Thy face, young Texan, is a good face. I think so and my wife, Juana,
who knows, says so. Yet it is best that you go. Others will soon learn,
and it is hard to live between close stone walls, when the free world is
so beautiful. I will call Juana, and she, too, will tell you farewell.
We would not drive you away, but since you choose to go, you shall not
leave without a kind word, which may go with you as a blessing on your
way."
He called at the door of the adobe hut. Juana came forth. She was stout,
and she had never been beautiful, but her face seemed very pleasant to
Ned, as she asked the Holy Virgin to watch over him in his wanderings.
"I have five silver dollars," said Benito. "They are yours. They will
make the way shorter."
But Ned refused absolutely to accept them. He would not take the store
of people who had been so kind to him. Instead he offered the single
dollar that he had left for a heavy knife like a machete. Benito brought
it to him and reluctantly took the dollar.
"Do not try the northern way, Texan," he said, "it is too far. Go over
the mountains to Vera Cruz, where you will find passage on a ship."
It seemed good advice to Ned, and, although the change of plan was
abrupt, he promised to take it.
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