"Excellent advice that you gave the people, Padre; but it is not likely they understood you, poor fools! Now if Padre Diego had been preaching he would have ranted like a windstorm; but he would have made an impression. I am afraid soft words will not sink into their thick skulls." Dinner was served in the open, during which the Alcalde chattered volubly. "Don Rosendo returns soon?" he finally ventured. Josè knew that for some time he had been edging toward the question. "_Quien sabe, señor!_" replied the priest, with a careless shrug of his shoulders. "But--_Caramba_! he is old to prospect for gold--and alone, too!" Don Mario eyed Josè sharply. "Ah, you priests!" he burst out laughing. "You are all alike when it comes to money. Padre Diego was up to the same schemes; and before he left he had a hat full of titles to mines." "But I am not seeking to acquire mineral property!" exclaimed Josè with some aspersion. "No? Then you had nothing to do with Rosendo's trip?" Josè kept silence. "_Na_, Padre, let us be confidential," said the Alcalde, hitching his chair closer to the priest. "Look, I understand why Rosendo went into the Guamocó country--but you can trust me to say nothing about it. Only, Padre, if he should find the mine he will have trouble enough to hold it. But I can help you both. You know the denouncement papers must go through my hands, and I send them to Cartagena for registration." He sat back in his chair with a knowing look. "There is only one man here to be afraid of," he resumed; "and that is Don Felipe Alcozer; although he may never return to Simití." He reflected a few moments. Then: "Now, Padre, let us have some understanding about interests in the mine, should Rosendo find it. The mine will be useless to us unless we work it, for there is no one to buy it from us. To work it, we must have a stamp-mill, or _arrastras_. The Antioquanians are skilled in the making of wooden stamp-mills; but one would cost perhaps two thousand _pesos oro_. Nobody here can furnish so much money but Don Felipe. I will arrange with him for a suitable interest. And I will fix all the papers so that the title will be held by us three. Rosendo is only a _peon_. You can pay him for his trouble, and he need not have an interest." Josè breathed easier while this recital was in progress. So Don Mario believed Rosendo to have gone in search of the lost mine, La Libertad! Good; for Cartagena would soon get the report, and his own tenure of the parish would be rendered doubly sure thereby. The monthly greasing of Wenceslas' palm with what Rosendo might extract from the Guamocó sands, coupled with the belief that Josè was maintaining a man in the field in search of Don Ignacio's lost mine, rendered Cartagena's interference a very remote contingency. He almost laughed as he replied: