d any
mention of payment on our part would, as Carmen said, and I could well
see, have given our generous host dire offense.

We found, moreover, that we could easily engage as many men as we wanted,
on condition of letting them be our co-adventurers and share in the finds
which they were sure we should make; for nobody believed that we would
undertake so long and arduous a journey with any other purpose than the
seeking of treasure. Our business being thus satisfactorily arranged, we
might have started at once, but, for some reason or other--probably
because he found our quarters so pleasant--Carmen held back. Whenever I
pressed the point he would say: "Why so much haste, my dear fellow? Let us
stay here awhile longer," and it was not until I threatened to go without
him that he consented to "name the day."

Now Don Esteban had a daughter, by name Juanita, a beautiful girl of
seventeen, as fresh as a rose, and as graceful as a gazelle, a girl with
whom any man might be excused for falling in love, and she showed me so
much favor, and, as it seemed, took so much pleasure in my company, that
only considerations of prudence and a sense of what was due to my host,
and the laws of hospitality, prevented me from yielding myself a willing
captive to her charms. But as the time fixed for our departure drew near,
this policy of renunciation grew increasingly difficult. Juanita was too
unsophisticated to hide her feelings, and I judged from her ways that,
without in the least intending it, I had won her heart. She became silent
and preoccupied. When I spoke of our expedition the tears would spring to
her eyes, and she would question me about its dangers, say how greatly she
feared we might never meet again, and how lonely she should feel when we
were gone.

All this, however flattering to my _amour propre_, was both embarrassing
and distressing, and I began seriously to doubt whether it was not my
duty, the laws of hospitality to the contrary notwithstanding, to take
pity on Juanita, and avow the affection which was first ripening into
love. She would be my advocate with Don Esteban, and seeing how much he
had his daughter's happiness at heart, there could be little question that
he would pardon my presumption and sanction our betrothal.

Nevertheless, the preparations for our expedition went on, and the time
for our departure was drawing near, when one evening, as I returned from a
ride, I found Juanita alone on the veranda,