Perhaps I do not understand the job very well, but we shall see." Ten minutes later Tom Reade abandoned his work, rather well satisfied.
"Now, when we fire the blasts, we shall move some rock, I believe," he smiled.
The wires were attached, and all hands went back, most of them going considerably to the rear of the man at the magneto battery.
A rocking explosion followed.

Tom was among the first to run forward.
At the heading were heaps of rock.
"Get in and pry it loose.

Shovel it back," Tom ordered, in Spanish.
Shortly after, Don Luis, Dr.Tisco and Harry appeared on the scene.
They found Tom turning over the ore as it came back.

More than a dozen samples he dropped into envelopes, labeled them and put them away in his pockets.
"What ails this lot of ore ?" inquired Harry, after looking at specimens.
"It is not running as well," said Tom briefly.

"Go through the stuff and see what you think of it." "But we have much more to see, _caballeros_," interposed Don Luis.
"If you will be kind enough to indulge me here, for a few minutes more, I shall be grateful," Tom informed him.
"Oh, very good," assented Don Luis, with a shrug of his shoulders.
"But it is not my purpose to tire you with too many observations on our first trip through the mine." With a fine sample of Castillian courtesy and patience, Don Luis waited, smoking, until Reade had quite finished his inspection.
"I am now at your service, Don Luis," announced the young chief engineer, rising and going toward his employer.
The remaining four tunnels of _El Sombrero_ Mine were visited.