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He alone among the men knew the cause of Worth's disappearance. "Trouble." Leaning against the door which gave entrance to the ball-room from the hall were two officers, negligently interested in the moving picture. "What do you make of it?" asked one. "Body of Bacchus, you have me there!" "Shall we go?" "No, no! The prince himself will be here at eleven.
General Scott, with Worth's division, was now occupying Tacubaya, a village some four miles south-west of the City of Mexico, and extending from the base up the mountain-side for the distance of half a mile. More than a mile west, and also a little above the plain, stands Molino del Rey. The mill is a long stone structure, one story high and several hundred feet in length.
Every man in Jefferson Worth's employ, who could find a place to lay his hand on the building, was put on the job. By the time the house was finished the furniture had arrived. It was quitting time and Pablo, who with four Mexican laborers had been at work grading the yard and removing the rubbish that had accumulated incident to building, dismissed his helpers.
Someone must care for them." They were interrupted by a clerk who handed a paper to the banker. "This is ready for your signature, sir." Jefferson Worth's face was again a cold, gray mask. Methodically he affixed his name to the document. Then to the clerk: "You may give Miss Worth whatever money she wants." The employe smiled as he answered: "Yes, sir," and withdrew. Barbara turned to follow.
The quiet was broken by the slow, drawling voice of Texas Joe. "Evenin' boys. What for is the stampede? We-all trusts you ain't aimin' to tromp out the grass none on Mr. Worth's premises." Within the house Barbara and her father heard the drawling challenge and the color returned to the young woman's cheeks as she smiled and whispered: "Good old Uncle Tex."
In that movement the engineer company was at the head of Worth's division. The road ran between the western border of the lake and a high range of hills which, in some places, rose from the water's edge. The road was narrow and rough; and had been obstructed by rolling immense masses of stone upon it from the almost overhanging cliffs.
"Everything is all right," answered Jefferson Worth, and with his words something of his calm confidence went to Abe Lee. When the two men reached Worth's apartment the surveyor, without hesitation, began stripping off his clothes. "I want a good bath first," he said. "And while I am at it will you please have a good thick beefsteak cooked rare and sent up here?
"Burned them without reading," Worth's impatient tones corrected. "Without reading!" the other echoed, startled. Then, after a long pause, "Oh I say pardon me, but but ought that to have been done? Surely not. Worth if you'd read your father's diaries for the past few years I don't believe you'd have a doubt that he committed suicide not a doubt." Worth sat there mute.
Worth's big brown paw went out and covered her little hand that lay on the table's edge. "Now we're getting somewhere," he encouraged her. As for me, I merely snorted. "Wonderful man, my eye! He's got a wonderful gang behind him." "Oh, you should have told me that you know there is a gang, Mr. Boyne," she said simply. "Of course, then, the result is different."
At Worth's, well on in the afternoon, we emerged into a wide, open farming intervale, a pleasant place of meadows and streams and decent dwellings. Worth's is the trading center of the region, has a post office and a saw-mill and a big country store; and the dwelling of the proprietor is not unlike a roomy New England country house.
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