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DOÑA MATILDE. No, eso no ... ya sé yo que la caoba y la muselina no se han hecho para casas pobres ... pero hay muebles bastante bonitos de cerezo o de nogal ... hay cortinas muy baratas de percal o de zaraza ... y si juntas a eso unas paredes recién blanqueadas, unos pisos muy fregados, unas ventanas con sus correspondientes tiestos de flores, y otras bagatelas semejantes que cuestan poco o nada, resultará de todo cierta elegancia en la misma pobreza, que....
She'll go right to cleanin' that calico filly, Zaraza, an' never think a mite about her clean clothes. Not till she gets 'em dirty then nothing'll do but she must put on fresh. White frocks ain't so easy did up, either, so I'll go get our high aprons, that Mrs. Calvert had made for us to dust the house in, at Paradise.
Zaraza stopped to breathe and Dorothy listened keenly for the halloo of her mates. Hearing none she ventured on a little shout herself which, low as it was, awoke a thousand deafening echoes all about her. Or so it seemed. With a thrill of horror, she remembered how Molly had once been lost in a far away Nova Scotian wood, and the girl's description of her terror.
How odd! that anybody should feed sheep upon a mountain that looked all rock and forest, seen from below. The sun was hot. It must be noon. She hoped she wouldn't be late for that famous lunch they had talked about so much. Zaraza trotted around a last clump of trees, as if she knew her task was ended, and her own feeding time at hand.
Dorothy stood up and listened. They could hear a horse moving somewhere, the dull thud of hoofs on soft ground, and a whinny of recognition to Zaraza feeding near. A moment later Silent Pete came into sight, and in another moment had dismounted beside them. He hadn't a word to say but stared at Jim with what would seem reproach except for a kindly gleam in his blue eyes.
But the attackers were seized, and some of them shot on the following day. When the news reached me I was at a distance from the capital, staying with a friend on an estate he owned on the River Quebrada Honda, in the State of Guarico, some fifteen to twenty miles from the town of Zaraza.
Then Dorothy brought her up with a sharp, silent tug upon the reins. Yonder in that open space was a small hut, or cabin; and sitting on the ground before it was an Indian, with a little Indian child beside him. Evidently, they also were having a mid-day meal, for she saw the child lift a tin dipper to his lips and drink. Zaraza whinnied.
I can't wait do choose!" cried impatient Molly, skipping about and trying to cut short Dorothy's hesitation. "All right, then. I choose the 'calico'. She's so like another Portia that I used to ride 'back home." "Zaraza, for Dolly. A Spanish title, too, dear, and means 'chintz' a 'calico', if you please. Lead her out, Lem!"
Yet, Alfy's words rang in her head: "Seems if there was nothing happens but somebody gets lost up here at San Leon!" and Molly's absurd appeal: "Tie me tight!" After a moment when Zaraza seemed rested she urged the docile creature forward, and now the "calico" had certainly discovered a smooth and easy way. That was good.
Jim was trembling, for he was still weak from his long illness, and he steadied himself by attentions to Zaraza and by bidding José in Spanish to bring the stranger a drink. Dorothy dropped down upon the stones where they had been sitting and watched the child. He did not now dip water from the tank at the cabin door but from a nearby spring, which Jim had found and cleared of rubbish.
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