id not care to follow us
in."

"And Don Miguel?"

"We left him with the officers. He would not even try to get away."

"And why did your flight take this direction?" asked Nestor, glad that
the diplomat was still in custody, where he would be obliged to give an
account of his doings.

"We came to look for the mine," was the impatient reply.

"And you found it, and left Felix there?"

Scoby's haggard face again contorted with anger.

"There is no mine!" he almost shouted. "We have been on a fool errand!
The map is a fake and a lie!"

The boys glanced at each other and smiled triumphantly. Scoby caught
the expression on their faces and dropped back hopelessly.

"And so you found it?" he said, consternation as well as inquiry in his
voice.

"Never mind that now," Nestor replied. "Where is the Mexican?"

"Dead!" was the startling and unexpected reply.

"You quarreled, then?" asked Nestor.

"He fell over a cliff," was the reply. "I tried to save him, but he
drew me over with him. I broke my leg and he broke his neck. Give me
the flask!"

The request was complied with, and the fellow drank thirstily, the
strong liquor slipping down his throat like water. He passed the flask
back and closed his eyes. Then Big Bob, who had evidently been
listening to the conversation, beckoned to Fremont. Wondering what the
fellow could have to say to him, the boy approached the side of the
dying man.

"You recall my asking bout your first meeting with Cameron?" Big Bob
asked.

"Yes, and I wondered at it."

"There was a photograph in the Tolford envelope. Have you ever seen
it?"

Fremont shook his head, wondering if the man was going out of his mind.
He had often handled the papers, and had never come upon a photograph.

"There was one there," the other insisted. "When you get back to New
York look it up. It will pay you to do so."

"Very well," replied the mystified boy, "but why talk of that at such a
time?"

Big Bob regarded the boy questioningly, as if doubting his word.

"When the man of the photograph," he said, weakly, "was of your age, he
must have looked exactly as you look now. It is no wonder that Cameron
recognized in the newsboy the heir to the Tolford estate."

Fremont looked from Big Bob back to Nestor, then swept his eyes around
the circle of interested faces.

"He is raving!" the boy said. "What have I to do with the Tolford
estate?"

"There can be no mistake," the other declared