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must belong to the insurgent force! The rebel officer was furious, and accused the Government forces of doing habitually what the high-souled patriots he had the honour to command would not dream of when drunk! Of course the general retaliated with personalities about the insurgents and all their ancestors, and the discussion waxed hot; but at last some one had the presence of mind to suggest that while time was being wasted here, the thieves were getting comfortably away. This brought the angry warriors to terms, and they decided upon declaring a short truce. As the besiegers had but little cavalry, the besieged kindly lent a troop, and we soon had the pleasure of seeing a party composed of men who had been gaily potting at each other an hour before, starting off together quite amicably to scour the adjacent country for bandits.

The chase was a hot one while it lasted, but in a very short time the soldiers returned triumphantly with their late comrades in tow. Within half an hour the ladrones had been tried by court-martial and hanged! They should have been shot, only neither of the belligerent officers wished to waste ammunition upon them. As soon as this little piece of business was despatched, the truce was declared over, and in a very few moments the

rattle of musketry could be heard as the rival armies recommenced hostilities. As our belongings were all restored to us, I think both myself and my fellow-passengers rather enjoyed this little comic opera interlude to a serious battle. I am glad to say that our friend the general conquered, and I am still more thankful to be able to make my journeys by rail nowadays."

Needless to say that every one at table agreed in the last sentiment, and they rose with a laugh and an expression of curiosity as to what had become of the old professional bandit-such of him as was not pressed into the army. Jack was rather inclined to think that he might be employed chiefly in selling mines to the unwary British investor, or, better still, acting as confidential cashier in the office of the said Britisherat least those were the only capacities in which he had encountered bandits himself during his stay in the country! A short time after the visit during which he heard (and made notes of) the foregoing stories, he happened to be passing through a little village, where, to about a dozen huts, he counted no fewer than fourteen churches! On inquiry he found that the latter had all been built by repentant robber chiefs who had retired from business with large fortunes, and who, having got all

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they could out of this world, thought it was time to begin to treat for a good place in the next!

It has been mentioned that during the first five years he spent in Mexico Mr Jebb frequently went backwards and forwards between Vera Cruz and England, but it has not been recorded that while on one of his short visits to London he was present at the deathbed of his only remaining aunt. In many ways she had acted the part of a mother to him, and he regarded her house as home-the only one he possessed; so that he felt her loss severely, and was only comforted by the thought that at least he had been with her at the last, instead of being thousands of miles away, as in his roving life might easily have happened. She left him a few thousand pounds, but nothing approaching the fortune he had been led to expect. The reason was not far to seek. In common with many wealthy elderly ladies, she was very amenable to flattery, and of course was always able to command as much as she was prepared to swallow; while no hope of future riches could have induced Jack to bestow upon her the smallest quantity of that pabulum, without which even her, doubtless sincere, affection for him languished.

Strange to say, it was again at her house that he met the lady who was to be his second wife.

They were mutually attracted at their first meeting; but for various reasons, chiefly financial, the marriage did not take place till nearly five years afterwards. When it did, it was a sufficiently happy one to compensate for the business troubles which, not many years later, began to gather thick and fast. But even that leveller of persons, matrimony, could not succeed in turning Jack Jebb into a respectable stay-at-home Benedict, journeying only between his club and the domestic hearth. On the contrary, after probably the briefest and most original honeymoon on record-it was spent chiefly in cabs--he had to rush suddenly back to Mexico, leaving his wife to follow as soon as she could gather together her possessions. When at last she rejoined him there, they remained in Mexico for several years, save for occasional trips to Cuba or New York.

CHAPTER XVII.

SEARCH FOR TREASURE.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MINING CONCERN-JEBB'S LARGE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCES-A VARIETY OF BUSINESS PROPOSALS-THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF GUATAMOC-AN OLD CHIEF'S SECRET-A FURTHER STORY OF BURIED MILLIONS-A PADRE'S VIGILANCETHE HIDING-PLACE OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE-VIGOROUS EXPLORATIONS-INTERESTING FINDS-THE TOTEM-MARK OF GUATAMOCAN UNDERGROUND PASSAGE- PROCEEDINGS ABRUPTLY STOPPED-LINGERING BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF MONTEZUMA'S

TREASURE.

DURING this stay in England, Jack had of course devoted most of his time to the company he represented, and which he had been chiefly instrumental in founding. So far, it was not a success. The mines required far more development than had been anticipated, and even when ore began to be taken out, it was of too low a grade to pay, unless it could be mined on a much larger scale than the resources of the company would admit. This being the case, that unfailing panacea for moribund concerns reconstruction-was applied, and when