by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XII HEADING FOR TROUBLE
In another moment the man had grabbed the _olla_ out of Jo Ann's hand andhad placed it back in its nest of straw in the car. "What are you doing?"he demanded sharply, edging between her and the car. "Leave these alone!"
Jo Ann detected a note of alarm in his voice. "He's afraid I'vediscovered the contents of that _olla_," she thought. Determined toconceal her nervousness, she replied in as cool and controlled a voice asshe could muster, "How much will you take for that _olla_?"
The man shook his head. "No--no. It is not for sale."
"I will give you fifty _centavos_ for it."
"No--no. I cannot sell it."
"Well, how about seventy-five _centavos_, then?"
The merest shadow of a smile began to spread over the man's dark,unshaven face. Perhaps here was a chance for him to make a few extra_centavos_, and no one would be the wiser. He reached down in the car andafter rummaging about for a few moments drew up another _olla_ similar tothe one Jo Ann had picked up. "Here--I let you have it," he said,offering it to her.
Jo Ann shook her head. "No, that is not the one I want. It is this one."She started to lean over the car, but the man stopped her.
"No, this is the only one I have to sell," he insisted. "See, it isbeautiful! Seventy-five _centavos_ is very cheap. I do not makeanything."
"Cheap!" Jo Ann flung back at him, her eyes blazing. In her anger she hadforgotten to be cautious. "I heard what you're paying for these _ollas_.You are a thief. Pay them more money, or I'll buy them all myself."
He scowled menacingly at her. "Ah, it was you who put evil things intothat woman's head--demanding more money! They are lucky to get that much.Do not interfere with my business again. _Sabe?_"
Before she could reply, the other man stepped up, an angry glint snappingin his eyes along with that same half-puzzled expression, as if he werestill undecided about her identity. The two men exchanged a few whisperedsentences so rapidly that she could not make out a single word. Every nowand then they glanced in her direction.
"They're furious at me," she thought. "I don't want them to stop comingto the village. I'd better not say another word." She glanced over atFlorence, who was motioning to her to leave. "Florence has come to thesame conclusion. Time we're leaving this place."
She walked over to Florence, and after both had bade the woman and herchildren "_Adios_," they started off down the road toward their car.
"Those men are watching us," Jo Ann remarked a few minutes later, after aswift backward glance over her shoulder. "I don't want them to get soangry that they'll stop coming to the village, do you?"
"No. That's why I told the woman I could buy only a part of theirpottery." A satisfied smile passed over Florence's face. "I hope that'llforce those men to pay more. They're very anxious to keep on buying here,because this village makes unusually good pottery."
"Their designs are beautiful. I think they'll keep on coming here." JoAnn looked back over her shoulder again before adding, "They're stillwatching us. Did you notice how that taller one kept staring at me?"
Florence nodded. "It made me wonder if he'd seen you when you sofoolishly ran up the side of that gully."
"But how was I going to be able to recognize them if I hadn't seen them?"
When they reached their car, Peggy began hurling questions at them.
"Florence'll tell you everything," Jo Ann said as she started the carquickly and turned up the rough road toward the city, adding, "I'mheading toward the city so those men won't know where we live."
After she had gone a short distance, she wound back out of the village bythe rough back streets. When she finally cut back onto the main road, shethrew an anxious look back up the road toward the village. There was nosign of a car to be seen.
"We fooled them," she said, well pleased.
"I believe we did," agreed Florence. "They probably think we live in thecity."
When, two hours later, the girls and the two boys reached the mine, thegirls had completely recovered from their nervousness over theirencounter with the smugglers.
Florence was enthusiastic over the attractive appearance and cleanlinessof the great stone house, which of course delighted Miss Prudence.
"While you are here, Florence," she said, "we'll all have to make a tripto the city to buy materials for draperies and couch and pillow covers tobrighten up this gloomy old house. It still reminds me of a barracks,even if it is clean."
"I think that'll be fine," approved Florence, exchanging pleased glanceswith Jo Ann and Peggy. "We all love to go to the city."
Of the three Jo Ann was the most delighted. She must get to the city andfind the mystery man, especially now that she had some more informationabout the smugglers. "Can't we go tomorrow, Miss Prudence?" she askedeagerly.
Miss Prudence shook her head. "No. I want to finish all the cleaningfirst."
"But the house is spotless now," Jo Ann protested.
"The kitchen is a downright disgrace. Why Maria insists on using that oldfireplace to cook on when she has this new range, I can't understand. Itmakes such a mess. I told her I wanted that fireplace closed up. I wantsome shelves put up, too. There isn't any place to store our supplies.This kitchen wasn't built for convenience. It's big as all outdoors, butthere's no place to put anything."
"Poor Maria!" thought Jo Ann. "She'll never understand Miss Prudence'sideas of a modern kitchen. She feels that the kitchen is her domain andwon't like any interference. We'll have all we can do to keep peace inthe family."
"We'll have to take Florence around the camp tomorrow and show her allthe improvements," Peggy spoke up. She turned to Florence. "Mr.Eldridge's had all the miners' ugly little shacks replaced with stonehouses built of the natural stone from the quarry."
"Yes, I noticed a few of them as we came up. I'm so glad. It worried meto see the contrast between those horrible shacks and this great stonehouse."
"You'll be delighted to see the modern machinery they've put in the mine,too," Jo Ann put in. "They use electricity now for a good deal of thework, and that makes it lots easier on the miners--less dangerous, too.Mr. Eldridge's promised to show us around tomorrow."
"Fine." Florence's face was aglow on hearing of these improvements. Shewas as happy as the other girls to hear how the drudgery and squalor hadbeen removed from the miners' lives since Mr. Eldridge had taken over themanagement of the mining company of which Carlitos was the chiefstockholder. As all three girls owned stock in the company--a gift fortheir share in recovering the mine for him--they felt a personalresponsibility for improving conditions.
"Don't you want to go with us on our ride about the camp tomorrow?" JoAnn asked Miss Prudence.
"Yes, I've been wanting to ever since I came, but I've been so busy, youknow. I'll get an early start at cleaning tomorrow morning, so I can gowith you."
An amused expression slipped into each girl's face at the familiar words"an early start."
So it was that, immediately after the siesta hour, the girls and MissPrudence set out on horseback on a general inspection trip of the miningcamp.
"We won't have time to go down into the mine this time," Miss Prudencesaid as they rode off. "Ed says that he wants us to go all through itsoon, though."
"We're very anxious to go down into the mine, aren't we, girls?" said JoAnn.
"We surely are," both replied.
With the greatest satisfaction Jo Ann and Peggy pointed out the rows ofneat, substantial limestone houses, each one very homelike with flowersand vines.
"The Mexicans love beauty," Florence remarked to Miss Prudence as theypassed a house one side of which was covered with a bougainvillea vineaflame with pinkish purple flowers. The tiny yard was a riot of color,too.
"Yes, I've noticed that they are very fond of flowers," Miss Prudenceagreed. "Carlitos told me today that Maria had asked him if I'd broughtsome flower seed with me--that she wanted to see if she could grow somenew kinds
of flowers."
Jo Ann, who had been listening to their conversation, now called out,"That reminds me, let's dig up some ferns and cactus--that kind that hasbright red blossoms--this afternoon and plant them in our pottery jars.And let's make a rock garden in the patio, too, and plant all thedifferent kinds of cacti we can find."
"A grand idea," the girls agreed, and Miss Prudence nodded approvingly.
As they approached the mine opening, Jo Ann proudly pointed out theelectric tram-cars which were used to carry the ore down the steepincline, instead of the burros, as formerly. "The biggest improvement ofall, though, is the way they get the ore out of the mine. Mr. Eldridgehas promised to take us down there some time soon."
After leaving the mine they rode a short distance on up the beautifulwinding mountain trail, then reluctantly turned at Miss Prudence'ssuggestion and started homeward. Before leaving the trail, however, theypersuaded her to wait while they dismounted and dug up some cactus andresurrection plants.
"This cactus'll look lovely in that big jar with the cactus design onit," Peggy explained to Miss Prudence. "And you'll love to watch theseresurrection plants. You can keep them out of water for months, tillthey're dried, dead-looking balls, then put them into water, and they'llunfold and become green and beautiful again."
Once again, when they were crossing the crystal clear stream that rannear the house, they begged Miss Prudence to halt. "Wait for us while wedig up some of these exquisite wild maidenhair ferns," Jo Ann urged, anappeal that the other two promptly echoed.
"All right," Miss Prudence agreed, halting under the shade of a rockycliff over which trickled a tiny silver ribbon of water into a fern-edgedpool.
Peggy began pulling up some of the ferns close by, but Jo Ann remarked,"I can't bear to spoil the beauty of this pool by taking any more ofthese ferns. Let's go up the stream a little farther, Florence."
Jo Ann and Florence walked on along the stream in silent admiration andsoon disappeared around a great moss-covered boulder.
Suddenly Florence caught sight of a short chunky figure of a man justahead. She gasped aloud. Simultaneously Jo Ann's lower jaw dropped, andher eyes opened wide. The next instant the man clambered up the side ofthe cliff and disappeared.
"One of the smugglers!" whispered Jo Ann, finally recovering her speech."He was spying on us."
"The one that grabbed the _olla_ from you," Florence breathed. "Let'shurry back."
The girls wheeled about and ran back down the stream.
