"Don Luis," went on Mr. Haynes, quickly, "I fear that I really shall have to interrupt your drive for a little while. I have just received news that I shall want to discuss with you."
"Why, your news refers to nothing more than a wreck on your Arizona railway system, doesn't it?" inquired Don Luis, who was eager to get away and attend, as speedily as possible, to the impending assassination of the young engineers.
"You will oblige me by coming back to the house, won't you, Don Luis?" insisted Mr. Haynes, who seemed, somehow, a changed man within the last minute.
"Certainly," agreed the Mexican courteously, and the chauffeur turned the car.
As they walked along, Mr. Haynes managed to whisper a few words in Mr. Ellsworth's ear.
"I have sent Ellsworth to call all our associates together," explained
Mr. Haynes, as he joined Don Luis and the young engineers on the
porch. Something in the changed atmosphere of the place made
Don Luis Montez feel decidedly uneasy.
The Americans responded quickly to Mr. Ellsworth's rounding up.
Each of them, as he came forward, looked unusually grave. Mr.
Haynes waited until he saw all of his associates around him.
Then he began:
"Don Luis, in my recent absence a telegram came for me. Mr. Hippen, though a director of our railway, is not familiar with the telegraph code that we use in our inner office. This telegram, sir"—unfolding it—"is from my private secretary, a most careful and trustworthy man of affairs. I feel certain, Don Luis, that he would not have sent this telegram unless he had had the strongest reasons. Now, in our office code a wire relating to a wreck of Train Thirteen—there's no such train on our schedule—means always just one thing. The significance of this telegram is, 'Don't on any account put through the impending deal.'"
If Don Luis Montez felt any inward start he controlled his facial expression wonderfully.
"Senor Haynes," he replied, "I don't understand the meaning of your code message. You have no deal here to put through. You have made and closed the only deal here about which I have the honor to know anything."