from his lips
in a husky groan, and he dropped in a sprawling heap on the ground at
Del Norte's feet.

The man who remained erect backed off a little, staring at the other.

"I had to do it!" whispered Del Norte. "The fool drove me to it! He was
mad! He had me by the throat, and he would have killed me! I had to do
it!"

Over and over he kept repeating those words:

"I had to do it!"

He felt himself shaking from his head to his feet. On his forehead were
great, cold beads of perspiration. His heart seemed choking him.

The man on the ground moved and groaned.

"I had to do it!" whispered Del Norte.

The torch was going out. The man on the ground lay stretched squarely
across the floor of the cave, which was not more than eight feet wide at
that point. In order to reach the torch it would be absolutely necessary
to step over him.

Del Norte started and then stopped. His teeth were chattering, and his
cheeks were fully as pale as those of the poor wretch at his feet.

The torch burned dimmer.

At last the Mexican summoned all his courage and stepped over the body,
catching up the torch. He swung it until it blazed up brightly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm sorry, Ridgeway; but you forced me!"

He stepped back over the body and turned with the torch in his hand to
take a last look. The eyes of the stricken man were staring straight up
at the rocky ceiling, and there was on his face a strangely altered
expression, at which Del Norte wondered. In truth, his look was one of
peace and happiness, and he smiled a little. His lips moved, and faintly
he whispered:

"Mother--it is--your boy--Jack!"

Then those lips were hushed forever.

CHAPTER XII.

IN THE CAVE OF DEATH.

With the smoking torch gripped in one shaking hand and the knife that
had done the terrible work in the other, Porfias del Norte hurried from
the scene of that frightful underground tragedy.

"I'm the only one left," he muttered thickly. "I can't last long in this
infernal hole."

He stopped in the central chamber.

"Where does all the smoke go to?" he exclaimed. "By this time the torch
should have filled the place to suffocation."

There was smoke enough in the chamber, but, as he stood there, he could
see it creeping across the roof above his head, striking the lower arch
of the passage, and passing on in a slow, gentle current.

"It finds an outlet somewhere!" he whispered, feeling his heart giving a
sudden leap in hi