"I wish they might"; she half sighed as she spoke; "but which of us can ever tell where good fortune comes from?"
And then broke in the voice of Don Nepomuceno, "Come along and see the seed corn, Don Estevan. I have found the key."
CHAPTER VIII CHILDREN OF THE SUN
They looked at the seed corn, and the American complimented Don Nepomuceno on his enterprise as an improving farmer.
"Why don't you take to the business yourself?" said the Mexican, as he relocked the door behind them. "You have money and you have a pair of good mules. You could buy land and work-oxen and hire peons. You would make your living at it easier than at the mining. How long have you been a miner?"
"Ten years, on and off," answered the other. "It is a good slice out of one's life, I admit"; there was a certain wistfulness in his tone. He was beginning to think that perhaps he had missed a good deal of happiness in his time.
"Ten years of wandering!" exclaimed the Mexican. "Ay de mi, but you must be tired. Why should you want to go back to Colorado and begin it all over again?"
"Well, for one thing," answered the other, "I've just heard from an old pard of mine up there, and I think from the way he talks he's got hold of a good thing. I'm going to see."