Part 17 (1/2)
Don Luis Montez rose, dipped the pen freshly in ink, and thrust it into Reade's hand.
”_Sign that report_!” ordered the Mexican.
Tom rose to his feet. So did Harry.
”Don Luis,” spoke Reade calmly, though he was inwardly raging.
”I always like to do business like a gentleman. I feel very certain that I must have made it very clear to you yesterday that I could not possibly sign any such report at the present time.
I still prefer to keep our talk within the limits of courtesy if that be also your wish.”
”Sign that report!”
”_I won't do it!_”
Tom accompanied his response by tossing the pen across the room.
”Don Luis, I don't believe that you are a fool,” continued the young chief engineer, calming down again. ”If you consider that I am utterly a fool, either, then you are doing your own intelligence an injustice. I refuse to sign this report until I have gained the knowledge for myself that every word in it is true. Further, I don't believe that I would sign it after I had made the fullest investigation. I am aware that, last night, mule-trains brought ore down over the hills from another mine, and that ore was sent down by the ore hoists into _El Sombrero_.”
”That's a lie!” cried the Mexican, hoa.r.s.ely.
”I am describing what I saw with my own eyes,” Tom insisted.
”You will sign this report, and at once!” quivered Don Luis Montez, a deadly look glittering in his eyes.
”I am quite satisfied that I shall never sign it,” Tom retorted.
”That goes for me, too,” put in Harry, stolidly.
”I feel that we have finished our work here, since we can do nothing more for you, Don Luis,” Tom went on. ”I therefore ask you to consider our engagement at an end. If you are disinclined to furnish us with transportation to the railway, then we can travel there on foot.”
”Do you hear the Gringo, my good Carlos?” laughed Don Luis, derisively.
”I hear the fellow,” indifferently replied Dr. Tisco, from the other end of the room.
”Will you furnish us with transportation from here?” Tom inquired.
”I will not,” hissed Montez, allowing his rage to show itself now at its height. ”You Gringo fools! Do you think you can defy me--that here, on my own estates, you can slap me in the face and ride away with laughter?”
”I haven't a desire in the world to slap your face,” Tom rejoined, dryly. ”All I wish and mean to do is to get back to my work in life.”
”Then listen to me, Gringos,” said Don Luis Montez, in his coldest tones. ”Your work here is to sign that report. If you do not, then you shall never leave these mountains! Your lives are in my hands. If you do not serve me as I have ordered, then I shall feel obliged--in self-defense--to destroy you!”
CHAPTER X
THE SPIRIT OF A TRUE ENGINEER
”Do you know, Don Luis,” drawled Tom, ”that you have one fine quality?”
”What do you mean?” demanded the Mexican.