"What about eyes?" Gus asked. "Can they see?"

Major Laroche had already walked off, leaving Long Bill to deal with the technical questions about lepers.

"It was awhile ago-I think it could see," Long Bill said.

"These can see," Bigfoot said. "It seen my boots and brought them to me."

"Yeah, but what if the leprosy is in your boots now?" Bill asked. "If you put them boots on, your foot might rot off."

Bigfoot had just started to pull on his right boot-he immediately abandoned that effort, and the boots, too."I'll just stay barefoot for awhile," he said. "I'd rather get a few sand-burrs in my feet than to turn into a dern skeleton."

Gus was more disturbed than the rest of the troop by the white figures standing around the courtyard. They had a ghostly appearance, to him.

"Well, but what are lepers, Bill?" Gus asked. "Are they dead or alive?"

"The one I seen looked kind of in-between," Long Bill said. "It was moving, so I guess it wasn't full dead. But it didn't have no hands-it was like part of it had died and part of it hadn't."

Major Laroche had been giving his troops a brief inspection. He turned back impatiently, and gestured for the Texans to hurry on out to the row of barbers.

"Come, your shaves," he said. "The alcalde will not like it if he comes here and finds you looking like shaggy beasts."

"Major, we're a little nervous about them lepers," Bigfoot admitted. "Bill here's the only one of us who has ever seen one."

"The lepers are patients here," the Major said. "They will not hurt you. Those of you who stay here will soon get used to them."

"I hope I ain't staying here, if it means living around people without no skin on their bones," Gus said.

The Major looked at him with amusement.

"Who stays will depend on the beans," the Major said. Then, without explaining, he walked away.

Call studied the lepers as best he could. In the night the notion of dead people walking had been fearful, but in the daylight the lepers, seen at a distance, were not so frightening. One leper noticed that Call was looking at him, or her, and seemed to shrink back deeper into the shadows under the balconies. Some were very short-perhaps they were the ones without feet.

Half the Texans sat down in the barber chairs to be shaved, while the others stood watching. The warm sun felt good-so, in time, did the warm water the barbers used. While Call, who was in the first group, was being wiped clean, he happened to look up, to the walkway that ran around the second story of the convent. There he saw several figures, draped in white, grouped around a smaller figure: the smaller figure was dressed entirely in black. The black figure was not draped, as the others were. She was veiled and gloved. Call saw gloved hands gripping the railing of the walkway.They were small hands-he supposed the black figure must be a woman, but as he was getting up from the barber chair, the great gates to San Lazaro swung open and a large, fancy carriage swept in, preceded and followed by cavalrymen on freshly brushed horses.

Major Laroche rushed over and spoke rapidly to the barbers, instructing them to hurry with the second group of Texans. Matilda had been given a wash-basin and warm water; she washed her face and arms while the Texans were being shaved.

In the carriage was a fat man in the most elaborate uniform they had yet seen, and four women. Cavalrymen with drawn sabres flanked the carriage, and Major Laroche motioned an orderly to help the alcalde out.

Several comfortable chairs were placed in the courtyard-the alcalde and his women sat in them, and infantrymen opened large parasols and held them over the alcalde and his ladies, to protect them from the sun.

The barbers, made nervous by the presence of the alcalde and under orders to hurry, did hastier work with the second group of Texans. Both Bigfoot and Long Bill suffered small nicks as the result of this haste; but it was not the hasty barbering that worried the Texans-it was what was going to happen to them next. The ceremony that Major Laroche had mentioned to them several times was about to happen. The fat alcalde and four women, all dressed in gay clothes, had come to watch it; and yet, the Texans had no idea what the ceremony might consist of.

Call noticed, though, that ten Mexican soldiers with muskets had lined up in front of a wall, in one corner of the courtyard. They stood there in the sun, holding their muskets. Near them stood a priest in a brown habit.

"They're gonna shoot us," Call said. "There's the firing squad. We should have run with the boys, when they charged up the river."

Bigfoot looked at the soldiers, and drew the same conclusion.

"If we wasn't chained up at the ankles we might jump the wall- one or two of us might make it out, but I figure they'd run us down in a day or two. Or them dogs would eat us."

"Me, I'd just as soon be shot as to be eaten by a damn bunch of curs," Long Bill said.

"Oh, they ain't going to shoot us-we're supposed to be marched to Mexico City," Gus said. 'This here's just a show of some kind, for that big Mexican."

Call was skeptical.

"They don't need a priest and a firing squad if it's just a show," he said.-

When the last Texan was barbered, they were lined up behind the tables where the basins sat. Then the stools were removed, and all but one of the tables.

Major Laroche stepped crisply toward them, carrying an earthen jar. He sat the jar on the table. It had a cloth over it, which he did not at first remove.

"At last we come to the moment of our ceremony," he said. "You are all guilty of attempting to overthrow the lawful government of New Mexico. By the normal laws of war you would all be shot. But the authorities have decided to be merciful."

"Merciful how?" Bigfoot asked.

"Some will live and some will die," the Major said. "There are ten of you, not counting the woman. The woman we will spare. But the ten of you are soldiers and must take the consequences of your actions."

"Most of us already have," Call said. They were going to shoot them all-he was sure of that. He saw no reason to stand there and listen to a French soldier make fancy speeches at them, for the benefit of a fat Mexican.

The Major paused, and looked at him.

"We started from Texas with nearly two hundred men," Call said. "Now we're down to ten. I'd call that punishment-I don't know what you'd call it."

"That is but the fortunes of war, Monsieur," Major Laroche said. "Here is how our ceremony will work. In the jar I have placed before you are ten beans. Five of them are white, and five are black. Each of you will be blindfolded. You will come to the bowl and draw a bean. The five who draw white beans will live. The five who draw black beans will die. We have a priest, as you can see. And we have a firing squad. So, gentlemen, who would like to be the first to draw a bean?"

There was a pause-Gus and Long Bill glanced at Bigfoot Wallace, but Bigfoot had his eyes fixed on the nearest soldier with a musket. He was not thinking about white beans or black-not yet.He was thinking that he might try to grab a musket, shoot the Major or the fat alcalde, and try to get over the wall with a few of the boys. The leg irons were the deuce to cope with, but if a few of them could get over the wall with a musket or two, at least they would have a chance to die fighting. He didn't trust the Mexicans, in the matter of the beans. It might be that all the beans in the bowl were black-it was probably just a ruse to give them hope, when there was no hope.

Call didn't trust the beans either, but he didn't intend to stay like a coward and wait for someone to move-so he stepped forward, in front of the table that held the bowl. A soldier with a black bandana in his hand stood near the table.

"Ah, good-our first volunteer," the Major said.

He looked for a moment at the soldier with the bandana.

"Be sure that you blindfold him well," the Major said.

The bowl with the beans in it had a white cloth over it. The soldier came up behind Call and put the bandana over his eyes; he pulled it tight and knotted it quickly in place. The soldier knew his job-Call couldn't see a thing. The bandana let through no light at all.

The blindfold alone did not satisfy Major Laroche. He picked up the jar of beans, took the cloth off it, and walked around behind Call.

"A blindfold can slip," he said. "I am going to hold the jar behind you, just below your left hand. When you are ready, reach in and pick your bean."

Call felt his hand bump the side of the jar. He didn't know what to expect, but he put his hand in the bowl anyway. It occurred to him that it was just a trick of some kind. There could be spiders or scorpions in the bowl-even a small snake. Bigfoot had pointed out to him that the smallest rattlesnakes were often the deadliest. Perhaps the firing squad was just for show.

Immediately, though, he realized that his suspicions were foolish. In the bottom of the bowl were a few beans. There was no way to choose between them so he took one, and pulled his hand out of the bowl. The soldier immediately began to untie the blindfold.

"You were brave enough to start, Monsieur, and your courage has been rewarded," Major Laroche said.