the house
extended the drive-way leading into a large court in which a fountain
played. Around the upper story of the house a balcony encircled
the court and around the windows there were also small balconies.

Many servants, most of them male, ministered to the wants of those
in the house. There were gardeners, hostlers, drivers, chauffeurs
and other employs, making a veritable colony of help that was
housed in small, low white houses well to the rear.

Some thirty acres of grounds had been rendered beautiful by the
work of engineers, architects and gardeners. Nature, on this
estate, had been forced, for the natural soil was stony and sterile,
in keeping with the mountains and the shallow valleys in this
part of the little and seldom-heard-of state of Bonista.

To the eastward lay, at a distance of some two miles, one of the
sources of Senor Montez's wealth _El Sombrero_ Mine, producing
some silver and much more gold. At least so the owner claimed.

It was Senor Luis Montez himself who had gone to the nearest railway
station, seventy miles distant, and there had made himself known,
that forenoon, to the two young engineers from the United States.

Tom and Harry had come to _El Sombrero_ at the invitation of Montez.
After many careful inquiries as to their reputation and standing
in their home country, Montez had engaged the young men as engineers
to help him develop his great mine. Nor had he hesitated to pay
the terms they had named--one thousand dollars, gold, per month,
for each, and all expenses paid.

Over mountain trails, through the day, much of the way had of
necessity been made slowly. Wherever the dusty, irregular roads
had permitted greater speed, the swarthy Mexican who had served
Senor Montez as chauffeur on the trip had opened wide on the speed.
At the end of their long automobile ride Tom and Harry fairly
ached from the jolting they had received.

"There are other beautiful features of this gr-r-rand country
of mine," the Mexican mine owner continued, lighting his second
cigar. "I am a noble, you know, Senor Tomaso. In my veins flows
the noble blood of the hidalgos of good old Spain. My ancestors
came here two hundred and fifty years ago, and ever since, ours
has been truly a Mexican family that has preserved all of the
most worthy traditions of the old Spanish nobles. We are a proud
race, a conquering one. In this part of Bonista, I, like my ancestors,
rule like a war lord."

"You