They all went round to the back of the house, where Bethune and Dick argued with the men. The latter had been dismissed and while ready to go wanted a grievance, though some honestly failed to understand the deductions from their wages. They had drawn small sums in advance, taken goods out of store, and laid off now and then on an unusually hot day, but the amount charged against them was larger than they thought. For all that, Bethune using patience and firmness pacified them, and after a time they went away satisfied while the others returned to the veranda. "Arguing in languages you don't know well is thirsty work, and we'd better have a drink," Bethune remarked. He pushed the carafe across the table, but Dick picked up his glass, which he had left about half full. He was hot and it was a light Spanish wine that one could drink freely, but when he had tasted it he emptied what was left over the veranda rails. Bethune looked surprised, but laughed. "The wine isn't very good, but the others seem able to stand for it. I once laid out a mine ditch in a neighborhood where you'd have wanted some courage to throw away a drink the boys had given you." "It was very bad manners," Dick answered awkwardly. "Still, I didn't like the taste----" He stopped, noticing that Jake gave him a keen glance, but Stuyvesant filled his glass and drank. "What's the matter with the wine?" he asked. Dick hesitated. He wanted to let the matter drop, but he had treated Bethune rudely and saw that the others were curious. "It didn't taste as it did when I left it. Of course this may have been imagination." "But you don't think so?" Stuyvesant rejoined. "In fact, you suspect the wine was doped after we went out?" "No," said Dick with a puzzled frown; "I imagine any doping stuff would make it sour. The curious thing is that it tasted better than usual but stronger." Stuyvesant picked up the glass and smelt it, for a little of the liquor remained in the bottom. "It's a pity you threw it out, because there's a scent mine hasn't got. Like bad brandy or what the Spaniards call _madre de vino_ and use for bringing light wine up to strength." Then Bethune took the glass from him and drained the last drops. "I think it _is madre de vino_. Pretty heady stuff and that glass would hold a lot." Stuyvesant nodded, for it was not a wineglass but a small tumbler. "Doping's not an unusual trick, but I can't see why anybody should want to make Brandon _drunk_." "It isn't very plain and I may have made a fuss about nothing," Dick replied, and began to talk about something else with Jake's support. The others indulged them, and after a time the party broke up. The moon had risen when Dick and Jake walked back along the dam, but the latter stopped when they reached the gap. "We'll climb down and cross by the sluice instead of the pipe," he said. "Why?" Dick asked. "The light is better than when we came."