The boy covered his face with his hands; then he asked with a sob, “And now what am I to do!”
“What am I to say to you, my poor child?” responded the dame: “I don’t know.”
But suddenly an idea struck her, and she added hastily: “Listen, now that I think of it. There is one thing that you can do. Go down this street, to the right, and at the third house you will find a courtyard; there there is a capataz, a trader, who is setting out to-morrow for Tucuman, with his wagons and his oxen. Go and see if he will take you, and offer him your services; perhaps he will give you a place on his wagons: go at once.”
The lad grasped his bag, thanked her as he ran, and two minutes later found himself in a vast courtyard, lighted by lanterns, where a number of men were engaged in loading sacks of grain on certain enormous carts which resembled the movable houses of mountebanks, with rounded tops, and very tall wheels; and a tall man with mustaches, enveloped in a sort of mantle of black and white check, and with big boots, was directing the work.
The lad approached this man, and timidly proffered his request, saying that he had come from Italy, and that he was in search of his mother.
The capataz, which signifies the head (the head conductor of this convoy of wagons), surveyed him from head to foot with a keen glance, and replied drily, “I have no place.”
“I have fifteen lire,” answered the boy in a supplicating tone; “I will give you my fifteen lire. I will work on the journey; I will fetch the water and fodder for the animals; I will perform all sorts of services. A little bread will suffice for me. Make a little place for me, signor.”
The capataz looked him over again, and replied with a better grace, “There is no room; and then, we are not going to Tucuman; we are going to another town, Santiago dell’Estero. We shall have to leave you at a certain point, and you will still have a long way to go on foot.”
“Ah, I will make twice as long a journey!” exclaimed Marco; “I can walk; do not worry about that; I shall get there by some means or other: make a little room for me, signor, out of charity; for pity’s sake, do not leave me here alone!”
“Beware; it is a journey of twenty days.”