by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER IX MISS PRUDENCE'S CLEANING SPREE
Before dropping to sleep that night Jo Ann decided that as soon as shegot up in the morning she would urge Miss Prudence to let her and Peggygo to the city. "I'll tell her what this house needs worse than anothercleaning is some pretty cretonne for curtains and pillows, and some ofthe lovely Mexican pottery and bright-colored blankets. I could stop atthe village and buy the pottery and blankets. There were some pieces ofpottery outside that shack near where the smugglers' car was parked.That'd give me a grand chance to find out from the family in the shackabout the smugglers. Then I'd have more to tell the mystery man--if I canfind him. Finding him--that'll be the hard part."
Still visioning ways and plans for this trip to the city, she finallydrifted off to sleep.
She was roused early the next morning by a cold hand upon her bareshoulder. Horrors! One of those smugglers had grabbed her--she'd jerkaway from him! She sprang out of bed with a leap that sent her into themiddle of the room, then stood staring dazedly at an amazed MissPrudence.
"Why, I didn't mean to frighten you, Jo Ann," she said apologetically. "Ijust meant to wake you early so----"
"O-oh, it's just you!" gasped Jo Ann, feeling very foolish at seeing itwas only Miss Prudence. "I must've been dreaming. I thought one ofthose----" She stopped abruptly. She must not say a word about havingseen those smugglers. No use to get Miss Prudence stirred up and excitedover them.
"I'm sorry I scared you," Miss Prudence began again, "but I thought weought to get an early start to----"
"But we're at the end of our journey," broke in Peggy, who was sitting upin bed now, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "We don't have any place to startearly to."
"What I began to say was that we ought to get an early start at givingthis house a thorough cleaning," Miss Prudence went on, undisturbed byPeggy's interruption.
"The house looks clean to me--very clean," Jo Ann remarked.
"Maria may have gone through the motions of cleaning, but"--Miss Prudenceraised her eyebrows skeptically--"a peon housekeeper's ideas of cleaningand an American's are two different things."
"Don't you want us to go to the city to get some--some fumigatingstuff--formaldehyde, isn't that what you call it?" Jo Ann asked eagerly.
"No, I've decided it isn't necessary to have the place fumigated. I'vedecided there's enough laundry soap here to begin with. Ed says he'sordered more, and a lot of supplies that should have come to the villageyesterday. He thinks they'll come today surely. I'll make plenty ofstrong suds, and we can begin scrubbing this morning. When we getthrough, this place'll be as bright as a new penny."
"It'll still be dreadfully bare, though," Jo Ann remarked tentatively."As you said last night, it looks as bare as a barracks. What it needs isgay cretonne draperies and pillows, bright-colored blankets to throw overthe chests and couches, and some of the lovely Mexican _ollas_. As soonas we get the house clean, let's go to the city to get the draperies. Wecan probably find some pottery and blankets at the village."
"Well, we'll think about that later."
"The sooner we get this house fixed up, the longer we'll have to enjoyit," spoke up Peggy, coming to Jo Ann's aid. She knew how Jo Ann's heartwas set on getting back to the city. "Let's try to have it all done bythe time Florence comes."
"Well, we'll see."
The girls had to content themselves with that vague promise.
After Miss Prudence had left the room and the girls were dressing, Jo Annremarked, "I haven't given up hope yet of going to the city soon. I'mgoing to try to persuade Miss Prudence to let us go to the village thisafternoon for the supplies that Mr. Eldridge is expecting."
"I'll help persuade her." Peggy changed the subject abruptly by saying,"I hate to have her hurt Maria's feelings by doing all this cleaning,don't you?"
Jo Ann nodded. "I'll try to smooth it over to Maria, but she'll never beable to understand such extreme ideas about sanitation."
As soon as they had finished eating breakfast, the girls enteredindustriously into Miss Prudence's "cleaning spree," as Jo Ann called it.While Peggy poured the soapy water over the concrete floors, Jo Annscrubbed vigorously enough to satisfy even Miss Prudence.
"It's really fun," Jo Ann declared as she swished the foamy suds aboutwith her broom.
Miss Prudence, a towel over her head and her long skirts tucked up andpinned in the back, bustled about superintending the girls, Maria and heroldest daughters, and the two boys.
Maria was horrified that Miss Prudence should set Carlitos, the chiefowner of the silver mine and the house, to doing such menial tasks ascarrying water from the stream back of the house. Miss Prudence, however,believed with St. Paul that he who would not work should not eat and soonhad everybody in the household stepping lively.
"I wish that soap and other supplies'd come today," she said, frowning asshe took out the last bar of soap. "The supplies are very low. I can'tplan a decent meal in this house without those things."
"Peggy and I'll go to the village for them this afternoon," Jo Annoffered eagerly. "We can drive the car and make better time than Jose canin the oxcart."
Miss Prudence hesitated a moment, then replied, "Well, if Jose can gowith you, I believe you'd better go."
"Fine! I'm sure Mr. Eldridge'll let Jose go. He sends him therefrequently for the mail--every other day, I believe."
Jo Ann was right in this surmise. Mr. Eldridge promptly agreed to letJose accompany the girls to the village. "Jose can take two burros alongto carry the supplies," he added, "and he won't need the oxcart at all."
So it was that shortly after lunch the two girls and Jose started onhorseback but changed into the automobile when they reached the foot ofthe mountain.
On reaching the village they drove straight to Pedro's store to see ifthe supplies had come. On finding that they had arrived, Jose set to workto load them into the car. While he was busy at that task, Jo Ann andPeggy walked back to the adobe shack where Jo Ann had seen the smugglers'car.
To Jo Ann's relief, the battered old car was not in sight.
"I'll have a far better chance to find out about the smugglers withouttheir being on the scene," she remarked to Peggy.
As soon as they neared the shack, a thin, undernourished woman with ablack _rebosa_ about her shoulders and a baby in her arms appeared at thedoor. Peeping from behind her skirts were several other small, half-clad,hungry-looking children. As quickly as she could in her broken Spanish,Jo Ann explained that she wanted to buy some of the pottery jars piled upat the side of the house.
The woman shook her head and replied, "I have much sorrow that I cannotsell them to you. Two men in an automobile told me they take all my_ollas_."
"Was that their automobile I saw here near your house yesterday?"
The woman nodded.
"I must find out when they will be back," Jo Ann thought quickly. "Canyou not get more jars for these men by the time they come back, and sellme some of these you have now?" she asked tentatively.
"No, that is impossible. It takes much time to make the _ollas_, and themen say they come back in three or four days."
"Three or four days," Jo Ann thought. "I hope Florence comes on one ofthose days, so we'll have an excuse to come down here to meet her."
Peggy broke into her thoughts with, "Ask her the price of these jars.They're lovely." She picked up two jars, each attractively decorated witha design of cactus and Spanish dagger.
Jo Ann relayed this question to the woman. "How much do you sell thesefor?"
The woman went on to tell the price of each--an absurdly small amount,not a third as much as they were worth.
"Is that what those men pay you for them?" Jo Ann asked incredulously.
"_Si._" The woman nodded.
Jo Ann repeated the price to Peggy, adding, "Those men are robbers, aswell as----"
She left her sentence unfinished and turned back to the woman, saying,"They do not pay you enough. I will give
you twice that much for thesetwo _ollas_."
The woman's eyes opened wide. "Ah--that is good. I have much need ofmoney to buy food for my children." She hesitated a moment, then added,"_Bien_, I will let you have these two. The men will be angry, butthen----" She shrugged her shoulders expressively.
Jo Ann's mind was working rapidly. Perhaps she could help this poor womanto market more of her pottery. Florence had a friend who purchasedMexican curios for a firm in the States. She would tell Florence aboutthis woman's pottery. "I'll take these two _ollas_. Don't let those menhave all your pottery after this. I will sell it for you at this price."
After Jo Ann had paid for the jars and had promised the woman again tohelp sell more of the pottery for her, Peggy remarked as they werestarting away, "I'm glad you paid that woman more for the _ollas_, butI'm afraid those men'll be furious when they find out you're buying herpottery at double the price they pay. You're heading for trouble."
Jo Ann's face grew grave. "I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm glad justthe same that I could help that family. Those poor little children lookhalf starved to me."
"They surely do," Peggy agreed.
