Massacre at Goliad by Elmer Kelton

Author:Elmer Kelton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2011-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

Muley saw the two horsemen first. “Ramón,” he called out, grinning broadly, “I thought you said Felix wasn’t home. That’s him comin’ yonder, with Antonio.”

They were riding fast. Antonio usually did; he had little regard for his horses. But somehow I could tell this time it wasn’t just thoughtlessness. They rode with a purpose.

Anxiety leaped in Ramón’s eyes. “Something may have happened to Miranda.”

Antonio cut directly across our field, spurring his horse through our unpicked cotton and breaking down the stalks. Felix held up, starting to go around, then thought better of it and cut through after his brother. I thought, There had better be a good reason. I was angrier at Felix than at Antonio, for I would have expected this from Antonio any time.

Antonio pulled up. He had passed Muley without a glance. He flashed me a hostile look, then turned to Ramón. “Come, brother, it is time to fight.”

Relief washed over Ramón. “Miranda is all right?”

“There is nothing wrong with your woman. But there is much wrong for your country while you stand here and talk with your Americano friend. It is time now for shooting, not for talking.”

Ramón’s eyes narrowed. “Antonio, you have been drinking.”

“I do not drink when my country needs me. Fighting has begun, brother, por allá, in Gonzales. There has been a call for men.”

Ramón’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I had not heard …”

“You spent too much time on the road home from Bexar with your woman. You missed the news. The Americanos have a cannon at Gonzales, and they refuse to give it up. Against the command of Colonel Ugartechea, they have killed to keep it.”

Ramón glanced at me, helplessness in his eyes.

Antonio said, “It is time to decide. Shall we bow down to this plague of locusts, or shall we offer ourselves as patriots? Felix and I have made our choice. What is yours?”

Ramón’s face was stricken. “Felix? You would take Felix? He is still a boy.”

“He will fight like a man!”

Ramón stepped up beside his younger brother’s horse and put his hand on the boy’s knee. “Felix, this is not for you.”

Swallowing, Felix held his chin high.

I shouldn’t have interfered, but I liked this lad too much to stand still. “Felix, you’d better listen to Ramón.”

Felix would not look at me. Tightly he said, “Yesterday we were friends, Josh. Today we are enemies. I am a Mexican.”

Antonio’s eyes were like two black flints. “What are you, Ramón? The time has come to choose, and choose quickly.”

Ramón shook his head. “Antonio, you are crazy.”

Antonio spat in front of him. “I expected as much. Stay at home, then. Stay at home with your woman and your American friends. And when they have you in chains, remember that your brothers had the spine to fight!”

He wheeled his horse around and spurred back through our cotton. Felix paused a moment, eyes fixed on his older brother. He was wavering.

Ramón cried. “Felix, stay here.”

But Felix touched spurs to the horse and went off in a lope.

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