What do I know of the new laws of the colonists, their
republic? These lands are to my race in me, from the point to the
bay, and north twenty leagues; so runs the charter: so witnesses my
name, Mituas, given and decreed by Charles, the king and emperor, to
Juan de Avila y Mituas, the friend of Francisco Pizarro, who was an
upstart indeed, but a valiant man. They say to me: 'There is a
lighthouse on Punta Ananias. For the keeping of the light is paid
this much. Sir, be pleased in this manner to occupy your estate.' Do
I care for their mocking? Is it the buzz of insects that is heard in
Spain? Good, then! I wait for my end. But to hear an Avila mocked at
in Spain I could not endure. You do not understand? It is natural.
You were so kind as to tell me of your life--believe me, most
interesting--a courtesy which has tempted me to fatigue you in this
way."
I thought his yarn a sight more interesting than mine, and said so,
and he looked sort of blank, as if he didn't see how you could get
the stories of an Avila and a Yankee seaman near enough together to
compare them, more than a dozen eggs with a parallel of latitude. But
his manners stayed by him. He said I was so polite as to say so, and
then was silent, sitting on his end of the stone bench and looking
grim at the sea.
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