At sight of Don Luis's party a Mexican foreman came running forward.
"How runs the ore this morning?" asked Don Luis.
"Not quite as well as usual, excellency," replied the man, with a shrug of his shoulders.
"How! Do you mean to tell me that the ore is running out for a streak!"
"Oh, no, excellency. Yet it is the poorest ore that we have struck for a fortnight. However, it will pay expenses and leave something for profit, too, excellency."
"Show us what you have been doing," Don Luis directed.
Leading the way with a lantern that threw a brilliant light, the foreman went on down the tunnel to the heading. As he neared the end of the tunnel the man called loudly and a number of workmen stepped aside.
As they reached the spot, Tom's quick eye saw that the morning's blasts had loosened some eight tons or so of ore. Drillers stood ready to drive through the rock for the next blast.
"Let us look at the ore, Senor Tomaso," suggested the mine owner.
Tom began to delve through the piles of shattered, reduced rock. The foreman held the lantern close, that the young engineer might have all the light he wanted, and called to miners to bring their lights closer.
Then Harry, also, began to examine the rock. For some minutes the two young engineers picked up specimens and examined them.
"What do you make of it?" inquired Don Luis Montez at last.
"Is this what you call a run of poor luck?" Tom asked the foreman, dryly.
"Yes, senor; rather poor," answered the foreman.
"Then it must be rather exciting here when the ore is running well," smiled Tom. "At a guess I should say that this 'poor' stuff before us will run thirty dollars to the ton."
"It usually runs fifty, senor," broke in Don Luis. "Sometimes, for a run of a hundred tons, the ore will show up better than seventy-five dollars per ton."
"Whew!" whistled Reade. "Then no wonder you call this the land of golden promise."
"By comparison it would make the mines in the United States look poor, would it not?" laughed the mine owner.
"There are very few mines there that show frequent runs of fifty dollars to the ton," Harry observed.
"Are you going to clear out this ore, and send it to the dump"Tom asked the foreman.
"Yes."
"Then I would be glad if you would do so at once," Tom remarked.
For answer the Mexican foreman stared at Tom in a rather puzzled way.
"I will do so as soon as I am ordered," he responded, respectfully.
"All right," returned Reade. "I'll give you the order. Clear this stuff out and get it up in the ore cage. Clear this tunnel floor with all the speed you comfortably can."
"Perhaps the senor will explain?" suggested the foreman.
"Thesecaballerosare the new engineers in charge of the mine," said Dr. Tisco.
"Ah! So? Then if Pedro Gato will only give the order—" began the foreman.
"If Pedro Gato gives you any orders," Tom suggested, briskly, "you will ignore them. Pedro Gato is no longer connected with the mine."
"Not connected?" gasped the foreman, who plainly doubted his ears.
"No," broke in Don Luis. "You will take no more orders from Gato. Thesecaballerosare the engineers, and they are in charge. You heard the order of Senor Reade. You will clean out this tunnel, sending the ore above to the dump."
"It shall be done," cried the foreman, bowing low before the mine owner.
"And now, Senor Tomaso, if it suits you, we will go to another tunnel," proposed Don Luis.
"Very good, sir," Tom assented. "What had been in my mind was to order the drillers at work here and see a blast made."
"We can be back long before the next blast can be prepared," repliedMontez. "Carlos, lead the way to tunnel number four."
The secretary turned, retracing his steps, Don Luis bringing up the rear.
"Oho! I have dropped my cigar case," remarked Don Luis a minute later. "I will go back and get it."
The others waited near the shaft. Tom wondered, slightly, why Dr. Tisco had not volunteered to go back after his employer's missing cigar case.
Presently Don Luis appeared.
"Now we will go to number four," he said.
The cage carried them to a lower level. Here another foreman came forward to meet them and to conduct them to the heading. Here were some five tons of rock. Tom and Harry found it to be about the same grade of ore as that seen above.
"Is this ore as good as you usually find in this vein?" Tom inquired of the second foreman.
"Not quite, senor, though to-day's blasts have turned out to be very fair ore," responded the foreman.
"I should say it is good ore," Tom remarked dryly. "Now, will you set the shovelers at work moving this stuff back a little way? I want to see a new drilling made and watch the results of the blast."
"If Pedro Gato—" began the foreman, reluctantly.
"Pedro Gato has nothing to do with this," Tom answered quickly. "Mr. Hazelton and I are privileged to give such orders as we deem best. Will you kindly tell the foreman so, Don Luis?"
"It is quite true," replied the mine owner. "Gato is no longer with us, and these gentlemen are in charge."
"Then I will have the ore moved back at once," agreed the foreman.
"But first we will go back out of the dirt and out of the danger from the blast," spoke Don Luis, using a good deal the tone of an order.
"The rest of you may go back," suggested Reade. "But I wish to see the drilling done."
"It is unnecessary, Senor Tomaso," smiled Don Luis, blandly."Come back with us."
"I must see the men work, Don Luis, if I am to understand the work here," Tom rejoined, very quietly, though with a firmness that was wholly apparent.
"Oh, very good then," smiled Montez, with a shrug of his shoulders.
Three of the inspecting party went back, but Tom remained close behind the drillers. Twice he stopped them in their work, to collect small samples of the pulverized stuff that the drills turned back. These specimens he placed in sample envelopes and stored in his pockets. From the ore that was being shoveled back he chose other small specimens, labeling the envelopes in which he stored them.
By the time that the ore had been shoveled well back the drillers had completed their work. Now the "dope men" came forward, putting the sticks of dynamite in place. Tom watched them closely.
"Do you call this last work well done?" Tom inquired of the foreman of the tunnel.
"Yes, yes, senor, as well as I have been able to see," responded the Mexican.
"Then come with me. Just look at the tamping. Hardly worthy of the name of tamping, is it?" Tom asked, poking at the material that had been forced in as tamping.
"Senor, my men must have been indolent, this time," admitted the foreman.
"Very indolent, or else indifferent," Tom smiled, grimly. "Here, you men, come here and let me show you how to set dynamite and tamp it. Perhaps I do not understand the job very well, but we shall see."
Ten minutes later Tom Reade abandoned his work, rather well satisfied.
"Now, when we fire the blasts, we shall move some rock, I believe," he smiled.
The wires were attached, and all hands went back, most of them going considerably to the rear of the man at the magneto battery.
A rocking explosion followed. Tom was among the first to run forward.At the heading were heaps of rock.
"Get in and pry it loose. Shovel it back," Tom ordered, in Spanish.
Shortly after, Don Luis, Dr. Tisco and Harry appeared on the scene. They found Tom turning over the ore as it came back. More than a dozen samples he dropped into envelopes, labeled them and put them away in his pockets.
"What ails this lot of ore?" inquired Harry, after looking at specimens.
"It is not running as well," said Tom briefly. "Go through the stuff and see what you think of it."
"But we have much more to see,caballeros," interposed Don Luis.
"If you will be kind enough to indulge me here, for a few minutes more, I shall be grateful," Tom informed him.
"Oh, very good," assented Don Luis, with a shrug of his shoulders. "But it is not my purpose to tire you with too many observations on our first trip through the mine."
With a fine sample of Castillian courtesy and patience, Don Luis waited, smoking, until Reade had quite finished his inspection.
"I am now at your service, Don Luis," announced the young chief engineer, rising and going toward his employer.
The remaining four tunnels ofEl SombreroMine were visited. In each tunnel was the same pile of ore awaiting them, and it all looked good. That in number three was the richest ore of all.
"Now, I think we have seen enough for today," announced Don Luis, when they had inspected number three tunnel.
"Then if you will go along and let me join you later, I shall appreciate it," Tom suggested politely.
"You wish to linger?" queried Don Luis, looking amused.
"I wish to see a blast made here," Tom replied.
"I, too, would like to see one," Harry added.
"Then we will wait for you," agreed Don Luis, with a sigh that contained just a trace of impatience.
A drilling and a blast were made. Again a lot of poor rock was loosened. Tom and Harry collected specimens, labeling them.
"Now, we will return to the house," said Don Luis.
"I would really like to put in a long day here at the mine," proposedReade, reluctantly.
"To-morrow, then," nodded Don Luis. "But, for to-day, I am tired of this place. There is much about which I wish to consult you,caballeros, at my office."
Tom glanced swiftly, covertly at Harry, then responded:
"In that case, my dear Don Luis, we are wholly at your service."
At the head of the shaft, Nicolas, the servant, awaited them.
"Nicolas, you rascal!" exclaimed Don Luis, angrily. "You have not been attending yourcaballeros."
"Your pardon, excellency, but the automobile moved too swiftly for me," pleaded Nicolas. "All the way to the mine I ran, and here I have waited until now."
"Keep pace with your duties hereafter, scoundrel," commanded DonLuis, angrily.
Nicolas stepped meekly to the rear of the party. It was his business to attend Tom and Harry everywhere. In Mexico one of the grade of gentleman, if he wishes only a glass of water, does not go for it; he sends the attending servant.
This time Nicolas slipped up on the front seat of the car beside the chauffeur. The car traveled at a high rate of speed over the rough road.
"It must cost you a mint of money for tires and repairs, not to speak of new cars," laughed Tom, after he had been bounced up two feet in the air as the automobile ran over a rough place in the road.
"Pouf! What does it matter, to a man who ownsEl Sombrero?" smiled Don Luis Montez.
"I am answered," Tom agreed. "The price of a few imported cars cannot matter much to you."
"How many better mines thanEl Sombrerohave you seen?" questioned the mine owner, leaning forward.
"None," said Tom, promptly.
"If all days' indications are as good as those of to-day," Harry added.
"To-day has been but a poor day at the mine," murmured Dr. Tisco.
"ThenEl Sombrerois indeed a marvel," Tom declared.
"It is a very rich mine," nodded Don Luis. "Yet there may be richer ones, in these mountains, yet undiscovered."
"Where is the next best mine around here?" Tom inquired.
"Perhaps it isEl Padre," murmured Don Luis, after a slight pause.
"Where isEl Padre(the Priest) located?" Tom wanted to know.
"It is about four miles from here, up over that road," Don Luis rejoined, pointing out the direction.
"May I ask ifEl Padreis one of your properties, Don Luis?"Tom continued.
"No; why should I want it when I ownEl Sombrero?"
"Not unless you wish to own as many mines as possible."
"El Sombreroshould be enough for my greatest dreams of wealth," declared Don Luis, closing his eyes dreamily.
Then the car stopped before the house.
Don Luis alighted, Tom and Harry at his heels. A servant appeared at the entrance to the court and informed him that the midday meal was ready to serve.
"We will go to the table, then," exclaimed the Mexican. "After having luncheon we shall be ready for an afternoon of hard work."
No sooner had the young engineers slipped into their seats at table than Nicolas appeared behind their chairs. He served them gravely and without a word.
For nearly an hour the luncheon lasted. Finally the dishes were cleared away and several boxes of cigars were brought. Tom and Harry both declined them. Dr. Tisco lighted a cigar at once; Don Luis spent much time in selecting his cigar. This he lighted with the same deliberation. At last the mine owner settled back in his seat.
"Caballeros," he inquired, suddenly, "what did you think ofEl Sombrero?"
"I would call it, Don Luis," Harry replied, with enthusiasm, "the finest mine I have seen or heard of."
"You did not see the best of the ore to-day," Montez assured them.
"What ore we did see is as fine as any we would ever wish to see,"Tom said.
"Then you were delighted with the mine?" inquired their host, turning to Reade and speaking more eagerly.
"If the ore always runs as well," Tom rejoined, "it ought to be one of the richest gold and silver properties in the world."
"Pouf! The ore usually runs much better—is worth much more than that which you saw to-day," protested Don Luis.
"Then you are to be congratulated on possessing a treasure among mines," Tom commented.
"I am delighted to hear you say that."
"But when we adjourn to your office," Reade continued, "there are a few questions that I shall want to ask you."
"Why not ask them here, Senor Tomaso?" queried Don Luis, in his purring, half affectionate voice.
"Here at your table?" protested Reade.
"But this is not dinner. This is a mere business luncheon," repliedDon Luis, with another smile.
"Yet I would like to discuss some of the samples with you, Don Luis," Tom explained. "Surely, you do not wish me to bring out dirty samples to spread on your fine linen."
"It would matter not," declared the Mexican. "Still, if you have scruples about the proprieties, then we will go to the office within a few minutes."
The two who were smoking continued to do so. Don Luis started to describe some of his experiments in raising Spanish mules. The finest mules that come out of Spain, class, in price, with blooded horses. Don Luis talked with the enthusiasm of one who understood and loved mules.
Then, finally, they passed to the office.
"Now, I shall be glad to talk with you for hours," the Mexican hidalgo assured the young engineers.
Dr. Tisco, as though to show that he took no personal interest inthe talk, retired to an armchair at the further end of the room.Nevertheless, the secretary observed carefully all that was said.Covertly he studied the faces of the young engineers at all times.
"Ask me what you will," begged Don Luis, as he sank into an easy chair close to the table on which Tom began to arrange his envelopes of specimens taken from the mine.
"First of all, Don Luis," Tom began, "you spoke of some problems that you wished us to solve in the operation of your mine."
"Yes, Senor Tomaso."
"I would like to ask you what the problems are that we are to consider," Tom announced.
"Did you not see some of the problems before you, while we were going through the mine?" inquired Montez.
"At the risk, Don Luis, of appearing stupid, I must confess thatI did not."
"Ah, well, then we shall come to the problems presently. You have other questions. Ask some of them."
For a moment or two Reade studied what he had written on the various envelopes before him. Then he picked out two.
"Here, Don Luis," the young chief engineer went on, "are samples of two lots of ore. The first is from the pile that we found pried loose when we went into the first tunnel that we visited. It is rich ore."
"It is good enough ore," Montez replied, with a polite shrug of the shoulders.
"Now, from the second tunnel that we entered, and where we also found a pile of loose ore, here is another sample. It is as rich as the first sample."
"Certainly, Senor Tomaso."
"But in this second tunnel I had a drilling made and a blast fired. Here," picking up a third envelope and emptying it, "is a sample of the ore that we saw taken from that blast. If this sample contains any gold or silver the quantity is so small, evidently, as to render this kind of ore worthless."
"Yes?" murmured Don Luis, softly. "What is it that you have to say?"
"Why, sir, how does it happen that, right on top of such extra-fine ore we run upon blank rock at the very next blasting."
"That sometimes happens inEl Sombrero," Don Luis replied, smoothly,
"How often has it happened?" asked Tom, looking up from the table and glancing keenly at Don Luis.
Dr. Tisco, though he appeared to be almost asleep, stirred uneasily.
"How often has it happened?" repeated Don Luis. "Oh, perhaps a dozen times in a few months, taking all the tunnels together."
"How long have these streaks of blank rock been?" insisted TomReade, while Harry wondered at what his chum was driving.
"How long?" echoed Montez, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oh, how should I know? Personally I am not interested in such things."
"But have you gone as much as a whole week drilling and blasting through blank rock?" Tom pressed.
"A week? No; not for two days. Of that I am certain. But why do you ask all this, Senor Tomaso?"
"In order that I may better understand the nature of the mine," Reade responded. "I want to know what the chances are, as based on the record of the mine to date. Of course, Don Luis, you know what it means, often, when pay ore fails to come out of a streak, and a solid wall of blank rock is encountered."
By "blank rock" Tom meant rock that did not contain a promising or paying amount of metal in the ore.
"What it means?" Montez asked. "No; I can't say that I do."
"The wall of blank rock, found at the end of a vein of gold, Don Luis, often, if not usually, means that the vein has run out, and that it is useless to dig further."
"I did not know that," murmured the Mexican, in a tone of merely polite astonishment. "Then you believe thatEl Sombrerowill not turn out much more profitable ore?"
"I didn't say that," Tom continued. "But I will admit that finding the wall of blank rock ahead made me a bit nervous. Some great mines have been started, Don Luis, as you must be aware. For a few weeks they have panned out ore of the highest value. Much capital has been put into such mines, and for a time men have thought they owned a new Golconda. Then—suddenly—the blank wall, and no more gold has ever come out of that mine. In other words, it was but a pocket of rich gold that had been struck, and nothing more. Hundreds of men have ruined themselves by investing in such mines."
"I see," murmured Don Luis, thoughtfully.
"You did not know this before?" Tom asked, in some amazement.
"No, Senor Tomaso. I have been a good business man, I suppose, for I have prospered; and much of my money has been made in mining. Yet I have never had the assurance to consider myself a practical mining man. Dr. Tisco, here, is—"
"An ignoramus on the subject of mining," declared the secretary, who appeared just then to wake up.
"Carlos is modest," laughed Don Luis. "True, he is not a skilled mining man, yet he knows so much on the subject that, compared with him, I am an ignoramus. But that is what you are here for, you two. You are the experts. Investigate, and then instruct us."
"Have you any record of the number of times that you have encountered the blank rock, and the number of feet in thickness of the wall in each case?" Tom asked.
"Oh, no."
"That is unfortunate," said Reade, thoughtfully. "Hereafter wewill keep such a record carefully. Don Luis, I will admit thatI am perplexed and worried over this blank rock problem. I knowHazelton is, too."
"Yes, it is very strange," agreed Harry, looking up. Truth to tell, he had hardly been following the talk at all. Harry Hazelton was quite content to be caught napping whenever Tom Reade had his eyes open.
"Now, I would like to go back to the mine and stay there until some time in the night," Tom proposed. "I would like to take Hazelton with me. Soon we will arrange it, if necessary, so that Harry and I shall divide the time at the mine. Whenever, in any of the tunnels, blank rock is struck, whichever one of us is in charge will stay by the blank rock blasting, keeping careful record, until pay ore is struck again."
"You two young engineers are too infernally methodical," grumbledDr. Tisco under his breath."
"That is a very excellent plan," smiled Montez, amiably. "We will put some such plan into operation as soon as we are fairly under way. But not to-day."
"I would like to start at once," Tom insisted.
"Not to-day," once more replied Don Luis, though without losing patience. "Yet, if you are anxious to know how the blank rock is coming I can telephone the mine and get all the information within five minutes. That will be an excellent idea. I will do it now, in fact."
Crossing the room, Don Luis rang and called for the mine.
"Our young engineers are very sharp—especially Senor Reade," murmured Dr. Tisco to himself, while the telephone conversation was going on in Spanish. "Yet I wonder if our young engineer does not half suspect that Don Luis has no man at the other end of the wire?"
Tom did not suspect the telephone trick. In fact, the young chief engineer had as yet no deep suspicion that Don Luis was a rogue at heart.
"The report is excellent," called Don Luis, gayly, as he came back. "In that tunnel where we saw the blasting done the blank rock has been penetrated, and the rich ore is coming again."
"How I'd like to see it!" Tom glowed.
"Why?" asked Don Luis, quickly.
"Because I am anxious to know all the secrets, all the indications, of fine oldEl Sombrero."
"Itisa fine mine, isn't it, Senor Tomaso?" demanded Don Luis, enthusiastically.
"From all indications it ought to be," Reade answered. "Yet it's a new formation of rock to me—this sandwich formation as I might call it, with the alternate layers of rich ore and blank stuff."
"I have been drawing up a report on the mine," murmured Montez, opening a drawer in his desk. "This report describes the operations and the profits so far. Glance through it with me."
The report had been written in English, by either Dr. Tisco or his employer.
Tom and Harry listened carefully to the reading.
"But why do you put so much enthusiasm into the report, Don Luis, when the mine is not for sale and is not to be run as a stock company property?"
"Of course,El Sombrerois my sole property, and of course I shall keep it so," smiled the Mexican. "But I like, even in a report to myself, for my own use, to have the report set forth all the truths concerning the mine."
"That is reasonable," Tom agreed.
"Now, Senor Tomaso, as you have seen, this report is couched in my own English. I would be glad if you would write this out for me, putting it into better English."
"It would seem like presumption in me to think that I could put it into better English," Reade protested.
"Nevertheless, to please me, will you put this report into your own English?" requested Don Luis.
"With all the pleasure in the world," Tom assented.
"Here are writing materials, then."
"But I see that you have a typewriting machine over in the corner," suggested the young chief engineer. "I can write the report much better and more rapidly on the machine."
"Ah!" breathed the Mexican, looking highly pleased. "If you will but do that! We will go outside so as not to disturb you."
The report, being a long one and containing several tables of figures, Reade was occupied nearly three hours. During this time Don Luis conducted Harry over the estate, pointing out many things of interest. At last Tom, with a slight backache from bending so long over the machine, leaned back and carefully read what he had written.
"Do you wish anything,caballero?" inquired Nicolas, appearing as though from hiding.
"You might be good enough to tell Don Luis that I have finished, and that I await his pleasure."
Nicolas disappeared. Five minutes later Montez, his secretary and Hazelton came in. Tom read through his typewritten draft of the report.
"Excellent! gr-r-r-rand! glorious!" breathed Don Luis. "Ah, you are a master of English, Senor Tomaso. Myself, I understand Spanish better. And now one stroke of the pen for each of you," added thehidalgo, crossing the room to his desk. "As my new engineers you shall both sign this report, and I shall have much pleasure from reading this, many times, when I am an old man."
Don Luis dipped a pen in ink, then held it up. Harry was about to take the pen when Tom Reade drawled:
"It wouldn't be quite right for us to sign this report, Don Luis."
"Why not?" queried the Mexican, wheeling like a flash.
"Just for the simple reason," Reade answered, "that to sign the report would be to state all the facts contained in the report as being of our personal observation. We haven't seen enough of the mine, as yet, for it to be right for us to sign the report. An engineer's signature to a report is his statement—ON HONOR—that he personally knows such report to be true. So I am very certain you will understand that it would be a breach of honor for us to sign this document."
"Ah! He is clever—and now the real trouble must begin!" Dr. Tisco told himself. "These engineers are not easily duped, but in Don Luis's hands they will destroy themselves!"
Don Luis Montez laid down the pen. Outwardly he was as amiable as ever; certainly he was all smiles.
"A thousand pardons,caballeros!" he murmured. "Of course, you are quite right. It had not occurred to me in that light before. True, the report was intended only for my own pleasure in later years, but that does not alter the nice point of honor."
Tom Reade was deceived by Don Luis's manner. He did not suspect that, at this very instant, the Mexican was consumed with demoniacal rage.
"I shall not be patient another time," muttered Don Luis, between his teeth and under his breath. Yet aloud he said:
"We have had too much of business to-day. We are tiring ourselves. Until dinner time let us go outside and be gentlemen. Business for to-morrow or next week. And my dear daughter. Brute! I have been forgetting her."
Senorita Francesca, a darkly beautiful girl of eighteen, shy and retiring from the convent schooling that had ended but lately, soon came downstairs at her father's summons. Dr. Tisco bowed low before the charming girl. Tom and Harry were presented, and tried to make themselves agreeable to the young Mexican girl. Senorita Francesca's shyness, however, made this somewhat difficult, so the young engineers felt inwardly grateful when Dr. Tisco strolled down the porch with her.
Dinner proved to be a somewhat formal affair. Yet, as soon as the meal was finished Senorita Francesca was escorted from the dining room by her father and returned to her room.
"What did you think of the young lady, Tom?" Harry asked his chum when he could do so privately.
"A fine-looking girl," Reade answered briefly. "But I fear she would be highly offended if she knew that, all through dinner, my every thought was on the mine and the problems that we shall find there."
"I want to talk with you about that mine, and about some impressions that I have formed here," murmured Hazelton.
"Then another time, my dear fellow, for here comes Don Luis, andI see Dr. Tisco returning from the garden."
That forestalled conversation for the time being. When the young engineers, still relentlessly attended by Nicolas, sought their own rooms Hazelton was so drowsy that he undressed hurriedly and dropped into bed.
Later in the night Harry sat up suddenly in the dark. Some one was moving in the parlor that separated the two bedrooms. An instant after awakening Harry slipped off the bed, then stole toward the next room.
In the darkness he made out a moving figure. Like a panther Harry sprang, landing on the all but invisible figure.
"Now, I've got you!" Hazelton hissed, wrapping his arms around the prowler.
"And small credit to you," drawled Tom's dry voice. "Hist!"
"What's up?" demanded Hazelton, dropping his voice to a whisper.
"You and I are."
"But what's the matter?"
"I couldn't sleep," Tom whispered.
"You—troubled with nerves!" gasped Hazelton.
"Not just the way you understand it," returned Tom. "But I was thinking, thinking, and I sat by the window yonder. Come over there, Harry, but step without noise."
Wondering what it all meant, Hazelton softly followed his chum to the open window.
"Now, look," said Tom, pointing, "and tell me what you see."
"A moment ago I thought I saw a light twinkling over there among the hills."
"Look sixty seconds longer, and you'll see more lights, Harry; those lights are on the trail that leads from the nearest gold mines toEl Sombrero. It is the trail Don Luis pointed out to us to-day."
"But what—"
"Harry, I'm going to get on my clothes and slip over in that direction.Do you want to go with me?"
"Yes; but what—"
"I can tell you better when we're on the way. Come on; dress! We can easily leave the house without being detected."
Though Harry had already been through hosts of adventures, he felt creepy as he dressed with speed and stealth, bent on slipping unobserved out of their employer's house. But he was used to following his chum's lead.
When both were ready, which was very soon, Tom softly opened the door of their parlor, thrusting one foot out into the broad corridor. As he did so he kicked against a man lying prostrate on the floor. It was Nicolas, the Mexican attendant, sleeping across their threshold that he might be on hand when wanted.
The man stirred, muttered something almost inaudible, then gradually began to breathe more deeply. Tom, after waiting, took a step over the body of Nicolas. Harry closed the door behind them, then followed. Soon after they stood out on the lawn.
"I'm glad Nicolas went to sleep again," muttered Tom, in a low voice. "The fellow would have insisted on following us, and I wouldn't want him with us to-night, to tell Don Luis everything."
"But what on earth—"
"Harry, old fellow, Don Luis is the essence of courtesy. He has been very polite to us, too. Yet something has aroused a suspicion in me that Don Luis Montez wishes to use us in some way that we wouldn't care to be used. So I'm saying little, but my eyes are going to be open all the time from now on."
"Oh, Don Luis must be on the square," Hazelton retorted. "What could he want of us that is crooked?"
"I don't know, yet," Tom replied, as he led the way rapidly down the road. "But I'm going to watch, and, if there's anything wrong, I'm going to get a line on it."
"El Sombrerois Don Luis's own mine. Surely he hasn't hired us to fool him about his own property."
"I don't know what it is that's wrong," Tom admitted. "Nor am I sure that anything is wrong. But I'm going to do my own watching and gather some of my own information. See, there are the lights on that trail beyond, and there are several lights. It looks like a caravan moving down the trail."
"A caravan?" Harry repeated. "Of what?"
"I don't know, Harry. That's what I'm here to-night to find out."
Brisk, soft walking brought them nearer and nearer to the twinkling lights along the trail that ran into their own road at a point lower down.
"I wish I knew what on earth Tom is thinking about," Harry muttered to himself. "However, I may as well save my breath just now. If I hang to him I'm likely to know what it is."
"We'll reach a hiding place from which we can watch that caravan, or whatever it is, turn from the hill trail into this road," Tom whispered, after they had gone somewhat further.
At this point the main road that ran from. Don Luis's estate to his mine was decidedly irregular. Many boulders jutted out, making a frequent change in the course of the road necessary. It was Tom's intention to gain the nearest ledge of rock of this sort to the hill trail, and there hide to watch the caravan.
They had nearly reached this point when out of the darkness a figure stole softly to meet them.
"Nicolas!" muttered Tom, in a low voice, all but rubbing his eyes."How on earth did you get here?"
"Am I not commanded to keep with you everywhere, and serve you in all things?" demanded the servant. "Do not go around that next point in the road,caballeros. If you do, you will run straight into Pedro Gato, who has other men with him."
"Gato?" whispered Harry. "What is he doing around here?"
"There is no reason why we should care what he is doing," Tom returned. "He isn't in the employ of the mine. Come along, Harry."
But Nicolas seized the young chief engineer by the arm.
"Beat me, if you will, Senor Americano," pleaded Nicolas. "But don't encounter Gato. It would be as much as your life is worth."
"Why? Is Gato on the warpath for us?" Tom questioned.
"I fear so," Nicolas answered. "Don't let him see you."
"But I must see him, if the fellow is out for us," muttered Tom."Show me where he is."
"He and three or four men are camped just around there," said the Mexican servant, pointing.
"Come along, Harry," Tom whispered. "Go cat-foot."
Ere the young engineers came in sight around the turn a slight glow of light against the stones caught their glance. Tom held a hand behind him as a signal to Hazelton to slow up. Then Reade peered around a jutting ledge of rock.
On the ground, around a low camp-fire, were seated four Mexicans.Two of the number had rifles, that lay on the ground near them.Behind them, an ugly scowl on his face, sat Gato, his back restingagainst a rock.
"But you will not find your enemies out here to-night, Senor Gato," softly remarked one of the quartette around the fire.
"No," admitted Gato, in a growling voice.
"Then why are we waiting here?"
"Because it pleases me," snapped the big fellow. "What ails you?Am I not paying you?"
"But two of us—and I am one of them—do not like to be seen," rejoined the speaker at the fire. "The troops hunt us. There is a price on our heads."
"Bandits!" muttered Tom Reade, under his breath, as he drew back. "I have heard that Mexico is overrun with bandits. These gentlemen are some of the fraternity."
"Take us up to the house, Gato," urged one of the men at the fire. "We shall know how to enter and find your friends. Everyone sleeps there. It will be the safer way."
"It does not suit me," retorted Gato, sullenly.
"But why not?"
"Am I not paying you?"
"Yes."
"Then take my orders and do not ask questions."
At this there were sounds of dissatisfaction from all four of these bad men.
"For one thing," Gato explained, "Don Luis would not like it. He would accuse me of treachery—or worse. I do not want Don Luis's ill will, you see."
"But Don Luis will be angry, in any case, if you injure his engineers, won't he?" asked one of the men.
"A little, but after a while, Don Luis will not care what I do to the Americanos," growled Pedro Gato.
"Humph! That's interesting—if true," whispered Tom Reade.
"Yet what are we doing here?" insisted one of the men. "Here, so close to where the troops might pick us up?"
"You are obeying orders," snarled Gato.
"But that information is not quite enough to suit us," objected one of the Mexicans.
"You might go your own way, then," sneered Gato. "I can find other men who are not so curious. However, I will say that, when daylight comes, we will hide not far from here. None of you know the Americanos by sight. I will point them out to you as they pass by in the daylight."
"And then—what?" pressed one of the rough men. "Are we to kill the Americanos from ambush?"
"Eh?" gasped Tom Reade, with a start.
"If you have to," nodded Pedro Gato. "Though, in that case, I shall call you clumsy. I shall pay you just four times as much if you bring them to me as prisoners. Remember that. Before I despatch these infernal Gringos I shall want the fun of tormenting them."
"Oh, you will eh?" thought Tom, with a slight shudder.
"I heard, Gato," ventured one of the Mexicans, incautiously, "that one of the Americanos beat you fearfully—that he threw you down and stamped on you."
"It is a lie!" uttered Gato, leaping to his feet, his face distorted with rage. "It is a lie, I tell you. The man does not live who can beat me in a fight."
"I was struck with amazement at the tale," admitted the Mexican who had brought about this outburst.
"And well you might be," continued Gato, savagely. "But the Americanos procured my discharge. And that was humiliation enough."
"Yet what difference does it make, Gato. As soon as Don Luis is through with the Americanos he will restore you to your old position."
"It is because the Americanos treated me with such contempt," retorted Pedro. "No man sneers at me and lives."
"You unhung bandit!" muttered Tom under his breath. "Why don't you tell your bandit friends that you are angry because of the trouncing I gave you before a lot of men? But I suppose you hate to lose caste, even before such ragged specimens as your friends."
Suddenly one of the men around the fire snatched at his rifle. Next scattering the embers of the fire, the fellow threw himself down flat, peering down the road.
"The troops are coming," he whispered. "I hear their horses."
"The horses that you hear are mules," laughed Gato, harshly. "It is the nightly transport of ore down toEl Sombrero. Just now Don Luis is having fine ore brought over the hills from another mine and dumped intoEl Sombrero."
"Why should he bring ore from another mine toEl Sombrero?" asked one of the men, curiously.
"How should I know?" demanded Gato, shrugging his shoulders and spitting on the ground. "Why should I concern myself with the business that belongs to an hidalgo like Don Luis?"
"It is queer that—"
"Silence!" hissed Gato. "Do not meddle with the secrets of DonLuis Montez, or you will be sorry for it."
Gato's explanation about the mule-train had quieted the fears of the bandits as to the approach of troops. In some mountainous parts of Mexico the government's troops are nearly always on the trail of bandits and the petty warfare is a brisk one.
"Go to sleep, my friends. There will be nothing to do until day comes."
"Then, good Gato, take us somewhere off this road," pleaded one of the men. "It is too public here to be to our liking."
"You may go to a quieter place," nodded Gato. "You know where—the place I showed you this afternoon. As for me, after the mule-train has left the mine, I must go there. I will join you before daybreak."
"We'll go now, then," muttered one of the men, rising.
They were coming up the road in the direction of the young engineers. There was no time to retreat. Tom glanced swiftly around. Then he made a sign to Harry. Both young engineers flattened themselves out behind a pile of stones at the roadside. Their biding-place was far from being a safe one. But four drowsy bandits plodded by without espying the eavesdroppers. As for Nicolas, he had vanished like the mist before the sun.
"Ha-ho-hum!" yawned Pedro Gato, audibly.
Tom raised his head, studying their immediate surroundings. He soon fancied he saw a safe way of slipping off to the southward and finding the road again below where Gato stood.
Signing to Hazelton, Reade rose softly and started off. Two or three minutes later the young engineers were a hundred yards away from Gato, though in a rock-littered field where a single incautious step might betray them.
"Come on, now," whispered Tom. "Toward the mine."
"And run into Gato?" grimaced Harry. "Great!"
"If we meet him we ought to get away with him between us," Tom retorted. "One of us did him up this morning."
"Go ahead, Tom!"
Reade led the way in the darkness. They skirted the road, though keeping a sharp lookout.
"There are the lights of the mule-train ahead," whispered Tom. "Now, we're close enough to see things, for there isEl Sombrerojust ahead."
"What's the game, anyway?" whispered Harry.
"Surely you guess," protested Tom.
"Why, it seems that Don Luis is having ore from another mine brought down in the dead of the night."
"Yes, and a lot of it," Tom went on. "Did you notice how much rich ore there was in each tunnel to-day? And did you notice, too, that when blasts were made with us looking on, no ore worthy of the name was dug loose? Don Luis has been spending a lot of money for ore with which to salt his own mine!"
"Salting" a mine consists of putting the gold into a mine to be removed. Such salting gives a worthless mine the appearance of being a very rich one.
"But why should Don Luis want to salt his own mine?" mutteredHarry.
"So that he can sell it, of course!"
"But he doesn't want to sell."
"He says he doesn't," Tom retorted, with scorn. "This afternoon, you remember, he got me to copy a report in English about his mine and then he wanted us to sign the report as engineers. Doesn't that look as though he wanted to sell? Harry, Don Luis has buyers in sight for his mine, and he'll sell it for a big profit provided he can impose on the buyers!"
"What does he want us for, then? He spoke of engineering problems."
"Don Luis's engineering problem," uttered Tom Reade, with deep scorn, "is simply to find two clean and honest engineers who'll sign a lying report and enable him to swindle some man or group of men out of a fortune."
"Then Don Luis is a swindler, and we'll throw up the job," returnedHarry Hazelton, vehemently. "We'll quit."
"We won't help him swindle any one," Tom rejoined. "We won't quit just yet, but we'll stick just long enough to see whether we can't expose the scoundrel as he deserves! Harry, we'll have to be crafty, too. We must not let him see, too soon, that we are aware of his trickery."
Creeping closer to the mine, Tom and Harry saw the ore dumped from a train of forty mules. They also heard the fellow in charge of the train say that he would be back with two more loads that night.
"We don't need to wait to see the rest of the ore brought," Tom whispered to his chum. "We know enough now."
"Look over there," urged Hazelton. "There goes the rest of the trick. Men are shoveling the borrowed ore into the ore hoists."
"Of course," nodded Tom, disgustedly. "The ore is going below, to be piled in the tunnels. It will be 'salted' there all right for us to inspect in the morning. Oh, this trickery makes me sick!"
"What are you going to do now?" Hazelton asked.
"We may as well go back to the house and get some sleep."
"I'm strong for getting out of here in the morning," Harry muttered.
"Fine!" Tom agreed. "So am I. But what I want to do is to findout who is marked out for the victim of this gigantic swindle.I want to put the victim wise. I'd be wild if I failed to findDon Luis's intended dupe and tell him just what he's in for."
"Do you imagine that Montez will ever allow us to get face to face with the man who's to be fleeced?"
"He won't do it intentionally, Harry. But we may have a way of locating the victim in time to save him from being robbed."
"Anyway, I should think the victim would have every chance in the world to sue and get his money back," Harry mused.
"How is one to get back the money that he has put into a gold mine?" Tom demanded. "Everyone knows that the most honest mine is a gamble. It may stop turning out paying ore at any hour. Besides, what show would a stranger have in the courts in this part of Mexico? You have heard Don Luis boast that he practically owns the governor of Bonista. No, sir! The only way to stop a swindle will be to stop it before it takes place."
Tom rose from his hiding place, back in the dark away from the lights at the mine shaft. He nudged his chum, then started to creep away. Presently they rose and moved forward on foot. Ere long they had left the mine well behind.
"I hate to go back into that polished robber's house at all," Harry muttered. "Tom, what do you say? We can cover at least the first dozen miles between now and daylight. Let's make a streak for the railway and get back to the States."
"But what about saving the victim of the intended swindle?" objectedReade.
"We could come out with a newspaper exposure that would stop any American from buying the mine, or putting any money into it," proposed Hazelton.
"We might, only no newspaper would print such stuff. It would be libelous, and subject the newspaper editor to the risk of having to go to jail."
"All I know," sighed Harry, "is that I want, as speedily as possible, to put as much distance as possible between us and Don Luis's home."
"We'll go out through the front door, though, when we go," Tom proposed. "We won't sneak."
They did not encounter Gato on the way back to the big, white house. Though they did not know it, the boys were being trailed by the alert, barefooted Nicolas. Nor did that servant feel easy until he had seen them softly enter the house. Then Nicolas, as before, stretched himself on the floor before the door of the rooms occupied by the young engineers.
Tom's alarm clock woke him that morning. In another moment Reade was vigorously shaking Hazelton.
"Now don't give a sign to-day," Tom whispered to his friend. "If Don Luis is going to be crafty, we shall have to fight him with craft—at the outset, anyway."
"I hate to eat the old scoundrel's food," muttered Harry.
"So do I, but it can't be helped for the present. We're not guilty of a breach of hospitality in planning to show the rascal up. It is Don Luis who is guilty in that direction. He is planning to use his guests as puppets in a dishonest game. Keep up your nerve, Harry, and don't let your face, your manner, or anything give you away."
Nicolas knocked as soon as he heard the boys stirring. He moved with speed this morning, spreading the table and then rushing away for chocolate,frijolesandtortillas.
As soon as the boys had finished their breakfast they hastened out to the porch, but they found their host ahead of them. More, Don Luis wore field clothing and high-topped, laced walking boots.
"Going afield, sir?" Tom inquired, genially.
"I have been afield, already," replied Montez, bowing and smiling. "Down to the mine I have been and back. The air is beautiful here in the early morning, and I enjoyed the walk. You, too, will enjoy our walks when you become used to them."
Dr. Tisco came out, bowing most affably to the young Americans.
"You look as though you had been walking, too," suggested Tom, noting Tisco's high-topped shoes.
"I went with Don Luis," replied the secretary. "Oh, by the way, Senor Hazelton, I believe some of your property has come into my possession. This is yours, is it not?"
Tisco held out a fine linen handkerchief, with an embroidered initial "H" in one corner. Harry was fond of fine linen, and effected these handkerchiefs.
"Yes; it's mine, thank you," nodded Harry, accepting the proffered bit of linen and pocketing it.
"I found it in a field, just this side ofEl Sombrero," remarkedTisco, artlessly, turning away.
Though the secretary did not watch Hazelton's face, Don Luis did, and saw the slight start of surprise and the flush that came to the young engineer's face.
"You, too, have been walking then, Senor Hazelton?" inquired Don Luis, pleasantly, though with an insistence that was not to be denied.
Harry didn't know how to lie. He might have dodged the question, but he was quick enough to see that evasion would make the matter worse.
"Tom and I took a stroll last night," he admitted, indifferently."How far did we go, Tom?"
"Who can say?" replied Reade, lightly. "It was so dark, and the way so unfamiliar that we were glad when we got home, I know."
"They have been prowling," muttered Don Luis, sharply, under his breath. "I must have them watched."
"Are we going to the mine this morning, Don Luis?" Tom asked, carelessly.
"Do you care to go, Senor Tomaso?"
"Why, that's just as you say, sir," Reade rejoined. "Of course, we would like to get actively engaged at our work. In fact, it seems to me that Harry and I should rise earlier and be at the mine at least from eight in the morning until six at night."
"You would soon tire yourselves out. The mine is a dirty hole."
"By the way, sir," Reade went on, carelessly, "how far do you have to send ore to have it smelted."
"About sixty miles."
"By mule-train, I suppose."
"Yes, Senor Tomaso."
"It must be costly shipping."
"So it is," sighed Don Luis, "and yet the ore is rich enough to bear easily the cost of shipping."
"In what direction is the smelter?"
Don Luis pointed.
"Straight ahead, as I am showing you," he added.
"We saw the lights of a train last night," Tom went on. "I judged that the mule-train came from the mines above. Yet the mule-train did not follow the direction that you have just shown me. The road runs crooked, I take it."
"Oh, yes," nodded their host, as carelessly as Tom had spoken.
"Do the other mines pay as well asEl Sombrero?"
"Oh, no, Senor Tomaso," Montez replied quickly. "The other mines yield not anywhere near as rich ore as comes fromEl Sombrero."
"Are you going to take us to see the other mines?" Tom hinted.
"Gladly would I do so, Senor Tomaso, only I am not on good terms with the owners."
"I'm sorry," Tom sighed. "While we are here I wish that we could see much of Mexican mines. Nevertheless, when we are through here I have no doubt that you can give us letters to other mine owners."
"Beyond a doubt," smiled Don Luis, "and it will give me great pleasure. But I, myself own many mines, and I am seeking to locate more. If you are suited with my employment, and if we agree, I shall be able, undoubtedly, to keep you both engaged for many years to come. Indeed, if you display sufficient resourcefulness in handling mines I do not believe it will be long ere I shall be able to pay you each fifty thousand dollars a year. I have plenty of money, and I pay generously when I am pleased and well served."
"The scoundrel is fishing for something," thought Tom Reade, swiftly."I must not let him beat me in craft."
So he exclaimed, aloud:
"Fifty thousand dollars a year, Don Luis? You are jesting!"
"I beg to assure you that I am not," replied Montez, smiling and bowing.
"But fifty thousand a year is princely pay!" cried Reade.
"Such pay goes, of course, only to the most satisfactory of employes," declared Don Luis.
"At such pay," Tom said, "Harry and I ought to be satisfied to remain in Mexico all our lives."
"We shall see," nodded Montez. "But the sunlight is growing too strong for my eyes. Suppose,caballeros, that we move into the office?"
The others now rose and followed Don Luis.
"What on earth is Tom driving at?" Harry wondered. "He's stringingDon Luis, of course, but to what end?"
Montez stood at the door of his office, indicating that the young engineers pass in ahead of him. The instant they had done so Montez turned to his secretary, whispering:
"Send my daughter here."
Dr. Tisco vanished, though he soon reappeared and entered the office.
Don Luis, after indicating seats to the young Americans, crossed to a ponderous safe, toyed with the combination lock, threw open the door and then brought out a ledger that he deposited on one of the flat-top desks. Five minutes later his daughter Francesca entered the room.
"Now, what part is the girl to play here?" wondered Tom, instantly. "If I know anything of human nature she's a sweet and honest girl. She is no rascal, like her father. Yet he has sent for her to play some part!"