Anton de Chinta appreciated this in an indefinite way, and conse-quently said nothing to the children of the necessity for selling the cow.
One Saturday morning at daybreak, he took advantage of the fact that Rosa and Pinin were still asleep, and started with a heavy heart for Gijon, driving “La Cordera” before him.
When the children awoke they were at a loss to explain the cause of his sudden departure, but felt sure the cow must have accompanied him much against her will; and when at evening the father, tired and covered with dust, brought the animal back, and would give no explanation of his absence, the children apprehended danger.
The cow had not been sold. With the sophistry of tenderness and affection he had put the selling price so high that no one would pay it, and had scowled at any prospective purchaser presumptuous enough even to approach the amount upon which he obstinately insisted.
Less difficulty
He quieted his conscience with the argument that surely he had been willing to sell; the fault lay with the others who were not willing to pay “La Cordera`s” value. So he had taken the road home again, accompanied by a number of neighboring farmers who were driving their livestock before them and experiencing more or less difficulty according to the length of acquaintance between master and beast.
From the day when Pinin and Rosa began to suspect that there was trouble in store they had no peace of mind, and their worst fears were soon afterward confirmed by the appearance of the landlord with threats of eviction.
“La Cordera” must therefore be sold, and perhaps only for the price of a breakfast.
The following Saturday Pinin accompanied his father to a neighboring market-town, where the child looked in horror at the butchers armed with their weapons of slaughter. To one of these the animal was sold, and after being branded was driven back to her stable, the bell tinkling sadly all the way.
Anton was silent, the eyes of the boy were red and swollen, and Rosa, upon hearing of the sale, put her arms around “La Cordera`s” neck and sobbed.
The next few days were sad ones in the meadow “Somonte.” “La Cqrdera,” ignorant of her fate, was as calm and placid as she would continue to be up to the moment when the brutal blow of the axe was given; but Pinin and Rosa could do nothing but lie stretched out on the grass in continued silence, disconsolate in regard to the future.
They cast looks of hatred at the telegraph wires and the passing trains which were connected with that world so distant from all their compre-hension—the world Which was robbing them of their only friend and companion.
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