Part 5 (1/2)

”Just a few minutes more,” he began, ”and I'll go with you to see Dr. La Vega-”

Biff interrupted to say that Dr. La Vega was being brought to the hotel and as Mike added details of the cave-in, Bortha's eyes went wide with alarm. He hurried from his room to meet the stretcher bearers as they entered the patio. Mrs. Brewster arrived to say that the hotel was sending for the village doctor, and Mr. Brewster commented: ”Good. Dr. La Vega has already become partly conscious, but he must be kept quiet until we know how seriously he is hurt.”

They placed Dr. La Vega in a bedroom, and Mrs. Brewster, who was an experienced nurse, took charge of the patient. In the patio, the twins listened breathless while Mr. Brewster related all that had happened in a style that was all the more dramatic because it was simply told.

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Standing by were the workers, silent and stolid as if nothing had happened. It seemed that nothing could disturb them until Professor Bortha turned to them with a puzzled expression and asked: ”But how did you manage to escape the cave-in? You were at the inner end of the tunnel when it happened-and if it happened so quickly-”

The workers interrupted with an excited babble in their native dialect, until Chaco quieted them and became their spokesman. He turned to Mr. Brewster: ”Ten, fifteen minutes after you left us-maybe more-the lights went out, very sudden. We heard a voice, saying, ”Go-go quick! p.r.o.nto! On came the lights again, and there he was-you remember where we had been digging, Senor? Right there he stood.”

The babble rose again, the usually stolid workers reaching a high pitch of excitement as Chaco continued: ”He was wearing the face with all the jewels- green and blue-with the big stone that s.h.i.+nes like fire, here”-Chaco tapped his fingers against his chest -”and he was pointing this way, with the big knife”-Chaco extended his hand-”telling us to go-”

The other voices now were drowning Chaco's as his excited companions shouted with new frenzy: ”Tizoc! He tell us, 'Go-or you will die!' So we go! Tizoc has saved our lives!”

CHAPTER IX.

At the Sign of the Bull ANOTHER hour had pa.s.sed. The native workers had left the Hotel Pico, all except Chaco. He was waiting to hear the report of the village medico, who had arrived in the meantime and was now probing the extent of Dr. La Vega's injuries.

But before they had left, the workers, to a man, had repeated Chaco's story of the appearance of Tizoc, with added descriptions that were complete in every detail.

Unquestionably they had met the same jewel-masked, gold-robed figure that Biff and Mike had encountered in the Arista mansion. As final touches, he had been wearing the matchless fire-opal and brandis.h.i.+ng the unique obsidian knife-Tizoc's symbols of authority.

Professor Bortha had questioned the workers nar-

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rowly on all those points, using their own native dialect, a carry-over from the Aztec days. Now, Bortha summed it: ”Whoever the man was, he must have been wearing the stolen Tizoc costume. Someone must have brought it here from Mexico City.”

”That would not have been difficult,” observed Mr. Brewster. ”But how did this impostor manage to get in and out of the excavation? Is there another pa.s.sage leading there?”

”None that I know,” returned Bortha. ”What puzzles me is how Tizoc caused the collapse of the tunnel, timing it so exactly.”

”That was simple enough,” said Mr. Brewster. ”The shorings, though strong, had been so arranged that if a few were knocked away, the rest would go. But Tizoc still needed a way out for himself and the men who helped him.”

”You mean he needed helpers?”

”Absolutely. It was too fast for a one-man job unless a heavy explosive charge was used. In that case, I would have noticed the shock in La Vega's cabin.”

Biff knew that his father, through long training as an engineer, could sense a slight blast, even at a great distance. He whispered that fact to Mike, who was seated beside him in the hotel patio, both listening eagerly to all that was said.

”There is one man,” declared Bortha slowly, ”who AT THE SIGN OF THE BULL 75.

knows a lot about mining operations. That man is Justin Kirby, who is reviving the old mines in the valley. He knows a lot about our excavation work, too”-Bortha set his straight lips rather grimly-”because he has been steadily stealing our workers.”

”By offering them better wages?” asked Mr. Brew-ster.

”At first, yes,” Bortha replied. ”Then came all this Tizoc talk. Kirby could have been behind that. When workers said they saw Eagle Knights moving in and out of the excavation, they could have been some of Kirby's crew, sent to scare our men. I don't think he can afford to pay high wages any longer.”

”Because he is running short on funds?”

”Yes. He sends out s.h.i.+pments of silver by mule train, over the trail behind this hotel; but when they come back with supplies and mining equipment they are less than half loaded. Now comes this Tizoc business-”

There was an interruption as the village doctor came from Dr. La Vega's room. He reported to Professor Bortha and Mr. Brewster: ”The patient has a severe concussion, which has caused some lapse of memory. He keeps talking about some torn slips of paper, saying that he is sure that he can find them and that they will explain everything. I advise complete rest until his condition improves.”

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As soon as the medico had left, Bortha gave a puzzled frown and asked: ”What could Dr. La Vega mean by torn slips of paper?”

”These.” Mr. Brewster brought the four slips from his pocket. ”I was looking at them when the cave-in started. So I held on to them. But there are five more that Dr. La Vega still had. They went in the landslide, along with the cabin and everything in it.”

Bortha studied the slips that Mr. Brewster showed him. Bortha was prompt in his interpretation: ”Hombre-man-that could be Kirby. Very probably, because the next slip says: Que plata-what silver or which silver-and Kirby is mining silver. And this one: Oro-gold, yes, Kirby wants gold, too. But Rojo-red-I don't see how it fits.”

Ted and Monica had been listening, too. Now the twins were really in their element. To them, these slips were just another word game. They edged forward, and suddenly Ted exclaimed: ”I see how it fits! Look, the slip with rojo fits right after the one that says oro. Oro rojo. Gold red!”

”Red gold,” corrected Mr. Brewster. ”That could mean copper. Kirby would be more likely to find old copper mines than gold mines.”

”The Aztecs mined both gold and copper,” commented Bortha, ”but they paid little attention to silver. There may be more to this Tizoc game than AT THE SIGN OF THE BULL 77.

we realize. Kirby may be hoping that the natives here will lead him to old, forgotten mines.”

”Where will we find Kirby now?”

”He has probably gone down to the valley. No wonder he dodged from sight at the landing strip this morning. He wouldn't want us to see him in El Cielo, while he was planning to pose as Tizoc.” Bortha paused a moment, then added in a reminiscent tone: ”In fact, Kirby has been avoiding me constantly. He used to stop here at the Hotel Pico and keep his mules in the corral out back. But when Dr. La Vega told him to stop influencing our workers, he walked out in an angry mood. Now he stops at a little posada or inn, down in the town. The 'Bull's Head,' they call it-or the 'Fighting Bull,' I forget which. It has a picture of a bull over the door.”

”We can get back to Kirby later,” decided Mr. Brewster. ”Our first job is dig out that excavation and learn what caused the cave-in. Do you have a plan of the tunnels?”

”No, those were all in the cabin. But I have some rough diagrams which give the original measurements.”

Bortha went to get them, and Mr. Brewster told Biff and Mike that there would be no need for them to stay. The boys strolled out through the front door of the hotel and stood there, looking down at the

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quaint town of El Cielo, with the vast valley yawning like a tremendous gulf below.