on to the
greasers for ten thousand dollars?"

"Of course I do!" in a somewhat stronger voice.

"Perhaps you'll deny that you are Strong, the mountebank. You
don't think for one minute that I don't know you in spite of your
make-up, do you?"

"No, I'll admit that I'm the mountebank. As for my name that is
of small importance in a country like this. But I did not sell
Gen. Funston, as you put it. I knew the man I pointed out was not
Funston and I knew that as soon as the Mexicans found it out they
would let him go. Some one might have told them rightly. As it
was I spoiled their game and I got the money. Do you think it any
crime to do that?"

"That's a matter I am not in a position to discuss," was Billie's
answer. "But how about robbing the bank?"

"I had as much right to the box as any one."

"You'll have to prove that to some one besides me; all I can do
is to turn you over to the authorities."

"Never!" cried Strong. "I'll die before I'll rot in a Mexican
jail!"

He uttered a peculiar noise and before Billie could imagine what
it meant, he felt himself seized from behind by a pair of hairy
hands.

He had been in that clutch once before and recognized in an
instant that he was in the grip of the ape.

He gave one loud cry for help and then turned loose with his
automatic.

The tumult which followed is beyond description. Billie's shout
was as nothing compared to the cry of the ape as one of the
bullets struck him in the leg and another pierced his foot.
Loosing his hold upon the lad, he grabbed for the weapon, but
Billie managed to evade him and would undoubtedly have slain the
animal had not Strong sprung to his assistance, with the result
that in another minute Billie was disarmed.

Ill would the lad have fared then, at the hands of his two
assailants, had not the noise attracted to the scene several
soldiers, while an instant later came a loud shout as Donald and
Adrian dashed into the patio.

On the other side of the square they had heard Billie's shout,
followed by the automatic, and had rushed to his aid.

In another minute both Strong and his hairy friend were overcome
and securely bound.

"Where did you find him?" asked Donald, pointing to Strong.

"Down there," was Billie's reply, as he pointed toward the still
open underground passage way.

"How did he get there?"

"I suppose he entered from a similar entrance in Don Esteban's
patio. I have had an idea all the time that there was