"I'll not take up much of your time, Señor Scott," said Lazaro, in a soft, musical voice. "I know you are a very busy man. I have called to make inquiries about this railroad they say is soon to be built in my country. I hear you are president of the company."
Scott knitted his heavy brows. "Where had he heard that voice before?" he asked himself.
"You are from Mexico, Mr. Lazaro?" was his question.
"What do you wish to know about the Central Sonora Railroad?"
"It is settled that the road will be constructed?"
"Yes. Every preparation is being made to begin work upon it."
"The company is formed and the stock issued?"
Lazaro had taken a seat on a chair toward which Scott had motioned him.
"You are confident that the road will pay?"
"If I did not think so, I'd not be so deeply interested in it."
"Naturally not, for I understand you are a very shrewd man of affairs, señor."
The complimentary words of the Mexican were wasted on Scott, who believed a man usually dealt in compliments when he was seeking something to his own advantage.
"Who are your intimate associates in this great project, if I am not presuming too far by asking, Señor Scott?"
"Mr. Warren Hatch, Mr. Sudbury Bragg, and Mr. Frank Merriwell are in the company."
"It seems that I have heard of Señor Merriwell. Has he not a rich mine down there somewhere in Sonora?"
"Then it is likely he will be the one most benefited by the building of this road?"
"It certainly will be a great thing for him."
Lazaro nodded slowly. He knew Watson Scott was surveying him in a puzzled manner, but he seemed wholly unconscious of the fact.
"The stock of this company you think will be a profitable investment for those who may purchase it, señor?"
"Of course your company intends to retain a controlling interest in the road?"
"Does Señor Merriwell intend to hold a large amount of the stock?"
"I believe he has pledged himself to take a certain amount of it."
"I have heard that he has other valuable mines besides the one in Mexico."
"Not particularly, although to my ears there has come a rumor at some time that his claim to the mine in Mexico is a very flimsy one and that he may lose it."
"Wind, sir--nothing more. The rumor was founded on the claims of a countryman of yours, Señor Porfias del Norte, who held an old and worthless land grant to the territory in which Merriwell's mine is located. The grant had been revoked, and Del Norte could have done nothing had he lived."