So after the meal was over, Diego asked his cousin to give him and Juan a few minutes in private, which Martin Alonzo did by taking them into his private cabin, a little hole that would scarcely hold the three of them.
“Now, Diego, what have you to say to me?”
Diego smiled at Juan and pulled up his shirt, which covered the belt for which he had suffered so much. And Juan did the same. They took their belts off and placed all the nuggets of gold before the astonished eyes of Martin Alonzo.
“We did not speak of these in the cabin,” said Diego, “thinking you might wish to know it first.”
Martin Alonzo stared at him and weighed the gold in silence for a time; then he almost gasped:
“More than a thousand ducats of gold! Why, boys, you are rich! And you tell me the island is full of it?”
“We saw it lying thick in the beds of the rivers, and a native told us that a piece as big as a baby’s head had been found in one place.”
Martin Alonzo’s eyes shone with eagerness for a moment; then turned dull, and a sigh broke from him.
“It is bootless. I could not go into the interior with the men. Already they are crying to get back where they may enjoy their gold, little as it is. Nor may I come back; for the admiral is viceroy of this new country, and he will never pardon me, nor will I ask for pardon nor accept it at his hands. Keep your gold. You have earned it.”
“A half of it is yours by right,” said Diego.