had found. As he turned to go he picked up a bit of the rock that
he had pried loose.

It was this rock that kept the secret of the tunnel from Ramon Salazar,
hidden in the brush of the hill opposite, where he had been set to spy
on the girls by Kie Wicks.

He had become rather weary of his job until he saw the professor
examining the wall of the cliff, then he braced himself up expectantly,
but relaxed again when he saw the old man looking closely at a rock in
his hand, which he carried away with him.

"He's found a colored stone that he likes," Ramon said to himself with
a sneer of contempt at the professor who was always treasuring the
brightly colored mineral specimens.

And it was this report that he carried to Kie Wicks: "They just fooled
around, had a picnic, and climbed the hill above the claims. I don't
believe they even know you jumped them."

"You mean you jumped their claims," corrected Kie Wicks.

Ramon laughed and slapped his leg. "That's a good one, yes, I jumped
their claims."

"And you'd better get busy with the assessment work, too," advised Kie.

"Who pays me for that?" demanded the cross-eyed Mexican.

"There you go again! Always wanting money! I find you some good
claims and a chance, maybe, to sell out at a big price in the future,
and you want pay for doing the assessment work. You're an ungrateful
cur!"

"Then I won't do the work. No pay, no work!"

But even as he spoke, Ramon knew that he would do whatever Kie Wicks
asked him to do. The habit of obedience to this man was too strong in
him. He had been a tool for this unscrupulous rogue for more than ten
years. Just why, he could not have told, for Kie Wicks was not a
generous master and the Mexican got little enough for his work. Rarely
ever did he get any cash out of the storekeeper, and the supplies that
Kie doled out were given grudgingly. Yet the man always returned,
after promising himself many times that he was through.

Kie had given him a small shack in the canyon, that had once been used
by some friends of his for a summer vacation, and it was this home that
sheltered his wife and eight children, which kept the Mexican faithful
to Kie.

Ramon had a bad name in the hills. He had tried his hand at every kind
of rascality. Cattle had disappeared, horses rustled and Ramon was
suspected of knowing more about them than he should. Yet it was Kie
Wicks behind him, threatening and driving him on, that made Ramon t