“‘But astonished as I was,’” Edna went on to read, “’Shirley did not seem at all surprised, but came forward and shook hands most heartily.  He said he had read in a newspaper that I had been rescued, and was doing business in Acapulco, and he had come down on purpose to find me.  I told him how we had given up him and his mate for lost, and then, as he had read a very slim account of our adventures, I told him the whole story, taking great care, as you may guess, not to say anything about the treasure mound.  He did not ask any questions as to why I did not come back with the rest of you, but was greatly troubled when he heard of the murders of every man of our crew except himself and Burke and Maka.

“’When I had finished, he told me his story, which I will condense as much as possible.  When he and Burke started out, they first began to make their way along the slope of the rocky ridge which ended in our caves, but they found this very hard work, so they soon went down to the sandy country to the north.  Here they shot some little beast or other, and while they were hunting another one, up hill and down dale, they found night was coming on, and they were afraid to retrace their steps for fear they might come to trouble in the darkness.  So they ate what they had with them, and camped, and the next morning the mountains to the east seemed to be so near them that they thought it much easier to push on instead of coming back to us.  They thought that when they got to the fertile country they would find a settlement, and then they might be able to do something for the rest of the party, and it would be much wiser to go ahead than to turn back.  But they found themselves greatly mistaken.  Mountains in the distance, seen over a plain, appear very much nearer than they are, and these two poor fellows walked and walked, until they were pretty nearly dead.  The story is a long one as Shirley told it to me, but just as they were about giving up entirely, they were found by a little party of natives, who had seen them from a long distance and had come to them.

“’After a great deal of trouble,—­I believe they had to carry Burke a good part of the way,—­the natives got them to their huts at the foot of the mountains, and took care of them.  These people told Shirley—­he knows a little Spanish—­that it was a piece of rare good luck that they found them, for it was very seldom they went so far out into the desert.

“’In a day or two the two men went on to a little village in the mountains, and there they tried to get up an expedition to come to our assistance.  They knew that we had food enough to last for a week or two, but after that we must be starved out.  But nobody would do anything, and then they went on to another town to see what they could do there.’”

“Good fellows!” exclaimed Ralph.

“Indeed, they were,” said Edna.  “But wait until you hear what they did next.