The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 29and the Villistas were quickly searched and then loaded into a wagon for their final ride. From thecamp the platoon worked its way south, gathering the bodies of the Villistas who had fallen eitherduring the initial stages of the attack or else during their retreat. Jose was glad that his platoon was notdetailed to get the bodies from Columbus itself. Several of the Villistas there would have died as aresult of his pulling the trigger, and he was not sure if those particular bodies would have had eyes thatstared at him accusingly as the bodies were loaded into the wagon.When the wagon was filled it was taken out into the middle of nowhere, guided during the dayby a pillar of smoke. At its destination the Villista bodies were removed from the wagon and tossedonto a pyre. Drums of kerosene had been brought out, and here and there a bucketful was being used tokeep the fire burning hotly. Around the fire, some of the soldiers were working with tears in their eyes.Most wore an expression of grim seriousness and determination. Here and there a man would vomit.Here and there a man would laugh.Jose was surprised by the number of Villista dead that the wagons were bringing in; it was amuch higher number than he might have guessed. As each body hit the fire it dislodged embers andash, and caused a puff of smoke to momentarily eddy upwards independently through the largercolumn of smoke. It reminded Jose of the way that he had seen the spirits of the fallen at Agua Prietaleaving their bodies, and it reminded him that by now these bodies were just discarded packaging.Nonetheless, just to be on the safe side in case any of their spirits were still lingering close by, Josehandled the bodies as respectfully as he could and gave each one its own personal farewell in Spanish:May the winds blow south. That way your ashes will return to Mexico.Events in the next week unfolded more quickly than Jose could ever have imagined. TheAmericans were not going to let Villa's raid on Columbus go unpunished. The Army was going intoMexico after Villa, and soldiers and equipment began to arrive in Camp Furlong almost immediately.