The two men and the boy wandered about the church aimlessly, saying little, but thinking a great deal, impatiently awaiting the arrival of Bob Stallings, to whom they now looked to show them the way out of their difficulty. The foreman arrived, in the course of half an hour, with his pony on a sharp run. They had heard him approach, and were outside waiting for him. "Well, this is a nice kettle of fish!" exclaimed Stallings, leaping to the ground, tossing his reins to Curley Adams. "Tell me about it." Once more Tad Butler related all the facts in his possession regarding Stacy Brown's mysterious disappearance. "Big-foot thinks it's spooks," added Tad. "That's all bosh," exploded the foreman. "It's getting late in the afternoon, and I've no time to waste. I'll find him for you. What ails you, Big-foot? Getting weak in the knees?" "Not as I knows of. This funny business is kinder getting on my nerves, though." "Humph!" grunted the foreman, starting for the church in long strides. "Nerves in a cowboy! Humph!" They watched the tall figure of Stallings charging through the adobe house, peering here and there, asking questions in short, snappy sentences, going down on his knees in search of footprints. Finally he rose from his task with a puzzled look in his eyes. "Tell me that story again," he demanded. Tad did so. The foreman went outside and surveyed the building from all sides. "There's some secret room or passage in there somewhere. The gopher has stumbled into it. We are going to discover the mystery of the church of San Miguel before we have done here--that is, we are if we're lucky," he added. Bob Stallings' words were prophetic, though he did not know it. The discovery was to be one that would give the big foreman the surprise of his life, and that would affect all his after life as well. CHAPTER XXIII SOLVING THE MYSTERY "We can't do much of anything more until daylight," announced the foreman finally. "You see, it's getting dark now." "You--you are going to leave him here?" asked Tad hesitatingly. "That's all we can do, so far as I see. But we'll put one of the men on guard to watch the place. To-morrow morning we'll take it upon ourselves to tear down that door that's sealed up. It may lead into the place where the boy fell in. Yes; we'll bring down the whole miserable shack if necessary." "You--you think he is here, then?" "Of course. Where else could he be? He walked away and disappeared right before your eyes. He could not get away if he had gone outside. So where is he? In the church, of course." "Then I will remain here and watch the place," decided Tad firmly. Stallings glanced at him hesitatingly.