"Very good, sir," Tom assented. "What had been in my mind was to order the drillers at work here and see a blast made."
"We can be back long before the next blast can be prepared," replied
Montez. "Carlos, lead the way to tunnel number four."
The secretary turned, retracing his steps, Don Luis bringing up the rear.
"Oho! I have dropped my cigar case," remarked Don Luis a minute later. "I will go back and get it."
The others waited near the shaft. Tom wondered, slightly, why Dr. Tisco had not volunteered to go back after his employer's missing cigar case.
Presently Don Luis appeared.
"Now we will go to number four," he said.
The cage carried them to a lower level. Here another foreman came forward to meet them and to conduct them to the heading. Here were some five tons of rock. Tom and Harry found it to be about the same grade of ore as that seen above.
"Is this ore as good as you usually find in this vein?" Tom inquired of the second foreman.
"Not quite, senor, though to-day's blasts have turned out to be very fair ore," responded the foreman.