THE INSURGENCE of
CHAN SANTA CRUZ
BOOK SIX:
THE FIRST of the BOOKS of CHANGE
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Captain
José Fernandez was also an early riser, an abstainer from alcohol, meat and
tobacco, all of which had been consumed in copious quantities in Santa Cruz del
Bravo over the past two days. As such, he was held out of place there...
respected, often used, but not confided in, and his knowledge of the army of
the Territory over the Federal invaders at Tabi was
vague. Commander of the watch over the western road, he was not alarmed when
the commander of Tabi, Rodriguez, led a dozen of his
men to the station, following by a Federal General and thirty wary soldiers.
This
General identified himself as Manuel Rivera... Fernandez knew him not, but the
last year had been so filled with promotions, deaths and resignations that it
was likely he was as he represented himself. Moreover he respected Rodriguez as
a man of temperance and judgment, further knowing the Colonel to be one of the
few officers in Quintana Roo possessing both
competence and integrity. Having been given no order to shoot Rivera, he
saluted and accepted the documents provided him.
"General
Rivera," explained Rodriguez, "has been appointed by our President as
the new Governor and military commander of this territory. Captain Fernandez
turned over the orders and noted the visible signature of Francisco Madero as
well as that of the Minister of War. He saluted once more and returned them to
the General.
"I
am at your service," he declared, and one of the officers of Tabi winked towards another who had accompanied Manuel
Rivera. They had timed their arrival to occur between the hours of six and
seven in the morning, when the capital was awake but still struggling to go
about its business.
Had the
first encounter been with one of those who knew Bravo's intent to have the
Federal General seized as a traitor, a far different result may have
transpired. But, within half an hour, Fernandez brought a score of officers of
the territory whose patience with Ignacio Bravo was at an end to Rivera, and a
hundred soldados with them. These were largely men
who, finding little to celebrate, were in no ways in the state of dissipation
as most of their fellows and... when this party assembled in the plaza... they
drew a crowd of blinking, yawning soldiers, many in their nightshirts or
without their boots or rifles, some holding or shaking their heads as General
Rivera declared that he was their new commander, that he had a paper from the
President himself, that his saddlebags bulged with innumerable Decrees which he
had prepared during his journey from Mexico City.
There
was but one inquiry from a Corporal, who could barely hold himself erect.
"Are you a Prohibitionist?" he called out. Rivera cautiously declared
that he had no such intentions.
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