llow, and then you've got to help me out."

"Fire away," said the gallant Penhallow and Polly repeated as nearly as
she could remember the tale that Juan Pachuca had told her that night in
Athens. Penhallow's eyes snapped.

"By gum, I bet you're on the trail! He and those Mexicans are looking up
the stuff."

"Of course they are, but why do they come on horseback? They can't carry
bullion on their saddles."

"They probably don't more than half believe the yarn themselves," said
Sam, meditatively. "They're just snooping round to see if there's anything
in it. And automobiles ain't so common round here that you can pick one up
every time you feel like hunting treasure, either. I own the only one in
town and I loaned it to-day to a good-for-nothing guy that's courtin'
Mabel, worse luck!"

"We've got Mendoza and his Ford," said Polly, eagerly. "If I run up and
get my hat and coat, will you slip down and pry him out of that saloon and
the three of us run out to Wildcat Canyon before those Mexicans can get
there?"

"You bet I will," replied the willing Sam.

"Oh, Mr. Penhallow, you're the kind of man that I admire!" Polly's eyes
shone. "You've got imagination--it's the only thing Marc Scott hasn't
got."

"Well," grinned Penhallow, "I wouldn't worry about that if I was you; it
ain't such an awful good quality to marry. My wife used to kick about it a
whole lot." But Polly was gone. "I knew it!" chuckled Sam. "I knew Scotty
was meditatin' matrimony by the way he jumped me. Fine girl, that. For ten
cents I'd give him a run for his money."

Faced with the alternative of driving his car or allowing someone else to
do it, Mendoza capitulated and allowed Penhallow to coax him out of the
saloon. They drove down the street back of the houses and were joined by
Polly who was waiting in the shadow for them. The Mexican girl saw the car
as it passed the kitchen window, as she afterward told Clara, but failed
to recognize Penhallow who sat on the further side.

"Do we have to pass the Mexicans or can we go another way?" asked Polly.

"We can take another road and beat them to the fork," said Penhallow.
"Then we'll have the canyon to ourselves. This way, Mendoza."

"You know, Mr. Penhallow, this gold was stolen from one of the mines owned
by our company," said the girl. "That's one reason I'm so anxious to find
it. It will mean something to my brother."

"Sure it will."

"There ought to be a reward, oughtn't there? Not that