The day before Don Luis had made one of his occasional visits, but he had not gone into the cook tent. Even had he done so the mine owner would probably have seen nothing to make him curious. At the further end of the cook tent lay the stranger, and his bed had been curtained off by a dark-colored print curtain that looked as though it might have been placed there to partition off part of the tent. Don Luis had called merely to chat with the young engineers, and to use his keen eyes in determining whether his enforced guests were any nearer to the point of yielding to his demands upon them.
Concerning the sick man, Nicolas had remained wholly silent. He did not offer to go near the sick man, but brought whatever Tom or Harry had called for. To have the sick man on their hands had been a rather welcome break for the young engineers, since it had given them something with which to occupy themselves.
Just before dark on the fifth day, Tom strolled into the cook tent, going to the rear and parting the curtain.
"How do you feel, now?" Reade asked in a whisper.
"Much stronger, senor," came the grateful answer. "Last night, when your servant slept, I rose and walked about the tent a little to find the use of my legs again. To-day, when alone, I did the same thing. By morning I shall be fit to walk once more. Senor, do not think me ungrateful if you come into this tent, some morning, soon, and find my end of it deserted. I shall go, but I shall never forget you."
"You will please yourself, sir," Tom answered, simply. "Yet I beg you not to attempt to leave until you are able to take care of yourself. We shall not think you ungrateful if it be a long time before we hear from you again. Another thing, sir. When you go do not fail to take with you, in your pockets, food enough to last you for some days."
"I—I cannot pay for it," hesitated the stranger. "Nor, for the present, can I offer to pay you back the money you have expended on my medicines."
"Now, who said anything about that?" Tom asked, nearly as gruffly as it was possible for him to speak to a sick man. "Pay for nothing here, sir, and do not worry about it, either. You do not know how much pleasure your coming has given us. We needed something to do needed it with an aching want that would not be stilled. Looking after you, sir, has been a very welcome treat to us."
"You have been kinder to me, senores, than any one has been to me in many years," murmured the stranger, tears starting to his eyes.
"There, there! Forget it," urged Tom.