ens by asking a question:

"Caballeros! do you want to be rich?"

All three laugh, while simultaneously answering:

"_Carramba_! Yes."

Diaz adds:

"I've heard many an idle interrogatory; but never, in all my life, one
so superfluous as yours; not even when there's twenty to one offered
against a staggering cock."

Rocas inquires:

"What do ye call rich, Don Francisco?"

"Well," responds the Creole, "say sixty thousand dollars. I suppose
you'd consider that sufficient to bestow the title?"

"Certainly," rejoins Rocas; "not only the title, but the substantial and
real thing. If I'd only the half of it, I'd give up chasing seals."

"And I cock fighting," put in Diaz; "that is, so far as to look to it
for a living; though I might still incline to have a main for pastime's
sake. With sixty thousand dollars at my back, I'd go for being a grand
ganadero, like friend Faustino here, whose horses and horned cattle
yield him such a handsome income."

The other three laugh at this, since it is known to all of them that the
ganadero has long since got rid both of his horses and horned cattle.

"Well, gentlemen," says De Lara, after this bit of preliminary
skirmishing, "I can promise each of you the sum I speak of, if you're
willing to go in with me in a little affair I've fixed upon. Are you
the men for it?"

"Your second question is more sensible than the first, though equally
uncalled for--at least so far as concerns me. I'm the man to go in for
anything which promises to make me the owner of sixty thousand dollars."

It is Diaz who thus unconditionally declares himself Calderon endorses
it by a declaration of like daring nature. The seal-hunter simply nods
assent, but in a knowing manner. For he is already acquainted with De
Lara's design; knows all about it; being, in fact, its real originator.

"Now, Don Francisco! let's know what you're driving at?" demands Diaz,
adding: "Have you struck a _veta_, or discovered a rich _placer_? If
so, we're ready for either rock-mining or pan-washing, so long as the
labour's not too hard. Speak out, and tell us what it is. The thought
of clutching such a pretty prize makes a man impatient."

"Well, I'll let you into the secret so far--it is a _veta_--a grand gold
mine--a very _bonanza_--but one which will need neither rock-crushing
nor mud-cradling. The gold has been already gathered; and lies in a
certain place, all in a lump; only waiting transport to some oth