"At the risk, Don Luis, of appearing stupid, I must confess that
I did not."

"Ah, well, then we shall come to the problems presently. You
have other questions. Ask some of them."

For a moment or two Reade studied what he had written on the various
envelopes before him. Then he picked out two.

"Here, Don Luis," the young chief engineer went on, "are samples of
two lots of ore. The first is from the pile that we found pried
loose when we went into the first tunnel that we visited. It
is rich ore."

"It is good enough ore," Montez replied, with a polite shrug of
the shoulders.

"Now, from the second tunnel that we entered, and where we also
found a pile of loose ore, here is another sample. It is as rich
as the first sample."

"Certainly, Senor Tomaso."

"But in this second tunnel I had a drilling made and a blast fired.
Here," picking up a third envelope and emptying it, "is a sample
of the ore that we saw taken from that blast. If this sample
contains any gold or silver the quantity is so small, evidently,
as to render this kind of ore worthless."

"Yes?" murmured Don Luis, softly. "What is it that you have to say?"