Tamanoa was like a moth attracted to light. He would
flutter around but always come back to squat near Losada, who
stood on his stirrups and turned to look back at his followers. At his
side, the second-lieutenant, Gabriel de Ávila, leaned toward him,
listening. Then, it was Francisco Infante’s turn to lean and listen.
Infante spurred his horse and struggled to control the stallion,
which reared up and tried to take off, before Infante made his way to
give Losada’s orders to don Francisco Ponce, Diego Paradas and
Pedro Alonso Galeas.
Pedro Alonso Galeas had gone from La Florida to Peru,
thenceforth navigating the Amazon with El Tirano Aguirre. In
Margarita he had managed to do the impossible: desert El Tirano’s
ranks and remain alive by fooling him with a horserace and not
stopping until he had sailed to the mainland. He then took part in
the capture of his former master. The horse he was riding was
apparently the very same that had saved his life in Margarita.
The rays of the rising sun fell aslant over the mountains and the
treetops. Losada gave the signal, and the horses, like a moving wall,
began to flatten the trail for the rest of us. I had a mule now, with a
thick cloth as saddle. The terrain was steep, and I walked, holding
the mule by the bridle, feeling light-headed even though my legs
were numb.
I glanced around at all the people who might die with me that
day. Josefa was looking at me, eyes wide and dreary, her mouth a
thin line. Her husband was a harquebusier and walked ahead with
the rest.
I slowed down to let her catch up with me. Even though the
Minor Brothers were forbidden from having suspicious intimacy
with women, I thought the circumstances allowed me to offer
charitable company to a female. She was hobbling. “Your foot,” I
said. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh,” she said, and gathered up her skirts and petticoats.
I turned my head to one side and closed my eyes, feeling the heat
rush up my neck and cheeks to the tips of my ears. I told her she
must ride on the mule. With difficulty, I had to hoist her up.
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