Heart of the World | Page 6

Don Ignatio's
health grew too feeble to allow him to leave the /hacienda/.
At length, it was when they had been acquainted for nearly two years, a
messenger arrived at the mine one morning, saying that he was
instructed by his master, Don Ignatio, to tell the Señor Jones that he lay
dying and would be glad to see him. He was to add, however, that if it
should be in any way inconvenient, the Señor Jones must not trouble
himself to come for so small a matter, as his master had written a letter
which would be delivered to him after his death.
Needless to say the Señor Jones travelled across the mountains as fast
as the best mule he owned would carry him. On arriving at the
/hacienda/ he found Don Ignatio lying in his room, almost paralysed

and very weak, but perfectly clear-headed and rejoiced to see him.
"I am about to make my last journey, friend," he said, "and I am glad,
for of late I have suffered a great deal of pain in my back, the result of
an ancient injury. Also it is time that a helpless old man should make
room for a more active one." And he looked at his visitor strangely, and
smiled.
Jones, whose feelings were touched, made the usual reply as to his
having many months to live, but Don Ignatio cut him short.
"Don't waste time like that, friend," he said, "but listen. Ever since we
knew each other you have been trying to extract from me the story of
how I came to visit the city, Heart of the World, and of my friend,
James Strickland, whom, thanks be to God, I so soon shall see again.
"Well, I never would tell it to you, though once or twice I nearly did, so
when I saw how my silence chagrined you, partly because I pride
myself upon being able to keep a secret when pressed to reveal it, and
also because I am selfish and knew that so soon as you had heard my
story, you would cease to interest yourself in a stupid, failing old man,
for who is there that cares about the rind when he has sucked the
orange?
"Also there were other reasons: for instance, I could not have related
that history without displaying unseemly emotion, and I know that you
Englishmen despise such exhibitions. Lastly, if I told it at all, I desired
to tell it fully and carefully, keeping everything in proportion, and this
it would have been difficult to do by word of mouth. Yet I have not
wished to disappoint you altogether, and I have wished that some
record of the curious things which I have seen in my life should be
preserved, though this last desire alone would not have been
sufficiently strong to move me to the task which I finished ten days ago,
before the paralysis crept into my arm.
"May I trouble you to open that cupboard near the foot of the bed, and
to give me the pile of writing that you will find in it. A thousand thanks.
Here, señor, in these pages, if you care to take the trouble to read them,

is set out an account of how I and my English friend came to visit the
Golden City, of what we saw and suffered there, and of some other
matters which you may think superfluous, but that are not without their
bearing upon the tale. I fear that my skill in writing is small, still
perhaps it may serve its turn, and if not, it matters nothing, seeing that
you seek the spirit, not the letter, and are not sufficient of a Spanish
scholar to be too critical.
"Now take the book and put it away, for the very sight of it wearies me,
recalling the hours of labour that I have spent on it. Also I wish to talk
of something more important. Tell me, friend, do you propose to stop
in this country, or to return to England?"
"Return to England! Why, I should starve where there are no mines to
manage. No, I am too poor."
"Then would you return if you were rich?" asked the dying man
anxiously.
"I do not know; it depends. But I think that I have been too long away
to go to live in England for good."
"I am glad to hear that, friend, for I may as well tell you at once that I
have made you my heir, so that henceforth you will be a wealthy man
as we understand wealth in this country."
"You have made me your heir!" stammered Jones.
"Yes. Why should I not? I like you well, and know you to be a good
and honest man.