CHAPTER XII

HEADING FOR TROUBLE

In another moment the man had grabbed the _olla_ out of Jo Ann's hand and had 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've discovered the contents of that _olla_," she thought. Determined to conceal her nervousness, she replied in as cool and controlled a voice as she 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 and after rummaging about for a few moments drew up another _olla_ similar to the 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 is beautiful! Seventy-five _centavos_ is very cheap. I do not make anything."

"Cheap!" Jo Ann flung back at him, her eyes blazing. In her anger she had forgotten 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 into that 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 snapping in his eyes along with that same half-puzzled expression, as if he were still undecided about her identity. The two men exchanged a few whispered sentences so rapidly that she could not make out a single word. Every now and then they glanced in her direction.

"They're furious at me," she thought. "I don't want them to stop coming to the village. I'd better not say another word." She glanced over at Florence, who was motioning to her to leave. "Florence has come to the same conclusion. Time we're leaving this place."

She walked over to Florence, and after both had bade the woman and her children "_Adios_," they started off down the road toward their car.

"Those men are watching us," Jo Ann remarked a few minutes later, after a swift backward glance over her shoulder. "I don't want them to get so angry 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 their pottery." A satisfied smile passed over Florence's face. "I hope that'll force 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." Jo Ann looked back over her shoulder again before adding, "They're still watching 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 so foolishly 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 car quickly and turned up the rough road toward the city, adding, "I'm heading 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 by the rough back streets. When she finally cut back onto the main road, she threw an anxious look back up the road toward the village. There was no sign 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 the city."

When, two hours later, the girls and the two boys reached the mine, the girls had completely recovered from their nervousness over their encounter with the smugglers.

Florence was enthusiastic over the attractive appearance and cleanliness of the great stone house, which of course delighted Miss Prudence.

"While you are here, Florence," she said, "we'll all have to make a trip to the city to buy materials for draperies and couch and pillow covers to brighten 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 glances with 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 and find the mystery man, especially now that she had some more information about the smugglers. "Can't we go tomorrow, Miss Prudence?" she asked eagerly.

Miss Prudence shook her head. "No. I want to finish all the cleaning first."

"But the house is spotless now," Jo Ann protested.

"The kitchen is a downright disgrace. Why Maria insists on using that old fireplace to cook on when she has this new range, I can't understand. It makes such a mess. I told her I wanted that fireplace closed up. I want some 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, but there's no place to put anything."

"Poor Maria!" thought Jo Ann. "She'll never understand Miss Prudence's ideas of a modern kitchen. She feels that the kitchen is her domain and won't like any interference. We'll have all we can do to keep peace in the family."

"We'll have to take Florence around the camp tomorrow and show her all the improvements," Peggy spoke up. She turned to Florence. "Mr. Eldridge's had all the miners' ugly little shacks replaced with stone houses 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 me to see the contrast between those horrible shacks and this great stone house."

"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 the work, 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. She was as happy as the other girls to hear how the drudgery and squalor had been removed from the miners' lives since Mr. Eldridge had taken over the management of the mining company of which Carlitos was the chief stockholder. As all three girls owned stock in the company--a gift for their share in recovering the mine for him--they felt a personal responsibility for improving conditions.

"Don't you want to go with us on our ride about the camp tomorrow?" Jo Ann asked Miss Prudence.

"Yes, I've been wanting to ever since I came, but I've been so busy, you know. I'll get an early start at cleaning tomorrow morning, so I can go with 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 Miss Prudence set out on horseback on a general inspection trip of the mining camp.

"We won't have time to go down into the mine this time," Miss Prudence said as they rode off. "Ed says that he wants us to go all through it soon, though."

"We're very anxious to go down into the mine, aren't we, girls?" said Jo Ann.

"We surely are," both replied.

With the greatest satisfaction Jo Ann and Peggy pointed out the rows of neat, substantial limestone houses, each one very homelike with flowers and vines.

"The Mexicans love beauty," Florence remarked to Miss Prudence as they passed a house one side of which was covered with a bougainvillea vine aflame 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 Prudence agreed. "Carlitos told me today that Maria had asked him if I'd brought some flower seed with me--that she wanted to see if she could grow some new 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 has bright 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 the different 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 the electric tram-cars which were used to carry the ore down the steep incline, instead of the burros, as formerly. "The biggest improvement of all, though, is the way they get the ore out of the mine. Mr. Eldridge has promised to take us down there some time soon."

After leaving the mine they rode a short distance on up the beautiful winding mountain trail, then reluctantly turned at Miss Prudence's suggestion and started homeward. Before leaving the trail, however, they persuaded her to wait while they dismounted and dug up some cactus and resurrection plants.

"This cactus'll look lovely in that big jar with the cactus design on it," Peggy explained to Miss Prudence. "And you'll love to watch these resurrection plants. You can keep them out of water for months, till they're dried, dead-looking balls, then put them into water, and they'll unfold and become green and beautiful again."

Once again, when they were crossing the crystal clear stream that ran near the house, they begged Miss Prudence to halt. "Wait for us while we dig up some of these exquisite wild maidenhair ferns," Jo Ann urged, an appeal that the other two promptly echoed.

"All right," Miss Prudence agreed, halting under the shade of a rocky cliff over which trickled a tiny silver ribbon of water into a fern-edged pool.

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 of these ferns. Let's go up the stream a little farther, Florence."

Jo Ann and Florence walked on along the stream in silent admiration and soon disappeared around a great moss-covered boulder.

Suddenly Florence caught sight of a short chunky figure of a man just ahead. She gasped aloud. Simultaneously Jo Ann's lower jaw dropped, and her eyes opened wide. The next instant the man clambered up the side of the 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's hurry back."

The girls wheeled about and ran back down the stream.