"Yes, sir. He was a gay young man then also, and he took a liking to my master. Berry was friendly with both. The three set to work to make money at the diggings, but ill-luck pursued them. At last my master grew disgusted, and thought of returning to England. But before he went he fancied he would like to travel about Mexico for a time. He took me with him, but left Berry and Mr. Denham behind at the diggings. We went into the wilds of Mexico, and had many adventures--oh very many--and were in much danger. But we came through all, and I saved my master's life twice." "Heaven bless you!" said Frank, shaking the negro's hand. The old man nodded with a proud look. "I loved my master. He had saved me from slavery, and what else could I do but save him? For two years we travelled in the wilds. Then we met with an Indian. He had been deserted by his tribe and was dying. My master, always kind, nursed him for a long time; but he grew weak, and at last he died." "What sort of Indian was he?" asked Natty--"a red-skin?" "No. We were not so far north as that. He said he was an Aztec." "Aha!" murmured Eustace, "now we are coming to the treasure." Tamaroo nodded. "You are clever, Mr. Jarman. Yes, this Indian told my master, when dying, that he knew of a treasure hidden under the sign of the Scarlet Bat." "Kind of totem," said Jarman. Tamaroo looked puzzled. "I do not know what that is," he said simply, "but the Scarlet Bat was a sign set by the great King Montezuma on a rock, under which he concealed part of his treasure. The Indian--he was a cacique--enraged by the desertion of those who should have saved his life, told the secret to my master." "And how did the cacique know?" "The secret had been handed down from his fathers." Denham nodded. "I've heard of that sort of thing before," he said. "Some Indians know where the treasures of Montezuma are hidden; but the greater part of the hoard remains undiscovered. They will not reveal its whereabouts to a white man." "True," assented Tamaroo. "They hate white men. But my master was so kind that he won the gratitude of the cacique. When the man was dying he told, and gave a chart. Then we buried him." "And went to look for the treasure?" asked Frank. "No, sir. It was a wild country where there were many Indians. We should have been killed had we gone alone. My master returned to the diggings and offered to share the treasure with Berry and with Mr. Denham, if they would come with him to find it." "Did they agree?" asked Natty, eagerly. "Of course they did, or all this trouble wouldn't have come about," put in Eustace, decisively.