CHAPTER XVIII

JO ANN FINDS A WAY

Although Peggy had vowed she would never be able to close her eyes all night with that prisoner in the house, she was so tired that she was not long in dropping off to sleep. Exhausted by their exciting experiences, all three slept till late the next morning.

"For a welcome change," as Florence expressed it afterwards, Miss Prudence had not wanted to get an early start to go somewhere or to do some housework, and so had allowed them to drowse on undisturbed.

The first thing Jo Ann saw on waking was the smiling Maria carrying in a tray of food.

As Maria set the tray on the small table between the beds, she remarked, "Miss Prudencia say you may have your breakfast in bed. You were so brave--so good to help Manuel last night."

"_Muchas gracias_," replied Jo Ann, eying delightedly the golden toast, oranges, crisp brown bacon, and cups of steaming chocolate.

Peggy and Florence chimed in with their thanks; then Peggy put in quickly, "Florence, ask her if the prisoner is still in the house."

Florence promptly relayed this question.

Maria nodded. "_Sí._ José watch good all night." She went on to add that José had just come into the kitchen and had said he wanted to tell the señoritas something about Luis.

"Don't you know what it is?" Florence asked curiously.

"No. Miss Prudencia send me out of the kitchen then, and José leave."

"Is José going to the village to get the _rurales_ to come after Luis this morning?"

"_Sí._"

"Tell him when he comes back that we want to go with him. Tell him to have the horses ready for us."

With a nod of assent Maria left the room.

Jo Ann began eating an orange, a thoughtful expression in her dark brown eyes. A moment later she remarked, "I shouldn't wonder if that Luis was hired by the smuggler to do all the damage he could."

"Why, what makes you think that?" asked Peggy in surprise. "You haven't seen them together, have you?"

"No."

"And you've never seen that smuggler here again since that first time, have you?"

"No."

"Then why this sudden idea?"

"Because two men in the same small mining camp who have a grievance against the mine owners would be likely to get together. They'd have a common interest--to get even."

Peggy smiled. "Oh, you Miss Sherlock!"

"Your mentioning the smuggler reminds me that the pottery woman said she'd have the pottery ready for us today," put in Florence. "I want you girls to help me select the finest pieces as samples to send to my friend in St. Louis for her curio shop. It'll be quite a job to get them packed right. I was in hopes José would have time to help me pack them. His having to get the officers this morning might interfere."

"I don't think it will," Jo Ann replied. "Do you think you could get a crate in the village and pack your pottery there?"

"I doubt it. They've never shipped any pottery by train. I believe I'll take the pottery to Jitters' House, and José can hunt up something around there to make a crate out of."

By the time the girls had finished eating and had dressed in riding outfits, José was waiting for them with the horses.

As soon as they came out, Florence asked José what it was that he had to tell them about the prisoner, Luis. After he had explained in a rapid flow of Spanish, Florence passed the news to the eager Jo Ann and Peggy. "He said Luis had told him that some strange man had promised to give him a few _pesos_ if he would wreck the mine machinery. He believes, judging by Luis's description, that this stranger was one of the men the pottery woman warned us about."

"So I guessed right," Jo Ann spoke up.

"It doesn't seem fair for Luis to get a prison sentence and for the smuggler to go free," Peggy said, low-voiced, to Jo Ann.

"Both of those smugglers're going to get caught yet--you'll see." Jo Ann's head bobbed up and down emphatically.

"Does that mean you're going to try to catch them?" Peggy asked, an anxious note in her voice.

"Wait and see," Jo Ann replied teasingly as she leaped on her horse.

On reaching the village José went in search of the officers while the girls drove to the pottery woman's shack to buy the _ollas_ and vases.

With the greatest care Florence, with the girls' help, selected the most artistic designs and shapes from the piles of pottery. "If my friend likes these pieces as well's I do," she said, "I know she'll buy regularly from these villagers and take a large per cent of their output. They'll get ever so much more money, too, than they have been getting. We'll be doing them a good turn, as well as my friend."

At Jo Ann's urging Florence then began adroitly questioning the woman about when she was expecting the men to come after the pottery this week.

"They send me word they come in two days," she replied.

"That'll be Friday, then," commented Jo Ann, who had caught the woman's words.

After they had finished choosing the pieces of pottery, they packed them in the back of the car.

"I'd like to know where José's going to sit now," observed Peggy as she crowded into the front seat with Jo Ann and Florence.

"He'll manage someway," Jo Ann smiled.

On reaching Pedro's store they found José waiting for them.

"Did you find the _rurales_?" Florence asked him.

"_Sí_, I find two. They have gone to the mine to get Luis. They say they do not need me to help."

"Good," Florence approved. "Now you can help me pack these _ollas_ and vases."

After José had squeezed into the back seat and they were driving off, Peggy remarked to Florence, "What puzzles me is how are you going to get the pottery shipped after you get it packed? There's no railroad and no truck service here. Someone'll have to take it to the city. How're you going to get it to the city?"

"I thought we'd drive in ourselves if--if----"

"We can't let there be any ifs about it," broke in Jo Ann crisply. "We've got to get to the city tomorrow. I've got to get word to the mystery man to be on the lookout for the smugglers Friday."

"Couldn't you write to him?" Peggy asked.

"It wouldn't reach him in time. They take the mail in to the city every other day. I asked at the store, and the mail's already been sent, and no more'll be sent till Friday. That'd be too late."

"But Miss Prudence'll probably say 'nothing doing' when we tell her we want to drive to the city," persisted Peggy. "She said she didn't like riding in Jitters well enough to take another trip to the city soon."

"I heard her say yesterday that she had to have some more supplies--that she just couldn't keep house without a larger variety of food," Florence remarked. "She said we'd all be having scurvy and beri-beri and all sorts of diseases if we didn't have a greater variety."

Jo Ann smiled. "That sounds good to me--not the diseases, of course. We'll tell her we'll bring her a load of good eats--fresh fruits and vegetables and anything she asks for. I'm going to get word to the mystery man--or bust."

Both girls laughed, and Peggy added a moment later, "Puff out your cheeks and prepare to bust, Jo, 'cause Miss Prudence won't let you go."

"You underrate my persuasive powers, and you don't realize how tired she is of preparing the same menus, day after day. I heard her say the other day that about the only thing Pedro sold at his store was beans, beans, beans."

When they reached Jitters' House, José set to work at once to make a crate. The girls wrapped each piece of pottery with the paper they had brought for that purpose and carefully placed the smaller jars inside the larger ones. When the crate was finished, they packed excelsior around the jars and in every inch of space. That done, José carried the crate over to the house across the road, for safe-keeping.

With a wide smile Jo Ann remarked, "We'll have to get an early start tomorrow morning to take our crate to the city. We'll have to promise to make the trip there and back in one day, I know."

When they were riding horseback on the mountain trail, they met the _rurales_ taking their prisoner to the village. The girls urged their horses close to the cliff to allow room for them to pass on the narrow trail.

After they had gone by, Jo Ann said gravely, "I hope it won't be long till the smugglers are prison-bound, too. I believe this Luis was just their tool."

As soon as they had entered the house, the girls hunted up Miss Prudence, and Jo Ann told of their plan to take the pottery to the city the next day and get supplies for her.

Miss Prudence pursed up her lips thoughtfully and remained silent for some time before answering.

Jo Ann, with her usual impatience, could not stand this quiet and suspense and began talking about the necessity of a more varied diet. "We need more fruit and vegetables to have a balanced diet, don't you think? Our home economics teacher told us at school that it was absolutely necessary for us to get plenty of fruit, as most of it has vitamin B. It's that vitamin that makes our nerves normal and steady, she said."

Miss Prudence's lips relaxed into a whimsical smile. "Well, we certainly need our nerves steadied after last night's wild excitement." She grew grave again. "I believe that Luis was trying to kill Ed and you girls."

Jo Ann did not stop to argue this point but kept to the diet question. "If you'll make a list of the things you want, we'll have them here for you tomorrow evening."

"Before dark?"

"Yes."

"Well, I hesitate to give my consent. Maybe I'd better go with you--but, no. I feel as if I ought to stay and nurse Manuel. Maria has no more idea than a jay bird about how to take care of sick folks. Why, when I put some rolls of bandage in the hot oven to sterilize this morning, she looked at me as if she thought I was crazy!"

In spite of her hesitation, Jo Ann finally succeeded in persuading her to let them go to the city.

"If you set the alarm clock for four-thirty and get up then, I believe you can make the trip in one day," she said as the girls were about to leave. "Take my clock to your room." She reached over to the near-by table, picked up her alarm clock, and set it to go off at that hour before handing it to Jo Ann.

It was hard for Jo Ann to keep from laughing, as she could see Florence's eyes twinkling, and Peggy holding her hand over her mouth to check her mirth.

At the first sound of the alarm the next morning, Jo Ann reached over and turned it off, then popped out of bed and began dressing. Florence rose almost as promptly, but it required much persuasion from both of them to get Peggy out of bed.

"I'm not keen on this trip anyway, since we won't get to stay in the city tonight and promenade on the Plaza," she grumbled drowsily as she sat on the edge of the bed, making no move to dress. "I'm not interested in seeing an old mystery man, as Jo Ann is."

"Only in handsome young Mexican ones," Jo Ann grinned. "Well, you may pass your smiling young Mexican on the street today."

"If I should, I'd look very romantic sitting in an old car packed with a huge crate, now, wouldn't I? He'd think I was bringing chickens or something to market."

Both girls laughed at Peggy's disgusted tone.

"That reminds me," Jo Ann added, "that we must go straight to the market as soon as we reach the city."

By the time they had dressed and had eaten a hurried breakfast, José was waiting for them with the horses. To their surprise he rode on up the trail with them.

"I didn't know you were going with us," Florence remarked to him.

"Miss Prudencia say I must take you to the village and go back for you this afternoon."

"That's good. It might be late this evening before we get back, but we're counting on getting back before dark."

As soon as they reached Jitters' House, they changed their clothes while José was putting the pottery crate into their car.

"Jitters is a picture now," Peggy remarked on coming out to the car.

"You'll be sure to see your handsome young man today," teased Jo Ann.

So interested were the girls in their plans for the day, as they drove through the village, that Jo Ann for once forgot to look over at the pottery woman's shack till after she had reached Pedro's store. "Did either of you notice if the pottery was still piled up by the woman's house?" she asked.

Both shook their heads.

"I'm sure it must be still there. The woman seemed to be certain that the men weren't coming till tomorrow to get it. She said they'd sent her word this time."

As there was little travel on the road, Jo Ann was able to make good time. As usual, she had planned to let Florence drive when they neared the city.

"At the rate you're speeding, Jo," Florence remarked finally, "we'll be in town before we realize it."

Jo Ann laughed. "Speeding in Jitters? Impossible. That old car in front of us isn't built for speeding, either. It's been keeping ahead at about the same distance for the last hour."

"So I've noticed," said Peggy. "It must be of the same year's vintage as Jitters."

"If she is, Jitters can beat her. I'm going to step on it and see if I can't gain on her." With that Jo Ann stepped on the gas, and soon their car was lessening the distance between it and the car ahead.

As they drew closer Jo Ann suddenly uttered an excited little cry.

"What's the matter?" queried Florence and Peggy together.

"That's the smugglers' car!"

"You're crazy, Jo!" ejaculated Peggy derisively.

"It can't be!" Florence cried.

"But it is! I'm positive it is."

"You're just guessing," retorted Peggy. "You can't tell from here."

"I'm going to pass that car, and you look hard, Florence, and see if those men aren't the smugglers and if it isn't piled full of pottery."

"Oh, don't, Jo," begged Peggy, now beginning to be afraid that Jo Ann might be right. "Don't try to pass it."