“In order to have a glimpse of life in the small towns of Colombia, I thought we might stop at Buenventura, and after doing the place, we can continue on to Guayaquil. That is the town where we have to take the sky-line up to Quito, commonly known as the City of the Equator. From Guayaquil, after we return there, we will cruise on to Paita——”
“Oh, Dalky!” interrupted Polly at this moment. “Aren’t we going to stop at any other quaint towns along the coast? The lady-chaperone at the Tivoli said that half the pleasure in touring down the west coast was to be found in seeing the unusual ports which are seldom visited by the fast steamers. With a yacht, she said, we were free to stop as we pleased, hence she told us to be sure and do so.”
“Yes,” added Eleanor. “And she told us that many of the finest ruins of the Incas, as well as ancient Spanish churches, were to be seen on the mountains back of tiny towns on the coast that escape the attention of the ordinary tourist.”
“Well, she may be right, but as South America is very large, and we had expected to visit as many of its states as possible in the time limited, it would not be advisable to do as every stranger suggests. That is exactly why I planned this route which would give us ample scope to turn aside in case of our finding any place or thing we wished to visit. Of course, the main idea in coming to South America, instead of taking that South Sea Island cruise as Mrs. Courtney proposed, was to give the interior decorators the privilege of visiting the Exposition at Rio de Janeiro. Otherwise——”
“Oh, all right!” interrupted Mr. Fabian. “We know all about it, Dalky! Don’t lose time going over the same field again.”
“Oh, I’m not at all keen about taking you over the field at all,” retorted Mr. Dalken, quickly. “In fact, I believe I’ll let each one of you follow your own route and see where it lands you. As for me, I shall use my private itinerary and sail away to seas unknown—and uncharted, too, if I see a chance of finding any reward for such a voyage.”
“I really do believe Dalky is peeved!” exclaimed Polly, causing every one to laugh heartily at such an absurd idea.
“No, that is not the reason for his thrusting the paper away in his pocket,” explained Mr. Ashby, teasingly. “But the truth of the matter is: Dalky came to that part of the itinerary where all those twisted vowels and consonants occur in the names of the towns in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, and he dared not risk our jeering.”
“For the first time in history, you are correct, my wise mind-reader!” retorted Mr. Dalken, midst the shouts of laughter from all sides.
“I don’t suppose any one present would dare wager with me, as betting is against the law at home. But we are in South America and every one here wagers money on horses, lotteries, and on every possible excuse to gamble; therefore, I would like to wager that Dalky fails to follow more than a third of that itinerary of his.”