deeply interested, bent over the unfortunate man, asking:

"By what route can this wonderful palace be reached?"

"There is no route. Between us and the Silver Palace lie waterless
deserts, great mountains, and, at last, a yawning chasm, miles in width,
miles in depth. This chasm extends entirely round the broad plateau on
which the wonderful palace stands like a dazzling dream. The bottom of
the chasm is hidden by mists which assume fantastic forms, and whirl and
sway and dash forward and backward, like battling armies. Indians fear
the place; Mexicans hold it in superstitious horror. It is said that
these mist-like forms are the ghosts of warriors dead and gone, a
wonderful people who built the Silver Palace in the days of
Cortez--built it where the Spaniard could not reach and despoil it."

Despite his doubts, the professor was listening with strong interest to
this remarkable tale.

The fourth person in the hut was the Dutch boy, Hans Dunnerwust, who sat
on the ground, his back against the wall, his jaw dropped and his eyes
bulging. Occasionally, as he listened to the words of the dying man, he
would mutter:

"Chimminy Gristmas!"

For several weeks Frank Merriwell, our hero, Hans, his chum, and
Professor Scotch, his guardian, had been exploring the country around
the city of Mendoza, Mexico. They had come to Mexico after having
numerous adventures in our own country, as related in "Frank Merriwell
Out West," a former volume of this series.

Only a short hour before they had run across the sufferer, whose head
seemed so full of the things he had seen at what he called the Silver
Palace. They had found him almost dead in a hut at the edge of a sandy
plain, suffering great pain and calling loudly for aid. They had done
what they could, and then he had begun to talk, as related above.

With surprising strength the man on the bed of grass sat up, stretching
out his hands, gazing across the sunlit sand-plain beyond the open door
of the hut, and went on:

"I see it now--I see it once again! There, there--see it gleaming like a
dazzling diamond in the sunshine! See its beautiful towers and turrets!
That dome is of pure gold! Within those walls are treasures untold!
There are great vaults of gold and silver ornaments, bars and ingots!
There are precious stones in profusion! And all this treasure would make
a thousand men rich for life! But it's not for me--it's lost to me
forever!"

With a stifled moan, he fell