# Pictures of life in Mexico/Volume 1/Chapter 5

Contents
CHAPTER V.
THE LÉPEROS
Of all the despicable classes in Mexico, none are more calculated to excite disgust and abhorrence in the mind of a stranger, than the tribes of vagrants of both sexes called léperos. In appearance, filthy and villanous in the extreme, they are at once beggars, gamblers, and thieves: to describe a lépero as being but one of these, would be doing him an injustice, for he exhibits by turns the peculiar characteristics of each; and the suddenness with which he can glide from one character to another is surprising.
Let us glance at a few specimens of the class. That man who now trips along the pathway so hastily, began to crave charity at an early hour this morning; he has been ​gambling-and begging by turns all day, and when it is too late in the evening to beg, he will begin to steal. But half an hour ago you might have seen him standing in an imploring attitude in the street, bitterly complaining of a diseased body and an empty stomach—now see how jauntily and impudently he enters yonder apartment, and what a cunning leer is on his face, as he stakes his ill-gotten gains on the table, among a score or two of wretches as vile as himself.
Soon, most likely, the place will resound with sounds and cries, knives will flash and thrusts be exchanged; for the léperos are generally fierce and quarrelsome among themselves, and disturbances, arising from their ferocious outbreaks and desperate fights, are of frequent occurrence. It appears surprising that they should be thus tolerated; but as society is at present constituted in the Mexican capital, no one carries himself with a more defiant air, or wears a more impudent look (when not soliciting alms), than the vagrant lépero.
Mark yonder wretch with cringing figure and malignant aspect, whose bandaged limb seems to shrink beneath his weight, as, ​groaning with anguish, he holds out his old sombrero for your charitable donation. "For the love of the holy Virgin," he beseeches you, "take pity upon me! By the groans and wounds of a dying Saviour, have compassion upon my agonies! By your hopes of heavenly bliss, commiserate my woes! Have you a mother? By that mother's love, and for the sake of our Holy Mother above, regard me with pity! Have you a wife? By your dear remembrances of her, relieve my misery! Have you children? For their sakes, and for that of the Blessed Infant himself, hear me, and bestow your charity! And I will pray that all the blessing's both on earth and in heaven may be your portion for ever!"
You pass on without proffering the anticipated alms; the fellow's brow lowers, and his face darkens as he turns away: from entreating he turns to cursing. "May all the fiends of the bottomless pit seize upon you! May the sting of serpents and the poison of adders blight you utterly! May all the saints above curse you evermore! May every comfort fly from your embrace! May Heaven always be shut against you! May your wife and children be torn from your arms, and perish miserably ​before your eyes! May your flesh rot and wither upon your bones from day to day! May you die in pain and horror, amid curses and blasphemy! And may your remains lie unburied for ever and ever!" Thus the hardened caitiff deals out his entreaties and his threats, his prayers and maledictions; and well it is for you that he has you not at his mercy.
The life of a female of this class is miserable and degraded in the extreme; they are accustomed to brawls and warfare, and in the habit of carrying concealed cuchillos with them as matters of course.
Debased as the léperos usually are, however, they are not all equally depraved; there may occasionally be found one somewhat less vile than the mass. Devoid of enlightenment and cultivation, they have sunk almost to the level of the brutes; but when some redeeming points thus present themselves, they appear all the more pitiable from the contrast.
A friend of mine encountered one at Attakapas, who was employed as herdsman on one of the prairies there, where cattle are bred and pastured. Driven to this region by a singular train of circumstances, he was living more ​peacefully and honestly, and in consequence more happily, than had been his habit heretofore. "In appearance" said my friend, "he was above the average height of the Mexicans of his class; his frame was more muscular; his countenance less repulsive; and although his narrative was a wild and dreadful one, his manner as he delivered it, often betrayed the existence of a heart by no means reckless or unfeeling".
"Perhaps you may be aware that the prairies of Attakapas are neither more nor less than tracts of land formed in the course of ages, by trees which have either fallen or floated upon lakes—since deserted by the rivers of which they once were portions. These deposits have in time formed a compact surface, and present the appearance of portions of solid land, so that lean-tos and shantys may be built, and cattle reared, and men may reside upon them. The thinness of this coating is so remarkable, however, in some places, that a tremulous motion is given to it by the weight of a few oxen—hence their title of quaking prairies; the earth occasionally falling in, especially round the outskirts, and small holes and crevices being formed, into ​which the salt water from the Gulf of Mexico eventually finds its way. The léperos narrative was to this effect:—
"It is now nearly two years, Señor,' he said, 'since I first saw my worst enemy. It was at a low and very crowded gambling-house in the city of Mexico, much frequented by our class; and for the first night or two, by chance, I was his partner in the game. He was low in stature, but strongly built; with eyes that seemed to glow like burning wood, and which, when fortune turned against him, appeared ready to start from their sockets.
" 'He was one of the most successful gamblers in Mexico—very cunning and skilful; but would yet have recourse, on occasions, to those tricks of knavery with which he was so well acquainted—so that being opposed to him a few days after, and perceiving that he had not played fairly, I exposed his practices. He denied them vociferously; and on my repeating my assertions, he became violently enraged. Words ran high, mutual defiances were given, a crowd gathered about us; he seized his knife, and made a ferocious thrust at my breast—but I avoided the blow by a quick movement; and as it was perceived by the ​bystanders that I was unarmed, they separated us, and we parted in bitter enmity; after arranging to meet early on the next morning to fight it out.
" 'At this time, contrary to the prevailing habits of the léperos, in addition to begging and gambling, I endeavoured to obtain a subsistence by carrying goods for the merchants and store-keepers; for I had a wife and two young children, whom I loved better than I was at all aware of: as I found out when I had lost them. On this account especially, therefore, I looked forward with no pleasant feeling's to my morning's encounter.
" 'Although such fights were as common as the day amongst us, such was the delight many of our companions of the preceding evening found in the affair, that they were on the ground before us. They cleared something like a circle for our operations, and awaited, apparently in the highest glee, for the issue of the conflict. Throwing our ragged serapes over our left arms, we at first made but cautious flourishes and distant passes with our knives: then the play grew warmer, and I soon perceived that my adversary, though more cunning in other matters, was by no ​means my equal in strength or address with the weapon; and his vindictiveness and rage gave me a still greater advantage over him. At last, losing all patience at finding himself foiled and slightly wounded, he gathered himself up for a great effort, and aimed with all his force a blow at my heart. Luckily, I received the thrust in the folds of my serapé; and; in return, succeeded in wounding him severely on the back, before he had time to recover his equilibrium. He fell; and before his friends could bind up the wound, or stay the blood which issued from it, he had fainted. The moment they prepared to carry him away, however, with his little remaining strength he fiercely leaped out of their arms, and threw himself once more upon me, foaming with rage and pain, his figure stained with streams of blood. I kept him off this time with little difficulty, and again he fainted from loss of blood. As they bore him away, I could see that, on reviving, his eyes were yet bent fixedly on mine, with a glare of deadly and implacable enmity!
" 'l knew he would have his revenge—I expected it: but I was little prepared for the atrocious cruelty of his vengeance! ​" 'When he had recovered the effects of his wound, he suddenly disappeared from his old haunts, none knew whither: his image was fast fading from my memory, when my recollection of his enmity was once more terribly aroused. I was returning one evening rather later than common to the hut where I lived, unusually elated with my good fortune during the day: I had been successful in gaming with my comrades, it is true; but that gave me little pleasure in comparison with having at last obtained the promise of some regular employment, sufficient for the future maintenance of my family, without resorting to the means, and having to do with the company, to which I had been accustomed. "How happy shall I be," thought I, "to live honestly, and to say that my children shall be honest also. Now, I hope my degradation and misery are over, and we cannot tell what happiness may be in store for us for the future!!"
" 'In this buoyant frame of mind, I approached my dwelling; but was surprised on my entrance by the strange darkness and stillness which reigned around me. My first thought was that the family were overtaken by sleep while awaiting my return; but how was it, ​I thought, that the rude entrance had remained partially exposed? I procured a light; and the cause quickly, and, oh! how horribly, presented itself! My wife and two infants lay in a pool of blood upon the floor,—quite dead, with their throats severed.
" 'None can tell what my feelings were that night: my brain seemed on fire; the blow bewildered every faculty. I lay for hours afterwards beside the lifeless forms upon the ground; and, horrible as was the spectacle before me, I yet envied the dead their fate. As the morning dawned, however, I awoke from the torpor of grief, and rose from the earth with staggering limbs, and clothes completely saturated with blood. But I awoke also to the thirst for vengeance; and as the first rays of the sun burst into the room, I knelt down in their ruddy light, and vowed, by all that had been dear to me, to hunt out the murderer of my family, with untiring energy, wherever I could find his track.
" 'But on that very day, at noon, I was hurried away by an impatient crowd, and accused before the administrador of being the murderer of my wife and children! My wild and haggard looks, my confused sentences, ​and; above all, the blood upon my clothes and person, seemed alike to fix the accursed deed on me; my protestations of innocence were disregarded, my representations were disbelieved, and for months I was confined in the Accordada upon the horrible charge. At length, some traces left by the assassin of his flight were discovered; and though he had escaped, the truth gradually came to light, and I was liberated. I hastily made what preparations I could for my journey; strapped a bag for provisions upon my shoulder; paid a last visit to the grave of my wife and babes; and set out on my pursuit.
" 'My enemy was cunning and contriving, and had had abundance of time to make his way to a distant region; so that my search—though constant, and animated by the spirit of revenge that possessed me—was unsuccessful; I wandered about from one part of the country to another, for a considerable period in vain. But I resolved never to give up my pursuit, and the difficulties I encountered only served to strengthen me in my purpose.
" 'At length, I procured some intelligence concerning him, which led me northwards; and as I was hastening, one evening, over a wild ​country, about fifty leagues from this place, I almost overtook a man on horseback, cautiously threading the way before me, who glanced around him in such a suspicious manner, that an impression immediately entered my mind that the animal on which he rode was stolen. He turned round as I approached, and our eyes met—it was my old adversary! My appearance seemed to act like a stroke of lightning upon him: he shuddered, and almost fell to the ground; then he spurred on his horse to a furious pace, and though I urged myself to my utmost speed, he was soon far beyond my sight.
" 'Oh! what rage and mortification possessed me on my disappointment! I tore my hair, I foamed at the mouth, I thought that the little reason I had left would have gone for ever. I was only upheld by the consideration that I was on his track: this kept me from despair, and restored me eventually to my usual ardour and energy in the execution of my project.
" 'I travelled on for many weary stages in the same direction—not that I felt the journey difficult: I never thought of that—but my impatience begrudged every step and lengthened ​every day. At last, at a short distance from this region, I was told that a man answering to his description had been seen in the capacity of vaquero upon these prairies. I suppose he fancied this distant spot would be the last in which I should expect to find him; and so it might have been, but for the information I had received. Here, then, was the end of my search! I never rested till I had seen him—myself unobserved—as he was conversing with a man whom I conjectured was the capitaz—his employer. By a great effort, I bridled the fierce passion within me for that night, and after I had sharpened my knife, lay down in a bed of shrubs and rushes, and tried to obtain a little of that rest I so much needed;3 but in vain. Far from sleeping or resting, I could not remain many moments in the same posture; excitement seemed to fire my very blood, and I longed for the coming daylight, which should see me amply revenged.
" 'I had not waited quite an hour after the sun rose, when I saw my foe quietly emerging from the doorway of his hut, to attend to his occupations for the day, in an opposite part of the prairie. I was soon behind him; he did ​not hear my approach; and touching-him lightly on the shoulder, I drew my cuchillo at the same instant. He turned quickly, and with a cry like that of a maniac, sprang from my grasp and fled. I followed, and he presently stopped short; for I think he considered the attempt to escape me utterly useless, and so prepared for a last desperate defence.
" 'He was cooler at the time than I was: he was defending his life—I was thirsting for his blood. At first he had the advantage, and wounded me on my left arm, upon which I had no covering. But my strength and rage were irresistible: I bore him to the ground with all my force, and, with the vivid remembrance of my poor wife and children before my mind, I shortened the hold of my weapon to bury it in his breast. Just at this moment my arm was seized from behind, and the knife wrested from my grasp. It was the capitaz, who had beheld us from a distance, and now hastened to put an end to the affray.
" 'With a single blow, however, I laid the capitaz prostrate on the ground, recovering my knife at the same instant. Meanwhile, my adversary had risen to his feet; and before I had ​time to avoid his aim, he set a mark upon me which I shall carry to my grave. His triumph, nevertheless, was of short duration; for in the next close he fell undermost, and I plunged my cuchillo with all the force I could muster into his bosom;—so vehement was the thrust, that the hilt, as well as the blade, penetrated his body, and defied all my efforts to withdraw it.
" 'When the capitaz regained his feet, I told him my whole history, and his indignation was almost as great as my own. He bound up the wound upon my shoulder, which was bleeding copiously; and then we proceeded to bury the corpse. We had only to pierce the thin crust of earth to a slight depth, and the water was shining beneath us. We tied some stones to the head and feet of the body of my old foe, and let it fall through the hole; where I have no doubt it soon became food for fishes.
" 'My narrative now, Señor,' he said, 'is soon concluded. I could not return to the scenes of my past life: I could not bear to see the faces of my old comrades, the léperos, nor to think of dwelling in the city where my innocent wife and babes had been destroyed: ​I therefore accepted the offer of the capitaz to remain in his employment, in the room of the villain so justly punished. And I trust that here, though labouring" far harder and longer for my daily food than I was formerly in the habit of doing; I may yet spend the remainder of my days in honesty and peace.' "