manner that the sick man was
quick to take notice.

"What is it?" he asked, rising on his elbow and looking at Don
Esteban with burning gaze. "What is it? Has anything happened to
the box?"

"Yes," faltered the banker, "it has been stolen."

"Stolen!" almost shrieked Santiago. "Stolen! Then there stands
the thief!" and he pointed to Strong, who stood with blanched
face.

"We know that," said Billie, "but the box has been stolen again
and no one knows where it has gone."

"You are wrong," muttered Strong. "It has not been stolen. It is
in the bank where it always was."

"Impossible!" cried Don Esteban. "How could it be back in the
vault?"

"Ask Ambrosio," replied Strong, with a wan smile. "He can tell."

"Of course he cannot tell," almost shouted Don Esteban.

"Then we shall never know; but I am sure the box is there."

"Send for it! Send for it!" cried Santiago. "Send for it at once
that I may turn over to my daughter the secret of the mine."

"That you will never be able to do," said Strong. "It has been
destroyed."

"Destroyed!" burst from almost every lip. "Destroyed? How?"

Strong shook his head.

"I can't tell. Again you'll have to ask Ambrosio. It is he who
destroyed it."

"By George!" exclaimed Billie, "I knew I ought to have killed
that monk the first time I had any dealings with him. I'm sorry
now that I didn't."

"At any rate," declared Don Esteban, "I shall send for the box."

He turned to Santiago, who had fallen back upon his pillow, and
over whom the physician was bending and feeling his pulse.

"I shall send for it at once," he repeated.

Slowly the physician raised his head and loosed his hold upon the
sick man's wrist.

"It is too late," he said. "He will not need it. He is dead."

* * * * *

On board a returning army transport bound for New York stood the
Broncho Rider Boys casting their last glance shoreward as the sun
was setting behind the mountains that form the background of the
city of Vera Cruz. Over the city still waved the Stars and
Stripes, and as the darkness fell and the tip of Mt. Orizaba
gradually faded from sight, Billie turned to the others and in a
voice tinged with sadness remarked:

"There's only one thing about the whole country that I admire."

"What's, that?" asked Adrian. "Lucia?"

"No; it's the wholesome respect the Mexicans show for
Brigadier-General Funston."

"Yes, and if he is let alone, he'll make them resp