But I fancy Alessandro was offended.
He answered me shortly that it was paid, and it was nothing."
"You couldn't have offended him more," said Felipe. "What a pity!
He is as proud as Lucifer himself, that Alessandro. You know his
father has always been the head of their band; in fact, he has
authority over several bands; General, they call it now, since they
got the title from the Americans; they used to call it Chief., and
until Father Peyri left San Luis Rey, Pablo was in charge of all the
sheep, and general steward and paymaster. Father Peyri trusted
him with everything; I've heard he would leave boxes full of
uncounted gold in Pablo's charge to pay off the Indians. Pablo
reads and writes, and is very well off; he has as many sheep as we
have, I fancy!"
"What!" exclaimed Ramona, astonished. "They all look as if they
were poor."
"Oh, well, so they are," replied Felipe, "compared with us; but one
reason is, they share everything with each other. Old Pablo feeds
and supports half his village, they say. So long as he has anything,
he will never see one of his Indians hungry.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179