A good
many of them are angry at present because they have been punished for
stealing grapes and stores, and just now they are rather excited because
it has been proposed to banish Anastacio to a Mission where there are
more soldiers,--he is regarded as the inciter of the outrages."
"Have you soldiers here?"
"Eleven. The guard house is in the left hand corner of the square. But
what could they do in an uprising? We must get rid of Anastacio. I will
go now and speak to Padre Flores."
Roldan went out into the square and strolled over to the soldiers'
quarters. The door was closed, but light streamed from an uncovered
window, and he had a good view of the guard room. A half dozen soldiers
were lying about on benches, half-dressed, smoking the eternal
cigarrito. Two were at a table writing. None looked alert, but as Roldan
passed out of the plaza to the open beyond, he encountered a sentinel
who was ready to gossip with the young don and told him that three more
were on duty on the several sides of the square.
Roldan strolled on to the rancheria, a collection of six or eight
hundred huts of mud and straw among a thicket of willows by the creek.
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