"I don't think I should have liked the boy's task," said Vasco.
"Did the boys go hunting when you were young?" asked Alfeo.
"Oh, yes. They did not have guns for weapons, but used bows and arrows. They could shoot very straight with them, too. Just wait a moment and I will prove that to you."
The old woman hobbled to a chest in the corner of the room and took therefrom an old bamboo cane.
"Do you see the cleft in the end of that cane?" she asked.
"Well, that was split by an arrow shot at twenty paces by my oldest brother when he was only eight years old."
The boys now took leave of the old woman, and the rest of the day they spent visiting various points of interest in the vicinity of the plantation. They also fished and went in swimming in a small stream which flowed near by and emptied into the Chagres.
At nightfall, four tired but happy boys were glad to get an early supper and seek the rest which a day of unusual activity demanded.
The next day, according to his plan, Mr. Andrews returned and remained overnight with Vasco's hospitable uncle.
Early Saturday morning, amid profuse expressions of regret at their departure and with invitations to come again, the travellers took up their journey homeward. This was made without special incident and was completed in safety.
"DID you have a good time on your trip with Harlan and his father?" asked Lieutenant Barretas of Vasco.
"To be sure I did," was the answer. "I am not likely ever to forget the sights I have seen in this journey through our country."
"I hope you thanked your American friends for the pleasure you have enjoyed."
"Our people are much indebted to the Americans for the prosperity into which we have come. I have some more good news to tell you now."
"What is it?" asked Vasco, his face aglow with eager anticipation.
"To-morrow a public school is to be opened, and I have decided that you shall attend."
This conversation occurred on Sunday, the day after Vasco's arrival home. The lieutenant was making his usual Sunday visit with his family, though he had come a little late on account of army affairs that had called him to the Blue House--the President's mansion. It was there that he had learned about the school.
Vasco received the information with a doubtful smile. A few weeks before he would have been sad to hear such a suggestion. But his acquaintance with Harlan, and especially the close companionship of the past week, had wrought certain changes in his spirit, and a dawning ambition had begun to arise within him.