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Updated: May 20, 2025
According to Arturo's belief, every American had in his possession "altos pesos," which is Spanish for "high" or "enormous" "dollars," or, as Americans say, "a pile of money." Therefore Arturo felt sure that the old gentleman ought to have given half a dollar for the horned toad. Arturo was now not at all inclined to give tia Marta the twenty-five cents. He wanted the money himself.
The little boys at school were overawed by his showy ornament, but the teacher thought laughingly, "How these Spanish do like to dress up!" At night, when Arturo went home with his watch-chain hidden in his pocket, tia Marta was singing again. There was only a little bread and some dried figs for supper, and Arturo's healthy boyish appetite already began to make him sorry for his bargain.
Tia Marta was going to wash for somebody to-day, and would get her pay. What should he buy? Twenty-five cents must not be spent lightly. It was not so often that a horned toad was found or sold. Arturo did not muse long alone. Another boy had heard Arturo's shouted advice to the old gentleman, and had told two or three comrades. They came about Arturo to proffer advice.
The younger boys listened enviously, and Arturo's Spanish love of display began to glow. Yet he was cautious enough to put off Manuel till the next day. Arturo went away, leaving the younger boys gazing enviously after him. His pride was flattered. As Arturo came into the little yard that was about his humble home, he heard tia Marta singing.
"Bollos," or cakes, were joyfully suggested, but Arturo refused. An older Spanish boy, Manuel, joined the company. He was a lazy fellow, whom a good many of the younger boys admired because he could play a guitar and because he wore cheap jewelry that seemed gorgeous to inexperienced eyes. Manuel approved of Arturo's rejection of the cake proposition. What good was cake?
In California "four bits" means a half dollar. Occasionally somebody on the overland train that stopped at the station in town would be attracted toward a spiny "horned toad" as a curiosity, and would buy one. Arturo meant to try to sell this specimen in that way. If he got the money, he would give it to tia Marta. Tia Mama was Arturo's aunt. "Tia" means "aunt" in Spanish.
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