ge, too--not
delicate like ours, and his jaw was very strong to look at. Also, his
face was smooth-shaven like a priest's. Why should a man feel shame for
the hair on his face? Did not God put it there? Yes, I believe in God--I
am not a pagan like many of you English. God is good. He made me an
Ecuadoriano with ten thousand slaves. And when I die I shall go to God.
Yes, the priests are right.

But John Harned. He was a quiet man. He talked always in a low voice,
and he never moved his hands when he talked. One would have thought his
heart was a piece of ice; yet did he have a streak of warm in his blood,
for he followed Maria Valenzuela to Quito. Also, and for all that he
talked low without moving his hands, he was an animal, as you shall
see--the beast primitive, the stupid, ferocious savage of the long ago
that dressed in wild skins and lived in the caves along with the bears
and wolves.

Luis Cervallos is my friend, the best of Ecuadorianos. He owns three
cacao plantations at Naranjito and Chobo. At Milagro is his big sugar
plantation. He has large haciendas at Ambato and Latacunga, and down
the coast is he interested in oil-wells. Also has he spent much money
in planting rubber along the Guayas. He is modern, like the Yankee; and,
like the Yankee, full of business. He has much money, but it is in many
ventures, and ever he needs more money for new ventures and for the old
ones. He has been everywhere and seen everything. When he was a very
young man he was in the Yankee military academy what you call West
Point. There was trouble. He was made to resign. He does not like
Americans. But he did like Maria Valenzuela, who was of his own country.
Also, he needed her money for his ventures and for his gold mine in
Eastern Ecuador where the painted Indians live. I was his friend. It
was my desire that he should marry Maria Valenzuela. Further, much of my
money had I invested in his ventures, more so in his gold mine which was
very rich but which first required the expense of much money before it
would yield forth its riches. If Luis Cervallos married Maria Valenzuela
I should have more money very immediately.

But John Harned followed Maria Valenzuela to Quito, and it was quickly
clear to us--to Luis Cervallos and me that she looked upon John Harned
with great kindness. It is said that a woman will have her will, but
this is a case not in point, for Maria Valenzuela did not have her
will--at least not with John Harned.