ned upon her with surprise so well-feigned that she fully believed
he had not heard her coming.

"He's my chauffeur, Mrs. Brundage," he said. "He is of Spanish blood,
born in the Republic of La Plata. With the skill which is second nature
to him he has tracked me to your house--to tell me that my car is
already repaired, and that the Earl of Toronto--er--the Marquis of
Ontario is sending out party after party to search the whole countryside
for us. With your permission, Pepe el Lagarto will remain here until the
Lady Adelina is able to proceed, when he will guide us to the place
where the car is concealed."

Dick led the way back to the Brundage kitchen, where he made this
strange servant sit down, and set before him half a tumbler of rum.

"I hope," he said magnificently, "that you will pardon my listening to a
full account of his doings. It is in the interest of the Lady Adelina
that I should know everything; and the conclusion of my narrative to
you, Mrs. Brundage, must, I regret to say, be postponed."

He turned to Pepe, and spoke in the lazy Spanish of the Argentine.

"And now, you dog," he said, with manner as smooth as his words were
harsh, "how dare you come fawning on me, after helping these filthy,
misbegotten sons of Satan to kidnap a lady?"

Pepe writhed with discomfort and apprehension, even while his eyes
continued to adore his idol over the rim of the glass from which he
sipped his rum. And this contradiction in expression interested Mrs.
Brundage so much that she went quietly about her work, hoping by hard
listening to steal some meaning from the soft words which came pouring
out in exculpation.

CHAPTER XV.

THE LIZARD.

Pepe el Lagarto was pleading his innocence of the only thing which he
counted sin, and asseverating his devotion to the only being he loved;
and this, condensed, is the story to which Mrs. Brundage attached all
meanings but the right one.

He had been in THEIR hands, oh! many months. He did what
THEY would, so long as they paid him in coca-leaf to chew, a
little cocaine when the leaves ran out, and enough food to live by.

THEY could get coca-leaf--but the Lizard could get it from no
other. Nothing mattered but the leaves--and Dicco el Cojeante. Five
years it was since Pepe had seen him; Pepe had taken to the sea once
more to find him, perhaps, in England.

Oh, yes! Last night they had brought in a woman--a lady abducted. He
would have put his knife in her, had TH