“Ah, no!  I have no enemies to-day,” cried the Mexican.  “Why should I?  I am generous and indulgent, and the soul of honor.  No one has just reason to disagree with me.  Here I give all men the round trade—­no, what in your country you call the square deal.  But you shall see.  You are now associated with me in a great, a gr-r-rand enterprise.  You shall soon see how just and generous I can be—­am always.  You shall understand why the son of a noble house need have no foes.  Senor Tomaso, I have taken one great liking to you in the few hours that we have been together.  And as for you, Senor Henrico—­”

With a courtly flourish Don Luis wheeled about to face young Hazelton.  But the sound of deep breathing was all that came from Harry.  Fatigued by the long, rough automobile ride, that young engineer had dropped fast asleep in the broad porch rocker.

“Your friend is much fatigued,” spoke Don Luis, with fine consideration.  “If you deem it best, Senor Tomaso, we will arouse him and he shall go to his room for an hour’s sleep before the evening meal.”

“If his sleeping in the chair doesn’t annoy you, Don Luis, my friend will wake up, refreshed, in twenty minutes or so.”

“So be it, then.  Let him sleep where he is.  But you, Senor Tomaso, would you not like to step inside and lie down for a while?”

“No, I thank you,” Reade answered.  “Unlike Hazelton, I feel very wide awake.  When shall we go to the mine?”

“To-morrow, or the next day,” replied the Mexican, with a gesture which almost said that “any day” would do.  “First, you must both rest until you are wholly refreshed.  Then you may want to stroll about the country a bit, and see the odd bits of natural beauty in these mountains, before you give too serious thought to work.”

“But that is not our way, Don Luis,” Tom objected.  “When we are paid a thousand dollars a month apiece we expect to do an honest day’s work six days in every week.”

“Ah, then, to-morrow, perhaps we will talk about the work.  And now, if you will pardon me, I will go inside for a few minutes in order to see about some business matters.”

Readers of the “Grammar School Boys Series,” the “High School Boys Series” and of the preceding volumes in the present series, will feel that they are already intimately acquainted with Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, a pair of young civil engineers who, through sheer grit, persistence and hard study had already made themselves well known in their profession.

In the first volume of the “Grammar School Boys Series,” Dick Prescott and his five boy chums, Greg Holmes, Dave Darrin, Dan Dalzell, Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, were introduced under the name of Dick & Co.  These six chums, standing shoulder to shoulder, made a famous sextette in school athletics.  Their start was made during their grammar school days, when they had many adventures