"Excuse me, gentlemen," he said, speaking genially but with an affected Spanish lisp. "I have seen you ride past several times--are you working for the big company up at New Fortuna?" "No, _señor_," answered De Lancey courteously, "we are working for ourselves." "Good!" responded Aragon with fatherly approval. "It is better so. And are you looking at mines?" "Yes," said De Lancey non-committally; "we are looking at mines." "That is good, too," observed Aragon; "and I wish you well, but since you are strangers to this country and perhaps do not know the people as well as some, I desire to warn you against that one-eyed man, Cruz Mendez, with whom I have seen you riding. He is a worthless fellow--a very _pelado_ Mexican, one who has nothing--and yet he is always seeking to impose upon strangers by selling them old mines which have no value. "I have no desire to speak ill of my neighbors, but since he has moved into the brush house up the river I have lost several fine little pigs; and his eye, as I know, was torn from his head as he was chasing another man's cow. I have not suffered him on my ranch for years, he is such a thief, and yet he has the effrontery to represent himself to strangers as a poor but honest man. I hope that he has not imposed upon you in any way?" "No; not at all, thank you," responded De Lancey, as Bud raised his bridle-reins to go. "We hired him to pack out our tools and supplies and he has done it very reasonably. But many thanks, sir, for your warning. _Adios!_" He touched his hat and waved his hand in parting, and Bud grinned as he settled down to a trot. "You can't help palavering 'em, can you, Phil?" he said. "No matter what you think about 'em, you got to be polite, haven't you? Well, that's the way you get drawn in--next time you go by now the old man will pump you dry--you see. No, sir, the only way to get along with these Mexicans is not to have a thing to do with 'em. 'No savvy'--that's my motto." "Well, '_muchas gracias_' is mine," observed De Lancey. "It doesn't cost anything, and it buys a whole lot." "Sure," agreed Bud; "but we ain't buying nothing from him--he's the one particular _hombre_ we want to steer clear of, and keep him guessing as long as we can. That's my view of it, pardner." "Oh, that's all right," laughed De Lancey, "he won't get anything out of me--that is, nothing but a bunch of hot air. Say, he's a shrewd-looking old guinea, isn't he? Did you notice that game eye? He kept it kind of drooped, almost shut, until he came to the point--and then he opened it up real fierce. Reminds me of a big fighting owl waking up in the daytime. But you just watch me handle him, and if I don't fool the old boy at every turn it'll be because I run out of bull."