“Well, why did you—”
“Please, patience. No harm, senor, shall come to you, only good, if you will listen.”
“I’m all ears,” Austin answered. The whole performance was mighty queer, but it certainly didn’t look as if they had any evil intent.
“Gonzalas, he is my husband, and we have a little boy—one for whom we have great plans that his future may be big—not full of hardship.” Jim stared, then chuckled inwardly because, of course, the smaller man was a woman. Being a Texan and a gentleman he hastily scrambled to his feet, and would have sprung to the ground, but he had another idea.
“Won’t you sit here?” He pointed to the cock-pit, and she accepted.
“You are an honest boy, I know, and I shall tell you quickly, then you can decide what you will do,” she smiled as he settled into his own place. “Weeks ago, my husband was lost in the forests, many days he wandered, sustaining himself on the roots and berries, which are many, and breaking his way until he could reach a settlement.”
“Yes, I see.” Jim was interested.
“In his school he studies the precious minerals, and he came to a place which attracted him very much. Senor, he found platinum; it is very valuable. He carefully marked the spot, stayed some time, and at last started again to find us. With him he brought a quantity of the platinum. He told no one his secret, but he took much which he sold in the north above Panama for a good price. He is returning—with me and his brother—and at Cuzco we learn rumors, doubted, but whispered from mouth to mouth, that platinum is found. This alarms us greatly, and we confer together. Many treacherous men would cut our throats, even kill our baby, to know of this spot my husband found, so we make a plan—you are an upright American boy, but to you we had to tell something false. May the Mother of God forgive us our sin—”
“You needn’t feel badly about it,” Jim hastily assured her.
“Thank you, senor. We have prepared a paper—what we find we will give to you an accounting and one-fourth of the mineral itself or we will pay you its value when it is sold,” she said earnestly. As she talked she produced a number of folded papers which she opened and Jim saw an agreement which looked as if it were a perfectly legal instrument and at the end the three Gonzalas had put their signatures.