"Sit down and chat with us until you tire of our company," urged
Harry Hazelton.
So Montez and Tisco dropped into the campstools again. They tried to chat on various topics, but conversation proved a failure.
"We will go, now," said Don Luis, rising twenty minutes later. "But, senores, we shall hope to see you daily until our investors arrive and then all the time."
"You will find us always at your command, Don Luis," Tom remarked, cordially.
"Ah, my good Carlos," murmured Don Luis, as the Mexican pair sped homeward in the car, "for once you made a bad guess. You insisted that the Gringos would hold out and would not serve me. You have seen my patience and my firmness win over their foolish, stubborn objections."
"But they still hope to trick you, my patron," suggested Dr. Tisco. "Doubtless, now, their intention is to serve you until they can escape; then they plan to get back to the United States and furnish the testimony on which the American investors can sue you in the courts for the return of the purchase money on a charge of fraud."
"There, again, the Gringos can meet only defeat," chuckled Don Luis, his lips to his secretary's ears. "As soon as the sale is made I shall see to it that our pair of young American engineers are promptly done to death!"
CHAPTER XXI
THE FINAL TOUCH OF TRAGEDY
On the day announced, at about eleven in the morning, two automobiles reached Don Luis's home. Besides the mine owner the cars contained nine other travelers, all Americans.