Billie hastened to lend a hand and in a short time the head of the ape appeared above the edge of the shaft. In his hand he held one end of a good-sized rope, which the mountebank took and tied around one of the stone pillars which supported the roof.

"Now, then," he said, "we are ready to descend into the old mine.

Which one of you will go first?"

The boys looked at each other, but there was no reply until Donald asked:

"Why should we go down at all?"

"Why," was the somewhat quizzical reply, "to show your nerve."

"Unless there is some good reason other than that, there are plenty of ways to show our nerve without lowering ourselves to the bottom of an old mine."

"There is a good reason," was the reply.

"Then tell us. If it is good, there can be no objection."

"The object of this descent," said the stranger calmly, "is to see if we cannot solve the mystery of the abandonment of the mine."

"Have you ever been down?" asked Billie.

"Often."

"There is no foul gas at the bottom?"

"Not now, as you may see by the condition of Ambrosio, who has been clear to the bottom."

"Then I am willing to be the first to descend; but first I must know more about you than I do."

"What difference does that make? You will have three friends here with me. They are all armed and I can see they know how to use their weapons. I cannot possibly harm you. I will be the third to descend. I a.s.sure you that the descent and the ascent are comparatively easy for athletic young chaps, as the sides of the shaft are very uneven. By the aid of this rope you can come up almost as easily as you would climb a ladder. The adventure is well worth your while."

"And you won't tell us who you are?"

"I have already told you. I am an American soldier of fortune. My name, if that means anything to you, is Francis Strong, and I have a.s.sumed this character of a mountebank solely for the purpose of going about the country without being molested. What I hope to do, is of no interest to any one but myself."

It was a straightforward statement and the boys saw no reason to doubt its truthfulness.

"All right, then," exclaimed Billie. "Here goes!"

He grasped the rope and lowered himself over the side. It was as Strong had said and in a very few minutes he found himself at the bottom. He could see nothing except the dim light at the mouth of the shaft.

Giving the rope a vigorous shake, as had been agreed upon, he saw another figure begin to descend, and in a short time Pedro stood beside him. Strong was next to descend, then came Ambrosio, and after him Adrian and Donald in the order named--Donald having determined to be the last, that he might be sure that everything was safe above ground.

"I should have given you this," was Strong's first remark upon alighting at Billie's side, and he drew from his pocket an electric torch. "But it slipped my mind."

"We all have them in our trunk in the City of Mexico," replied Billie, "but I doubt if either of us has one with him."

"This is sufficient, for I shall light some torches I have prepared as soon as we are ready for our work."

When Donald had descended, Strong led the way through a lateral about thirty or forty feet, at the end of which another vertical shaft had been sunk. Around the mouth of this Strong had set a number of torches, which he now proceeded to light. By their glare it was possible to see part way down the hole.

"The thing I hope to find," explained Strong, "is at the bottom of that hole, if it exists at all."

"What is that?" asked Billie.

"I think I can best answer your question," was the reply, "by reading you a translation of a paper which is said to have been found in the shaft above, where the bandits have made their rendezvous. How it came into my possession, matters not. I believe there are now enough of us here to prove or disprove its truthfulness, unless some one has been here before us."

Seating himself on a jutting boulder, Strong took from his pocket a paper, which he read as follows under the flickering torchlight:

"Being about to leave this world, I desire to obtain forgiveness for the great and only crime of my life, hence this confession.

"There were five of us. Names do not matter. They were my fellow workmen. We had been entrusted with the output of the Rosario for the year and had promised to guard it with our lives. We heard the soldiers of Maximilian coming. We were not enough to withstand them. We determined to hide the treasure in the western shaft. We carried it to the edge and threw it in. My four companions went down to cover it over with dirt, which I brought from the other shaft and gave them, shovel by shovel. A mad idea seized me. If they were dead, no one but I would know the hiding place of the treasure. I would kill them; but how? I glanced about. Great pieces of rock were on every hand. Without stopping to consider the foulness of the deed I rolled a huge piece to the mouth of the shaft and pushed it in. There was a cry of terror and I heard a voice call out to know what had happened. I said a piece of rock had broken loose and asked what damage it had done.

Only one replied. The others had been stricken down. Madly I pushed over another rock and then another and still another. Then there was silence and I fled. The soldiers found me unconscious at the bottom of the shaft. Ere I became conscious, Maximilian was no more. When I returned hither, the mine had been abandoned.

Here I have lived for years alone with my misery. Now I die. May G.o.d forgive me.

JOSe RODRIGUEZ.

CHAPTER VI.

A FEARFUL EXPERIENCE.

"Well?" queried Donald when Strong had finished reading the paper, "what are we going to do about it?"

"We are going to find out, if we can, whether Jose Rodriguez told the truth, and if he did, whether any one else has tried to prove it."

"What do you think of it, Pedro?" asked Billie, indicating the opening at their feet.

"Exactly."

"Have you ever been down in it?" asked Adrian of Strong.

"No! I did not feel equal to the task and I was afraid to ask help of any of these cutthroats."

"What do you think of it, Pedro?" asked Billie, turning to the Mexican lad, who had made no comment whatever.

"It's an old tale," was the reply, "this story of the Rosario viejo. I have heard it many times and I presume this shaft has been explored by every prospector in this section. In my opinion it is a huge hoax."

At Pedro's words, Strong's face became ashen.

"Are you telling the truth?" he asked hoa.r.s.ely.

"Indeed I am. My father knows of several who have searched the place and nothing has ever been found."

Strong drew a long breath and pa.s.sed his hand over his face.

"I have believed it true," he finally said, "ever since I first came into possession of this paper. There is something about it that rings true and I have counted upon finding sufficient wealth to enable me to achieve a long cherished plan. If what you say,"