“I do not know,” said Benito, tossing away the stub of his cigarrito.  Then he rose and began work in the field.

Ned went out with the elder boy, Carlos, and caught fish.  They did not return until twilight, and the others were already waiting placidly while Juana prepared their food.  None of them could read; they had little; their life was of the most primitive, but Ned noticed that they never spoke cross words to one another.  They seemed to him to be entirely content.

After supper they sat on the ground in front of the adobe hut.  The evening was clear and already many stars were coming into a blue sky.  The surface of the lake was silver, rippling lightly.  Benito smoked luxuriously.

“I saw this afternoon a friend of mine, Miguel Lampridi,” he said after a while.  “He had just come down La Viga from the city.”

“What news did he bring?” asked Edward.

“They are still searching everywhere for the young Texan who went through the window—­Eduardo Fulton is his name.  Truly General Santa Anna must have his reasons.  The reward has been doubled.”

“Poor lad,” spoke Juana, who spoke seldom.  “It may be that the young Texan is not as bad as they say.  But it is much money that they offer.  Someone will find him.”

“It may be,” said Benito.  Then they sat a long time in silence.  Juana was the first to go into the house and to bed.  After a while the two boys followed.  Another half hour passed, and Ned rose.

“I go, Benito,” he said.  “You and your wife have been good to me, and I cannot bring misfortune upon you.  Why is it that you did not betray me?  The reward is large.  You would have been a rich man here.”

Benito laughed low.

“Yes, it would have been much money,” he replied, “but what use have I for it?  I have the wife I wish, and my sons are good sons.  We do not go hungry and we sleep well.  So it will be all the days of our life.  Two hundred silver dollars would bring two hundred evil spirits among us.  Thy face, young Texan, is a good face.  I think so and my wife, Juana, who knows, says so.  Yet it is best that you go.  Others will soon learn, and it is hard to live between close stone walls, when the free world is so beautiful.  I will call Juana, and she, too, will tell you farewell.  We would not drive you away, but since you choose to go, you shall not leave without a kind word, which may go with you as a blessing on your way.”

He called at the door of the adobe hut.  Juana came forth.  She was stout, and she had never been beautiful, but her face seemed very pleasant to Ned, as she asked the Holy Virgin to watch over him in his wanderings.

“I have five silver dollars,” said Benito.  “They are yours.  They will make the way shorter.”

But Ned refused absolutely to accept them.  He would not take the store of people who had been so kind to him.  Instead he offered the single dollar that he had left for a heavy knife like a machete.  Benito brought it to him and reluctantly took the dollar.