THE HIDALGO PLANS GRATITUDE
Soon after an early breakfast Tom and Harry were afield.
From behind a window in the upper part of his big house, Don Luis,
equipped with a powerful field glass, watched them keenly whenever
they were in sight.
"What on earth are the Gringos doing?" he wondered, repeatedly.
"Are they just walking about, aimlessly? At times it looks like
it. At other times it doesn't."
Then Montez sent for Tisco and discussed with him the seeming
mystery of the actions of the young engineers.
"Don't ask me, Don Luis," begged the secretary. "I am not clever
at guessing riddles. More, I have not pretended to understand
this Gringo pair."
"Are they, in the end, going to trick me, Carlos?"
"Who can say?" demanded Dr. Tisco, with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Of course, they both know that it will be but a short cut to
suicide if they attempt to fool you."
"Their deaths will cause me no anxiety, Carlos, either before
or after the sale," murmured Montez. "In fact, my good Carlos--"
"Say it," leered Dr. Tisco, as his employer paused.
"I may as well say it, for you have guessed it, Carlos. Yes,
I will say it. Even if this Gringo pair appear honestly to aid
me in making the sale--and even if I do make the sale and receive
the money--this Gringo pair must die. We know how to arrange
that, eh, my staunch Carlos?"
Dr. Tisco shrugged his shoulders.
"Of course, we can put them out of the way, at any time, with
secrecy and dispatch, Don Luis. But what will be the use--provided
they help you to get the American money into your hands? To be
sure, the new buyers will soon find that they have a worthless
mine on their hands, but that may happen with the finest mine.
The new buyers will never be able to prove that you brought all
of your pretty-looking ore from another mine. You can depend
upon the secrecy of the people from whom you have been buying
the baiting ore for _El Sombrero_."
"Ah, but there is another side to that, Carlos. If Senores Reade
and Hazelton serve us, and then go safely back to the United States,
they can swear that they found and knew _El Sombrero_ to be worthless.
Then their evidence, flanked by the sudden running-out of _El
Sombrero_, will make a case that the new American buyers could
take into court."
"Let them take it into court," proposed the secretary, contemptuously.
"The governor of Bonista rules the judges of the courts of the
state of Bonista with an iron hand. Rest assured that, if the
Americans were to take their claims into the courts of this state,
the judges would decide for you, and that would be the end of
the matter. And do you believe, Don Luis, that, after Senores
Reade and Hazelton once get alive out of Bonista, any consideration
would tempt them to come back here to testify? They have sampled
your power,"
"Yet why do you object, Carlos, to having the Gringo pair put
out of the way?"
"I do not care anything about their lives," Tisco declared, coolly.
"It is only on general business principles that it seems to me
unwise to have human lives taken when it is not necessary. He
who resorts too often to the taking of life is sure to meet his
own doom."
"Not in Bonista," jeered Montez, "and not where Don Luis is concerned
in business matters."
"As you will, then," sighed the secretary. "You will please your
own self, anyway, Don Luis."
"Truly, Carlos. And so I have decided that these Gringo engineers
shall perish, anyway, as soon as they have served my purpose."
This talk had taken place in a cupola. Down the stair, with stealthy
steps, crept a young, horrified, trembling girl.
Francesca, knowing that her father had gone to the cupola, had
followed him to talk with him. She had halted on hearing voices.
Now, with despair in her eyes, the terrified girl stole away
like one haunted and hunted by evil spirits.
"My father--an intending murderer! He, of a proud hidalgo family,
a vile assassin, in thought at least?" moaned the girl, wringing
her hands as soon as she had stolen to the privacy of her own rooms.
"My father's hands--to be covered with human blood!" sobbed Francesca,
sinking down before a crucifix to pray.
For hours the girl remained in terror-stricken solitude. Then
she rose, somewhat comforted at last, and with the aid of cold
water removed the traces of her tears from her dark, beautiful face.
Her plan was to seek her father, throw herself at his feet, and
beg him not to disgrace the blood of the hidalgos nor to destroy
his own soul with a hideous crime.
"I must seek him in private. There must be no others near when
I make my appeal!" thought the girl.
Just then a servant entered.
"Your father is in the garden, Senorita Francesca," reported the
woman, "and wonders why you do not join him. It is his wish that
you join him now."
"Say to my father that his wish is my law," quavered the terrified
girl.
Five minutes later Francesca went timidly up to her father in
the gardens before the house.
Don Luis turned to her. He was thinking, at the moment, of his
dark plans regarding the young engineers. In his eyes, despite
his effort to smile on his daughter, was a deadly glitter that
dried up hope in the heart of the daughter.
"You have been secluding yourself more than usual to-day, _chiquita_,"
chided Montez.
That word _chiquita_, meaning "pet," caused the girl to recoil
inwardly. Could it be that this hard, cruel man had the right
to address her in endearing terms?
"I am not well to-day, my father," she answered, in a low voice.
"Then take my arm, _chiquita_, and walk with me," urged Montez.
"My father," she cried, shrinking back, "if you will indulge me,
I will walk alone. Perhaps, in that way, I shall gain more strength
from the exercise."
"As you will," smiled Don Luis, coldly. "For myself, I have much
to think of. I have American guests coming soon. I expect that
they will buy _El Sombrero_ for money enough to make you one of
the richest heiresses in all Mexico, _chiquita_."
"For me? And I do not know how to care for money!" answered the
girl, unsteadily. Then she turned away, swiftly, unable to stand
longer looking into Don Luis's eyes.
Through the day Tom and Harry had tramped about almost feverishly,
stopping at intervals as though for rest. Now, in the late afternoon,
they were on their way back to camp by a route that took them
not far from Don Luis's grounds.
As they came within sight of the place, Tom espied Montez and
Dr. Tisco walking slowly at one end of the garden, seemingly engaged
in earnest conversation. At the farther end of the garden from
them, Francesca walked by herself, seeming outwardly composed.
"It seems strange, doesn't it," asked Harry, "that such a fine
girl can possibly be Don Luis's daughter?"
"She inherits her mother's purity and goodness, doubtless," Tom
replied.
"Ouch!" grunted Hazelton, stumbling over a stone with which his
foot had collided. At Harry's exclamation Tom glanced up, then
his eyes met a strange sight.
Lying in a cleft in the rocks, with his head behind a bush, and
well concealed, lay the stranger whom the young engineers had
nursed through an illness.
That stranger was intently gazing at the garden of Don Luis.
So absorbed was he that he had either not heard or did not heed
the passing of the two Americans.
For a brief instant Tom Reade halted, regarding the face of the
absorbed stranger.
"I didn't have an idea about you, Mr. Stranger," muttered Tom
to himself, as he plodded forward once more. "But now--now,
I'll wager that I've guessed who and what you are. Mr. Stranger,
I believe that this one glance at your face has told me your
story and your purpose in being in these mountains of Bonista!"