The lady sat down upon the nearest chair, and, as she did so, caught sight of the basket upon the desk. It was filled to overflowing with articles of various sorts, and beside it lay the curious metal-pointed staff. Her impulse was to reach forward and take it, but the Indian arrested her hand by an upward motion of his own. Then he opened it himself and showed her, at the bottom, a number of leathern bags with knitted covers.
“Elsa’s money?”
Pedro silently assented.
“Oh, let us call her, and give it back to her at once.”
“Fools must learn. Let the miner come, and Samson.”
Mrs. Trent stepped outside and dispatched a messenger for the two men, who presently came; the one glum and offended, thinking in his slow way that he had been made a jest of, and that the money his wife so loved had not, after all, been found. The other, as always, proud and alert to serve the “admiral.”
When they had entered the room, Wolfgang’s eyes at once rested greedily upon the basket, which Pedro had again closed, as if he guessed what treasure lay within. Samson’s glance went straight to the sleeping dwarf, and an almost irresistible impulse 68 to kick the inert figure possessed him. But he restrained himself, and colored high when he met the lady’s own glance.
“No, Samson, please. No violence. Yet it is Pedro’s wise advice that Ferd be placed under the charge of somebody who shall know at all times just where he is and what he is about. Will you take that charge, herder?”
“That ain’t the kind of cattle I keep, ‘admiral.’”
“I understand it isn’t a pleasant task. That’s not the question, which is simply: Will you be responsible for––Ferdinand Bernal?”