He told them there had been another _Junta_, the people still persisting that they did not wish to leave their homes. "At last," he said, "the white men grew angry, and said some Indians must come with them and help choose, since they knew best what they would like. 'Will you come Captain Cecilio?' said one.
"'No, I will not,' said Cecilio. 'First I will die.'
"'That is wrong,' said the man. 'You will be sorry in the end, for you will have to go, and you will give a bad example to your people.'
"'My people may do as they please,' said Cecilio. 'I give them no counsel. I tell them nothing. Whosoever wishes to go along with you, he may; but not I.' And Captain Cecilio walked away, oh, very, very sorrowful."
"My uncle, Mauricio, Ambrosio and Velasquez. They did not want to go; but someone must go. Soon they will choose, and it may be that once more we shall be permitted to harvest our crops at Cupa--but for the last time, Señor, for the last time."
And so it came to pass. Once again, and only once, were the harvests gathered; once more was heard the sound of the primitive flail in the granaries of Cupa. Then its children were bidden to make ready their goods and chattels, their horses and cattle, their women folk, their little ones and their dogs, weeping and wailing as they went reluctantly forth from their dismantled homes. Some among them there were--these the very old--who escaped to the mountains, and who were never heard of again.
In the end no resistance was made. The Indians obeyed the mandates of the stronger race like the sullen but not insubordinate children they are. And as wagon after wagon from the deserted village reached the summit of the hill, giving the last view of the vapory cloud rising from the _Agua Caliente_ of their fathers and their fathers' fathers, each paused upon its onward course, and the occupants looked back upon the home they were leaving forever. Then, folding their garments about them and bowing their heads in voiceless sorrow, the children of Cupa, lonely and broken-hearted, passed into exile.
Footnotes have been placed at end of their respective chapter.
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been repaired.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Children of Cupa, by Mary E. Mannix