suggested, briskly, "you
will ignore them. Pedro Gato is no longer connected with the mine."

"Not connected?" gasped the foreman, who plainly doubted his ears.

"No," broke in Don Luis. "You will take no more orders from Gato.
These _caballeros_ are the engineers, and they are in charge. You
heard the order of Senor Reade. You will clean out this tunnel,
sending the ore above to the dump."

"It shall be done," cried the foreman, bowing low before the mine
owner.

"And now, Senor Tomaso, if it suits you, we will go to another
tunnel," proposed Don Luis.

"Very good, sir," Tom assented. "What had been in my mind was
to order the drillers at work here and see a blast made."

"We can be back long before the next blast can be prepared," replied
Montez. "Carlos, lead the way to tunnel number four."

The secretary turned, retracing his steps, Don Luis bringing up
the rear.

"Oho! I have dropped my cigar case," remarked Don Luis a minute
later. "I will go back and get it."

The others waited near the shaft. Tom wondered, slightly, why
Dr. Tisco had not volunteered to go back after his employer's
missing cigar case.

Presently Don Luis appeared.

"Now we will go to number four," he said.

The cage carried them to a lower level. Here another foreman came
forward to meet them and to conduct them to the heading. Here were
some five tons of rock. Tom and Harry found it to be about the same
grade of ore as that seen above.

"Is this ore as good as you usually find in this vein?" Tom inquired
of the second foreman.

"Not quite, senor, though to-day's blasts have turned out to be
very fair ore," responded the foreman.

"I should say it is good ore," Tom remarked dryly. "Now, will
you set the shovelers at work moving this stuff back a little
way? I want to see a new drilling made and watch the results
of the blast."

"If Pedro Gato--" began the foreman, reluctantly.

"Pedro Gato has nothing to do with this," Tom answered quickly.
"Mr. Hazelton and I are privileged to give such orders as we deem
best. Will you kindly tell the foreman so, Don Luis?"

"It is quite true," replied the mine owner. "Gato is no longer
with us, and these gentlemen are in charge."

"Then I will have the ore moved back at once," agreed the foreman.

"But first we will go back out of the dirt and out of the danger
from the blast," spoke Don Luis, using a good deal the tone of
an order.

"The rest of you may go back,"