Seeds of Forgiveness
3- Incident
Chapter 3: Incident
Three days later, Capitán Arturo Toledano was leading the morning patrol back to the cuartel. He was cold, wet, dirty, and furious. Although a heavy overnight rain had mired the roads, the Capitán had decided to lead out his once-weekly patrol as usual. The air was chilly and damp, and progress along the usual route was slow. This he had expected. He had not expected his horse to briefly lose its footing on the wet ground, throwing him to the right. He had further not expected his left rein to snap and send him tumbling down into the mud. The ends of the broken rein had to be tied together, yielding a working rein that was significantly shorter than its mate and making guiding his horse more difficult. The lancers were giving their normally even-tempered comandante a wide birth.
Just about the time that Capitán Toledano was picking himself up out of the mud, Doña Margarita De la Vega was being driven into the pueblo by Bernardo, her husband's manservant. She had a list of purchases to make at Señor Avila's store, plus a list from Cresencia of items needed to replenish the hacienda's medicine chest. Since Don Alejandro had received word the day before that the two horses left at the smith's had now been shod, she planned to ride Thunderhead back to the hacienda and tether the bay to the buggy for Bernardo to lead home. So when the morning patrol turned into the pueblo shewas standing half-way back in the livery stable with Señor Gonzales whom she had just paid for his work.
Toledano sent the lancers toward the cuartel, but turned his own horse across the plaza toward the livery stable. Since the blacksmith was still speaking with Señora De la Vega, Celestino approached the Capitán and took hold of his horse's bridle. "Buenos dias, Capitán. How may we serve you?" he asked.
"I wish to speak with Señor Gonzales," came the curt reply.
"Your pardon, Capitán, but he is still speaking with the Señora De la Vega. If you can tell me what you need perhaps I can be —
"I said I wish to speak to Señor Gonzales, not his worthless underling," snapped the Capitán loudly and jerking on the reins, pulling the bridle from Celestino's grasp.
"Very well, I will fetch him for you," replied the boy, angry but holding his temper.
Several things now happened all at once: Celestino turned back toward the stable to fetch Miguel Gonzales who, with Margarita, had just noticed the Capitán's arrival. Capitán Toledano began to dismount, unaware that the young Indian was still standing next to his horse. The Capitán's far leg swung over the horses's back, striking Celestino and sending him face down into the mud. Celestino rolled over and stared at the Capitán, a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Señor Gonzales at once rushed up to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I saw what happened. You have done nothing wrong. The Capitán is clearly not himself this morning, so let me deal with him. Por favor, go to the leather room and stay there until he is gone."
Swallowing his anger for the sake of the smith whom he respected and to whom he owed much, Celestino stood up and stalked back through the stable, trying to clean off his clothes as he went.
"Capitán?" inquired the blacksmith, trying not to notice Toledano's mud spattered uniform.
"As you can see," replied the comandante, holding up the knotted rein, "my bridle needs repair."
Gonzales took the rein and examined it. "This is a simple matter. Celestino might even be able to complete it today.
"Gracias, señor, I would appreciate that." Arturo Toledano, now feeling that things were beginning to be back under control, took a deep breath. "And tell your boy I did not mean to be harsh with him. And I certainly did not mean to knock him over." And with that the comandante left his mount and started back across the plaza to the cuartel.
Halfway through the stalls, Celestino passed Margarita. "Are you all right?" she asked, following Celestino toward the leather room as passed her.
The boy briefly glanced at her and mumbled, "Sí Señora." But this was a lie. Inside he felt a cold fury such as he had never felt before. Not only had the comandante dismissed him as a "worthless underling", he had kicked him into the mud like a dog. Celestino reached the leather room and opened the door — and found himself face-to-face with the rack of large knives used for trimming the prepared hides. An icy gleam lit up the boy's eyes. This time, a lancer would pay. A lancer would pay dearly, and not just for the mud on his shirt. The lancer would pay for his father's death as well. And not just any lancer.
Margarita watched as Celestino reached the door to the leather room and opened it. She could not see his face, but she saw his whole body tense as he stood for a very long time staring at the knife rack. Someone needs to keep an eye on that boy, she thought to herself.
Don Alejandro drained the remainder of his rojo and set down the glass. As Arturo his steward hastened to refill it, the elder De la Vega turned to his daughter-in-law. "Was your trip to the pueblo satisfactory?"
"Oh yes," Margarita replied. "Señor Avila's store is well-stocked just now, and the farmacia had everything Cresencia asked for. I also brought Soldado and Thunderhead back with me."
"So all is well in our little pueblo, then?"
She hesitated for just a moment before replying. "Well, I wouldn't exactly go that far." She recounted the incident between Capitán Toledano and Celestino.
"The comandante was clearly having a bad day," offered Diego. " Celestino is still disturbed at the site of the soldiers. I can't exactly fault him for that, and I wish it were not so. But I hope he does nothing foolish. He's already antagonized one group of lancers earlier this week."
The old don's eyebrows went up. "Surely the boy is not a danger. He has no weapons," said Don Alejandro.
"He has access to the knives in the leather room," countered Margarita. "In fact, he was staring hard at them as I left the stable."
Later that evening, as they were preparing to retire, Diego sat in his dressing gown, reading. Every so often he paused to watch his wife brushing her hair at the mirror. At one point he realized that her hairbrush had not moved for several minutes. "Querida, you are pensive this evening. Is something wrong?"
"I'm still worried about Celestino. He's so young and so full of anger, and in my experience that's a dangerous combination. I would hate to see anything happen to Capitán Toledano. He's the best comandante we've had since I've been here." She stole a sideways look at her husband. "I was hoping someone could keep an eye on them somehow."
Diego looked at her, closed his book, and came to stand behind her. "And by 'someone' I assume you mean Zorro?"
"I really don't see how else it could be done. Señor Gonzales needs to sleep sometime, I can't very well go calling on a sixteen-year-old boy at night — "
"No indeed," interrupted her husband, smiling and bending over to kiss her cheek. "You will not be spending you nights with anyone but me!"
"— and anyone from the garrison would just spook him."
"Very well. Zorro will make a quick trip into the pueblo to see what the comandante and our young Indian friend are doing. Although I hate to disturb Bernardo at this hour."
"You don't need to disturb him. I can saddle Tornado while you change. I've done it before, you know."
Diego pushed the button under the mantle and the door to the secret room swung open. "After you, Señora De la Vega!"