“Well, Don Ernesto,” said Mr. Hampton, “I am going to remove their mischievous tongues to a distance, where they cannot do damage to your reputation.”
Don Ernesto immediately was filled with compunctions lest he have hurt their feelings. But Mr. Hampton laughed these away.
“No, the truth of the matter is,” he said, “that the boys have missed the major part of their college year. Christmas has come and gone. It would take considerable time for them to return to America. And I have been in communication with Mr. Temple, who feels as I do that, inasmuch as they have missed so much college work this year, we may as well let them stay out the remainder of the term. Accordingly, I am going to take them on a tour of South America. I want them to see the great cities of your eastern seaboard, as well as the remains of the Inca civilization in Peru and Bolivia.
“Bob and Frank, you see, will some day be partners in an import and export business, and I want them to learn about South America while they have the opportunity, for they will have many dealings with this continent in the future.”
Turning to the boys, he added:
“We will tour South America, and then return home by way of Seattle, where I shall have to see some mining men about an Alaskan adventure. Does that suit you?”
“Couldn’t suit us better,” said Bob, “except that I’m afraid old Frank here is anxious to see a member of my family. I woke up the other night and he was talking in his sleep. ‘Della,’ he said, ‘Della, why——’”
But Frank had tripped him and sat on him, and the rest of the sentence was lost in the resultant tussle.
“You big rascal,” panted Frank. “I suppose I haven’t seen you writing to that girl Della rooms with at school. Oh, no. Thought you’d sneak it over, hey?”
Jack looked on, grinning. In reality, however, Bob’s remark had set him to dreaming of a distant girl. He was thinking of a certain Senorita Rafaela in the Sonora mountains in Old Mexico. This Spanish-American atmosphere! Hang it, every time he was surrounded by it, his thoughts turned to her. Some day——In this mood, he left his struggling companions and walked to a window whence he stared unseeing.