This was enough.

I was desperately hungry and thirsty, and we decided to try and find him.

Mrs.
Wilkins spoke a little Spanish, and by dint of inquiries we found the man's house, a little old, forlorn, deserted-looking adobe casa.
We rapped vigorously upon the old door, and after some minutes a small, withered old man appeared.
Mrs.Wilkins told him what we wanted, but this ancient Delmonico declined to serve us, and said, in Spanish, the country was "a desert"; he had "nothing in the house"; he had "not cooked a meal in years"; he could not; and, finally, he would not; and he gently pushed the door to in our faces.

But we did not give it up, and Mrs.Wilkins continued to persuade.

I mustered what Spanish I knew, and told him I would pay him any price for a cup of coffee with fresh milk.