"I greatly fear that your hopes have led you astray."
"You promised, father, to make no remarks."
"That is true, and so I will hold my tongue."
"Very good, father," she said, with a smile; "be assured that this exemplary docility will soon be duly rewarded."
And the young lady continued her investigations. She looked attentively at every stone, seeming to study its position carefully, while comparing it with a point of the compass.
"In which direction does the clump of old aloes lie?" she at length asked.
"That I cannot tell you," said Don Ruiz.
"With your permission, I will do so," Paredes observed.
"Yes, yes," she said, eagerly.
The majordomo looked about for a moment, and then, placing himself in a certain direction, said,—"The aloes of Cibola, as we call them, are just facing me."