He bowed to her with the native courtesy that belongs to even the peons of his race. A swift patter of Spanish fell from his lips.
Miss Ellington shook her head. "No sabe Español."
The man gushed into a second eruption of liquid vowels, accompanied this time by gestures which indicated that he wanted food.
The young woman nodded, went into the house, and secured from Mrs. Seymour a plate of broken fragments left over from supper. With this and a cup of coffee she returned to the pergola.
"Gracias, señorita." The shining black poll of the man bowed over the donation as he accepted it.
He sat cross-legged among the roses and ate what had been given him. Daisy observed critically that his habit of eating was not at all nice. He discarded the fork she had brought, using only the knife and his fingers. The meat he tore apart and devoured ravenously, cramming it wolfishly into his mouth as fast as he could. A few days before she had fallen into an argument with Steve Yeager about the civilization of the Mexicans. She wished he could see this specimen.
The man spoke, after he had cleaned the plate, licked up the gravy, and gulped down the coffee. His words fell in a slow drawl, not in Spanish, but in English.
"Don't you reckon mebbe I could get a ham sandwich too?"
The actress jumped. "Steve, you fraud!" she screamed, and flew at him.
"Do I win?" he asked, protecting himself as he backed away.