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"The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed me to lead her away
without shedding a tear.
"For travelling we had arranged for her a sidesaddle very much like a
chair, with a board swung beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day
she rode without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment turning her
eyes away from the little girl, whom she held on her knees. At our first
camp I saw her during the night walking about, rocking the child in
her arms and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After we had
started on our second day's march she asked me how soon we should come
to the first village of the inhabited country.
"I said we should be there about noon.
"'And will there be women there?' she inquired.
"I told her that it was a large village. 'There will be men and women
there, senora,' I said, 'whose hearts shall be made glad by the news
that all the unrest and war is over now.'
"'Yes, it is all over now,' she repeated. Then, after a time: 'Senor
officer, what will your Government do with me?'
"'I do not know, senora,' I said.


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