Poor Teresa could never understand that. On that
particular Sunday, senor, she scolded so that I went out of the house
swearing that I would never darken their door again unless to fetch
away my hammock and my chest of clothes. Senor, there is nothing more
exasperating than to hear a woman you respect rail against your good
reputation when you have not a single brass coin in your pocket. I
untied one of the small boats and pulled myself out of the harbour with
nothing but three cigars in my pocket to help me spend the day on this
island. But the water of this rivulet you hear under your feet is cool
and sweet and good, senor, both before and after a smoke." He was silent
for a while, then added reflectively, "That was the first Sunday after
I brought down the white-whiskered English rico all the way down the
mountains from the Paramo on the top of the Entrada Pass--and in the
coach, too! No coach had gone up or down that mountain road within the
memory of man, senor, till I brought this one down in charge of fifty
peons working like one man with ropes, pickaxes, and poles under my
direction.
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