“That’s so. Anyhow, I’d rather hire a less sophisticated crowd; the half-civilized Meztiso is worse than the other sort, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t look for some further along the coast. Do you feel like taking the launch, Brandon, and trying what you can do?”
“I’d enjoy the trip,” Dick answered with some hesitation. “But I’d probably have to go beyond Coronal, and it might take a week.”
“That won’t matter; stay as long as it’s necessary,” Stuyvesant said, for he had noticed a slackness in Dick’s movements and his tired look. “Things are going pretty well just now, and you have stuck close to your work. The change will brace you up. Anyhow, I want fresh boys and Bethune’s needed here, but you can take Jake along if you want company.”
Jake declared that he would go, but Dick agreed with reluctance. He felt jaded and depressed, for the double strain he had borne was beginning to tell. His work, carried on in scorching heat, demanded continuous effort, and when it stopped at night he had private troubles to grapple with. Though he had been half-prepared for Clare’s refusal, it had hit him hard, and he could find no means of exposing Kenwardine’s plots without involving her in his ruin. It would be a relief to get away, but he might be needed at Santa Brigida.
Bethune began to talk about the alterations a contractor wished to make, and by and by there was a patter of feet and a hum of voices in the dark. The voices grew louder and sounded angry as the steps approached the house, and Stuyvesant pushed back his chair.
“It’s Jose’s or Pancho’s breeds come to claim that their time is wrong. I suppose one couldn’t expect that kind of crowd to understand figures, but although François’ accounts are seldom very plain, he’s not a grafter.”
Then a native servant entered hurriedly.
“They all come, señor,” he announced. “Pig tief say Fransoy rob him and he go casser office window.” He turned and waved his hand threateningly as a big man in ragged white clothes came into the light. “Fuera, puerco ladron!”
The man took off a large palm-leaf hat and flourished it with ironical courtesy.
“Here is gran escandolo, señores. La belle chose, verdad! Me I have trent’ dollar; the grand tief me pay——”