Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: The Young Engineers in Mexico; Or Fighting the Mine Swindlers by Hancock H Irving Harrie Irving
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page
Ebook has 1620 lines and 50392 words, and 33 pages
In a room that was half office, half library, Senor Luis Montez was now closeted with another man, whom neither of the engineers had yet met. This man was short, slight of build and nervous of action and gesture--a young man perhaps twenty-six years of age. Carlos Tisco was secretary to Don Luis. Tisco was a graduate of a university at the capital City of Mexico, a doctor of philosophy, no mean chemist, a clever assayer of precious metals and an engineer. In a word Dr. Tisco had been so well trained in many fields of science that it was a wonder that Don Luis should feel the need of employing the two young American engineers.
"You have seen my new engineers, Carlos?" queried Don Luis, almost in a whisper, as the two men, bending forward, faced each other over a flat-top desk.
"Through the window shutters--yes, Don Luis," nodded the secretary, a strange look in his eyes.
"Then what do you think of the Gringo pair, my good Carlos?" pursued Don Luis.
"Gringo" is a word of contempt applied by some Mexicans to Americans.
"I--I hardly like to tell you, Don Luis," replied the younger man, with an air of pretended embarrassment.
"Ah! Then no doubt you feel they are not as clever as they have been rated--my two Gringos," smiled the mine owner. "Rest easy, Carlos. It may be better if they be not too clever."
"It--it is that which I fear, Don Luis," replied the secretary, in a still lower voice. "I have been studying their faces--especially their eyes as they spoke. Don Luis, I much fear that they are very clever young men."
"Ah! Then again that is not bad," laughed the master gayly. "If they be clever, then they will not need so much explanation."
Now the secretary became bolder.
"Don Luis, though you have spent many years in the United States, I fear you do not at all understand some traits of the Gringo character," warned Dr. Tisco. "For example, you want these young men for a special service, and you are willing to pay them generously--lavishly in fact. Has it escaped you, Don Luis, that some of these obstinate, mule-headed Gringos are guilty of an especial form of ingratitude which they term honor?"
"I know that some Gringos make much bombastic use of that term, while other Gringos scoff at the word 'honor,'" replied the mine owner, thoughtfully. "But even suppose that these Gringos have absurdly fanciful ideas of honor? They will never guess for what I really want them. Their work will be done, to my liking, and they will go away from here with never a suspicion of the kind of service they have performed for me."
"Pardon me, Don Luis," murmured Dr. Tisco, "but to me they do not look like such fools. They will suspect; they will even know."
"It matters little what they suspect, if they hold their tongues," replied the mine owner.
"You will have to appeal to their love of money, then," suggested the secretary. "You will have to pay them extremely well. Even then they may balk and refuse."
"They may even refuse your bait with death as the alternative," persisted the secretary. "Don Luis, you know that there are such foolish men among the Gringos."
"Then let them refuse me," proposed Don Luis, jestingly, though his white teeth shone in a savage smile. "If they are difficult to manage--these two young Gringos--then they will quickly disappear, and other Gringos shall come until I find those that will serve me and be grateful for their rewards."
"I wish you good fortune with your great schemes, Don Luis," sighed young Dr. Tisco.
"Carlos, you have not eaten for hours. You are so famished that the whole world is colored blue before your eyes. Come, it is close to the hour for the meal. You shall meet and talk with my Gringos. You will then be able to judge whether I shall be able to tame them."
THE WOLF WHO SHOWED HIS TEETH
A rare host at table was Don Luis Montez. He possessed the manner, even if not the soul, of a great nobleman.
His daughter, Francesca, reputed to be a beauty, did not appear at table. So far the young engineers had not met her. They would be presented, however, within a day or two, after the Mexican custom, for Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton were to be guests in the white palace during their residence in this part of Mexico.
Dr. Tisco, too, tried to be most entertaining, and succeeded.
"You are the surgeon at the mine?" Harry ventured.
"Then you may be a scientific expert," Harry hazarded. "You are the expert here at the mine?"
"Not so," broke in Don Luis, gently. "It is true that Carlos has some knowledge of chemistry, but he is not a mining expert. He is my secretary, my man of affairs."
"Oh, really the manager of the mine, then?" pursued Harry. "Pardon me if I ask too many questions. I do not mean to be impertinent. But, as we are going to work here I wish to know who's who is Senor Montez' representative."
"Carlos," broke in Don Luis, again, "is rather more than the mine manager. He serves me in a variety of interests, and the mine is only one of them."
"If you wish to know whether you are to be under my instructions," Dr. Tisco continued, "I can assure you that you are not. I seldom give orders except as the direct--I might say the directed--mouthpiece of Don Luis."
"Gato will not attempt to give us any orders, of course?" Tom asked very quietly.
"Possibly not," dubiously replied Don Luis. "I really do not know. That point has not before come up to me for consideration."
"Then I hope you will make it clear to Senor Gato, Don Luis, that we are engineers, wholly in charge of our own work; that we have been engaged as experts and that we manage our own work in the way that appears to us best to serve our employer's interests."
"That can all be arranged very amicably, I am certain," replied Don Luis, as though to dismiss the matter for the present.
Dr. Tisco, covertly, was intently watching the eyes and faces of the young engineers. The secretary was most anxious to take an accurate measure of these two young Americans, who were now highly important to his plans.
After the evening meal, Don Luis summoned a number of his home retainers, who played mandolins and guitars. Some of them sang with considerable sweetness and power. The full moon, soon to wane, shed lustrous light over the tropical scene of beauty. It was a delightful evening. Tom and Harry, when they retired, found themselves ready to sleep instantly. Their bedrooms opened into a common parlor. Early in the morning they were astir.
"What shall we wear, Tom?" inquired Hazelton, going toward his trunks.
"Eh?"
"I wonder what people wear in Mexico," Harry continued. "I don't want to make any mistake in my clothing."
"The best clothing for engineers about to go down into a mine will be top-boots, khaki trousers and flannel shirts."
"But will that be suitable to go to breakfast in?" Harry asked. "Will it be showing sufficient courtesy to our host? And suppose the daughter should be at table?"
"That's so," Reade nodded. "I am sorry that we didn't fish for points last evening."
A knock came at the door.
"Aqui!" Tom answered.
The door opened slowly. A man servant of perhaps twenty-five years, attired in clean white clothes, but bare-footed, stood in the doorway, bowing very low.
Tom invited him to enter.
"How do you do, Nicolas," responded Tom, holding out his hand, which the Mexican appeared too dazed, or too respectful to take. "We may find a servant useful. But we never kept slaves, and we wouldn't dream of calling any man a dog."
"But I wouldn't beat a dog. Almost any dog is too fine a fellow to be served in that fashion," Tom explained.
"Is it ready?" demanded Harry hopefully.
"The kitchen is open, and the cooks there," Nicolas responded. "When your excellency's orders have been given the cooks will prepare your meal with great dispatch."
"Has Don Luis come down yet?" Tom inquired.
"Oh! Then your master eats in his own room?" Tom asked.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page