Bethune began to talk about the alterations a contractor wished to make,
and by and by there was a patter of feet and a hum of voices in the dark.
The voices grew louder and sounded angry as the steps approached the
house, and Stuyvesant pushed back his chair.
"It's Jose's or Pancho's breeds come to claim that their time is wrong. I
suppose one couldn't expect that kind of crowd to understand figures, but
although François' accounts are seldom very plain, he's not a grafter."
Then a native servant entered hurriedly.
"They all come, señor," he announced. "Pig tief say Fransoy rob him and
he go casser office window." He turned and waved his hand threateningly
as a big man in ragged white clothes came into the light. "Fuera, puerco
ladron!"
The man took off a large palm-leaf hat and flourished it with ironical
courtesy.
"Here is gran escandolo, señores. La belle chose, verdad! Me I have
trent' dollar; the grand tief me pay----"
Stuyvesant signed to the servant. "Take them round to the back corral; we
can't have them on the veranda." Then he turned to Dick. "You and Bethune
must convince them that the time-sheets are right; you know more about
the thing than I do. Haven't you been helping François, Fuller?"
"I'm not a linguist," Jake answered with a grin. "When they talk French
and Spanish at once it knocks me right off my height, as François
sometimes declares."
They all went round to the back of the house, where Bethune and Dick
argued with the men. The latter had been dismissed and while ready to go
wanted a grievance, though some honestly failed to understand the
deductions from their wages. They had drawn small sums in advance, taken
goods out of store, and laid off now and then on an unusually hot day,
but the amount charged against them was larger than they thought. For all
that, Bethune using patience and firmness pacified them, and after a time
they went away satisfied while the others returned to the veranda.
"Arguing in languages you don't know well is thirsty work, and we'd
better have a drink," Bethune remarked.
He pushed the carafe across the table, but Dick picked up his glass,
which he had left about half full. He was hot and it was a light Spanish
wine that one could drink freely, but when he had tasted it he emptied
what was left over the veranda rails.