Frank leaped forward, and turned the man on his back. It was a drawn, ghastly face that the trio gazed down upon.
Professor Scotch quickly knelt beside the motionless form, feeling for the pulse, and then shaking his head gravely.
"What is it?" anxiously asked Frank. "Has he——"
He was silent at a motion from the professor, who bent to listen for some movement of the man's heart.
After a few seconds, Professor Scotch straightened up, and solemnly declared:
"This is the end for him. We can do nothing more."
"He is dead?"
"Yes."
There was an awed hush.
"Now we can leave him," the professor finally said. "Pacheco, the bandit, cannot harm him now."