"I wonder if we're going to make the telegraph station by daylight!"
Harry went on.
"I'm afraid not. But we ought to be there some time during the forenoon."
"That will give Don Luis time, perhaps, to wake up to our disappearance and send men after us," hinted Harry.
Tom's face grew long at this suggestion. He was well aware that Don Luis Montez was a man who was both dreaded and obeyed in these mountains.
"Oh, well, we'll do all we can for ourselves," Tom proposed.
"We'll keep cheerful about it, too—until the worst happens."
"I'm rested, Tom. Shall we start along?"
"Yes; for we're both anxious to get through!"
Once more Reade took the lead. They trudged another mile, often without finding the semblance of a trail. Finally, they discovered what seemed to be a crude road leading in their general direction.
Ahead boulders loomed up. They were getting into a rough part of the mountains.
As Tom plodded around a bend in the road, past a big rock, he heard a low laugh.