and women out there--was harsh and grating. But I did
not dam the flood of her eloquence (outwardly, at any rate), and so she
went on till she was tired. Then I thanked her, and blarneyed her as
well as I was able, although that wasn't much, as I never have been
much of a hand with women. But the outcome of it all was that I might
most certainly overhaul the old stone heap (which was her irreverent
name for the historical pyramid) as much as ever I chose. And when she
had given the permission, it struck me that I could have got it just as
easily without having spent an hour and a half in the baking sun-blaze
beating about the bush. But then, you see, I was so confoundedly
nervous, and didn't guess that beforehand.

However, as I was turning off down the orange grove again, the bulky
senora seemed to think that something might be made out of it after
all, for she called out to know whether I wouldn't like Isabelita to
accompany me--Isabelita being the small girl, then engaged at
unravelling a bamboo for a whitewash brush under the shade of the
family date-palm. Or was there nothing else she could do for me?
Everything of her poor stock was entirely at my disposition. My thanks
were profuse--most profuse--but I would not rob her of anything, not
even of the _hermosita's_ time. It would be my great pleasure to
make that little angel some trifling present as I came back that way
toward Mahon; at which time I might also wish to buy an orange or two.
So until then.

"_'Tenga_," said the woman, with a large fat smile.

"_Bon di, senora_," said I, with a sweep of the hat, and turned off
down the path and into the road again. Gad! wasn't I feeling jubilant
then?

I felt that the woman was following me with her eyes, and didn't dare
to hurry; for it seemed to me, so worked up was I, that if I had broken
into a run she would have seen at once what I had come for, and would
have contrived to get this great thing for herself. The mere fact of my
displaying any interest at all in such a useless cumbersome hulk as a
Talayot must have filled her with suspicion. But then I had thought of
this, and had corrected her when she guessed me for French, telling her
my true nationality, knowing that the Continental reputation of the
Englishman stands good for any unexplainable eccentricity. And so I
clogged my feet with an effort, and walked on, soberly looking ahead of
me.

So great was the maze of walls that it was difficult to tell wh