He bought some stolen rifles and armed a band
of his own--which wasn't a bad idea. I used to hear about him.
Nobody cared to molest him, I can tell you, until finally he
killed some of the regular troops. Then of course they went after
him. Meanwhile, he managed to destroy his own plantations, which
Cueto had robbed him of. You knew Cueto?"
"Yes."
"Well, Esteban put an end to him after a while; rode right up to
La Joya one night, broke in the door, and macheted the scoundrel
in his bed. But there was a mistake of some sort. It seems that a
body of Cobo's Volunteers were somewhere close by, and the two
parties met. I have never learned all the details of the affair,
and the stories of that fight which came to me are too
preposterous for belief. Still, Esteban and his men must have
fought like demons, for they killed some incredible number. But
they were human--they could not defeat a regiment. It seems that
only one or two of them escaped."
"Esteban? Did he--"
Colonel Lopez nodded; then he said, gravely: "Cobo takes no
prisoners. I was in the Rubi hills at the time, fighting hard, and
it was six weeks before I got back into Matanzas. Naturally, when
I heard what had happened, I tried to find the girl, but Weyler
was concentrating the pacificos by that time, and there was nobody
left in the Yumuri; it was a desert.
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