have
the heart to turn him down. So he sold out his shop to one of his own
society, and I brought him out at night. I didn't know just what I'd do
with him, but it turns out that he is a dandy cook, and Mrs. Melton
insists that my running across him was a rare streak of luck."

"It certainly was for him, anyway," said Bert. "I'd hate to have anything
happen to the old boy. He had a pretty rough deal in Mexico."

"He did, for a fact," agreed Melton reminiscently, "and he hasn't gotten
over it yet. A little while ago one of my men brought in a snake that he
had killed on his way back from town. The boys were looking at it when
the Chink happened to come along, and one of them, in a joke, threw it at
him. You never saw a fellow so scared. I thought for a minute he was
going to throw a fit."

"I don't wonder," said Dick soberly.

For he, as well as Wah Lee, would never look upon one of those hideous
reptiles without a shudder. As clearly as though it were yesterday, he
saw again that morning in the Mexican hills, when, tied to a tree, he had
looked upon the monster rattlesnake that was to torture him, and prayed
that he might have courage to die without disgracing his manhood. Wah
Lee, his companion in captivity, had been brought out first, thrown flat
on the ground and fastened securely to stakes. Just out of reach, a
rattlesnake, with a buckskin thong passed through its tail, was tied to a
stake. Tortured by rage and pain, the reptile struck at the Chinaman's
face, but couldn't quite make the distance. Then water was poured on the
thong and it began to stretch. With each spring the awful fangs came
nearer, and it was only a question of minutes before they would be
embedded in the victim's flesh. Then, from the woods, Melton's bowie
knife had whizzed, slicing the snake's head from his body, and the next
instant in a rain of bullets the rescuing party had burst into the
clearing.

Later on, they had found Wah Lee on their hands, and at his earnest
entreaties had taken him with them to Panama. There he had found
employment in the house of a wealthy Japanese landholder, and by the
merest chance had been able to convey to Bert a hint of the conspiracy to
destroy the Canal. The plot had been frustrated by Bert's daring exploit,
and on the return of the party to America Wah Lee had again accompanied
them. When they had provided for him and sent him West they never thought
that again their paths would cross. Yet here he was,