And now to the uproar was added the howls of limpinginfants and cockleburred childhood. Every minute theadvancing day brought forth fresh victims.
Dona Maria Castillas y Buenventura de las Casasstepped from her honored doorway， as was her dailycustom， to procure fresh bread from the panaderia acrossthe street. She was clad in a skirt of flowered， yellow satin，a chemise of ruffled linen， and wore a purple mantillafrom the looms of Spain. Her lemon-tinted feet， alas！ werebare. Her progress was majestic， for were not her ancestorshidalgos of Aragon？ Three steps she made across the velvetygrass， and set her aristocratic sole upon a bunch of Johnny’sburrs. Dona Maria Castillas y Buenventura de las Casasemitted a yowl even as a wild-cat. Turning about， she fellupon hands and knees， and crawled—ay， like a beast of thefield she crawled back to her honorable door-sill.
Don Senor Ildefonso Federico Valdazar， Juez de la Paz，weighing twenty stone， attempted to convey his bulk tothe pulperia at the corner of the plaza in order to assuagehis matutinal thirst. The first plunge of his unshod footinto the cool grass struck a concealed mine. Don Ildefonsofell like a crumpled cathedral， crying out that he had beenfatally bitten by a deadly scorpion. Everywhere were theshoeless citizens hopping， stumbling， limping， and pickingfrom their feet the venomous insects that had come in asingle night to harass them.
The first to perceive the remedy was Esteban Delgado，the barber， a man of travel and education. Sitting upon astone， he plucked burrs from his toes， and made oration：
“Behold， my friends， these bugs of the devil！ I knowthem well. They soar through the skies in swarms likepigeons. These are dead ones that fell during the night. InYucatan I have seen them as large as oranges. Yes！ There theyhiss like serpents， and have wings like bats. It is the shoes—the shoes that one needs！ Zapatos—zapatos para mi！”
Esteban hobbled to Mr. Hemstetter’s store， and boughtshoes. Coming out， he swaggered down the street withimpunity， reviling loudly the bugs of the devil. Thesuffering ones sat up or stood upon one foot and beheldthe immune barber. Men， women and children took upthe cry： “Zapatos！ zapatos！”
The necessity for the demand had been created. Thedemand followed. That day Mr. Hemstetter sold threehundred pairs of shoes.
“It is really surprising，” he said to Johnny， who came upin the evening to help him straighten out the stock， “howtrade is picking up. Yesterday I made but three sales.”
“I told you they’d whoop things up when they gotstarted，” said the consul.
“I think I shall order a dozen more cases of goods， tokeep the stock up，” said Mr. Hemstetter， beaming throughhis spectacles.
“I wouldn’t send in any orders yet，” advised Johnny. “Waittill you see how the trade holds up.”
Each night Johnny and Keogh sowed the crop that grewdollars by day. At the end of ten days two-thirds of thestock of shoes had been sold； and the stock of cockleburrswas exhausted. Johnny cabled to Pink Dawson for another500 pounds， paying twenty cents per pound as before. Mr.
Hemstetter carefully made up an order for 1500 worth ofshoes from Northern firms. Johnny hung about the storeuntil this order was ready for the mail， and succeeded indestroying it before it reached the postoffice.
That night he took Rosine under the mango tree byGodwin’s porch， and confessed everything. She lookedhim in the eye， and said： “You are a very wicked man.
Father and I will go back home. You say it was a joke？ Ithink it is a very serious matter.”
But at the end of half an hour’s argument the conversationhad been turned upon a different subject. The two wereconsidering the respective merits of pale blue and pinkwall-paper with which the old colonial mansion of theAtwoods in Dalesburg was to be decorated after thewedding.
On the next morning Johnny confessed to Mr. Hemstetter.
The shoe merchant put on his spectacles， and said throughthem： “You strike me as being a most extraordinary youngscamp. If I had not managed this enterprise with goodbusiness judgment my entire stock of goods might havebeen a complete loss. Now， how do you propose to disposeof the rest of it？”
When the second invoice of cockleburrs arrived Johnnyloaded them and the remainder of the shoes into schooner，and sailed down the coast to Alazan. There， in the samedark and diabolical manner， he repeated his success： andcame back with a bag of money and not so much as ashoestring.
And then he besought his great Uncle of the wavinggoatee and starred vest to accept his resignation， for thelotus no longer lured him. He hankered for the spinachand cress of Dalesburg.