"I'd be greatly obliged, then, if you would tell me how to put the bargain through."
"You should get this rare and handsome box, señor, for ninety dollars, gold—even, perhaps, for not much more than eighty."
"Even that would be a fearful price for me to pay," murmured Hal, shaking his head regretfully. "I shall have to give up the idea, I guess."
"Ah, but no!" cried the Filipino, as though struck suddenly by an idea. "Not if the señor will do me one very great favor!"
"What favor can I possibly do you?" asked Sergeant Hal, regarding the little brown man with considerable astonishment.
"Why, it is all very simple, señor. Simply let me feel that I have been permitted to do a courtesy to an Americano to one of the race to which I owe so much. In a word, señor, I am not—as you may perhaps guess"—here the Filipino swelled slightly with a pride that was plain—"I am not exactly a poor man, not since the Americanos came to these islands and gave us the blessings of liberty and just government. I have many business ventures, and one of them lies in my being a secret—no, what you Americanos call a silent partner of the Chino who conducts this store. Now the favor that I ask—señor, I beg you to let me present you with this handsome little box, that you may send it over the waters to your sweetheart."
"Make me a present of it?" demanded Sergeant Hal in amazement.
"Ah, yes, exactly so, señor; and I shall be greatly honored by your very kind acceptance. And your friend—he shall select anything—valuable and handsome—that he would like for his sweetheart."
Neither young sergeant had a sweetheart outside of his mother. It was for their mothers that they sought suitable-priced curios. In their amazement, however, neither Hal nor Noll took the trouble to correct this smiling, polite stranger.
"Thank you," said Overton promptly. "We can't accept, of course, though it is very kind of you to make the offer—so very kind that it almost takes our breath away."