Soon after a considerable company came riding by, consisting of about twenty mounted men and boys, driving before them a number of burros and horses. Most of the party passed without noticing the two marines, but at the rear of the cavalcade was one man who permitted nothing to escape his roving eyes. Spying Dick and Henry, he rode up and inquired in Spanish as to their business. "Buenos dias, amigos! I see you are hunting! What luck have you had?" "Very poor luck," Dick replied, looking up at his interrogator but without deigning to rise. "And what did you hope to shoot along this trail, my friend?" inquired the native, looking searchingly at Dick. "’Most anything--we heard that the ground doves were plentiful, but it has not proven so to-day." "Where do you come from, stranger?" the horseman now asked. "I know you are Americans, but I have never seen you around this part of the country before, and I know every foreigner from Monte Cristi to the border." "We are just passing through," said Dick, evading a direct answer. "Ah! Then, of course, you are bound for Copey. I regret I cannot be there to offer you the hospitality of my home, humble though it is. I am Señor Don Antonio Lugo y Suarrez, alcalde[#] of the town, and if you are to remain in this neighborhood for any length of time, it will----" [#] Alcalde--Mayor. "Thank you, Señor, but we are to be here but a short time, otherwise----" and Dick, now having risen, waved his hand in a gesture that was meant to indicate his regret. "Nevertheless, I shall hope for the pleasure, Señors, and now I must hurry along to my friends. Adios, amigos!" and with a low bow, the alcalde put spurs to his steed and disappeared up the trail. "That fellow is a slick one, Hank. He talks too much, and he’s too suave to suit me. As for his expressions of regret and regard--it’s all tommy-rot." "He surely kept his eyes busy during his visit," drawled Henry. "Well, there was nothing to satisfy his curiosity," said Dick, looking around to see if he was correct in his statement. "By jinks, Hank, if he put two and two together he might have cause to suspect. You know I didn’t give him any satisfaction as to who we were, but as alcalde, he naturally would have heard of the _Denver_ being busy around Manzanillo Bay, and so it’s easy to connect us with the ship. But if he wanted proof of what we were doing, there is the evidence." Henry immediately sat up to look where Dick pointed. On a small tree near by were hanging the two canteens of water with the black letters "U.S.M.C." stenciled on their sides, while on the ground beneath, the flap to one of the hunting-bags had fallen open, and there lay note-book, pencil, tally register, compass, and a rough sketch of the locality around the Bay, which Dick had brought along as a possible aid in their work.