"But it slipped my mind."
"We all have them in our trunk in the City of Mexico," replied
Billie, "but I doubt if either of us has one with him."
"This is sufficient, for I shall light some torches I have
prepared as soon as we are ready for our work."
When Donald had descended, Strong led the way through a lateral
about thirty or forty feet, at the end of which another vertical
shaft had been sunk. Around the mouth of this Strong had set a
number of torches, which he now proceeded to light. By their
glare it was possible to see part way down the hole.
"The thing I hope to find," explained Strong, "is at the bottom
of that hole, if it exists at all."
"What is that?" asked Billie.
"I think I can best answer your question," was the reply, "by
reading you a translation of a paper which is said to have been
found in the shaft above, where the bandits have made their
rendezvous. How it came into my possession, matters not. I
believe there are now enough of us here to prove or disprove its
truthfulness, unless some one has been here before us."
Seating himself on a jutting boulder, Strong took from his
pocket a paper, which he read as follows under the flickering
torchlight:
"Being about to leave this world, I desire to obtain forgiveness
for the great and only crime of my life, hence this confession.
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