The morning sun was shining clear and bright, through the waving branches of the palm-trees, when Francisco again awoke.
There was no one in the hut when he arose and went to the spring, where the night before he had slaked his thirst.
Again he drank from its pure fountain, bathing his face and neck in the sparkling water, till he felt quite refreshed.
Above his head, amid the glossy leaves hung the rich yellow bananas.
He gathered some and ate them as he returned to the hut, with a hopeful, happy heart.
The old mother met him at the door, and greeted him pleasantly.
They sat down together and ate their morning meal. Francisco told her how he had left home to seek his fortune, and of his father and mother, who had once been very rich, and had become poor, and in their old age were suffering for the comforts of life. How he had vowed, if his life was spared, that they should enjoy all that money and love could provide for them. “And now, mother,” he said, “I am seeking gold, and gold I must have, if my life pays the forfeit.”
“Were it not that the chieftain, my husband, would kill you, I could show you where gold is plenty enough,” said the old woman. “Only one day’s journey from here are the great mines, and even on the ground you can pick up quite large nuggets of almost pure gold; but every hour you stay here your life is in danger, and you must live to be happy.
“There are places in the Arizona country where the ground is yellow with gold. The Indians care little for it, but you could never go there and return alive. At every step your way would be beset with a more deadly foe than the hunger and thirst of the desert.
“Boy, you have wakened a love that was dead in my heart. I will save you if possible, and, as nearly as I can will grant your wishes.”