“Oh, the _inxanos_ do many things. Not only do they build the caves in which they live, but they carry on business. There was a beautiful lady _inxana_ who did this, and there is a tale about her but I do not think it as interesting as some others. The tales are very numerous and some day perhaps I shall collect them.” He took up his guitar and began to sing a little love song. Overhead the stars were climbing down behind the mountains, the air was fresh and sweet with the odors from gardens and fields. It was very still, very beautiful. Patty’s thoughts drifted off to the old monastery, to the _frales_ and _religiosas_. On just such nights they had watched the stars set behind these same immovable hills. She felt very small, very young, and she snuggled up close to her sister, who put a protecting arm around her just as she had done to the little baby sister in that old home garden of Kentucky. CHAPTER IX ONLY A DONKEY For two or three days longer nothing was seen of Robert Lisle, but Don Felipe was much in evidence and Patty was enjoying herself hugely. First she was teasing her sister, secondly she was bewildering the old don, thirdly she was annoying Paulette. Such a combination of effects was greatly to Patty’s mind. She did not mean the least harm. She was simply bubbling over with the joy of living. Little Don Felipe’s pomposity gave her intense amusement; he was so candidly conceited, had such a way of swelling out his chest and strutting around “for all the world like a little bantam rooster,” Patty declared. He was not hard-hearted except when the matter clashed with his opinion, for opinionated he was to a degree, and no one could differ with him without bringing forth a burst of indignant protest. This Patty delighted to do and having made the little man “dancing mad,” as she expressed it, would go off into shrieks of laughter, then he would stalk away in would-be dignity only to return at the first word of flattery. That Patty knew well how to put her limited vocabulary to the best use, when it came to flattery, Tomás perceived, at first sulkily and then with pretended indifference, turning to Paulette for consolation.