Chapter 4 Summary

In the morning, the whole La Paz knows this is the day when Kino will sell his pearl.

Not only the neighbors, but the Chinese shop owners, the church boys, the nuns, the children and the church door beggars, ready to be there and get their tenth part. It is also known by most of the pearl buyers, each waiting alone in his office, sitting in front of a tray covered in black velvet, rolling pearls between his fingers. People in the village believe the pearl buyers act on their own, and once upon a time so it was. Now they are all agents of a single buyer, and each knows what price to offer, and how will the others act. Their compensation is a salary independent of the amount paid, but their pride and joy is to buy at the lowest possible...