“No, Senor. Trip very long. Bad to be on trail over night.”
“To be on the safe side, we’ll take a tent and light camping equipment,” Mr. Livingston decided. “Jack, only you and Ken are to go with us. Phillipe, be ready at dawn, and tell no one where we are going.”
“Senor Rhodes make trouble if he finds out!” the miner warned.
“Rhodes needn’t know about this little trip,” Mr. Livingston answered. “Anyway, he’s in no condition right now to ask any questions.”
Preparations rapidly went forward for the next day’s expedition.
“If all goes well, we should be back here by tomorrow night,” Mr. Livingston told Willie and War. “Once I’ve learned the location of the lost mine, I’ll have a leverage over Rhodes. I think then, if he regains his sense, I can force him to tell me the truth about Corning.”
“Rhodes is coming around all right,” Willie reported. “I was up to the cottage a few minutes ago. He was sitting up in bed, guzzling soup.”
“The man has the constitution of an ox,” Mr. Livingston replied. “I’m not worried about him. He’ll come through in fine shape.”
“We’ll have to work fast while he’s laid up,” asserted Jack. “Once he begins to regain his strength, he’ll start tightening up on us.”
That night, Mr. Livingston and the Scouts revisited the engineer. Very much himself again, he was in an ugly mood. Not even thanking them for their efforts in saving his life, he said gruffly: