Demetrio is devastated over the death of Camilla. As the band journeys to Aguascalientes, he hums a melancholy song over and over in a sad, low voice. The heartless Guero tells Demetrio that when they get to Lagos, the pretty girls there will make him come out of his depression. Demetrio responds that he only wants to drink.
At one point, Demetrio asks Cervantes "why in the world (he is) going to Aguascalientes". Cervantes tells him that he has to vote for the Provisional President of the Republic. Demetrio does not see the point, and grouses that he doesn't understand politics.
At Lagos, the townspeople are surprised by the fearsome group's arrival, and do not have time to escape. Demetrio and his men go straight to the bar, and Guero, trying to make Demetrio laught, is completely out of control. He makes the young men there "dance" by shooting at their feet, and forces a terrified waiter to stand with a bottle of tequila on his head while Guero shoots it off "without taking aim". Demetrio is not amused by Guero's coarse, cruel antics, and tells Guero to pay the bill. Guero replies that he has no money, knocks down all the glasses and bottles from the bar, and tells the owner to bill "your papa (Pancho) Villa".
At Guero's urging, the troops then head for the "red light district. One the way, Guero makes a passing tailor do "the dwarf dance" by shooting at his feet. Demetrio leaves the group and goes off alone, still humming his melancholy song (Part 2, Chapter 13).
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