Pedro shook his head.
"I don't know, comrade. I have heard women teaching their babies to talk, but I should hardly think that would be the way with him."
"No, no, that is quite different, Pedro. You see the little ones have not got their tongues twisted rightly, and they can't talk plain, do as much as they will; but this young fellow could say, plain enough, what we told him. The question is, what are we to tell him?
"Suppose I say to him, 'They are a curiously dressed lot of people here.'
"Well, he might say it after me, but as he would not have an idea what we meant, I don't see that we should be getting any forwarder."
Roger, however, had already gone through the work of learning the two native languages, and knew how to begin. He touched Juan's sword, and gave the Mexican word for it.
"What does he mean by that, Pedro?"
Roger repeated the action.
"Perhaps he wants to know what you call your sword," Pedro suggested.
"Perhaps it is that. I will try him, anyhow.