The Underdogs: A novel of the Mexican Revolution

Pintada says that Demetrio and his men cannot sleep in hotels because “we’re the fancy ones now” (82). She takes them all to a large house where they break in and make themselves at home. Luis finds two diamonds and puts them in his pocket. However, when he looks at the mess the men are making as they ransack the house, he tells Demetrio that it dishonors their cause. A man named Güero Margarito offers to serve with Demetrio, who accepts and makes him a major. Pintada comes downstairs, having changed into a lace dress. Demetrio begins boasting about his achievements. He hears string and brass instruments just before Luis tells him that a banquet commemorating his victory at Zacatecas, and his promotion to general, is about to begin.

Luis introduces Demetrio to “my future wife” (87). He is with a lovely 14-year-old girl. He notices that “Demetrio eyed her like a beast of prey, and he felt pleased with himself” (87). The banquet begins. Luis presents Demetrio with a small brass eagle identifying him as a general. Several of the men make speeches in Demetrio’s honor. Güero threatens to kill himself because he is “sick and tired of Pintada, and this other little angel from heaven won’t even look at me!” (89). He is referring to the girl with Luis. He aims a pistol at his reflection in a mirror and pulls the trigger, shattering the glass.

Luis wakes the next afternoon in bloodstained clothes. He remembers that he had gone to a bedroom with the girl, and Demetrio had tried to follow him inside the room. Pintada had appeared behind Demetrio, demanding to know what he was doing. As they argued, Demetrio tried to fire a pistol at Pintada, but the bullet hit the wall. Other men disarmed Demetrio, but he fought them all with his fists. That is the last thing Luis remembers.

Pintada tells Luis that she had to lock the girl away in a bedroom to keep Demetrio from her. She says that “Meco and Manteca took that poor girl from her home” (92), and that she knows Luis must have given them something valuable for her. Pintada cannot find the key to the room. When she looks through the keyhole, she sees that Güero is inside with the girl. The next morning, when Güero goes outside to feed his horses, Pintada slips inside and lets the girl go.

Demetrio and his men arrive at Moyahua. They are all dressed in their best clothes as they spread out through the town, looking for ammunition and saddles. They break into a house, and Demetrio orders the women inside to serve them wine. He asks them where Don Mónico is, and the women pretend not to know. Demetrio’s men search the house and find Don Mónico hiding in a wardrobe. As Don Mónico pleads for his life, Demetrio has a memory of “a woman with a child in her arms, walking over the rocks of the sierra in the moonlight…a house in flames” (97). Demetrio sends everyone outside and says that the men are not allowed to loot the house. One soldier tries anyway, and Demetrio shoots and kills him. Then he tells Luis to burn the house.

Luis and Demetrio discuss the looting after Luis gives him a large bag of gold coins and jewels. Demetrio believes that looting defeats their cause, but Luis has come to disagree. He believes that if the Revolution continues, they will need more resources, and looting the town will provide them with money. Demetrio says that he does not care about money, but he misses Camilla. Luis agrees to leave and return with Camilla, and Demetrio will give him a gold watch in exchange.

Pintada talks to Camilla, who has been brought to the camp by Luis. Luis told Camilla he wanted to run away with her, then brought her back as he had agreed with Demetrio. Pintada tells Camilla to fake a fever and stall Demetrio’s romantic advances; then” once he is gone, she will help Camilla get back home.

 Luis visits the general store, where Demetrio is drinking with the others. A man is dead in the street, shot through the head by one of Demetrio’s men who did not like the way the man was dressed. A messenger arrives and tells Demetrio that his orders are to pursue “Orozco and his men” (105). Demetrio views this as a chance to fight against real men, not the Federals. Demetrio tells Güero to saddle a horse for Camilla, who agrees to go with Demetrio. When Pintada questions her about faking the fever, Camilla says, “I’m starting to like him, would you believe it?” (106).

Demetrio is frustrated because they do not find Orozco or his men. Instead, they fight a small group of Federals. They also kill a priest and a hundred of his followers, whose clothes are inscribed with the motto “Halt! The Sacred Heart of Jesus is with me!” (107). Güero is dragging a man with a rope, making him suffer. He teases the man, saying that he will shoot him and end his suffering, then continues to drag him. Camilla tells Demetrio what Güero is doing, but Demetrio only shrugs his shoulders. Pintada is annoyed that Camilla is bothering Güero and warns her to stay out of their business.

Demetrio and Camilla are riding when they reach a household. The owner offers to let them and the men stay. They walk through a field together, and Camilla realizes “she was indeed beginning to fall for him” (112). Later that night, Pintada tells Camilla that they are close to Limón, where Demetrio’s wife and child live. She claims that Demetrio is going to call for them and that Camilla will have to be their servant. Demetrio denies this when Camilla confronts him, and “Pintada turned angry as a scorpion” (113).

As Demetrio and his men continue on, they recruit more than 500 new men. Luis is worried that they will run out of funds to support so many. He wants them to visit a town called Aguascalientes before heading to the barren sierra. First, they arrive at a town called Tepatitlán and begin searching houses for money and valuables. A poor man with nine children comes to the church to tell Demetrio that the men have taken all his corn and he does not know how his children will eat: “Why did you let them?” asks Demetrio (116). Before Luis can throw the man out, Camilla convinces Demetrio to return the man’s corn.

On their journey to Cuquío, Montañez reveals to Demetrio that Güero did not return the man’s corn. Rather, he beat the man with his sword while laughing. Camilla is disgusted with Güero, which enrages Pintada, who chases Camilla and pulls her off her horse when she tries to leave. Camilla hits her head on a rock and cuts it badly. Laughing, Pintada takes her to Luis for medical treatment. Camilla refuses his help, saying she would rather die. When Demetrio learns what has happened, he forces Pintada to leave the camp. She insults him and the other men, and dares Demetrio to kill her after a man stops her from stabbing Camilla with a knife. Finally, she leaves.

Demetrio is depressed and sings a sad song as he rides. Güero tells him that he will feel better when they reach Lagos and have a party. Demetrio rides away to be alone. Hours later he asks Luis why he has to go to Aguascalientes: “You have to vote for the Provisional President of the Republic,” says Luis (123). Demetrio is confused, saying that he thought that Carranza was already president, not a provisional president: “To tell the truth,” says Demetrio, “I don’t understand politics” (123). At Lagos, the men enter a saloon, and Güero vows to make Demetrio laugh. He forces a young man to stand still with a bottle of tequila on his head while he shoots at it. He shoots the bottle, but also hits the man’s ear. Demetrio leaves the saloon, singing the same sad song from the beginning of the chapter.

Demetrio and Güero eat at an inn in Aguascalientes. On their way to visit General Natera, they see a man selling prayers for fifty cents, guaranteeing protection for anyone who purchases them. Natera tells Demetrio that Villa is now fighting against Carranza, which confuses Demetrio. Natera gives a complicated political explanation about shifting alliances, and Demetrio pretends to understand. Natera pressures him to say which side he will fight for, and Demetrio insists that he simply wants to be told what to do because he is uneducated: “You just tell me, ‘do this or do that,’ and that’s all there is to it” (130).