Through his body a blade had been plunged. He dropped the cutlass, threw wide his arms, shrieked once more, and fell with face toward the ground. And Sergeant Gonzales merely glanced down at him, then picked up the goblet, wiped it against his tunic, and bowed before Fray Felipe.
“Allow me,” the sergeant said. “It is a fortunate thing that I was near, fray!”
“I thank thee, son!”
“Son?” Gonzales cried. “You call an old sinner like me by such a name?”
“Perhaps you hold more worth than you yourself think,” the old fray replied. ”

“ On hearing this Diaz slunk off like a half-drowned cat and made a law which went into effect June 22, 1886, taking a percentage off every government employe to help pay up the Gonzales deficiency.
Gonzales is modest; he don’t want the presidency any more. He wisely invested his hard-earned cash in an estate. His palaces and haciendas are something wonderful for size, beauty, and furnishment. Of course, give a man a bad name and everything mean is laid at his door ”

“ Gonzales asked.
"Is it not a time of night for honest men to be abed?" Fray Felipe asked in turn.
"It is, fray—yet we find you out of it. How does it "happen that you have not come from the house before? Did we not make enough noise to awaken you?"
"I heard sounds of combat—"
"And you may hear more, fray, else feel the sting of a whip again, unless you answer questions swiftly and to the point. Do you deny that Señor Zorro has been here?"
"I do not."
"Ha! Now we have it. You admit, then, that you are in league with this pretty highwayman, that you shield him upon occasion? ”

“ As each guest took his place with that solemn demeanour common to Spaniards, a flourish of trumpets sounded, a side door opened, and Doña Teresa appeared, upright to stiffness, wearing her crown upon her head, her son Don Sancho advancing with respectful courtesy to place her on his right hand.
All eyes were fixed on Don Fernan Gonzales, the youngest of the princes. Happiness and loyalty looked out of his comely face, grace was in every movement, as he exchanged compliments with his royal kinsmen—Aragon, a broad-shouldered man, frank and true in nature ”

“ You punish me? I shall die of laughter before I can run you through! You are as good as dead, Señor Zorro! His excellency has offered a pretty price for your carcass! If you are a religious man, say your prayers! I would not have it said that I slew a man without giving him time to repent his crimes. I give you the space of a hundred heartbeats."
"You are generous, señor, but there is no need for me to say my prayers."
"Then must I do my duty," said Gonzales, and lifted the point of his blade. "Corporal, you will remain by the table, and the men also. ”

“ Don Audre replied. “The señorita is to be rescued if it is possible, and returned to the schooner.”
“And the pirates are to be hanged?”
“Any that do not fall by our swords and are captured.”
“Ha! It is a nuisance to hang a man!” Gonzales declared: “We would have to go to the ship for a rope. The blade is better! Fray Felipe!”
“Señor?” the fray questioned. He approached them.
“You are yet my friend,” Gonzales said. “If you get into the thick of it, stand you behind me, that I may protect you. But a battle is not a place for a fray. Stay you behind, and say your prayers!” ”

“ Gonzales smashed the neck from a bottle across the edge of a table and poured a cupful.
“Come and drink, Torres,” he ordered.
Torres came to the table and accepted a cup. He knew it would not be well to refuse Gonzales.
“What is the news?” asked Gonzales, turning to Guadalupe.
“News is never plentiful at the Rancho Sierra,” replied the old Mexican. “But you come in time for our little fiesta. Felipe leaves at once for Santa Isabella to fetch a priest.”
“Madre de Dios!” swore Gonzales. “And why a priest, old man? Is it that someone is dying?” ”

“ Don Gonzales, who acted as brigadier in another wing, being informed of our fate, and dreading the disgrace of his corps, which had never turned back to the enemy, put spurs to his horse, and, riding across the field at full speed, rallied our broken squadrons, and led us back to the charge with such intrepidity of behaviour, as did not fail to inspire us all with uncommon courage and alacrity. ”

“ At the edge of the plaza he stopped and looked about.
He saw the chapel, made out the inn regarding which Padre Felipe had warned him, discerned the residence of Gonzales. Toward this he rode, stopping at the rear and ordering an Indian to fetch out the master. A few minutes passed and Gonzales stood before him.
“Well, caballero?” he asked.
“Fray Felipe of San Fernando says that you are an honest man, and vouches for me being one, though he never set eyes on me until this day.”
“The good padre seldom makes a mistake in estimating a man.” ”

“ And he slashed through the air, his blade whistling so that the corporal and soldiers sprang backward, and the four or five natives who happened to be in the inn cringed in a corner. “Pirates!” cried Gonzales. “I would I could meet one this very night! We grew stale from inaction. There is too much peace in the world! Meal mush and goat’s milk!”
The door opened suddenly. Sergeant Gonzales stopped in the middle of a sentence, and his blade stopped in the middle of an arc. And then the sergeant and the other soldiers snapped to attention, for the commandante was before them. ”

“ The caballero ate ravenously, scarcely speaking. An Indian entered and spoke to Gonzales in whispers.
“Your horse is ready, señor,” Gonzales said. “It is a fit animal, able to cover many miles during a day. I have no wish to bereft myself of your companionship by sending you on your way, yet perhaps it would suit your purpose best to be well on the road to San Juan Capistrano by daybreak.” ”

“ Ramirez will soon be prepared to attack Gonzales 398in force; his mind was set on regaining El Toro, but that can be deferred. ‘When the loaf is cut the crumbs may be soon eaten!’ Be you prepared to pass over to your rightful commander at the last moment with all your men. The rest of the troop will follow like sheep. Bah! what is the name of Gonzales to that of Ramirez! With the forces we could then combine, what might we not attempt! I promise you in the name of Ramirez, on his honor as a soldier and his faith as your godfather, a free pardon for all that has passed. ”

“ A fanatic adventurer by the name of Giles Gonzales, acquired much celebrity for his success in inducing the natives to accept the Christian faith and to acknowledge fealty to the king of Spain. He was at the head of one hundred steel-clad warriors. His mode of persuasion, though unique, was very potent. When he approached the seat of the chief of Nicaragua, he sent a courier to him with the following message:
[Pg 56]
"I am coming as a friend to teach you the only true religion, and to persuade you to recognize the most powerful monarch on the globe. ”

“ If he could bring to the revolutionary chiefs of the new party men, arms, and money, he might hope for a warm reception.
During the fortnight referred to he had communicated with one Angel Gonzales, previously mentioned, who had also quarreled with Villa and been rigorously persecuted by him. Gonzales was at the head of a small band which he was quite willing to consolidate with Pachuca’s men, and they had agreed to meet and discuss ways and means. It was toward this rendezvous that Pachuca had been journeying when he stopped to raid the Athens mining camp. ”

“ Yet a man should not speculate regarding that which does not concern him.”
“Very true, Señor Gonzales. I might mention that another traveller may journey along El Camino Real at an early day, as soon as he can procure a horse at Santa Barbara, where I left him behind. I doubt whether he will receive cordial welcome from Fray Felipe—as you say, the good padre is an excellent judge of men. ”

“ They had also put the Mexicans to flight.”
“And more,” added a young Mexican coming up to the group of which Robert Worth was one, “Stephen Austin has escaped, and he arrived at Gonzales at the very moment of victory. And more yet: Americans are pouring into Gonzales from every quarter.”
An officer tapped Doctor Worth on the shoulder. “Senor Doctor, your arms. General Cos hopes, in the present extremity, you will set an example of obedience.”
“I will not give up my arms. In the present extremity my arms are the greatest need I have.” ”