“‘Bah,’ said Don Ferdinand. ‘You are just a girl. What do you know about such matters? If Ramirez takes some men, will he not take others?’
“Rafaela shrugged and spread out her hands. ‘But you are rich, father. You need not worry about the mine.’
“‘Foolish child,’ said Don Ferdinand, and he appealed to me. ‘Women do not know,’ said he. ‘Why does Ramirez lure my men away, if not to make revolution? And revolution will upset everything again. Bah, we have had enough of revolutions.’”
Mr. Hampton interrupted with an abrupt but hearty laugh.
“Isn’t that just like him? He wants no revolutions unless he makes them himself. When I think of several years ago—” And he laughed again.
Jack smiled, too. “That’s what I thought, Dad,” he said. And then, becoming serious, he added: “Anyhow, there is another revolution brewing, Captain Cornell, it is liable to make trouble for you fellows of the Border Patrol.”
The army flyer nodded. His face wore a puzzled frown.
“Ramirez?” he said. “Ramirez? Never heard of him. And I know most of the trouble-makers by name, besides. Your friend Don Ferdinand referred to him as ‘that devil Ramirez,’ hey? Did he explain further?”
“No,” said Jack. “He just cautioned me not to speak of this to any of our Mexicans, and said he would have more news for me later. Then I came away. I don’t know,” he added thoughtfully; “I don’t know but what he contemplates lighting out after Ramirez himself. He’s quite an intrepid old fellow, you know.”
The conversation thereupon became more general, Captain Cornell questioning Jack regarding his radio experiments. They walked out to the radio shack. And there Jack launched into an enthusiastic description of his work. He was seeking, he said, to work out some of the fundamental problems demanding solution as a result of the tremendous increase in both broadcasting stations and receivers.