The Tally

At the end of the day, David and Mark agreed to talk to Illapu one more time. After a long discussion he did consent to the price they asked and, once they agreed on the terms, he seemed happy with his purchase.

That made four wagons that they had sold on the first day. It was much better than they had really hoped for. Only one of them had been reserved so far as payment was concerned, but two of the others said they would have it the next day. The man that Kusi had referred them to had said he needed a couple days.

They also had a special request that they had been able to charge extra for. A man named Apuk'achi had asked that they soak the boards in resin to make them more durable. It would be a nice upgrade to offer other people if they could manage it.

The goal had been to sell five which left them one short. "Word of mouth," said Mark, "is our best ally anyway. We have to keep these people happy and they'll refer us to others."

There was still about an hour of daylight which prompted David to offer to take the wagon back by himself. It was late enough that food would be the primary thought on the minds of their potential customers.

"Trying to push me off to Puquykilla?"

"We aren't that far away right now."

"No, that is true. I need to talk to Ch'uya tonight."

"I'll take care of it, go ahead and take a short break."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I don't really feel like chopping any more wood today anyhow."

"OK. I'll see you later. Thanks for all the work you've already put into making my business plan work. I appreciate it."

David laughed. "What else am I to do? Go back and explain to your parents that I had left you as a slave? They'd contact the embassy and try to figure out which rogue military group had you. It wouldn't do any good."

"You could do something more interesting at least."

"No, you'll find a way to pay me back someday. Maybe I'll have you steal the Crown Jewels."

"Not likely. Anyway, I'll see you later."

"Bye."

David made his way back to the farm and had a fairly uneventful evening. He gave a status report to Ch'uya, who seemed to be as pleased as they were with the progress. Mark returned while David was eating dinner and trying to decipher Kunturi's explanation about the use of resin.

They already knew that it would involve tree sap but they had to rely on Kunturi to know what kinds should be used. It was decided to attempt collection on the following day.