n a low voice.

"Then take my arm, _chiquita_, and walk with me," urged Montez.

"My father," she cried, shrinking back, "if you will indulge me,
I will walk alone. Perhaps, in that way, I shall gain more strength
from the exercise."

"As you will," smiled Don Luis, coldly. "For myself, I have much
to think of. I have American guests coming soon. I expect that
they will buy _El Sombrero_ for money enough to make you one of
the richest heiresses in all Mexico, _chiquita_."

"For me? And I do not know how to care for money!" answered the
girl, unsteadily. Then she turned away, swiftly, unable to stand
longer looking into Don Luis's eyes.

Through the day Tom and Harry had tramped about almost feverishly,
stopping at intervals as though for rest. Now, in the late afternoon,
they were on their way back to camp by a route that took them
not far from Don Luis's grounds.

As they came within sight of the place, Tom espied Montez and
Dr. Tisco walking slowly at one end of the garden, seemingly engaged
in earnest conversation. At the farther end of the garden from
them, Francesca walked by herself, seeming outwardly composed.

"It seems strange, doesn't it," asked Harry, "that such a fine
girl can possibly be Don Luis's daughter?"

"She inherits her mother's purity and goodness, doubtless," Tom
replied.

"Ouch!" grunted Hazelton, stumbling over a stone with which his
foot had collided. At Harry's exclamation Tom glanced up, then
his eyes met a strange sight.

Lying in a cleft in the rocks, with his head behind a bush, and
well concealed, lay the stranger whom the young engineers had
nursed through an illness.

That stranger was intently gazing at the garden of Don Luis.
So absorbed was he that he had either not heard or did not heed
the passing of the two Americans.

For a brief instant Tom Reade halted, regarding the face of the
absorbed stranger.

"I didn't have an idea about you, Mr. Stranger," muttered Tom
to himself, as he plodded forward once more. "But now--now,
I'll wager that I've guessed who and what you are. Mr. Stranger,
I believe that this one glance at your face has told me your
story and your purpose in being in these mountains of Bonista!"

CHAPTER XX

TWO REAL SIGNATURES

Though they were in Mexico the young engineers found it chilly
that evening, after sundown.

"Nicolas, can you spare wood enough to start a little campfire?"
Tom asked, as he put on his blouse after s