"Mr. Kruger," he said, as the old man turned to meet him, "I'll make you acquainted with Mr. De Lancey, my pardner. My name's Hooker." "Glad to know you, Hooker," responded Kruger, shaking him by the hand. "How'do, Mr. De Lancey." He gave Phil a rather crusty nod as he spoke, but De Lancey was dragging up another chair and failed to notice. "Mr. Hooker was telling me about some proposition you had, to go down into Mexico," he began, drawing up closer while the old man watched him from under his eyebrows. "That's one tough country to do business in right now, but at the same time--" "The country's perfectly quiet," put in Kruger--"perfectly quiet." "Well, maybe so," qualified De Lancey; "but when it comes to getting in supplies--" "Not a bit of trouble in the world," said the old man crabbedly. "Not a bit." "Well," came back De Lancey, "what's the matter, then? What is the proposition, anyway?" Henry Kruger blinked and eyed him intently. "I've stated the proposition to Hooker," he said, "and he refused it. That's enough, ain't it?" De Lancey laughed and turned away. "Well, yes, I guess it is." Then, in passing, he said to Bud: "Go ahead and talk to him." He walked away, lighting a cigarette and smiling good-naturedly, and the oldtimer turned to Bud. "That's a smart man you've got for a pardner," he remarked. "A smart man. You want to look out," he added, "or he'll get away with you." "Nope," said Bud. "You don't know him like I do. He's straight as a die." "A man can be straight and still get away with you," observed the veteran shrewdly. "Yes, indeed." He paused to let this bit of wisdom sink in, and then he spoke again. "You better quit--while you're lucky," he suggested. "You quit and come with me," he urged, "and if we strike it, I'll make you a rich man. I don't need your pardner on this deal. I need just one man that can keep his head shut. Listen now; I'll tell you what it is. "I know where there's a lost mine down in Mexico. If I'd tell you the name you'd know it in a minute, and it's free gold, too. Now there's a fellow that had that land located for ten years, but he couldn't find the lead. D'ye see? And when this second revolution came on he let it go--he neglected to pay his mining taxes and let it go back to the government. And now all I want is a quiet man to slip in and denounce that land and open up the lead. Here, look at this!" He went down into his pocket and brought out a buckskin sack, from which he handed over a piece of well-worn quartz. "That's the rock," he said. "She runs four hundred dollars to the ton, and the ledge is eight inches wide between the walls. Nice ore, eh? And she lays between shale and porphyry." His eyes sparkled as he carefully replaced the specimen, and then he looked up at Bud. "I'll let you in on that," he said, "half and half--or I'll pay two hundred dollars a month and a bonus. You alone. Now how about it?"