snare, but Demetrio’s aggressive nature foils the plot. When another agent tells him to wait, Demetrio ignores the warning and orders his men to attack. The rebels slaughter the Federales.

After the victory, the rebels meet up with General Natera in Fresnillo to plan the attack on the enemy stronghold of Zacatecas. At the meeting, Natera elevates Demetrio to the rank of colonel. Cervantes runs into Captain Solis, an old acquaintance who confronts Cervantes with his past federal associations. Not so long ago, Cervantes, as a journalist, wrote articles condemning the rebels. Cervantes tells Solis that he has converted, but this conversion only occurs because of Cervantes’s sense of self-preservation. Throughout each progressive stage of the war, he hangs on until he believes it wise to move on. Cervantes maintains loyalties only to the safe continuation of his life.

While the men wait for battle, they talk about the great rebel Pancho Villa and discuss the opulence and grandeur of Villa and his men from the north. The details of riches and privilege become the reasons for the war, until the men realize the accounts are nothing but stories; none of them has ever actually seen the man, and once again the war becomes hollow. Yet they continue to fight, and during the battle to take Zacatecas, Demetrio again proves himself to be the bravest of men, and the euphoric ride continues for a bit longer.

After the battle, the men celebrate and drink and continue their lives of debauchery. Demetrio’s friend introduces him to a brutal, calculating man named Towhead Margarito (also called Whitey or Blondie Margarito, depending upon the translation), and around the same time, a local woman called War Paint sidles up to Demetrio. War Paint is a brazen woman, unafraid to speak her mind. When Demetrio directs War Paint towards a hotel, she laughs at him. She asks him, what is the point of the revolution if they cannot sleep in any house they want, if they cannot break down doors and windows, pillage, and steal? Again, the reasons for war come to the surface, and again they are not related to any genuine social motives. The rebels grow more and more destructive as time goes by. They consume drink and food like animals and disregard the pleas of any local willing to protest.

But throughout the killing, the drinking, and the destroying of property and people, Demetrio continues to pine for Camila, finally prompting Cervantes to ride back to the small town to retrieve her. He lies to Camila, saying he, not Demetrio, wants her. Camila jumps at this chance and only discovers the trick when she wakes up in Demetrio’s bed the next morning. War Paint finds out what happened and tries to console Camila. She tells her to fake an illness so she will not have to move on with Demetrio and the others. But when the time comes to speak, Camila agrees to go with Demetrio. She later tells War Paint that, to her surprise, she finds herself warming to Demetrio. This angers War Paint, who, despite her new infatuation with Towhead, considers herself Demetrio’s girl. Soon she tells Camila that Demetrio wants to go back to his wife and child. Camila, distraught, confronts Demetrio with this news. He vows to get rid of War Paint once and for all, but in the next confrontation, War Paint draws a dagger and kills Camila. She dares Demetrio to kill her, but he does not.

Demetrio, Cervantes, and the other men continue to plow through towns and villages, leaving death and destruction in their path. Occasionally one of the men reflects on killing or war, but all that comes out of these reflections is a hazy certitude of why men do things. When Cervantes tells Demetrio they need to travel to Aguascalientes, Demetrio again does not understand. Cervantes tells Demetrio he has to vote for the Provisional President of the Republic, for a man named Carranza. Through the continued acts of debauchery, Demetrio begins to sing a song about not knowing why.

The third section of The Underdogs jumps ahead in time, beginning with a letter from Cervantes, who has long since departed to pursue his own ends in El Paso, Texas. In the letter, Cervantes laments the deaths of two of Demetrio’s comrades and celebrates the suicide of Towhead. Meanwhile, the war has broken into revolutionary factions. Huerta has been defeated, so they do not really know why they are still fighting. Yet they are, and along the way, Demetrio picks up =a young poet named Valderrama, who, like Cervantes, eventually disappears when he realizes his fate. The problem is that most of the men never realize their fate. They are trapped in this cycle. Near the end of the novel, Demetrio and his men capture a few deserters and condemn the men for deserting as the Federales condemned Cervantes. There is no longer a right or wrong, only a continuation of fighting.

After two years on the road, Demetrio finally returns to his wife and child, but he will not stay. His wife asks him why he keeps fighting, but Demetrio only replies with a vague answer and soon departs for battle. In the end, he and his men find themselves trapped in the same rocky terrain they had used before to pick off the Federales. Everyone around Demetrio falls until he is the last man alive, hiding in the rocks and firing his rifle for reasons he still does not understand.