Clarence, from his window at the hotel, saw that the day was bright, and hastened, in an open carriage, to take Elvira and Mercedes out for a drive in the park. They first went down for George, who had not yet left the bank.
“Did you get letters from home to-day?” Elvira asked.
“Yes; and among them a long one from Don Mariano,” Clarence replied.
“What did he say? Any good news for poor papa?”
“He has just made twenty thousand dollars, any way, in spite of squatters. And he will make sixty thousand dollars more if he will do what I asked him in my letter to-day,” Clarence said.
“How did he make twenty thousand dollars?” George asked, with a brightened look, which was reflected in the beautiful eyes of the sisters.
“By sending five hundred steers to Fred Haverly.”
“Are five hundred steers worth that much?” George asked, surprised.
“Yes—at forty dollars per head—which for large cattle is not too high a price. That is what Fred has been paying for cattle weighing in the neighborhood of four hundred pounds.”
“The best thing Don Mariano can do is to sell you all his cattle, even at half of this price,” George said.