"Oh! Oh! Oh!" shouted the happy boy, dancing around José and clapping his hands.
"This is the greatest adventure I ever had. To hunt brigands! Why, it's too good to be true. Won't Ricardo grow green with envy when I tell him about it, and won't the little English boy sit with his eyes wide open, while I recount the story to him. He will hush up about his ostriches and guanacos after this," and Francisco sat on the ground hugging his knees, and rocking to and fro gleefully.
"Well, don't clean your turtles till you've tied them, Señorito. We may not get them. It's only because I have a clue and a scheme that I am willing to try; for they are pretty clever fellows and they won't be easy to catch. We want to take you for a decoy, and besides, I think you would enjoy it. A Lacevera, even at nine years of age, is no coward."
"A coward, I should say not. Why, José, I am never afraid. But what is a decoy?"
"A decoy? Well, that's what we used when we caught flamingoes the other night. Do you remember how we put young frogs on the end of a string and then lay low in the grass and waited?"
"But, you can't tie a string to me, José—and—and—besides I don't be—believe I want to be a decoy. It isn't that I'm not brave; no, indeed, José—but I think I would rather you would decoy them with something else."
"Leave that to me, Señorito, and I promise they won't hurt you. You must have forgotten you are a Lacevera. They shall not gobble you up as the flamingoes did the frogs. Just what would you buy, anyhow, if you got your share of the reward?"
"Buy!—Let me see. There are so many things to buy. But now that I have my lovely saddle and silver stirrups I don't need much for myself. I think I would buy a beautiful parasol, all lace and chiffon, for Guillerma, for young ladies don't care for anything much but clothes. Then I should buy a jewelled fan for Mamá, and then—well, I believe Elena and I would spend the balance for Carnival as it comes next month. But José, what did you say about not cleaning your turtles till you had tied them?"
José laughed and patted him on the back. "True, Don Francisco. But let me tell you our plan, or part of it. I have reason to believe that these two horsetail thieves are taking shelter with some charcoal burners over near the river. These charcoal burners are rough men, who live almost like savages. They injure no one, however, and it is only when they quarrel among themselves that they do any harm. They may not know who these men are, and are allowing them to tarry with them, believing them to be beggars, or gauchos hunting employment.
"I feel sure they are too loyal to the estancia to harbour them if they knew who they were. Now be ready immediately after breakfast, for we must start in time to reach the charcoal kilns before dusk."