"Tell him we will go alongside his felucca," added the captain, as he directed Morris to ring one bell.
The Maud went ahead slowly, and in a few minutes she was alongside the felucca. Felipe came out of his room when he had stopped the engine, and began a talk with one of the Spaniards.
"Ask the price of the water, Don," said the captain, when the skipper presented himself abreast of the forecastle; and the engineer put the question.
"Veinte pesos le tonel," (Twenty dollars a barrel).
"Veinte pesos le tonel!" exclaimed Louis.
"No!" shouted the skipper, with no little indignation in his tone and manner. "Veinte pesetas le tonel (Twenty pesetas a barrel).
"Twenty pesetas! That is a horse of another color," added Louis. "Didn't he say pesos, Don?"
"I understood him so, sir; but perhaps it was a slip of the tongue," replied the engineer. "I don't think he meant that, for twenty pesetas is a very high price for water."
"How much is a peseta?" asked Scott.
"Twenty cents," replied Louis.