"Water's all right, but it's a deuce of a nuisance having to carry every drop of it up to the house."
"Really? Isn't it piped?"
"Ah, but it will be one day, Rich'! I expect the first big coffee crop will go there, rather than in a trip to the States. But it is rather a bother, meanwhile."
"But you have no labor question here."
"Haven't we though? With old Diaz gone the old order is changed. This bunch I have here now are bad ones," King shook his head. "They may revolute any minute."
"Oh, Rich'—not really?"
"I daresay they'll lack the energy when it comes to a show-down, Madeline. But this man Villa is a picturesque figure, you know. He appeals to the peón imagination."
The guest was interested. "Yes. Isn't it true that there's a sort of Robin Hood quality about him—steals from the rich to give to the poor—that sort of thing?"
"That's more or less true, but the herd believes it utterly." He sighed. "It was a black day for us when Diaz sailed."
Jimsy King had been listening. "But, Uncle Rich', they have had a rotten deal, haven't they?"