Hi wavered at the question, but said:
“I thought it might be quicker to sail down the bay and come this way.”
“How long you been here?”
“Three or four days.”
“Horses,” she grunted in a tone of great disgust. She fanned herself, looking over Hi’s head at the wall. There was no expression on her face, but her big jaw worked a little: she was solving the problem of what brought Hi there.
“I got no horse,” she said at last.
This, besides being ungracious, was false. Hi felt that she spoke thus because she was cross from being wakened and did not want to be bothered.
“I tell him, maybe you lend your colt,” the German said.
“I got no horse to lend.”
“No, of course, Señora,” Hi said. “I don’t ask you to lend him. I want to hire him.”