g read of such devices in other
dwelling-places of ancient communities, was at first for following the
boys into the unknown interior of the mesa, but before any move could
be made in that direction, one of the newly-arrived party shoved his
face over the top of the hollow altar in a spirit of investigation. He
fell back with a yell, crying out that there were spirits within it, as
his eyes encountered the crouching forms of its two occupants.

"What's the matter, you fool?" demanded Ramon himself, who happened to
be close at hand.

"Oh, the spirits! The spirits of the hollow altar!" howled the Mexican
in abject terror, his knees knocking together and his face taking on a
sickly pallor.

"Hey! What's that the crazy galoot's after saying?"

The question came from a thickset man, of about middle age, upon whose
upper lip bristled a fringe of reddish hair. His eyes were blue,
narrow and evil, and his face was scarred in half a dozen places.

"Why, Hickey, my amigo, he says that the place is haunted," laughed
Ramon.

The man addressed as Hickey turned to his two companions, one of whom
was a tall, lanky chap, with straggly black hair, and bristly, unshaven
chin. The other was a short, fat, rather good-natured looking little
man, whose truculent chin, however, gave the lie to his incessant
smile. Somehow, you felt, after a lengthy inspection of this latter,
that he was by no means the amiable personage his fixed smile seemed to
indicate. Small wonder, considering that his smile was fixed upon his
face by reason of an old knife wound, which, in severing some facial
muscles, had drawn up the corners of his mouth into a perpetual grin.

"Hullo! Here's Rafter and Con Divver!" exclaimed the
bristly-moustached one. "Well, fellows, what d'ye think of this here
country?"

"All right, as fur as we've gone," grunted the lanky man, "but I'm
itching to git across the border and git my paws on some of that gold."

"Ye're right, Rafter," agreed the man with the perpetual smile, "that's
what we're after. I ain't made a good haul since we cleaned out the
safe of that asphalt company in Venezuela."

"Well, gentlemen," smiled Ramon, in his most ingratiating manner, "you
will have ample opportunity shortly. I happen to know that one of the
first things that General Madero intends to do is to move upon the
mines of the robber Americanos, and get some of their gringo gold."

"Hooray! That's the talk," grunted Jim Hickey,