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Ungrateful wretch, too, to have attempted the life of the valiant Comandante he who had been striving all he could to recover the assassin's sister from the Indian savages! And now he had actually succeeded! Only think of it! There she was, brought safe home again by the agency of this very Comandante, who had sent his captain and soldiers for her, this very man whom he would have killed!
In 1837 Carrillo reports that he has broken up a place where Manuel Gonzalez sold liquor to the Indians, and he calls upon the comandante to suppress other places. In March, 1838, he complains that the troops are killing the Mission cattle, but is told that General Castro had authorized the officers to kill all the cattle needed without asking permission.
Don Juan was not afraid to spend money, and he had no reason on that occasion, with fifty onzas of clear gain in his pocket a fact that by no means sat easily on the mind of the Comandante. The latter was observed, with a clouded countenance, strolling around, occasionally approaching the carreta, and glancing somewhat rudely towards the group.
It subsided at last in the town of Santa Rita, the comandante of which, otherwise a pleasant enough fellow, took me for a German. It served me right for not having taken the time to shave my upper lip. He had me write my name on a slip of paper and bade me adios with the information that if "my legs were well oiled" I could make the hacienda Jarral by nightfall.
When this welcome intelligence had been translated, and when the general had proved it to be true, there was a great sigh of relief, followed by a subdued titter at the colonel's expense. The latter was chagrined. Having made himself and the comandante ridiculous, he took refuge behind an assumption of somber and offended dignity.
As he drew near, he raised his sombrero in a respectful salute to the two officers, whose heads and shoulders were just visible over the parapet; and having arrived within a dozen paces of the wall, he reined up, and, taking off his hat again, waited to be addressed. "What is your business?" demanded Roblado. "Cavalleros! I wish to speak with the Comandante."
At times he imagined her clad in rich satin, with a rope of pearls about her delicate throat, and as he drew the picture he saw her as a star among the ladies of the Russian court. "When Don José Argüello returned, Rezánov asked him for the hand of his daughter in marriage, but the Comandante indignantly refused.
A proclamation had been posted on the walls of the town, the joint production of the Comandante and his captain, offering a high reward for the cibolero's head, and a still higher sum for the cibolero himself if captured alive!
His favourite humbled himself the loser of ten golden onzas no small sum, even to the Comandante of a frontier Presidio. Moreover, to be jibed by the fair senoritas for losing a wager he had himself challenged, and which, no doubt, he felt certain of winning. From that moment Vizcarra liked not "Carlos the cibolero."
"As many as you please," urged the ranchero. "Thank you, Don Juan! only one that with my own will be two. Two onzas! that, in faith, is the largest bet I have ever made. Vaya! a poor cibolero staking a double onza!" "Well, then," replied Don Juan, "if you don't, I shall. Colonel Vizcarra!" said he aloud, addressing himself to the Comandante, "I suppose you would like to win back your wager.
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