The Tale of the Banditos
Before starting, make sure you have gone through The Story of Young Henry Carver.
The Crazy Cowboy had been wandering for sometime South towards Mexico. He found solitude his first night away from San Antonia, the place where no one wanted his bad luck in their hands, near a foothill that had a nice spring pool on one side. The next day he ventured forth further South, and right around noon he collapsed from the sun, his mouth blistered from the dryness. When he came to he was on the back of a horse, with another man riding in the front, he could hear at least four other horses moving around but only saw one, the other three were on the other side of him. He gave a groan.
"hey, boy, you done sleep?"Crazy nodded.
The man shouted out something in spanish to his friends and tossed a water canteen to Crazy, "aqua.... water," and he motioned to drink some.
Crazy drank the water, and fell back asleep as the sun continued to pound down on him. When he finally came to, it was dark, and he lying on the ground, with his head on a rock (covered with a blanket) and a fire going at his feet. He finally woke up and was scared that he had no idea where he was, but his body did not show it, it was a fear that froze him in the cool desert night. One of the men came over to him and spoke.
You're not a Mexican, you are from up there, in the States. The color of your skin does not fool us, you don't know Spanish, but I know your language.Who are you?
We are BANDITOS! We roam the desert, stealing and taking what we want, and come back to Mexico every once in a while. We thought you would be a nice addition, there are plenty of people who would like cut up a little American boy.
It was true, the desert had given Crazy Cowboy an intense tan, he looked very Mexican, and he did not know any Spanish, not anything basic besides "sombrero" and "hola," which he could not pronounce without a heavy "h" sound at the beginning. The Bandito who could speak english asked him what he was doing out in the desert and Crazy told him his story, from the beginning, of how he was traveling West, how his family was killed, how he lived in San Antonia for two years, and just recently left because he had no future there. He hated those townspeople. At that, the Bandito raised his hands and yelled something to his companions, "You don't like the Americans?" Crazy knew that he had to give a reply to save his life, "I hate them! They are not nice, they are not welcoming unless you are just like them, they are mean folks." This made the Bandito happy, he put his arm around the scared kid, and began to sing something that Crazy had no idea, but he joined in at the chorus. He had a swig of the beer bottle that was being passed around, and they all had a good shout over that. They sang and drank until Crazy dozed off.
The days went by until the Banditos hit the town of Paz, Mexico. "This is our home, the place where our families live, you can live here as well, you should find work and a place to sleep. There is room for you." Paz was a town of scoundrels, a place with few laws, and the few laws that there were were hardly ever inforced. Loose morals and drinkers were the standards of Paz. The Bandito who spoke English brought Crazy to a bar and spoke some Spanish to the bar tender. The bar tender took Crazy and showed him a mop and broom and did some motions. He jestured over the whole bar, and said "You do, every night." Crazy stayed until the last drunk stumbled out , staying in the corner, and then the bar tender, who he had learned was named Juan, told him "You do, now." Once Crazy Cowboy was done, Bartender Juan came over and droped some coins into his hand, and then pointed to a room upstairs, "You go there, every night," motioning to sleep, "Do this" making a cleaning jesture, "You get" pointing to the coins in Crazy's hand. Crazy went up and slept, and the next night he did the same thing.
Eventually, Crazy learned some more Spanish and he was able to do more than just the late night clean-up. From time to time the Banditos would show up, and they would laugh together. Crazy Cowboy stayed in that bar for a long long time.