"But about Rita?"
"If you had your mine, now, and your great droves of horses—"
"What could I do?"
"Do, Señor Murray? Why, you could buy half the young squaws in the village if you had husbands for them. But you are poor now. I suppose it can not be done."
It was no wonder he had not thought of it before. It was so strange a thing to propose. That a father should buy his daughter!
He turned from her and strode back to his own lodge to see what Steve would say.
"He's a mere boy, but he seems to have a great deal of sense."
Steve's remark, after he had heard about Dolores and her idea, was simply: "That's nothing new, is it? If we can't run away with her, we can ransom her."
"Ransom? Well, now, that's a great deal better word than buy. But our gold coin won't do. They won't take the whole pile for her. They don't really understand the value of it."
"They want ponies and blankets and all that?"