She couldn’t eat. Even when, moved by her evident distress though annoyed by her silence, Mrs. Burnham made an especial dainty and offered it.
“Thank you. You are very, very kind. If you’re willing, I’ll take it for Carlos.”
“Certainly. But I must say it is the height of imprudence for him to wander alone in this wild region.”
“He isn’t timid,” answered Carlota, as bravely as she could.
But Teddy, sitting upon her lap, saw a tear escape and trickle down her cheek.
“Carlota! Bad Carlota! My muvver says nobody must cwy this day. I did tumble me down and stubbed me my toe an’ I cwied. Then she told me that, about little boys going to find gold mines an’ havin’ Christmas candy—forever an’ ever an’ ever! So I stopped right off. Isn’t it as naughty for girls to cwy as for boys?”
“Yes, yes. Worse, if girls are older.”
It was a comfort to caress him and she reassured herself by the thought that both she and Carlos were used to wandering by themselves and in safety, also reflected that the herd of wild horses he had seen might have moved on and so led him out of his way. Then she said aloud, as much to herself as to Teddy:
“Brother knew that we were to go to that Pass yonder, where the pointed rocks are and, likely, he’ll meet us there.”
It was Mr. Burnham’s purpose to push his way through this Pass to the heart of the mountainous land beyond, where lay the rich tracts of which he had heard but which, because of attending difficulties, had never been properly “prospected.”