There was a pause while the men sipped at their glasses, and looked at the horses and the orderly.The clanging of the guitar began again from the kitchen.``You have a very beautiful view here of the harbor, yes,'' said Mendoza.He seemed to enjoy the pause after his ride, and to be in no haste to begin on the object of his errand.MacWilliams and Langham eyed each other covertly, and Clay examined the end of his cigar, and they all waited.
``And how are the mines progressing, eh?'' asked the officer, genially.``You find much good iron in them, they tell me.''
``Yes, we are doing very well,'' Clay assented; ``it was difficult at first, but now that things are in working order, we are getting out about ten thousand tons a month.We hope to increase that soon to twenty thousand when the new openings are developed and our shipping facilities are in better shape.''
``So much!'' exclaimed the General, pleasantly.
``Of which the Government of my country is to get its share of ten per cent--one thousand tons! It is munificent!'' He laughed and shook his head slyly at Clay, who smiled in dissent.
``But you see, sir,'' said Clay, ``you cannot blame us.The mines have always been there, before this Government came in, before the Spaniards were here, before there was any Government at all, but there was not the capital to open them up, I suppose, or--and it needed a certain energy to begin the attack.Your people let the chance go, and, as it turned out, I think they were very wise in doing so.They get ten per cent of the output.
That's ten per cent on nothing, for the mines really didn't exist, as far as you were concerned, until we came, did they?
They were just so much waste land, and they would have remained so.And look at the price we paid down before we cut a tree.
Three millions of dollars; that's a good deal of money.It will be some time before we realize anything on that investment.''