"So many as that?" two or three young ladies exclaimed, with a gesture of terror.
"Yes, indeed, so many as that, señoritas; but reassure yourselves—you have nothing to fear from them. They are kind and obliging, and their chief is a perfect caballero."
"But why do they come here?"
"They came for the purpose of working certain mines."
"I beg your pardon, papa," Doña Angela observed, who had been attentively listening to the conversation. "Did you not say they came?"
"Yes, my child, I said so."
"But they are still at the port, I think?"
"Yes, they are; but it is probable that they will soon depart."
"For the mines?"
"No. To return whence they came."