"It is not that I care, amigos, but these things have upset Juanita horribly. Of course, I denied these charges, but, valgame Dios! women are so unreasonable!
"I hired Dionysio to watch my house, but he has gone to the baile, and so, arousing and dressing my small son, that he may carry me word of any further outrages, I have come down to seek your help in preserving my home from this disgrace."
We declared ourselves willing to do anything for Atanacio—anything, that is, that promised excitement. We said that it was horrible, that the evil stranger ought to be exterminated.
"Who could it be?"
Atanacio replied that it was probably Flores, who had had a baby by his wife before he married her, but who had never succeeded in quite capturing her affections. We forced aguardiente upon him and he drank moodily. Charlie Chee was pried loose from the glass tube, where Foo took his place, and sent for weapons. And in ten minutes he returned with seven loaded revolvers of different makes.
Almost immediately came a furious pounding on the door, and Atanacio's young son flung himself in.
"Papa!" he cried, holding out a paper. "Here is another one! The man knocked at the back door, and when Mamma went to find out who it was she could only see a big red blanket covering him entirely up to the hair. He gave her a note and ran away, taking a loaf of bread off the window."
With trembling hands Atanacio unfolded the paper and read aloud:
Your husband is the father of forty-five small children in the State of Coahuila.
(Signed) Some One Who Knows Him.