Chapter 11, 1903: January 18 Summary

Cruz hears the mulatto Lunero grumbling. He and the man live in a rude hut on a ruined plantation. The hacienda has been burned except for a single room that houses the old woman, the grandmother. Senor Pedro lives in the ruined shell of the house, drinking himself into a stupor each day. The vast surrounding lands have been taken by General Juarez's men and given to others.

Lunero's grandfather was a black slave imported from Cuba. Cruz was the son of Lunero's sister Isabel Cruz and the plantation's dashing young heir, Atanasio Menchaca. The day Cruz was born, the other slaves of the plantation ran his sister off beating her with sticks, but left the baby behind. Isabel was just one of the many young Negro, mulatto and Indian women that Atanasio raped.

At one time, the Menchaca family was...