qui quiere?_" (What do you want, you boys?)

"The clothes, senor," answered Diego, in reply, pointing to the basket,
which they had deposited on the flagstones.

"Ah, that's all right! Are they from Dolores? There's a gentleman here
who has inquired half a dozen times already about his clean things. He
wants to leave to-day."

"What's his name? I have the lists here."

"What _is_ his name? I never _can_ remember these English and American
names. But here he comes himself."

As he spoke, a tall, fine-looking man, of about forty, with light hair
and complexion and wearing gold spectacles, came hurrying in from the
street.

"Now, then, senor," said he, addressing the clerk, "are those my things?
All right. Take them to my room, No. 17, on the balcony. The steamer
sails for Ruatan this afternoon, before sunset, and I must send my
baggage on board at once. Where is the servant you promised to engage
for me?"

"Senor, the young man I hoped to get will not go on such an expedition
as yours, and has backed out, at the last moment, after promising me he
would be ready."

Lee and Diego both pricked up their ears at the word "expedition," and
Diego took off his cap and said:

"Where might the gentleman be going?"

"I'm going to make some explorations, and to try to find some ruined
cities in Central America. Not an easy task, for their situation is not
precisely known, and many have been baffled in trying to find them. I
want a young man who is a good traveler and handy, and who speaks both
Spanish and English, so that he can act as an interpreter."

"But just where are you going, sir?"

"Why, to Ruatan, first--where I shall get my outfit, and engage some
canoe hands and a cook; and then to Truxillo, for more precise
information. I may go up the River Maugualil, or some other stream. It
will depend upon what I hear."

Diego and Lee looked at each other as much as to say, "Why wouldn't we
do? We must do something, and that at once; and here is a chance for
travel and adventure, too."

Lee even forgot his design of returning North, and said to the
gentleman:

"I am an American, sir, willing and strong, and ready for anything which
will give me an honest living and a chance to see something new; and my
friend here speaks Spanish, for it is his native tongue--and also
English well enough. If you'll take us both, there is nothing to prevent
us from going, for we have left our vessel."

The gentleman looked closel