Part 15 (2/2)
”By the way, sir,” Reade went on, carelessly, ”how far do you have to send ore to have it smelted.”
”About sixty miles.”
”By mule-train, I suppose.”
”Yes, Senor Tomaso.”
”It must be costly s.h.i.+pping.”
”So it is,” sighed Don Luis, ”and yet the ore is rich enough to bear easily the cost of s.h.i.+pping.”
”In what direction is the smelter?”
Don Luis pointed.
”Straight ahead, as I am showing you,” he added.
”We saw the lights of a train last night,” Tom went on. ”I judged that the mule-train came from the mines above. Yet the mule-train did not follow the direction that you have just shown me. The road runs crooked, I take it.”
”Oh, yes,” nodded their host, as carelessly as Tom had spoken.
”Do the other mines pay as well as _El Sombrero_?”
”Oh, no, Senor Tomaso,” Montez replied quickly. ”The other mines yield not anywhere near as rich ore as comes from _El Sombrero_.”
”Are you going to take us to see the other mines?” Tom hinted.
”Gladly would I do so, Senor Tomaso, only I am not on good terms with the owners.”
”I'm sorry,” Tom sighed. ”While we are here I wish that we could see much of Mexican mines. Nevertheless, when we are through here I have no doubt that you can give us letters to other mine owners.”
”Beyond a doubt,” smiled Don Luis, ”and it will give me great pleasure. But I, myself own many mines, and I am seeking to locate more. If you are suited with my employment, and if we agree, I shall be able, undoubtedly, to keep you both engaged for many years to come. Indeed, if you display sufficient resourcefulness in handling mines I do not believe it will be long ere I shall be able to pay you each fifty thousand dollars a year. I have plenty of money, and I pay generously when I am pleased and well served.”
”The scoundrel is fis.h.i.+ng for something,” thought Tom Reade, swiftly.
”I must not let him beat me in craft.”
So he exclaimed, aloud:
”Fifty thousand dollars a year, Don Luis? You are jesting!”
”I beg to a.s.sure you that I am not,” replied Montez, smiling and bowing.
”But fifty thousand a year is princely pay!” cried Reade.
”Such pay goes, of course, only to the most satisfactory of employes,”
declared Don Luis.
”At such pay,” Tom said, ”Harry and I ought to be satisfied to remain in Mexico all our lives.”
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