For presently to them appeared one Victor Garcia, whilom a
clerk of the Ayuntamiento, who rallied them over aguardiente, and told
them the story of the quicksilver discovery, and the two mining claims
taken out that night by Concho and Wiles. Whereat Manuel exploded with
profanity and burnt blue with sulphurous malediction; but Miguel, the
recent ecclesiastic, sat livid and thoughtful.
Finally came a pause in Manuel's bombardment, and something like this
conversation took place between the cooler actors:
Miguel (thoughtfully). "When was it thou didst petition for lands in the
valley, friend Victor?"
Victor (amazedly). "Never! It is a sterile waste. Am I a fool?"
Miguel (softly). "Thou didst. Of thy Governor, Micheltorena. I have seen
the application."
Victor (beginning to appreciate a rodential odor). "Si! I had forgotten.
Art thou sure it was in the valley?"
Miguel (persuasively). "In the valley and up the falda."*
* Falda, or valda, i. e., that part of the skirt of a
woman's robe that breaks upon the ground, and is also
applied to the final slope of a hill, from the angle that it
makes upon the level plain.
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